Cuisine of Asia week three

Spicy Lemongrass Tofu

Cuisines of Asia is over!

The final week of Asian cuisine class. I was so happy that this class is over. It has been probably the biggest disappointment for the whole school so far. The instructors for the two pm classes did not do great job. The main idea for the whole block was that we are not going to be experts in Asian cuisines anyway, so why to bother. It's true that this is not feasible to learn a cuisine even for one country in three weeks. However, looking back I guess that Cuisines of Europe was the heaven.







Monday

Shrimp paste on sugar cane

Was the last day for the Vietnamese cuisine. Honestly it was crappy day from the beginning. There was a team rotation and I got a new sous-chef. He did not show up on Monday, due to personal reasons. However, he assigned dishes for the wrong day. In just an hour before class I figured out that the recipe cards I prepared for the day are wrong and I have to cook different dishes. Then I had to find shrimps for my dish. It took me about an hour to do so. After that one girl came and requested some shrimps back, because her classmates made a mistake. It would not be a big deal, if she had asked about it in a normal manner. She wears bitching face all the time and the way she speaks is not far from her face. At the end of our 'friendly' conversation I just asked her to disappear from my station. My spirit was ruined for the next couple hours. 
The menu was quite simple:
Grilled Shrimp Paste on Sugar Cane 

Vietnamese Style Green Mango Salad
Hanoi Grilled Fish with Rice Noodles and Fresh Herbs 
Vietnamese Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes 
Spicy Lemongrass Tofu with Asian Basil

I cooked Shrimp Paste on Sugar Cane and Spicy Lemongrass Tofu. These two dishes were not complicated at all, but time consuming. There were way too much chopping and cutting ingredients. Also Shrimp paste supposed to be served with sauce, which I had to make. Since my mind was not at ease the day was not easy. I did all dishes on time and the flavour was right. Unfortunately there was not satisfaction at all.


Tuesday

Spicy Grilled Beef Salad

Was a bit better, at least I knew what I suppose to cook. We switched to Thailand. Thailand has many similarities with Vietnam (the morning class combined these two countries together to get an extra day for India). The flavor is also very fresh and balanced. We did an 'experiment' of making simple salad dressing: started with fish sauce (smells awful), add a bit lime juice (smells better, tastes like diluted fish sauce), add some garlic and sugar (almost no smell of fish sauce, taste improves dramatically), add some water, experiment with sugar, lime juice, and fish sauce until you reach the balance (none of individual ingredients are dominant). 
The menu for the day was:

Thai Chicken Soup with Coconut Milk and Galangal 
Spicy Grilled Beef Salad with Mint and Toasted Rice 
String Beans with Roasted Chile Sauce
Rice Noodles Stir-Fried with Fresh Chile, Garlic, and Basil 
Yellow Curry Chicken
I cooked Spicy Grilled Beef Salad. The new thing for me was toasted rice powder. You take rice (dry) and toast it in a skillet with lemongrass and galangal (big pieces, so you will be able to remove it later on). When rice is golden brown you remove it from the skillet, let it cool down, and grind it to a coarse powder. This powder is used for garnish and it's quite tasty.
Beef salad was simple: grill the meat, slice it thinly, mix with mint and basil leaves, sliced shallot, garlic, ginger and toss with the dressing.

Wednesday

Yellow Chicken Curry

Was the last day for the Thailand. We had the same menu. My dish was Yellow Chicken Curry.
I had to make my own curry paste. It was not difficult at all, there were just way too many ingredients. I started to cook curry probably a bit early and it was ready 15 minutes before scheduled service time. We were also late for 10 minutes. By the time I tasted the dish from the buffet the chicken was overcooked (it was in the curry sauce for too long and carry-over cooking occurred). It seems I made an error with my time management. Next time should be more accurate.

Thursday

Poona Pancakes with
Cilantro Mint Chutney

It came out that it was the last day of the block, the last day of Cuisines of Asia. Out of three classes taking the Asian Cuisine two graduated last Friday, but our class did not. Why we were cut off last Friday I have no idea.
So, Thursday was an Indian menu. For me it was not completely new, as I tried Indian food many times and during my externship worked in Indian place for two weeks. I would not say that this is my favorite food, no. I can't eat it every day. Once in a while is fine for me.
The menu for the team was:

Poona Pancakes with Mint Cilantro Chutney 
Tandoori Prawns with Tandoori Khatta Masala 
Toor Lentils with Garlic and Tomatoes 
Mixed Vegetable and Lentil Curry 
Coconut Chutney
Chapati.
My dish was Poona Pancakes with Mint Cilantro Chutney. These pancakes were made from rice and lentil flour. I wish I had have known what I am doing a day in advance. The batter for the pancakes suppose to ferment slightly (overnight). So mine had only a couple of hours and did not ferment enough.
As I had spare time I helped the chef to prepare mayonnaise for the Indian crab salad (it was tasty dish, but authenticity was questionable). He mixed mayo with Indian spices, then folded in crab meat and served it with papadum.