April 12, 2009
Apricot gives stew punch
May Wong sweetens things up with a lamb shank stew that has body and depth
By Huang Lijie
Ms May Wong, 39, fell in love with cooking three years ago on the couch.
The physiotherapist, who runs her own practice in Orchard Road, says: 'I was watching Nigella Lawson's cooking show, Nigella Bites, and she made cooking seem so simple and fun. The dishes she cooked were also very homey.'
That was enough to get the mother of two children aged 11 and seven excited about cooking.
Indeed, she was so enamoured with the British celebrity cookshow host and cookbook author that she went to a bookstore the next day to pick up two of her cookbooks - Nigella Bites (2001) and Feast: Food That Celebrates Life (2006).
Her collection of Nigella's recipe books has since grown to five and she also owns a DVD set of two of the domestic goddess' cooking shows.
The first recipe she tried was for chocolate cherry trifle and she admits to being a little nervous then because the custard filling had to be made from scratch.
She says: 'I was expecting the custard to be tricky because I'd never made it before and it can burn easily if it is not continuously stirred.'
But she persisted and was pleasantly surprised when her custard turned out well and the dessert was a hit with her children and husband, who is a primary school vice-principal.
She says: 'With the success of the trifle, I became more confident and started trying other recipes.'
She gradually expanded her repertoire to include dishes such as Asian-spiced kedgeree, an Indian rice dish cooked with turmeric and fish, as well as thin-crust pizza and bread rolls such as cinnamon buns.
Ms Wong, however, was no stranger to the kitchen before she discovered Nigella.
Her earliest memory of cooking was as an eight-year-old during a visit to her paternal grandfather's home.
She says: 'I decided to make my grandfather something to eat. I cooked instant noodles in a huge wok and threw in some peas. The whole thing turned out mushy and disgusting.
'It was a huge mess but he was patient and a good sport. He ate what I gave him.'
However, while she was growing up, she did not do much cooking.
This was because her grandmother and mother, who ran a home business selling uniforms, were excellent cooks and would take care of the family's meals.
Some of her favourite childhood dishes include her mother's deep-fried fish with tamarind and turmeric sauce, and her grandmother's steamed pomfret and Hainanese chicken rice.
It was only after she went to study physiotherapy in Australia at the University of Sydney that she found herself cooking regularly because she could not afford to eat out on her allowance.
She says: 'I cooked by recalling how my mother used to make the dishes.' And when she needed help, she would call or write home to her mother.
The food she cooked as a student was mostly simple, home-style dishes such as minced pork with tofu, chicken stew using cheap cuts of meat, and porridge.
She adds that although she cooked frequently as a student, it was done more out of necessity rather than interest.
Now, however, she is so passionate about cooking that she buys an average of three cookbooks every three months.
She has also amassed a collection of about 40 cookbooks by celebrity chefs such as Briton Jamie Oliver and Australian Bill Granger.
She enjoys experimenting with new recipes and gladly spends the weekends at home whipping up tasty treats for the family.
While she has had her fair share of failed experiments, including an ice cream that turned out like 'solid cream', and a mutton curry where the meat was so tough that a fork could not pierce through it, these unfortunate episodes are far and few between.
Indeed, an experiment that paid off handsomely is her lamb shank stew, which has become a family favourite.
She says its recipe, which she shares below, was modified from a cookbook.
'The dish was successful the first time I cooked it but I kept tweaking it every time I cooked the dish to suit my family's preference.'
Her version calls for more onions and garlic. Besides adding coriander and cumin to the spice mix, she also adds dried apricots, beef stock cube and shavings of palm sugar to lend the dish more flavour.
On the additional ingredients, she says: 'The stew is a meaty dish so I was looking for body, depth and a softly, sweet taste, hence the apricots and palm sugar.'
MAKE IT YOURSELF: LAMB SHANK STEW
5 Tbs peanut oil or vegetable oil
5 lamb shanks
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 medium-sized onions, finely chopped
3/4 Tbs turmeric powder
3/4 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
3/4 tsp nutmeg powder
2 Tbs honey
1 Tbs soya sauce
3 Tbs wine (white, red or rose)
1 cube beef stock
6 Tbs red lentils
90g dried apricot
ground black pepper to taste
salt to taste
palm sugar to taste
METHOD:
1. Warm 3 Tbs of oil in a pan and brown the shanks, in batches, for about three to four minutes on each side. When done, remove and set aside.
2. To the same pan, add 2 Tbs of oil. Stir-fry the garlic and onion over low heat for about three minutes or until the onions are soft.
3. Add the turmeric, ginger, coriander, cumin, nutmeg, honey, soya sauce and wine. Stir to mix.
4. Add the lamb shanks, beef cube and enough water to just cover the shanks.
5. Bring the mixture to a boil on high heat, then let the stew simmer for about 2 to 21/2 hours until the lamb is soft and tender.
6. Add the lentils and apricots and cook with the lid off for about 20 minutes until the lentils soften and the gravy has thickened and reduced.
7. Add salt, pepper and palm sugar to taste. Serves five
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