Michelle's world of food

If you never had this before, beef rendang is a spicy dry beef curry with a Peranakan origin. Peranakan is a culture that evolved in the 15th century when Chinese immigrants started setting foot in South East Asia. With intermarriages between these new immigrants and the locals, the new ethnic group was born. I love the Peranakan culture, it has the most beautiful and intricate artifacts that captures the exquisiteness of both civilizations. One of the best heritages from this group is its food. Peranakan food has a distinctive influence of both Chinese and Malay cultures, giving them their unique flavours and characters. Beef Rendang is absolutely one of my husband's favourite dish. I suspect he could probably eat this everyday for the rest of his life! My husband likes it so much that there are two restaurants in Wellington where he can actually walk in, grab a table and they just bring the dish to him. And if I happened to be with him, the waiter would kindly offer me the menu...

The cucumbers in our garden do not seem to stop growing. New cucumbers seem to be popping up by the minute. They have been made into salads, eaten on their own, made into sushis, you name it. So this is my latest recipe with cucumbers. It is definitely not for the faint hearted, mostly scary because of the appalling recipe, but also this salad is rather hot and can potentially send you racing for that cold glass of beer or even through the roof! The combination of hot fiery chillies marinated in vinegar with crisp refreshing cucumber is quite a gastronomic adventure. In South East Asia, this salad is also known as Archar. There are many variations and this is my version which I made with fresh vegetables from our garden. Spicy Cucumber Salad with Peanuts Ingredients: Salad: 500 g Cucumbers 100 g Carrots 100 g Cabbage 400 g Canned pineapples in juice 5 Red chillies 3 Green chillies 80 g Roasted peanuts 3 tbsp Sesame seeds Marinate: 100 ml White vinegar 2 tsp Sal...

Cabbage is a lovely compliment to any meat or seafood dishes. But as kids, we didn't think much of this vegetable, other than the odd occasion of yummy cabbage rolls. It was the same boring steamed cabbage every time. I remember having to pile heaps of salt so we can reluctantly shove them into our mouths before we were allowed that after dinner chocolate cake. There was an occasion when my older brother decided he had enough and started chucking handful of cabbages into his pocket while mum wasn't looking. I don't think mum ever found out, well she does now. Sorry, Eric. If you are still doing that, here's a wonderful way to jazz up that cabbage. Tried and tested on children and husband with fantastic verdict! Cabbage with Garlic Ingredients: 1/2 large head of Cabbage 4 cloves Garlic 1 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Sugar 1 tbsp Oil Steps: 1. Chop the cabbage up into 1/2 inch width. 2. Wash and dry cabbage. I simply put them over a kitchen towel to absorb the water...

On our trip to Martinborough, I bought some spare ribs from Scotty. Like any good butcher, he asked what I was going to do with his produce. I think he was rather disappointed when I stared at him blankly and answered I had no idea. I think half of the world's population go grocery shopping with an idea in mind what they are going to cook. And the other half is probably like me, buy and decide what to do with the ingredients later. That is how I ended up with a freezer full of spare ribs until a bright idea came along. I recall savoring coffee spare ribs in a food court many years ago in Singapore. I thought it was the most intriguing idea; who would have imagine using coffee with meat. Perhaps it was one of those incidents where the cook mistakenly added coffee to the ribs thinking it was ground spice. Like the story of the Tatin sisters from France who "accidentally" invented the Tarte Tatin. The story goes that one of the sisters burnt an apple pie that she was makin...