Adam Liaw's top 16 dishes 2013

Eating each one of these dishes was a special moment for me this year. Thanks so much for letting me share them with you.

So here they are, in no particular order:

1. Grilled Nagoya cochin chicken with yuzu kosho – Toriyoshi, Nagoya
2. Pumpkin cooked in mead with white rice ice cream – Sixpenny, Sydney
3. Babi guling – Pak Malen, Bali
4. Sumi 2009 – Narisawa, Tokyo
5. 25-year aged kombu stock – Takashi Okuda, Fukui
6. Cheeseburger and root beer float – Gordie’s, Okinawa
7. Marmite spicy frog porridge – Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur
8. Daiginjo sake soufflé and salt soft serve – Ryugin, Tokyo
9. Hairy crab and sea urchin nori roll with orange ankake – Kappo Okada, Sapporo
10. Yang rou chuan – Roadside stall, Beijing
11. Noto beef jibuni – Tsuruko, Ishikawa
12. Kumara scones – Mavis Suckling, Dargaville, New Zealand
13. Tea ceremony (Azaleas with their roots in a stone) – Kimura Soshin, Kyoto
14. XO Sea – Quay, Sydney
15. Eel spine kara-age – Kawatatsu, Kyoto
16. 2013 Christmas lunch – At home, Sydney

Ricotta toast

One of my favourite breakfasts in Sydney is Ricotta, honey toast. I had it once at a restaurant in Melbourne and it was stunning. I do it at home now, especially when there is nice bread at home. The most important and rarest part of this dish is a good ricotta. As I don't use ricotta often, I have not explored many sources. I do not use the ricotta in the supermarket as my impression is that it may be for cooking or mixing into sauces, without the gentle flavours it is meant to have. I discovered that Frattelli fresh has great home made ricotta. I have this dish when I get a chance to buy this one. They have great breads too. I assume getting the best honey would add to this dish exponentially.

We could make our own ricotta:

Or 

Milk, lemon juice, and about half hour of your time — that's all you need to make a batch of fresh, creamy homemade ricotta. You're not going to believe how easy and foolproof this is! And trust me, once you make your own ricotta, it's hard to go back to the stuff from the tub. You bring the milk almost to a simmer, add lemon juice or vinegar, and then let it sit while you work on the rest of dinner. 

How to Make Homemade Ricotta

Makes 2 cups

What You Need

Ingredients
1/2 gallon whole milk, not UHT pasteurized (see Recipe Notes)
1/3 cup lemon juice (from 1 1/2 to 2 lemons), 1/3 cup distilled white vinegar, or 1/2 teaspoon citric acid (available from cheese-making suppliers)
1 teaspoon salt, optional

Equipment
4-quart pot
Instant read thermometer or candy thermometer
Measuring spoons
Cheese cloth
Strainer
Mixing bowl
Slotted spoon

Instructions

1. Warm the milk to 200°F: Pour the milk into a 4-quart pot and set it over medium heat. Let it warm gradually to 200°F, monitoring the temperature with an instant read thermometer. The milk will get foamy and start to steam; remove it from heat if it starts to boil.
2. Add the lemon juice and salt: Remove the milk from heat. Pour in the lemon juice or vinegar (or citric acid) and the salt. Stir gently to combine.
3. Let the milk sit for 10 minutes: Let the pot of milk sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. After this time, the milk should have separated into clumps of milky white curds and thin, watery, yellow-colored whey — dip your slotted spoon into the mix to check. If you still see a lot of un-separated milk, add another tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar and wait a few more minutes.
4. Strain the curds: Set a strainer over a bowl and line the strainer with cheese cloth. Scoop the big curds out of the pot with a slotted spoon and transfer them to the strainer. Pour the remaining curds and the whey through the strainer. (Removing the big curds first helps keep them from splashing and making a mess as you pour.)
5. Drain the curds for 10 to 60 minutes: Let the ricotta drain for 10 to 60 minutes, depending on how wet or dry you prefer your ricotta. If the ricotta becomes too dry, you can also stir some of the whey back in before using or storing it.
6. Use or store the ricotta: Fresh ricotta can be used right away or refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a week.

Sri Lanka, place for Sun Sea and Seafood pt1

Taiwan restaurants

Shintori

人間創意料理

Malaysian Food - Hokkien Mee

Hokkien Mee

Hokkien Noodles 
If my Dad comes home late and is hungry, he comes home with Hokkien Mee from the stall behind Tawakal Hospital. It's the time to hang around him for a taste. With the chilli sambal on the side, this is quite a good tasting Hokkien Mee, better than the 'one in Petaling Street' I thought 10 years ago. And the taste is still the same. This visit home, I had it twice. Once when I returned home hungry and the other after going to the airport only to discover my flight was delayed. I looked hard at the cooks to see if I recognised him from 10 years ago, and just when I was convinced that they all looked too young or too old, the person who gave me my noodles, still packed 3D triangular shape in plastic and newspaper, smiled like he remembered me. He might have, he knows my Dad, his late night regular.

I got this photo on the web, it seemed to best describe the slipperiness and blackness of the noodles. Please click the photo to visit her website for the recipe.

Leeks in Chardonnay

Sven served us this dish. It sounded special and intriguing. So I had to try it at home. Boil the leeks in wine right?

I melted some butter and threw in the finely sliced washed leeks. Had to add the bay leaf, since I have a tree. When it wilted slightly, I poured in some cheap Chardonnay and let it boil down. Some salt and pepper.

It was simply delicious. Cant get over it, and cant wait to try it again. It went well with meatballs (Susheela Aunty's cutlets). I think it will go with any meat. As an accompanying sauce.

Malaysian biscuits I loved

 Appam balik

caterpillar biscuits

Sooji biscuits


Love letter biscuits

Malaysian butterless biscuits

Scallion pancake