In my kitchen: March 2020

Fires, Floods and Coronavirus.. what a 2020 we are off to! In between times, at least we can appreciate the IMK project around the world.

How I love hotpots! My dad's partner has a secret family sauce which comprises sesame paste, chilli and a secret leek flower ingredient she brought in from China. It's so secret that I didn't get to see it being made. This hotpot was a real treat for my dad's birthday.

I do like my random sourdough projects but I had never thought of making a sourdough cake till I realised the baking powder in my house had solidified into a giant rock. So I used Barney to raise this fruit cake for my dad's birthday cake. It worked surprisingly well!

We are also using sourdough for all Chinese yeast related projects, such as these delicious steamed  pork buns.

And these pan fried pockets stuffed with chive and egg. With a crispy outer, a soft bite (apparently the trick is hot water in half of the dough) and a delicious savoury filling, we couldn't stop eating these!

The garden has been a bit on the quiet side this year, possibly relating to air pollution from the fires? Our choko vine died in the extreme heat of early January and it doesn't look like there will be any chokos this year.

We do have lots of snake beans that we are fighting to save from animals that keep munching them through the night, and some of these lovely gourds that resemble zucchini in a lady like form.

And lots of okra for stir fry and for teas (Chinese traditional medicine says it's good for diabetes - who knows!)

Since moving to Newcastle I've also brought some tomato plants across from my dad's garden. Once they settled in I even got a few cherry tomatoes!

Onto the Food and Music series



I made these shallot pancakes using sourdough (of course) for a Chinese dinner we had. Rolling these out and studding the dough with shallots was super fun. These were crispy, flaky and just the right amount of chew.



Our Chinese dinner of steamed bream (left), tofu with mushrooms (top), garlic & chilli prawns (bottom right) and stir fried garden weed with snow peas went down a treat. We ate these with Schubert's Rosamunde, which came into my head one morning after a dream. We also played some reverse piano trios with me on cello and the cellist on piano - Haydn's Gypsy trio and Beethoven's Op 1 No. 3. Playing the cello is super fun and challenging!

Another piano duet, another plum tart! Stone fruit has been really good this year. We ate these with the next instalment of the Beethoven project (we are playing all the Beethoven string quartets arranged for piano 4 hand), the Op 18 No. 5, as well as a selection of modern dances.



I'll finish with one of the best loaves I've produced lately. This had a lovely rise and a golden colour with nice open crumb. I think sourdough teaches me to be patient and understanding of what the dough needs - pretty much a good philosophy for self care. I'm sending this to Sherry who hosts the IMK series - thanks Sherry!