What's Cooking?

Call me Six Swords from the North...I use them to peel, to cut, to slash, to chop and to dice...

This is the last dish I prepared for the past 2 weeks, and my parents are coming back from vacation today...

COOKING...For me, it's not about cooking delicious dishes or how perfect our cooking skills are. It is all about filling up the hunger, bringing happiness and satisfaction to our loved ones. Among the Chong (Paternal) and Lim (Maternal) families, most guys know how to cook, and several of my maternal uncles are successful hawkers. Well, I'm still learning though, through helping my mum in the kitchen, experimenting some new dishes when my parents are not at home. There are several reasons why a guy should know how to cook:

1. You can cook your favourite dishes or your mum's secret recipe, if you get a GF or wife who doesn't know how to cook or having no time to cook for you.

2. You can be a loving BF or husband, by cooking your GF's or wife's favourite dish to her. Besides, I think that will impress your parents-in-law too, and they will happily let you handle their princess with care.

3. You can become a health conscious dad and role model to your kids, by dishing out healthy and balanced meals for them.

4. You can organize a feast or a party with friends, where everyone attend must cook one dish. From there, we get to learn new recipes and cooking tips from our friends who share the same interest.

KITCHEN, I would like to describe it as a "battlefield", where you ready all your secret weapons, setting up strategies and ready for a cooking battle. Here, I would like to share a few important things which can grant me victory in the "battlefield":

I.) Weapons - Knives

I always love to have lots of dangerously sharp knives in the kitchen, at least 5 usually:

~ Meat cleaver for chopping meat

~ 2 knives for cutting meat (1 broad, 1 thin)

~ Knife for cutting vegetables

~ Knife for cutting fruits

~ Peeler (to peel off the skins from the enemies? No...just fruits)

~ Shredder/Grater (to shred/ grate vegetables, fruits and cheese)

II) Shields - Chopping Boards

It is best recommend to have 2 or 3 chopping boards:

~ Large : For processing whole chickens, ducks and fish

~ Medium : For cutting and chopping purposes (meats)

~ Small: For cutting vegetables and chopping (garlic, shallots and onions)

III) Gunpowder and Liquid Explosives - Spices and Sauces

~ Sugar

~ Salt

~ MSG, monosodium glutamate (occasionally-used)

~ Curry powder

~ Tumeric powder (normally for marinating fish)

~ Five spice powder (normally for marinating meat, such as pork and beef)

~ Pepper (Black and white)

~ Dried chilli, seeded and grounded into powder

~ Assam jawa/tamarind (in sliced/ paste)

~ Corn starch (to thicken gravy, soup and sauce)

~ Chilli sauce

~ Tomato sauce/ ketchup

~ Mayonaise (for salad or seafood such as fried squids/prawns)

~ White vinegar

~ Rice wine or Shao Xing wine (add flavour to the dishes...you can try Jack Daniels too)

~ Dark soy sauce

~ Light soy sauce

~ Sesame oil

~ Cooking oil (palm oil and olive oil)

IV) Biological Weapons - Vegetables

There are a few must-have vegetables in the kitchen, because they will always add a hint of flavour and sweetness to the dishes:

~ Onions (red and yellow)

~ Shallots

~ Garlic

~ Ginger

~ Lime

~ Corn

~ Carrot

~ Cabbage/ Chinese cabbage

~ Tomato

~ Potato

~ Seaweed

~ Coriander

~ Basil leaves

~ Curry leaves

~ Lemon grass