Duck Leg Confit with Mixed Fruit Garnish

This is one of my favourite dishes as it is so flavorfully delicious. The meat literally falls off the bones, the skin is thin and crispy and you do not get the fattiness one would associate with duck skin.

Almost all French recipes for duck leg confits are seasoned with thyme. I could not get fresh thyme in the days I was to make the dish. So I used Ajwain seeds instead. Ajwain, a thyme flavored seed of the Carom family, is common in Indian and Middle Easter cuisine. I also added crushed bay leaves, chopped parsley, black pepper and of course, sea salt. The legs are marinated in the mixture for 24 hours. I cooked the duck legs in its own fat at 85 deg C for 4 hours, with skin side up, adding a bulb of garlic and and one or two cloves.

For the mixed fruit garnish, I use fresh apples and dried prunes, golden raisins, wolfberries, white wine, and crushed almonds. I simmer the dried fruits in fresh orange juice and a little chicken stock before adding diced apple cubes, without over cooking it to retain some crunchiness. The roasted and crushed almonds are added last.

Australian Wagyu Ribeye with Mustard Flavored Watercress Salad

For this dish, I want a twist between a sweet-tart flavor of a Japanese steak sauce and a tangy mustard dressing for the watercress salad.

The wagyu steak is simply seasoned with salt and pepper, then sous vided at 59 deg C for 45 min. I added a dash of smoked paprika before grilling it on a hot cast iron skillet for a minute each side. I reckoned a minute is a bit too long for a tender wagyu steak about 20mm thick. While the meat tasted great, it could have been better if I have reduced the grilling to just 30 seconds each side.

For the watercress dressing, I use a homemade Dijon mustard, cider vinegar, honey and extra virgin olive oil. The mustard was made a couple of weeks ahead from black and yellow mustard seeds, mustard powder, yellow onion, garlic, dry white wine, worcestershire sauce, salt, vinegar, sugar and a dash of ground mace, all spice, tumeric, white pepper and cinnamon.

To serve, I added shiitake mushrooms sauteed with a little sea salt and garlic.

Humphead Wrasse with Fennel Salad

I bought a kilogram of frozen Humphead Wrasse at the airport in Sabah, Borneo. I was intrigued to find out how it tastes like. The fish was seasoned with salt, pepper and tumeric, dusted with flour and then pan fried in a nonstick skillet. As it turned out, the meat was firm, between that of monkfish and grouper.

Firm white fish and fennel is a classic combination. Here, I made the baby fennel salad with a mandoline grater, seasoned it with orange juice, white wine vinegar and olive oil. I added a few crunchy baby tomatoes. For the sauce, I used lemon juice, mirin, chilli, garlic, and soy sauce to give it a tangy hot and sour flavour.

Suquet de Mero con Almejas

This is a Catalan fish stew that I picked up from Jose Andres. His recipe uses Scorpion fish which is not available here. I replace it with golden grouper which has a tasty, firm, white fresh. The stock is prepared from fresh fishes, shells of prawns, celery, carrot, onions and garlic. I added a few slices of ginger to remove the fishiness.

For the stew, diced, parboiled russet potato is sauteed in olive oil before adding tomato pulp, a pinch of saffron, sugar and pimenton (Spanish smoke paprika). Strained stock is then added to the pot, just enough to cover the slice of fish and cook for about five minutes. The clams are then added.

Mash a garlic clove with salt, parsley and a piece of potato from the stew and add to the pot. Serve.

Sardine Bruschetta

It is rare to find fresh sardines in the tropics. When I saw them in the market, I wasted no time in taking away 2.5 kilos of the delicate fish. For the sardines, I use a Japanese marinate made from mirin, sake, soy sauce, sugar and rice vinegar. The fish is lightly powdered with plain flour, then pan fried in medium heat in a non stick pan. Layer and layer of the marinate is applied until the skin appear to have a shiny glaze.


It is easy to debone sardine. Once the head and guts are removed, use a paring knife to free up on half of the meat from the bone. When the bone is exposed, you can lift it up with your fingers and pulling slowing towards the tail end.

Mooncake with Black Garlic and Chestnut

It is the mid-autumn festival and I decided to have a go at making snow skin mooncake. Almost all mooncakes available commercially has a high sugar content, usually made with lotus paste, and fairly unhealthy when paired with salted egg yolk. I decided to create my own blend, pure chestnut puree with black garlic paste, some olive oil and butter, without adding any crystalline sugar. Fermented black garlic has none of the garlic sharpness, a natural sweetness with a hint of balsamic. I rely on this for the overall taste. I would say, this mooncake has the highest antioxidant and polyphenol level in the market. As it turns out, bonishimo!

Saffron Poached Pear with Mint Custard

Saffron and pear might seem a strange combination, but it works! A pinch of saffron in the poaching liquid is all that is needed to give it a golden yellow colour. After simmering in the sugared liquid for 20 to 25 minutes, leave the pear to cool in the liquid for half a day. The longer it is left in the liquid, the more intense is the colour.

For the custard sauce, I add a few pods of crushed cardamon and finely chopped fresh mint leaves to give a twist to the flavour. Before serving, dust the pear with caster sugar, and caramelise it with a chef's blowtorch.

Cuttlefish Mouth with Grilled Chilli and Wasabi Sauce

I bought a 2.7kg cuttlefish and it has a mouth the size of a ping pong ball. The only place in the world that people eat squid mouth is in Vietnam. In keeping with my attitude of not wasting food, I decided to vacuum poach it at 65 deg C for 45 min. To my surprise, it has a crunchy texture, akin to that of eating raw geoduck clam. I served it with wasabi soy sauce and skinless baked red chilli.