Thai style steamed chilli lime squid : Pla Meuk Neung Ma-Nao

What's in a name? 

Pla Meuk = Squid

Neung = Steamed

Ma-Nao = Lime 

I guess the chilli part didn't need to be stated since we're talking about a Thai dish here.

So it's taken me too long to get down to trying out a dish as simple as this.

Trust me. 

You'll wonder why you ever needed to read a recipe on this. ;)

Ingredients

300 g squid, cleaned and skin removed

3 bird's eye chiili, seeds removed and chopped

5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

2 tablespoon fish sauce

3 small lime, squeezed and seeds removed

0.5 tsp honey

0.5 tsp chicken concentrate

50ml water

1 small bunch of coriander, stalks chopped and leaves for garnishing

1 tablespoon Thai seafood sauce (optional)

Method

Clean and squid and remove the skin as much as possible. Slice it into rings but don't cut it through. 

Steam them for 3-5 minutes. Keep tabs on them! They'll be overcooked before you know it. I'm not squidding you! And you're not gonna fancy have rubberbands for dinner.

Mix the chicken concentrate and warm water to form chicken stock. Dissolve honey and stir thoroughly.

Then add in lime juice and fish sauce.

Mix in minced garlic, chilli, coriander and thai seafood sauce. 

Once the squid is ready, pour out steaming liquid from the steamed squid into the sauce mixture and ladle the final mixture generously over the squid. 

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot (:

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

乱中有序。Skipping the meat on this version of chap chye. :)

• 
• Ingredients
•  8 large dried mushrooms
•  1 litre of water, or more if necessary
•  100g haebi or dried shrimp
•  10g dried black fungus or cloud ear fungus
•  10g dried golden lily buds
•  20g tung hoon or bean vermicelli
•  20g tau kee
•  2Tbs Cooking oil + 1 Tsp Sesame oil
•  2Tsp minced garlic
•  2 1/2Tbs tau cheo or fermented soyabean paste
•  1kg cabbage, washed and cut roughly into pieces
•  1Tbs concentrated chicken stock or 1 chicken cube
•  Salt to taste
•  Oyster sauce to taste

1. Wash the dried mushrooms and soak till reconstituted. Drain but keep the liquid (mushroom water) for use later. Cut the mushrooms into strips. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, soak the dried shrimp, black fungus, black moss, golden lily buds in separate bowls of water for about 10 minutes. Drain each item and set aside. Tie the lily buds into knots and trim the ends. Set aside.

3. Heat oil in a large wok on medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the minced garlic and dried shrimp and fry until fragrant.

4. Add the tau cheo and continue to fry.

5. Next, put in the cabbage. Add about 200ml of water. Cover and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring intermittently.

6. Add the mushroom water that you had set aside earlier, followed by the mushrooms, black fungus, tau kee and golden lily buds. Stir. Add just enough water to submerge most of the ingredients.

7. Add the concentrated chicken stock, salt and oyster sauce to taste.The vegetables should be cooked and soft, but not mushy. Bring this to a rolling boil then turn down to low heat before adding in the tung hoon. 

Happy cooking!

From my kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

This must be Confucius' Favourite dish. The eggplant that doesn't have any egg. 鱼香茄子但有没有🐠哦。

Ingredients

1 large brinjal, sliced into halves and then lengthwise
250g minced pork
Half a carrot, blanched.
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 sprig of spring onion, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon of (fermented beancurd) spicy bean paste
0.5 tsp of fish sauce
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tsp of dark soya sauce
A squeeze of lemon
100 ml of water


Marinade for minced pork

1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic

Cornstarch mixture

1 tablespoon cornflour
2 tablespoons water

Optional

Chopped spring onions
Sliced red chilli
1 tablespoon of chicken/ pork/fish floss

Method

Shallow fry brinjal slices. Heat three tablespoons of oil in the pan, place brinjal slices skin side down. After a few minutes, turn it on its side and repeat till all sides have been shallow fried. Set it aside on some kitchen towels to drain the oil.

Heat up the reserved oil and fry the remaining minced garlic with the white portions of the spring onion till fragrant.

Add in the minced pork and fry together with the spicy bean paste. Add the brinjal and blanched carrot slices. Stir fish sauce, oyster sauce, dark soya sauce and a squeeze of lemon into 100ml of water before pouring it over the ingredients in the pan. Give it a good mix to ensure that the sauce coats the ingredients evenly.

When it starts to bubble, turn the heat to low to let it simmer for 5 minutes. Then turn up the heat and thicken the gravy by stirring in cornstarch mixture to desired consistency.

Garnish as desired and serve hot with rice. Maybe two servings of rice. :)

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Edible Art : Garden of blooms x Osmanthus| Wolfberries| Waterchesnut Jelly

Ingredients

1 Pack Red Man Brand Konnyaku Premix Jelly Powder 
1200ml Water
4 tsp Osmanthus flower, remove petals from stems if any
1 heaped tablespoon of wolfberries, soaked 
8 waterchestnuts, peeled and diced

Method

Bring 1200ml of water in a pot to a rolling boil, and add in the osmanthus flower petals. Then simmer it on low heat for 2 minutes.

While on low heat, stir in the Konnyaku Jelly Premix till completely dissolved. Use a balloon whisk if you have one.

Then turn off heat and let it cool a little before transferring it to desired jelly mould. I used a regular square glass ceramic container. 

Give the solution a quick stir to spread out the osmanthus flower petals, wolfberries and diced chestnuts before chilling it in the fridge for at least 2 hours till firm before serving. 

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Never eat food you can't pronounce. Except quinoa. You must eat quinoa.

Quinoa. That's probably gotta be something close to quiche right? I mean, milk and eggs. How could that go wrong? Oh quiche was right but I could be wrong about quinoa. And I was. Quinoa is an ancient seed. A superfood that's one of the few plant based sources of complete protein. Little wonder why it would have been regarded as the Incas' gold, the mother grain.

I've had it in my pantry for the longest time but I wasn't sure how to introduce this to my family on the dinner table. Not as a side but as a substitute for that starchy rice that's a staple at every Chinese family dinner. Lofty ideas. Never attempted. Till tonight. That one special day every four years. 

Now where do I start? I read about bitter tastes, mushy turnouts. That would be a recipe for disaster. So I made sure I had backup. Made sure there was rice grains to be cooked, noodles on standby. With a deep breath, I took out my nearly forgotten white and red quinoa grains and got down to washing them. So apparently the white quinoa has the most neutral and easy to love flavour for first timers but I was keen on trying the red ones too, which have a more earthy flavour. Plus a colour pop would really appeal to one's stomach I figured? 

Quinoa has a natural coating, saponin that gives rise to a bitter taste if not washed properly. How much washing is enough? To be honest, I was none the wiser, and gave it two rounds of  vigorous washing in a fine mesh strainer. I took three quarters of the white quinoa and topped it off with another quarter of the red quinoa to make one cup. The standard ratio of quinoa to water/ stock is 1 : 2. Keep to that ratio and try it out with different stocks. I boiled up a pot of wintermelon, dried cuttlefish, pork bones and chicken breast broth and I used that as my stock. Since that was already pre-salted, I didn't add any additional seasonings. 

Boil it over high heat till the liquid is almost absorbed. That's about ten minutes worth of boiling. Then add in the carrot from the soup stock, raw cubed pumpkin and raw chopped broccoli because these cook quickly. Then turn off the flame and let it stand for five minutes. Don't peek! Then remove the lid, you should see the spirals separated from and curling around the quinoa. Use a fork and fluff up the quinoa gently. Serve warm. :)

The verdict? The jury decides... that this would not be a staple. But this would be a welcome side :) Simple. Versatile. Tasty. And a very worthwhile attempt into eating well. 

First try and definitely not the last!

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

When Cinderella's pumpkin carriage meets... A rice cooker :)

Ingredients

2 wedges of pumpkin, cubed

1 carrot, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

8 chinese mushrooms, soaked and sliced

30g of dried shrimp, rinsed and soaked, reserve water

200g lean pork, sliced

(Marinate with 1 tbsp of sesame oil, 1 tsp of white pepper, 1/4 tsp of salt, 1 1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1 tbsp of dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp of light soya sauce and a dash of Shaoxing wine)

6 large prawns, deveined and deshelled, reserve heads

1 sprig of parsley, chopped

1 chicken cube, dissolved in 100ml of water

2.5 cups rice, rinsed (I measured the amount of water needed for 2.5 cups of cooking and soaked the rice in it while prepping the rest of the ingredients) 

Chye sim, washed and chopped.

1 packet of Hokto Maitake mushrooms (or black fungus) for added crunch. *Optional.

Method

In the rice cooker, turn the setting to cook and add 2 tbsp of oil. 

Stir fry garlic and dried shrimp till fragrant. 

Add in the shrimp heads, using the frying slice to press down on the heads and discard.

Throw in the mushrooms, the marinated lean pork and fry till almost cooked.

Add in the pumpkin and carrot to fry.

Pour in the rice, water and dissolved chicken stock cube, add in the chopped chye sim and mix till well combined.

Place the prawns on top and close the rice cooker. 

Wait for it to work its magic :)

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

红（萝卜）运当（菜）头 | the approach of good luck!

• Ingredients
• 1 kg white radish, grated (reserve water)
• 50g red carrots, grated (reserve water)
• 150g rice flour
• 50g corn starch
• 1 Chinese sausages, removed from casing and diced
• 8 pcs dried black mushroom, soaked and diced (reserve water)
• 1 piece of dried cuttlefish, soaked and cut into bitesized strips
• 30g dried shrimps, soaked (reserve water)
• 2 shallots, finely sliced

• 
  
• 
  
• Method: 
• 
  
• Marinate the black mushroom, cuttlefish and shrimps with 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp wine and a small pinch of sugar.
• 
  
• Combine the corn starch and rice flour with 21/2 rice bowls of water including reserve water from the radish, carrot, black mushroom, scallops and shrimp, soaking the mushrooms and cuttlefish. Stir and mix well to form a smooth batter.
• 
  
• With 3 tablespoons of oil, sauté shallots till fragrant with chopped sausages then add in shrimps, mushrooms and scallops. Toss in grated radish and carrots, add 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp ground white pepper and 1 tbsp oil before stirring well. Toss it well to mix and keep frying till the liquid appears from the radish and carrot strips.
• 
  
• Turn to low heat, slowly stir in flour mixture into the turnips. Turn and mix well until it forms a sticky dough. 
• 
  
• Grease dish for steaming. Transfer the batter into the pan and over high heat for about 40 minutes.

 Leave to cool and cut into slices to be pan fried. Or steamed and garnished with parsley, spring onions and chopped
  chilli.

Recipe adapted from : http://www.tastehongkong.com/recipes/featured/turnip-or-radish-cake-with-chinese-sausages/

I substituted cuttlefish for scallops. It tasted good too but I'll probably stick with scallops in future :)
Have adjusted the sugar because I used red carrots for natural sweetness.
I'll probably try it with just white radish in future to try and recreate the ones served at dim sum restaurants! 

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

"Mix It Up" on Health Perch

Flax(seed)ing the muscles for some salted egg yolk cookie love! :)

Salted egg yolk cookies

Yields about 60 pcs (1 inch diameter, 5mm thickness)

Ingredients

125g plain flour

10g corn flour

1/8 tsp baking powder

1/2 tbsp milk powder

1/4 tsp fine salt

2 salted egg yolks

85g unsalted butter

30g caster sugar + 10g icing sugar

1 egg yolk (lightly beaten for egg wash)

Flaxseeds (for decoration)

Method

Preheat oven at 160 degree Celsius.

Steam salted egg yolks till firm then mash coarsely and set aside.

Sift plain flour, corn flour, baking powder, milk powder and fine salt together. Set aside.

Cream unsalted butter and sugar mix till light and fluffy.

Add in mashed egg yolks and flour mixture and mix till combined to form a soft dough.

Refrigerate the dough for about 20 minutes for ease of handling. 

Roll out the dough to 5 mm thickness.

Stamp into desired shape with cookie cutters.

Line baking tray with baking sheet and arrange cookie dough on the baking sheet.

Gently brush the tops of each cookie dough with egg wash and sprinkle some flaxseeds.

Repeat as above for the remaining dough. 
Bake each batch for about 10 minutes till golden brown.
Let cookies cool till room temperature before storing in an airtight container.

Keep Calm and Eat Crab @ 瑞安炖汤美食馆

So this was my taste of childhood. Our family used to do trips across the causeway every other week back in the days when we still had a separate blue restricted passport for trips to West Malaysia. 

http://www.singaporememory.sg/contents/SMA-d8f008c1-3745-455b-a305-50a999118fa1

Anyone still remember that? 

And that's when our love affair with this unique crab bowl started. On the third level of the market at Larkin. We'd pack ourselves in the car by 8am and be off on our way towards the Woodlands Causeway. Breakfast was a standard affair once we got to Larkin Market. No one tries to change their orders. It was a standard three stall order. A nondescript shop in the middle of the hawker centre selling pork trotters, braised intestines and of course the crab bowl, the store opposite selling hot drinks and perfectly executed half boiled eggs and the quiet congee stall next to it selling familiar comforts of pork and chicken congee. Oh and of course, grandpa always does a takeaway of the fried noodles in open trays wrapped in plastic sheets laid on top of newspapers. Life was simple. 

While we've skipped Larkin altogether these days except for the odd days where grandma is good enough for walks and would like to buy fresh foods from the market, I'm glad we no longer have to drive that far for our favourite crab bowls.

What's changed? The location, for sure. It's now situated just behind Leisure Mall Pelangi and you will pass by Moonlight cafe on your way down. Don't get distracted! The once nondescript stall at the run down Larkin Market now has their own air conditioned space along a row of shop houses at Jalan Kuning. And their menu has also expanded. So we now head over for a lunch fix instead. 

Make your request for lean meat if you aren't a fan of the fat or collagen that comes with pork's trotters (RM 10). They'll try their best to accommodate your requests.

All those eyes! Baby shrimp omelette (RM 12). Every bit of fluff and crisp in this one plate of yums.

Sambal baby sweet potato leaves (RM12). The sambal gravy was evil! So bad it was so good till the last drop. 

 

And while this might not be the best plate of hor fun, I loved the taste of the ample wok hei (RM 6). 

And the crab bowl (RM 7.50)? That's still my taste of childhood and they are still using the same recipe with the same great taste after all these years. That's the one thing that hasn't changed and that's what keeps us coming back. 

Do give them a try the next time you're past the Causeway.  

Swee Ang Restaurant 瑞安炖汤美食馆

70, Jalan Kuning,

Taman Pelangi.

Tel : +607-3337828

Operating hour : 8am - 9pm daily

Rice cooker dinners : Stewed pork, mushroom & cabbage rice

Ingredients

3 cups of rice, washed 

500g of cabbage, washed and chopped

10 small black mushrooms + 200ml of water, soaked and sliced, reserve water

20g dried shrimp, soaked and drained

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 can of stewed pork chops, bones removed and roughly shredded

1 tsp of dark soy sauce

1 tsp of light soy sauce

1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

0.5 tsp of sesame oil + 0.5 tsp of cooking oil

A dash of white pepper

1 tbsp of chicken stock concentrate mixed with 250ml of water

Method

Set the rice cooker to cook function and fry garlic, dried shrimp in sesame + cooking oil till fragrant. Add in the roughly shredded stewed pork. 

Pour in the washed rice and mushroom slices with the reserve water.

Add in chicken stock mixture and the reserve gravy from the canned stewed pork.

Mix in the dark, light soy + oyster sauce and a dash of white pepper.

Add in the chopped cabbage and stir to mix well. Add more soy sauce here if needed.

Leave to cook.

Fluff up the rice and mix well to ensure that all the rice is cooked. 

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Orange Soy Glazed Salmon x Soba

Marinade for the salmon:

1.5 tablespoon of Kikkoman Soy Sauce

0.5 teaspoon of brown sugar (caster sugar works too :))

1 small knob of old ginger, sliced

A squeeze of orange

1 stalk of spring onion, whites roughly chopped

Place salmon skin side down into the marinade and coat both sides with the marinade. Then leave it flesh side down and set this aside for about half an hour or overnight in a ziplock. :) 

Buckwheat soba:

Boiled and drained, put into iced water immediately.

With a knob of butter in a pre heated pan, place the salmon skin side down and grill till the skin leaves the pan. Turn the salmon fillet around and sear it flesh side down. Pour the remaining marinade over the skin and fry up the ginger and spring onion slices on the side. 

Grill the salmon till well cooked and flip it skin side down to grill till crisp. :)

Serve with cold soba sprinkled with chopped negi, nanami togarashi and mentsuyu dipping sauce.

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Clarity in keeping focused

This was clarity. After all the soups I've boiled, this was by far the clearest pot. 

This was a medium sized chicken, chicken breast used for poached chicken slices on soba.

The thigh and the wings were used for sesame oil chicken.

Which leaves the neck, ribs and feet, aside from all the bones reserved.

So I blanched those, chopped up some carrots, corn and red dates and threw them all into my inner thermal pot for a fierce boil before I added a tablespoon of salt (4- 4.5L of water) and transferred it over to the outer pot to cook in its reserve heat for about 1.5 hours. 

And there we have it, chicken soup for the soul. Clarity in keeping focused. 

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Bittersweet Symphonies

Half a bittergourd, seeds removed and sliced thinly

(Soak the bittergourd in a heaped teaspoon of salt and water for 5- 10 minutes then remove and drain completely)

2 stalks of spring onion, chopped into 2 inch long slices

4 cloves of garlic, minced

3 eggs, beaten with half a teaspoon of soy sauce and half a teaspoon of white pepper.

20 ml of water + a dash of soy sauce

Heat up the pan and a tablespoon of oil. Fry the minced garlic and the white ends of the spring onion stalks till fragrant.

Add in the drained bittergourd slices and stirfry with the water and soy sauce. Let the steam soften the bittergourd slices. 

Add in the beaten eggs and sprinkle the rest of the spring onion generously. 

Turn off the heat and let the reserve heat cook the eggs. 

Serve with fluffy hot white rice :)

*Alternatives: Stir fry with dried shrimp, preserved black bean sauce 

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

No Bake Matcha Cheesecake

This was the second attempt on the same recipe. 

Except with matcha powder this time. :)

http://monstrousappetites.blogspot.sg/2015/11/no-bake-strawberry-cheesecake.html

Exactly the same steps just replacing strawberry jam with 2 level tablespoons of matcha powder (I used the O'sulloc matcha powder from Jeju) and omitting the lemon rind. But don't forget the squeeze of lemon! :)

The green tea flavour was subtle. You might want to add more of it but I didn't want the bitterness to overwhelm the whole filling. The other way to do this would be to add a sprinkle of powder at the side to add as they wish.

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

For the crust:
150g McVities digestive biscuits (I used wholemeal this time)
30g caster sugar
85g unsalted butter, melted and set aside to cool

Mix the crushed digestives, sugar and melted butter together. Press in FIRMLY onto the bottom of a 20-23cm pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill while making the filling.

For the filling:
1 block of cream cheese (227g) at room temperature
2 tablespoons of no sugar added strawberry jam
40 g of caster sugar (less if the jam isn't a no sugar added jam)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 bottle heavy whipping cream 240ml (36-40% butter fat)
A few pieces of lemon rind, chopped into small bits and a squeeze of lemon.

Beat cream cheese until smooth, add strawberry jam, sugar and vanilla essence and beat again till light.

Beat the whipping cream separately until soft peaks form. Do not overbeat whipping cream or it will split and liquefy itself and the cream can no longer be used. 

Gradually fold in the whipped cream, a squeeze of lemon and lemon rind bits into the cream cheese.  

Pour in the filling into the crust base and smoothen the top. 

Chill overnight.

*I used the back of a chopper to crush up the biscuits but you could do it with a rolling pin or a simple food processor.

*I used a home blender with mill to do this. The cream cheese was a bit tricky. Remember to break into smaller pieces before turning on the blender. 

*Whipping cream was pulsed till the required soft peaks consistency and it turned out beautifully.

*I didn't use a springform pan and although the filling was a little hard to handle, it still came out easily in slices. This is really dependent on how well the crust was done. :)

Credits to https://www.joyofbaking.com

From our home to yours,

Brenda x

Double happiness steamed egg // 双喜蒸蛋

Ingredients: 

3 eggs

1 preserved egg

A dash of sesame oil 

0.5 tsp soy sauce

1.5 tsp of Knorr concentrated chicken stock 

9 half egg shells of water (water : egg // 1.5 : 1)

Garnish: 

Red chilli slices

Chopped spring onion

Method: 

Beat eggs till yolk and whites are well mixed. 

Add water in half egg shells, mix in the concentrated chicken stock, soy sauce and mix well. 

Strain the mixture through the sieve (don't hold it up too high or there will be bubbles created) Or you can simply remove the bubbles with a spoon :)

The sesame oil can be added at this point or after the steaming has been done. 

Cut the preserved egg into slices and slide the pieces gently into the egg mixture.

Bring water in the steamer to a fierce boil. Place bowl into steaming rack. 

**My steamer cover drips off water from the side so it's not required to put cling film over the bowl. Either use cling wrap or a flat dish to cover the egg mixture if you're worried. 

Turn it down to low heat and steam for 15 minutes or till done. Gently shake the bowl to check if the egg is ready. Or use the back of the metal spoon to gently slide on the surface of the egg mixture to check.

Serve hot with rice.

Credits: http://www.tastehongkong.com/recipes/steamed-eggs-how-to-make-them-smooth-is-no-secret/ (for the half egg shell measurements :))

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Chicken Bulgogi

Ingredients:

2 large pieces chicken thigh, deboned and skin reserved.

1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 – 3 spring onions, roughly chopped

Marinade:

3 tablespoons Gochujang sauce

1 tablespoon Gochugaru/ Togarashi

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons soba sauce (this was the secret shortcut to eliminate sugar and mirin)

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon grated ginger

a pinch of white pepper

Method:

Combine the meat, onion, and scallions with the marinade and mix well. Marinate for at least an hour or overnight.

Grill skinside down first to render the oil from the skin and turn over after the edges have crisped. Cook thoroughly.

I sliced it up before serving for easy sharing but feel free to be selfish and have the whole chicken leg to yourself! 　

Adapted from www.rasamalaysia.com From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Earle Swensens x Dilmah Tea Pairing Session

Earle Swensens x Dilmah Tea Pairing Session was hosted by OpenRice SG at the Vivocity outlet of Earle Swensens.

This beauty was a hot water dispenser and it always serves as a teapot warmer!

There was a wide range of tea put on display. And I wish we could've tasted some of these flavours too!

All of them were in luxury leaf bags, better known as the pyramid tea bags.

Besides looking fancypants, these pyramid tea bag shapes allow the tea leaves to completely unfurl in the process of brewing tea. Which allows for one to better taste the tea as compared to when you get the traditional tea bags which may make for a stronger brew and perhaps even a more bitter taste.

We were first brought through a presentation on the background and philosophies of Dilmah and introduced to the basics and essential of tea from growing, to manufacturing and eventually the production of the different types of tea. 

You'd be surprised to see how little most people know about tea. I was glad to learn about the different stages in the production of different teas and how teas like Oolong and Green tea essentially come from the same plant - Camillia Sinensis. How the taste and fragrance of these teas differ would then be dependent on the temperature and surroundings of where this plant is grown and processed. It would also be good to know that the cleanest ceylon teas come from Sri Lanka where the climate and soil conditions are optimal for growth.

I was also very inspired by the work of Mr Merril J Fernando, the founder of Dilmah Tea. The name Dilmah coming from the combined names of this two sons, Dilhan and Mahlik. He has dedicated all of his adult life to tea making and is still actively involved in the business, training the next generation (of his grandchildren). He has a MJF foundation which was established to fulfill his commitment to make his family business a matter of human service. The foundation renders assistance to underprivileged people of Sri Lanka and drives the ethical and sustainable efforts of Dilmah. Every purchase of Dilmah goes towards supporting this foundation so keep calm and drink Dilmah. 

Here at Earle Swensens, they have made an ethically conscious partnership with Dilmah in their tea time promotion. A choice of the Neapolitan Cake Slice or Chips 'n' slaw Sandwich with a cup of coffee or tea from the Dilmah Exceptional tea range costs just $6.90 with service charge and GST. A $3 top-up will get you a salad bowl too! 

At this Tea Pairing Session, we got to try four different varieties of Dilmah tea and both offerings of the tea time promotion.

English Breakfast (Single Origin) and Pure Peppermint (Infusions)

Who would've thought chips made for such a brilliant sandwich filling?

Parmesan topped sandwich breads and a filling of potato chips and their signature coleslaw that greatly lessened the guilt factor.

I thought this went well with the Pure Peppermint but mum thought better of the English Breakfast.

And then we were given the chance to brew our own tea.

As good students, we took out our tea bags after leaving it in the hot water for no more than 3-5 minutes.

And no refilling of hot water allowed!

Because each teabag which contains about 2g of tea should only be used to brew a 200-250ml glass once.

Elegant Earl Grey and Ceylon Green Tea (Exceptional)

The vote was unanimous for this.

Earl Grey would be the choice for ice cream pairings.

Or perhaps we were just too used to Iced Earl Grey concoction over at O Coffee Club :p

Many thanks to Dilmah, Earle Swensens and Openrice for this Tea Pairing Session.

We learnt a lot and savoured our tea time together with the other attendees.

So the next time you're wanting to have an affordable high tea option...

I'll see you over at Earle Swensens! 

*All opinions are the writer's own. :)