Last Saturday, the bf and I headed down to a studio – thanks to Karen from Rolleyes from the invitation!(:

Well, if you were wondering – we were there to attend 30MinuteCookin’s exclusive launch event!

Just before I share more about what happened at the event, you must be curious about 30Minute Cookin is about right?

No worries, I’m here to share!(:

30Minute Cookin’ Revolution

30 Minute Cookin’ – 30minutecookin.com, is a delicious project by Rolleyes, a bunch of foodies who have come together to bring forth the delicious tidings of food through social media, where friends are able to gather 24/7.

This all-new series opens up a world of possibilities for the busy working Singaporean, featuring complete meals by six local celebrity chefs such as Eric Teo, Tony Khoo, Eric Neo, John See, Amri Azim and Sebastian with a common aim to show that gourmet cooking is possible in the comfort of your own home even with limited time.

Viewers are shown how to achieve two to three-course meals within 30 minutes in a series of online cooking videos which will be available from January 2014. It is a great platform to inspire home cooks with the different recipes from chefs who all have their own distinct cooking styles using various popular brands like Unicurd, Oki Cooking Oil, Prima Taste, Heavenly Rice with the help of Panasonic kitchen appliances to make cooking delicious food easier and simpler at home.

Rolleyes’ 30Minute Cookin Series online cooking videos are as follows:

Baked Indonesian Satay Chicken in Salt Crust, Steamed Pandan Brown Rice

Ayam Panggang, Mapo Tofu, Fragrant Yam Rice

Christmas Black pepper turkey with pineapple sandwich, Tomatoes tofu rice soup , Apple Salad

And here I am with one of the celebrity chefs – Chef Eric Teo who will be whipping up a wholesome three course meal for us!(:

And now – back to the event! We were very fortunate to be hosted at Chef Eric’s studio and it was a great setup!(:

Here’s our seating area with all the bloggers below:

Surrounded by Chef Eric Teo’s famed up achievements – we were seriously impressed!

And of course, the filming/cooking area takes place here!(:

Some of the ingredients and items that are used.

It was also at the event that I had the opportunity to try out Taiwan Beer! They had a variety of options and I selected to go for the Lychee Fruit Beer!(: Best choice I made because it was a really great drink! Yum!

We started off with a presentation by Alvin from Alvinology.com who shared some very useful food photography tips – of which came in handy as I was trying to brush up on my food photography skills at the moment(:

After that, Chef Eric Teo personally demonstrated how to prepare a 3 course gourmet meal in front of our eyes! And for your reference, I’ve listed down the recipes for each of the 3 food items that he prepared for us. Oh and not to worry, it’s surprisingly pretty simple to prepare them! Read on to find out more!(:

1. Wild Mushroom Fritters

A variety of mushrooms deep fried and matched with a tangy garlic aioli sauce

Ingredients

Batter

120g Enoki mushrooms (sliced)
120g Shimeiji mushrooms (sliced)
120g Oyster mushrooms (sliced)
A pinch of salt and pepper
Batter
100g self-raising flour
200ml water or Taiwan Fruit Beer
1 litre OKI Corn Oil

Aioli Dip

100g Mayonnaise
1tbs lemon juice
20g garlic (chopped)
A pinch of paprika powder
A pinch of salt and pepper

Cooking Process & Methods

To prepare the batter:

In a mixing bowl, mix self-raising flour & water. Keep aside in the fridge.
Place the sliced mushrooms in a large mixing bowl.
Add just enough batter into the mushrooms and mix well.
Deep fry at 170 degrees celsius for about 4mins or till golden brown.

To prepare the Aioli:

Place the mayonnaise, seasoning, lemon juice and chopped garlic in a mixing bowl and fold in well.
Sprinkle paprika powder on the Aioli.

Refer to Original Recipe HERE

The cooking process/method looks rather easy doesn’t it? Basically it just comprises of making the Aioli (the sauce) and batter for the mushroom fritters (and of course the mushrooms)! After that, you just fry them and you’re done!(:

Oh and yes, Lychee Fruit Beer was an ingredient too!

Plating & Tasting

In terms of taste – those mushroom fritters with the dip tasted absolutely DIVINE! I had a piece to sample at first and I was asking the bf to get me more because they tasted so good – can’t believe how EASY it was to make them though and can you believe that there was Lychee Fruit Beer as an ingredient too?! Will have to try my hand at making them one day ><

Chef Eric also showed us how he would plate the Wild Mushroom Fritters as below – amazing how he can make such a simple dish look so appetizing yeah?

2. Steamed Egg Tofu and Minced Meat in Spicy Coconut Sauce [Replaced with Black Silken Tofu and Seafood]

Ingredients

2 pcs of Unicurd Egg Tofu [Replaced with Unicurd Black Silken Tofu]
100g minced chicken [Replaced with Scallops & Prawns]
4 pcs spring onion (sliced) [Replaced with Bell Peppers]
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1tbs lime juice
70ml thick coconut milk
3 pcs green chilli (seeded and chopped. If the green chilli is too spicy for you, replace with freshly ground black pepper)
1 egg
A pinch of salt

*Original ingredients were replaced during our cooking demonstration
Refer to Original Recipe HERE

It was my first time seeing black tofu but mainly the difference is just that this was made with black soy beans! It’s a new product from Unicurd by the way!(:

And here’s how it looks like if you were wondering:

Cooking Process & Method

Mash the bean curd in a large mixing bowl with a fork.
Add all the other ingredients, except the bell peppers, chili and seafood
Mix them well.
Transfer the mixture into a deep dish.
Steam in the Panasonic Steam Inverter Microwave Oven for 20 minutes.
Cook bell peppers, scallops and prawns separately before cooking them together
Garnish with mixture with the seafood and bell peppers

Refer to Original Recipe HERE

Again, I thought the cooking process was pretty simple – nothing intricate. You can just blend all the ingredients except the bell peppers, chili and seafood and then steam them. Chef Eric was using the Panasonic Steam Inverter Microwave Oven if you were wondering!(:

After that, just cook the bell peppers, scallops and prawns separately before cooking them together before garnishing the steamed mixtures with them!

If you were wondering – The above cups in the steamer were for our consumption while the one below in the water bath was for plating purposes.

P.s cooking tip along the way – dry the scallops before cooking them. You can place them on a paper towel, or literally a towel to pat them dry.

Also, it’s better to cook all the individual ingredients separately first (more of a hassle) but it’s better this way!

Then cook of them together last!

Plating & Tasting

To be honest, I’ve never eaten tofu in my life much less black tofu. Okay, maybe abit of the white tofu, but generally I don’t like it. So I had some reservations about trying out this dish but surprisingly.. this dish surprised me, in a good way of course! The dish was slightly on the spicy side because of the chili, but it tasted really delicious and I was a huge fan of the seafood!

Simple plating for us:

And plating for aesthetic / photo taking purposes – using the photography tips newly learnt from Alvin ;p

3. Stir Fried Brown Rice with Sambal Belachan

Ingredients

1 pkt Prima Taste Sambal Belachan Paste
500g Heavenly Brown Rice (cooked)
120g white onion (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
2tbs OKI Cooking Oil
300g white round cabbage (shredded)
100g carrot (diced)
2 eggs (beaten)
80g Japanese Cucumber (diced)

Cooking Process & Methods

To prepare the brown rice, soak the rice for 20 minutes in advance before cooking.
Measure 1 cup of rice, use 1.5 cup of water and cook in a Panasonic Micom Rice Cooker.
Heat oil in a wok over medium heat.
Stir fry garlic and onion till fragrant.
Add Sambal Belachan paste. Stir fry for 2 mins.
Add carrots and shredded cabbage till soft.
Stir in the cooked rice and continue to stir fry until it is mixed well.
Make a small well in the centre and add the egg without oil and no seasonings.
Fold in all the ingredients together and ensure it is totally well cooked.
Garnish with cucumber and serve.

Once again, the ingredients and cooking process looks fairly simple – and it was! Basically it was sambal belachan fried brown rice with other healthy ingredients such as carrots and cabbage! Don’t forget the egg and more importantly – the cucumbers to bring out the taste of the dish!

Plating & Tasting

Once again, it was my first time eating brown rice. Lol, I know! I’m not the most adventurous eater okay? XD Anyway, the dish was slightly on the spicy side but most Singaporeans generally should love this dish because of that! Plus the addition of the cucumbers and other vegetables went well together and I relished every bite I had! Pity that we couldn’t have more – but ah well 🙁

Simple Plating for Us:

Plating for Phototaking – really got to hand it to Chef Eric for making plating look so easy!

At first it was like meh..

But the addition of the cherry tomato and dash of tomato sauce at the side really changed the dish completely and made it look so much better!

And it’s not that difficult to do this actually 🙂

Thoughts & My Thanks

On the whole, I think I managed to learn quite alot from Chef Eric Teo through the 30Minute Cookin Session organized by rolleyes! I was pretty amazed at how SURPRISINGLY EASY it was to whip up such gastronomical gourmet delights with such a short time frame – and in the comfort of your own home! @_@

So I’m going to stay tuned to 30Minute Cookin at 30minutecookin.com from now on to see what other dishes all the 6 celebrity chefs will be coming up next – so check them out if you haven’t! 😀

Lastly, just wanted to end off by giving thanks to the team behind 30Minute Cookin and rolleyes for the kind invitation – and of course, for the generous goodie bags too!(:

P.s, if you were curious about what I received:

Time to start a-cooking? 😀

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @mitsueki on Twitter & Instagram for the latest updates!

Till later,
♥ mitsueki

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