Finally, after not much persuasion, I have decided to participate in the R.AGE Food Fight challenge organised by Malaysia’sleading newspaper, The Star. Judges include the international TV personality Chef Wan, French master chef Rodolphe Onno, DC Restaurant Chef Darren Chin, up-and-coming restaurateur Chef Liang andMalaysian food blogger, KY Speaks. If I am chosen as one of the five finalists, I will earn time with these people and learn their secrets to success. Participation involves submitting a blogpost and a video of myself cooking with palm oil.
A blogpost? Yes, I think I can quite manage that, but video making was a whole new experience. Let’s take a look at a few shots from behind the scene…
preparations before the shoot
during the shot
me looking very stern and serious, but I am taking notes from the director.
I wanted to keep the video at just under three minutes but I never thought the amount of preparation, script, research and groundwork involved was so voluminous for a mere three minute screen time. Not to mention that I had a few portions of fish leftover afterwards. All was not wasted of course, but I should have chosen a cheaper ingredient! Editing video did not come easy either – required more thoughts and watching myself was quite amusing – but it concluded with a very auspicious 3:33 minute long video.
Luckily, the other ingredient palm oil was not too expensive. What I know of palm oil is in some Italian gelatos but it had not occur to me to use it in cooking until now. I have used normal palm oil but as mentioned in the video there is an alternative, red palm oil. The dark red colour comes from thephytonutrient, carotene. In my extensive research pre-video work, I read that red palm oil has an abundance of thefatty acids essential for proper growth and development, a range of vitamins, antioxidants and other phytonutrients paramount for our health. One teaspoon a day of this red palm oil gives the daily recommended doseof Vitamin A for children. It also enriches breast milk for nursing mothers. The benefits are plentiful.
steamed fish sauce with black bean sauce
I have also done pan fried fish with crispy skin.
Blogpost, published. Video, uploaded. Fish, eaten. R.AGE Food Fight challenge, entered. Now, awaiting result… #nervous
Black Bean Sauce
3 – 4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
thumb sized ginger, peeled and grated
3 tbsp black beans, roughly chopped
1 bird’s eye chilly (optional and spicier if you like)
2 – 3 tbsp palm oil
Sauce:
1 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1 tsp light soy sauce
½ tsp sesame oil
¼ tsp thick caramel sauce
dash of white pepper powder
1 tablespoon white sugar
125ml water
Thickening: 1 tsp cornstarch + 1 tablespoon water
1. Put the saucepan on medium heat. Pour in 2 – 3 tablespoon of palm oil.
2. Add garlic, ginger, black beans and chillies. Fry for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
3. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients , bring to a boil and simmer for 1 – 2 minutes.
4. Add the cornflour solution to thicken the sauce. Stir until it comes back to the boil. Turn off heat and keep warm.
Steamed fish
1. Line the bottom of the bowl/plate base with ginger, spring onion and 1 tsp of cooking wine.
2. Season the fish with salt.
3. When your steamer is ready, steam the fish on high heat for 7 – 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish).
4. Alternatively, you can pan fry your fish, skin side first. Flip over when the skin of the fish lift of easily and fry on the other side for another 2 – 3 minutes.
5. Drizzle the black bean sauce over and serve warm.
We’re giving RM10,000 and other amazing prizes to the winner of our first ever R.AGE Food Fight!
The five finalists will get to learn from the best, our Food Fight mentors:
– Chef Wan, Malaysia’s original food celebrity
– Chef Rodolphe Onno, Le Cordon Bleu master chef
– Chef Darren Chin, of Restaurant DC
– KY Speaks, top Malaysian food blogger
– Chef Liang, performing artiste and up-and-coming restaurateur
They’ll also get media and video production training from us at R.AGE, before they face off against each other at the Food Fight finale for the RM10,000 grand prize.
The competition’s closed, but you can always check out the other Food Fight submissions at https://rage.com.my/foodfight
by 
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