Balik Kampung

Alan has gone down south to Hungamma Cooking School to conduct classes and also the students final exam. I have been busy with all the house chores and in the garden.

It was nice of Eranga to pop by every now and then to make sure that I was coping all right. And he helped to vacuum the swimming pool, and to keep me company. A really nice bloke.

This evening while I was busying working in the vegie garden, Eranga insisted on cooking dinner and he asked that I give him a Blackbox Challenge. I gave in to him and thus, threw some ingredients at him:

Spice Basil, Birdeye Chilli, Mango, Beef, Prawns.

And he was allowed to use anything in the kitchen, and to present the dish in 75 minutes.

Just under 70 minutes, he had this nicely presented starter: Prawn with mango salsa. Very impressive and it tasted good. The prawns had great flavour, and the mango complimented the dish beautifully. I like the fact that he had a basil leaf with his prawns right at the top to showcase the ingredients in the Blackbox Challenge. I would give a 8 out of 10 for this well executed starter.

I was surprised that he had also prepared (within the 75 minutes) a main dish as well, he did well with the time and very timely, in fact. Again, the dish was well presented.

First of all, I tried the sauce but was not impressed. Something was missing but I don't quite know what it lacked, it didn't quite have the flavour I was hoping. So anyway, I tried the next thing, the vegetables. Oh.... wow... the flavour and taste of the vegetables was spot-on. I was surprised that he stir-fried aubergine and I actually liked it. I must say it was the first time that I actually like aubergine being cooked for me.

Next, I tried the beef. It was cooked perfectly - medium-rare, which is how I liked it. The meat was a bit too chewy, and it is only because the quality of the beef from the butchery is not good in this country. The meat marinate was good, but time was of the essence and I would have use a fork and poke the meat so that the entire piece of meat would be more uniformly marinated. Also, I found that the salted crushed peanuts and basil paste did not quite work in this dish.

I made a small request during Eranga's cooking that I have been craving for some potato mash, and he made it specially for me and to my liking - with Wasabi. That was really good, and I really liked that.

The star of this main dish would have to be the stir-fry vegetables, the flavour was simply yummylious.

I would give a 6.8 out of 10 for this dish, Eranga did well and he did everything from scratch. Well done mate... and thanks for cooking me such a nice dinner. This post is specially dedicated to you. Cheers!

PS: Eranga also attempted dessert, Mango with crystallised sugar. Uh... let's just say scoops of chocolate ice-cream was a better way to end the meal. LOL