FEEL-GOOD FOOD

Food personalities share recipes guaranteed to lift spirits during this movement control order period.

FOOD can do more than stave off hunger.

A good meal can be a source of solace and comfort and sometimes even a soul-stirring affair.

It can trigger nostalgic memories and bring a spark of joy to an otherwise solemn dinner table.

In many ways, food is a powerful tool, because it has the unique capacity to dramatically alter people’s mental and emotional states, something that is especially crucial during these long weeks of self-isolation during the movement control order (MCO).

With this in mind, we asked three food personalities to share their favourite comfort food recipes. These are meals designed to evoke happiness and draw out smiles, so we hope they have just that effect on you.

Anis nabilah

Popular celebrity chef and television host Anis Nabilah has been busier than ever during the MCO.

“I am in the kitchen at home, creating recipes for my followers and recording videos – I am the videographer, scriptwriter, chef, food stylist and I have had to learn how to edit the videos myself too, so it’s been very challenging but fun. And then, there is the whole stress of who’s going to eat all this food? Because I don’t want to waste the food,” says Anis, who has nearly 300,000 followers on Instagram.

Anis – who is well known for helming over 50 television shows like perennial favourite Icip Icip and Eating Wild – has now changed direction in terms of how she approaches recipes during the MCO. These days, she makes comfort food that utilises whatever is in her kitchen, even if that means using very few ingredients.

Like her pasta with mussels and saffron (pic above), for instance which was devised based on things she had in her pantry.

“Pasta is one of those ingredients that Malaysians eat a lot of and it lasts really long too. And this dish is versatile because you don’t need to use mussels, you can use clams or even prawns – it still works really well. And I used the saffron because it is just something that I always have with me, but it can be omitted too,” she says.

Anis’s lamb tenderloin on spicy beans meanwhile, is a recipe she came up with in response to the fact that her neighbourhood supermarket had no canned beans at all when the MCO started, which indicated to her that Malaysians had bought a lot of beans.

“After the first day of MCO, I was shocked by how I couldn’t find canned beans – not one type. I don’t think people usually buy beans, but everything was gone, maybe because of panic buying. So now I think there might be a lot of people thinking ‘What am I going to do with all these beans?’ So this recipe is for all those people who bought all these beans and don’t know what to do with them,” she says, laughing.

GRILLED LAMB TENDERLOIN ON SPICY BEANS

400g lamb tenderloin, fat and silver skin removed

8 cloves garlic, chopped salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp coconut oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 stalk spring onion, chopped

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp smoked paprika

3 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

500ml vegetable stock

600g canned butter beans/white kidney beans or beans of your choice coarse salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 tbsp honey

20g feta cheese parsley and coriander, chopped, for garnishing.

Marinate lamb with half the garlic, salt, pepper and a little olive oil. anis has adapted to the MCO by making meals that she feels tick all the right comfort food boxes without using too many ingredients. — Filepic

Heat coconut oil in a frying pan and sauté onion, spring onion, and remaining garlic until fragrant.

Add tomato paste, chilli flakes, smoked paprika, thyme, balsamic vinegar, stock and beans. Season with sea salt, black pepper and honey and leave to simmer for 8-10 minutes or until mixture slightly thickens. Remove from the heat.

Heat grill/cast iron skillet/nonstick pan. Brush some coconut oil on the lamb. Grill marinated lamb on each side for 4-6 minutes. Remove from heat and rest lamb for 5 minutes before slicing.

Serve lamb on beans. Sprinkle crumbled feta cheese and garnish with parsley and coriander.

PASTA WITH MUSSELS AND SAFFRON

olive oil

1 white onion, chopped

8 cloves garlic, chopped 200ml clam stock/ chicken stock a pinch saffron

250g mussels

70ml cream white pepper to taste salt and sugar to taste 20g French beans, blanched 250g fettuccine, boiled

3 tbsp unsalted butter 80g grated parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in a pan with a bit of butter. Sauté chopped onions and garlic till fragrant. Add stock and saffron. Let simmer for 3 minutes.

Add mussels, and leave to simmer for another 4 minutes. Add cream, pepper, salt and sugar and mix well together. Then add beans and pasta and toss everything together. Finish it off with butter and Parmesan cheese.

Sapna Anand

Since the MCO started, renowned cookbook author Sapna Anand has been dipping her fingers into all sorts of culinary pursuits, from doing an online course on the science of food to posting a multitude of Indian recipes on her Instagram account.

Sapna, who has also helmed cooking shows like Fast Indian Cooking with Sapna, says sharing recipes on her social media channel is particularly important to her, as this is precisely the time when people are looking for inspiration and ideas.

“I use as many local ingredients as I can in my recipes and I tell everybody, if you can’t find an ingredient, just use what you have. And a lot of people seem to be making the dishes that I’ve been posting, which is really comforting to know,” she says.

Sapna says during this period she finds comfort in recipes that have a strong nostalgic hold on her, like ros omelette (ros means gravy in Konkani), for instance, a Goanese dish that she has eaten since she was a child.

“This is street food that is available in Goa, India. You will see vendors in pushcarts making fresh omelettes with hot curry on it. So it’s basically comfort food to me, because it’s something I grew up with – my mum used to make it with our leftover curries.

“And let’s face it, even though people are cooking more than ever now, they can’t have elaborate meals every day – there will be lazy days, so this is really yummy comfort food that is fast and easy to make and can utilise leftover curries,” she says.

Sapna’s butter chicken recipe meanwhile is something she thinks people might want to nail at home now that they have more time on their hands.

“Butter chicken originates from one of the oldest restaurants in Delhi and it is

very typically north Indian comfort food – when anybody asks me about comfort food, I immediately think of butter chicken and naan.

“But making butter chicken is more of a process - you need two different recipes for it to combine to make butter chicken. So the grilled chicken tikka is a recipe on its own and then you need a butter chicken stock.

“So I have shared a very traditional recipe for butter chicken with no short-cuts because I think now that people have more time, they might want to invest some of that time in learning how to make authentic dishes,” she says.

BUTTER CHICKEN For the chicken tikka

salt to taste

2-3 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp roasted cumin powder 1/2 cup thick yoghurt

250g boneless chicken thigh meat, cleaned and cut into medium size cubes satay sticks, to skewer meat

To make the chicken tikka

In a bowl, mix all the marinade ingredients together and taste test to check for seasoning before adding the chicken. Toss with chicken and leave to marinate overnight.

Soak satay sticks in water for one hour.

Preheat oven to 175°C. Thread the marinated chicken onto the sticks and place them on a cooling rack with a tray below and grill at 180°C for 20-25 minutes. Baste the chicken with oil while grilling.

For the sauce

2 tbsp unsalted butter + 2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp cooking oil

2 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 star anise 4 green cardamom

4 cloves

2 inch cinnamon stick (optional) 1 large red onion finely chopped 1 green chilli

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 canned chopped tomato or 6 fresh tomatoes chopped and cubed (do not discard the juices)

12 cashew nuts

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp chilli powder

2 to 3 tbsp honey salt to taste

1 tsp crushed dried fenugreek leaves (kasthuri methi) cooked chicken tikka

2 tbsp fresh cream (optional) coriander leaves, for garnish

To cook

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of oil on low heat, then add in spices one at a time, and sauté for few seconds.

Add in the onion followed by the green chilli, ginger and garlic paste and sauté till onions turn light brown. Add a pinch of salt to help the onions to caramelise.

Add the chopped tomatoes or canned tomatoes, followed by turmeric powder. Then put in the cashew nuts and cook on low heat until the oil starts to bubble from the sides of the pan and the sauce thickens. Let the mix cool and blend into a smooth paste.

Bring it back to the pan to cook again with 2 tablespoons of butter, chilli powder, honey, salt as needed, crushed fenugreek leaves and the cooked tandoori chicken. Bring it to a light boil, check and adjust seasoning.

Serve with a drizzle of fresh cream along with fresh coriander leaves.

ROS OMELETTE For the masala omelette

1 small red onion, finely chopped 1/2 a small tomato, finely chopped 1 cili padi, finely chopped

1 tbsp garlic, finely chopped 2 sprigs coriander, finely chopped 2 eggs

2 tbsp milk or water salt to taste

1 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp garam masala (optional) leftover chicken curry

For garnishing

finely chopped red onions fresh coriander leaves, chopped

To make

Put onions, tomatoes, cili padi, garlic and coriander leaves in a bowl and mix together.

Beat eggs with milk and add the

Sapna says people can use the extended time at home to learn authentic comfort food recipes like butter chicken. — SAPNA Anand chopped ingredients along with salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala powder.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan and cook the eggs till done.

In a serving dish, scoop 2 ladles of chicken curry and place the masala omelette over it. Garnish with chopped onions and coriander leaves.