Chips! - Assam Leaves, Sour Spinach, Roselle Leaves

We usually choose a resilient leaf to make a chip, or else the hours of dehydrating will yield a papery mass. I like Kailan, but I decided to try out chip making with the nondescript local leave called Assam Leaf (at Sheng Shiong). It is actually called sour spinach elsewhere and actually a member of the hibiscus family that we in Asia know quite well....the Roselle!

Known for its anti-hypertensive properties, the Roselle plants is well used in Asia - for its succulent fruits and flavoursome sour leaves and flowers. The leaves are really cheap - a giant pack just for a Singapore dollar. Don't let its looks deceive you, the leaves look resilient but yield a delectable crunch in the mouth and is used for many an Asian salad from Cambodia to Sarawak.

I am a strong proponent for eating close to home and uncovering the treasure trove of local greens that has sadly fallen off the radar of many Singaporeans trained to eat mundanely by limited supermarket stocklists. Many local greens thrive on poor soil and grow so profusely that it makes a laughing stock of all the crazy effort that it takes to grow a foreign green like romaine.

This chip is savoury and tangy - for those who love to make the lips pucker in delight.

Ingredients
1 big bunch of roselle leaves cleaned and stems discarded

Dressing:
2 cloves of garlic grated
2 tbs of tahini
1 tbs miso
1 tbs honey

Method
Mix the dressing in large mixing bowl
Coat the leaves with the dressing, lay it out on mesh and dehydrate till crispy - about 8 hours.

Kimchi Sweet Basil Glass Noodles

This is a fabulous raw recipe where the glass noodles are just soaked for use. If you prefer a more cooked version, you can use korean soba or cellophane noodles.

I made a kimchi with a small head of napa cabbage over the weekend. Kimchi making is ridiculously easy and healthsome; store bought versions are laden with nitrates which are linked to incidences of cancer. That may be because they use fish sauce and the like...

Kimchi

Ingredients:
A small head of napa cabbage (I've learnt the wisdom of small scale experiments haha...)
Chilli flakes (korean if possible - if not, even our local chilli flakes/powder does the work very well)
quarter cup of salt
A cup of soaking liquid of agaricus (song rong) mushroom (optional - you can use water if you want)
You can add carrot slivers, spring onions if you like

Method


Immerse cabbage in a small container of filtered salt water overnight
Squeeze the cabbage dry
In a large bowl, mix a little of the mushroom water with chilli flakes till a thick paste forms
using you hands, slather the chilli paste into the cabbage. You can cut up the cabbage if you want but I like to quarter from the base for the authentic feel
roll up cabbage nicely and chuck it into a glass jar pour in remaining mushroom liquid or water
In our weather, fermentation takes about one and a half days - that's all.

Assembling the dish

Ingredients:
Sweet Basil - one cup (this is the transformative ingredient)
Kimchi - chopped - one cup
Miso dressing - barley miso 1tbs, apple cider vinegar 2 tbs, EVO 2 tbs
Glass noodles soaked till soft

Toss everything together. Do it Korean way by using your hands.

Bon appetit!