Sweet & sour nuts

If your wife in confinement gets sick of ginger, what do you do? Ans: Feed her more ginger.

I was too tired last night and dozed off on the bed right after dinner. My wife was smart enough to charge my phone up so that my alarm would wake me for work the next day. Somehow, I woke for a leak around 10pm and saw my wife sitting on the couch watching television, with a pillow covering her legs suspiciously. I went closer and discovered a bag of potato chips behind it. Needless to say, I confiscated the bag and gave showed her the yellow card.

So I decided to do a variation for tonight's dinner. Furthermore, earlier in the morning, I received a message from Winkingdoll who told me my blog would not be much help because she had turned vegetarian. Interestingly, it felt like yesterday I told Winkingdoll it was sad that she decided not to blog anymore after her marriage. In a blink of the eye, she is already pregnant and talking to me about confinement. Wow, you shotgun sibo, WD? hahahaha. Just joking ok, of course it isn't but it is apparent Winkingdoll has lost none of her Singaporean efficiency. heh heh.

Inspired by Winkingdoll's comment and the need of a variation, I decided to try out a dish that does not include meat. I am not sure if it qualifies to be vegetarians, since I've heard some fussy ones include even innocent onions as one of the prohibited ingredients.

The first thing is do to be make pickled ginger.

I used chunks of ginger and soaked them overnight in black vinegar, some sugar and salt. These would be cunningly hidden in the dish later on to catch the unsuspecting wife by surprise. Ultimately, she has to eat it, be it a pleasant or nasty surprise.

The next thing to do is to soak a handful of walnuts (walnuts are cheap in Perth as compared to Singapore) in boiling water for about 20 minutes. This is to help remove the skin of the walnut, which is bitter. If you don't understand what that means, try tasting the water after 20 minutes for enlightenment.

That's all you need

Next, prepare the SAUCE (middle bowl).

• 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon of chili sauce
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons of white vinegar
• 4 tablespoons of water
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour
• a pinch of salt

Populate a plate as shown above with the recommended ingredients (whatever you like really) such as:

• 2-3 pieces of dried apricot (sliced)
• 1/2 an apple, diced
• 1/2 a red capsicum, diced 
• 1/2 a green capsicum (I ran out so I used yellow), diced
• 1/2 an orange, diced (since pineapple is taboo in confinement dishes)
• a handful of cashew nuts (optional)
• a handful of macadamia nuts (optional)

Preparation work is done. Now cook for your hungry wife.

Splash a bit of sesame oil about and start stir-frying your walnuts on high heat. Add in the other nuts as well if you are using any. Be careful not to do this too long. You want your nuts fragrant and slightly browned, not burnt.

Chuck the rest of the villagers into the fray, including the pickled ginger (but drain off the liquid please) and start stirring in high heat. If you are observant enough, you'd have noticed I added half an onion in. Why? Because I like it.

Stir fry for a minute or two. Pick an apple for a taste. If your apple is crunchy or soggy, you are doing it wrong. Your apple should be somewhere in the middle. 

Once that is achieved, pour your sauce in, mix well and bring to a boil. Serve immediately. I hope your wives will like this. Mine did and gave me a 9/10 for the attempt. Even little Albany gobbled up her fruits, vegetables and nuts and asked for more.

the completed dish, sweet and sour nuts