5-Star Makeover: Teriyaki Chicken with Dragonfruit Ravioli and Apple-Plum Chutney, and a Charitable Cause

Today marks my first participation in the 5-Star Makeover challenge hosted by Natasha of 5 Star Foodie and Laz of Lazaro Cooks! So honored to be cooking amongst these very creative lot. I've left it till the very last minute because the theme this month stumped me a little...it's 'Cooking with Wine'. 

hosted by 5 Star Foodie & Lazaro Cooks!

If you're a regular here, you'll know that I've never featured wine on this blog for the simple reason that we do not drink or cook with it. But hey, rather than back out, I thought this will be a great opportunity to be creative and look for alternatives that could possibly fit the challenge. And in my manic thinking (for that is the state I normally get into during a creative process), this is what I came up with. It's Teriyaki Chicken with Dragonfruit Ravioli and Apple-Plum Chutney, which I can confidently declare is not a dish I grew up eating! These are simply memorable fragments of the food I loved to eat whilst travelling or living abroad. Hah...at least that's my story (in case mom asks), and I'm sticking to it! :-). 

French Fridays with Dorie - Cinnamon Crunch Chicken

I'll get straight to the point - I liked this recipe. It had only 3 ingredients (three!) - chicken, crème fraiche and spéculoos.  Specu....what? 

Okay, I'll spare you the misery and tell you that these are spicy shortcrust cookies traditionally baked around Christmastime in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. Spices used in spéculoos are, in different variations, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom and white pepper. I know this because I used to eat tons of them when I lived in Europe. Safe to say, my tastebuds have very fond memories of that time. 

Pandan and Honey Melon Ice Cream and My 7-Links

All the knowledge I possess everyone can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
~ Goethe

Remember when I told you that I bought a whole big bunch of pandan leaves for next to nothing? Well, I finally got around to doing something with them. My ice cream days are not over yet (with our weather, it will never be over), so I decided to turn the distinctive pandan scent into one of my favorite frozen treat flavors, pandan ice cream.

If you've never smelled pandan before, its scent is somewhat familiar to white bread, jasmine rice and basmati rice because all of these contain the same aromatic compound, (2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, if you must know). To extract the sweet, piney fragrance of pandan, I blended several leaves with the milk and squeezed the pandan juice out from that. Then I used the pandan-flavored milk to make the custard base for the ice cream. 

French Fridays with Dorie - Coconut Lemongrass-Braised Chicken with Pink Fettuccine

There is hope in every heartbeat
Tiny as it seems
You're a beautiful seed

~ Beautiful Seed lyrics, Corrinne May

If you're a regular here on Fridays, you'll probably do a double-take on my new banner. Overnight, it looks as if I've turned into an anime version of myself. Wearing pearls and a pink apron as per real life, but 20lbs thinner. I really like it! The banner is actually a gift from my friend, Nic in Singapore. I can't say 'thank you' enough times, Nic. In case you're all wondering, yes, I do have a bunch of fabulous and selfless friends like him. I try to surround myself with the real deal, or maybe they come to me. I really can't say for sure. 

Anyway, back to the business at hand. There was no ducking out of this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe without seeming a bit lame (after last week's absence). Coconut, lemongrass, turmeric, coriander, cardamom...I have them all; these ingredients form the hallmarks of my territory. In a twee twist, for there is always at least one, Dorie's Coconut Lemongrass-Braised Pork recipe was chicken-fied under my pork-less abode, but the rest of the ingredients remained. Oh, except for the turmeric, which Diva D threw out because she thought it had expired (I bought it just last year!). While writing this up, I did a quick research to see if turmeric in its powder form really does expire and came across this anecdote entitled Old Spice. You must click on the link and read it because it cracked me up...the things we women hoard in our kitchens!