Dried Anchovy

I KNOW what y'all are thinking!!! "What IS THAT?" "NAsty!" "Ewwww" hahaha Tell me I am right. I'm looking for a cooking syringe so I can make those balsamic pearls. And in the mean time, I have to keep my kitchen busy with experiments!

I got a pack from an Asian market this weekend because I have eaten them a long time ago in Hong Kong. Growing up, our maids from the Philippines always let us taste their meals, and this is one of the dishes i really liked. Then when I was in Malaysia, my Chinese Malay friends made something similar for me at my farewell feast. So I got curious and decided to satisfy my craving. 

It was purely an experiment but it turned out really yummy, and yes, people, FISHY! LOL I washed half the pack in water, put it in the pan with a little oil and a dash of salt. Now, here's the fun part, I remembered it tasted sour, so I experimented with fresh lime juices. I also put a bit of garlic and ginger in it and served it cool.  My little 3 year old had a problem with the fishy eyeballs at first, but quickly got used to them haha... My husband and kids LOVED this dish! Don't you want some? ;-) You know you wanna try this. 

Balsamic Pearls - Challenge #2

How did your sourdough starter come out? I was so glad to have made it. My family loved the bread and the pizza! So how about another challenge for October? I promise this challenge is shorter and less time consuming.

We are making Balsamic Vinegar Pearls! Watch this video! It's different than the first one I had found and posted but it actually gives us more details about it.

I went to an Asian market to find agar-agar. I had originally thought it was a type of sugar because in the video I saw, it was from a packet, like sweet n' low. LOL But agar is a red algae! It is a vegetarian thickening agent, compared to gelatin, which is from animal sources. Read on it here in this article.

Here are the varieties of agar-agar I saw. I was very surprised because 1. of their different colors and 2. they looked like bars of plastic!

Anyway, you know what I chose! I am a health nut! I got the one without the dye. In this challenge, I only need a tablespoon I think... so... I am not sure what I am going to do yet, but I will find out!

I will be back to post what I did and how I did on this challenge!