Avigayil Damm

I spotted this recipe in one of my recipe booklets, titled ‘Fast Pasta’. As it fits into my weekday dinner ‘quick’ category I decided to try this out, particularly since we have some chicken livers we have not yet used up.

To ensure that the chicken livers would not smell or taste too iron-ish, I called my mom to ask what she usually marinates it in. She prescribed a little bit of Worcestershire sauce, or as she calls it kecap Inggris (literally, English soya sauce). So I marinated the livers in Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Meanwhile, I cooked one large onion (cut in rings) in butter, and when it was soft, I added 2 tsp grated orange rind and bay leaves and stirred it further for a few minutes. Once the livers changed colour, I removed them onto a plate and stirred in half a cup of red wine, 2 tbsp of cream and 2 tbsp of tomato paste, and let it simmer until it thickened. Then I returned the livers to the pan to warm them again and seasoned with salt and pepper.

When I tasted it, I wasn’t really satisfied with it (I kept comparing it to the delicious chicken liver that my mother makes), so I added a little bit of sweet soya sauce. It did taste a little better, at least decent enough to eat. I served it with spaghetti – my choice of pasta. Unfortunately neither my hubby nor I were excited about it. So we put Sam into some use Certainly this is not one recipe that I would try again.

One type of food I am crazy about is Padang food. Similar to Indian food, Padang food uses a lot of turmeric, caraway, cumin and coconut milk in their dishes. Today, I was in the mood for Padang food and I chose chicken in coconut gravy or ayam gulai. It’s so delicious, although quite spicy and sometimes it’s also guilty pleasures because of the calories in coconut milk – and I also just recently found out from my dentist that Padang food contributes to the deteriorating whiteness of my teeth… ugghhh! But what can I do, a girl’s gotta eat.