Comfort food for your year-end celebrations

What do you think is Happy Cafe’s key ingredient for success?

For me personally, I am singularly focused on our consistency. While I do think first impressions count, it is our return customers that truly enable the success of our eatery. It takes just one bad experience to sour their opinions of our food and service quality. And seeing that we have a substantial number of loyal customers, I do think that we have been doing exceptionally well on that front! Also, we dedicate a significant amount of time and work to our food preparations. Customers are only presented with the final product, but each dish comes with a lot of attention to its many minute details, such as garnishing, stock base and seasonings. This is all thanks to my kitchen staff, who are both passionate and meticulous about our food.

Any new updates to share with us?

We have since returned to the basics, with a full continental menu!

What dishes will you be presenting to us today?

For this issue, I’m especially excited to showcase two incredibly definitive dishes that can easily be reinvented and customised! The first dish is our Chicken Roulade, a ubiquitous Eastern European meat roll that is braised and browned with our homemade stock. The other dish is a classic favourite – a charming plate of Carbonara best known for its simple fusion of eggs, cheese, meat, and pasta.

These also complement the delicious Pen Cai that we’ll be showcasing later on!

Could you tell us more about the Chicken Roulade?

A roulade is essentially a spiral roll layered with a delicious filling. Think of local staples like the Swiss rolls you can find in our local bakeries. However, ours will be packed with a savoury chicken filling that will then be seared and  roasted as a whole. Not to mention a drizzling of decadent gravy! This dish will require some culinary expertise, but I’m sure some of our more experienced cooks are more than up for the challenge.

Chicken Roulade 

Ingredients:
FOR THE MAIN DISH
2 Slices Boneless Chicken Breasts
10-12 Button Mushrooms
2 Finely Chopped Onions
2-3 stalks of Parsley
2 teaspoons Chopped Garlic
3½ teaspoons Butter
1 tablespoon Refined Flour
1 cup Chicken Stock
2 teaspoons Salt and Pepper

FOR THE GARNISH
1 sprig of Parsley (chopped)

Preparations:
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C

2 Butterfly the chicken breasts, and open them out. Season them with salt and pepper on both sides.

3 Separate the mushrooms by their stalks and caps. Chop the caps and stalks into finer chunks. Keep the stalks for the sauce.

THE FILLING
1 Heat 1½ teaspoons of butter on a non-stick pan. Once heated, add a teaspoon of garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.

2 Gradually add in the chopped onion and continue mixing until they are translucent. Following that, add the mushroom caps and sauté until the moisture evaporates.

3 Turn off the heat. Add the sprig of parsley and spread the mixture on a plate. Set aside to cool.

4 Once cooled, coat the chicken breasts with the mixture and roll tightly.

THE SAUCE
1 Heat the remaining butter in the same pan. Toss in the remaining garlic and onion. Sauté well.

2 Add in the mushroom’s stalks and any remaining mushroom chunks you might still have.

3 Gradually add the flour and incorporate it into the mixture. Steadily add in a cup of chicken stock (while stirring well) and let the sauce simmer until it thickens.

4 Strain the sauce.

THE CHICKEN ROLL
1 Cover each stuffed chicken breast with aluminium foil. Once sealed, transfer them to a baking tray which will then be placed into the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

2 Once cooked, unwrap the chicken rolls, cut them into halves and place them on your desired serving plate.

3 Drizzle the strained sauce over the chicken and garnish with parsley.

Pasta Carbonara

Ingredients:
340g Pasta Noodles
85g Turkey Bacon
28g Parmesan Cheese
28g Mushrooms
2 Large Eggs and 2 Large
Yolks (beaten and mixed)
1 tablespoon Olive Oil

COOKING PASTA
1 Once the pot of water hasstarted boiling, add in  a large serving of salt (1 tablespoon of salt for every 2 litres of water). Add in a quarter cup of oil.
2 Place the noodles in. Cook the noodles until they are al dente (firm when bitten). Make sure to reserve the pasta water.

BEATEN EGG MIXTURE
1 Mix the beaten eggs with parmesan cheese well. Add salt to taste.

PASTA MIX
1 Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add in the garlic, turkey bacon, and mushrooms into the fold. Cook the mixture slowly until fragrant.
2 Move the pasta from the boiling pot to the pan quickly. Make sure the pasta is dripping wet.
3 Add in the beaten egg mixture. To avoid the pasta from drying out, add the salted pasta water.
4 Serve at once with the remaining parmesan cheese and freshly ground pepper. 

Pen Cai (Basin of Vegetables)

Ingredients (Measurements Are Flexible and Customisable)
SEAFOOD
Abalone
Sea Cucumber
Prawn
Fish Maw
Dried Oyster

VEGETABLES
Carrots
Mushrooms
Chinese Cabbage
Broccoli
Daikon
Fatt Choy (Fa Chai)

MEATS
Roasted Duck or Pork

STOCK
1 Your Preferred Stock (Eg. Chicken Stock, or any leftover stock/soups you might have)

Preparation
1 Rehydrate and boil/pressure cook the sea cucumbers.

2 Remove the veins from the prawns. Leave heads and shells intact.

3 If you’re not using canned abalones, heat them up for 3-4 seconds and set aside.

4 Blanch the broccoli and carrots for 2-3 minutes and then place them in iced water.

5 Cook the scallops and prawns and then set aside.

PEN CAI
1 Pour the stock into a large clay pot over medium heat.

2 Add in the vegetables first. Let them simmer for about 10 minutes, or until they are soft.

3 Layer the ingredients gradually into the pot. First the aromatics, then the seafood, followed by the meats. Then lower the heat so that the ingredients can gradually soak up the stock.