The Cardamom Club

The Cardamom Club is no longer in operation.

2011-09-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

Please head on over to http://auriasmalaysiankitchen.blogspot.com to see what I'm cooking up now!

TCC's next supper event - Thursday, July 7th, 8pm

2011-06-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

Special Feature: To accompany the spicy meal and hot weather, we'll serve a weird and wonderful Asian drink called Chin Chau. The literal translation is "Grass Jelly."

Appetizer:
Fried Ikan Bilis with Peanuts, Shallots and Chillies

Main:
Crab Curry- so good you'll be drinking the sauce!

Spiced Ghee Rice
Roasted Cauliflower with Pine Nuts
Sinhalese-style Cucumber Raita

TCC's next supper event - Thursday, June 23rd, 7:30pm

2011-06-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

June 23rd - in the backyard 7:30pm


Fresh basil growing on the deck

Main:
Spicy Tandoori Chicken - on the BBQ, The Cardamom Club way

Sinhalese Mashed Potatoes
Watermelon Tomato Salad with Fresh Basil Cumin Vinaigrette

Blanched Baby Bok Choy with Garlic Oil

Dessert:
Biss's Famous Fruit Cobbler with Schlag

Email us at thecardamomclub@gmail.com for details and reservations

Singapore Chilli Crab with a Soft-Shell Twist

2011-05-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

Dinner At The Cardamom Club last night was an exciting adventure for a couple of lucky guests who got to drive down to Brooklyn Chinatown with us in search of the freshest seafood there. We already had a set menu in mind, but when we got down to Chinatown we found some incredibly fresh soft-shell crabs crying "take us hommmmme!" One of our patrons expressed a winter-long hankering for them, and we acquiesced. Even though this dish is usually made with huge mud crabs or blue swimmers, we decided to break with tradition and make Singapore Chilli Crab with these lovely little crustaceans. Here's what our guest who suggested them wrote after dinner:

Post-frying, pre-sauce

Soft Shell Crab. I've been thinking about soft shell crab all winter. Then came May and the start of the season. We went to Brooklyn Chinatown with Auria of The Cardamom Club today, and there they were, sitting in their box in the fourth fish market we went to, little soft-shell claws waving in the air.

They were dredged in a mixture of cornstarch and rice flour, seasoned with turmeric and chilli powder and deep fried in a wok. Meanwhile a killer sauce of both fresh and dried chilli peppers, onion, garlic, ginger and a few surprises simmered on a separate burner waiting to welcome the crispy, fried crabs.

Absolutely amazing - a wondrous blend of hot and spicy with the delicateness of absolutely fresh seasonal seafood!

If I were to make a list of all the seafood dishes I have ever had and would ever want to have again, and had to put them in order of preference, this soft shell crab would absolutely rank in the top two - Barry M.

Sauced and served on a bed of white rice

Uhm, I'm not sure describing the sauce as "killer" will bring folks running to dine with us, but I'll take that as a compliment! And now I wish we had leftovers.

- Auria

The Cardamom Club's 2nd Supper Event - May 14th, 7pm

2011-04-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

We are flirting with the following menu. It will only change if something looks exquisitely fresh and delicious at the market.

Appetizer:
Pastelitos - like empanadas, only baked. Chicken or spinach in flaky pie crust.

Main:
South-Indian style Salmon Curry
Roasted Cauliflower with Currants
Cucumber Raita (to help with the heat of the curry!)
Spiced Ghee Rice

Dessert:
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Schlag
Biss's Ginger Delights
Cardamom Tea

Please connect with us at thecardamomclub@gmail.com Let us know how you heard about us, and how many you'd like to seat. We only serve 20, so do it fast. The indecisive will go hungry!

We're looking forward to cooking for you.

Too Spicy Tandoori!

2011-04-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

It's April 1st. Rain, snow and slush. We were craving tandoori, but there's no way anyone's pulling out the bbq in this weather, so we just decided to do it in the oven. It was done to perfection except for one little thing - it was wickedly spicy.
It burned our lips and tongues. We felt it down to our toes. We complained, cried and carried on but we enjoyed every last bite. Note to self: TONE IT DOWN!!
- Auria
PS I promise not to inflict such pain on you.

Shrimp Sambal

2011-03-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

Shrimp cooked in a spicy, coconut-ty sauce - one of my most favorite things to cook for guests. Why don't I make it for my husband and daughter, you ask? He stays away from shellfish and she's still working on her spicy chops. We're making this at our first Cardamom Club dinner party for 17 people in a couple of weeks. Aren't they lucky? :o)

Back home in Malaysia, the shrimp would be cooked with the heads and shells on. It makes for a very interesting dining experience indeed. One needs to learn how to get the shells off and for most its not an easy feat!! In my early days in the US, I would cook this dish as we do back home. I found myself giving shrimp-peeling tutorials at every dinner. It seems to require an inordinate amount of dexterity that I find is difficult to develop if you haven't grown up peeling your own shrimp.

Nowadays, I peel the shrimp before cooking so folks can enjoy the meal and not wrestle with the spicy shrimp. What we gain in convenience, we lose in enjoyment - namely, that when you pick up a whole shrimp with head and shell on, it carries a wonderful amount of the delectable sauce to your mouth. You suck the sauce off the whole shrimp, then proceed to peel away the shell. Then you pop the saucy thing in your mouth. Heaven!! I know this paragraph does not do justice to the actual experience - so maybe a picture will help. Here's a picture of a similar shrimp dish, cooked by a family member for us when we were visiting earlier this year. Perhaps looking at it, you will get a sense of what an incredible taste explosion the heads and shells bring with them. And if anyone is adventurous enough to go the traditional route with this dish, let me know and we'll gladly cook some up for you and your friends the old-fashioned way.

- Auria

Roasted Cauliflower with turmeric, fenugreek & mustard seeds.

2011-03-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

This is last night's roasted cauliflower with turmeric, fenugreek and mustard seeds. Our dinner consisted of parboiled rice, ground turkey curry with melt-in-your-mouth potatoes (a family favorite) and this incredibly tasty and gorgeous cauliflower dish. I wish I'd made more - it was gone in a flash! FYI, turmeric has been used in India for over 2500 years and is known for its health benefits. It is a natural liver de-toxifier, powerful natural anti-inflammatory, aids in fat metabolism and weight management and has long been used in Chinese medicine as a treatment for depression. Wow, sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? And I even left out the more far-out claims about the benefits of this so-called "wonder spice". All I know is it makes things taste good and I love the color it adds to various dishes.
- Auria

Getting started!

2011-03-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, The Cardamom Club was founded by yours truly and yours truly over coffee and scones at the cafe at Barnes & Noble in Union Square! March 14th, 2011 - what a momentous.......... moment! Our very own supper club - we welcome one and all!!

We have a date set for our first night of serving yummy food to 15 guests brought to us by the one and only Joshua Bernstein of the New York Press. We're in the process of setting everything up and will keep posting updates to let you all know how the process is going. How we're feeling. What we're thinking. And most importantly, what we're cooking!