Vegetable-friendly Christmas side dish ideas
As a child, chef-owner Shawn Koh who helms farm-to-table eatery Caffe Sprouts in Kuala Lumpur remembers his family’s Christmas table being loaded with all sorts of festive goodies.

“I always celebrated with my family and friends and we had a mixture of local and Western food. Like we would do a roast turkey or roast chicken and then mashed potatoes and sometimes satay and noodles too,” he says, laughing.

Now that he is all grown up, Koh says he realises just how important side dishes are to a Christmas meal, as without fully thought-out sides, Christmas mains like roast turkey, roast chicken, leg of lamb or prime beef would come across as one-dimensional, regardless of how well they are cooked.

“It is very important. From a chef’s point of view, the side dishes are the ones that make a menu shine. So everyone can do a roast chicken, it’s just a matter of what flavour you put inside or what brine or marinade you use to make the chicken tasty.

“But what really differentiates one chef from another is the side dishes. So different vegetables, different starches, different breads, different sauces, all this will complete and make a meal special,” he says.

Koh says there are plenty of different ways to incorporate side dishes into a Christmas menu. For example, home cooks can opt for more traditional options like corn bread, which Koh makes utilising Cameron Highlands sweet white corn. His corn bread is oh-so good and offers some grit (from the corn meal in the mixture) and interestingly, can be both savoury or sweet, depending on the dipping sauces on the side.

From a chef’s point of view, the side dishes are the ones that make a menu shine, says Koh.

“This is a more traditional dish. So, with the cornbread, people normally eat it with gravy, but you can also eat it with some salted butter. We do it here with a little bit of maple butter and also some cranberry sauce. And sometimes we serve it with a little bit of fresh tomatoes, so actually it’s versatile – you can eat it with almost everything,” says Koh.

Koh also says home cooks can veer away from “been there, done that” side dish varietals in favour of more experimental Christmas selections. This will give their guests some familiar flavours in brand new guises.

Koh’s shepherd’s pie croquette for example features a crisp outer layer that shrouds an interior filled with sweet potato mash (a departure from the usual potato mash) as well as minced lamb. It is addictively good and also far less filling than more traditional variants out there.

“My aunt used to make shepherd’s pie for Christmas itself but then I realised it is more like a main dish. So if you make it into a croquette, it kind of becomes a side dish to accommodate your main event – like your chicken or roast lamb. And instead of normal potatoes, we use sweet potatoes to give it a sweeter finish, so it’s a great idea,” he says.

Koh’s seemingly simple but disarmingly good side dish of carrots in raisin butter sauce highlights how vegetables can be shining stars when done right. This dish gives carrots the opportunity to really come into their own, highlighting both their malleable texture as well as the rich attributes of the raisin butter, which give it an almost oleic, syrupy contrast.

“This is one dish that I’ve been cooking professionally for many years. This is just a different variation of it. The way I actually learned it was slow-poached carrots with a burnt butter sauce and a raisin puree on top.

“But we simplified the version over here where we slow-cooked the carrots and then we just saute the rehydrated raisins with the butter and then we glaze it on top of the carrots. It’s nice, it’s fun, it’s simple to make and it’s enjoyable. Everyone loves it!” he says

Koh says if he could offer one tip to home cooks in terms of nailing these recipes at home, he would say to follow the recipes exactly as they are because they have been tested over and over again.

“I think most of the time, if you really follow the recipes step-by-step, you will definitely get it right. But some home cooks think ‘Oh, let’s try this shortcut!’ And then it won’t turn out right,” he says, laughing.

CORN BREAD

2 cups flour

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup sugar

1 ½ tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

½ cup melted butter

½ cup oil

1 ¼ cups milk

3 large eggs

2 Cameron Highlands white corn, kernels only

Pre-heat oven to 190°C.

In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients together (flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt) until evenly mixed.

In a different bowl, mix all wet ingredients together (melted butter, oil, milk, eggs) until evenly mixed.

In the bowl of dry ingredients, create a well in the middle. Slowly add the wet mix into the well bit by bit. The mixture will first resemble crumbs with sticky patches but should eventually become a wet dough. Cover the dough and let rest for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, mix in the corn kernels.

Line a bread tin with parchment paper. Pour the dough mix into the bread tin. Bake at 190c for 20-25mins (check texture and doneness with a cake tester.)

Once done, rest it on a cooling rack. It will be ready for consumption after 30 minutes.

POACHED CARROTS WTH RAISIN BUTTER SAUCE

Slow poached carrots

2kg carrots, cut into batonettes

100ml corn oil

100ml water

30g garlic

3 sprigs thyme

50g sugar

salt to taste

Raisin butter glaze

100g dried raisins

150g butter, diced

Pre-heat oven to 190°C.

Line up an aluminium pouch with parchment paper. Place all ingredients (except ingredients for raisin butter glaze) inside the aluminium pouch.

Fold up all sides and make sure that it is sealed with no air pockets for heat to escape. Bake the whole aluminium pouch in the oven for 35 minutes. Once done, remove pouch from oven and let parcel cool down.

Dish out the carrots and plate it up. Pour the liquid that’s in the pouch into a pan. Add dried raisins into the pan of liquid glaze from the pouch. Cook on medium high heat and let liquid reduce.

Once the liquid has a nice thick texture, reduce the heat and slowly add in butter and whisk the liquid, turning it into an emulsion. Continue whisking on low heat until all the butter is whisked in.

Once done, remove from the heat and pour on top of the poached carrots. Serve hot.
Shawn Koh,Caffe Sprouts,Christmas side dishes,shepherd's pie croquettes,corn bread,carrots in raisin butter
A chef specialising in farm-to-table meals shares tried-and-tested recipes for Christmas side dishes.