Smoked Salted Black Tea Chicken

Typical menu for whole chicken will be either to do the Western style roast or Hainanese Chicken rice and I'm sort of bored with that. So when I open up the kitchen cabinet and saw the big basket of black tea there... well.. ok, I'm gonna try smoking the chicken.

Tools Required:

• Oven
• grill tray with the rack
• aluminium foil

Ingredients:

• whole free range chicken (mine 1.2kg)
• 1cup black tea
• 1/4 water
• 2tbsp coarse salt
• 2tsp himalayan salt
• 1/2tsp pepper

Steps:

1. Pat dry the chicken, rub it all over with the himalayan salt and pepper.
2. Mix the black tea with water and salt.
3. Place the tea mixture on the tray before placing the rack over it.
4. Place the chicken on top of the rack. Cover loosely with the aluminium foil to create smoke effect in inside the tray, allowing some smoke to escape.
5. Preheat oven at 100c for 10mins, then place the tray in. Reduce temp to 70c. Use the bottom heat function only
6. Smoke the chicken for roughly an hour to 1.5hrs.
7. Remove the aluminium foil and change to fan forced at 180c. Roast the chicken for another 25mins.
8. Once done, remove to cool for bout 10-15mins before cutting it up.

Ayam Percik

After hub has his craving for nasi goreng kampung, it is my turn to crave for ayam percik. When I was young, I'll anticipate for the days of the night market and this is the only thing mom will let me buy. Haven't had it for years and just feel like eating it.

But there is no night market here. So, the only way is to make it myself. Worse, the winter cold is catching up and there is no way to do it with the bbq at even 5pm coz it is already dark by then. So, I resorted to my beloved AF to do the job.

Ingredients:

• 6pcs of chicken drumstick, deboned (you can either buy one that's ready or do it yourself)
• 2tsp tamarind sauce
• 2lemon grass, bruised
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4cup thick coconut milk
• 1.5tbsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3tbsp oil
• Marinate ingredients:
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1tbsp sugar
• 1tsp chilli powder
• 1tsp turmeric powder
• Ingredients to blend:
• 4 candlenuts
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 8 dried chilli, soaked in hot water
• 2cm ginger
• 4 shallots
• 2.5cm galangal

Steps:

1. Clean the chicken and pat it dry. Marinate the chicken with the marinate ingredients and set it aside to marinate for at least 30mins.
2. Place the ingredients to be blended in the blender and blend till fine.
3. Heat up the oil in the pan and then saute the blended ingredients along with the tamarind sauce and lemon grass. Fry for about 4-5mins till it is well blended. and fragrant Stir constantly to avoid it from burning. Next add in water and let it simmer for 2mins.
4. Add in the coconut milk and salt and stir till it thickens.
5. Place the chicken into the cooled down spices and cover the chicken with the spices. Place the chicken in the Air fryer. Scoop a tablespoon of the spices on top of the chicken and set to 200c for 7mins.
6. Flip the chicken over and scoop another tablespoon of the spices on top of it and set to 200c for another 5mins.

Malay Style Briyani Chicken

I love the biryani we get back in Malaysia and the one I had prepared earlier with the ready mix spices just don't taste nor looks anywhere near to that. This time, I decided to try out the recipe that calls for the preparation from scratch instead and yum... it does taste superbly good. Just be cautious that the list of ingredients may look really long.

I made it twice actually and once with chicken and the other is with beef rendang.

For the rice:

• 3 cups basmati rice, soaked at least 30mins, then washed and drained
• 1tbsp butter
• 2 pcs shallot, slice thinly
• 2 cloves garlic (I'm using Australia garlic that is rather huge, it comes out to roughly 3tbsp amount), minced
• 1tbsp ginger, minced
• 1/2tbsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2tbsp cloves powder
• 1tbsp cardamon powder
• 2tsp tomato puree
• 1/4 cup grated carrot
• 2 pandan leaves, washed and knotted
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups evaporated milk
• 1/4tsp numeric powder
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup of cashew nuts (I used pine nuts coz i don't have cashew at that time)
• 3tbsp chopped coriander leaves

**Note: I don't have cardamon powder so what I did was use the grinder and grind it to powder form. You may choose to place the entire cardamon, cinnamon or/and cloves in as in original form but it taste better once it is grounded to powder form

1. Heat the pressure cooker up, put in the butter and shallot. Slightly saute before adding in the spices.
2. Next add in the tomato puree and carrot and stir.
3. Add in the pandan leaves next and stir till fragrant (roughly a min) before adding in the rice,  water and evaporated milk.
4. Switch the cooker to risotto mode (KPT13mins) and leave it to cook.
5. Once done, remove and add in coriander leaves, raisins and nuts. Next fluff the rice and mix the new add on stuff evenly.

For the chicken:

• 6pcs of drumstick, marinate with minced garlic (1cloves), ginger (1cm) and 1tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1tsp oil
• 4 shallots, sliced
• 1.5tbsp minced garlic
• 1.5tsbp minced ginger
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 2 cardamon pods
• 4pcs of cloves
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3/4 tsp fennel powder
• 3.4 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 knotted pandan leaves
• 2tsp coriander powder
• 1tsp chilli powder

1. Clean the chicken and wipe it dry. Marinate it with the marinate ingredients for at least 30mins.
2. Place the chicken in the air fryer and set at 180c for 5mins.
3. Heat up some oil in the pressure cooker pot and saute the shallots, garlic and ginger.
4. After the shallots soften and it starts to give nice aroma, add in the cinnamon stick, cardamon, cloves, fennel powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and pandan leaves. Stir for 1-2mins.
5. Then add in the chicken and set the pressure cooker to meat mode and KPT for 15mins.

For the beef:

• a piece of beef tenderloin roughly 400g, cut to cube (roughly 1"x1")
• 1tsp salt
• 1/2cup evaporated milk
• 1/8cup of desiccated coconut
• spices to blend
• 3 shallots
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3tbsp of blended chilli
• 2tsp of belacan powder
• 1cm ginger
• 1tsp turmeric powder
• 1 lemongrass stem, cut to small pieces the end part (the top part bruised and leave aside)
• 2 kafir lime leaves, sliced finely
• 1 handful of vietnamese mint
• 2tbsp oil

1. Blend all the ingredients for the spices together till it forms a thick paste. If too hard to blend, add a little water (like a teaspoon or more or less).
2. Heat the pressure cooker and add in the oil to the pot. Fry the spices ingredients till fragrant.
3. Add in the desiccated coconut and fry for another 2mins.
4. Then add in the beef and coat it well with the spices. Set the cooker to meat mode and cook for 15mins.
5. Once released pressure, add in evaporated milk and salt and cook under high saute mode for 8-10mins till the sauce thicken to your preferred thickness.
6. Once done, turn off the power and stir in the kafir lime and vietnamese mint leaves.

For the pickle:

• 1 whole cucumber
• 1 whole carrot
• 4pcs of shallots
• 1tsp salt
• 1cup rice vinegar
• 2tbsp sugar

1. Cut the cucumber to roughly 3cm length, 1cm thickness size. Removed the core.
2. Season it with the salt and leave it aside for at least 10mins before washing off.
3. Cut the carrot to the same size as the carrot.
4. Slice the shallots finely.
5. Heat up the vinegar and melt the sugar in it.
6. Once the mixture cool down, place the carrot, cucumber and shallots in it. Set aside to marinate for at least 30mins before placing it into the fridge.

**Note: You can top up the veggies with the same liquid if they are still there after you finish up the veggies.

Quick Style Hainanese Chicken Rice

Weather is getting cold and I just want something yum, good for recovering body from sickness yet with some hot soup. Then it just cross my mine why don't I do a quick hainanese chicken rice with the pressure cooker.

So I prepared this while the little one is taking her nap and the big girl was still in school for her after school activity.

Previously I had also posted the recipe before but using the traditional method, that consumes roughly almost at least 2-3hrs to prep and cook the entire dish. The recipe is here.

For this, it took me an hour for the entire prep including preparing of sauces (and some chatting online.. hehehe)

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken drumsticks (use what ever amount you need for your family or other part of the chicken)
• 5 cups of water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cups of cold ice water
• 3 cup rice (soaked in warm water to remove pyhtic acid and then washed and drain)
• 2tbsp butter
• 2tbsp minced garlic
• 2 leaves of pandan
• 10-12 slices of ginger
• 1 tbsp of garlic and 1tbsp of ginger, minced together
• 4tbsp of sesame oil
• 3tbsp cooking oil
• 1tsp oyster sauce
• 3tsp soy sauce
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 5tbsp chopped spring onion
• some fish balls
• some slices of cucumber for serving

Steps:

1. Pour the 5cups of water into the pot of the pressure cooker and select the saute high mode, close the lid so that it heats up faster.
2. Once the water is boiling, add in 1tsp salt and half the ginger slices. Then add in the chicken.
3. Close the lid and change it to manual pressure mode, KPT for 7mins.
4. While the chicken is cooking, prepare the ingredients for the rice and sauces.
5. In one saucer, mix 2tbsp of spring onion with the minced garlic and ginger. Then add in 2tbsp of cooking oil, 1tsp soy sauce, small pinch of salt, 1tbsp sesame oil, and mix well. Set aside for serving.
6. Once the chicken is done and pressure valve has drop, remove the pot from the pressure cooker and ladle the chicken into the cold ice water. Leave it for roughly 5-10mins before plating it up.
7. In another pot, set the pressure cooker to saute high mode, add in the balance cooking oil and sesame oil. After bout 1min, add in the balance of the minced garlic and saute till it is light golden. Scoop out half on another saucer and set aside for the other sauce.
8. Add in the balance of the pandan leaves, ginger slices, salt, butter and rice and stir fry it for a min or two. Then add in the chicken stock from boiling chicken. It should be about 3cups, enough to cook the rice. Set the pressure cooker to rice mode.
9. Add in the oyster sauce and balance soy sauce into the saucer with the fried garlic. Stir and set aside for serving.
10. Heat up the pot with the balance of the chicken stock, add in the fishballs and let it boil for bout 5mins. Season with some pepper. Dish out to serve and sprinkle with the balance of the spring onion.
11. Once the rice is ready, you may serve your food.

Air Fried Chicken Balls

Instead of making nuggets, I decided to make some nice simple yummy chicken balls for the kids for their dinner and the extras for the big girl to bring to school on the next day.

Ingredients:

• 1 pc of chicken breast (roughly 150-200g) - cut to small fine pieces, but not mince so you still get the chicken slices texture
• 1/4 onion - chopped roughly, to get the crunchy texture too
• 1/2 tsp of garlic powder
• a dash of pepper
• a pinch of sea salt
• 1tsp of corn flour
• 2 slice of bread (blend till powder)
• 1/2 cup of plain flour
• 1egg - beaten

Steps:

1. Marinade the chicken with the onion, garlic powder, pepper, sea salt and corn flour. Leave it aside while you blend the bread, prepare the flour and egg.
2. Scoop a tablespoon and then shape them into balls.
3. Dip the balls into plain flour, egg and finally the bread crumbs. Make sure you follow the right order.
4. Place them in the air fryer. Set at 160c for 6mins.
5. Done, serve with your favourite sauce.

Braised Chicken Feet Mushroom Noodle

Recently I ordered mushroom chicken feet noodle at hubby's favourite cafe and not very happy with the chicken feet. It was not fried and does not give that wonderful texture and flavour it deserves. So I thought I should make this myself instead.

What more the shop charged $9.80 for it with yellow noodle only... hmmm...

See the photos below. The first two pics are mine and the last is from the shop.  Btw, I didn't serve that much sauce on mine coz was trying to reserve it for my girl for dinner later.. :D

This is the $9.80 one.

Ingredients:

• bout 15 chicken feet, washed and nails area chopped off
• 10pcs of mushroom, soaked
• 2tbsp oyster sauce
• 4pcs of star anise
• 1tsp sesame oil
• pepper
• half cup soy sauce
• 2tbsp dark soy sauce
• 6cloves garlic, skin removed
• 1tbsp oil
• 6 slices of ginger
• a small piece of palm sugar roughly the size of 2cm by 3cm by 1cm
• a cup of water

Methods:

1. Pat dry the chicken feet and air fry at 200c for roughly 15 to 20mins, Shake them in between. It is ready when it is golden brown color. Set aside to cool. The original recipe asked to have the fried chicken feet soaked in ice cold water to give that crinkle look but I skip that. And please note, the chicken feet discharge quite some amount of oil during the frying process, so do have a layer of paper lined underneath the basket or the pan of the AF prior to frying to avoid smoke from being discharge from the machine.
2. Heat up the pressure cooker under saute high mode. Once heated, add in the oil, ginger, garlic and star anise. Fry for bout 30seconds or till the ingredients start to give nice smell.
3. Add in the mushroom and oyster sauce and stir fry for another min.
4. Finally add in the rest of the ingredients, cover the lid and set the pressure cooker to meat mode. That should keep the pressure for 15mins. At this stage, please note that the liquid should be sufficient to cover the chicken feet otherwise it won't be soft and flavoursome.
5. Once the pressure valve drop, your chicken feet mushroom is ready to be served with either rice or noodle of your choice. 

Enjoy!

Glutinous Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf and Chicken Stuffed with Glutinous Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf

My neighbour had given me some lotus leaf that she had bought and I had been having it in the kitchen for quite sometime not knowing what to use it for yet. And then I bumped into this recipe in FB and thought of trying it out with a tweak.

With the pressure cooker, I actually don't need to pre soak the rice but since I need to get rid of the phytic acid, so, I soaked it for bout 3-4hours prior to using it.

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2pcs of lotus leaf, pre soaked with hot water
• 1 small young chicken (mine is 1.2kg)
• 2.5cups of glutinous rice, soaked for 3-4hrs
• 2tbsp shiao thing wine for chicken marinate
• 1tsp five spices powder for chicken marinate
• a small pinch of pepper for chicken marinate
• a big pinch of sea salt for chicken marinate
• 1 chinese sausage, skin removed and diced
• 2 pcs of chinese mushroom, reconstituted and diced (water used keep aside)
• 3 pcs of dried scallop, soaked and water keep aside, shred to small pieces
• 3tbsp dried shrimp, soaked, water disposed
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 big pc of shallots, sliced
• 1/4 cup of carrot, diced
• a small pinch of garlic powder for the rice
• a small pinch of sea salt for the rice
• a small dash of pepper for the rice
• 4tbsp oil
• some strings to tie
• 3 pcs of big aluminium foil

Methods:

1. Marinate the chicken and set it aside.
2. Heat up the oil on the cooking wok. Once hot, add in the shallot and saute till it is almost brown. Add in the sausage and garlic and fry till fragrant. 
3. Add in the carrot, mushroom, scallop and dried shrimp. Stir fry till the shrimp get crispy.
4. Add in the rice and the water retained and stir fry till the water dry up. Season with the seasoning listed for the rice and stir for it to mix evenly. Leave it to cool.
5. Stuff in as much rice as possible into the chicken cavity. Press it down and continue stuffing till it is full. Then use the string to tie the bottom of the drumstick to avoid the filling from falling out.
6. Wrap the chicken with a layer of lotus leaf. Then wrap it with the aluminium foil to ensure no leakage and to maintain moisture. I had left mine to heat for few hours coz I was out for school pick up and the chicken is still moist and just right.
7. Then place the rest of the rice onto the other piece of lotus leaf. Fold it up from the top, bottom then right and finally left. Tie the parcel up with the leftover string.
8. Place 2 cups of water into the pressure cooker, then the aluminium foiled wrapped chicken and finally the rice wrapped in lotus leaf. Cover the pressure cooker's cover, set to bake mode (which is 45mins) and start. Remember to set the valve to bake mode.
9. Voila, once pressure released, the food is ready to be served. :D

*Note: I'm using the Philips electric multi cooker which has the pressure cooker and bake mode.

Variation to 40mins Bun

Yesterday and today, I tried something different with the 40mins bun and obtain quite a different type of textures.

They are modifications to the recipe of 40mins bun with the following differences:

Ingredients to the dough:

• 270g warm water
• 70g oil (I used peanut oil) I used olive oil here instead
• 10g instant dry yeast
• 48g sugar I ran out of sugar, so I used honey
• 1/5 teaspoon salt (7g)
• 1 egg
• 300g self raising flour I used bread flour as per requested by the original recipe
• 245g plain flour
• lots of oil to work on the dough
• egg wash n sesame seed no sesame seed for deco, but added 2 tablespoon of chia seed to the dough before kneading
• fillings are bacon

Conclusion, the buns are super soft and fluffy compared to my initial recipe but it is less soft compared to the initial recipe.

Then the next variation becomes this instead:

Ingredients to the dough:

• 270g warm water I used water and milk mixture (my daughter can taste the milk)
• 70g oil (I used peanut oil) I used butter here instead
• 10g instant dry yeast
• 48g sugar 
• 1/5 teaspoon salt (7g)
• 1 egg
• 300g self raising flour I used bread flour as per requested by the original recipe
• 245g plain flour I used self raising flour
• lots of oil to work on the dough
• egg wash n sesame seed no sesame seed for deco, but added 2 tablespoon of chia seed to the dough before kneading
• filling for this is char siew sauce chicken with chives

Conclusion, I still prefer the first variation as it gives that fluffy cottony texture to the bread.

Home made Ramen with Tonkatsu Broth

My demanding husband had requested that I prepared the nice tonkatsu ramen and after shopping for all the ingredients, finally, managed to do that.

For the broth (do note it takes a long time to prepared).

Ingredients:

• 2 pieces of pork trotters (the one with more bones, less meat, cut to small pieces)
• 1 chicken carcass
• 1 big onion, cut to half, lightly roast in the air fryer (I put it for 5mins, 200C)
• 2 spring onion, cut to half
• 1 pc of ginger, roughly 1 inch
• 4 bulbs of garlic, skin removed
• 5 litres of water

Steps:

1. Put the trotters and carcass in the pot along with 2 litres of the water.  Leave it to boil.
2. Then drain and wash the trotters and carcass. Scrap the skin and bones off those scum.
3. Then put all the balance ingredients plus the trotters and carcass in another clean pot and boil.
4. Next there are two options. You can lower down the fire and boil for 10hours. Second option, use the thermal pot. Once the water boil, leave it to boil another 20mins on low fire and move it into the thermal pot. Repeat the boil for 30mins 8hrs later and do this for 3days.
5. By the fourth day, it should be ready. If you have heavier taste bud, season with some soy sauce, otherwise, you may served it this way.

The noodle:

Ingredients:

• 400g bread flour
• 180ml water

Steps:

1. Pour the flour into the noodle maker.
2. Start the machine and add in the water.
3. Boil some salted water with oil and cook the noodle.
4. Can served with eggs, corn, endamame, flower fish cake, seaweed strips, carrot, charsiew, spring onion, etc

Collagen Broth

I saw someone posted  collagen broth that she used as soup based and has lots of goodness, I decided to google it and give it a try.

It is sort of almost the same as preparing the soup based for ramen, but shorter time and less ingredients. There is no onion, leek, shallots, etc

I used mine for my ramen served with kimchi, shredded seaweed and air fried beef fingers slices.

Ingredients:

• a big handful, roughly 500g of chicken feet
• 1kg of bone marrow (that's the type of name labelled for the bone) 
• 1 chicken carcass
• 4l of water

Steps:

1. Boiled some water and placed the bone in there to boil for about 4-6mins. Washed the bones clean
2. Then put all the ingredients in the big pot and boil for 3-4hrs. Mine is sort of a cheat. I used the thermos cooker pot and I boiled it for 40mins, placed in the cooker pot for over night and boil it again and leave it there for another 3-4hrs.
3. Used the filter to filter the soup before storing in the container. I have one just in the fridge that I'm using it now and the other container in the freezer coz I'll be using it later.
4. Season with salt before using or you can omit that if you are like me, prefer the original taste.

Curry chicken

Thanks to the post in FB few days back by Malaysia Kitchen, I decided to cook curry chicken... hehehe... my own version. I used deboned drumstick (bone reserved for my little sweetheart's chicken soup).

This is before the sauce reduced to the thickness I want

Ingredients:

• 3 pieces of drumstick without the bones
• 2 potatoes, cut to small cube
• 1 onion, sliced thinly
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped small
• 1 teaspoon of the sambal
• 1.5 tablespoon of oil
• 1 tablespoon of curry powder
• 1/2 tablespoon of dried cumin powder
• 1 star anise
• 1 small piece of cinnamon stick
• 2 pieces of cloves
• a small pinch of fennel seed
• 1.5 cups of water
• 1/4 cup of santan  (coconut) powder
• a small pinch of salt
• a dash of pepper

Methods:

1. Saute the onion with oil till soft and add in the garlic.
2. After stirring bout 1mins, add in the herbs (dried cumin powder, curry powder, start anise, cinnamon stick, cloves and fennel seed and stir till it is even.
3. Stir in the potato and chicken. Make sure the chicken is lightly fried and coated with the mixture.
4. Add in water, sprinkle the santan powder on top and stir till it dissolved.
5. Leave it to simmer for bout 30-40mins or till the potatoes are soft and tender.
6. Season with salt and pepper.
7. I added a little sliced chillies and parsley :D

Bake Chicken Nugget

A friend had posted her nuggets in facebook and that reminded me to give it a try again and indeed, it tasted yummylicious except that I make a small mistake, I should have let the ginger and onion blend till fine first coz the girl detected them and kinda reject it.. :(

Ingredients:

• 400g chicken breast (approximately coz I'm not quite sure the weight too.. hehehe)
• half a small apple (for the moisture and yummy texture)
• one small onion (yellow)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of cumin powder
• 4 small slices of ginger (really small pieces)
• a pinch of pepper
• 2 tablespoon of shredded cheddar cheese
• 1.5 cups of bread crumbs (for coating) + a pinch of salt + a pinch of freshly grounded pepper + a pinch of curry powder
• 2 eggs, lightly beat (for coating)
• olive oil for baking

Methods:

1. Mixed all the ingredients except those for coating in the blender and mix it till even. It does not need to be super fine caused you will want to have some texture for the nugget. But like in my case, do blend the onion and ginger in advance so that it is fine caused some kids can be quite sensitive and detect those flavour on its own.
2. Spray some olive oil on the tray lined with baking sheets. Preheat oven at 180C.
3. Wet you palm, scooped bout 2 teaspoon amount of the mixture on your palm and for the shapes you like. 
4. Dip the shape into the egg and then to the breadcrumbs. Lined them on the sheets.
5. Once all done, spray the top of the nuggets with oil and bake at 150C for 20-25mins. I sprayed a little more oil on the nuggets after 10mins baking to avoid it from getting too dry.
6. Served with ketchup or any sauce of your choice.. :D

Salad Craze

Recently, I'm on a little salad craze after watching too much MKR. So decided to do some. Here there is two different salads, roast chicken with roast sweet potatoes salad and rump steak with roast pumpkin salad.

For the roast chicken salad:

Ingredients:

• 5 pieces of chicken drumstick, minus the bottom part (that's how it was sold)
• 1 piece of medium size sweet potato, skinned and cut to cubed of roughly 2x2cm
• 2 pieces of medium size red onion, wedged to roughly 2cm size
• 1 medium size potato, cut to cubed of roughly 2x2cm
• olive oil, salt (use less coz the olives are rather salty), pepper and curry powder
• a handful of sweet peas, removed the sides and cut diagonally across
• 5 pieces of mini radishes with the leaves (washed and sliced thinly)
• half a avocado, sliced to wedges
• spinach
• a handful of crumbled feta cheese
• a handful of black olives
• half a lime juice (for the dressing)
• 1 tablespoon of honey (for the dressing)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (for the dressing)
• juices from the roast chicken (for the dressing)

Methods:

1. Arranged the first four items in the baking tray, lined with baking paper.
2. Drizzled with olive oil and sprinkle with freshly grounded black pepper and salt.
3. Sprinkle the curry powder on the chicken only.
4. Roast in the oven at 200C for about 20mins.
5. Add in the sweat peas at the last 5mins.
6. Let it rest in the oven for about another 5mins after turning off the power/fire.
7. Mixed all the ingredients for the dressing together till the honey is dissolved.
8. Mix all ingredients together in the mixing bowl along with the dressing and served.. yum

For the pumpkin salad:

Ingredients:

• Roughly 300g pumpkin, skinned and cut to cube, approximately 2x2cm
• 2 pieces of medium size red onion, wedged to roughly 2cm size
• olive oil, salt, pepper
• a handful of crumbled feta cheese
• a handful of spinach
• quarter a lime juice (for the dressing)
• 1/2 tablespoon of honey (for the dressing)
• 1/4 tablespoon olive oil (for the dressing)

Methods:

1. Similar to the above, lined the baking tray with paper and arrange the pumpkin and onions in it. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
2. Roast in the oven, 200C for about 20mins.
3. Mixed all the ingredients for the dressing together till the honey is dissolved.
4. Mix all ingredients together in the mixing bowl along with the dressing and served.. yum

Improved Hainanese Chicken Rice

Now, with our own utensils, etc, I decided to try the Hainanese Chicken Rice dish again yesterday. This time, I'm having the chicken rice chilli.

Let's start with the chilli, blended with my magimix again... hehee... using the small bowl.

Ingredients:

• 4 red chillies, all the bird eyes chilli
• 1 green chillies, all the bird eyes chilli
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (I dont have lime in stock.. but it works la)
• 2 tbsp chicken stock (from cooking the chicken)
• 2cm ginger
• 4 cloves of garlic
• a dash of sesame oil
• a pinch of salt

Blend all the ingredients together. Adjust the ingredients based on your taste preference.

The chicken:

Ingredients:

• one whole range chicken, roughly 1.5kg
• 4 tbsp salt
• 3x3cm stalk of spring onion, the white part
• 4 slices of ginger 
• 3 cloves of garlic (white skin, bruised)
• a pot of water enough to submerge the chicken
• another pot of cold water
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon of oil
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• parsley for deco

Methods:

1. Boil the water and 2 tbsp of salt.
2. Wash the chicken, then scrub with salt and wash it off (this is to remove any bad odour and to give the chicken a smooth shiny skin).
3. Stuffed the cavity of the chicken with ginger, garlic and spring onion.
4. When the water boils, add the chicken in, breast down. Let it boil for another 2mins, turn off the fire. Let it rest in the hot bath for about 5-7mins before turning the fire on again till boiling point and shut off again. Repeat for another time. The final, let it rest for about 10mins. This is to preserved the juices of the chicken in it.. :D
5. Use chopsticks to remove the chicken (under the "armpit") and submerge in cold water.
6. Remove the contents in the cavity. When chicken cool down, cut up the chicken and remove the main parts and the meat from the chicken breast.
7. Put back the chicken carcass back to the soup and boil for another 15mins under low fire. This will be the soup, served with some chopped spring onion.
8. Heat the oil, saute garlic. When the garlic is bout to turn golden brown, add in the soy sauce. Once boiling stage, turn off the fire and pour it over the chickens.

Rice:

Ingredients:

• 1.5cups rice
• 2 cups of the chicken stock from cooking the chicken
• 2cm ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic
• bout 1/2 tablespoon of butter (if add this, reduce the water a little)

Methods:

1. Wash rice, mixed all the ingredients together and steam it or cook in rice cooker.

Various Food

Drunken prawn with herbal soup based...




Nothing special bout the fish, it is the dip. Pickled lime with fish sauce and fried ginger with garlic..



Baked chicken with cheese filling:



Char siew tar pao for CNY eve dinner:


CNY eve dinner:

Oatmeal Chicken

Finally a post for my neglected myfoodies site... hehehe...

Had made some oatmeal chicken for dinner yesterday, taste kinda good.



Ingredients:
- 500g of chicken slices
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- 1 tablespoon of corn flour
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon of 5 spice powder
- 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
- 5 tablespoon of oatmeal + dash of salt
- 3 tablespoon of olive oil

1. Marinate the chicken at least overnight with all ingredients except the oatmeal.
2. Coat the chicken with the oatmeal.
3. Heat up the pan with the olive oil and pan fry till both side is golden brown.
4. Serve and eat... hehehe...

Chicken Puff

This is not the crispy type of puff, but is those fluffy and soft one.. just like dumpling. It was made with the failed dough for my pao... hubby says it taste good.



Flatten the dough, wrapped some marinated chicken fillet


The wasabi mayo sauce to go with it...

Pandan Chicken

Gotten lots of pandan leave from the babysitter when she removed the pandan plant from her front garden... so, I make pandan chicken. However instead of deep frying it, I grill it.

Pre-marinate chicken with pepper, salt, oyster sauce and 5 spice powder. Marinate for at least 4hrs... wrapped with pandan leave and seal the end with toothpick.

Grill for 25mins... under high heat.