Kimchi Stirfry chicken with cabbage

 Hey, I'm back, I know I've been neglecting my blog but life has been kinda hectic of late.

This was inspired after several trips to the Korean restaurant called Dubu Dubu located in Sunway Pyramid. The price was reasonable considering the ambience and location. I told myself I must try out this dish someday soon and that day finally came. The key ingredient is this Korean chili bean paste.

 

I didn't do any goggle research on this recipe prior to trying out because like I said, as long as I have the key ingredient, the taste is not gonna run far. I have however added a few 'concoction' of mine to make this recipe as close as possible to the one I ate in Dubu Dubu.

Here are the additional seasoning and ingredients that I've added :

 

Sesame oil 

Sweet soy sauce 

Dark soy sauce 

Dash of salt 

Chili Flakes 

Water 

Green capsicum 

Cabbage (a must have) 

Korean chili bean paste (a must have) 

Cherry tomatoes 

Garlic and big onions

Dice chicken (of course)

 

I made this for lunch today after my gym class and it's a pity that hubby wasn't around to savor it. The dish came out pretty well suited to my tastebud but of course it wasn't as spectacular as the one I ate in Dubu Dubu. Gonna make this again for dinner tomorrow. Errr...notice my lovely bento box? I deliberately asked cousin Soo to get it for me from Japan just for the sake of photo taking for my blog :D  Thanks couz for the bento! I love it.

Rice Wine Chicken & Sambal ikan bilis

These 2 recipes may sound odd to be put together but rest assured, they're a dish of its own and....I cooked both tonight without the rice. What's more, we didn't actually have them for dinner while the portion was fit for 4 - 5 pax. Yea..talk about peculiarity.

Mom has left some chicken fillet and ginger in my fridge and if I don't cook it soooner before she comes over next week, my ears may just suffer a little nagging (again)  :) There's this rice wine my mom in law made and when you put all of these ingredients together, you'll get Rice Wine Chicken.

Ingredients for Rice Wine Chicken
Chopped garlic
Shreded ginger (lots)
Chicken meat
Fungus (shred preferred)
Rice Wine (homemade)
Rock sugar cane (tiny lump)
A pinch of salt

Hubby was on a strict diet but he couldn't help peeking into my pot and served himself a small bowl eventhough he had earlier swore that he ain't gonna eat.

Now...I've got another problem. I've got the following ingredients in my fridge :

• Kaffir lime leaves
• 2 stalk of lemongrass
• Chilli boh
• Tamarind
• Lots of peeled onions (bought in the market a week ago)
• 2 big onions

So again, with all of the above ingredients + a packet of ikan bilis which I bought during my last trip to Kuantan, I've decided to cook Sambal Ikan Bilis.....at 10.05pm. Yes.... that's exactly what I did. I reckon I've been a little over ambitious with the tamarind juice, hence a tad too sour. I normally don't use lemongrass or kaffir lime leave when I cook sambal ikan bilis but I gotta get rid of these 2 ingredients otherwise they're gonna end up in the land of dustbin.

The pictures not perfect but oh man.. I'm don't wanna climb up to get his camera.

So, the next question is.....whose gonna eat the Rice Wine Chicken and Sambal Ikan Bilis I just cook at this ungodly hour? My colleagues of course... that'll be my lunch tomorrow and part of their lunch too. 

Maggi Magic Meals : Ayam Masak Merah

Ayam Masak Merah - just dump the meat in the bag and dump the bag in the rice cooker.





Yes, it's a new product from Maggi which comes in 3 different variants : Aromatic Chicken Curry, Spiced Soya Chicken and SavoryTomato Chicken (Ayam Masak Merah).  Of the 3 variants, what enticed me most was the Ayam Masak Merah though I honestly have not the slightest notion how it could be translated to  "Tomato Chicken" in English. Anyway, I tried it out today and I bet my colleagues are fervently waiting for my feedback.



That's how it looks like right after I've completed the cooking. Yea.. I mentioned rice cooker but I ain't have one at home so I substitute it with my steamer pot instead.

To start off, it is an awfully convenient way of cooking a dish in a rice cooker.  Just throw in the chicken parts into the Maggi cooking bag provided, add in the packet of seasoning, seal the bag and lastly, place the bag on top of the rice and switch on the rice cooker. Once rice is cooked, leave it on at "Warm" mode for another 25 mins. Chicken will be totally cooked and you've just completed a dish while the rice cooker was cooking the rice for you. Now... isn't that convenient especially for people like me who's constantly complaining of 'insufficient time'?

Magic Meals comes in 3 variants.

 I bet you are worried about placing a plastic bag in the rice cooker for health reasons. Well, the bag used was of food grade and tested to be safe and durable under the heat. Apparently, this method of cooking is not new in the market, I was told but it's definitely the first time I've heard of it.

 

Okay now.. my verdict on the taste. While it's no doubt a perfectly convenient way of getting a dish ready to eat, it doesn't have the 'wow' factor when it comes to taste. It's edible nonetheless but to me, it is lacking in the flavor. Perhaps I should try marinating the chicken in the bag for a longer period before throwing it into the rice cooker. This way the taste would probably absorb into the meat to give a more intense and kicking taste. 

Another angle of the Ayam Masak Merah from Maggi Magic Meals

 Although it says just add chicken and onion rings in the bag, I've added some tomatoes in it because it just doesn't do any justice to the name "Savory Tomato Chicken" if I don't add any real tomotoes in. 

 Dont' just rely on my verdict. Go grab a packet of these Magic Meals. It's available now in most major hypermart (except Tesco Paradigmn!). Try it out this fun and convenient way of cooking and let me know of your verdict instead. Have fun!

Fried Chicken Wings in a jiffy

I was craving for fried chicken wings last Sunday and instead of satisfying my desire once and for all, I left the mamak restaurant fuming because I wasted my stomach on this highly fatty and oil foodstuff and yet it tasted...not to my liking. Guess what? Yes... on Monday, I drove to Tesco in Paradigm (yahoo.. finally there's a shopping centre near my office!), got myself the wings, went back home to marinate it and today, had them for dinner. Marination was simple : with soy sauce and red fermented beancurd. Hubby rode his bike like a wind to tapau back Singapore Fried Beehoon and Hokkein Mee to savour with the wings lest the wings go cold. Now.. this is what I call 'teamwork' :D p.s not often I get this teamwork though...

Chicken BBQ Pau & Red Bean Pau (Steam Buns)

This was done at home, using the same recipe from the class. Smooth filling was not self made.

As I was saying in my previous post, I took a day off to attend a baking class in Damansara Heights. There were numerous class for me to choose from but in the end, I settled on pau making class instead of pastry pro class. I reckon I will never venture to make a puff pastry since frozen ones are easily accessible. As for sweet pastry, I've done that countless times. I made the right decision because I got to learn how to make pau and the filling from scratch. Yes, from deboning the chicken meat to cooking the red bean filling from the red beans. It was very unfortunate that I couldn't eat the very own chicken BBQ pau I made because I'm still on a vegan marathon. Errr.... I tasted the gravy though coz I know I'll never sleep that night without knowing how the BBQ filling taste like. It sure smell wonderful to my nostrils.

Wholemeal Chicken BBQ Pau made in the class.

Okay, I know the pau looked kinda hideous but it was my very 1st time making pleats to the pau instead of just a boring round shape. I gotta perfect this skill and that means more practice. My next pau will be a vegetarian pau. When? Well... soon. Sooner than you thought.

The wholemeal pau. The one behind was yam pau (flour with yam) with red bean filling

Yes, unsightly pleated but hey this is just the beginning. It's my 2nd attempt anyway

As per request from a friend, here's the recipe.

Ingredients for pau :

1 tsp instant yeast

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1 tbsp sugar

3/4 plain flour

3/4 wholemeal flour

1 tsp cooking oil

1 tsp double action baking powder (I omitted this entirely)

Ingredients for filling :

300g chicken pieces, skinless, boneless, cut cubes, marinated in 1/4 tsp of salt and pepper

3/4 cup green peas

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp cornflour

Method : Pau

1. Mix instant yeast, sugar and warm water and let it stand for 5 mins.
2. Mix all the ingredients together and knead the dough for about 15 mins until it forms an elastic ball.
3. Cover with damp cloth and let it rest for about 30 mins

Method : Filling

1. Heat up oil and fry the garlic and onion.
2. Add in chopped onions, peas and chicken cubes.
3. Add in the hoisin sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil.
4. Mix cornflour with a little water and thicken the filling.

Method : Wrapping filling in pau

1. Divide dough to about 8 portions. If you prefer pau to be smaller, divide to 10 or 12 portions. Roll them into balls.
2. Flatten each dough and make the edges thinner.
3. Scoop a spoon full of filling into the centre and pleat to seal.
4. Place pau on a piece of greaseproof paper. Repeat for remaining dough.
5. Cover the pau with damp cloth and leave it to rest for 45 mins.
6. Steam over high heat for 15 mins. Serve hot.

My cooking tips : The double action baking powder serves to proof the dough faster. To ensure dough is well knead for proofing, pull the dough. If it's quite elastic and doesn't break so easily, then dough is well knead.

My team mates in the class. Starting to make the pau shape.

 

Kneading the dough for proofing later on.

Fried Chicken Wings

We were making Nasi Lemak for dinner the other night and when it comes to nasi lemak, I usually relish the idea of eating it with hot chicken wings. Both hubby and I used to be wing lovers and I'm not kidding about our voracious appetite. We cut back on wings ever since we were told that the most poisonous part of a chicken is the wings. Well, I don't know for sure how true this statement is but I gradually find myself shopping for other chicken parts. Having said that, we can't abstain chicken wings entirely for as long as we live. We'll just have to enjoy this 'forbidden' treat once in a while.  The preparation was fast and easy. The outcome was fabulous. Mom was impressed with my simple marinates.

Wash the wings, drain it thoroughly and marinate/rub the wings with following ingredients :

• Ginger juice (I grated it )
• Salt
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder

Just before frying it, coat the wings with cornflour.

Ta-daa... done.

Roasted Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

One of the easiest and fastest recipe I know of is roast chicken. I don't know why but I was suddenly thinking of eating either fried chicken (other than KFC) or roast chicken. When I want something, I really want it fast. So the moment the clock struck 12pm, I shot off to Giant to look for chicken for dinner tonight. I don't know what kind a Giant this is but there wasn't any whole leg chicken on the shelf. Neither could I find chicken wings or drumsticks. What was available were whole chicken, half chicken and chop chicken parts. I had to settle with a small size half chicken then. It was a good thing I have lots of spices in office because when I reached office, I cleansed the chicken and started rubbing the chicken thouroughly with salt, course black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and dried parsley. Since there was a metal meat tenderizer on hand, I used that too tenderize the meat, half hoping the marinates will seep into the meat faster. Roast the chicken at 170C for about 30 mins. I turn the chicken over after 20 mins of roasting and the last 5 mins, I turn it back for a final roasting on the other side so that I'd get a more crispy and brownish skin.

As for the vegetables, here's what I did :

• 3 mid size potatoes
• 1 large carrot, cut smnaller size
• 3 mini size aubergine, cut thinner strips
• 8 cherry round tomatoes
• few pieces of lettuce.
• 1 big onion, cut rings.
• salt
• Mc cormik garlic & pepper seasoning.

1. Peeled potatoes, cut into smaller sizes and boil in water with pinch of salt for about 20 - 30 mins. When potatoes are slightly soft, dish it out.
2. Heat up pan with olive oil. Toss in the potatoes and left in pan. Turn occasionally so that all sides came in contact with the pan. Add in onions and  cut carrots.
3. Toss in the aubergine and stir till they are evenly soften. Add in pinch of salt and some Mc Cormik seasoning.
4. Keep close watch and refrain the vege from getting burnt. Turn off fire and transfer to glass dish before popping it into the oven.
5. Roast vege for 30 mins in 140C.
6. Serve together with roasted chicken and garnish with fresh lettuce and cherry round tomatoes.

The seasoning I used. Sorry, picture taken with my phone.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

My dad suddenly had a craving to eat steamed chicken hence he requested mom to make one for dinner. Mom and I had to change our planned menu to accomodate his sudden request and so we scurried to the market to get a kampung chicken (free range chicken) and some other necessary ingredients. For the 1st time, I got to witness my mom cooking the chicken from scratch instead of following her instructions over the phone. And so her secret recipe is out and she allowed me to share it over here in my blog.

Ingredients :

1 medium size kampung chicken

ginger - 3 mid sized chunks , roughly smashed

10 ginger - thickly sliced

3 long stalks of spring onion
salt

Method :

1. Drain chicken well and rub salt all over the chicken, inside out. Then stuff the spring onions and smashed ginger inside the cavity. Let it marinate for at least half an hour.

2. In a big pot, fill up water that will cover the entire chicken. Boil it with sliced ginger and the internal parts of the chicken

3. When the water starts to boil, hold the chicken by its legs and dip the chicken into the water for about 8 times. Then leave the entire chicken in the pot and turn down the fire to very slow boiling. Do not cover the pot with lid. Let the chicken boil in the pot for about 40 to 45 mins. Remove chicken and set aside to cool before chopping into pieces.

To make the soup, we added cabbages, tofu and carrot in it

My cooking tips : If you are one that shuns chicken which is just nicely cooked (some blood visible when chicken is chop), then leave the chicken in the pot over slow fire for an additional 10 mins. Of course, if your chicken is huge, you may need to adjust the cooking time yourself.

3 Cups Chicken

 

Recently I came across 2 very interesting blog and one of them had this recipe called 3 Cups Chicken. That was the 1st time I've heard of this recipe but apparently it's a very well known recipe and has been around for quite sometime. The recipe requires a handful of basil and I simply love the taste of basil. From the recipe, I deduce that the preparation should not be taking too much of my time and this is the kind of recipe that I desperately need. Nonetheless, I cooked it for dinner on my off day last week and it was fantastic. It was just me and hubby having it for dinner and I cooked 2 whole chicken leg. I meant to cook more so that I could bring it to office the next day as my lunch. As it turned out, the chicken was so delicous we both ate everything up in the claypot and not a drop of gravy was left in it.

Ingredients:

2 whole leg chicken
5 cloves of garlic - chopped

5 slices of ginger

4 small red chilli

1 small bunch Thai basil leaves

1 cup Chinese cooking wine

¾ cup soy sauce

4 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 thumb size rock sugar or 1 tbsp sugar

Method:
1. Marinate chicken with soy sauce, 2 tbsp sesame oil, cooking wine and dark soy sauce for at least 4 hours.


2. Heat up the remaining 2 tbsp sesame oil in a wok or claypot until sizzling hot. Add in the garlic, ginger and dry chili. Stir fry until fragrant. Add in the chicken pieces and continue to stir until chicken changes color.

3. Add in the rest of the marinade liquid and sugar. Bring it up to boil, cover and cook and turn down the heat and let it simmer slowly.

4. Cook until all the liquid almost disappear and chicken is done. Check seasonings Add in the basil stir and dish out or serve it in the claypot.

Juicy Roasted Chicken with Rosemary

The one thing that puts me off when it comes to roasting chicken is the oil from the chicken that will spew everywhere inside the oven and the some stains proved to be pretty stubborn to be removed. I'd like the idea of roasting a whole bird with it's leg tied up and stuff lots of fresh thyme, rosemary, garlic and of course a lemon into the cavity of the chicken. Unfortunately there are only 2 of us in the house to devour the whole bird and this feat is definitely unachievable. This is somewhat the same recipe I gotten from Jamie Oliver but I kinda like 'improvised' it here and there by adding additional spices. First, I rubbed the bird with salt, then with lots of course black pepper. Next, I rubbed a generous amount of roasted garlic powder and onion powder inside and outside of the bird. The recipe asked for rosemary but I added lots of thyme, garlic , of course rosemary and lastly stuffed in half a lemon in the cavity. I even tucked in few some rosemary and thyme under the skin of the chicken. That was all it took to roast this simple recipe. It turned out juicy and delicious but I gotta say certain part of the chicken breast was rather dry where the aroma from the fresh spices did not quite reach this. Well .. to overcome this, I just made the brown sauce to go with it. It's an instant brown sauce pack , by the way.

Kung Po Chicken (Kung Pou Kai Ting)

We recently organized a few workshops for our clients and there were a lot of leftover chicken fillet. And so, I was the priviledged one to be given the fillet coz my colleague knows I cook every now and then. At such a short notice, I had to rake my mind quickly on what I could cook with the chicken fillet. It was at the spur of moment that my colleague blurted out Kung Po Chicken dish to me and I immediately said 'aha....'. I defrosted the fillet in office, left office on the dot and found hubby sitting comfortably in the living room with eyes glued to the laptop and his index finger busily pushing down the middle button on the mouse. I announced that I'm gonna cook this dish for dinner tonight and while I was busy cutting the fillet into cubes, hubby emerged behind me and said he will take over this dish. Okaaay.... so the boss wanna cook. Great. It's a good thing I have some dried chili in my fridge. In fact, I had almost all the needed ingredients in my fridge and larder but the capsicum had kinda shrivelled and shrunk . Well.. so.. this dish was done by hubby and I gave him 2 thumbs up. I hate to say this but it tasted really good, no joke.

If recipe is needed, I'll post it.

Rice Wine Ginger Chicken

I had originally wanted to cook chinese sesame chicken, a recipe I saw from TV together with my mom late last year. Again, I had to call my mom in Sydney to refresh my memory on this recipe. It was supposed my 1st attempt afterall. With full confidence, I bought half a free range chicken and bentong ginger early one morning before I went to office. The following day, I rushed home from office and eagerly started the fire on the stove. Mom said I had to pour a lot of Shao Xing wine. Of course I heeded. Wouldn't dream going against her advice lest the dish may fail. As it turned out, the dish tasted more of a rice wine chicken instead of sesame chicken because I emptied half a bottle of the wine in it. I guess I should have anticipated this. The wine soup tasted great nonetheless. It's just that hubby had a spoonful of it, look at me blankly in the face and asked "I thought you wanna cook a sesame chicken?"

I'm more than willing to share the simple recipe here :

Ingredients :

1/2 free range chicken (kampung chicken), chop chunks and marinated with sesame oil and soy sauce

1 big chunk of ginger, slice thinly

1 - 2 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 bottle of Shao Xing wine (chinese rice wine) - adjust to your taste

salt

Method :

1. Heat oil, fry ginger till fragrant

2. Add in chicken, stirfry till cook

3. Add in Shao Xing wine, cover and let it simmer

4. Add in sugar and salt. Continue to simmer over slow fire for next 15 to 20 min. Serve.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

It seems to me that if it's Fried Kway Teow, the word 'Penang' must go along with it to make the dish sounds more tantalizing. And since I am a Hainanese, I have more reason to call this a Hainanese Chicken Rice. It was the same Sunday that I cooked this dish while hubby handled the garoupa. I had to make a call to Sydney to my mom and asked for her recipe eventhough I last cooked it for CNY reunion dinner. Her method sounds rather far-fetched but I have complete trust in her culinary skills which she had demontrated over the years. I followed exactly what she told me to do and the chicken turned out smooth and silky ( I was told, ok). I didn't had time to make the chili but bought the Singlong chicken chili to go along with it. As for the soup, I threw in the last 3 miserable packets of fishball which I managed to buy and some fuchuk (god knows what this is called in English). Garnish it with some chinese parsley and it was ready to be served.

Claypot Chicken Rice (without the claypot)

I decided to cook a supposedly hassle free dinner, a dish which I cooked before when I was in the varsity. It's Claypot Chicken Rice, minus the claypot. I substituted the claypot with rice cooker as it is easier to manage the rice this way. The recipe was derived from Rasa Malaysia but I added big onions and carrot because I wanna have some vege in it. I omitted quite a number of seasoning as well. The one regrettably missing ingredient in this dish is the salted fish which I erroneously thought I still have some leftover in my fridge. It would be smashing to have salted fish but I guess I'll just have to do without it this time. Ingredients : 2 cups rice 1 skinless chicken breast & 2 chicken drumsticks 5 inches ginger (peel the skin and chop into thin strips) 6 shitake mushrooms (soak in hot water for 30 minutes and cut into halves) 1 small piece salted fish (cut into small pieces) 2 Chinese sausage (sliced) – optional 2 stalks of spring onion 1 carrot (sliced) 1 big onions (sliced) Seasoning for chicken: 2 tablespoons oyster sauce 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil 1/4 teaspoon sugar 1 tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine (or rice wine) Method: 1.Chop the chicken breast and chicken drumsticks into pieces. 2.Add the chicken seasoning and mix well. Marinate for an hour in the fridge. 3.Rinse and clean the rice in a rice cooker as if you are making steamed rice after the chicken is marinated for an hour. 4.Heat up a wok with some cooking oil. Add in the chicken and shitake mushrooms. 5.Quickly stir-fry the chicken until half-cooked. Dish out and set aside. 6.Deep fry the salted fish and set aside. 7.Add the chicken, big onions and carrot into the rice cooker when the rice is almost dry (about 7-8 minutes) and continue to cook till rice is completely cooked. 8.Leave the rice cooker on “Stay Warm” for 15 – 20 mintues before serving. 9.Top the chicken rice with fried salted fish and garnish with spring onion. Serve immediately.

Roast chicken with lemon & roast potatoes

I had wanted to try my hands out on one of Jamie Oliver’s roast chicken recipe and I finally got around to do it. I trust Jamie’s recipe will be good enough but again I did the unthinkable which is to modify it by adding additional spices and ingredients that I favored. I shared the chicken dish with 2 of my colleauges but of course, this dish was done in the first place with hubby in mind. One hell of a lucky man, he is. Here’s the recipe and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did.

Ingredients :
• 4 chicken thighs, whole leg
• sea salt and ground black pepper
• 10 mid size potatoes, peeled
• 1 lemon, quartered
• 1 whole bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
• some fresh thyme
 • olive oil
• some fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves picked
• roasted garlic powder and onion powder
• red and green capsicum
• 1 large onion, cut into rings
 • 2 carrots, cut cubes
• 8 tomatoes, halved
• optional: 6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon

Method :
 1. Rub chicken with a generous amount of salt , black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme and rosemary one day earlier.
2. Preheat oven to 190C for 15 mins.
3. Bring a large pan of salted water to boil. Cut potatoes into golf-ball-sized and put them into boiling water together with cloves of garlic and lemon. Cook for about 12 mins or so.
 4. Heat pan with some olive oil in it. Drain potatoes, lemon and garlic and toss them in the pan . Saute them till golden brown. Remove and set aside.
 5. Turn the halved tomatoes faced down on the pan and let it grill till slightly brown. Set aside.
6. Meanwhile, turn the tray of chicken into the preheated oven and roast for 40 mins.
7. When timer is left with 20 mins, remove tray from oven to toss in the carrot, potatoes, lemon, garlic cloves, tomatoes and capsicum into the tray. Spread it evenly and do not let it cover the chicken so that the chicken will turn golden brown under the heat. If using bacon, lay the bacon on the vegetable spread.
8. Turn the tray back into the oven and let it roast till timer ends.

 The aromatic smell of roasted chicken filled the entire kitchen in no time. Hope you have a great time digging into the juicy meat.