Delicious Food And Beverage fan-Healthy Care And Tips

I am back after the long festive holidays. I had the chance of cooking a couple of dishes and this is one of them. My mum cooks this dish quite often too. I guess it’s because it is quite easy and simple to cook. I usually remove the skin of the chicken prior to cooking this dish for health reasons. Furthermore, I don’t like the dish to turn out with a layer of oil. In the picture below, I have yet to remove the skin.

Once you have mastered this dish, you can experiment with the ingredients – eg. adding baby corn, different types of mushrooms, celery etc.

This is my recipe for Chicken with Potatoes, Carrots and Mushrooms.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken drumsticks & thigh (chop to desired size)
• 1 medium sized carrot (cut to wedges)
• 2 small sized potatoes (cut to wedges)
• 4 pieces dried chinese mushrooms (pre-soaked)
• 5 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 1 cup warm water

Marinade

• 3 teaspoons light soya sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Seasoning

• 1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark soya sauce
• Salt to taste

Method

Marinade chicken for 30 – 60 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oil in wok and fry potatoes till golden brown. Remove fried potatoes from oil.

With remaining oil in wok and at medium heat, saute the chinese mushrooms for 1 minute. Increase to high heat and add chicken and garlic and stir fry for another minute till outer layer of chicken is cooked. Add fried potatoes and carrots and continue stir frying for another minute.

Add seasoning and water and close lid. Cook for another 3 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

The rice cooker is a very useful kitchen equipment and is present in many Asian households. Whilst it is primarily designed to cook rice, newer versions of the rice cooker has enable cooks to use it for steaming and even boiling soup.

Recently, my mum cooked Chicken Rice using the rice cooker. It is actually another version of the popular Claypot Chicken Rice. The beauty of using the rice cooker is that the rice does not get burnt at the bottom unlike the claypot. However, for those who are fond of burnt bits of rice, you may have to try this using the claypot instead.

This is the recipe for Chicken Rice using the Rice Cooker.

Ingredients

• 3 cups of rice (measure using the cup that comes supplied together with the rice cooker)
• 2 large chicken drumsticks and chicken thighs (chopped to bit sizes)
• 5 chinese dried mushrooms (pre-soaked in a bowl of water and cut to half or quarters. Do not throw away the water used for soaking)
• 2 chinese lap cheongs (chinese sausages) (sliced)
• 4 bulbs shallots (sliced thinly)
• 5 slices of ginger (more if you like a stronger ginger taste)
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• warm water

Marinade for chicken

• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoon of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of chinese cooking wine

Seasoning

• 5 teaspoons of light soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce

Method

Soak rice in water for about 1 1/2 hours. Marinade chicken for the same length of time.

Heat oil in wok and fry shallots till golden brown. Remove fried shallots.

With remaining oil in wok and at high heat, add pre-soaked chinese dried mushrooms and ginger and stir fry for about 1 minute. Add marinated chicken and stir fry for another minute.

Add pre-soaked rice and seasoning and continue frying for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle a little bit of warm water to keep the rice from drying out.

Remove rice with ingredients into the rice cooker. Place the lap cheongs over the rice. Pour water (previously used to soak dried chinese mushrooms) gently over the rice to cover the rice just like how you would usually cook white rice in a rice cooker. Add plain water if the water used to soak dried chinese mushrooms is insufficient. Turn on your rice cooker and let it cook.

Serve hot and sprinkle fried shallots over the rice prior to serving.

source:http://www.deliciousasianfood.com

Chicken Chop is known to be a western dish and is commonly found in most western restaurants. In Malaysia, chicken chop is sometimes served in Chinese restaurants which serve western dishes and it is usually accompanied with a tomato based gravy.

Recently, I tried cooking chicken chop for a change from the usual dishes we have for dinner. I bought two chicken legs (which consists of the thigh and drumstick) which I had it deboned. Apart from the chicken legs, the only other ingredients I used were cherry tomatoes and onions, excluding the marinade and seasoning, of course. It is fairly simple and not an intimidating dish to cook. To make it more elaborate, you can even add in fried potatoes (diced).

This is my recipe for Chinese-Styled Chicken Chop.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken legs (deboned. I had the chicken skin removed as well)
• 10 cherry tomatoes (of whatever tomatoes you fancy)
• 1 large onion (quartered and separated)
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil (preferably palm oil)

Marinade (for chicken)

• 1 1/2 tablespoons 0f HP BBQ Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of Lea & Perrins Worchestershire Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• A couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Seasoning (gravy)

• 2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
• Sugar to taste

Method

Marinade the chicken for more than 1 hour using the marinating ingredients above.

Heat a thin layer of oil in a frying-pan (I used a non-stick frying pan. If you don’t have one, add more oil for the frying process) and pan-fry the chicken on both sides till thoroughly cooked. Pierce meat with fork to test for thorough cooking (clear juice should ooze out if cooked). Remove chicken onto a plate leaving the juice in the frying pan.

Add the onions onto the frying pan and stir fry for 1 minute. Add cherry tomatoes and continue to stir fry for 15 seconds or so. Add tomato ketchup and water and bring sauce to boil and thicken whilst adding sugar to taste.

Pour sauce over the fried chicken and serve hot with potatoes or rice.

There are many variants of fried rice. In fact, it is only limited by the chef’s imagination. One of the most popular is Egg Fried Rice, a recipe which I previously shared in this site. Another way of frying rice is to add meat to it and this gives the fried rice a good dose of flavour.

Sometimes, I will buy char siew (barbecued pork) from the market and use it as an ingredient in my fried rice. Most of the “tai chaus” (restaurants) also fry their rice this way though I must qualify myself and say that my recipe is more home-style and perhaps, different in some ways. Whilst the list of ingredients may seem long, it is actually not too complicated a recipe if you actually put your hand to it and try it for yourself.

This is my recipe for Char Siew Fried Rice.

Ingredients

• 3 bowls of cooked rice (preferably overnight cooked rice) [bowl denoting rice bowl]
• 1/2 bowl of french beans (cut into tiny cubes)
• 1/2 bowl of carrots (cut into tiny cubes)
• 3/4 bowl of char siew (cut into tiny cubes)
• 5 shallots (sliced thinly)
• 3 bulbs garlic (chopped)
• 3 eggs
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil (preferably palm oil)

Seasoning

• 3 teaspoons of salt
• White pepper powder to taste
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoon light soya sauce
• 1 pinch of msg (optional)

Method

Heat oil in wok and fry shallots till golden brown. Remove fried shallots and set aside.

With remaining oil in wok and at high heat, add garlic, french beans and carrots and stir fry for 1 minute. Add salt and pepper.

Make a “well” in the wok by pushing the french beans and carrots aside. Break eggs into the “well” and fry it till cooked. Mix with french beans and carrots followed by char siew. Fry and mix well for another 1 minute.

Add rice and stir fry the rice for 2 to 3 minutes whilst adding oyster sauce and light soya sauce. If wish to, add a pinch of msg. (The amount of salt, oyster sauce and light soya sauce can be adjusted to your prefered taste)

Serve hot and sprinkle fried shallots over the fried rice before serving.

Cabbage Rice with Lap Cheong

This is my 3rd recipe for rice cooked in a rice cooker. Prior to this, I have a recipe for Chicken Rice as well as Long Bean Rice. This is another one of the vegetable rice recipes which can serve as a meal on its own.

Cabbage Rice with Lap Cheong (Chinese Sausages) is quite mild in flavour but sweet in taste. The sweetness comes from the cabbage. The type of cabbage we usually use is the chinese cabbage, which is white in colour and longish in shape rather than round. Try not to leave the rice uneaten overnight as I believe that the cooked cabbage does not withstand being kept overnight that well.

If you don’t have lap cheong, you can even substitute it with ham or even salami! Do experiment. As I have emphasised many times before in my recipes, you can actually experiment with the ingredients once you get the basic idea of how the dishes are cooked. The presentation of the rice in the picture above could be much better but the taste definitely is!

This is my recipe for Cabbage Rice with Lap Cheong (Chinese Sausages)

Ingredients

Seasoning

Method

Bring water to boil. Add belly pork and let it boil till cooked. Remove pork. Cut into small pieces.

Heat oil in wok and fry shallots till golden brown. Remove fried shallots.

With remaining oil in wok, fry the cooked belly pork till beginning to brown. Remove pork. With remaining oil, fry the dried prawns and chinese mushrooms for 1 minute till fragrant. Add cabbage and put back the pork into the wok and continue to stir fry for 1 more minute. Add seasoning and a little bit of water (used to soak mushrooms / dried prawns) to keep it moist.

Add pre-soaked rice into the ingredients and stir well for 1 minute.

Transfer the ingredients into rice cooker and add water till it covers rice completely just like how you usually cook rice. Turn on the rice cooker. Check occasionally for water to dry out from the upper layer of the rice. Once that happens, place lap cheong on top of the rice, cover lid and wait for rice to cook completely.

Sprinkle fried shallots over rice before serving.

What a name! Sure, this dish may be common but did you know that simply by putting in a little effort to carve your vegetables, you can create give a new and beautiful breathe of life to an ordinary dish? My little daughters were fascinated with the carrots and broccoli stems which were cut to resemble flowers sitting in the midst of a bed of freshly blanched green broccoli. To give it a more “garden feel”, I used orchid mushrooms as well in this dish. I bought the orchid mushrooms in can and they are quite delicious with a light crunch. You can also use any other suitable mushrooms such as straw mushrooms.

The prawns were cut to resemble like butterflies but being an amateur, I can’t say they look like one. What I did was to remove the heads, middle shell and legs by fingers and leave the tails attached. Next, I use a knife to make a slit down the centre back of each prawn and removed the guts (brownish black thread running down the back of the prawn). When the prawn is cooked, it will give a nice slightly opened shape.

To cut the carrots or broccoli stems into flower-like shapes, you will need to first scrape off the outer layer. Next, cut the carrots into 6 cm lengths. You will need thick broccoli stems for the same purpose. Then, lay the carrot onto a chopping board and make a slanted cut (about 5mm deep or lesser) length-wise along the carrot. Then make another parallel slanted cut just next to it so that both cuts resemble a V shape. You will then be able to remove the whole strip thus leaving you a length-wise groove. Repeat this over the other parts of the carrot until you get at least 5 grooves. Then, slice the carrot sideways and voila! You’ll get the flower-shaped carrots.

Get creative. It makes a whole world of difference to the eating experience!

This is my recipe for Butterflied Prawns in Eden

Ingredients

Seasoning

Method

Bring a pot of water (about 2 litres) to boil. Once boiling, add 2 teaspoons of salt and drizzle some cooking oil. Then blanch broccoli florets till your desired softness. Remove and drain. Place aside to cool. Repeat process with carrots and broccoli stems.

Heat oil in wok. Add half the chopped garlic into the wok together with prawns. Stir fry briskly and add 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce. Remove prawns once it has completely cooked and curled up. Set aside.

Add oil into wok followed by garlic and orchid mushrooms. Stir fry briskly for about 30 seconds before adding 300 ml hot water. Bring to boil and add seasoning to taste. Cover with lid and reduce heat to medium. Allow gravy to reduce to half.

Meanwhile, arrange broccoli florets in a ring on a deep plate. Place carrot and broccoli stem flowers on top of the broccoli florets. Place remaining flowers in the middle.

Check the orchid mushrooms and add some cornstarch to thicken the gravy a little. It should be slightly runny but not watery. Remove from heat.

Scoop some orchid mushrooms and place on centre of the dish. Place prawns on top of orchid mushrooms and flowers before pouring the gravy over the whole dish.