Chicken

Drunken Sesame Chicken

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Drunken Sesame Chicken 嘛醉鸡

This is an improvement to my previous recipe Chicken in Rice Wine. That recipe is great but this is much better. I discovered that by adding more sesame oil and also hua tiao jiu together with the hakka rice wine, the results were a sweet caramelized chicken.

I like to cook this with chicken wings as they have the gelatinous fats that would be so delicious once you pressure steam and fry the chicken in a clay-pot.

Make sure you add just the right amounts of ginger and if possible fry them until they become brown and almost burnt. When the dish is done, your clay-pot might be a light charred due to the sugars in the hakka rice wine caramelising, some of the chicken parts are burnt slightly due to the heat, but that is fine. A delicious chicken dish with steamed rice or best with porridge or congee.

Recipe

Ingredients

4 Chicken Wings with Drunplets (separate the drumlets from the wings and also the wing tips)
Lots of Ginger *maybe 8-9 cm of one inch thickness* (sliced thinly)
1/4 cup of Hakka Rice Wine
1/4 cup of Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu
White Pepper
2 tbsp of Light Soy Sauce 
1 tbsp of Dark Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Olive Oil
4 tbsp Sesame Oil

Method

1. Marinate the chicken parts with light soy sauce and white pepper. Allow the meat to marinate at least for 5-10 minutes.

2. Sliced the ginger thinly, and then heat the olive oil and sesame oil in a clay-pot over low fire. Then fry the ginger strips until brown and crispy.

3. Add marinated chicken meat into the clay-pot for cooking. Over medium fire continue to cook until chicken pieces turn whitish in colour. Add dark soy sauce and continue cooking over medium fire. Finally add the Hakka Rice Wine and Hua Tiao Jiu and allow the chicken to simmer and cook over a slow fire. Remember to close the lid. Once cooked serve with steam rice.

Bon Appetit!!

Thai Green Curry

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Thai Green Curry

I have always wanted to learn how to make Thai Green Curry, and chanced upon a healthy cooking workshop at one of those Residents Committee places. They were demonstrating how to cook a healthier version of Thai Green Curry, and while watching them demonstrating it, I thought to myself that the healthier version actually looked quite oily in reality.

Anyway, I was there to observe, so no comments. Like I always say, if I wanted to say anything, I will only make comments on my own cooking. It looked fairly easy enough. And surprisingly, the results were really yummy when I cooked it. I used fresh Chicken Drumsticks as the meat was usually more tender and juicy. I think the meat from chicken breasts would be too dry or tough if not cooked properly, and not as yummy as the chicken drumstick meat. For my version I added a little more colour in terms of the vegetables used, yellow and red capsicum, carrots and long beans, and instead of the recommended high calcium milk, I used packet Coconut Cream (more lemak, more nice).

The key ingredient is of course the Thai Green Curry paste, I decided to get a pre-mix version from NTUC called “Dancing Chef”, and it was really nice. Of course, you can make everything from scratch if you wanted to.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 Chicken Drumsticks with Adjoined Thigh (Chopped into small pieces and marinate with Light Soya Sauce and White Pepper)
1 packet of “Dancing Chef” brand Thai Green Curry paste
3 cloves of Garlic (Chopped finely)
1 medium Yellow Onion (Chopped finely)
3 sprigs of Curry Leaves (Use only the leaves)
3 stalks of Long Beans (Chopped into 3 cm pieces)
Half of a Carrot (Chopped into bite-sized pieces)
Half of a Yellow Capsicum (Chopped into small pieces)
Half of a Red Capsicum (Chopped into small pieces)
1 small packet of Kara Coconut Cream
2 cups of Water
2 tbsp Light Soya Sauce
1/2 tsp White Pepper
Drizzle of Thai Fish Sauce (Optional)

Method

1. Chop the chicken thigh into bite size pieces and marinate with light soya sauce and white pepper for about 5-10 minutes.

2. Add 1 packet of the Thai Green Curry paste into a wok and fry at medium heat. There is no need to add additional oil as there is already oil in the packet (The paste can be quite spicy, so no need to add additional chilli). Add the chopped garlic and onions and fry together with the paste (Actually the paste is made up of these ingredients, I just added more so that it is not so spicy).

3. Add the Curry Leaves into the paste to fry, this will make the Thai Green Curry paste more fragrant (See picture below). Add the marinated chicken pieces to fry. Fry at medium heat for about 5 minutes. After that, add the chopped capsicum (both red and yellow), long beans and carrots. Continue to stir fry, this time around, turn the heat up to high.

4. Add the Kara coconut cream and add water. Give it a good stir. Do a taste test. If it is okay, then there is no need to add more flavouring. But if it is not tasty enough, then add a drizzle of Thai Fish Sauce. Cover the lid and let it boil for about 8 minutes or until it is bubbling. Do another taste test, it should be tasty and full of flavour with the coconut milk, the chicken pieces should be juicy and succulent. Then it is ready. Serve with steamed rice.

Bon Appetit!

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Stir Fry Chicken with Scallops, Celery and Cashews

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Stir Fry Chicken with Scallops, Celery and Cashews

It’s a mouthful I must admit, but there is just no two ways of naming this amazing dish. The Stir Fry Chicken with Japanese Scallops, Australian Celery and American Cashews is just as multinational as the number of ingredients in it.

Of course the chicken is 100% local. Or at least I think it is. Or maybe it is Malaysian. *shrugged*

One thing is for certain. I cooked it in a very Singaporean kitchen. 100% home cooked. Okay so what you may say. And you are right. No big deal.

The only thing to shout about is really how well these ingredients all come together to make a delicious dish accompaniment to a perfect meal. The roasted cashews, seared to an uneven edgy char. The marinated chicken bits and pieces seasoned with the troika of marinates – white pepper, soya sauce and oyster sauce – three basic differences that brings such confluence of taste to simple poultry.

I love the roasted cashews and how the celery just added that unique flavour to the dish. Truly I was amazed that I realised to cook this dish only now. This is the stuff legends are made of.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 Chicken Drum (deboned)
Handful of Baked Cashews
3 stalks of Celery (chopped)
6 pieces of Scallops (halved)
White Pepper
Oyster Sauce
Light Soya Sauce
Olive Oil

Method

1. Marinate the chicken pieces in white pepper (about 1 tsp), 1 tbsp soya sauce and 1 tbsp oyster sauce. Leave it to marinate for about 5 minutes.

2. In a wok/pan heat about 3 tbsp oil. Then stir fry the cashews until they start to brown. Once the cashews are browning, add the marinated chicken pieces to stir fry. Ensuring that they change colour to a light brown.

3. Add the scallops and turn the heat up to high. Keep stirring to ensure evenness of cooking. Then throw in the chopped celery and cover the lid to steam the vegetables and softened them.

4. Steaming cooks the vegetables and the meats and allows the flavours to come together cohesively. Remove the lid and stir fry until you can smell the dish. Do a taste test and you can serve.

Bon Appetit!

Stir Fry Chicken

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Stir Fry Chicken

After a brief hiatus from cooking, actually it has been more like writing recipes. I have been cooking just not posting my new dishes. I wanted to try some classic favourites to see if they will turn out just as fabulous as the ones that I find at the restaurants.

For example, I recently tried the three egg spinach, which incidentally is my family’s favourite dish that we would always order when we go PuTien Chinese Restaurant. I tried it the other day and it turned out to be quite alright, just that the century egg I used was the soft centre types which resulted in the soup being quite a murky green.

Anyway, I have been cooking a lot of chicken in rice wine lately and as much as I liked the dish, it was a little too frequent. So today I decided that I would cook it the way I cook frog legs, in sliced ginger and lots of spring onions. Simple and delicious.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 Chicken Drum (deboned)
4 stalks of Spring Onions
5 thin slices of Ginger
2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp Light Soya Sauce
Drizzle of Sesame Seed Oil
Sprinkle of White Pepper

Method

1. Debone the chicken drum (usually I get the chicken butcher to do it for me). Then cut the meat into small bite sized pieces. Marinate with light soya sauce, oyster sauce and white pepper with a light drizzle of sesame seed oil.

2. Mix with your fingers until meat is coated and leave it for about 5 minutes to marinate.

3. Wash and cut the spring onions into 6 cm lengths and split into two portions. Then slice 5 thin slices of ginger.

4. Heat oil in the pan/wok and fry the ginger and first portion of spring onions until fragrant. Then add the lightly marinated chicken meat to stir fry. Keep doing this until the meat is cooked. To test if the meat is cooked – taste it.

5. Add the remaining spring oinions midway of frying the chicken so that the greens will still be green and not all softened. Once cooked serve with steam rice or white porridge. Easy.

Bon Appetit!

Braised Chicken Feet Noodles

Braised Chicken Feet Noodles

This is our all time favourite. Braised Chicken Feet noodles aka 鸡脚面. I kind of got tired of the long queues at our favourite chicken feet noodle stall nearby our place. The queue has been unusually ridiculous. I waited for 45 minutes the other day. Terrible.

So I decided to make my own braised chicken feet noodles ala ho sim lang style. My challenge was to make it such that the chicken feet still retains the gelatinous strains and the chewiness of the meat but yet tender and full of flavour.

I don’t quite like the ones at the Chicken Feet noodle shop because they usually deep fry the chicken feet first before braising. That method kind of makes the feet puffy and wrinkly. I prefer them cooked my way.

Truth be told it was quite a tedious process, but totally worth it. The preparation for the chicken feet took almost a whole day to prepare. The noodles was the easy part.

Recipe

Ingredients

10 pieces of Chicken Feet (usually the wet market uncle would already pack them in packs of 10, very convenient)
5 pieces of Dried Shitake Mushrooms
3 thin slices of Ginger
3 cloves of Garlic
3 stalks of Spring Onions
1 piece of Star Anise
2 tbsp of Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp of Light Soya Sauce
2 tbsp of Dark Soya Sauce
1/4 cup of Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu
Sprinkle of White Pepper
1 tsp of Castor Sugar
Tomato Ketchup
Shin Ramen Noodles (Korean instant noodles)
Olive Oil
Water reserved from the soaking of mushrooms

Method

1. Soak the shitake mushrooms in half a bowl of hot water. After they are soaked, slice the mushrooms into halves. Reserve the water for later.

2. In a pot, boil the chicken feet until the water becomes oily. Reserve the stock for frying vegetables (eg. Mani Cai with Egg). Reserve the chicken feet for later.

3. In a claypot, add 2 tbsp of Olive oil, turn heat to medium, add ginger slices, crushed garlic (not minced), spring onions halves (about 4 cm lengths) and star anise. Saute until fragrant. Fragrant here means all the smells of the ingredients become one. Remember to leave some finely chopped spring onions for garnishing.

4. Next add the soaked mushroom halves and stir fry with the rest of the ingredients for a while before adding the chicken feet into the pot to stir fry as well. Do this for a few minutes. Add sugar and white pepper. Continue to mix.

5. While the ingredients are frying, prepare the seasoning mix of sauces in a small bowl. Once ready, pour the seasoning sauce into the pot and give it a good stir. Add the reserved mushroom water into the pot until all the chicken feet are covered.

6. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer with lid on. Continue to cook for at least an hour. After that turn the heat off and leave it in the pot to soak up the marinate. Boil with lid on again and leave it to marinate overnight.

7. After more than 12 hours in the pot, the longer the better and in my case, almost 24 hours later, I turned up the heat for one last time before assembling my braised chicken feet noodles for breakfast.

8. In a separate pot, cook the Korean instant noodles. You can use whatever noodles you want. I like the Korean noodles because they are quite filling and easy to cook. Once cooked, plate it. Add a little dollup of ketchup and mix with sauce from the braised chicken feet.

9. Give the noodles a good mix, assemble the chicken feet and mushrooms and a generous sprinkle of chopped spring onions. Serve hot.

Bon Appetit!

Har Cheong Gai 虾酱鸡

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Har Cheong Gai 虾酱鸡

I am frying up some chicken wings for a social later and what better food item to bring than Shrimp Paste Chicken Wings. Kids love it, everyone I know loves it. I also know my friends would love my Roasted Pork Belly, but maybe leave that for another time.

Har Cheong Gai is basically chicken wings marinated in shrimp paste which gives it the fragrant shrimp paste flavour. It’s become quite popular at most zi char places in fact and my family would often order it when we have our meals out.

So I decided to make this delicious shrimp paste chicken for our friends’ gathering. Shrimp paste chicken is also know as har cheong gai in Cantonese or 虾酱鸡 in Mandarin. I am doing a quick and dirty version of it and basically shorten the cooking time as I am usually quite busy as a working parent.

In my recipe, I only allowed it to marinate for 15 minutes before I would fry up the whole batch of mid joint chicken wings. Just to experiment and see if the flavour is just as good.

Thankfully what turned out eventually was a nicely battered chicken wing with a light hint of shrimp paste and not salty at all like most zi char places. It was deliciously fragrant and tasted really yummy. Best part is, it wasn’t that difficult to do either.

However, since there was deep frying involved, and I didn’t like the idea of wasting too much oil, I opted for a smaller cooking pot instead. The compromise was that I could only fry in smaller batches, which took up a lot more time. Plus it made the kitchen really oily after all that heavy frying, and my wife didn’t like that. So I guess this is the first and last time I am making Har Cheong Gai. LOL.

Recipe

Ingredients

To marinate:
1 Kg Chicken Wings (mid joint wings only, about 27 pieces)
2 tbsp Shrimp Paste (I got mine from the Malay uncle stall at the wet market, but you may opt to use Lee Kum Kee Shrimp Sauce)
4 tbsp Hakka Rice Wine (you can substitute it with Hsiao Sing Hua Tiao Jiu)
2 tbsp Sesame Seed Oil
2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
2 tbsp Castor Sugar
1 tsp White Pepper Powder

Making the Batter:
3/4 cup Plain Flour
3/4 cup Potato Starch
2 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Soda
200 ml Water

Method

1. In a large mixing bowl, prepare the marinate by pouring in the shrimp paste, rice wine, sesame seed oil, oyster sauce, white pepper and sugar. Mix well.

2. Add the mid joint chicken wings into the mixture and make sure all the wings are coated. Allow it to marinate for 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile prepare the Batter mix in another mixing bowl. Add the plain flour, potato starch, baking soda, eggs, water and give it a good mix until a smooth consistency.

4. Dip the marinated chicken wings into the batter (discard the remainder marinate) and then slowly dip them into the pot of boiling hot oil for deep frying. Fry for about 4 minutes each or until the chicken wing joints browns and  float on the surface of the oil bath.

5. Allow the chicken wings to cool on the rack before plating. You may serve it with lemon, vinegar and garlic chilli sauce.

Bon Appetit!

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Marinate the chicken wings for 15 minutes

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Prepare the Batter mixture

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Dip the chicken wings in the Batter before frying

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Rest the fried chicken wings in the cooling rack

Siam Square Mookata (Review)

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Siam Square Mookata (Review)

It’s date night and thank God for precious date nights after marriage. My parents offered to take care of the toddler while we enjoyed a semblance of time together when we were dating. Thank God for understanding parents.

And as my aunty told me before so wisely, “don’t waste time watching movies when you date.. Go have a meal..” she advised. Those were words worth its weight in gold. The simple reasoning behind those words were, you can’t get to know and understand each other if you don’t communicate. Conversations over a good meal are way better than watching a movie.

So we decided to have Thai BBQ for dinner as we could better afford the time and what better place than to try out Thai Mookata Steamboat and BBQ (in a nutshell it is BBQ meats, seafoods and vegetables on a rather unique looking hotplate with soup combination). I did a search and realised that there was only one outlet in Singapore. It was at East Coast Road and kind of out of the way.

Also I knew it can’t be true as I was sure there were plenty more of these Thai BBQ places around, most notably the ones located all over Golden Mile Complex. So I did another search but this time more ambiguous and that result yielded more than 50 weblinks of Thai BBQ places in Singapore. Nice.

Plus my friend told me that there was a tiny stall at a coffee shop located at Block 332 Ang Mo Kio Ave 8 (just behind Christ The King Catholic Church). Siam Square Mookata was the name of that stall and it seems the reviews of the place are that they were “cheap and good”.

That sounded good with us and off we went. I remembered there was a time almost all of our construction was completed by Thai foreign workers. And that just makes sense that Thai food places begun springing up all over the island to cater to their tastes and needs and over time everyone loves Thai foods as well.

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It was just a tiny little stall space in a coffee shop and their BBQ plates of ingredients were reasonably priced at either $1.80, $2.80 or greater as you order the more premium stuff like scallops ($3.80).

They have a rather interesting price menu where they offer ala carte prices first and if you feel at any one time you would wanna go all out at the buffet, you can change to buffet price (about $29 per person). Of course the caveat is you can only switch to buffet price if you are still ordering another round of items and not when you are paying up. But the stall people are very nice about it, they will frequently ask if we wanted to convert to buffet. Such nice people, always thinking for their customers.

Apart from that, the freshness of the ingredients was undeniably good, and for what it’s worth, the entire experience was very nice. They offered both marinated and meats without marinate, but I preferred them plain without the sauces. They taste much nicer after BBQ-ing. Plus it wasn’t crowded even at dinner time, so that was an added bonus. I always love these quaint coffee shop places that are located next to a big spacious carpark, it just gives me a feeling of comfort and I am naturally at ease.

Conclusion

So would I go again? Maybe, if I lived nearer. They didn’t offer anything very special, and in the end we almost ordered the equivalent of their buffet price. But still a very nice experience.

Bitter Gourd in Salted Egg

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Bitter Gourd in Salted Egg

This is a restaurant grade recipe. Haha. Okay, I wish it was. I love eating almost everything in a salted egg sauce and nothing beats eating my favourite Bitter Gourd in my favourite salted egg sauce.

It’s a quite simple dish to make really, just that to do it well, you need to know what you are doing. So if you are game for something different, you can try this. It will rock your dinners and also impress a few friends.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 whole Bitter Gourd
3 Salted Egg Yolks
Half a slab of Unsalted Butter
1 tbsp of Castor Sugar
Chicken Stock (not from stock cubes)

Method

1. Clean and gut the bitter gourd of the seeds. Cut into half. Then steam at high heat for about 5 minutes. Then slice then diagonally into bite size pieces.

2. In a wok, add half a slab of Butter, if you need directions, then half a slab of butter would be 125 grams.

3. Add the egg yolks. These eggs are cooked and hard boiled. Using the back of your frying ladle, mesh the egg yolks into the butter. Make sure the egg yolks are nicely mixed into the butter.  Ensure that it is at low heat.

4. Add chicken stock made from boiling chicken bones. Just about 3 tbsp would be sufficient. Add Sugar to taste, maybe about 1 tbsp.

5. Once that is done, ladle the sauce over the butter gourd and serve.

Bon Appetit!

Chicken Macaroni

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Chicken Macaroni

The foods of champions, the humble Chicken Macaroni has become the super-foods that parents love to give their kids. More so because it is so easy to prepare. Just boil the pasta, add boiled chicken and salt and you can eat.

Of course it is only true for the pure at heart. However in my less than perfect world, my Chicken Macaroni has to be done the hard way. It has to have all the necessary ingredients to make this dish truly special.

Why? You might ask. Well, why not? I am cooking for my family wat. So it has to be nothing short of special.

Recipe

Ingredients

250 grams of Dried Macaroni (for two servings, I use Barilla Elbows, they are kind of same same.)
2 pieces of de-boned Chicken Thighs
4 carcass of Chicken Bones (for making stock)
Handful of Dried Chinese Scallops
A few Dried Oysters
5-6 whole Garlic Cloves
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Evaporated Milk

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water (about 1.7litres). Add to the pot with the carcasses of Chicken Bones to boil for stock. Skim the scum and excess oil off the surface of the broth.

2. After about 20 minutes boiling at high heat, remove and discard the chicken bones. Add the scallops and oysters to flavour the soup. Fry and sear the garlic cloves in a pan before also adding into the broth to cook. You may reduce the fire to a slow simmer. Now boil another kettle of water. This is for cooking the macaroni.

3. Cook the macaroni in another pot until soften (boil pass al dente). This is so that your kids can eat as well.

4. Marinate the boneless chicken thighs with salt and black pepper. Leave aside for at least ten minutes. Once it is ready, fry the chicken with a little oil in a frying pan, 3 minutes on each side. After searing the sides, remove and slice into thin pieces.

5. Then boil the sliced chicken pieces in the broth by using the slotted ladle technique to further cook the chicken pieces. Once cooked, place in individual serving bowls.

6. Check that the pasta is cooked beyond al dente by doing a taste test. It should be reasonably softened. Once ready ladle the cooked macaroni into the bowls with the boiled chicken pieces.

7. Add salt and a little evaporated milk to thicken the broth. Cook a while longer and you can ladle the chicken broth to the Macaroni. Serve hot.

Bon Appetit!

Black Chicken Burdock Soup

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Black Chicken Burdock Soup

I have always wanted to make this soup and I can already imagine how delicious this soup would taste like even before cooking. The burdock soup with pork ribs was already delicious so with the addition of the black chicken, needless to say, this soup is gonna rock and roll.

The recipe is very much like the Burdock Soup 牛蒡汤 that I made recently, but except that now the recipe is complete. No more reliance on pre-packed herbal remedies. I have found the perfect confluence of ingredients for this soup.

Every ingredient brings to the table a slew of medicinal benefits. Otherwise it really makes for a great tasting soup. Try it!

Recipe

Ingredients

Half a Black Chicken (chopped into two parts)
80-90 cm length of Burdock Root 牛蒡
Bunch of Wolfberries
Bunch of Dried Red Dates
Salt

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water. Clean and peel off bark of Burdock Root. Then slice thinly (see picture below). You may soak it in hot water for 10 minutes if you like. Otherwise if you prefer a stronger earthy taste, then just drop it into the pot.

2. Place the half a chicken into the pot. As you can see my black chicken is frozen. My intention is always to simplify the process. So frozen black chicken is fine, no need to thaw. Just drop it into the pot. Add Wolfberries, add dried red dates and a pinch of salt. Then add the hot boiling water and boil at high heat (with lid on) for 20 minutes.

3. Place it in thermal cooker after that for 12 hours (which is when I get home) and the soup would be delicious. Black chicken tender. Soup rich with flavour.

Bon Appetit!

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Sliced Burdock Root 牛蒡

White Fungus Huai San and Chicken Soup

White Fungus Huai San and Chicken Soup

My colleague was sharing with me the other day about a soup that she said her toddler son literally polished two bowls of the soup. Yes, according to her, it was that good. Well, I have to try it to believe it. I asked her for the recipe of course and while she told me the portions, my lightning fast mind went to work on how it would be like if I were to cook it.

Unfortunately I was so in deep thought that I totally forgotten the last ingredient that she mentioned. It was some ingredient that enhanced the flavours of chicken and white fungus. I couldn’t be bothered to ask her again and decided that I would make up the third ingredient with something that I was familiar with – huai san – my oh-so-sticky friend.

The tuber is really one of the slimmest ingredient I have ever work with before, so that’s one of the reasons why I rarely employ the use of this ingredient. But I felt white fungus and chicken would do well with huai san for this soup. And so, here we go. My first attempt at this soup.

Oh by the way, I’m case you’re wondering, my wife thought the Oxtail Stew with Carrots that I made the other day was only so-so. Personally, I thought it was fantastic.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 large Chicken Drums (de-boned)
A packet of White Fungus
A tube of Huai San (you can get from NTUC)
A few Chinese Scallops
Salt

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water. Dump the chicken drums (with thigh meat) into the pot. Empty the packet of White Fungus into a bowl of water, let it soak for a while so that it will expand. Then once it is ready, dump it into the pot. (when I first made this soup, I made a newbie mistake of not soaking, and it soaked up all my delicious soup while it was in the thermal cooker!)

2. Clean the huai san and then chop into chunks, then dump it into the pot. Add a few dried scallops and salt to taste. Add boiling water. Turn to high heat for 15 minutes with lid on. Once done, place in thermal cooker to consume 12 hours later.

Bon Appetit!

Arrowhead Radish Chicken Soup

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Arrowhead Radish Chicken Soup

Arrowhead Radish Chicken Soup

There comes a time in the journey of a home cook that you would have to experiment with what you have in the fridge, cooking out of necessity rather than as an art. That moment is today, as I stare down the vegetable cabinet and the emptiness seemed to resonate the treble and bass in my voice as I mumbled to myself.

Drats! That’s all I have, arrowheads and radish. I guess that will do. Time to make magic happen.

Everybody knows that arrowhead (the waterchestnut looking thing in the picture) goes well with the Chinese yam huai san, but desperate times call for desperate measures and the only other tubular vegetable that I have left in the fridge is the humble white radish. Any-hoo, that will do.

Recipe

Ingredients

6 Arrowheads
1 Radish
1 Baby Octopus
2 Chicken Drum (de-boned)
Sea Salt

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water. Once boiled, pour into the pot. Add chicken drum meat and octopus. Turn up the heat.

2. Quart the radish. Throw it in the pot. Shave the arrowheads (sharpen the arrows). Throw them in the pot. Add a pinch of salt.

3. Boil for about 15 minutes and then turn off the heat and throw the whole thermal pot into the thermal cooker. It will be beautiful by dinner time.

Bon Appetit!

Chicken and Potato Soup

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Chicken and Potato Soup

My wife said to me one day, “can you cook some other kind of soup?” That to me is a sign that I have to constantly innovate and come up with new concoctions of soups. I guess I have been a little lazy as well, opting to cook the convenient Easy as ABC types of soups and admittedly, we have been drinking a lot of those soups as well, especially the Lotus and Radish Soup which I have been cooking week-in, week-out. Maybe wifey drink until scared liao.

So I asked her, “what kind of soup would you like to drink then?” The answer was kind of unexpected because she wanted a really simple Chicken and Potato Soup. That sounds like Chicken Soup for the Soul (think: Best Selling Book). Well, as I love a good challenge, and since we already have the required ingredients in my well stocked kitchen, I set out to develop a simple recipe. I think it’s gonna be great!

So I decided that I would bring together my great collaborators – Chinese Scallops and Yellow Onion. They are distinctively different, but yet somehow, they add to the great flavour that is Chicken Soup. I can already smell the flavours coming together. Here’s my recipe for Chicken and Potato Soup.

 

Recipe

Ingredients

2 x Chicken Drumsticks

1 x Chicken Carcass

15-20 Chinese Scallops

5 medium size Potatoes

1 large Yellow Onion

Half a teaspoon of Sea Salt

 

 

Method

1. First of all, place the chicken carcass and the chicken drumsticks (frozen) into the pot. Boil a kettle of water, then pour it into the pot, make sure that it covers the chicken. Then add the scallops into the pot and turn on high heat to boil.

2. Then peel potatoes, and rough chop these into pieces. After that is done, add them into the pot to cook. Slice up a yellow onion and add in the pot last. Continue to boil for another 10 minutes. Add salt to taste. Then turn off fire and put pot into the thermal cooker. That’s all, easy.

Bon Appetit!

 

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Kai Lan (Stir Fry)

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Kai Lan (Stir Fry)

One of the best kai lan vegetable are the ones that are from the wet market (always thought that there was only one type). But where were these from? I don’t know, and I don’t really care unless I was tasked to write a thesis on the types of Kai lan vegetable in the world. That I guess is also not about to happen any time soon, so yup, don’t really care.

But that said, wet market kai lan is really good. The vegetables is crunchy and stays fresh even though we kept it in the fridge for over two days before frying it up.

So if you want something simple and easy to prepare, this is it. Enjoy.

Recipe

Ingredients

Bunch of Kai Lan
7-8 Chinese Scallops
4 cloves of Garlic
80 grams of Pork Belly
Olive Oil
Light Soy Sauce

Method

1. Heat 3 tbsp of oil in wok, then fry minced garlic over low heat until fragrant. Then throw the pork belly into the wok and turn the heat to medium and stir fry until pork belly is fragrant (these are the pork belly that I made and store for frying vegetables).

2. Then add the Chinese Scallops and continue frying. After a few minutes, now dump the kai lan into the wok and fry until the kai lan vegetable is softened. Add a little light soy sauce and serve.

Bon Appetit!!

Airfried Chicken Wings

 

Ho Sim Lang

Airfried Chicken Wings

Probably one of the best inventions of the 21st century, that is, the humble air fryer. It doesn’t fry air, don’t be mistaken. Instead it uses hot air to fry. Now we know when we say something’s full of hot air, it is usually quite useless, but that can’t be said of the air fryer.

This product is just one short of magical. Hot air it seems can be used to fry stuff, not just to fly stuff (think: hot air balloons). How does that work? Honestly I don’t know, I could guess how it works, but I don’t really care.

I am only interested to know how it fries my chicken wings to a beautiful crispy golden brown.

The air fryer that my wife bought was the smaller one of the two sizes offered by Philips. At first I thought, “what a cumbersome way to cook!?” but when I tried it, it worked like a charm. Beautiful to say the least.

So if you wanna try making chicken wings another way, then maybe the air fryer is for you.

Recipe

Ingredients

6 pcs Chicken Wings

Method

1. Place the chicken wings in a mixture of corn flour and shao xing hua tiao jiu and light soy sauce. This marinate can be prepared in a ziplock bag.

2. Once chicken wings are coated, place them in tray of air fryer. Turn on 8 minutes at 160 degrees. Then after that is done, turn over the wings and turn it on at 200 degrees for another 8 minutes. That should result in a crispy and nicely browned chicken wings.

Bon Appetit!!

Chicken in Rice Wine

 

Ho Sim Lang

Chicken in Rice Wine

I recently discovered this wonderful way of making chicken in rice wine. Hakka Rice Wine to be precise. Somehow when you cook chicken in rice wine and excessive amounts of ginger, over a slow fire, what you usually get is a concoction that literally brings a smile to the face. The rice wine has a sweet sugary taste to it which makes the chicken taste really yummy.

It’s so good that I have decided to bring my six “friends” (drumlets) together for this wonderful confluence of flavours. We already consumed the wings and since then I have been thinking of a nice recipe to send off these guys.

Finally they are ready to go. This is their finest moment.

Recipe

Ingredients

6 Chicken Drumlets *after using the wings in the airfryer*
Lots of Ginger *maybe 8-9 cm of one inch thickness*
Half a bowl of Hakka Rice Wine
White Pepper
2 tbsp of Light Soy Sauce
2 tbsp of Dark Soy Sauce
3-4 tbsp Olive Oil

Method

1. Carve the meat off the chicken drumlets for ease of cooking. Marinate the meat and bones with light soy sauce and white pepper. Allow the meat to marinate at least for 5-10 minutes.

2. Julienne the ginger (I usually diced), and then heat the olive oil in a clay-pot over low fire. Then fry the ginger strips until brown and crispy.

3. Add marinate chicken meat (including bones) into the clay-pot for cooking. Over slow fire continue to cook until chicken pieces turn whitish in colour. Add dark soy sauce and continue cooking. Finally add the Hakka Rice Wine and allow the chicken to simmer and cook. Once cooked serve with steam rice.

Bon Appetit!!

Ho Sim Lang

 

Carve meat off the drumlets

Ho Sim Lang

 

Fry the ginger strips until brown and crispy

Ho Sim Lang

 

Add the marinated meat to cook with ginger

Ho Sim Lang

 

Nicely braised chicken in Hakka Rice Wine

Lotus and Radish Soup

Lotus and Radish Soup

They have become the unlikeliest of friends, meeting once a week every Saturday morning as they get jostled together and acquainted in the dirty and grimy vegetable stall baskets reserved only for customers. It’s always a bumpy and bruise-full meeting at first, as they are slotted into plastic bags and then heap together with other vegetables.

Then somewhere throughout the week, they are reacquainted again, this time washed and chopped, and all ready to be boiled in a pot with chicken bones and a slice of dried cuttlefish. The end result is often a thick beautiful broth of nutritious goodness.

The lotus root and the radish, uniquely different in their taste, but when brought together in a soup, just makes so much sense. It’s a great confinement soup as well for new mummies, if you wish, you can leave out the cuttlefish and even the sea salt. Just have it plain and it would still be full of flavour.

* please note that I have included amazon affiliate links to the products I use in my recipes, so check them out if you wish to support me, but don’t feel obligated though.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 large or 2 medium tubes of Lotus Root *try getting short rounded cylinders*
1 pc Radish *medium size*
1 pc Chicken carcass *bones*
1 half dried Cuttlefish
Sea salt

Method

1. Wash then peel off the outer layers of the lotus root and radish. Then chop into smallish bite-sized pieces for the radish, and for the lotus root, just thin half a centimeter slices will do. This will ensure that the flavour is maximized.

2. Put the chicken carcass (whole) into the steel pot of the thermal cooker and a piece of cuttlefish *optional for newbie mummies* and sea salt to taste. We usually don’t take so much salt in our soups so maybe a teaspoon or less is sufficient. Also, if your chicken bones are frozen, you can either place it frozen in the pot or defrost it. I usually don’t bother defrosting if I am gonna boil it anyway.

3. After all the dry ingredients, vegetables and bones are placed in the pot, add about 1 litre of boiling water and turn on high heat for about 15-20 minutes and when that is done, place the pot into the thermal cooker. The soup should be delicious and ready by the time you get home from work. Just right for dinner.

Bon Appetit!

Simple Black Chicken Soup

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Simple Black Chicken Soup

The wifey broke my sleep and woke me up to the new dawn. She mumbled some words to which I had to say a “har?”. Maybe my brain is slow at processing slur words. So I asked her again, and it was then that I realized that she wanted me to cook one of my fabulous soups *shines fingernails*.

Alright, that shouldn’t be a problem, I thought to myself, making soups in the wee hours of the morning has now become my specialty. The only hurdle between me and making soup these days is probably the waking up part. It has been been a challenge since I got rid of that ridiculous cock-crowing ringtone which apparently irritated the entire population in my cluster; it also irritated my wife as well. So the ringtone had to go. Now in its place is this very zen and space-like ringtone named neon.

It’s not the John Mayer kind of neon with his signature slap and pluck style of guitar playing. But it was more like a vibrating double-stringed instrument sounding more like a cricket’s mating call. Very alien. Unfortunately it was also quite soft and good for if you wanted to continue to sleep.

“I already placed the black chicken in the sink.” came the voice in my semi-state of galactical subconsciousness. It was as if the voice transcended space and time to speak to me. “wake up lah.” My wife slapped my shoulder. Just as quickly my subconscious mind returned to full consciousness albeit my eyes still glued-closed due to excessive secretion of the tear duct (heaty?).

I peered into my mobile phone and it was just nice, one minute before neon; one minute before the new dawn. Now my quest can begin.

So to make black chicken soup the quick and dirty way, you really need a packet of dun ji tang herbs from the supermarket. This is the proven method of making the delicious soup. But the problem now is I am all out of the herbs! Jialat!

I really need to quickly summon my creative culinary powers in order to make sense of this newfound dilemma. Thankfully I always keep a stash of my favorite generic condiments somewhere, always ready to be deployed in any crisis of a lack of dun ji tang herbs.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 bottles of Brand’s Essence of Chicken
5 pieces of Japanese dried scallops
5 pieces of dried red dates
25 pieces of wolfberry seeds

Method

1. Par boil the chicken pieces to get rid of the scum.

2. Add in new water (not newater) and begin boiling. Add the chicken essence. Dump the condiments into the pot and close the lid.

3. After boiling for 10 minutes, place the pot into the thermal cooker and walk away. Serve at night when you return from work.

Bon Appetit!

Herbal Black Chicken Soup

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Herbal Black Chicken Soup

Day four of the new dawn. I could hear the crackling of thunder not too far away. When I looked out of the window, flashes of lightning lighted the twilight sky. It’s gonna be a good day today. I have always loved raindrops on the window of my Aircon bus.

Good days therefore deserves a good pot of soup. I decided that Herbal Black Chicken Soup would really make the day even more special. Don’t worry, baby won’t be partaking in this soup. I will be making plain porridge with minced pork and marmite for him. I know he sure like wan.

So just nice the black chicken would be so totally perfect for dinner. The wife even asked for a bowl when she returns home. I bought the herbs the day before at NTUC and I was sure the end result would be a perfect bowl of soup.

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I was right.

Where I shop?

I got my black chicken from the wet market. There is something more fresh about buying fresh meats from the wet market. Okay, I needed to say that. Of course if there wasn’t a wet market around where I lived, I would have gone in search of one. Fresh meats are more fresh at the wet market (myth#1).

The herbs I got from NTUC. Once I heard from a friend that her child asked her..

Child: “mama, is there a giant in the supermarket?”

My friend thought to herself and polled Facebook for an answer on how to reply the child.

Me being the good-hearted person replied..

Me: “that’s not a problem, wait till she asks you if there is a National Trade Union Congress in the supermarket. That would require much more explanation.”

Okay, that was a lame supermarket joke.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 Black Chicken chopped into 4 parts
1 Packet of Dun Ji Tang herbs
2 bottles of Brands Essence of chicken

Method

1. Dump (I love the word!) the black chicken into the pot. Par boil it and then discard the water. Fill it up again.

2. Dump the herbs into the pot. Turn high heat and boil (bubbling) for 15 minutes. Switch off and load the pot into the thermal cooker.

Bon Appetit!

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O’nya Sayang (review)

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O’nya Sayang (review)

This is my second time eating at this nonya food establishment, if I can call it that. My first impression of it was that they were more like fast food, quick nonya peranakan eats for the modern gourmand in a hurry. Perhaps that’s the niche that they set themselves to serve.

Their meals are cooked communally in the pot with the sides cooked at the sides (pun intended). It’s actually a very open and simple set up. The eatery whips up traditional peranakan favourites in a matter of minutes. In fact they have managed to piecemeal the entire preparation process to the critical five minutes. That’s about as much time anybody on a tight lunch hour would give any one eatery. It’s like make it in five minutes if you want me to patronize your stall again. Ironically peranakan cuisine is not known to be associated with quickness or smart culinary short cuts.

Most of their foods are typically cooked and stewed over long periods. So to have it prepared in five minutes, something’s gotta give.
In this case, I suspect it’s the quality. But even more interestingly they have somehow managed to ensure that that was not compromised. So it is nice to know that they care about their foods as much as they cared about their bottom-line.

I had their Ayam Buak Keluak which is a traditional favourite that is synonymous with peranakan cuisine. Do this right and you can assume that everything else in the shop will carry that old familiar flavour. The chicken is of course well cooked but not to my liking which kind of shows the level of skill of the cook. The Buak Keluak was excellent. I don’t remember the taste so vividly with the other peranakan restaurants but O’nya has set the standard for me. Everything else is forgivable. Ha! All in, they have managed to retain the flavour of peranakan cuisine, and that is a good thing.

There’s one outlet at Tampines Mall that I went with colleagues. I think I might go there again to try something else. Maybe the rendang.

Heartland Dim Sum (review)

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Heartland Dim Sum (review)

Probably one of the best Dim Sum (Cantonese styled light meals) places – suddenly realized I have no proper expression for Dim Sum in English – in Tampines. Personally I think better than some famous Dim Sum restaurants in town. Speaking of which there was one terrible one that I do not care to mention the name, fwah 侠 level 9 terrible.

I had a tough time reconciling myself to the fact that they were once a leader in dim sum, with people queuing up to satisfy their cravings. Maybe that was also one of the reasons why they closed down in town and relocated themselves on top of a hill (which I don’t care to mention either) and then subsequently disappeared to I don’t know where. Very sad.

This dim sum place however, is located at a heartland coffee shop at Tampines Street 41 -Blk 419. The style of the dim sum reminds me of old Hong Kong. Yes, it’s that good. Their variety is limited, but they do well for their dim sum standards.

Siew mai, har gao, pai kuat are a must order. Glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves – must order two (pun intended). Chee cheong fun with char siew and char siew bao are also a must order. The rest I shall leave you to explore.

I don’t remember the stall name, but it’s unmistakable. You have got to be a topoking to not be able to find the place. I appended a map just in case.

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Go try it. You won’t regret it. And oh, did I mention that it is also very affordable (read: cheap)?

Bon Appetit!

New Dawn (Musing)

Ho Sim Lang

New Dawn (Musing)

It’s a new dawn. Not the twilight sexy good looking kind of new dawn with werewolves running around in their skin tight furs. My parents are moving house, and that presents a couple of issues for us that we have taken for granted till now. If there is someone that says “you are taking your parents for granted” – then let me be the first to admit it. You don’t have to say it. I have always knew from day one that the current arrangement while being perfect for us, was really not a solution in the long run.

Ultimately we have to manage on our own how we are going to do this.

So I have decided that I would do the cooking from now on. I know I have been doing most of the cooking anyway. But going forward, it is now a matter of survival. I won’t be cooking for leisure or pleasure, this is the gritty stuff. I have to be determined to cook my way through. So the next thing is to embark on a plan. Yes, we are going cold turkey from next week onwards and how we balance it will show.

I woke up this morning and I had a severe case of heart burn. Possibly it could be reflux from the ginormous amounts of rainier cherries (I should do a post on that) my wife and I had consume the night before. And in between then and now, I had massive LS and multi-fartilosis. It was bad. You won’t want to be within range.

Anyway, so the heart burn made me really uncomfortable, and I knew the reason why, so I wasn’t so disturbed by it. I went to the wet market as it is my usual practice and this time around, I knew I had to refresh my kitchen condiments and stock up for the week. I wanted to stay within budget so the strategy for the wet market on saturday morning was to really buy the basics and then buy the rest of the items throughout the week. That way I can pace myself with what I want to cook. At the moment, my mind draws a complete blank. It is hard to think when you have heart burn.

I purchased my four best friends – sea salt, olive oil, thai fish sauce and light soy sauce. They have been with me for so many years, and I knew that I could always depend and count on them for flavour. My wife’s a picky eater, so I have to be very careful when I prepare my dinners. But really, food is to be eaten.

So my total marketing for the following groups today is $57.60. I got chicken, pork, fish and vegetables. Not bad for starters.

Now the problem is thinking what to cook and to do it efficiently so that it fits into my time schedules.

Coq Au Vin (Chicken and Wine)

Ho Sim Lang

Coq Au Vin (Chicken and Wine)

 

 

Coq Au Vin (Chicken and Wine)

This is a French classic that I have always watched Anthony Bourdain time and again prepare in his usual haphazard manner on board a boat floating in the middle of nowhere. It was in one of his shows, I think either No Reservations or Parts Unknown. I can’t remember.

Anyway, so I decided that I would scour the web for the best Coq Au Vin recipe that I can find and finally decided to try this particular one on YouTube.

I think the recipe rocks.

Here’s the YouTube video link in case you want to try.

If you’re thinking of doing it, then here’s a localised recipe that you can try based on the YouTube video.

 

Recipe

Ingredients

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

100 grams Streaky Bacon

4 Chicken Drums with Thighs

1 Yellow Onion

2 Carrots

2 Punnets of White Button Mushrooms

6 cloves of Garlic

Half Bottle of Red Wine

1 packet of Fresh Thyme

1 Cup of Chicken Stock

1 Tbsp of Plain Flour

1 Tbsp of Butter

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Method:
1. Add olive oil into an oven safe pot or Dutch oven as the video suggests, but any pot that can be placed in an oven is good enough, no need to buy that expensive pot. Of course, if you have that pot, then it is good because cooking in it will make your meals taste fantastic. Well, I don’t know actually.
2. Slice the Streaky Bacon into small pieces and then fry the bacon in the pot over medium heat. Fry until bacon is crispy and the oil has been infused with the saltiness of the bacon.
3. Turn off the fire and remove the bacon with a slotted spoon or in my case, I used a wire mesh scoop. You can use anything actually as long as you can separate the bacon from the oil in the pot.
4. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, and as soon as you have done that, quickly place the chicken pieces into the pot to fry. Do this until the chicken pieces are gold brown and crispy.
5. Once the chicken pieces are browned, take them out and place aside.
6. Dice the yellow onion and then fry it in the pot at medium heat. Then chop the carrots into one inch pieces and add to the pot to cook as well.  Add the quartered mushrooms into the pot. Then smash 6 cloves of garlic and add into the pot to fry.
7. Pour in half a bottle of red wine. You can use any type of red wine. I use Cabernet Sauvignon.
8. Add back in the bacon bits. Stir thoroughly.
9. Now add the chicken pieces back into the stew. Add the whole packet of Thyme and drizzle in the cup of chicken stock.
10. Pre-heat your oven to fan mode at 180 degrees. Then place the entire pot into the oven with lid on and bake for 45 minutes.
11. After 45 minutes, take the pot out and continue to cook under medium heat and pour the beurre manie paste into the stew. This will thicken the stew a little into a sauce.
12. Preparing the Beurre Manie is simple. It is actually a combination of 1 Tbsp plain flour and 1 Tbsp butter. Simple. Stir the two ingredients into a paste and it is ready to be mixed.
13. Serve with toasted baguette.
Bon Appetit!

 

Third World Spring Chicken

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Third World Spring Chicken

It was what someone said was a very third world spring chicken. To be exact, there was very little spring left in the chicken and most of it was sinewy muscle and crispy skin.

I wasn’t sure if I was eating chicken or some oily puff with chicken flavour. By the time I was done with the meal, I had felt inundated with recycled oil. I have tasted better western foods but this was presented in a manner that left me desiring for something else.

Ok, perhaps you might think I am being picky but to put things into context, I did pay for the meal. And for good money too. The coleslaw was unremarkable and the fries were just a small helping as if it they were rationing their condiments.

It looked ok in the photo but it tasted just plain in reality. Well that was one meal that I didn’t really enjoy. It was just food as they say.

Baby Spinach Chicken Soup (Stock for Infants)

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Baby Spinach Chicken Soup (Stock for Infants)

We are always experimenting with different flavours to get baby to taste and get used to different types of foods. One way is via the soup method as a stock for the porridge that we cook.

So hopefully he will like his green vegetables next time when we cook it. We love vegetables so it would be tragic if baby doesn’t. So we really need to engineer his meals so that he will eventually join us in our meals.

This is a simple three ingredient soup stock. Again it is for infants, so there is no salt to be added. It is just pure flavour and all the goodness in the ingredients. I just went to the wet market early this morning to get the best produce before some aunty gets it.

I got a huge bunch of baby spinach and a chicken carcass (bones only). And just a little ikan bilis for flavour. This recipe should make about seven 120 ml cups of stock for baby’s porridge for the week.

I included a little before and after photo for comparison.

Recipe – serving for seven 120 ml cups

Ingredients

Baby spinach (a huge bunch)

Chicken carcass (bones only)

Ikan bilis (7-9 pieces)

Method

1. Wash the baby spinach first as these contain a lot of sand. Wash till the water in the pot is clear. Soak also the Ikan bilis in a small bowl of water.

2. Place the chicken in a pot. Then place the baby spinach together with the chicken. Sprinkle the Ikan bilis all over. Pour about 1 litre of water into the pot and boil on low heat.

3. The soup is done when the flavour escapes the covered pot and you can see the fat of the chicken on the surface of the broth. Allow the broth to cool before pouring into the containers for freezing. This should provide for seven servings of 120 ml of soup stock for porridge.

Bon appetit!

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Ginseng Black Chicken Soup

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Ginseng Black Chicken Soup

My wife and I love ginseng flavored black chicken soup,  especially the one bought by my dad from this stall at Jalan Bersih Hawker Centre. They also sell the best turtle soup I believe in Singapore.

Black chicken soup is also very nutritious and good for new mothers during confinement month. It is generally regarded as a delicacy. Very easy to cook and best if you double-boil it. Of course double boiling just means that it will take a while longer.

I usually buy the black chicken fresh from the chicken butcher at the wet market. He will help chop the chicken into pieces really fast and neatly. I usually get him to chop into four pieces but you get him to chop into six parts.

The herbal mix of ginseng and other berries and roots I usually get the pre-packed ones from NTUC supermarkets. The items there are sufficient for what I need to do and it is fairly fuss free. Alternatively you can also buy the herbs from shops like Hock Hua as they would carry the entire range or grades of herbs.

Preparation time for this soup took just 30 minutes to prepare but if you have more time it would be good to simmer the chicken till the meat falls off the bones. Try it.

Recipe – serving for two

Ingredients

Black chicken

Pre-packed ginseng herbal chicken mix

Sea salt

Method

1. Place the chopped chicken in a large pot. Add the herbs into the pot. Add a litre of water. Add quarter teaspoon of salt. Boil high heat until the flavor of the chicken and the herbs comes through.

2. Then turn down the heat and slow cook till the meat is just tender.

3. Serve with steamed rice.

Bon Appetit!

OTS: How To Chop Chicken (Video)

OTS: How To Chop Chicken

I am also starting OTS aka “one take sessions” on anything that might be remotely useful for people that stumble upon this blog. Also, it is more for me because I really really want to know how to chop chickens properly.

I got to admit it, I am bad at chopping chickens. I don’t know where to pull or where to chop. Sometimes the simplest of cuts can become a massacre of epic proportions. I wish I have the wisdom of the chicken butcher when it comes to cuts and then a brilliant idea popped into my mind.

Ask the chicken butcher at the market to do a demonstration. It’s not the most exciting of videos, but it’s a great “how-to” video. A fantastic OTS. Enjoy.