Hong Kong Style Soya Chicken

Before I post the recipe of this HongKong Style Soya chicken, I just want to share with you guys two things that I cherish this December. First thing is of course celebrating my favourite festive season; Christmas and New year. But what will the second thing be??? The second thing will be the launch of my sister's food blog. Have I ever mentioned that I have a super talented sister? whom I consider to be an absolutely brilliant cook? If I haven't, now you know....When my sister posted her link in Facebook, one of her friends actually commented that for my sister to have a food blog is like Picasso having a blog about painting. I have to say, it's the perfect way to describe my sister's passion in cooking. Her blog, 'DinewithLeny' is going to be filled with many great home-cooked recipes. So, do check it out if you need to look for new food ideas or simply just for a read! 

With Christmas just around the corner, I'm sure I'm not the only person busy wrapping the Christmas gifts and looking forward to celebrate with family and friends. Sadly, me and my husband don't have any family here to celebrate Christmas with, but I look forward to share some great times with my friends on our Boxing day trip to Hunter Valley. Christmas is such a beautiful season, it's a season of giving. Every where I go, I see people breathing with joy and happiness, people hopping from shop to shop looking for the perfect gifts for their loved ones and people busy planning for their Christmas meal.

Anyway, I think I should stop talking about Christmas and back to the recipe. Today, I prepared this Hong Kong Style Soya Chicken for dinner. When I go to Hong Kong restaurant, my husband's utmost choice will be the steamed chicken where as mine will be the soya chicken. Since, I've always cooked his favourite at home, tonight will be my turn to relish my favourite. So, if you like Soya Chicken too, this recipe is worth trying because it's simple, quick and most of all, delicious!

Hong Kong Style Soya Chicken

Ingredients:

- 4 chicken Marylands (I didn't buy Maryland, so I used 8 drumsticks)

- 2 1/2 cups water

- 1 1/2 cup of Lee Kum Kee premium soya sauce

- 3 star anise

- 1 cup brown sugar (or more according to your preference)

- 1 stick cinnamon

- 5 cm of ginger (smashed)

- 6 cloves of garlic (smashed)

- 1 tsp five spice powder

Method:

1) Clean the chicken and set aside.

2) In a deep pan/pot add in everything except the chicken.

3) Bring the sauce to boil, then add in the chicken, leave the chicken to simmer in sauce for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

4) Once chicken is cooked, remove  from pan/pot to cool.

5) Chop chicken into smaller pieces if you prefer.

6) Enjoy the chicken with steamed rice.

Tips: Pour some of the sauce on steamed rice will sure give you an extra kick to the meal!

If you don't hear from me before Christmas, I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas 2010 

&

Hope you guys have a Healthy and Happy New Year 2011

Thai Chicken With Mushroom and Capsicum

Chan Rak Xahar Thiy ~ I Love Thai Food 

I got the idea of making this dish when I read the MX newspaper in the train last week. The idea was to mix fish sauce, oyster sauce and sugar as the seasoning sauce. Fish sauce is probably the most popular sauce used in Thai cooking. I usually add fish sauce and oyster sauce gradually while cooking, but the recipe in MX suggests mixing them together. So when I got home, I digged into my fridge to see if there's anything I could possibly use to make a delicious Thai dish with this special sauce.  

 

Lucky, I still have some good ingredients I could use. I found some chicken fillet, capsicum, garlic, onion, fresh chillies and mushrooms. Thanks to the special sauce, this dish came up unbelievably easy and delicious.

Ingredients:

- 3 garlic cloves (minced)

- 1 red capsicum (cut in to long strips)

- A bowl of button mushrooms (sliced thinly)

- 1 Onion (cut into thin slices)

- 4-5 chicken fillet (cut into desired size)

- Handful of fresh chillies (deseed and cut into thin long strips)

- Cooking oil

- Cornstrach solution (Mix corn flour with water)

Seasoning Sauce:

- 2 tbsp oyster sauce

- 2 tbsp fish sauce

- 1 tbsp sugar (or according to taste)

Mix all seasoning ingredients in a bowl.

Method:

1) Heat up the wok with cooking oil. Add in garlic, give it a quick stir then add in the chicken.

2) Cook for 2 minutes, then add in half of the seasoning sauce. Dish up and set aside once chicken is cooked.

3) Heat up the wok again with cooking oil. Add in the onion, give it a quick stir. Add in the capsicum, give it a quick stir. Then add in the mushroom. Add in the remaining seasoning sauce. Stir well.

4) Add in the chicken, then fresh chillies. Stir well. Add water if necessary 

5) Add in the cornstarch solution.

6) Stir well and dish up once ready (Just make sure capsicum is not overcooked).

Soto Ayam Medan (Medanese Style Chicken Soup)

 

Medan Must Eat - Soto Medan

After a long day at work, all I can think of is going home for my Mum's delicious Soto. Soto is a traditional yellow soup commonly found in Indonesia. It has a strong distinct flavour mainly from Tumeric and other spices. However, different regions have their own version of Soto. Some of the popular soto are Soto Betawi, Soto Madura, Soto Bandung and Soto Medan (All named after the geographic regions where they were originated from).

I personally think Soto Medan is the best among all, not because it's coming from my hometown, but because it has a hint of coconut milk inside which gives an extra richness to the soup, without being too heavy or fatty. The typical meat used in Soto Medan is either chicken or beef.

 My mum is a non beef eater, so the choice of meat is obvious...

Soto Medan is never complete without Perkedel (Indonesian potato croquette). Perkedel is a fried potato cake made from mashed potato, chopped celery and some other ingredients. Beef is commonly added in preparing Perkedel too. It's very simple to make and is an excellent side dish/appetiser.

 Perkedel (Potato croquette)

Even though I don't have my mum's recipe here, I managed to find the recipes of Soto Medan (here) and Perkedel (here) for you guys. Do try these delicious Soto Medan and Perkedel at home. They make the perfect lunch/dinner dish during a cold winter day.

 Soto Medan (chicken)

 

Soto can be served with vermicelli, but I still think the best way to eat Soto is to have it with plain steamed rice plus some crackers on the side.

Japanese Crispy Curry Chicken

This is my second Japanese meal for the week and this doesn't include my sushi for lunch. There's never too much Japanese food for me.  So I decided today is Japanese curry day. I consider Japanese curry a healthier and milder version. For me, Japanese curry rice is an excellent comfort food. The sweet, rich and creamy flavour that blended perfectly with the rest of the ingredients. It's an addiction that doesn't leave me for long, after eating it I wish I could eat it again.

And this time I prepared some crispy chicken fillets to go with the curry. This chicken is inspired by Not Quite Nigella's Crunchy Southern "Deep Fried" Chicken.  There's something about using cornflakes in cooking that always catch my interest. I knew instantly I had to try this recipe. but instead of using chicken wing, I used chicken fillet and I didn't follow all the ingredients in her recipe.

As always, I like to finish my cooking fast, so I pan fried my chicken first before covering them with the flour and cornflakes. But I found this actually loses the flavour of the chicken. So if you have time, I suggest just grill the chicken raw, although it might take longer, but It will definitely keep the flavour in. And is up to you which part of chicken you want to use.

Cripsy Chicken with Cornflakes

Ingredients:

- 5 chicken thigh fillet

- A bowl of flour

- 2 eggs

- A handful of chopped Parsley (If you can't find fresh, just used the dried one)

- 3-4 cups of cornflakes (or just enough for your chicken)

-  Black pepper

-  Salt

Method:

1) You can either pan fry your chicken first or you can skip this step.

2) Pre heat oven 180C and line baking trays with parchment.

3) Place flour in shallow plate with salt and pepper.

4) Beat eggs in a bowl.

5) Place cornflakes in ziplock bag and bash the cornflakes until they quite crushed. Place in shallow plate, then add in the parsley.

6) Roll the chicken in flaour, then roll them in the beaten eggs then the cornflakes.

7) Place chicken on the tray and bake in oven for 15 minutes, take the chicken out and drizzle/spray abit of oil to the chicken. Put it back to the oven for another 5 minutes if you have pre cooked your chicken, otherwise bake until chicken is cooked.

The chicken was wonderful, it's crunchy on the outside but soft in the inside.

Perfect for snack too!

Japanese Curry Sauce

Ingredients:

- Japanese curry sauce mix ( block)

- 1 Carrot (bite size)

- 1 Potato (bite size)

- Half chopped onion

Method:

1) Saute onion over medium heat, add carrot and potato, cook for 5 minutes.

2) Add in water and  simmer until potato and carrots are cooked

3) Add in the Japanese curry cubes, stir until cubes dissolve. Add water if sauce is too thick.

Once the curry sauce is ready, pour over the crispy chicken.

You gotta try it to love it!

Oh, remember to serve warm with steamed rice!

Steamed egg with Cincalok

Spices add an incredible amount of flavour to what you eat. Cultures all over the world have dishes that excite and stimulate your palate with spices and add heat and taste to everyday ingredients. (Ansary, LifeMojo)

INTRODUCING NYONYA CUISINE

I get this everyday recipe from my "Penang Nyonya A-Ma Secret Recipes" cookbook. This book is a great compilation of some popular Nyonya dishes. I grow up eating lots of food without realising they are actually Nyonya food, I started learning more about Nyonya food when I watched a Singaporean drama called 'Little Nyonya". This show introduced me to the rich history of Peranakan. Peranakan is the term used to describe the descendants of the intermarriage between the early Chinese imigrants and the local malays (in Malaysia and Singapore).

The Nyonya cooking is a result of the combination of Chinese and Malay-style of cooking, which then become the most tasty and exotic food to be found in Malaysia and Singapore. It combines a lot of different herbs and spices to come up with a perfect dish. Nyonya cooking are complicated affairs, often require great patience and excellent culinary skills to prepare.

With no surprise, this Steamed egg with Cincalok is the easiest recipe in the cookbook =p

Steamed Egg with Cincalok
Bottom Layer:

-300 gm minced pork ( I actually used chicken this time)

-6 small red onions and finely chopped

-1 tsbp cincalok

Seasoning:

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp corn flour

Top Layer:

2 Eggs ( I think I will use more next time, so I can get thicker layer of egg on the top)

10 tbsp water

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pper

 1 tbsp fried garlic oil and chopped spring onion ( I added some into my meat mixture)

Note:

Just make sure you don't be too generous on the Cincalok as the smell is very strong, too much of it will spoil your dishes instead of enhancing it. With the right amount of Cincalok this can be a very appetising dish to go with steamed rice.

Method:

1) Mix ingredients for bottom layer with seasoning. Spread onto a steaming tray.

2)Steam at medium heat for about 7 minutes

3)Meanwhile, mix top layer and pour over steamed minced pork

4)Steam for another 5 minutes at low heat. Open the lid occasionally to avoid bubbles forming on the surface of egg.

5) Remove, drizzle fried garlic oil and sprinkle chopped spring onion on top and serve hot with steamed rice.

I found that after cooking, the taste of the meat is quite similar to the pork spare ribs that you find in Chinese Yum Cha (Dim Sum) restaurant.

Grilled Orange Chicken + White Radish Soup

"Happy and successful cooking doesn't rely only on know-how; it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate and needs enthusiasm and a deep love of food to bring it to life." (Georges Blanc, Ma Cuisine des Saisons)

 

I printed this recipe online a while ago. This is a delicious and easy to follow recipe. This can be the perfect grilled chicken for your BBQ next time. The original recipe required the chicken to be grilled for 45 mins, but because I want to cook fast, I actually pan fried the chicken first, then I put in the oven to grill for 10-15 minutes. I think by pan frying the chicken first, it actually makes the chicken less dry, so it's up to you how you like your chicken to be and you can always try both ways to see which one you prefer.

Grilled Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

- 5 chicken drumsticks ( I chopped into half, you can keep the drumstick as a whole too)

- 1 clove garlic (minced)

- 2 stalks of spring onions (finely chopped)

- 1 tsp minced ginger

- 8 tbsp fresh orange juice

- 1 1/2 tsp orange zest

- chopped chillies (desired amount)

- 1 tbsp sugar ( I used brown sugar)

- 1 tbsp soya sauce

- 1 tbsp dark soya sauce (sweet soya sauce)

- 1 tsp chinese wine ( I used Shao Xing)

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp sesame oil

- 1 tsp peanut oil

Note: You can always increase or decrease the ingredients and sauces according to taste when you pan fry the chicken. Make sure you don't add too much ginger, as too much ginger will overpowered the flavour of the orange.

Method:

1) In a bowl, whisk together all the ingredients and sauces. Mix well. Add the chicken and mix well. Ideally, the chicken is to be marinated in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 hours, but I didn't have that much time, I actually left it for half and hour only. And turning the chicken pieces occasionally if you can.

2) Heat up the pan with cooking oil, add in the chicken, keep stirring until the chicken is cooked.

3) While cooking, preheat the oven at 200 Celcius. Once, chicken is cooked, place the chicken on a baking tray or roasting and spead some of the marination sauce on the chicken and roast. You can add more marination sauce over chicken after 5-10 minutes. Grill for another 5 minutes until chicken turn brown.

And to complement this tasty chicken, is a plain and simple white radish soup. White radish is a quite versatile vegetable that can be cooked in many ways, such as the turnip cake and stir fried. It is known to benefit the digestive system, for diabetics, to stimulate appetite, to clear runny nose and to ease sore joints. However, it's believe to have no benefits for patients under medical treatment as it prevents the absorption of the medical values. Give this soup a try, it's so easy!

White Radish Soup

Ingredients:

- 1 white radish (cut into large chunk)

- Pork ribs/Pork bones/ Chicken drumsticks/Chicken bones 

- A Handful of red dates

- Some dried scallops (optional)

Method:

1) Bring to boil water in pot. Add Pork/Chicken part, red dates and dried scallops, cook until you get your desired soup broth.

2)Add in white radish, cook until white radish soften, add salt if desired.

3)Turn off the heat and enjoy your soup.

Larb Gai (Thai Minced Chicken Salad)

Gourmets rank Thai cuisine among the best in the world, for its subtle curries, imaginative use of herbs and spices, textural contrast, and above all harmony in taste. The Thai food is a blend of Asian and European influences adopted through centuries of trade and diplomatic exchanges. (Hrayr Berberoglu)

Larb Gai is a popular classic Thai salad. It's fragrant, slightly spicy with an interesting mix of flavours.  Low in fat and low in carb. The core flavour elements are the lime juice and fish sauce. This delicious warm salad can be eaten on its own or with steamed rice.

This recipe is actually an easier version of Larb Gai. I excluded the roasted rice powder which is commonly added in the salad. Please increase or decrease any of the ingredients according to taste.

Larb Gai

Ingredients:

- 400 Gram minced chicken (breast preferred)

- 1 chopped tomato

- 1/2 chopped red onion

- 2 cloves chopped garlic

- 1 chopped cucumber

- Handful of chopped chillies

- Handful of chopped Kaffir lime leaves

- Handful of Mint leaves

- Fish Sauce

- Sugar ( I used brown sugar)

- Fresh lime juice

- Fried onion (optional)

Method:

1)  In a big bowl, add in the tomato, red onion, cucumber, garlic, 1/2 portion of kaffir lime leaves, mint leaves, chillies and fried onion.

2) Heat non-stick pan, add cooking oil, add in chicken, stir for 2 minutes, add in the other half of the kaffir lime leaves. Add in 1 teaspoon of fish sauce. Stir chicken until cooked. Remove from heat.

3) Add in chicken into the bowl and mix well.

4) Add in sugar, fish sauce and lime juice until you get your desired taste.

Note: Chopped lemongrass and chopped coriander can be added to the salad too.

Sang Choy Bow (Chicken Lettuce Wrap)

"Lettuce is like conversation: It must be fresh and crisp, and so sparkling that you scarcely notice the bitter in it." (C.D. Warner, 19th century).

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!!! No...unfortunately, I'm not cooking Irish food today. 

Initially, I wanted to make steamed egg with chicken minced, but I thought it tastes a little bit plain, because the other dish that I'm going to cook today is just a plain stir fry vege. Then, I thought about Sang Choy Bow (as known in chinese), so I decided to use my minced chicken to make Sang Choy Bow instead.

The direct translation of Sang Choy Bow is "Fresh Vegetable Wrap". It basically means having the dish with fresh vegetable. And what is the most popular vegetable to be eaten raw? Of course 'Lettuce'. On my way back home, I stopped at Coles to get some lettuces, ideally this dish is to be served with iceberg lettuce, but they ran out of it, so I bought Baby Lettuce instead.

Sang Choy Bow is a very famous dish that has found itself very much at chinese restaurants in Australia. Most of you should be familiar with Peking Duck, the Sang Choy Bow is usually the second course that you can choose to have with the remaining meat of your Peking duck.

Sang Choy Bow

Ingredients:

- 400gm minced chicken

- A handful of shitake mushroom (soaked in water and chopped finely)

- 5 Garlic cloves (if you don't like too garlicky, then reduce the amount)

- A handful of finely chopped spring onions

- 1 onion (chopped to dice size)

- Cooking Oil

- Fresh lettuce ( peel lettuce leaves, becareful not to break the leaves)

Marination sauce:

- 1 tbsp sweet soya sauce

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce

- 1 tbsp cooking wine ( I used Shao Xing)

- 1 tbsp soya sauce

- 1/2 tsp sugar

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 1/2 tsp corn flour

- 1 tsp white pepper

Method:

1) Mix the minced chicken, chopped mushroom, chopped onions, chopped spring onions and marination sauce. Mix well and leave for 10-15 minutes

2) Heat up a wok and add cooking oil. 

3) Add in the garlic, saute until fragrant and golden.

4) Add in chicken mixture and stir it until chicken is cooked.

5) Dish out.

Optional:

- I use Hoisin sauce as the dipping sauce to add more flavour to the Sang Choy Bow.

Hold one lettuce leaf on your palm and scoop a spoonful of the chicken and place it on the middle of the leaf. Optional is to add a bit of hoisin sauce on top of it (becareful not to add too much, as hoisin sauce itself is salty). 

Wrap it up and have a mouthful of it!

To complement the already healthy dish, is the plain stir fry vegetable with garlic. 

Yum yum!

Steamed Chinese Herbal Chicken

 "Good health begins with healthy diet"

The chinese herbs have been used in cooking for thousand of years. There are over three hundreds of different kind of herbs and they are believed to have great health benefits of building and strengthening the body. Some herbs might be very strong in smell and bitter in taste. However, over the years I have learned to appreciate them very much.

The herbs that were used in this recipe are pretty common and easy to find in any asian grocery. This might be one of the easiest way to use the chinese herbs in cooking. I get this recipe from my sister.

All you need to do is put everything on a steaming plate and steam it. Healthy and yummy at the same time!

Some believes the wolfberries are perhaps the most nutritionally-rich fruit on the planet.

Red dates are believed to alleviate stress.

Dang Gui (Dong Quai)is believed to promote hormonal balance

Tong Sum (Dan Sheng) is believe to stimulate immune system

Steamed Chinese Herbal Chicken

Ingredients:

- A handful of Wolfberries

- A handful of Red Dates

- A handful of  Dang Gui

- A handful of Tong Sum (this is optional, I put it cause I have some sitting in the fridge)

- Chicken drumsticks (chopped into half)

Seasoning:

- Sesame oil

- Cooking wine ( I used Shao Xing)

- Soya sauce

Method:

1) Marinate chicken with seasoning sauce for at least 20 minutes

2) Place chicken drumsticks on a steaming plate (make sure plate is not too flat, as we wanna keep the juice from the steaming). Scatter the chinese herbs evenly on top of the chicken. Add more seasoning if you want.

3) Cover the plate with aluminum foil, you can double the aluminium foil so it's stronger.

4) Leave to steam for 45 minutes to 1 hour, so chicken is cooked and tender.

5) Once is done, becareful the hot steam when opening the aluminium foil.

7) Served warm with steamed rice.

Thai Chilli Chicken Basil

 

"One cannot  think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well". (Virginia Woolf)

My friend (AL) requested that I post some recipes on my blog. So here is my first recipe on Mydatewithfood. My cooking tend to be a quick and easy one, so it suits people that doesn't have much time on hand to prepare for their meal but still want something tasty.

I had the similar dish from one of the Thai restaurants before (can't recall which one exactly), so I try to make my own version at home.

But please note that I don't have exact measurement for the recipe, when I cook I tend to estimate and try first then I add more if it's not enough. But I will provide an approximation on this recipe. You can always add or put less according to your taste preference.

Since there's no undo button in cooking, I suggest add in small amount first and then add more if it's not enough.

You will first need to prepare the chilli paste. This chilli paste recipe is very handy to use. It can be used for a lot of different recipes too. I pre-made mine and stored in the freezer. It could be stored in the freezer up to 3-4 months.

  

 

Chilli Paste recipe:

Ingredients:

- A Hand full of red chillies (if you can't eat too spicy then it's better to use the big red chillies, but if you like spicy then you can add more small chillies)

- 1 tomato

- 1 red onion

- 5 garlic cloves

Method:

1. Blend all the ingredients in blender.

2. Heat the wok, add approximately 8 tablespoon of oil and with low fire cook the chilli paste until it fragrant.

3. Ready to be used in cooking.

Thai Chilli Chicken Basil recipe:

-400 Gram chicken mince

-1 Tomato

-1 Red onion (if you are not a big fan of onion, you can opt this one out)

-Half bunch of fresh basil leaves.

-2 tablespoon cooking oil

- A quarter slice of fresh lime 

- 4 tablespoon of pre-made chilli paste (please put less if you think you can't handle spicy)

Marinate:

3 tablespoon sweet soya sauce

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

2 tablespoon fish sauce

1/2 tablespoon soya sauce

  

  

 

METHOD:

1. Marinate the chicken mince while you are preparing the other ingredients

2. Cut tomato into bite size pieces and set aside.

3. Cut red onion into bite size pieces and set aside.

4. Pick the basil leaves out of the stem and set aside.

5. Heat the wok and add in the oil. Add in chilli paste and stir fry for a while (approximately one minute). Add in the tomato and onion piece, stir for 3 minutes. Add in the chicken mince, stir until the chicken is cook, try if taste is enough, if it's not sweet enough then add sweet soya sauce, if it's not salty enough add more fish sauce, but if you don't like the fishy smell of fish sauce, you can add more soya sauce. When the taste is enough, add in the basil leaves, stir until it soften. Squeeze in the fresh lime. Give it a quick stir and Dish out.

This recipe is so delicious! The aroma of the basil is heavenly.

Serve it hot with steamed rice. 

The only thing to be aware of! "Don't cook too much rice",coz you will probably end up finishing all of it =). 

AL, Happy cooking!