Claypot Chicken Rice

Please do not be deceived by the name of this dish.  Certainly, there's no claypot used to cook it. All the ingredients are dumped into one big magical pot......the rice cooker.  After thirty minutes, a nice savoury meal is on your table ready to pamper your rumbling tummy.

If you are looking for a quick and simple meal to prepare, this could be the one to consider.  Only three steps :

1. Marinate the chicken
2. Stir fry the marinated chicken
3. Dump everything into the rice cooker

THAT'S IT!  As easy as ABC!!  Though quick it is not entirely express as you may need to marinate the chicken pieces for at least half an hour and further cook the rice for another half an hour. 

Frankly, I don't really know much about the origination of this dish, all I know is you can find it in almost every food court in Malaysia and Singapore.  

I cooked this dish last week.  It was my second try dishing this out for my family.  Sadly, I ruined the rice on both occasions in that the rice came out mushy.  Not to be worry, it is not because of the recipe but merely my clumsiness by being kiasu adding too much water.  Anyway, here are three different rules of thumb when cooking rice :

1. Double the water to rice, minus a few tablespoons. So, for 1 cup of rice, it would be 2 cups of water, minus 2-4 tablespoons. 
2. Put the rice in the pot and add enough water so that the water level is about 1 inch above the rice.
3. Fill pot with water so that the level of the water is one thumb knuckle above the level of the rice. 

Claypot Chicken Rice Recipe
(adapted from Ms I-Hua of The Chronicles of Ms I-Hua)

Ingredients:
500 grams of boneless chicken [breast and/or leg pieces] (bite sizes)
3 cups of long grain rice
500 ml of water (or enough to cover the rice and up to the first line on your index finger –> as demonstrated)
2 lap cheong
6-7 dried Shiitake mushrooms
5  cm x 10 cm piece of salted fish (optional) + 1 teaspoon of sugar (optional)
Ingredients for the Marinade:
 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon ginger juice
1 teaspoon cornflour
2 tablespoon Shao Tsing wine (Chinese Rice Wine)
Pinch of salt
Drizzling Sauce (mix together):
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 teaspoon sesame oil

Procedure

1. Mix the marinade ingredients with the chicken and let sit for a minimum of 30 minutes, of course the longer the better, giving the marinate ingredients to permeate into the chicken pieces.
2. Whilst the chicken is marinating, soak some dried Shiitake mushrooms in hot water, to rehydrate them. Slice the lap cheong (3mm slices) and set aside.
3. Once the mushrooms have been plumped up by the hot water, drain and squeeze out the excess water. Slice the mushrooms and set aside.
4. Slice the salted fish up into tiny pieces. In a small saucepan, heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and shallow fry the salted fish pieces. Add a teaspoon of sugar (if you like), to caramelise the salted fish. Set aside for garnishing later.
5. In a rice cooker, cook the rice according to the manufacturer’s instructions. A general rule is to cover the rice with water until the water reaches the first line of your index finger (from the top layer of the rice, not the bottom of the pot). 
6. In a large wok, using a tiny teaspoon of oil, shallow fry the lap cheong (the lap cheong will release quite a bit of oil whilst being fried).
7. Once the lap cheong has been cooked (slightly charred), dish out and set aside. Drain excess oil and keep about 2-3 tablespoons of the oil in the wok.
8. Toss in the chicken and fry with the lap cheong oil. Drizzle in the drizzling sauce and fry until the chicken is semi-cooked.
9. Add in the Chinese mushrooms and lap cheong and toss.  Turn the heat off, and remove the wok from heat.  
10. Once the rice in the cooker starts to bubble, mix-in the chicken mixture and cover until cooked. 
11. Once the rice is cooked, mix the rice together, to incorporate the chicken thoroughly with the rice.
12. Serve hot with a sprinkling of the caramelised salted fish.

Grilled Chicken Thigh With White Wine Mushroom Sauce

This is one of my top favourite pasta dishes that I have ever prepared.  The sauce is light and creamy.  The taste of white wine is so apparent and it goes so nicely with the sauce.  Also, the chicken is simply delish and savoury.  Even the pasta itself is cooked al dente.  To me, all the ingredients just 'marry' one another so perfectly.  The chicken loves the sage.  The sage loves the mushrooms.  The mushrooms love the  sauce.  The sauce loves the pasta.  And more importantly, I LOVE THEM ALL!

I made two big batches of this during the Chinese New Year in February.  One for a group of my ex-students and the other just solely for myself.  Until today, I still have some of the sauce stored in my freezer.  Whenever I crave for it, I just bring it out and microwave it.  Just a matter of minutes, my ravenous appetite is pampered and satisfied.

One thing that made me really fall for this recipe is its calling for sage, a kind of herb that is hardly used in Asian cooking as compared to the more common ones like thyme, oregano, rosemary and peppermint to name a few.  Frankly, this is my first time tasting sage.  To me, it is just something like peppermint but less pungent.  Relatively mild.  Nice!

Whatever it is, I must thank Anyonita of Anyonita Nibbles for sharing this recipe.  You may find her write-up of this yummilicious dish here.  Well, for those who like pasta dishes, do give this arrangement a shot.  To put it simply, this recipe is just SIMPLE to the hands n TANTALIZING to the palate!     

The ingredients

The Chicken

3 pcs Chichen Thigh, deboned

Salt

Pepper

Fresh Sage, about a palmful, finely chopped

The Sauce

1 cup button mushroom, thinly sliced

Fresh Sage, about a palmful, finely chopped

Salt 

Pepper

Butter

1 can cream of mushroom 

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup full cream milk

Fettucine
Streaky bacon

The Methods 

1.  Rub each chicken thigh on bothe sides with salt, pepper and sage.  Marinate if for 30 minutes.

2.  Heat two tablespoons of  butter in a pan and saute the mushrooms until golden and crisp around

     the edges, about three to five minutes.

3.  Season the mushrooms well with salt, pepper and sage.  Set aside, leaving leftover liquid in 

     the pan. 

4.  De-glaze the pan with the white wine, swirling the pan until all the bits of leftover mushrooms

     and sage become unstuck from the bottom.

5.  Add in the cream of mushroom soup and water. Bring to boil.  Allow to bubble away until the 

     soup has reduced by about 1/3.

6.  Stir in the full cream milk, taste and adjust seasoning and add the mushrooms back.  Cover and

     let it simmer but not boil until ready to serve. 

7.  Place the chicken on the grill until cooked through.

8.  Meanwhile, make the fettuccine by following the instructions on the packet. 

9.  Once the chicken is cooked through and while it is still hot, rub with butter to give a nice glaze.

     Then, set aside.

8.  Cut the bacon into slices and saute with the remaining oil. Set aside. 

10. Serve the fettuccine first, followed by the sauce, topped with the and grilled bacon and 

      chicken. 

BON APPETITE!

Grilled Chicken Thighs with Easy White Wine & Mushroom Sauce

1.  Rub each chicken thigh on both sides with salt, pepper and sage. Allow to marinate at least 30 minutes.
2. Heat two tablespoons of the butter in a large pan and saute the mushrooms until golden and crisp around the edges, about three to five minutes.
3. Season the mushrooms well with salt, pepper and sage. Set aside, leaving leftover liquid in the pan.
4. De-glaze the pan with the white wine, swirling the pan until all the bits of leftover mushroom and sage become unstuck from the bottom.
5. Add in the cream of mushroom soup and bring to the boil. Allow to bubble away until the soup has reduced by about 1/3.
6. Stir in the double cream, taste and adjust seasoning and add the mushrooms back. Cover and let simmer but not boil until ready to serve.
7. Place the chicken on the grill until cooked through.
8. Meanwhile, make the fettuccine by following the instructions on the packet.
9. Once the chicken is cooked through and while it is still hot, rub with butter.
10. Serve the fettuccine first, followed by the sauce, topped with the chicken.

- See more at: http://www.anyonita-nibbles.co.uk/2014/01/grilled-chicken-thighs-easy-white-wine-mushroom-sauce.html#sthash.eKAzgJO5.dpuf

Chicken Curry

I cooked this dish last Sunday.  My wife invited her mom and her sisters over for dinner.  As always, I will have to rake my head thinking of what to dish out.  And...as always, I will spend hours and hours thinking and surfing the net searching for ideas and after what seems like ages I finally come out with NOTHING!  No choice, my wife will have to come to my rescue and give her suggestion and I will always be like "Oh! Why didn't I think of that?" Useless bugger!!

So, this time round - chicken curry.  Well, this is my second attempt cooking a chicken curry after my disastrous shot on my kids' birthday gathering, exactly a year back.  I could still recall one of my guests asked, "who cooked this curry? Taste funny la..!"  &%$#@#$#

Well, I am proud to say that I have somehow succeeded this time round after I surprisingly received a thumbs up from my brother-in-law for the dish.  However, to say that this is the best curry I have ever tasted is perhaps an overstatement and a far cry. 

Of course, there are many variations of curries ie the Chinese, the Malay, the Nyonya or the Indian style.  Which does this version fall into?  I have no idea.  But why bother?  Nobody is going to say "I like the Indian/the Chinese curry I ate yesterday!"  If the curry is good, they will always say, "OMG, I love Kuan Yoon's curry yesterday!" So, who cares which curry you adopt?  Just adapt, add, mix and match.  Make it your own and that's exactly what I did on this dish!  There are scores of recipes on the net that will leave you spoilt for choices.  I simply did not know which to choose from.  All seemed so good.  So, the easy way out was I dug out the kiasu itch in me and used everything that caught my eyes.  I know that this may not work all the time but for this time round, it did!
 
Anyway, I adapted the recipe from Choesf from Happyhomemaker88 here, with quite a bit of modification.  Apparently, it was her mother-in-law's recipe.  It's nice to see recipes being passed down to our loved ones.  Although we may not be around, at least our food continues to provide comfort to the family.  I am now wondering what my future daughter-in-law will say about me once I am gone.  Will she say:

"Thank God, luckily I managed to learn from that senile old man how to cook 
his chicken curry before he kicked the bucket!"

The Ingredients:
3 whole chicken legs, cut up and marinate with 2 tbsps salt and 3 tbsps curry powder
3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks deep fry in oil until half cooked *(I didn't deep fry)
2 large onions, peeled and cut into chunks
15 shallots, chopped

1 cinnamon stick*(I added this)
2 star anise*(I added this)
curry paste (pls see below for recipe)
2 cups coconut milk (mix 3/4 of the thick coconut milk with 2 cups of water, reserve the 1/4 left for later use)*(I only used 1 1/2 cup)

1 bunch curry leaves*(I used 5 sprigs)
2 stalks of lemon grass/serai – smashed a bit to release its aromatic oils
2 pcs tamarind slice/asam keping*(I added this to give the curry a little sourish tang)

Curry paste
5 tbsps curry powder, 
5 candlenuts/buah keras, 
5 cloves garlic, 
1 inch knob of fresh ginger, 
3 fresh red chilies 
(all blended) 

Method -
1) In a hot wok, heat up 1/2 cup (125 ml)  of oil and fry shallots, star anise & cinnamon stick 
    until golden and aromatic.

2) Add in the curry paste and keep stirring to prevent burning until the oil separates from 
    the paste and it is very aromatic, about 5 minutes or so. This gives the curry a rich, 
    bright orange colour when it is cooked.

3) Add in the marinated chicken pieces and stir fry until it is half cooked – this is to 
    seal in the chicken juices and make the chicken fragrant and tasty

4) Next, add in the half-cooked potatoes, large onions, lemon grass, tamarind slices 
    and curry leaves.

5) Give them a good stir for about 2 minutes.

6) Pour in the diluted 3 and 3/4 cups of coconut milk. My rule of thumb for this is 
    to make sure that the coconut milk is enough to just cover the chicken and potatoes.

7) Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat to medium to simmer the curry for about 
    25 to 30 minutes, until the chicken is tender, the potatoes soft. 
    Remember to stir the curry often to prevent burning. Add a little more water if 
    the curry appears to be drying up.

8 ) When the curry is ready, season with salt and pour in the last 1/4 cup of 
     thick coconut milk. The coconut milk loses most of its aroma when boiled for a while,
     and by adding a bit of thick coconut milk at the last minute gives the curry a 
     richer, aromatic taste.  

Ayam Buah Keras (Candlenut Chicken)

I never know that candlenuts can become one of the main ingredients in a dish.  As far as I know, candlenuts (or in Malay it is called buah keras) are used in traditional Asian dishes (mainly in Malaysia and Indonesia) to thicken sauces ie satay and sambal.  The nut is similar in flavour (though much bitter) and texture to a macadamia nut, which similarly has a high oil content.

Buah Keras / Candlenuts

The other day, I was browsing through for a nyonya chicken curry recipe that my late mother used to cook for me and incidentally I stumbled upon this one over here from My Kitchen Snippets.  At one glance, it looked similar to the recipe that I was looking for.  I clicked, went in and instantly had my heart set on cooking this dish, of course still assuming that it was THE recipe I was looking for.

However, in the midst of preparing the dish, I realized that I was cooking something else.  While dishing out onto the plate, I knew that it's gonna be a good one, based on the texture, consistency, color and aroma.

Then came the moment of truth!  My wife took her first bite..........mmm, okay-lah, cukup rasa (tasty enough)!  As her usual self, always stingy with her compliments, I still could not assume the dish had convinced her.........U-N-T-I-L she took the second piece.  PHEW!!  I gave out a small sheepish smile.

In the evening, on the dining table, my eldest who had just come back from school tried the dish together with steamed rice.  After his last spoon, he went up straight to my wife and blurted out..........."mummy, can you please ask papa to cook some more?"   

So, here it is, two 'likes' from two of the most important people in my family.  Humbly, I have somehow succeeded in this dish that I feel it's worth trying if you are looking for a nyonya chicken dish.....yes, Ayam Buah Keras/Candlenut Chicken.

The Recipe:

The ingredients:

Kaffir Lime Leaves

600g chicken, cleaned and cut into small pieces
Candlenut paste (please refer to the recipe below)
1 Lemongrass, slightly smashed
2 pcs Kaffir lime leaves
3/4 cup of water
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste


Method:
1. Heat about 4-5 tablespoon of oil and put in the candlenut paste and fry
     until fragrant (this normally take about 10 minutes).  Use low to medium
     heat and be careful not to burn the paste.
2. Add in the chicken pieces, kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass  Coat the chicken
    with the paste and keep stirring until the chicken turns opaque.
3. Add in salt, sugar, and some water and stir every now and then.
4. Cook until the chicken is done and gravy thickens slightly.  If the chicken is not
    cooked but the gravy is starting to dry up, you can add more water.
5. Dish out and serve.

Preparing the Candlenut Paste:
   100g fresh chilies (about 10 pcs)
   5 candlenuts
   100g shallots (about 10-12 pcs)
    8g fresh turmeric/kunyit hidup (about 2 inches)
    10g shrimp paste/belacan
    oil
    water

Method:
1. De-seed the fresh chillies if you do not like the paste to be too spicy.
    Cut the chillies, shallots and turmeric for easy blending.
2. Put all the ingredients into a blender and add a little water.  Blend
    into fine paste and set it aside.

BON APPETITE!

The nut is similar (though “rougher”) in flavor and texture to the macadamia nut, which has a similarly high oil content. - See more at: http://theepicentre.com/spice/candlenut/#sthash.cVQyqKJU.dpuf

The nut is similar (though “rougher”) in flavor and texture to the macadamia nut, which has a similarly high oil content. It is mildly toxic when raw. - See more at: http://theepicentre.com/spice/candlenut/#sthash.cVQyqKJU.dpuf

The nut is similar (though “rougher”) in flavor and texture to the macadamia nut, which has a similarly high oil content. It is mildly toxic when raw. - See more at: http://theepicentre.com/spice/candlenut/#sthash.cVQyqKJU.dpuf

The nut is similar (though “rougher”) in flavor and texture to the macadamia nut, which has a similarly high oil content. It is mildly toxic when raw. - See more at: http://theepicentre.com/spice/candlenut/#sthash.cVQyqKJU.dpuf

The nut is similar (though “rougher”) in flavor and texture to the macadamia nut, which has a similarly high oil content. It is mildly toxic when raw. - See more at: http://theepicentre.com/spice/candlenut/#sthash.cVQyqKJU.dpuf

Traditional Chicken Rendang

On our way hunting for breakfast two days ago, my wife suddenly craved to eat rendang ayam (or chicken rendang) and asked me to cook.  Any particular reason? I have no idea.  What I could think of, it's probably due to the Ramadan month fever (fasting month for the Muslims) where food bazaars, displaying all kinds of traditional Malay food and snacks are prominent at almost every nook and cranny of the town.  As the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festival (a new year festival celebrated by the Muslims after observing a-month long of fasting period) is fast approaching, the smell of ketupats and rendangs, which are synonymous to the celebration begins to fill the festive air.   

So, immediately after breakfast we headed to the nearby market to get the ingredients needed.  As soon as wife got down from the car, I remained in and started googling for the recipe on my mobile phone.  After just a few clicks, I caught sight on this particular one here and bingo!  Barely 10 minutes, we were already in the car heading back home. 

Basically, rendang is a caramelized curry cooked with either chicken, beef or mutton.  This is a spicy meat dish originated from the Minangkabau ethnic group of Indonesia to serve at ceremonial occasions and now a popular Malay staple in Malaysia.  Rendang is often served with steamed rice, ketupat (a compressed rice cake), or lemang (glutinous rice barbecued in bamboo tubes).  It is a must-have dish in every Malay house during Hari Raya Aidilfitri festival.

Interestingly, in 2011, an online poll by 35,000 people held by CNN International chose Rendang as the number one dish of their 'World's 50 Most Delicious Food' list.  Wow, what a revelation!

Cooking rendang is time-consuming and requires patience.  The meat pieces are slowly cooked in coconut milk and spices at precisely the right temperature until almost all the liquid is gone.  The slow cooking process allows the meat to absorb all the spices and to become tender.   The generous use of numerous spices makes rendang to have a complex and unique taste.

So, here it goes.......

The Recipe:

500g chicken, chopped (or mutton, beef, cubed)
3 potatoes, quartered
10 shallots
4 cloves garlic
2 stalks lemon grass/serai, smashed for flavour
1 cm ginger
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
sugar to taste
lots of pepper
1 tsp chili paste or 3 fresh chilies
1/2 tsp turmeric

1 cup coconut milk
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 turmeric leaf

1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup pounded kerisik (dry roasted dessicated coconut that is golden brown and very fragrant)


Method :-
1) Blend onion, garlic, ginger, salt, turmeric and chili paste until smooth.
2) Heat oil in wok and add blended mixture. Stir fry for 5 minutes or until paste separates from the oil.
3) Add chicken and potatoes.  Then, stir fry for 5 minutes.
4) Add kaffir lime leaves and turmeric leaf together with coconut milk and allow to simmer for about 45 minutes or until meat is tender, adding a bit more coconut milk as necessary to keep sauce from drying and burning.
5) Add the coconut kerisik when the meat is almost tender, like 10 minutes before finish.

Hope this recipe will fire your taste bud, just like how it did on mine!

Bon Appetite!

Ayam Buah Keluak

Slurppppp......ahhhh! Burrrrp!
After licking all my five fingers, I must agree this is perhaps one of the best meal I have ever had after sooo sooo long! 

Last Sunday, I decided to cook one of my favourite typical Nyonya dishes - Ayam Buah Keluak! Since nya passed away, I hardly had the chance to relish this finger-licking dish. As my wife is not a Straits born, so I thought it's time for me to get my hands down and learn to cook this Peranakan dish myself.

Well, what is a 'buah keluak'? Basically, buah keluak is a black nut from Indonesia about the size of a misshapen golf ball.



As a matter of fact, it is a very poisonous nut and amazingly we Asians use it as our cooking ingredient.  But not to worry as the ones found in the market have been detoxificated. It is boiled for hours and buried in the soil for over 40 days. Amazing yah, so poisonous and yet so edible! Well, like durians, this typical nut is an acquired taste. You either hate it or love it.

Now, how do we eat it? Firstly, a slit has to be made at the 'mouth' of the nut after which we scrape out its contents. It's basically a tar-like paste and the taste is unique and unbelievable. You just need to taste to believe it. Apparently, the supply is rather scarce as not many places sell them. For those who are staying in Malacca, I bought them from the Bukit Cina market and are sold at RM14 for a mere 20 pcs.

So, how do we cook this delectable dish?

First, the ingredients:

A: 15-20 pcs of buah keluak

B: 1/2 chicken

C:
6 red chillies
15 shallots
5 cloves of garlic
2 cm of galangal (lengkuas)
2 cm of tumeric (kunyit)
6 pcs of candlenuts (buah keras)
3 cm of ginger (halia)
1 tbsp of shrimp paste (belancan)

D: 3 stalks of lemon grass (serai), coarsed.

E: 4 tablespoons of tamarind paste, soaked in 1 litre of water and strained.

F: sugar & salt to taste





Second, the steps. Well, I would divide the whole process into 3 parts :

1) Soaking & cracking
As the nuts are poisonous in nature, it is necessary to soak them for at least 1 night. It is also to remove the layer of soil on the nuts. However, according to old people, they believe that the longer the nuts are soaked, the softer the contents we get .



After soaking, we need to make a small opening on the nuts. And this makes your heart pumps a little especially for the first timer like me. It can be dangerous as we need to use the end of the chopper to carefully crack open the mouth of the nut.

2) 'Pasting'
This process is basically to make the paste. In a blender, blend all the 'C' ingredients until fine.

3) Cooking/Simmering
With 4 tablespoons of cooking oil, stir fry the paste together with the lemon grass until fragrant.




Add in the chicken and keluak nuts.


Lastly, add in the tamarind juice.

Simmer for about 1/2 hour or until chicken is tender.

And the final outcome is

taaaadaaaa................









Well, that's about all. The dish is ready to be savoured. However, if you are cooking for your guest or to get a better taste, an excellent tip I got is be sure you cook the dish the night before. This allows the flavour especially from the keluak paste to soak into the chicken and the taste........voila!