Chicken porridge with water chestnut

In wiki, water chestnut is called Eleocharis dulcis. How many people in the world will know this?!!!

I have a love hate relationship with water chestnut.

I have some water chestnut leftover from making dumplings. This is the reason why i will buy water chestnut 99% of the time. Preparing water chestnut is a hassle! u will have to scrub the mud off the skin, wash until the water runs clean, cut off the skin before u can use the inner flesh. Of cos, if u are throwing the skin, u need not wash them to cleanly. Having said that, u will still have to rinse them thoroughly. I am not being fussy here but if there is mud on the skin, when u slice it, the white flesh will be contaminated cos the knife comes into contact with the mud. Hate it.

If you have the time to clean the skin, boil the skin in a huge pot of water with barley for a couple of hours, add sugar and u will have a big pot of barley water chestnut drink!

I will usually have leftover water chestnuts as a snack/fruit. When i saw them in the fridge one afternoon, i decided to chop them up coarsely and add them to my porridge to add a 'crunch' to the mushy porridge. Reason why i love water chestnut is that it retains its sweetness, juiciness and crunch even after cooking. Love it.

Stir fry chicken with pineapple

My mum used to cook this but she has not cooked it in the last few yrs.

Despite so, I always remember this dish as i think its super appetizing and i love the natural sweet and sourness of the pineapple. I can finish a bowl of rice with the gravy alone.

This is my first attempt - the resultant taste is not the same as my mum.

The fragrance and taste of the pineapple is not strong enough though i am very sure i have simmered it thoroughly. Probably due to the pineapply not being flavourful. A little disappointed.

It's still a delicious dish - i say so myself!

Baised chicken

There is basically no hard and fast rule about cooking chicken. Whatever i have in the fridge goes into the pan together with the chicken.

Typically when i buy whole chicken, i will remove the breast, thighs and drumsticks from the chicken. i will then pack them into 5 packs - 2 packs of half breasts, 2 packs of 1 thigh and 1 drums, 1 pack of chicken carcass.

Needless to say, the carcass is for chicken stock making. The smaller pack of chicken is to save me time defrosting when i have to cook them last minute, i dun have patience when it comes to thawing frozen meat.

When i have the time, i will even debone the thigh and drums, cut the breasts and marinate the chicken with pepper and soya sauce before putting them into bags for freezing. This saves me even more time when i use the chicken to cook porridge, stir fry etc.

Now, back to my braised chicken, the reason why i have half chicken with bones attached is because its from my mum. She visited me after my operation and bought me chicken which is already halved and frozen.

So well, i chopped the chicken into pieces, found chillis in my fridge (again i dont buy chilli, this is from my mother in law). Some left over cherry tomatoes from xmas gathering salad also goes in!

What do you need?

- Half a chicken cut into small pieces

- 5 cherry tomatoes, halved

- 5-10 shallots, quartered

- 1 baby carrot

- 1 chilli - deseeded and cut into big pieces

- 1 thumb size piece of ginger

- oyster sauce

- pinch of sugar

- sesame seed oil and pepper

How to do it?

Heat work and fry ginger, chilli and shallots until fragrant.

Then add chicken and carrot. Fry chicken until brown before adding water. Season with oyster sauce, sugar, pepper. Turn heat to low and simmer for 30 mins until a thick sauce is formed and meat falls off the bone easily.

Drizzle with sesame seed oil and serve with rice.

The sweetness of the carrot and chicken juices, with a hint of sourness from the tomato and heat from the ginger and chilli, its heavenly.

Steam chicken with Prawn Paste

Wanted to cook a simple and healthly dinner.
For meat dish, i make steam chicken. For vegetable, i made spinach soup.

MIL gave me some prawn paste (xia jiang) so i decided to make steam chicken with xia jiang.

Its really simple.

What do you need?
- Chicken meat of 2 chicken drumstick and 2 thighs (Diced)
- 1 1/2 tsp of prawn paste
- Sesame seed oil, soya sauce, pepper, chinese wine
- Corn flour
- 1 thumb sized ginger (sliced)

How to do it?
Marinate chicken with prawn paste, soya sauce, pepper, chinese wine for at least 30 mins.

Before cooking, add sesame seed oil and corn flour, mix well.

Lay sliced ginger on the plate, lay chicken in a layer on top of the ginger. Steam over boiling water for 20 minutes.

 Beautiful and tasty juices will surface from the steaming. Serve with rice.

Green curry soba noodles

Another brilliant idea of mine. Dinner for one as hubby is out for company bbq and drinks.

Plateful of leftovers...
- leftover Thai Green Curry
- leftover salad
- last handful of soba noodles

I first cook soba noodles in a pot of salted water for 3 - 5 mins until soft.
Microwave frozen green curry on high until its boiling hot.


Pour curry into plate, tear salad leaves into bit size, toss in soba noodles and mix well.....

Plate of delightful green curry soba noodles. Tastes fantastic!

Thai Green Curry

I always like green thai curry.
A dish that i order quite frequently when i dine at Thai Express.
I like the rich coconut taste, the spice and slightly sweet aftertaste.

Couple of weekend ago my MIL cooked Thai green curry using a singapore brand ready mix green curry taste. $2.00. Taste good.

I know that Carrefour has a corner for Thai foodstuff. Went to check it out and they have a ready made green curry paste that has Thai words on it. Imported from Thailand, must be authentic.
Cheaper than the Spore brand as well. Selling at $1.50.

i have 2 stalks of lemon grass in my freezer, so i decided to 'beef' up the taste a bit with extra lemon grass and onions...

Spiciness level: Singapore brand vs Thai brand: 5 vs 1

What do you need?
- 1 packet of green curry paste
- 1 stalk of lemon grass (bruised and chopped)
- 2 small red onion (diced)
- chicken (~500gm i use half pack of frozen chicken inner fillet)
- half pack of french beans
- 1 pack of coconut milk (small)
- 1 tbsp of sugar







How to do it?
Heat pan and add 1 tbsp of olive oil. Fry onion and lemon grass until onion becomes soft and golden brown.

Add green curry paste and fry for 3-5mins, this is to release the aroma and taste of the spices.

Add 2 cups of water and chicken meat. Mix well, cover pan with lid and simmer on low heat for 5 mins.

i like my green curry with sweet aftertaste so i added 1 tbsp of sugar. Mix well and adjust taste to your liking.

Add coconut milk and french beans. Cook for a further 5 mins and turn off heat. Do not over cook the coconut gravy.

Serve with lots of steaming white rice and 1 glass of ice cold water. Very spicy.

Birthday celebration

This yr we have planned to celebrate hubby's birthday dinner with his family.

So the day before his birthday i cooked his favourite tenderloin, sausage and salad.



And on the morning of this birthday, i cook mee sua with red husk paste (with chicken and mushroom).

Not forgetting 2 hardboiled eggs for longevity! Thought i did very well but later that night realise that i am not suppose to peel the egg for him. The birthday boy is suppose to peel the eggs himself :(

ok lor, less work for me next yr!

Chicken rice - Lazy style

This is my version of the lazy chicken rice.
All in one dish.

My mum cooks the raw marinated chicken and raw sliced ginger with washed rice in the rice cooker directly. This method is more fuss free but results in mashy rice.

For me, i will stir fry the ginger, chicken and rice in the pan first.
With the rice grain coated in a bit of oil before cooking, the cooked rice will be grainy.
Of cos, its more work for me (have to wash extra wok)

Will cook this for dinner when all i have is chicken in the fridge.
Hubby always enjoy this dish cos it has meat (chicken) and meat (sausage)
Serve with prawn sambal on the side (hei bee hiam)
Mouth watering.


What do you need?
- 1 chicken breast (sliced)
- 1 cup of rice (wash and drain, serves 2 pax)
- 1 piece of ginger (size of thumb, sliced)
- 1 chinese sausage (skin removed)
- Pepper, soya sauce, sesame seed oil

How to do it?
Marinate chicken with pepper, soya sauce, chinese wine and sesame seed oil for at least 20 mins.

Heat wok, pour in 2 tbsp of sesame seed oil and fry sliced ginger over low heat.
Wait for ginger to turn crisp


Add 1 tsp of corn flour to chicken, mix well.
Add sliced chicken into wok and stir fry until brown. Push chicken to side of the pan, pour in uncooked and washed rice.

Add 2 tbsp of soya sauce, some pepper and chinese wine. Mix well.

Scoop rice into rice cooker.

Add water into rice cooker as if you are cooking plain white rice.

Place chinese sausage into rice cooker as well.

Cook rice in rice cooker as per normal.

When rice is ready, serve with chilli or sambal on the side.

Chicken Pesto Pasta

My UK friend recommend me this Marks & Spencer pesto sauce when I am in UK 2 yrs ago. In Canary Wharf, there is a M&S supermarket and they sell a lot of stir in pasta sauces.



When i was there, we bought it and used it for pastas with M&S apple sausages.
Super yummy.

There was this time hubby and i went to Parkway Parade and i saw this on the M&S shelves! Cant contain my excitement, must buy!

But no surprise, its much more expensive in Singapore. I think it only cost GBP1.50 in UK which is around SGD$4.50. Guess how much i pay here? nearly double! SGD$7.90. One bottle of this can be used to cook pasta for 2, at least 3 times (4 times if you are less generous with the pesto sauce).

But it taste so good, and i very much want hubby to try... the rest is history.

What do you need?

- 2 tablespoon of M&S pesto sauce

- half a chicken breast (diced)

- 1 handful of linguini (size of a twenty cent coin is the portion for 2)

- minced garic in oil

How to do it?
Marinate chicken with a bit of pepper, some chinese wine and sesame seed oil (notice i didnt add soya sauce. this is because the pesto sauce is saltish).

Mix well and marinate for 10 mins.

Before cooking, remember to add 2 teaspoon of corn flour.

Bring a pot of water to boil, add a teaspoon of olive oil and salt into the water, add linguini and cook till soft, takes approximately 4-5mins

Heat frying pan, stir in garlic in oil until garlic turns light brown.

Stir in chicken. Cook chicken until it turns into a nice light brown

At this point, stir in the pesto sauce.

After chicken is well coated, stir in the cooked pasta.

Serve.

Dawn's chicken pie

Happy birthday nana and a happy new year to everyone

Inspired by Jamie Oliver's Ministry of food (bought from Amazon when i am in London - half price of whats its selling in Singapore!) and decides to make a chicken pie.

Its really simple if you get frozen puff pastry from supermarket (i got mine from carrefour - see pic for box)

Chicken stew

What you need?

4 cloves garlic

1 carrot (diced)

1 stalk of celery (diced)

2 small red onions (diced)

1 chicken breast of a large chicken (diced, marinated)

2 potatoes (boiled, peeled, diced)

2 cups stock/water

1 cup white wine

1 tablespoon of plain flour

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

How to do it?

Fry garlic and onion with olive oil until onions turn white

Add carrots and cook for 2 mins

Add chicken and flour

Fry until chicken is 50% cooked, add wine and simmer for 2 mins

Add stock (if using water, add 1/4 chicken cube/1 teaspoon of chicken powder) and simmer for 15 mins

When chicken is tender, add potatoes and mash it into the stew roughly.

This helps the gravy thickens.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place chicken stew into pie pan to cool down completely.

Chicken Pie

What you need?

Chicken stew

Puff pastry

1 egg

1 tablespoon of milk

How to do it?

Preheat oven at 180 degrees

Take puff pastry out of freezer to defrost. check puff pastry every 2-3 mins and slowly unroll it to expose the frozen puff in the centre of the roll

Mix egg and milk in a bowl

Use a brush, coat the sides of the pie pan with the egg mixture.

This helps the puff sticks to the sides better

Roll puff pastry over the top of the pie pan, trim off the excess, using a fork, press down/crim the sides of the pie pan

Poke a few holes around the pie for steam to escape.

Bake in oven for 35-45 mins or until the puff pastry is brown.