Lemon Chicken

When I decided that I wanted to try this recipe, I went straight to the Internet to find out how to go about it. After googling here and there, I can't seem to find the recipe that was done by the chefs in those Tai Chow restaurants. So, I resorted to the memories of my past experience and taste at New Paris Restaurant, where TheLoyalFan and I used to have our weekly dating meal there : )

First, cut the chicken meat into bite size piece and marinate with salt and pepper. Rub the seasoning onto the meat pieces before placing them into the batter. I used a dry batter for this round because 1) I wanted to re-use the oil after frying and 2) I'm lazy to clean off those sticky batter from the plate : P

Once that is done, they're ready to be fried. You can either shallow fry or deep fry - either method is A-okay!

Now let's move on to the most important part of this dish - the lemon sauce. Fairly simple I would say, you would need lemon juice, sugar, honey and corn flour. Squeeze out the juice of a lemon and add about 3 to 4 heap spoonfuls of sugar. The sugar is to 'neutralize' the sourness of the lemon. Adjust the amount of sugar based on the volume of the lemon juice. Make sure that the mixture is still a little bit sour, but too sour : ) If you find the sugar is difficult to dissolve, add in some warm water. In a separate bowl, prepare a teaspoon of corn flour mixed with some water. Perhaps 4 tablespoon of it.

Pour the lemon mixture in a pan on a low heat setting. Add in about 2 teaspoons of honey and mix evenly. Then slowly add in the corn flour water. As you add the corn flour mixture, keep stirring until the sauce thickens. Remember not to make it too sticky because when the sauce cools down, it might turn out to be lumpy. Taste the sauce. If it is still too sour, you can add in more honey. This part takes some trial and error, but don't worry, it turn out just fine.

Once the sauce is complete, drizzle onto the fried chicken.

With some time and patience, this dish turned out quite OK. The fried chicken was crispy and the sauce complimented well with the chicken. And along with rice too! But one thing to note for me was to make the sauce a little bit thicker. I'll need to work on the corn flour estimation... still bit rusty in this area : P  Other than that, I felt it was quite a successful experiment.. Yay! 

TheLoyalFan says: 'It tasted really yummy even though I had the flu: ( I really like the fried chicken coated with the light & sour sauce. I'm a very big fan of simple food.'

Thankfully it turned out fine : P I was worried that my experiment would fail... hehehehe.

Till then, keep nomming!

Porkie Porridge

I like porridge... do you like it? I remember whenever my mum made porridge, I would put a teaspoon full of marmite. My mum would always say, 'SO salty!!! Afterwards your hair will drop...' But I never listen. It's too good! Having too little of marmite, there's no kick in my porridge.

Anyways, I know that there are different kinds of texture one can make a porridge. Personally, I prefer the thicker version and the smooth version. Not really a fan of the Teo Chew version - watery kind (i think). But I still eat lah, if you serve it to me : P It is still food mah...

Ok ok back to topic... the thick ones tend to be 'chunky' and lots of condiments. I think most home cooking style is this version... or only my mother's : P The smooth version, if not mistaken, has been blended slightly such as those eaten at Dim Sum restaurants or those fancy Chinese restaurants.

So, I thought... 'Hmmm... let's try and make porridge for dinner.' In my mind, I thought, 'How hard can it be? It's just porridge...put rice, add meat / veggies, put more water in rice cooker... On it and done.' And so, I did that for the first time and it sort of worked. The porridge was cooked and it has the thick texture that I liked. However, the drawback was that the rice at the bottom was burnt and got stuck there. We scraped out a lot but the remainder of it was kinda wasted. Plus, the rice cooker was super dirty because the water overflowed from the container. The whole experience of porridge cooking was quite messy and I didn't like the mess (means need to clean more apart from washing the dishes & pots!)

To cut the long story short, I think I've figured out how to cook a porridge that is smooth and it doesn't overflow from the rice cooker. LOL! Probably it was the 5th or 6th attempt only I got it right : P

And so here it goes!

First, wash your rice as though you would normally wash them. If you want your porridge to have the less 'starchy' texture, then I suggest that you 'rub' the rice as you rinse them. When you 'rub' the rice, it removes the starch layer from the rice. Then fill water into the rice container, with double portion volume compared to boiling rice. Sounds a little German? OK, I shall try and break this down alittle bit...

Normally, when we boil rice, the water 'height' should be at the first 'column' of your middle finger. Yep, Chinese people use the agak-agak method, no proper metric measurements ^_^ So for porridge, just ensure the water 'height' is almost reaching to the 2nd column. Don't worry if the water is too much or too little, the solution is simple - Too little water = add more water later; too much water = boil longer : P

Wipe the outside part of the container dry and place it in the rice cooker. When the water starts to boil, place in your veggie. For this round, I use mince pork as meat for my porridge. Marinate the mince with a couple of dashes of white pepper and dollops of oyster sauce. Mix them well and flatten the meat out in a bowl or a plate. While the water is still boiling, use a spoon and gently scrape little chunks of meat into the water. Occasionally, stir the condiments so that they do not get stuck. While you're stirring it, make sure there is no grain of rice get stuck at the base.

Saw this 'method' at the local pork noodle stall : )

Keep repeating the occasional stir for about 20 minutes, with the lid open all the time. The rice should be cooked by that time. Once you're happy with the texture you desired, turn off the switch and close the lid to keep warm.

That's it!

Nice and clean rice cooker.. yes!!!

The outcome of this is that you'll have a smooth porridge. If you wish the texture to be even smoother, I supposed you can scoop some out and blend them in a food processor. Personally, I think the rice will be broken into small bits because of the constant stirring - au naturale! Another point to remember is not to over-marinate your meat, regardless it is chicken or mince pork. I notice that whenever there is 'marinate juice', it will sink underneath the rice and caused the rice to burnt and get stuck. That was my mistake in my first 2 attempts... hehehe. Last but not least, remember to reduce the rice portion when you want to make porridge. This is because the rice will expand due to more water and hence, the portion will be more than the normal rice portion.

TheLoyalFan says: 'This thick porridge was very good comfort food, especially on a cold night. I ate mine at lots of soya sauce. Nom nom nom...'

Mmm... Indeed a very good comfort good. We had this twice this week already : P Yum yums!

Till then, keep nomming!

Asparagus, in a stir-fry manner!

When I was younger, whenever there's bits of asparagus in those fancy sit-down Chinese dinners, my mother always tell me to 'have more' because it is an 'expensive' vegetable. In some sense, I supposed it is quite expensive back home because it cannot be planted in our tropical climate. Recently, I found out that asparagus is a spring vegetable and usually it would be cheaper to buy at that time. We managed to catch the asparagus 'boom' at our local supermarket last week and thought... try cooking it ala Chinese style!

First, chop up some garlic and the asparagus. Cut off about 1 inch off the bottom of the asparagus and cut them into smaller sections. 

When the preparation is done, stir fry the garlic with some cooking oil in a pan. Once the garlic is fragrant, pour in the asparagus. Season the asparagus with some cooking wine, about quarter to half a cap. Give it a quick fry and then pour in a little bit of water to soften the veggies. Let it simmer for about 1 minute (or 2, depending on the volume and size of the asparagus) and season it with some oyster sauce. Continue frying until the water has been completely evaporated. If you prefer some sauce, fry the veggies until it has become a darker green and it is ready to serve!

The asparagus was crunchy and it has a refreshing feel when you chew the stems. One thing to note is to choose thinner stems instead of the fat ones. The fatter stems tend to be more fibrous and one needs to chew little longer to soften it. Other than that, I really like it! Yum yums!

Another style that I tried today was I replaced the cooking wine with fish sauce instead. After adding the oyster sauce, give a good shake or drizzle of the fish sauce. It gives out a different taste than the cooking wine... simply delicious and both styles compliment very well with rice too!

TheLoyalFan says: 'I love it cooked this way, Ching style, pure & infused with garlic. Super good with rice!'

Yup, indeed. Somehow the rice in my plate disappeared really fast... I wish there were more rice though : P 

Chilli Pan Mee

Chilli Pan Mee is a modified version of a normal Pan Mee. However, this version is equally as yummy too! In an effort to finish up some of our ingredients at home, here's our take on a slight modification of this recipe...

Here goes...

Dried Chilli
The most important ingredient for this recipe I must say. Without it, this dish would be just an ordinary pan mee. Mince / Blend in a food processor some dried chilli, dried shrimps, fresh chilli, onion & garlic. My portion for these ingredients are 2 portions of dried shrimps, 1 portion of soaked dried chillis, 2 fresh chillis, an onion (a couple of shallots are fine too) and 3 cloves of garlic. If you want it more spicy, feel free to add a portion of dried chillis and perhaps reduce 1 portion of shrimps.

Starting with a high heat, fry the mixture with some oil. Once there's some fragrance, quickly turn to low heat and keep frying until mixture is dry or at least 30 minutes. This can be made in advance and you can eat this with other food too!

Ikan Billis (Anchovies)
Give a quick wash for the ikan billis and drain the water from a microwaveable plate. Glass or ceramic would be better than melamine plastic plate. Then placing it in a microwave, put in on a 3 minute timer to 'heat / cook' them up. Give a quick toss to even out the billis on the plate. Keep repeating this process until ALL the ikan billis are dry and crispy! Be patient as it may take a while, depending on the amount of ikan billis you place in the plate. This is another ingredient that you can do in advance!

Noodles
Ahhh... this is easy peasy! The ingredients for this is the same as my 'Ken Tiao Pan' post. Once the dough is ready, cut the dough into smaller chunks. Using a roling pin, flatten out the dough until it is really thin. Cover the dough sheet with lots of flour and lightly roll / coil up the dough as though you're rolling up a carpet.

Make sure it is not too tight. Then cut the dough sheet into thin slices and unravel each piece to get a strand of noodle! Well, if you have a pasta maker it would be WAY easier and faster to make them. ^_^

Meat Sauce
Dice up chicken meat and marinate with soy sauce and white pepper. Then in a pan with some hot oil, fry some diced onions until fragrant. Pour the diced chicken and its marinate into it and keep frying. Season with wine and oyster sauce. Add some water to let it simmer. As this will be sauce for the noodle, please season it saltier. Thicken the sauce with some corn flour mixed with some water but this is entirely optional.

Once all these ingredients are ready, you are ready to make your own chilli pan mee!

Cook some noodles in a boiling water. Remember to stir the noodles in order to separate them out. This is to make sure every strand is thoroughly cooked and not lump together. Once the noodles are cooked, take them out and place on a plate. Pour alittle bit of oil / sesame oil and give it a quick toss so that it doesn't stick together.

Now, Chilli Pan Mee is not complete without an egg, specifically poached egg. As this was my first time, I saw one of Jamie Oliver's show and he did this method. So I thought, try lah! Place cling film that is cut to a square shape in a bowl and beat an egg. Gather up the cling film starting from one corner until you reach the third corner. Twist the fourth corner until it looks like a string, then go around the gathered corners and tie it up. Place the egg in a pot of lightly simmer water (on a hob) for about 2 - 4 minutes, depending how firm you want to cook the egg yoke.

Once done, open the film and scrap the egg onto your noodle.

When your poached egg is ready, it's time to serve up! Tadaa!

Phews... The outcome of this dish was simply lovely! It just reminded us so much of the Super Kitchen or Kin Kin's version. Hence, we sort of concluded that it is very difficult to make but it does require alot of time and effort to make this dish... and manpower to fry those chillis! Hehehehehe... Nonetheless, we were very pleased with the outcome.

For this dish, there are a number of things that were my first time and I would like to note them here too... (Forgive me for 'extending' my post : P)

Dried Chili Paste
As I was frying this, the fragrant of the dried shrimps reminded me so much of those tiny spicy spring rolls that we get to eat during Chinese New Year. Perhaps with lesser chilli, we can try to make the tiny spring rolls? Mmm... thinking about it makes me excited already.

Poached Eggs
If one were to use the cling film method, remember to rub a thin layer of oil onto the cling film. Otherwise, egg would get stuck. Perhaps soft boiled egg method would be easier than this. Nonetheless, it is a new skill I've learnt and it was kinda fun although the eggs got stuck! : P

TheLoyalFan says: 'It's surprisingly easy to make! Just very tedious. The result was very satisfying... I love home made noodles!'

Yum yums indeed! But the thought to make it again sounds tiring... Nonetheless, it was great fun and now we'll appreciate those shops back in KL. Till then, keep nomming... and nomming away!