The Western Week - Day 7 (Finale)

Asian Chicken (yep, you read that right : P) served with tomato & cucumber salad. Sorry folks, I can't think of a proper title for my chicken. Hehehe...

With limited ingredients at home, I was not sure what kind of flavour to prepare for dinner. Herbs were out, and the only ingredients available were my Chinese sauces. So, I marinated the chicken with pepper and a dash of fish sauce. While searing the chicken in a hot pan, I poured some Shao Xing wine and later on glazed the chicken with honey & soy sauce mixture.

For the salad, it was seasoned with pepper, salt, finely chopped garlic and some cooking oil.

The outcome for this round of dinner was nice. However, the chicken was a bit too salty. We suspected that TheLoyalFan dashed 'too much' of fish sauce. But I think if we remove the soy sauce from the honey mixture, it should turned out alright. I wanted to try to make a Char Siew glaze (watched it from "Gok cooks Chinese"), but it didn't tasted as I'd imagined. Nonetheless, the chicken was really juicy and tender. The salad was quite refreshing, wished I had some black pepper as that would create a different taste than the white pepper : )

TheLoyalFan says: 'Tasted very fushiony. It actually reminded me alot of our BBQ marinated chicken at home. It looked a little different at first, but it turned out pretty well and i enjoyed it very much!'

* * * * * * * 

Finally, our Western Week has come to an end. Reflecting back to the objectives that I've set out at the beginning of this, I think we managed to survive just western meals for dinners. To be honest, we cheated. We had Chinese food for lunch : P Guilty as charged! Ho Ho Ho. If we didn't have Chinese lunch, I think we would have died! Yup,  we're true Ching Chong Ling Longs! (hopeless!)

As for the budgeting, I think having Western meals can be cheaper if chosen the right ingredient. For example, if one were to buy chicken, the breast is usually the most expensive compared to thighs or drumsticks because it doesn't have any bones. So that would be a saving. Just to share with you, our usual weekly groceries are average of GBP20 which includes lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts after dinner. However, for our western week challenge, it was GBP 22.00. Not a very big variance mainly because we usually buy the 'in season' vegetables or those with promotion. The reason of the slight increase is the frozen breaded cod. That alone costed GBP 2.00.

Nonetheless, I had great fun with the challenge. I've learnt to appreciate and understand (roughly) a common Western food, at the same time, I also learn't not to take Chinese food for granted. Both are yummy and great!

Mmm... Time to treat ourselves with some Asian food. Hehehehe...

Till then, keep nomming!

Stir Fried Cucumber with Egg

When this dish was first introduced to me, I thought that this is quite a weird combo. From the day I knew how to eat, cucumber has been eaten raw in my family meals. From cucumber slices as a side for Chicken Rice or as a main ingredient in my father's cucumber salad, somehow I have never eaten cucumber that has been cooked. (This doesn't count old cucumber that is boiled in soup.)

TheLoyalFan introduced this dish to me one day at his home and the moment I ate it, I LOVED IT! Yum Yum Yum! I never knew that this combo was so good and I always try and eat as much as I can especially when I'm having a meal with him : P

First, cut the cucumber into half lengthwise (sounds like a tongue twister : P). Half the cucumbers again. You should have 4 long cucumber quarters. Then cut off the seed or the core and slice them into medium chunks. Prepare some garlic for Chinese stir fry style.

Heat up the oil and stir fry the garlic. Once the garlic is fragrant, pour in the cucumbers and continue to fry. Season it with oyster sauce. Perhaps slosh an extra dollop of it for good measure : ) Once the cucumber has been fried for about a couple of minutes, create a 'crater' in the center of the wok. Beat an egg and scramble the yolk and white together. Let the egg set  for a while and stir fry the cucumber together with egg.

This is a simple Chinese stir fry vegetable and it is simply delicious! You don't really need to add water into this dish because the cucumber will release water from itself. One thing to note is to ensure that you do not let the cucumbers boil or stir fry too long. Reason being is to maintain its crunchy and 'bouncy' texture when you eat them.

TheLoyalFan says: 'Tasted just like home, even with the British cucumbers. Full of eggy 'wok hei'... nom noms!'

We're hoping that we're able to cook this more often since Spring is here... and hopefully the supermarkets are selling them cheap too! LOL!

Have a great weekend, folks! Ta!

Assam Laksa

Yes. You read it right : ) We all know that Assam Laksa is quite a tedious dish to prepare. If I read correctly from the Internet, you'll need to prepare a lot of ingredients such as the Ikan Parang, Assam Keping, Belacan... the list goes on. However, my mother-in-law taught me this version of Assam Laksa - almost instant and economical. I couldn't believe it myself and decided to learn and try it too!

Meet the ingredients! As you can see, most of the stuff are in a can. (Cheap cheap!) Hehehe and I think most of these stuff can be bought at the normal supermarket. I think the prawn paste, chilli powder (of which I forgot to place in the group photo) and assam keping might need to get it from the Asian Supermarket. Apart from that, you're ready to roll and make your own Assam Laksa! Weee!

First, chop and slice up the onion, cucumber and pineapples. Then, using a can opener, open up all your tinned fishes (Tuna & sardine, or both sardines) and tomato. I used peeled plum tomatoes because it is cheap! Once done, you're ready to move on the next step.

Stir fry a little bit of onion in a pot until fragrant. Then pour your tinned fishes and tomatoes and give it a good fry. Add water to increase soup volume, otherwise, the soup would be lumpy than the 'soupy' texture. As an alternative, I think you can add another can of tomatoes if you're cooking for more people.
For its sour and spicy taste, put in some Assam Keping. Do note that the assam keping needs to be boiled for a good half an hour so that the sour flavouring will be released into the soup. Add in chilli powder or dried chilli for the spicyness.

If you find that your soup has become too sour, balance it out with some sugar. Not sour enough? Add more assam keping lor... ^ ^ Let the soup simmer for about 30 - 40 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the meat does not stick at the base of the pot. Season with salt if you find it too bland.

Usually the noodles would be thick rice noodles. However, we can't seem to find it in our Asian Supermarket and hence, decided to use... spaghetti! Hehehehehe. So boil the noodles as the usual method and we're ready to serve.

Turns out that our Assam Laksa was quite good. With some prawn paste added into the noodles, the dish just reminded me so much of Penang's Assam Laksa. We didn't make it too spicy as TheLoyalFan was having sore throat. Nonetheless, adding more dried chilli or perhaps fresh chilli will make the soup more spicy. If you are able to find the Daun Kesum (Completely clueless in english) and mint leaves, splendid! The spaghetti? Well, we think that it was a good choice as the noodles does not change the taste of the soup. In fact, it gave a more 'Al Dente' texture compared to the rice noodles. Oh yes, spaghetti is a cheaper ingredient than other noodles in the UK too : )

TheLoyalFan says: 'Had to force myself to eat slower in order to savour every last yummy bit! Cleaned out my whole bowl'

I agree! I ate mine really slow and enjoying every bit of the soup. And after cooking this method, I think I can cook Assam Laksa anytime that I want or have cravings for it. It is so easy and the ingredients are easily available in supermarkets.