Soya Chicken and Potato Stew Recipe

Hello!

Just a quick one today. Am currently in the midst of having my FINALS for my Masters (and quite possibly my final exam ever, yay!) so I've really been studying hard for the past week. But now, it's the end of the day and my brain's pretty fried so I think it's time for me to take a break by doing a quickie post.

I haven't been posting as many Recipes as I'd like because a big part of me wants to retake the photographs for most of the recipes in my drafts folder. They're not bad, but a lot of them were taken at night, which isn't ideal. Which means, I've got to plan my meals, cook the food, take the photos and hope that the light is good for me to do them... Oh boy. But, good thing is that it gives me more chances to refine the flavours further until I'm 100% happy with them, like this one. 

This Soya Chicken and Potato Stew Recipe (phew, what a mouthful!) is one that is SO common in many, many Chinese Malaysian households...seriously. It's a dish that so many of us have grown up with. Tasty, saucy, and just incredibly delicious with rice... Downright comfort food. 

For me, this is one dish that I cook fairly often, especially on days when I just crave something that tastes like home. Though to be honest, I wasn't even sure what this dish was called but when I described it to many of my friends, they knew exactly what I was talking about. "You know, the chicken and potato one with the brown sauce" LOL. Actually made our mouths water just thinking about it too. 

As for the recipe, it varies slightly from household to household and it's not very common for people to add the carrots, but I absolutely love the taste of it in this dish. Though, the hero is still the chicken and potatoes, but I must say it complements it really well.

Anyway, very glad to be sharing another recipe that really reflects who I am, where I come from and what I love. Hope you give this one a go, you won't regret it! 


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Chinese Soya Chicken and Potato Stew
(adapted from recipe by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp cooking oil

5 cloves of garlic (sliced)

800g chicken drumsticks (chopped to bite-sized pieces) *
3 medium or 2 large potatoes (chopped to approx 2cm cubes)

2 medium carrots (chopped roughly)

3 tbsp light soy

400ml water

1 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce

3/4 tsp salt (or to taste)

1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp sesame oil

* Alternatively, use chicken wings

Method:

1. Heat cooking oil in a wok and saute the garlic until golden brown.

2. Add in chicken pieces and stir fry until meat turns white.

3. Add in carrot, potatoes and stir fry until well combined.

4. Pour in light soy sauce and stir fry until well combined.

5. Add in water, dark soy sauce and stir briefly to combine.

6. Cover with lid and simmer for 30 minutes.

7. Add the salt, sugar and sesame oil. Stir until well combined.

8. Dish out the stew and serve hot with steamed rice. ENJOY =)

As with most Chinese homecooked dishes, looks terrible on the plate but tastes absolutely FANTASTIC

Oh oh and another thing: 

I'll be leaving tomorrow to Adelaide for the weekend to attend the 2012 Eat Drink Blog Conference and I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about it!! The timing is bad because I'm having my Finals, but I'm totally making up for it by studying super hard now so I can enjoy the weekend later. I keep pinching myself when I am reminded that I'll be going to a FOOD BLOGGING CONFERENCE. How much fun can this get? Can't wait to blog about it when I get back... Woo-hoo!

Tuna Melts Recipe

Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy. Tuna Melts are the best!

I have quite a specific passion for easy, tasty and filling weeknight meals. Only because for the fact that I don't want to eat out, but at the same time, I'd be too hungry and thus have close to no patience/energy to cook anything too "elaborate" or "adventurous" on weeknights. Again, I eat a lot so these dinners MUST be easy and filling in my household!

But ever since I started work, I realised I almost had to HALVE the level of difficulty of the already lazy/simple food that I cook. Only because there are days when I get back late at night from class feeling tired; and only begin cooking my meal at 10pm to pack for lunch for work the next day. It's tough but after a few weeks of doing this, I'm thoroughly enjoying the challenge of keeping the ideas fresh and exciting, as quirky as it may be sometimes. I'm sure all you working folks who pack lunch can relate.

Of course... I coulda just picked the easy path and just got some takeaway for lunch/dinner, but that's really not what I'm about. Also, I believe that doing this is sort of my way of telling people that "Hey! Cooking doesn't have to seem as troublesome/daunting as you think. And you can do it too!"

So, yes. I was genuinely happy to find this Tuna Melts Recipe that I made a while ago in my drafts folder when deciding which recipe to share next. I made 2 trays of this together with my Green Tea Cheesecake Bites for a friend's birthday potluck last year. Was so simple to do and tasty to eat, cannot fault the flavour at all. You can also easily cut em up to make it easier to share at a party, canapes style, like I did.

Also, gave me the idea of making this for my work lunch this week -- WIN!

The great thing about this recipe is that you can easily just pop em in the microwave instead of the oven. Sure, you don't get the crunch from the muffins or golden colour from the cheese; but if your cheese is still as gooey and it's SO much quicker to make, why the heck not? Definitely bringing the filling from home and melting the cheese on top with my office microwave at lunch.

Hope you're all enjoying the first signs of Spring with your loved ones! Weather is too gorgeous to be cooked up indoors all day. Cheers!!

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Tuna Melts Recipe

(makes 6, adapted from this recipe by The Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients:

150g canned tuna

1/2 red onion (finely chopped)

1/2 red capsicum (finely chopped)

1 whole fresh jalapeno (finely chopped, optional)

2 whole hard boiled eggs (chopped)

4 whole sweet gerkins (sliced)

3 dollops mayonnaise

1 dollop Dijon mustard

Splash of pickle juice (from jar)

Salt and pepper to taste

6 whole English muffins (split in half)

12 sliced or grated cheese (any)

Dashes of dried herbs (any)

Note: A dollop here is one heaping with a normal tablespoon

Method:

Preheat oven to 210degC. Combine tuna with onion, capsicum, jalapeno, eggs and gerkins. Stir in mayonnaise, Dijon and pickle juice. Add salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed; be sure not to undersalt.

Place English muffin halves on a large cookie sheet. Place a large spoonful of tuna salad on each muffin and briefly spread/flatten with spoon. Using broiler option in the oven, bake for up to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and finish with a small sprinkle of dried herbs on each muffin. Serve.

Alternatively: Zap it in the microwave for 15 secs or until cheese is melted =)

Two big trays to serve at the party =)

This is the microwaved version, just as good to me!!!

"Season the Bowl" Steak Recipe

Medium rare steak. Golden, crunchy DUCK FAT potatoes. Simple salad -- SET!

Hey guys,

How are we all doing? Just letting you know that I'm currently in the thick of my exams at the moment so I apologise for the less frequent updates and slower responses on blogs. As we all know, Life is all about balance and priorities so that's what I'm trying to do at the moment. For now, Exam comes first =)

First of all, I LOVE meat. The more, the merrier. Boy oh boy, do I looove my Steak or what. There's a handful or more of ways I like to prepare my steaks at home but this is definitely one of my favourite. The flavours are fresh and it's extremely simple to do. WIN.

I first got the idea of this recipe when I saw Jamie Oliver prepare his "Season the Board" Steak on Masterchef Season 2 (still my favourite season to date!). It looked absolutely mouth-watering. So I tried it out, liked it and have been using this method a LOT ever since. Jamie did it on a wooden board but I didn't have one big enough and found it more convenient to just use a bowl. Same same, to me. Anyone remember that episode when Jamie showed Jonathan and Callum this in London...?!

Any-hoo, I do hope you give this method a go next time you're serving up steak at home. I served mine with a side of simple salad and some seriously delicious DUCK FAT potatoes. And foahhhhhh where those duck fat potatoes damn good or what!! Friends and I couldn't get enough of 'em NOMMMMM.

Oh, oh! One last thing... Has anyone tried this Hibiscus salad dressing before? Believe me, I was apprehensive about it at first too until I tried it. It's got a slight nectary sweetness that balances out the sharp, acidity of the vinegar and is oh SO good.

Not sure where my sister got it from but it tastes fantastic and handy to have in the fridge. Now, I use it on almost all of my salads cause most days I'm too lazy to make my own dressing heeee...

Hope you enjoy this recipe and take care! =)

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"Season the Bowl" Steak Recipe

Ingredients:

1 handful of fresh thyme (chopped) *

3 bird's eye chillies (sliced)

5 cloves garlic (pressed) **

1/2 lemon

3 tbsp olive oil

4 - 6 slabs of cooked steak

* I find the flavours of thyme work really well with this. Plus, the leaves are small enough to be cooked/wilted by the heat from the steak. Alternatively, use fresh herb of choice

** Highly recommend using a garlic presser as it squeezes out the juices and makes it really fine (so it's not too raw). Alternatively, mince really finely and press with flat part of knife

Method:

1. Place thyme, chilli, garlic in a bowl. Squeeze in the juice from lemon and add the olive oil. Stir briefly with a fork and set aside.

2. Once steaks are cooked (see "how to" below), place them in the bowl. Pour in juices from the pan and leave it to rest for 5 - 8 minutes. Mix the steaks around in the sauce evenly. Serve and drizzle some sauce on the steaks.

Cooking Tips: How to Cook a Medium Rare Steak

Ingredients:

4 slabs of steak (approx 1" thick)

4 knobs of butter

Olive oil

Cracked salt and pepper

Method:

1. Heat a grill pan under low to medium heat for 10 minutes (or slightly less)*. Meanwhile, drizzle a bit of olive oil before cracking lots and LOTS of salt and pepper on both sides of the steak.

* I'm very careful not to use high heat on my non-stick pans so normally just leave it on the stove for 10 minutes or slightly less to get it really hot.

2. Once pan is VERY hot, place two steaks diagonally on the pan (e.g. pointing to top left corner of the pan) for 1.5 minutes. Immediately turn steaks 90 degrees (i.e. pointing top right corner) for 1 minute. This will create criss-cross marks on the steak.

3. Flip steak over and place diagonally (as before). Place a knob of butter on each steak and cook for 1 minute. Turn 90 degrees and cook for another 1 minute.

4. If layer of fats is present, tilt steaks vertically (fats side down) to cook or render for another 45 seconds. Take off heat and allow to rest on wire rack. Otherwise, place in metal bowl for the "Season the Bowl" recipe above.

COOKS NOTE:

- For a standard stove, my 1 inch steaks normally take about 2 - 2.5 minutes per side for a medium rare result

- You can use a standard non-stick pan too, but just stick to the suggested cooking time

- Adding the butter gives more sheen, flavour and jus to the steak.

For more Cooking Tips, click: here

Made these for my mates during last semester's exam... My kinda "brain food" lol!

Mango Pudding Sorbet Recipe

Love the Japanese bowls my cousins got me for Christmas!

HEY GUYS!

Soooooo terribly sorry for the blogging hiatus the past two weeks!! I've been so uneasy too because I REALLY wanted to blog so bad but I can't. You see, my laptop for some reason decided to die all of a sudden last week so I haven't been able to use it since. Anyway, blogging has been incredibly inconvenient since I don't actually have a laptop with all the softwares to use.

Just to publish this post, my good friend, Ian, downloaded Adobe Lightroom for me on his laptop and then lent me his laptop for an entire day. JUST TO BLOG. What a great friend. And I guess I could only repay him the only way I knew how, which was to cook him the best damn bowl of instant noodles I possibly can, seriously... LOL.

Interesting but stunning colours, no?

ANYHOO, I got a whole box of Mangoes last week from Victoria Market for $15. It was exciting. I was really convinced to buy a box for the first time because almost every mango in there was perfect. Barely any blemishes, bruises and that sort of thing. Was surprised it was even on special. Also the first time I had the Whitebridge Mangoes,which seems to be the only type of mango still in season.

As soon as I got home, I decided to puree all the mangoes and then only decide what to do with it later. I've made Lassi and Pudding with mangoes sooooooo many times in the past and decided it was enough. So, I asked my friends on Twitter and Facebook what their favourite Mango recipes were. Lots of interesting suggestions came up, including Mango Martini, Mango Pudding Ice-Cream, Mango and Prawn Fritters, and so on...

Ohhhh yes, please.

In the end, I decided to go with Shez (of One Bite More)'s suggestion to try her Mango Pudding Ice-Cream, because I liked the idea of making something I could freeze for later. BUT, I didn't have an ice-cream maker, so sorbet it is. Also, I really like the flavours of Mango Pudding (which is basically just good Mango Puree + Evaporated Milk) and thought it'd be interesting to have it this way. Wanted to add eggs into the recipe (so it tasted more like pudding) but couldn't be bothered because I want this recipe to be as simple as possible.

And I really liked how the flavours and texture turned out. At first, it felt like microshards of ice, (just as sorbet normally does), before it became the thick, smooth and creamy consistency of an ice-cream. I was quite intrigued and enjoyed it a lot. It seems like my friends who's tried it really liked it too, so I'm happy. Also, it just felt good to eat it because you never everything was totally homemade.

So, here you go. Uber simple, straight forward Mango Pudding Sorbet Recipe.

I've now gotta rush to my friend Grace's 21st Birthday. It's a costume party and everyone's gotta dress as something that starts with "G", and guess what I've decided to go as?

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GRAPH PAPER. Oh well, I tried and hope she still found it amusing ;p

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Mango Pudding Sorbet Recipe

(makes 2 litres)

Ingredients:

3.5 cups of Homemade Mango Puree (see recipe below)

1 can (375g) Evaporated Milk

Method:

Mix ingredients together in a blender of electric mixer. Once combined, pour into baking tray and freeze for about 4 hours. Once stiff, remove from freezer and scrape entire tray with a fork until loosened (good arm workout). Pop it back in the freezer.

You can repeat these a few times but I don't find it necessary with this recipe because it was frozen completely when I scraped it so shards came out fine enough.

To serve, let it thaw for about 30min and garnish with diced strawberries.

Hard work but totally worth it

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Homemade Mango Puree Recipe

Ingredients:

Mangoes only (no sugar, nothing. 100% pure is best)

Method:

Place mangoes in a pot and boil with high heat until thick and most water has evaporated. Remember to stir occasionally. Place mangoes in a blender and pulse till smooth. If you like, you can strain to remove fibers. Store in fridge for up to 4 days.

MMMMmmmmMMMMmmmm....

Chicken Parma Casserole Recipe

Chicken Parma Casserole -- A new twist on a classic Aussie favourite!

My group of uni friends and I sorta (unintentionally) started a tradition every time it came round to the exam season. We would meet together at my place every day to study the day away, and come dinner time, some would help me in the kitchen to prepare dinner for every one that night, while others would wash up after and we'd all chip in for dinner. Good system. Dinner would always be in front of the TV in the living room over an episode of either The Office, Modern Family and more recently, 30 Rock. (FUN!) Then, we'd continue all the way till almost midnight and the cycle repeats itself the following day. Normally, we'd do this for almost a month.

A tradition that we upheld for the last 2 years of our undergrad. It was seriously awesome. That's why, ironically, exam season is actually my highlight of every semester! These guys are so fantastic that they even make studying fun. Maybe it's cause we're not actually studying half the time ahem ;p. I kid, I kid... We strike a good balance between fun and work time and happy to say that all of us graduated with Honours. Yayeee... Happy days...

And coming up with what to cook 6 BIG ASS eaters each night proved to be slightly challenging, but fun. Whatever it was, it had to be quick, healthy and FILLING. One night, I actually stumbled upon this youtube video while I was meant to be, uh... Studying lol. One thing led to another and I spent the whole night watching recipe and cooking videos on the Internet. Well done, Wince. Well done...

Oh, great. Now every one knows that I obviously take most of my photos on my carpet floor lol. Can't remember the last time I used a store-bought pasta sauce (prefer making my own) but the flavours intrigued me

SO glad I did because this recipe totally caught my attention and I couldn't stop thinking about it ever since! Everything made so much sense and it deconstructed my all-time favourite pub food, The Chicken Parma, in a way that it's so much simpler to prepare at home. All it took was a little creativity and improvisation.

First, this recipe is baked, not fried. Also, the crumbed coating is cleverly substituted by using some croutons. Everything else is just assembled straight out of the bottle/packet and NO prep is required at all. TOO EASY! Also, don't forget that chicken parma is actually MEANT to have PARMesan cheese, not just Mozzarella! (A misconception that most restaurants still make today). That's why it's called Chicken PARMa, no duhhh... The only thing I meant to do was really PILE on the Mozz but I sorta ran out that day. Oh wellzzz...

Anyway, I recommend that you give this dish a go. It is so fun, different and interesting because it's a Chicken Parma CASSEROLE. We enjoyed it. Plus, it's so simple like you wouldn't believe and I guarantee that ANYONE can make this! Took less than 10 minutes (tops) to put together before whacking it in the oven -- DONE. Perfect for Exam dinners when time is of the essence for cooking!! From one student to another... Definitely going in the books under "Simple Meal Ideas". Also, this recipe has a lot of "sprinkling" and "spreading" involved so you can easily adjust amounts to preferred taste and size of tray.

I personally love this and can't wait to make it again. Enjoy!! =)

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Chicken Parma Casserole

(serves 6 big eaters)

Ingredients:

6 cloves garlic (pressed)

2 tbsp olive oil

chilli flakes to sprinkle

4 chicken breasts

dried herbs to sprinkle

cracked black pepper

1 bottle pasta sauce (approx 350g)

2 1/2 cups Mozzarella cheese

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1 bag croutons (approx 80g) *

* Couldn't find croutons so used mini toast chips instead

Method:

Preheat oven to 200degC. Press the garlics into the tray and add the olive oil. Sprinkle desired amount of chilli flakes and mix all around with a fork.

Place the chicken breasts on the tray (make sure no gaps). Sprinkle dried herbs and crack some black pepper all around. Pour pasta sauce onto chicken and spread evenly.

Sprinkle half the Mozz, then half the Parmesan. Spread the croutons or mini toasts evenly.

Sprinkle remaining Mozz followed by the Parmesan. Finish off with more dried herbs.

Whack it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Rest for 5 minutes before serving (if you can wait that long). Serve with some mash and veg and ENJOY! =D

"Before & After", clearly not enough Mozz but still yum. The smell of cheese, herbs and garlic through the air was amazing =)

Chicken Parma Casserole + Simple Mash with Truffle Oil + Blanched Veg for dins

The good stuff...

Great thing about this is how moist and juicy the chicken was. Lots and lots of sauce too, YUMMO =D