Tau Yu Chicken

 This is a malay/chinese/singaporean dish usually made with pork (Tau yu bak) but I didn't have pork, I had chicken. It was really tasty-- sweet, salty and really complex. I paired it with the congee but I think it would work great as a part of a chinese dinner or just over steamed white rice. Recipe adapted from a few different recipes I found on the net. The garlic in the skin were good, but if I have time I'm going to just peel and finely dice the garlic instead.

Ingredients

Marinate the chicken as below

• 600-750g chicken thighs (5-6 thighs) cut into chunks against the grain
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1-2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2-4 tablespoons oyster sauce
• chicken stock concentrate
  

Other ingredients

• 5-10 cloves garlic, either in the skin or diced
• 1-2 tablespoons of diced ginger
• 2 star anise
• 1" cinnamon stick
• 3-4 green cardamom
• 300ml water
• 4 tablespoons dark soy
• Mushrooms (I used shimeji this time)

Method

1. Marinate the chicken (the recipes I read said overnight is best, I think I managed maybe 30 minutes in total and it was still delicious)
2. Add a splash of oil to a pan and when it gets hot, add in the spices and after they bloom, then the ginger and then the garlic. 
3. Once the onion and garlic have fried off for a few minutes (edges brown and reduced but not burnt) add in the marinated chicken and cook for 3-4 minutes
4. Add in the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and the reduce the heat to medium, cover and let it cook for 20 minutes
5. Take the cover off and let it reduce until it is the consistency you want. This was taking too long for us, so we ended up spooning out the chicken and then reducing the sauce over high heat and then adding the meat back in when we were ready.
   

 

Congee

 This was supposed to be a chicken congee but then ended up being just a mushroom congee. Heavy on the ginger, it was excellent! The texture was not as loose as I want, so next time a bit more water perhaps, the measure below is adjusted to reflect this. I didn't add chicken to this but some of the recipes recommend a diced chicken thigh, added at the start, which sounds yum. For seafood, the recipes I read recommended throwing the raw seafood in the last 5 minutes or for 5-10 minutes during the keep warm mode.

 Ingredients

• 1 measure rice (for the measures below, 3/4 cup), washed 4 times
  
• 7 measures water or use guide in rice cooker
• Lots of Shimeji mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons ginger, minced/finely diced
  
• 2 tablespoons garlic, minced/finely diced
  
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons light soy 
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• Chicken stock
  

 Method

1. Wash the rice and add to the rice cooker
2. Add water and everything else
3. Cook on porridge setting

 

 

Nigella's Chicken and Peas Pan bake

 

I love this recipe because you get both veggies and protein in one absolutely unctuous plate. It takes longer to make than you think though, mostly time in the oven.

Ingredients

• 1, 1kg pack frozen peas or 2, 600g packs
  
• 2 leeks chopped into 1-2 inch long peices
• 6-8 garlic cloves minced
  
• 2-3 big splashes of dry white vermouth or sherry
• Olive oil
  
• Fresh dill (we've used frozen in a pinch, fresh is obs better)
  
• 1-2 kg chicken thighs, Bone-in, skin-on
  

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 C, we use 180 C since we have a forced air oven
2. Line a deep baking tray with foil/silicone then empty the frozen peas into it
3. Add in the chopped leeks, minced garlic, dill, vermouth, and salt and stir around a bit so it is all mixed. Then put the chicken thighs on top, skin-side up, and drizzle olive oil and a bit of salt over the tops.
4. Bake in the middle or lower part of the oven for 45 minutes, then remove and stir the peas around a bit so they don't dry out.
5. Bake again for 30 minutes.
6. Serve with boiled potatoes or just by themselves!
   

Char Siu - 叉烧

This is from the Made with Lau channel on Youtube. The video is here. It is delicious, in buns, with noodles, however you want it. Cold on sandwich. Yum.

Ingredients

Meat and basting

• 2 kg pork butte (fläskkarré).
• 4 tbsp honey
• 4 tsp water

Marinade

• 2 tbsp garlic salt
• 8 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 tbsp oyster sauce
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 4 tbsp red wine
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 2 cubes red fermented bean curd (optional)
  
• 2 tsp five spice powder
• 0.5 tsp red food coloring (if you want to)

Method

Meat

Cut it with the grain into one inch thick strips, or slabs. You should end up with three or four strips. Stab the slabs vigorously with a fork.

Rub a dub dub

Mix all of the marinade until it is even. Put it with the meat in a big zip lock and let it marinate over night, not more than 24 hours.

Oven business

Set the oven to 220 °C (i.e. 425 °F). Line a baking pan with foil and place the baking rack on top of the foil. Lay out the pork on the rack. Add a few tbsp of water to the bottom of the pan to add some steam and make cleaning easier. Place in oven. Baste regularly with either left over marinade or honey water mix.

• Cook for 15 minutes. Take out to baste with marinade.
• Cook for 15 minutes. Take out to baste with marinade.
• Cook for 10 minutes. Take out to baste with honey water.
• Crank up the heat to 240 °C (i.e. 450 °F) and cook another five minutes, lather with honey and take out.
  

Let it cool a little before cutting it.

Brazilian Collard Greens

Brazilian collard greens are really good with feijoada. We got this recipe from here.

 Ingredients

• 1 large bunch fresh collard greens
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt, to taste

Method

1. Rinse the collard greens under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Remove the center stem of each leaf and stack the leaves together, one on top of the other.
2. Fold the leaves in half, then roll them tightly, into a cigar-shaped cylinder. Use a sharp chef’s knife to cut very thin ribbons. Reserve.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Add the collard greens and sauté, tossing with the garlicky oil. Cover and cook until they are wilted and crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
5. Serve immediately.

Mom's Sweet corn Chicken soup

 This stuff is like crack. I love to eat it with garlic bread and I can eat bowls and bowls of it.

Ingredients

• 1 kg whole chicken, skin-on, bone-in 
• Enough water to cover chicken
• Salt
• 3/4 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• soy sauce
• vinegar
• 1 can sweet corn

Method

1. Wash the chicken and then put it in a pressure cooker and cover with water. Add about 3 tsp of salt. I have a 5 L cooker and I add as much water as allowed.
2. Heat on high and cook for 3-4 whistles and then take off the heat and let the pressure drop naturally.
3. Once the pressure has released, remove the chicken and keep aside to remove the meat. Bring the stock back to a boil and add the two cans of sweet corn to it.
4. In a bowl, mix the flour and two cups of water until smooth and then add it to the stock.
5. Add in about 2 Tbsp of soy sauce and a few dashes of vinegar, but careful with the vinegar. 
6. The soup should be at a roiling boil. Break and beat two eggs in a bowl and then stir the soup and dribble a thin line into the boiling soup while continuing to stir and then let boil for a few minutes. 
7. Taste salt and pepper and serve hot over shredded chicken.

Moms daal and carrot soup

 Ingredients

• 3 large or 4 medium/small carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup of pink masoor daal
• 12 flakes of garlic, peeled
• 4 cups of water
• salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• Italian herbs

Method

1. Add the lentils, carrots, garlic, water and salt to a pressure cooker and cook for 2 whistles (about 5 minutes after it reaches pressure)
2. Blend using an immersion blender adding in the milk and italian herb seasoning
3. Add salt to taste and serve