Baked Malaysian Satay

On Sunday at the last minute I decided to try out this satay recipe that I've seen the night before. I have to say I did not follow the recipe completely due to lack of ingredients. Despite this, the meat turned out satisfying especially it was done in the oven and not bbq.

Chicken satay
Recipe by : Lauren's Kitchen

Ingredients A For Chicken satay :
Makes: 25-30 skewers
5 shallots
3 cloves garlic
4 stalks lemongrass ( white part only)

15g ginger
25g galangal
15g turmeric

600g chicken meat
1 tsp salt
2tbsp sugar
1 stick lemon grass (to spread oil on satay while bbq)

Method:
1. Blend all the ingredients (A) . Mix the blended ingredients with chicken , add salt and sugar , combine well . Cover with cling paper and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hours or even over night if you want.
2.Soak Skewers in water while you are marinating chicken to prevent them to burning.
3. Thread the marinated chicken onto the skewers .
4.Grill it until cook using bbq method / grill in oven (180°c ,10-15min both side) , brush oil on top (both sides) using lemon grass stick .

served with peanut sauce and fresh vegetables

Using the stove to add some smoke flavour

Sticky Rice with poached chicken

A play on Hainanese Chicken Rice. Instead of plain rice, I've switched to sticky/glutinous rice. Since sticky/glutinous rice is heavier than plain rice, you don't need too much. In this pic., I've served with green chilli+parsley sauce. The spiciness of this Hungarian green chilli is almost rival to the Asian's bird's eye chilli.

Sticky Rice with Poached Chicken
serves : 2
Ingredients
1/2 cup glutinous rice, cleaned and soaked over night
4pcs of chicken thighs or drumsticks
1 knob of ginger, bashed
2 cloves of garlic, bashed
1 spring onion

cooking oil, for sauté

Chilli sauce
2 chillies, finely chopped
1cm pc of ginger, minced
1 shallot. minced
3 cloves garlic, mince
soy sauce, to taste
cooking oil, for sauté

Method :-
1) Clean and soak rice with enough water to cover rice, overnight.
2) In a pot, stir fry the ginger and garlic until fragrant. When fragrant, pour in 1.5 cups of water. Bring it to boil.
3) When water is boiling, put in chicken thighs and only boil it for 1 min. When the chicken thighs have gone white, quickly remove from chicken pieces from the pot, give it a cold water bath. This is to tighten the skin. After bath, return chicken thighs back to the pot , add some salt and cook for another 15 mins.
4) After 15 mins. switch off heat and leave chicken in pot for another 30 mins. 
5) After 30 mins. give chicken thighs another cold bath. Then leave chicken thighs on wire mesh to dry.
6) Cook down the chicken stock for 15 mins. 
7) Meanwhile, get the steamer ready, drain glutinous rice and place rice in steaming dish. Once the chicken stock has been cook down a little. pour it over glutinous rice, just enough to cover rice. Be careful you don't want to drown the rice. You can always add more stock if needed.
8) Steam glutinous rice in high heat for about 15 mins. check for doneness. If needed cook longer r add more stock if too dry. After than check every 5  mins. until rice is done.
9) While waiting for rice to cook, cook the chilli sauce. Heat some in sauce pan, put in minced shallot, garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant, add in chilli, cook down the chilli and it is ready. Remove onto serving dish , with oil, season with soy sauce.
10) Serve immediately.

Crispy Oven-baked chicken

Before the opening of KFC in our town, whenever we crave the famous fried chicken, I make my version of it. Not with 11 herbs and spices, just with 5-spices including salt and pepper.

Crispy oven-baked chicken

Ingredients
chicken pieces

Marinate:-
salt, to taste
white pepper, sprinkle all over
ground cumin, sprinkle all over
smoked paprika, sprinkle all over
garlic powder, sprinkle all over
flour, sprinkle all over
an egg

To coat
bread crumbs

Method
1) Marinate chicken pieces in fridge for at least an hour.
2) After an hour, take out marinated chicken pieces from the fridge, pre-heat oven at 200°c/400°F/Gas 6 for min. of 20 min.
3) When 20 mins. is up, start coating marinated chicken pieces in bread crumbs. Place chicken pieces skin side down on baking dish.
4) Bake for 25 mins. Take out the chicken, turn over and bake for another 15-20 mins. until fully cooked and golden brown.
5) Serve immediately.

Homemade chicken liver pâté

Chicken liver pate could be homemade easily. This kept in the fridge for 6 days! I'm not including an exact recipe but just ingredients used for my own reference.

Homemade chicken liver pate

Ingredients
300-350gm chicken liver
cooking oil and butter for sauté
Onion, sliced
garlic, minced
Spices
tarragon
smoked paprika
oregano
black pepper
salt
cream (10% fat)
butter for topping

Sweet and sour sesame chicken

Whenever we order for Chinese take-out, the sweet and sour sesame chicken is always on top of our order. So, when I came across this following recipe, I have got to give it a go. Turns out pretty good and two thumbs up for this recipe!

Sweet and sour sesame chicken
via Aprosef

Ingredients
400gm Chicken breast

For batter
200gm plain flour
1 egg
12gm baking powder (I used less)
1 Tbsp corn flour (sub. with rice flour)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
7 Tbsp water
salt, to taste

For sweet and sour sauce (adjust to taste)

4 Tbsp vinegar (I did not follow this exact qty.)
4 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp Honey (we dislike strong honey taste in savoury food; hence we adjusted to taste)
2 Tbsp oil
1 heap tsp sambal oelek
4 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Preparation


For the sauce
1) In a sauce pan, mix in all ingredients for sauce, check and balance the taste. Bring it to a boil.
2) Set aside.

For Chicken

1) Cut chicken breast into medium cube size.
2) In a bowl, mix all ingredients for batter except for water. Add water slowly to get a very thick batter.
3) Heat oil for frying.
4) Dip each chicken cube into thick batter. Make sure to fully coat it.
5) Fry in hot oil until golden brown and chicken is cooked through.
6) Place on wire mesh to drain away excess oil and keep it crispy.
7) Then immediately dip the cooked chicken into sauce and place on serving dish.

Chinese "Roasted" Chicken Rice / 烧鸡饭

The word "roasted" is the result of direct translation from Mandarin. The cooking method of the chicken is actually first braising and then deep fried.

Go to Singapore Local Favourites for the complete recipe.

For my own notes, I have made these tweaking :-

1) Instead of ginger juice, I have just used the ginger slices.
2) Since I have no lime, I have omitted it.
3) Again I have no maltose in my storage, I have omitted it.

Hortobágyi Pancake { Hortobágyi Palacsinta }

The other day I taste for the first time Hortobágyi palacsinta. It was melt in the mouth pancake and filling, drizzled with velvety sauce. The next day I've decided to recreate it in my own kitchen. I've got to say, it wasn't far from what I remember!

Hortobágyi pancake
serves 4 pax
Video tutorial by Miele cooking school http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO8_maUoWEc
Crepe/ Pancake via No salty

Ingredients

Filling (Chicken paprikash/stew)

Vegetable oil, for cooking
5 pcs of chicken thigh meat, bone-in, cleaned
1 onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
4-5 tsp smoked paprika, to taste
1 tomato, diced
1 Hungarian wax pepper
salt, to taste

water, just enough to cover meat

To thicken
100ml sour cream, room temeprature
1 Tbsp flour


Crepe/pancakes
2 large eggs, room temerature
125gm flour
a pinch of salt
250ml cold milk, room temperature
40g butter, melted
oil for cooking

Method


For stew :-

1)  Heat oil in sauce pan, sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Add in diced tomato, diced paprika and smoked paprika. Stir it a bit and put in the chicken thigh meat and salt to taste. Pour in enough water to cover meat, not too much as the meat will release some juices as well. Put on the cover and cook for 30 mins.

2) Once chicken is fully cooked and tomatoes and paprika have cooked down. Remove chicken thigh meat from the sauce, and by using a strainer remove the bits and pieces of onions,tomatoes etc from the sauce. Put the sauce back on the heat. We need to thicken the sauce by mixing together soul cream and flour, mix well before pouring into the chicken stew sauce. Bring it to boil for few minutes. Once thicken the sauce is ready.

For crepe/pancakes
1) In mixing bowl, crack in the eggs, mix in the salt. Then gradually add in flour and milk , alternately until the mixture is well combine, no lumps. Finally pour in the melted butter. Let the batter rest in fridge for at least 30 mins.
2) Take out batter from fridge after 30 mins. Mix it a little. Heat a flat pan over medium heat with some oil. Brush away excess oil. Use a ladle, pour the pancake batter onto the hot pan and swirl it around the pan to get a thin and even batter around the pan. Cook the pancake until just colour, not too much as the pancake should be soft with just a little bite to it. Cook until the batter is finish.

Assembling :-

1) Warm up the chicken meat and sauce by using microwave or stove.
Place chicken pieces onto pancake. Not too much. Wrap it. up and pour sauce over the pan cake, and serve immediately!

Baked Turmeric and Curry chicken wings

I had defrosted some chicken wings but has absolutely no inspiration what to do with them. Based on the main gravy going with it (carrot and parsnip sauce) I've decided to pair the sauce with turmeric as carrot and turmeric have been proven to pair well from experience. This turned out Good!

Baked Turmeric and Curry chicken wings

Ingredients
Chicken wings, cleaned

Marinate, quantity not exact, sprinkle the spices all over making sure each wing will be well coated
ground cumin
turmeric
curry powder
chilli powder
garlic powder
salt
black or white pepper
yoghurt, just enough to coat the wings

1) Marinate chicken wings in the fridge for minimum 30 minutes
2) After 30 mins. remove chicken wings from fridge and start to pre-heat oven at 200°c/400°F/Gas mark 6.
3) Let oven heat for 20 mins. while wings sit in room temperature.
4) Once oven is hot enough, place chicken wings on greased baking tray in one layer.
5) First bake for 25 mins. and remove from oven. Increase to gas mark 7 and flip wings over and bake for another 20 mins. until skin is browned and crispy and you're ready.

Oven Baked Lor Mai Fan { Glutinous / Sticky Rice }

Oven Baked Glutinous Rice

Ingredients
Glutinous rice, washed 2.3 times, soaked over night
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic, minced
cooking oil

seasoning
Light soy sauce
Dark soy sauce
Anchovy paste
Garlic powder
stock cube
white pepper

 Method :-
Oven baked following method from http://www.jemsrecipes.com/how-to-make-kao-niao-sticky-rice-in-the-oven/

What I did differently was I stir fried the glutinous rice for a few minutes in sauté onion and garlic.
Remove the rice from heat, I start seasoning to taste without ingredients stated above. Then add water slight more to cover the rice. Pour into baking dish and the rest I followed the instruction from link.

Honey, mustard & Lemon roasted chicken

Honey, mustard & Lemon roasted chicken

Ingredients
4 chicken thigh, clean & pat dry
2 Tbsp Honey
1 dollop mustard
1 lemon, juice only
2 tsp garlic powder
a few pinches of dried rosemary
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
black pepper, to taste

Steps
1) Pre-heat oven at 200°c / Gas mark 6 for at least 45 mins.
2) Meanwhile, start marinating chicken by mixing together all the spices. Rub the mix spices all over chicken and let it sit for 45 mins. in room temperature.
5) Grease roasting pan, place chicken skin side down on roasting tin. Bake for 25 mins.
6) After 25 mins. turn chicken over and bake for another 20 mins. until cook through and skin crisped.

Garlic Paprika Roast chicken

 
Garlic Paprika Roast Chicken 

Ingredients
1 whole chicken
2 tsp smoked paprika powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garlic powder
3 Tbsp cooking oil
salt & pepper, to taste

Steps
1. Pre-heat oven at 375°c (Gas mark 6)
2. Mix dry spices into cooking oil.
3. Clean chicken and pat dry. Spread spice mix (step 2) all over chicken, place chicken skin side down onto roasting tin and let it sit in room temp. for about 30-45 mins.
4. Bake chicken first for 20 mins. After which remove roasting tin from oven, flip over chicken, this time skin side up. Baste chicken with juice from roasting. Place roasting tin back to oven and continue to cook for another 20-30 mins. After 50 mins. chicken should be fully cooked and skin crisp.

Oven Fried Chicken Wings

 
Oven Fried Chicken Wings
Preptime : 45 mins.
Cook time : 40 mins.

Ingredients
14 pcs chicken wings
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbsp plain flour
Bread crumbs, for coating

seasoning
1 1/2 tsp salt, to taste (take into consideration saltiness of garlic powder)
2 tsp white pepper powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder

Method
1) Pre-heat oven at gas mark 6; for minimum 45 mins.
 2) Clean and dry chicken wings. Mix together flour and beaten eggs. Mix together seasoning. Rub wet and dry mixes all over chicken. Leave to marinate for 45 mins.
3) Coat chicken wings with bread crumbs. Place on greased baking pan.
 4) Bake for 20 mins., then take out from oven and flip over chicken pieces. Put it back to oven to cook for further 20 mins. until crispy and browned nicely. Remove from oven when cooked through.

Update :-
I have tried now using chicken thigh meat the same seasoning and method, the result was great. Chicken was crispy and meat was moist. Even after re-heating!

Broccoli Lemon chicken with toasted sesame seeds

Bikini season is soon ; so, time for lighter foods!

Broccoli Lemon Chicken with Toasted sesame seeds
Inspired by BBC Good Food

Ingredients
1 tbsp groundnut oil or sunflower oil
340g pack of chicken breast fillets , sliced into strips
2 garlic cloves , sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
200g broccoli florets
200ml chicken stock
1 heaped tsp cornflour
1 tbsp clear honey or 2 tsp golden caster sugar
the zest of half a lemon and the juice of a whole one
a large handful of toasted sesame seeds


Method
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add the chicken and fry for 3-4 minutes until golden. Remove from the pan and add the garlic, ground cumin and broccoli. Stir fry for a minute or so then cover and cook for 2 minutes more, until almost tender.
Mix the stock, cornflour and honey or sugar well, then pour into the pan and stir until thickened. Tip the chicken back into the pan and let it heat through, then add the lemon zest and juice, and sesame seeds. Stir, then serve straight away with basmati rice or noodles.

Hungarian Chicken Stew { Csirkepörkölt }

This stew is an easy meal to whip-up with simple ingredients but you'll be surprised that it deliver in taste,too.

Hungarian chicken stew { Csirkepörkölt }
Recipe from http://www.chew.hu/csirkeporkolt.html

Ingredients:
1 chicken or 5 chicken legs (I de-skinned mine)
1 pepper (Hungarian wax pepper)
1 tomato
1 large onion
1 tablespoon fat (substitute with fat rendered from Hungarian"chorizo")
Salt
Ground paprika

** also added 1 potato

Method:
Wash the chicken and cut into small pieces. Finely chop the onion. Heat the fat in a pot, add onion and fry until glassy. Add paprika and meat and stir. Add de-seeded and chopped pepper and tomato and salt to taste. Cover and steam for approximately one hour. If the juice evaporates too much, add a small amount of water.

Serve with home-made egg noodle or pasta.

Chicken stuffed with spinach and dates

yummy ! recipe from BBC Good Food

Creamy Masala Chicken

This taste rather authentic considering the simple list of ingredients, a definite new favourite curry recipe for me. I used the left-over for samosa and wow, its just lovely!

Creamy masala chicken
Recipe from BBC Good Food

Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts , cubed
3cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
2 garlic clove , chopped
1 tsp mild chilli powder
2 tbsp fresh coriander , chopped {replaced with parsley}
juice of 1 lime {replaced with lemon}
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion
1 red chili
1 tsp ground turmeric
284ml carton double cream {replaced with 150ml of coconut milk}
juice of ˝ lemon
basmati rice and naan bread, to serve

additional spice - Hungarian paprika

Method
Put the chicken, ginger, garlic, chilli powder, coriander, lime juice and 1 tbsp of oil in a bowl. Stir, and set aside. Chop the onion, and seed and chop the chilli.
Heat a large shallow pan. Tip in the chicken and marinade and fry for about 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a pan and fry the onion and chilli for 3-4 minutes until just soft. Add the turmeric and stir fry for 1 minute. Lower the heat, pour in the cream and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Add the chicken and simmer for 5 minutes, or until cooked. Season and stir in the lemon juice. Serve with rice and naan bread.


I served the curry with simple Sambal made with

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium-sized Onion
a touch of erős pista (hunagrian ground chilli)
a touch of fish sauce
sugar (to taste)

Easy Chicken Curry

For the cold winter days, I think curry is a good additon to the daily dinner aside from the traditional főzelék (a type of Hungarian vegetable stew) .

The following recipe doesn't require as many spices as other Indian curry recipes yet still manage to satisfy my curry cravings! It goes well with this roti (Indian bread) recipe :)

Chicken curry

Recipe from BBC Good Food

serves 4

Ingredients

4-6 medium tomatoes

1 medium onion

4 tbsp vegetable oil

3cm/1in piece root ginger

2 garlic cloves

1-2 mild green chillies

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground turmeric

salt and freshly ground black pepper

100ml/31fl oz water

1 free-range chicken, jointed into 8 pieces, or 8 thighs and/or drumsticks - replaced with chicken breast meat instead

2 tbsp yoghurt

1 lime (or lemon)

a small bunch of coriander leaves

cooked rice, to serve

Added frozen peas, carrots and potatoes for colour and nutritions .

Method

1. To skin the tomatoes, nick the skin of each tomato with the point of a sharp knife, then put the tomatoes in a bowl next to the sink and pour over some very hot water from the kettle to cover. Count to 20, then carefully pour away the water. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel away the skin, halve the tomatoes, squeeze out most of the pips and juice into an empty bowl, and discard. Chop the flesh roughly and put it down on a plate to one side.

2. Peel and finely chop the onion. Fry the onion in the vegetable oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over low to medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring from time to time so that it turns an even golden brown. Watch carefully to make sure it doesn't burn.

3. Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the ginger and the garlic.

4. Slit the chilli using a sharp knife. Slice the flesh away from the cluster of seeds in the middle. Avoid touching any part of the chilli with your fingers if you can, as it is very easy to get chilli in your eyes, and that will sting. You can use a fork to hold the chilli down or wear rubber gloves. Chop the chilli finely.

5. Measure the ground spices into a teacup. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli to the pan, stir them around and fry for another minute or so. If you want your curry to be hot as well as spicy, include some or all of the chilli seeds. Then add the spices in the cup into the onions. Fry the spices for a minute or two, stirring all the time so that they do not stick. Add some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

6. Pour in the water and the tomatoes, bring to the boil, turn down the heat a little and let the sauce simmer for 5-10 minutes.

7. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and stir them around so they are covered with the sauce. Put the lid on the pan, turn the heat down and let the chicken cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chicken thighs will take longer to cook than breast pieces.

8. Now add the yoghurt to the chicken and stir it in. When the sauce is gently bubbling again, scoop up a little in a teaspoon, blow it cool and taste it. The sauce will probably taste quite sweet because of the tomatoes. Cut the lime in half and squeeze its juice into the sauce. Stir and taste again, and decide whether you want to add the second half.

9. Finally, chop the fresh coriander leaves and sprinkle them on to the curry just before you serve it with the rice.

Hainanese Chicken Rice 海南鸡饭

" Hainanese chicken rice is a Chinese rice dish most commonly associated with Malaysian cuisine or Singaporean cuisine , although it is also commonly sold in neighbouring Thailan , and found in Hainan, China itself. So-called due to its roots in Hainan cuisine and its adoption by the Hainanese overseas Chinese population in the Nanyang area, the version found in Malaysia/Singapore combines elements of Hainanese and Cantonese cuisines along with culinary preferences in the Southeast Asian region. The Hainanese chicken rice originated from China, and is Chinese in origin. " - < wikipedia >

These chicken thighs couldn't have tasted better! Simple comfort food like this is really what I enjoy most. Further, it reminds me of home :) Just follow the very easy recipe by A Malaysian Kitchen in Manchester .





Update 19 Nov 2012
I have used the text from the link mentioned above in case the blog disappear later.

To start with, the raw ingredients here are simple.. chicken, ginger, garlic and spring onions.

Bring them all to boil, then I add the chicken. If I had more time, I'd fry the ginger and garlic first and include the oil in the pot.

After 1 minute, including time to turn the chicken over as I did not have enough water so submerge the whole chicken (why? .. I'll explain later), the chicken has now gone white and I quickly put it under cold water to tighten up the skin.

Then I boil it again in the same pot.

After 15 mins, I turn off heat and leave it for another 30 mins. Then I give it another cold water bath!

Now, I lay it aside to dry. I ensure I keep it suspended in the air so that the whole surface dries. Some people may prefer to use a hook and hang it up.

Now, I boil down the stock. Earlier, I said I did not have enough water to submerge the whole chicken. That is because, the more water I use, the longer it takes to boil the stock down and I did not have the time. I also add a bit of Knorr's chicken stock here for additional flavour. Of course, I add salt, sugar and pepper to taste as well.

With the stock ready, I add it to my rice, with a blade of screwpine (pandan) leaf.

When the chicken is dry, I rub it with sesame oil, then chop it the Chinese way. The sauce is a mixture of sugar, stock, soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper and spring onions