三杯鸡 (Three Cups Chicken)

Sometimes, the cooking mood will strike and I would find myself looking through my online bookmarks to see what I can whip up next for the guinea pig husband. Or a recipe that I had read before will suddenly pop up in my mind and I told myself that I had to try it.

And this was what happened with this Three Cups Chicken recipe. I came across it on a blog a long time ago and thought it might be interesting to try but I didn't keep the link. Until recently, I was reading my latest favourite blog, The Little Teochew, and it so happened that she had cooked the dish. And it didn't seemed as complicated as I remembered. The only thing I would change is to use a fork to poke some holes through the chicken skins before marinating so the sauce would be thoroughly soaked through.

Update : I did this a second time, and poked a few tiny holes through the chicken wings before marinating them. And the final product did taste much much better, with the seasonings getting right into the meat.

Three Cups Chicken (recipe from : here)

Ingredients : (according to what I bought and used)

- 2 packs of chicken (mid-wing parts only)

- 1/3 cup Hua Tiao chinese rice wine
- little less than 1/3 cup sesame oil
- little less than 1/3 cup light soy sauce

- 1 bulb garlic, separated into individual cloves, skins on

- 2 tbsp fine sugar

- 3 large bunches of spring onions, cut into 1 inch lengths

Directions :

1. Marinate chicken with soy, sesame oil and rice wine. At least for 6 hours, although overnight is best.

2. Take the chill off the meat. Heat up some sesame oil in a wok or claypot until it is sizzling hot.

3. Throw in garlic, ginger and spring onions. Fry briefly till fragrant. Add in chicken and sear.

4. Keep stir-frying. Pour in the marinade liquid and the sugar. Continue to cook on medium.

5. Once you have a rolling boil, cover the wok/claypot and let it simmer over a small flame, until all the liquid has disappeared and the chicken is on the cusp of burning.

6. There should hardly be any gravy left. The chicken should be caramelised (charred at parts, even) and sizzling when served.

Stuffed Tau Poks

Once in a long long while, I could surprise myself by being much more hardworking than usual when it comes to food. We were supposed to attend a wedding dinner of a friend, and knowing the time that the actual eating begin at most wedding dinners, I thought that the husband and I could have some snacks before we leave.

This immediately came to mind and I started preparing it around 3 in the afternoon. I didn't know what came over me to be so diligent that day, but I was glad I gave the stuffed tau poks (tofu puffs) a try. Though the preparation and cooking took some time, the final product was worth the effort! :)

Oven-baked sweet potato chips

The last few times we went to the supermarket, the husband lingered a bit longer at the potato chips section. But he always managed to resist the temptation. So, considering his constant need to snack and in hopes to satisfy his craving for the heavily salted potato chips off the shelves, I decided to try out a version of oven-baked sweet potato chips I found online.

Since I didn't have a mandolin slicer, I had to try to cut the sweet potato slices as uniform in thickness as possible. Other than that, the rest of the process was simple.

Oven-baked sweet potato chips (recipe from : here)

Ingredients :

- 1 sweet potato

- vegetable oil for spraying

- sea salt

- mandolin slicer(preferably)

Directions :

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice potatoes with a mandolin slicer. Lay out the potato slices on a single sheet in the oven. Spray the potatoes with vegetable oil on each side and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake for 10-20 minutes, monitoring the chips frequently to make sure they don't burn. If you want, you can flip the chips halfway through baking. Let cool a bit and then serve!

Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani)

A few weeks ago, Sam brought us to this North Indian/Pakistani restaurant called Usman at Arab Street. Ever since that meal of delicious butter chicken and naan, we were already planning for our next trip there. Meanwhile, the husband thought I could search the Internet for the recipe and try it at home first. A very big vote of confidence there. :)

Anyway, my search brought up a number of butter chicken recipes and I chose the one that seemed the most authentic (but easy) to try. And as you can see from the picture, there was no gravy at all! I didn't know why since the recipe keeps mentioning the word "gravy", or maybe there was something missing? But luckily, the chicken tasted good, and instead of naan, I think this would go much better with white rice.

However, with the indian spices already bought for use, I will be trying out the other bookmarked butter chicken recipe, which I hope would yield some gravy coz I see that tomato paste is one of the ingredient. But for now, the recipe for this dry version of butter chicken :

Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani) (recipe from here)

4 servings

Ingredients :

For marination :
- 800 grams of chicken cut into pieces (preferably boneless)
- 1 tablespoon(s) slightly sour yoghurt (I didn't use this)
- 1 tablespoon(s) vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon(s) each of coriander, cumin and red chilli powders
- 1 onion chopped and made into a paste (optional)
- 2 teaspoon(s) each of ginger, garlic pastes
- salt to taste

For the gravy :
- 4 large tomatoes chopped
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon(s) fresh cream
- 1 teaspoon(s) each of coriander, cumin, red chilli and black pepper powders
- 2 teaspoon(s) each of finely chopped ginger and green chillies
- salt and sugar to taste
- melted butter, fresh cream and finely chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Directions :

1) Prick holes and make cuts in the chicken pieces. Mix well the ingredients for the marinade and rub into the chicken pieces. Let it marinate for a few hours, overnight if possible for best results.

2) Heat half the butter on medium level in a heavy-bottomed pan and put in the chicken along with the marinade. cover and cook for about 25 minute(s) or till the chicken is fully cooked. After the liquids have evaporated, stir fry the chicken for some time in the residual fat.

3) Heat the remaining butter in a saucepan and add the red chilli, coriander, cumin and black pepper powders. Fry for a few seconds. Add the chopped tomatoes, sugar, salt and cook uncovered on medium level for about 7 minutes till the puree thickens and the fat separates. Stir in the beaten cream and reduce the heat to low.

4) Add the chicken, chopped ginger and green chillies to the simmering gravy. Sprinkle salt to taste if needed. Mix well. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes or till the curry is thoroughly heated through.

5) Just before serving pour melted butter over the curry. Garnish with a swirl of fresh cream and finely chopped coriander leaves.

Note : I got this tip from another blogger, who is a stay-at-home mum. She mentioned that, to prevent your eyes from tearing when cutting onions, just put a lighted tea candle near the work area. The supposed 'fumes' from the onion which made us teared will be burned off. And it really works! :)

Chicken and mushroom wontons

This recipe is taken from Marie Claire : Easy, which I had made the shrimp wontons from it previously too. There was also no noodles this time round because I managed to come up with about 36 wontons and we had it with some carrots and cabbage boiled in chicken stock. The chicken wontons were not too bad overall though we were a bit stuffed at the end. However, I much prefer the taste of the shrimp wontons. Maybe because there was a sweetness of the shrimps or maybe it was because I used chicken cubes in water instead of chicken stock, which might have caused the difference too.

Chicken and mushroom wontons (recipe from : Marie Claire : Easy)

Ingredients :

- 4 dried shittake mushrooms

- 1 cup ground chicken

- 4 tablespoons finely chopped bamboo shoots (I didn't add this coz there was none for sale at NTUC)

- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce

- 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

- 1 pack square wonton wrappers

Directions :

1. Soak the shittake mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain the mushrooms, squeeze out any excess moisture and cut off the tough stalks. Finely chop the mushrooms and put them into a bowl with the chicken, bamboo shoots, soy sauce, ginger and sesame oil. Gently stir to combine the filling ingredients.

2. Put a wonton wrapper on a clean work surface and put a heaping teaspoon of the filling into the centre. Moisten the edges and draw all in together. Pinch to form little bags.

3. Put the wontons onto a steamer to steam for 15 minutes.

Note : I didn't steam them but drop them to cook in boiling chicken stock.