Braised chicken with carrots and mushrooms

This is the first time I used rock sugar in my cooking. Not sure if it was because of the rock sugar but the sauce seemed to decrease rapidly after I added about 4 small pieces, and in the end, there was not much sauce left to go together with the plain rice. But taste wise, it was good. :)

Braised chicken with carrots and mushrooms (recipe from here)Serves 2

Ingredients :
- 500g chicken thigh, chopped to smaller pieces (you can also use half chicken)
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut to bite-sized chunks
- 1 stalk of negi (Japanese scallion) or 2 stalks of spring onions, sliced
- 200g fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
- 150ml water (adjust accordingly to how much gravy you want)
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce 
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce 
- 1/2 tsp 5-spice powder 
- 2 to 4 small rock sugar cubes
- 3 ginger slices
- 5 garlic cloves, bruised

Directions :
1. Heat sesame oil in wok, then add chicken pieces. Stir fry until the chicken is no longer pink.

2. Add water, carrots, mushrooms, scallions, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, 5 spice powder, ginger and garlic. Stir well. Cover with lid and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

3. Using kitchen tongs or spatula, flip the chicken pieces over so that they can absorb the braising liquid. Add rock sugar for sweetness and a beautiful glazed finish. Simmer with lid closed for another 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.

Char Kway Teow

Yes, yes, I know my char kway teow is much 'paler' than the original ones that we are used to (unless we are talking about the Penang one). I only eyeballed the dark soy sauce amount, but I think there would not be much difference to the overall taste, except maybe a more distinct sweetness of the sauce if I had put in more.

In fact, this is one dish that I didn't really follow the measurements from the recipe. I only used it as a guide to get the ingredients and the steps to frying it. And I'm glad to say that it turned out quite well. However, I didn't really read the blog post well enough to see the suggestion : The trick to this dish is to use high heat and cooked one serving at a time for maximum 'wok hey' (wok's breath). I'll be sure to keep this in mind coz I know there will be a next time. :)

Char Kway Teow (Recipe from here )

Ingredients :

- 250 gm Kueh Teow (flat rice noodles)
- 150 gm prawns - shelled
- 100 grm of meat or cockles (I used char siew)
- a handful of beansprouts
- 5 stalks chives or spring onions - cut into 2cm lengths
- 2 eggs
- 3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
- 2 tsp of chili paste - optional
- 3 tbsp of light sauce sauce
- 2 tbsp of dark soy sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste

Directions :

1. Heat up wok to high heat, add oil and garlic and fry till fragrant.

2. Add prawns, meat and ground chili and stir-fry for about 20 secs.

3. Add noodles, stir fry for a few second, add in soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Continue to fry until everything is well combined. Add in beansprouts.

4. Push mixture to edge of wok, add a little oil in centre. Add and fry the eggs and then mix everything together. Check seasoning.

5. Lastly add in chives or spring onions and give the noodles a few toss.

6. Dish out and serve hot.

Braised Ginger Chicken with Potatoes

I admit that when it comes to food, I'm a little weird and maybe a little picky sometimes, yes, just sometimes. Weird in the sense that I only eat the skin of the chicken if it's deep-fried or roasted. I cannot stand the 'squishy-ness' and the slight taste of fat of the chicken skin if it is cooked any other way.

So, understandably, I would choose chicken fillets instead of chicken drumsticks as stated in the original recipe. I also realised that chicken fillets are not as dry as chicken breasts, if cooked quick and right.

Braised Ginger Chicken with Potatoes (Recipe from here)

Ingredients:

- Chicken drumsticks - 5 pcs, chopped into chunks
- Coriander leaves, one handful, chopped (I forgot about this so I used spring onions)
- Potatoes - 2 medium sized, chunks
- Ginger - 10 slices
- Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
- Shallots - 1 pc, sliced
- Salt - 2 tsp
- Dark soya sauce - 2 tbsp
- Sesame oil - 1/2 tsp

Seasonings:

- Light soya sauce - 1 tbsp
- Lee & Perrin sauce - 1 tsp (I omitted this)
- Salt & pepper - Dash
- Sesame oil - 1 tsp

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken drumsticks with seasonings. Set aside for 20 mins.

2. Sautee garlic, shallots, ginger till fragrant.

3. Add in potatoes and sautee till potatoes are slightly brown.

4. Add in marinated chicken, stir fry for 10 mins.

5. Add salt. Stir occasionally till chicken is half cooked and fragrant.

6. Then, add warm water to cover 3/4 of the chicken. Simmer with lid covered till sauce is thicken.

7. When the sauce is half thicken, add in coriander leaves. Simmer for another 10 mins.*

8. Off fire, stir in dark soya sauce and sesame oil, mix well.

9. Dish up, garnish with some coriander leaves and serve.

*Note : If you are using chicken fillets or breasts, I think you can keep the simmering to under 10 minutes, or the better gauge is to check for the consistency of the sauce.

Stir-fry cucumber with dried shrimps

This is a really simple dish that I learnt from my grandma years ago. I was giving full time private tuition at that time, and so, we usually had our lunch together most of the days. And because her health was not too good, I would cook the meals, unless she craved for some hawker food. Though she had been gone for a few years, I was really thankful for that period of time I had shared with her. There were so many things that I had learnt from her.

Anyway, here is the recipe :

Stir-fry cucumber with dried shrimps

Ingredients :

- 1 cucumber, skin off, de-seeded and cut into strips

- a handful of dried shrimps

- cooking oil

- light soy sauce for taste

Directions :

1) Heat up the cooking oil in a frying pan and add in the dried shrimps. Lightly fry the dried shrimps till fragrant.

2) Add in the cucumber strips and mix well with the dried shrimps, for about 2-3 minutes. Pour in a little water and cover the pan to let the cucmber cook itself.

3) When steam starts to escape, remove the cover and add in some light soy sauce for taste. Mix well.

Chicken stir-fry with red capsicum

As you can see, I've been bitten by the lazy bug and haven't been blogging for quite some time. So, it's not surprising that it has been a few weeks since I made this dish and only decided to post it now.

This is quite a simple dish and I made some changes from the original recipe coz I didn't want to buy a whole pack of peppercorns just for this. And also, you can use red, yellow or green capsicum for this, it's totally up to individual.

Chicken stir-fry with red capsicum

Ingredients :

- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 pack of chicken breast fillets, cut into strips (the pack I bought had 4 fillets in it)
- 1 onion, cut into wedges
- 1 red capsicum, cut into strips
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce

Directions :

1) Heat the frying pan over high heat and add the oil. Add the chicken strips and stir-fry for about 3 minutes, or until browned.

2) Add the onion and capsicum and stir-fry for about 2 minutes, until the vegetables have softened slightly.

3) Reduce the heat and stir in the oyster sauce.

Aromatic Noodles with Seared Salmon

I've decided to give myself a treat by getting 5 tiger prawns for $2 to cook with the noodles, when in fact, the actual recipe suggests salmon. But as I was having brunch alone over the weekend, it was more practical to get prawns rather than a whole piece of salmon which I could never finish alone. I think it doesn't matter what kind of seafood you use. The main point is the noodles.

It might seemed a lot of ingredients just to fry the noodles, but it sure turned out good. I really like the distinct taste of ginger that comes along with every bite. However, I omitted the fish sauce as I didn't think it wise to buy one whole bottle just for this dish. So, I'm not sure whether there would be much difference with it or not. And I didn't buy soba noodles as suggested, but used my leftover noodles from a previous dish.

Aromatic Noodles with Seared Salmon

(adapted from Marie Claire : Easy by Michele Cranston)

4 servings

Ingredients :

- 7 ounces soba noodles

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- four 6-ounce salmon fillets

- 1 teaspoon sesame oil

- 2 garlic cloves, crushed

- 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger

- 2 large red chillies, seeded and finely chopped

- 4 scallions (spring onions), finely sliced

- 1 teaspoon lime juice

- 1 tablespoon soy sauce

- 1 teaspoon fish sauce

- 1 bunch garlic chives (about 1 ounce), snipped into 3/4-inch lengths

Directions :

1) Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the noodles until they are al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water and set aside.

2) Heat a large frying pan or wok over high heat and add half the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the salmon, skin side down, and cook for 1 minute. Turn over and cook for an additional 2 minutes before removing from the pan.

3) Drain the oil from the pan and return it to the heat. Add the sesame oil and the rest of the olive oil. Add the ginger, garlic, chillies, scallions, lime juice, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Stir-fry for 1 minute.

4) Add the noodles, tossing until they are nicely coated. Remove from the heat. Add the chives. Toss again. Divide the noodles between four bowls and top with the salmon.

Garbage Fried Potatoes

Today is another after-work-no-tuition day. So decided to cook something simple for myself.

Yes, that's the name of the dish... Garbage Fried Potatoes. And yes, too... the dish turned out looking more like fried carrot cake than potatoes.

Anyway, this is a really simple dish to make, especially for 1 - 2 persons.

Took me about an hour to finish everything. Although not a really healthy cooking method, it's a pure vegetarian dish, and really filling coz of the potatoes. If you look through the recipe, the person who posted this up explained why the word "garbage" is in the name.

If you are not a fan of the green and red bell peppers, you can try to substitute them with other stuff. I used the US Russet potatoes, which soften in about 35 minutes, about 10 minutes faster as the stated time in the recipe. In addition, I felt that 15 minutes is just right for cooking the onions but a bit too long to be cooking the bell peppers. They turned out too soft for my liking.

Also, the recipe states to cut the potatoes into thin slices, which I think, should turned out something like potato chips in the end. But obviously, I didn't follow that. The reason being I felt it's much easier cutting them in cubes than in slices. In another word, lazy. Heh.

Garbage Fried Potatoes (from : allrecipes)

4 servings

Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 large baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 (4 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until you think they are about halfway done.

2. Mix in the mushrooms, red pepper and green pepper. Continue to cook and stir until potatoes are golden brown and somewhat crisp, about 15 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.