Chicken Thighs With Spiced Sour Red Cabbage

I love vegetables since I was a child and my mom never complaint about it unlike some mothers on their children, except that I was quite skinny although I ate meat. Meat in our younger days tasted much better than what we have now. One of my favourite was Pork Belly in Soy Sauce with Eggs (I stopped eating pork since 1993, when my former employer had their factory and office next door to a pig slaughter house! I started to consume pork again slowly about 8 years ago but not as much as I used to). When comes to vegetables, what I had seen in my days were mostly green, except when comes to chillies, we have white, yellow, red, orange and with aubergines, there are purple, light green and white. Nowadays, we can see colorful cauliflowers, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes... the lots! What a vast choices to put on our tables and feed our families.

With so much varieties and colors of our food, we faced the problems of how to maintain their colors after cooking. Of course, we can eat them raw as salads but certain vegetables need to be cook or at least blanch them for few minutes to make them palatable, especially for children. Besides cooking colorful vegetables, it has to be presentable and taste delicious to encourage children (also adults!) to incorporate vegetables in their diets.

That in mind, I tried the first time to cook Chou Rouge or Red Cabbage/ Purple Cabbage to some countries. Most of the time, I added this beautiful cabbage in salads because the fear of seeing it losing its color (turned into dull blue when cook for long period of time to soften it) put me off from cooking it. Sure, I can always reach out for those bottled or canned Red Cabbage but I prefer to give it a shot before calling it quits! Btw, do you know canned beets are used in most quantity foodservice operations? I do envied those food magazines managed to capture the intense color of this Red Cabbage but when you knew about the tricks of how a dish was photographed to obtain such vibrant colors and shapes, it made me wonder if I should produced photographs of the 'real' results or follow the tricks to make the dish pleasing for the eyes (or acceptable for online food galleries).

I don't have right apparatus or appropriate tablewares to snap gorgeous professional photos and it's not easy when you have an excited toddler tagging with you who just couldn't wait to dip his fingers into the cooked food! Anyway, I decided to post here as it was. It would be great if any foodie friends out there have wonderful tips to share on how to cook Red Cabbage or any colorful vegetables! Experienced foodie photographers are encouraged to share tips and tricks on how to shoot challenging Red Cabbage dishes :-)

Chicken Thighs With Spiced Sour Red Cabbage

Serves 4

½ nos Red Cabbage (Chou Rouge)

200 g White Turnips (Navet)

4 pcs Chicken Thighs

2 Tbls Cooking Oil

½ nos Orange ~ for juice only

4 Tbls Apple Cider Vinegar (or more to taste)

1 tsp Ground Paprika

1 tsp Gound Coriander

Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Wash and slice thinly the red cabbage. Peel and grate coarsely the white turnips.

2. Wash the chicken thighs thoroughly and pat dry with kitchen papers. Marinade with some salt and black pepper to taste. Set aside for few minutes.

3. In a large deep pan, heat the cooking oil until it's hot (you will see the oil smokey). Shallow fry the chicken thighs on both sides until golden brown. Dish up and keep them warm in 2 separate plates.

4. In the same pan, add in the sliced red cabbage and white turnip. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

5. Add in the rest of the vinegar, orange juice and grounded spices. If you want, add in some salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and cook for 30 minutes on medium heat.

6. Arrange the chicken thighs on top of the vegetables and cook covered for another 15 minutes in medium heat. Serve hot as it is or with grilled polenta.

Enjoy!

Grilled Vietnamese-Style Chicken With Cucumber & Carrot Vinaigrette

I'd been thinking buying a grill pan for sometime now but the problem I'm facing was there's no Round Grill Pan available at the frequent shops and malls I went to. Most of shapes available were Square and Oval... but my cooking hobs are round! It's quite frustrated for me when I saw the 3 shapes in their brochures and they said straight to my face,"If there's none at the display counter, it means we don't have in this outlet. It's the HQ who dispatched the items to us. We don't keep stock such items." Come on... if you don't have THE item I wanted, please indicated in your brochure which outlets the products were available!

I hate to travel 369 kms to IKEA just to get what I want :'-( When are you coming to my area? Sigh... I had to settle for the oven grill... the ole faithful. Well, I knew few tricks to achieve what I want for this recipe but I'm too lazy... actually too tired from the coughings and sore throat problems I had on and off lately. I had to force myself to swallow the %$@# anti-biotics because I don't want to spread it to my family :-(

Luckily, that didn't deterred me from having a hearty meal :-P Actually, I'm trying to clear my refrigerator as much as possible to give her a thorough clean up and rearrange the compartments. I found an edible Double cream which later on I used for Vanilla Ice cream. There were 1/2 box of Low-fat Coconut Milk, 4 chicken thighs, some Kyuri (Japanese Cucumber) and topped it up with other ingredients, I decided to cook the chicken thighs for lunch.

Grilled Vietnamese-Style Chicken with Cucumber and Carrot Vinaigrette

Serves 2

350g - 500 g Chicken thighs/Chicken breasts - skin-on and deboned

For Marinate (to be blended into smooth paste):

2 cloves Garlic-roughly chopped

2 nos Small Red Onion (Asian Shallots*)

½ Tbl Fresh Ginger

60 ml Fresh Coconut Milk or Low-Fat Coconut Milk

2 Tbl Rice Vinegar/Glutinous Rice Vinegar

2 Tbl Fish Sauce

1 Tbl Soy Sauce

1 Tbl Brown Sugar

Cucumber & Carrot Vinaigrette Mix:

2 nos Japanese Cucumbers (Kyuri)

1 nos Carrrot (medium size)

1 ½ Tbl Rice Vinegar/Glutinous Rice vinegar

2 Tbl Peanut Oil or any oil that's light in flavour

1 Tbl Brown Sugar

1 tsp Salt

Method:

1. Wash and pat dry the chicken thoroughly. Place chicken in a ceramic bowl or any non-reactive containers, large enough for the chicken to marinate. Add in the marinade paste, stir to coat evenly and cover (since I used chicken thighs, I made some incisions to let the marinate permeates deeper). Let it sit for at least 15 - 20 minutes at room temperature or at least 3-5 hours for the best flavors in the refrigerator. I left it overnight until needed to have deeper and rich flavor.

2. For the vegetable vinaigrette; Peel the cucumbers and carrot into thin, long strips. In a bowl, whisk the rice vinegar, sugar, salt and oil. Add the peeled vegetables, toss to mix and refrigerate until serving. (I prefer to make salad closer to the end of cooking time to avoid the vegetables become watery and limp).

3. Set the grill in the oven to 220ºC (with 2 upper heaters on or the equivalent in the model you have but you can use grill pan, gas grill, charcoal grill or non-stick electric grill). Lightly oil the rack. Remove chicken from the marinate, shake of the excess. Place the chicken, skin side up (or down if you're using a pan grill) and grill until browned, about 7-8 minutes. Turn and grill the other side until browned for 5-7 minutes. Move the chicken away from the direct heat (turn off the upper heaters but maintain the temperature and place it in the middle rack in the oven). Continue to cook the chicken thoroughly for about 7-10 minutes or until the meat turned opaque.

4. Serve the grilled chicken with the cucumber vinagrette and rice.

Note: The above cooking times were based on the size of chicken cuts I bought. Depends on the size of chicken cuts, cooking time may varied. Please adjust accordingly to your grill also. If you're using pan grill, the browning is faster because of the direct contact with the pan. Make sure it's on medium heat and cook the chicken cuts until done. I'm thinking of getting one of this pan grill for a change-thanks Jamie :-)

*Small Red Onions (aka Asian Shallots): Small reddish purple onions, commonly used in Asian cookery.

These grow in bulbs, like garlic, and are sold in segments that look like large cloves of garlic. They have a concentrated flavour and are easy to slice and grind. You can substitute with your local shallots if you can't find it.

Enjoy!

Soya Sauce Chicken

I had been over buying some fresh chicken meat lately, in fact I was thinking of steaming chicken with some chinese herbs my sister-in-law gave me but the idea was put off for couple of times due to last minute change of plans (which I really hate it when I had to accommodate for the sake of someone else's... grrrrrr) and I landed myself with several pieces of chicken breast meats already thawed in the chiller for couple of days :-(

We knew the risks of thawing and refrosting is a BIG NO-NO! I had to do something about the chicken meat... fast because later in the afternoon, there would be some people coming in to check rusty rails at my balcony. There would be lots of screeching, banging and sparks flying about ( I wished it was like in Harry Potter). Alas... my poor plants would be frightened off their leaves! Sigh... but safety first. I wished I could changed the railings to flexiglass panels but I need to submit in paperworks ,blahs, blahs, blahs.... which would take months for approval! My day, definitely not only noisy but smoky and I can't enjoy the rain. Yep, I love rain but within the comfort of my home; not forgetting hot chocolate or tea and some cookies... :-D

Well, after standing inside my kitchen for hours (yep, I'm lazy too when it rains!) this is what I could think of after trying to wake myself up with coffee (thanks dear, for the lovely coffee everyday, bisous!) It's sort of the Malay style of cooking Ayam Masak Kicap - it's simple with few ingredients that made this dish fragrant with sweet and tangy taste from the tomatoes. Serve with hot rice, vegetables, fish or prawn cracker and papadums... don't forget dessert!

Soya Sauce Chicken

Serves 2-4

5 pcs Chicken meat - clean and pat dry (about 300 g - 450 g)

3 nos Big Onions - sliced

2 cloves Garlic - sliced

10 ml Thick Soya Sauce

5 ml Sweet Soya Sauce (Ketjap Manis)

1 nos Large Red Tomato - quartered (or more if you like)

Salt and Sugar to taste

Spices for frying:

2 pcs Cloves

1 pc Cinnamon stick (about 4 cm)

Few pieces Cardamom (I used 4 nos)

Oil for frying

Method:

1. In a deep pan or wok, heat some oil, enough to fry the chicken meat in small batches. Cook the chicken pieces half-cooked. Remove and set aside.

2. Fry the big onion, garlic slices and the spices until fragrant.

3. Add in the ketjap manis (sweet soya sauce) and thick soya sauce. Let it boil for awhile in the pan.

4. Lastly add in the half fried chicken pieces and tomatoes. Mix the meat with spices well.

5. Season with salt and sugar.

6. Garnish with coriander leaves or spring onion and serve hot with favourite rice or as side dish.

Note: No need to add water because the chicken meat and tomatoes produced enough water for this dish.

Enjoy!

Lemongrass Chicken

This is an easy and fast recipe that I used frequently for BBQ or grilling besides the usual satays for potlucks or gatherings. What I like about this recipe is that I can grill it in the oven even though it's more traditional to grill it on open charcoal burner. Living in apartment is not that easy so, oven is the only option but sometimes I tend to overdo it until the whole kitchen turned smoky just to get that chargrill effects :-D

You can serve sliced cucumber and satay sauce with this recipe if you want. Coleslaw tastes great too - kind of giving you crunchy, sweet and sour tastes with extra lemongrass flavour. It's also delicious with plain rice, coconut rice, Bryani Rice, fried rice and stir-fried noodles. It's one of those easy accompaniment recipes that won't go wrong and the usage of lemongrass sticks as pincers to hold the juicy chicken meats added extra topic to talk about in your gatherings :-)

*This is how the halved lemongrass looked like with the cooked meat in between.

Lemongrass Chicken

Serves 2-4

500 g Chicken breast meats

3 Tbl Honey

2 Tbl Light Soya Sauce

1 tsp Fresh Turmeric - grind/pound finely

Salt to taste

Enough Lemongrass for grilling chicken meat

Method:

1. Washed the chicken meat thoroughly and cut each piece into 2-3 portions. Pat the meat dry with kitchen paper. Set aside in a bowl.

2. In another small bowl, mix well the honey, light soya sauce and grounded fresh turmeric.

3. Pour the marinate into the prepared chicken meat and let the meat marinate for 1 hour.

4. Preparing the lemongrass sticks for grilling: Wash the lemongrass sticks. Split the lemongrass sticks into half about 1 inch from the root end (white part) but not all the way through the tip (green part). This is to make sure you have a space in the center of the lemongrass to hold (to pinch) pieces of meat and the other end to hold and turn the meat when grilling.

Note: If the lemongrass is larger and longer, you can add in extra meat instead of 1 piece per lemongrass stick.

5. Insert the marinated a piece meat (or more) between the halved lemongrass sticks.

6. Grill the meat until it's cooked. You can use the BBQ set to grill or in the oven at 200 ºC for 15-20 minutes or until it's cooked to your preference. Don't forget to turn on both sides (that's where the uncut portion of the lemongrass comes in handy).

Tip:

Sometimes, I don't use so much of lemongrass to hold pieces of meat for grilling. It could be expensive to buy and it may not be easily available in certain areas. What I did was cut 2-3 lemongrass sticks into halves all the way through and lightly crushed them. Mixed together with the chicken meat and marinate. If you want intense lemongrass flavour, marinate longer than 1 hour (I usually prepared it a day ahead) then you grill as usual. You can leave the crushed lemongrass sticks to grill together with the meat or use bamboo skewers to skew the pieces of meat before grilling.

If you have only dried lemongrass, I suggest that you mix into the marinate first. Let the dried lemongrass soak up some moisture before marinate the chicken meat. The flavour is less pronounce than fresh lemongrass, of course. If you can find fresh lemongrass, try to grow left overs in a pot. Let them grow some roots first in some clean water. Change the water every couple of days until they developed strong roots before planting them into ground or pots. Just beware that when lemongrass finds favourable condition to grow, they may outgrown other plants.

Enjoy!

Chicken In Creamy Tomato Sauce

There's this little tiny ingredient that I used in this recipe that stirred hot debate in my country 4 years ago, much to my amusement and maybe to foodies abroad as well. This little itsy, bitsy ingredient had been used worldwide in cookies, bread, cakes, spice mixes and curries but illegal in some countries! You and I ate this 'secret' ingredient food in stollen, bagel, mohn, challah, Korma, Mutton Posto, Japanese's Shichimi Togarashi, medicinal purposes (yes, you saw it correctly!) and in artist's paints (surprised, surprised!) I'm refering to kaskas or khashkhash, paparounospori, pavot somnifère, haşhaş tohumu, etc... or better simply known as poppy seeds!

Don't panic and thinking of boycotting your favourite Indian, Indian Muslim or Middle Eastern restaurants or stop using on your traditional baking goods. Poppy seeds that come from ripe seeds contain no narcotic chemicals and it's safe to consume as its alkaloid content is very low (about 50 parts per million.)It's the dried latex from the unripe seed pods that opium is derived. You need to consume 1 kg or more of poppy seeds to get high and the taste is very bitter in large quantities but morphine could still be detected in the urine after such heavy consumption. There's no experiments to date to prove poppy seed consumption could lead to addiction :-P What about Coca-cola or Coke? There are interesting topics about poppy seeds, its' history and culinary uses in Chow.com, the nutrition content of the seeds in Indianet and the Encyclopedia of Spices by The Epicentre.

As for me, I love Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines because of the combination of spices and herbs that made their food so addictive! Back to this recipe I wanted to share ;-P I used the Asian white poppy seed variety which is smaller, creamier and nutty than its Western Blue Poppy Seeds. You can use which ever available locally in your area. The purpose of the poppy seeds in this recipe is to thicken the gravy or sauce.

Chicken in Creamy Tomato Gravy

Serves 4-6 servings

1 tbl Cooking oil

1.5 kg Chicken meat - washed and cut to pieces (I used chicken thighs)

2 nos Onion - medium size, sliced into rings

1/2 tsp Ground Cloves

1 tsp Tumeric Powder

2 tsp Garam Masala

3 tsp Chilli Powder

To be blended until smooth with 2 tbl Coconut Milk:

4 cloves Garlic

1 tbl Fresh Ginger - finely chopped

1 tbl Poppy Seeds

2 tsp Fennel Seeds

3 pods Cardamom - smashed and reserved the black seeds

150 ml Coconut Milk - fresh 1st-pressed thick coconut from 1 coconut

1 pc Star Anise

1 pc Cinnamon Stick

4 nos Large Tomatoes - roughly chopped

1-2 nos Limes - quartered

Method:

1. Pat dry the chicken meat before frying.

2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan/pot. When it's hot, add in the chicken pieces slowly in batches into the pan. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until browned. Remove and keep aside in another plate. Continue to fry the rest of the chicken.

*When it's finished, remove some of the oil from the pan (the extra oil came from the chicken skin/fat) but use enough oil for the next step.

3. While the pot/pan is still hot, add in onions and stir-fry until golden in color. Stir in the grounded cloves, tumeric, garam masala and chilli powder. Stir for 1 minute and add in the pre-fried chicken pieces.

4. Add in the blended spice mixture, remaining of Coconut milk, star anise, cinnamon stick, chopped tomatoes and water. Give the chicken and spices a good stir so that the meat is well coated.

5. Cover the pot/pan and simmer in medium heat for 30-45 minutes or until the meat is tender and the gravy thickens to your preference. Serve with some quartered limes at the side with steamed rice and plain yogurt. You can even add some vegetables like cucumber, onions, okra, achar or pickles.

Notes:

As the pots or pans use are different with individuals, the gravy may take longer to thicken. Since the chicken meat produced more liquid into the gravy, you need to adjust the time accordingly.

You can use packed or tinned coconut milk if you can't find fresh pressed coconut milk.

If you don't have grounded cloves, you can pound/grind about 1 tbl of cloves until fine. Scoop the powdered cloves into the required measurement and leveled the top.

Use quality cardamoms - discard any browned or dried seeds or pods.

Lastly, if you still unsure about the poppy seeds, you can use grounded Cashew Nuts, Pine Nuts or Candlenuts as thickening agent for this recipe :-P

I'm also sending this recipe to the event, ' Think Spice... Think Twice: Mastic Gum and Fennel Seeds' by Ivy of Kopiaste... to Greek Hospitality who is hosting this month's Think Spice, created by Sunita of Sunita's World.

Enjoy!

Chicken In Coriander Curry

I got a big bunch of fresh coriander leaves in the fridge that I don't know what to do from last cooking episode :-D Have you noticed that Coriander Leaves are sensitive plant? Seems that it doesn't like moisture when you keep it in fridge even in the vegetable compartment. In other words you can't wash it until you need it but how can you stand looking at the soil-stucked roots which going to make a mess at the bottom of the compartment. Yes, this bunch was bought at the fresh market unlike from the supermarket, cleaned and packed nicely. Mine was wrapped in a large outdated Chinese newspaper. My mom always told me that coriander, bean sprouts and probably other vegetables keep longer if you wrap them up in newspaper. I bet it's the ink that preserves these 'sensitive' vegetables :-)

This recipe I wanted to share is quite unique because even though there's some chilli powder used, it doesn't taste hot at all but the main ingredient I wanted to point out is the use of Evaporated Milk to cook this curry which has the marriage of Malay and Indian influences. So, a less fat curry, yet you still have that special creamy taste of coconut milk! Of course, if you want the coconut milk, no problem. Just replace the Evaporated Milk in the recipe for fresh (the best!), canned or powdered coconut milk (follow the manufacturer's instruction to dilute the powder before adding to the cooking.) At least, all my coriander stalks were used! More fresh ones soon after CNY! Oh yes... I take this opportunity to wish all World Foodies who celebrate Chinese New Year with great prosperity and wealth. Most importantly, I wished you great health and best wishes for the Year of Ox. Here's a link on how Malaysia-Chinese celebrated Chinese New Year with their friends and families... the Malaysian way. While you're at the site, look out for the video recipes and for those interested in Feng Shui, there are some forecasts by Feng Shui experts as well. Keong Hee Huat Chye... Selamat Tahun Baru Cina!

Chicken In Coriander Curry

600 g Chicken Meat

Ingredients to blend:

3 nos Shallots

2 cloves Garlic

30 g Galangal

20 g Palm Sugar

1 tsp Belacan

2 stalks Coriander leaves ~ roughly chopped (approx. 20 g - 40 g)

2 nos Red Chillies ~ cut into halves

2 nos Geen Chillies ~ cut into halves

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp White Pepper

1 tsp Chilli Powder

3 pcs Kaffir Lime leaves

250 ml Evaporated Milk

A little bit of Tumeric Powder

Salt and sugar to taste

Oil for frying

Method:

1. Heat a little bit of oil in a wok or deep pot and add in the blended spices.

2.Add in the cumin, White pepper powder, cili, tumeric and kaffir lime leaves. Fry until fragrant.

3. Add in the chicken and stir until chicken meat are well coated with the spice mixture. Add a bit of water. Let it simmer until chicken meat are tender.

4. When chicken is cooked , add in the evaporated milk, chilli halves and chopped coriander leaves. Add in some salt and sugar to taste.

5. Remove from heat and serve.

Note: This dish is best overnight after the meat absorbed all the fragrant spices. You can eat with Naan, Rice, Bread, Noodles, Pita or even roll some meat and gravy in your favourite Tortillas!

Enjoy!

Baked Pork With 3 Mushrooms

It's been quite hectic days lately for me. I tried to cook some quick meals for the family and made sure that there's at least once a week, we eat home cooked meals. It's fun not to wash pots and plates but in the long run, I felt bored with the eateries' menus... :-P Talk about being fussy LOL! Don't you ever said to yourself that what you ate at the restaurants, you can cook it at home too? In current economy situation, it's time for us to make efforts being frugal. So, let's make use those 3 ingredients or 4 ingredients cooking books hidden away gathering dust in the cabinet :-P I had one book like that and recently I added a new one to my collection.

This recipe is one of the ideas of using what's left in your pantry and fridge. I nearly forgot that I froze a pack of pork shoulder meat (among others in the freezer) and some mushrooms left from previous cooking hence the 3 types of mushrooms I used in this recipe. At first, I thought it's weird and not sure how the dish will taste like especially the strong flavoured Shiitake mushrooms. Will it over powered the other mild mushrooms? My family liked it very much but let me know your feedback ;-)

Baked Pork With 3 Mushrooms

Serves 2-3

100 g Enoki Mushrooms (Golden Mushrooms)

2-4 White Button Mushrooms

2 Shiitake Mushrooms

½ Red Onion

2 cloves Garlic

200 g Pork Shoulder (or any tender chicken meat)

Seasonings:

1 tbsp Rice Wine

1 tbsp Dark Soya Sauce

1 tbsp Oyster Sauce

1 tbsp Cornstarch

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Sugar

¼ tsp Black Pepper

Method:

1. Rinse or wipe fresh mushrooms from grits. Remove any discolored parts or hard stems and cut into shreds. Rinse the Enoki mushrooms and cut off tail-ends. Peel and slice garlic and red onion.

2. Preheat oven at 200 ºC. (For those who have oven with higher set of temperature than stated, preheat oven to 250ºC.)

3. Rinse meat thoroughly ad cut into bite size pieces. Marinate with seasonings for 20-30 minutes. Transfer into a ovenproof casserole and top with all the sliced ingredients.

3. Cover with aluminum foil and transfer to preheated oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until tender to your preference. (If your oven's at 250ºC, bake the dish for 20 minutes.)

4. Remove aluminum foil and serve.

Note: If you don't have an oven, this recipe can be cook in a heavy pot on stove as well. Besides pork, you can also use chicken like fillets, thighs and breast meats. Serve this recipe with rice or noodles of your choice. I tried it 'dry' and as soup on cooked yellow noodles (with extra water added to the gravy)- it turned out surprisingly tasty too. I also add extra sliced spring onions, julienned carrot and red chillies as garnishing as you can see in the picture. Actually, I separated the recipe into halves because I have a guest who's not a fan of chillies (it made him upset stomach.) With the other half I added extra chopped chillies, julienned carrot and lots of sliced spring onions. Mixed it all up nicely, just before serving. It's yummy that way for me! Tell me what you think...

Enjoy!

~ Tagged: 7 Facts About Myself ~

I was tagged by CK Lam recently which is the 1st time for me since I started blogging. Frankly, I'm quite confused about this meme and tag thingies. It's like a kind of confession about yourself and since it's nearly end of the year, perhaps this tag may help me for my new resolutions! I also received few requests from those I tagged before though. It's no obligation and feel free to pass my tag(s) :-)

1. My 1st lesson in cookery was frying an omelette at age of 9.

2. I never owned Barbie Doll... I don't know why I don't have interest like some of my neighbourhood girls about Barbie. Maybe the price or I'm not blonde and skinny... :-D

3. I love books... My favourite... science, thriller, children's stories of magical world, Art & History, Famous Five, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, 3 Investigators, languages ... the lots! Plus board games like Mastermind, Othello/Reversi, Congkak ( a version of Mancala) and many more...

4. I have phobias of swimming (no, no, no, not because of JAWS!) and driving. I need to troubleshoot the later though...

5. I love travelling... the most memorable event was flying in the Swiss Alps. I felt so timid, speechless and at awed the wonders of Mother Nature created. At the same time, my soul was peaceful thousands of feet above sea level looking down at the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc.

6. My best working life was seeing my design on TV worn by Silver Medalist in Men's Single Table Tennis in XXV Olympic Games in Barcelona. I followed the player and created the sportswear collection until I retired in 1998... LOL

7. I need to do 'fridge cleaning' (a term given by Food4tots) more often then I'm doing now :-P

Magadip - Madurese Aromatic Chicken Stew

Have you tasted before a recipe that has no chillies, garlic or coconut milk in its ingredients yet it's just as potent ? The recipe I'm referring to originates from Madura, an Indonesian island located East of Java in the Greater Sunda Islands Archipelago. The dish was a surprise for me, as we knew that most Indonesian dishes are hot and spicy and every dishes cooked or Sayur Lalap must have some chillies of some sort like Sambal Oelek, Sambal Terasi, Sambal Badjak pastes added as condiments with their meals. My favourite is Rijsttafel that ends with Spekkoek and coffee... it's a wonderful ending!

This Madurese speciality dish I'm sharing is called Magadip or better known as Madura Aromatic Chicken which is easy to prepare and you can actually used the ingredients for lamb as well. You can prepare it 1 to 2 days ahead which will make the dish tastes even more delicious after you let the flavours permeate the meat or freeze it until it's needed. The ingredients I'm using are for 2-4 persons as part of a meal but you can easily double the portions to suit your needs.

Magadip

Serves 2-4

500 g - 600 g Chicken or any part of chicken you like

1 Tbl Coriander seeds

1 tsp Cumin seeds

4 pcs Cloves

1 bulb Onion - small size, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Palm Sugar/ White Sugar

1 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Tumeric powder

1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder (freshly grounded)

1 tsp Black Peppercorns (freshly grounded)

125 ml Chicken Stock/Water

1.50 cm Fresh Ginger - peeled and sliced

2.50 cm Cinnamon stick

Extra Salt and Pepper to taste

Garnish: Onion Crisps, Spring onions or Coriander leaves.

Method:

1. In a large pan, dry fry the coriander, black peppercorns, cinnamon, cumin and cloves over medium heat until fragrant (it's very important not to burn your spices or you'll end up with bitter and burnt gravy.) Add in the tumeric powder and nutmeg powder. Give a quick stir to mix the spices thoroughly. Remove from heat. Grind in a food processor until fine. Set aside.

2. Blend the onion and ginger until smooth paste. Set aside.

3. Wash the chicken and cut into frying pieces. Put the chicken pieces in a deep pan or casserole. Sprinkle with salt and sugar. Toss the chicken pieces thoroughly (supposed to help release the juices in the chicken.)

4. Add in the grounded spices, onion and ginger paste and chicken stock/water. Mix well into the chicken pieces. Cook over medium heat for 40-50 minutes or until the chicken meat is tender and half the gravy evaporates.

5. Adjust the taste with salt and black pepper as needed.

6. Serve portions of chicken meat with gravy, on rice or as side dish.

Note: This recipe can be substitute with lamb and ostrich meat. Cooking time should be adjusted accordingly to the type of meat cuts or until the meat is tender. If the gravy evaporates too quickly, you can add extra 125 ml/ ½ cup of water. In this recipe I added some potatoes wedges which also thickened the gravy.

You can make the dry spices few weeks ahead. Make certain portions for each kilogramme or ½ kg. of meat. Let the toasted spices cool down. Grind into fine powder and keep it air-tight container or vacuum pack. Don't forget to label how many grammes that quantity of spice will give you and how many spoons you need for the amount of meat you use.

Enjoy!

Tomato Chicken Stew

After a week of bad coughing, sneezes and lack of sleep, I really need something to perk me up. Something spicy and sourish yet doesn't hurt my sore throat (big grin), to get back to my usual self... I had to cook the deboned chicken breasts & drumsticks I bought before expired. My brain still shrouded with sleepy lambs as I typed this entry and I still need to finish the antibiotics... urghhh! Please excuse me if there's typo error... :-D Outside, it's raining heavily and windy since yesterday morning. I don't mind though... it helps to cool down the hot weather several days ago. After this, I'm going to make a cup of hot cocoa... hmmm... maybe a jug?

Tomato Chicken Stew

Serves 2-3

500 g Chicken, chopped into 5 cm pieces (or drumsticks/breast meats)

Pinch of Salt & Tumeric powder

1/2 cup Oil (for shallow frying)

2 nos Onions, sliced

1 small can Tomato Purée

2 nos Tomatoes, quartered

1 tbl Sugar or to taste

1 tbl Salt or to taste

Some Water

Spices (ground/blend finely):

6 nos Shallots

3 cloves Garlic

6-10 Red Chillies, seeded

1 pc Lemongrass (use the plump white portion only)

2 cm knob of Ginger, skinned

Method:

1. Rub chicken with a pinch salt & tumeric powder. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a deep pan/wok over medium fire/heat. When hot, fry the chicken in batches for 5 minutes. Remove chicken, drain on kitchen papers and set aside.

3. In the remaining oil, stir-fry the ground spices until fragrant and oil separates - about 3 mins.

4. Add sliced onions and stir-fry until they start to soften - about 1 minute. Stir in tomato purée and bring to a boil.

5. Add chicken and mix well. Pour some water to cover the chicken by 3/4 (about 2 cups). Bring to a boil.

6. Reduce fire/heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add quartered tomatoes and continue to cook for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is tender and gravy is thick. Season to taste with salt and sugar. Garnish with chopped spring onions or coriander.

Notes: This is a Malay style stew. As with stews, it tastes better the day after. Prepare it a day ahead and warm up to serve. You can serve with rice, fried rice or even on pastas.

If you like really hot, you can replace the chillies with Dried Red Chillies but soak it first, remove the seeds and then ground/blend together with other spices.

Hope you like it... :-)

Roasted Yogurt Chicken In Ghee

I love Indian food because of the cuisine's usage of herbs and spices that I grew up with. When you mentioned Indian food, first thing came into people's mind was images of red chillies floating in reddish coconut milk gravy, grounded spices, sweating red faces and tongue wagging with glasses of cold ice water (a bucket, maybe?) or lassis in one hand. I even have friends/relatives whom mentioned the word 'curry' would made them pale-faced and avoid any shops or restaurants that serve 'curry' like plague! They rather starved than tasting it...even if it's only Kurma based dishes! Is not like that at all... There are other dishes that's not going to make you swallowed that bucket of ice in front you at a gulp! 

The meaning of 'Curry' is derived from South Indian - Tamil word 'kari' which means sauce or relish for rice. It refers to wide range of spicy-sauced dishes as accompaniment to rice and bread. Another red alert word for newcomers in Curry World is 'Spicy'. It's a magic word that sends out for a fire brigade on stand-by... :-D It actually means seasoned with or containing spice that ranges from aromatic, sweet, sour, peppery, zesty to piquant or pungent like cardamom, cinnamon, tamarind, black pepper, asafoetida, chillies, tumeric, etc, etc,etc. That means you could have Rasam which is sourish to peppery taste next to Meen Curry Fish -  a Kerala dish with thick and quite spicy-hot gravy. See what I mean? Yet this couldn't bring the house down compared to Thai Red Curry or Thai Curried Beef... :-D 

I'm not sure of other foodies taste buds regarding spicy and hot cuisines but from my own experiences and friends, it's a hate-love situation. You would have a group with eyes lit up with 'Where? Where?' sign written on their foreheads and even could hear slurping sound somewhere by just mentioning the word 'curry' and another group, frowning their faces, ready to get a roll of toilet paper. Well, I do have friends who are a bit sensitive to curry but... it's ok if it's Tandoori. I don't know why... I do felt sorry for them that I kept 1 - 2 toilet paper rolls wrapped up nicely inside one of the back side compartment of my car. You know, on the safe side when the gang suddenly changed their minds in last minutes to go Indian or Thai food instead of Chinese fare... I do say that we're a bit... no, too spoilt of choices in food in Malaysia and I LOVE IT!!!

Anyway, I wanted to share this dish. It's a family favourite and I usually served it with Briyani Rice and vegetables.

Roasted Yogurt Chicken in Ghee

500 g chicken/breast meats, drumsticks or your choice (clean & cut into chunks)

150 ml Ghee

1 nos. Green Lime (extract the juice)

2 nos Red Onion/Bombay Onion (sliced thinly into rings)

2 cloves Garlic } blend/pound together 

3 cm  fresh Ginger  } until fine paste

250 ml ready-made Natural yogurt (plain & no sugar added)

2-3 medium size potatoes-cut into wedges

1 nos medium size carrot - cut into rounds/wedges

300 ml Water or as needed

3 nos Cloves

2 nos Cardamom

3-4 cm Cinnamon bark

1 nos Star Anise

1 Tsp Tumeric powder

1 Tsp Chilli paste

Chilli powder to taste

1 Large Ripe Tomato - cut into quarters

Onion cripies (fried crispy shallots)

Salt to taste

Oven-proof pot/deep casserole dish (like Pyrex/Corningware)

1. Pre-heat the oven @ 180 ºC.

2. In a casserole (that's big enough for the chicken) heat the ghee until is hot.  

3. Add in the chicken, lime juice, big onion, tumeric, chilli paste and a little salt. Stir and leave it for few minutes until it boils.

4. Add in the potatos wedges and carrots. Stir until well mix and let them cooked until soften a bit.

5. Pour in the yogurt and add in some water (adjust to your liking if you prefer to the dish to have more gravy or less because vegetables will give out juices as well.) Cook until meat is tender.

6. Add in the quarterd tomatoes, chillie powder and fried crispy shallots. Bake in the oven @ 180 º C for 10-15 minutes until brown.

Serve hot with rice or naan, bread, chapatis...

Note: If you like it more hot or spicy, just add extra chilli powder or fresh chillies.. :-D Sometimes, I used extra spoonfuls of Ghee I made myself by using unsalted butter. If you can't find unsalted butter, you can use salted butter to make Ghee but reduce the amount of salt required in the recipe. More Ghee means better aroma your dish is but watch out the cholesterol level...