Honey Mustard Baked Chicken

It's an easy to prepare dish.

My 3 year old rosemary plant died after I got back to work, LOL. I barely had time to do gardening. And this dish was made before I said goodbye to it.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

My 2nd daughter was going to have a bithday party and she asked for a Mermaid themed party.

As I planned out the menu, I thought of making a finger food menu, food that can be eaten without cutlery. And I will try to incorporate as many homemade food as possible. And most importantly, food that can be prepared in advance and reheated on that day.

One of which I planned was chicken nuggets as dear daughter doesn't eat Chicken, as in chicken, but she eats chicken nuggets. Cooking for her is always a headache as she can happily say no to everything and eat plain rice happily. So, to make things better, I decided to make them myself, in the shape of fish to suit her theme.

Plum Sauce Chicken Wings Baked in a Flash ~ Book Review n Giveaway

I was given 4 books to review.

This is the first book that I went through, Heavenly Fragrance: Cooking with Aromatic Asian Herbs, Fruits, Spices and Seasonings by Carol Selva Rajah. Carol has written a few books before and you might have seen a few of her books in bookstores.

Ginger Baked Chicken Pieces 姜茸烤鸡片

Sometimes I just feel soo lazy to wash up after cooking.

Initially I wanted to steam the chicken and then cook the sauce to pour over, but the lazy bug hit me the last minute and I dumped everything in and baked it instead. Reducing a lot of washing up. I used just one bowl for marinating and another dish for baking. But if you want, just use the same baking dish to marinate. Even lesser to wash, haha!

Ayam Pelalah @ Balinese Shredded Chicken - AFF Indonesia #1

I have been to Bali once, and that's for my honeymoon in 2005
Indonesia is the only country that I have ever traveled to, besides Singapore.

I love the friendliness of the people in Bali and most of all, I love the local cuisine.
There's a whiff of similarities as there's chilli, lemongrass, shrimp paste, galangal, shallots and garlic in the things that I eat..but, there is always this different smell in all their sambals. I couldn't figure out what was that special unfamiliar smell, until I got to know it's the lesser galangal, known as kencur in Indonesia, cekur in Malaysia and 沙姜 in Chinese. It is a type of ginger that we usually use for confinement purposes because of it's health properties.

Portuguese Style Chicken 葡国鸡 - AFF HK Macau 鸡 #3

Galinha à portuguesa or Portuguese Style Chicken 葡国鸡 is a Macanese dish that did not originate from Portugal, but given a Portuguese title to enhance its status.

There are many versions on the internet. Some made with turmeric, some with a mixture of turmeric and English curry powder. I did try once with a recipe from Open Rice, of which seemed simple and nice. The taste was good, I have to say, but there's supposed to be a fragrance, of which is missing.

Galinha à Africana @ African Chicken 非洲鸡 - AFF Hong Kong Macau 鸡 #1

This month's Asian Food Fest brings you Hong Kong and Macau, both popular holiday destinations, that were once colonies of the British and Portuguese. Visit Annie's blog to read the introduction that she wrote.

Galinha à Africana is a chicken dish from Macau, not Africa.
I learnt of this dish via Hong Kong movies during my teens.

Yogurt Spiced Wings - Wings #3

It’s almost tandoori wings.

I changed so much of the ingredients to suit my pantry’s stuff that I don’t think the recipe seem similar anymore. It's better not to mislead using the same name.
When this is not for MFF, I am back to me, changing the recipe according to my needs, but still try to be as near as possible with similar substitutions,

Ayam Pentul, Indonesian Chicken Boxings - Wings #1

Yummy yummy! This dish seems to need more effort, but it's all worth it!

My hubby only had one comment, "Why did you make so few?"
10 and it's not enough to be shared among 3 adults, as there were other dishes as well.
Sigh. It's hard trying to guess how much the man wants to eat, right?

Thank you Nisa's mommy, it's a great dish.

Inche Kabin (Nonya Fried Chicken) - Penang MFF #3

Inche Kabin, no matter how it's spelled (yes, there are many variations to its spelling- Enche Cabin, Inchi Kaybin.. or whatever!) is a Penang Nonya dish. Said to be invented by the Hainanese chefs who used to work for the rich nyonya families in Penang.

I first had a taste of this dish in a coffee house, haha, yeah, 20 years back, coffee houses were everywhere. It's not like Starbucks that sort of stuff, but one goes to these places to have sundaes and chicken chop, set lunch and probably get that cup of instant coffee with sachets of  creamer and sugar. I ordered this dish because the name sounds special, I expected something Japanese, LOL.

Old Fashioned Chinese Fried Chicken - Chicken #1

When I was 4, when I woke up one morning.. I remember grandaunt holding a can of Brown and Polson cornstarch, that she fondly calls as butterfly powder. She looked at me and said, today I'll make something delicious for you with this butterfly powder.

I saw her chopping up a chicken, marinate a big plate of it for a few hours. Then I saw her frying them. When it was my dinner time (Yes, I am always the first to eat at 5pm), grandaunt gave me my favourite part, the middle wing. Then she told me, it's my birthday. That's why we have fried chicken today.

Being so young, I hardly knew what are birthdays, let alone my own birthday. In those days, children's birthdays were usually not celebrated, only birthday of old people are celebrated.

Pekan's Roasted Chicken~ Ayam Golek Pekan - MFF Pahang #1

Ayam Golek literally means, rolled around chicken. Something like rotisserie chicken. Pekan is the royal town of Pahang, of which is the current Prime Minister’s hometown. So, this is Pekan’s Rotisserie Chicken.

I got this recipe from Pekan Municipal’s website. It’s a recipe from Pahang’s Palace, from the Sultanah’s cookbook. There are lots of recipes there, do visit it and see if there's anything you like.

Manok Pansoh - Sarawak MFF #1

1st attempt

Hello everybody it's the time for MFF again! And for this month it's Sarawak!
Don't forget to drop by Yummy Little Cooks for last month's roundup for Melaka

For Sarawak, I'll be doing 4 tribal recipes, hehehe.

If one were to ask the Ibans of Sarawak, what is the most famous food from their community, they'll answer you it's manuk pansuh/manok pansoh. Manuk is chicken and pansuh is cooking in bamboo. The Bidayuh tribe will instead call this as "Siyok Buruu". I do know that cooking in bamboo is also practised by other aboriginal peoples of the world, and have even seen a similar "orang asli" recipe in the Pahang Sultanah's cookbook.

Chicken Fried in Dry Coconut Sambal~Ayam Kalasan Berseri - Ayam #3

The description that Zurin made for this dish, made me interested straight away. It was the mention of delicious scraps! I love fried chicken scraps. They are sometimes more delicious than the chicken itself, LOL. In this case, it's coconut scraps. Sounds good eh :)

Chicken in Milk and Cream - Chicken Trio # 3

Recipe done in March 2011

The name itself was interesting. I saw Jamie Oliver made this before on TV.

Curry Chicken Chop - Chicken Trio # 1

Dish prepared in May 2011

Sick of the usual curry? Sick of the usual Chicken chop with mushroom sauce or brown sauce or even the traditional ketchup? Try this for a change.

Fennel Thyme Honey Roasted Chicken - Confinement Month # 5

Sick of chicken soups?  Sick of braised chickens? Try roasted during confinement or not.

Fennel is a galactagogue, meaning, it helps you by giving you more milk. Whereas thyme is one of the ingredients in DOM. And thyme has oxytoxin-effects meaning, it helps with contractions. After delivery, the uterus needs to contract back to it original state. I read in wikipedia, thyme tea is often given to post partum mothers in Jamaica to help with uterine contractions, but then again, no need to worry about what Sheila said about the placenta, it is already removed long before you are eating this at home. Don't worry, anyone can consume this, even men. As the spices are really common, in curries, in garam masalas, in stews, in Murukus, in lots of Indian snacks and so on and so forth. But pregnant women need to be cautious and not consume this too often.

I roasted these chicken parts in a roasting dish, to catch all the juices. The juices are wonderful to be spooned over rice, but do take care to remove the excess oil on the surface of the juice.

Salted Egg Yolk Chicken

A very sinful chicken. 3 salted duck egg yolks and butter and deep fried chicken!!!! Prepare less sinful dishes to go with this to balance up your meal.

You may think, what is this woman cooking such unhealthy stuff to her family??? Well, I don’t cook this everyday!!!! So what??? I don’t believe in cutting off everything totally. I believe in moderation.
I may eat KFC today and salad tomorrow. It’s when you eat rich and oily foods everyday that’s going to put a burden on your body. But depriving the body totally of such GOOOOOD stuff is so evil.

But then again, I’m not referring to those who have health problems. So don’t bombard me with comments scolding me. What you put on your plate and in your mouth is your own choice. It’s me being evil to deprive myself.

You may also think 3 salted egg yolks???? Gosh!!!! The salted egg taste is just nice. I’ve seen on cooking shows that restaurants use 6 egg yolks for one plate of crab. SIX!!!!!!!!
So, 3 yolks is just nice here.

Salted Egg Yolk Chicken
Recipe Source: Wendyywy

(A)
350gm boneless whole chicken leg, cut into 1 inch thick large slices
1/3 tsp salt
Pepper
1 egg white
1 cup tapioca starch
Oil for deep frying

Dry chicken properly. Mix chicken with salt and pepper. Then put in egg white. Marinate for half an hour, at least. Coat whole pieces of chicken with tapioca starch. Dust off extra starch.
Deep fry chicken pieces until golden and crispy.

2 Tbsp butter
2 sprigs curry leaves, remove from stem, leaves only
1 or 2 bird’s eye chilli, sliced
3 salted egg yolks, steamed and mashed
2 Tbsp evaporated milk
1 tsp oil
1/3 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar

In wok, on medium heat , put in oil and butter. When butter has melted, put in sliced chilli and curry leaves. When they are fragrant, put in mashed egg yolks, with spatula, try to flatten the yolks into the oil and cook until it look bubbly and fragrant (won’t take long). Turn heat to low and put in milk, salt and sugar. Turn heat to high and and cook until very bubbly. Put in chicken and toss until well coated.


So, what did I do with the balance of salted egg whites?? Check out my next post tomorrow :)

Double Fennel Roasted Chicken

I saw some fennel at Jusco, locally grown at Camerons. Whoopppie!!! They were cheap!!! I didn’t know what to do with them but I bought them anyway cos I was told, it’s a new produce and it’s not sold often. I’ve seen fennel growing in Camerons before, in Mardi Park in Tanah Rata, but I never knew Cameronians will one day plant this to sell.

Then I saw Australian butternut squash. Usually they are pretty big, but this time I saw some small ones. The name is really enticing, butternut. Is it really that buttery? I won’t know until I’ve tasted it, and that’s for sure. This baby cost me almost RM14. Hahaha!!! The big ones will cost me more than RM30. Crazy!!!
Then I came back and searched on the internet high and low for recipes… and I don’t’ want soup. No fennel soup, no butternut squash soup. In the end, I settled down with roasting them.

1kg Whole chicken legs (3 rather large pieces)
½ Tbsp salt
½ Tbsp fennel seeds
Few black peppercorns or some ground black pepper

2 bulbs of fennel (rather small when compared to imported ones, if imported ones, 1 will do)
Some salt and some pepper
Few cuts of Butternut squash, just as a rack and part of the meal later on (You can substitute with pumpkin)
Some butter and 1 tsp of honey for each leg

1. Mill salt, fennel seeds and black peppercorns until fine.
2. Rub (1) onto chicken legs.
3. Marinate them for at least 1 hour (do not stack them, and leave them uncovered in the fridge to dry up a bit)
4. Preheat oven to 180/200C.
5. Place butternut squash onto baking pan. Slice fennel and sprinkle them over butternut squash. Season with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. (just like what Jamie Oliver usually will do)
6. Place marinated chicken over fennel and butternut squash.
7. Thinly slice some butter and lay them on the chicken.
8. Bake for 30 minutes until golden
9. Remove chicken frm oven and quickly brush (I just use the back of spoon) 1 tsp of honey on each leg.
10. Pop them back into the oven for another 15 minutes. They will be very golden when done.

The chicken was just nicely cooked, saltiness level perfect. The roasting juices were wonderfully sweet!!!! Not sweet from the honey but from the chicken, butternut and fennel. What could be better than to have some rice to soak up all the gravy… err.. you may like mash potatoes, but we like rice. And I made some garlic rice to go with it. (Recipe for garlic rice, later)

If you ask me what does fennel smell like when raw.. a bit like celery, a bit like parsley.
What it taste like when cooked… Celery, the bottom white part of celery. Just that it has more texture to chew on.

What does butternut squash look like inside : A pumpkin
What does butternut squash taste like when cooked : A pumpkin, hahaha!! Just nuttier.

Any of you have any recipes to suggest me for fennel?? Preferably no soups and salads.

Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu

My hubby loves Chicken Cordon Bleu. And it's the fried version.

When I saw a baked version on Angie's Recipes, I knew I just have to make this very soon.
I had a hard time trying to secure the ends, with a few time almost poking through my fingers.

I served this with a serving of salad with tomato cream and baked garlic fries. My husband said this tasted better than the local cafe that he frequents for this dish, saying this tasted like chicken. Not that the cafe didn't use chicken, hahaha, but the chicken was coated in so much batter and crumbs that the chicken doesn't seem to be the main star.


Here's what I used

2 Boneless Chicken whole legs
Salt, pepper and oregano
2 sliced of ham
2 slices of cheddar cheese (each broken up into 4 long strips and stacked)

1/3 cup bread crumbs
1 Tbsp finely grated parmesan
1 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp chicken broth (I used instant noodles chicken flavour seasoning, just 1/2 tsp mixed with water)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180/200C.
2.Lightly flatten the boneless whole legs with the back of a cleaver or a meat mallet.
3. Sprinkle some salt, pepper and ground oregano onto chicken.
4. Put a piece of ham, then a piece of stacked cheese onto each chicken leg.
5. Roll up and secure ends with toothpicks.
6. Mix broth with garlic.
7. Mix bread crumbs and parmesan
8. Roll chicken into chicken broth and then the breadcrumb mixture.
9. Drizzle melted butter over chicken.
10. Bake chicken for 20-30 minutes or until chicken looks golden and crispy.
11. Remove toothpicks before serving.