Ingkung Ayam ~ Indonesian Chicken Coconut Milk Stew

Ingkung Ayam is a chicken stew popular in Central Java. White coconuty chicken stew that has hints of aromatics but it wasn't spicy at all.

The recipe I cooked wasn't as complicated as the version in Jogya, but it came together with Nasi Liwet Solo's recipe.

Serve the chicken in large pieces or tear it into strips to serve in Nasi Liwet Solo.

Khao Piak Sen @ Lao Tapioca Noodles in Chicken Broth - Indochina AFF~ Lao Food #3

Khao Piak or Ka'piek is a chewy noodle, almost similar to the texture of udon, of which is made with wheat instead. For locals, we will find it not too far off from the texture of Lai Fun (Assam Laksa noodles, but Lai Fun is less chewy. The Vietnamese has another noodle similar to this, called Bánh canh. But served in other ways.

Chogyetang @ Vinegar Mustard Chicken Soup - AFF Korean Soups #3

Chogyetang....a delicious summer soup from Pyong Yang, North Korea.

Not much recipes on the internet, somehow felt lucky to find a North Korean soup recipe in English.

Cho meant vinegar, gye is mustard and tang is soup.

Swiss Wings 瑞士鸡翼 - AFF HK Macau "Gai" #2

Like the previous chicken dish, this is another one commonly mentioned in my Hong Kong culture guru, TVB.

I did wonder did these originate from Switzerland? I found the answer and nope, they did not.
In fact they were first called this way, when a waiter could  pronounce the word 'Sweet' properly. And the customer  liked it so much and came back again asking  for sweet wings by calling them as Swiss Wings, as that's what he thought the name was. And the urban legend lives on. It is said that the best is found at Tai Ping Koon.

Linatan~ Chicken Rice Parcels - Sabah MFF #3

When I first saw this recipe.... I asked myself, how nice can this be?

Then as I think about it, I remembered how my mom used to put steamed chicken juices onto our rice, and it was heavenly. No fancy seasoning, and the chicken was only rubbed with some salt and steamed.

Now... I roughly know what it tastes like.

Steamed Chicken with Waxed Meat - Wax Meat #1

*More nourish mag winners below this post*

A simple dish that will make you eat and eat and eat more rice.

Easy to do and definitely lovable to gobble.
Thanks Jes for sharing this wonderful recipe.

This was my first time using waxed pork belly and it was delicious!

Guangxi Style Steamed Chicken 广西白切鸡 - MFF Pahang #5

The Kwong Sai(guangxi) Chinese are mostly located in 2 places in Malaysia. First of all, North East Perak on the upper banks of Perak River and the biggest population of Kwong Sais are located in Pahang. In areas like Bentong and Raub, Kwong Sai Chinese is the main dialect group.

Kwong Sai cuisine is not much known out of these areas. Kwong Sai recipes from the internet are not the same as what is consumed by the local Kwong Sais. The local Kwongsais of which are mostly descendants of immigrants from the Rongxian county and that’s the type of Kwongsai cuisine found here.

My mom is one of them and this recipe is verbally taught to me by her.

Steamed Chicken with Red Dates - Confinement Month #4

For confinement, the menu is always chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken. Almost daily it's chicken.

From what I know, the Malays do not consume chicken for confinement as they believe it causes itchiness. My colleagues were surprised we eat so much chicken during confinement. But when I told them, we believe it's the male chickens (rooster, cockerel) that causes itchiness or other allergic reactions, and we only ask for hens during this time. And it's only virgin hens or hens that has never laid eggs.

I don't really like consuming chicken in rice wine.  And confinement menu always consist of sesame oil, herbs, wood ears and ginger. Any type of ginger.. be it turmeric or even galangal. So, far I like these to be in my food, so I find no problem when it comes to eating during confinement, as long as it's not too alchoholic.

This time, I tried a few new confinement recipes and this will be one of the new chicken dishes. More to come in this week. It'll all be about chicken.

If you ask, who cooked this? I was by the side of my confinement lady, instructing her this and that. That's how I did it this time. Or she'll prepare everything I tell her to, and I'll be the one cooking and she'll clean up everything. But it's not for every meal. It's just for new dishes or dishes I don't trust her doing it. Yeah, I'm that fussy!

Wanton Chicken Soup 云吞鸡

 

A recreation of what I've tasted at a few restaurants.

Some put in canned chicken broth, some use the real chicken broth. Of course, those with added canned broth taste absolutely fabulous. Well if not, how can their soup taste so fabulous and it's something that home cooked stuff can never achieve, unless of course, you put the same stuff it. But how many of us wants to eat the same way that restaurants cook? Add the same additives and flavourings? I'm one of those that prefers none or if I can't avoid it, minimal.

Here's how I did it.

You may add in a can of broth if you like, if the chicken is pretty tasteless. Well, what happen to all the chickens nowadays? Malnourished? They are really pretty tasteless, but I could bear with it. Or use MSG.
But I use the way Grandaunt taught me to. Sugar. Sugar is a flavour enhancer in soups. Used sparingly and it could bring out the sweetness of the broth, without being obviously sweet, and definately without the after thirst. Once I made a soup using those caterpillar roots that are sold in Camerons, and I added one tablespoon of sugar to the pot of soup. My elder brother kept on praising how nice the soup was, how sweet those caterpillar roots were, and that I could've made more soup out of it. I was laughing my heart out and told him, it's sugar!!!!! Actually the reason why candied dates are added in soups is also due to the sugar and that add sweetness to the soup.

Chicken Broth

70gm kampong chicken or free range chicken

2 dried scallops/conpoy , 1 iinch diameter big

2 mushrooms

2.5L water

1 tsp Salt, and ½ tsp sugar if you feel something is missing after u taste it 

Bring water to a boil and put in chicken, scallops and mushrooms. Let it simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes. Season with salt and sugar.

Wanton and final assembly
100gm minced pork
1/3 tsp salt
¼ tsp sugar
1 Tbsp water
½ tsp cornstarch
Dash of pepper
15 pcs small prawns (when peeled about the size of my small finger), marinated with a small pinch of baking soda, some salt and sugar
15 pc large wanton skin
200gm siew pak choy or choy sum

1. Mix pork, salt, sugar, water , cornstarch and pepper together.
2. Place 1 tsp pork mixture onto wanton skin. Place 1 piece of prawn onto pork.
3. Lightly brush sides of wanton with water. Fold and seal wanton. Repeat until finish.
4. (do this only when you are about to serve) Bring a pot of water to boil put in wantons. When it floats, scoop it out.
5. Put the cooked wantons into the boiling chicken broth.
6. Put vegetables into the same pot (after cooking the wantons in step 4) and boil for 30 seconds.
7. Remove veggie from pot. Put veggie into broth.
8. Serve hot.

Steamed Angelica Chicken 蒸当归鸡

Angelica Sinensis, or commonly known in Chinese as Dong Guai is a chinese herb for... the ladies..
It has a nice but pungent smell, easily identified by its distinct smell.. I'd say fragrance..hehehe.




Tonight, I defrosted a chicken thigh, and didn't know what to do with it cos I don't like to repeat recipes often (say around 3 months once, or even longer).. then thinking of the dong guai I have in the fridge since my confinement, why not make dong guai steamed chicken.

I know I'm not the first person to do this type of steamed chicken, but I've never eaten one before. So, this dish is created solely by experiment. I think I've only cooked dong guai twice in my life, and that's making health tonics, never for real cooking.. yet.

It's very easy..

1 chicken thigh (cut small)
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp sugar

2-3 thin slices of Dong Guai (angelica sinensis)
1 1/2 Tbsp Gei Zi (wolfberries)
1/4 cup water

1 tsp cooking oil (for oiling plate)



Marinate the chicken with salt and sugar for 10 minutes
Oil a stainless steel plate, or which ever plate u may want to use
Transfer marinated chicken onto the oiled plate. Spread out evenly.
Break up Dong Guai and sprinkle onto the chicken. Sprinkle the Gei Zi too.
Pour water onto the chicken and steam on high heat for 10-15 minutes.





The outcome?? Delicious!! Gravy great with rice, or just slurp it up!



Good for women... and men too.. (men dun drink the gravy too much... lest u become.. ahem**)