Sweet and Sour Chicken

 

When I harvest brinjal (also known as eggplant, aubergine) from my balcony garden, I will definitely cook this Japanese Sweet and Sour Chicken. Serve with rice and it will become a complete meal as this dish has chicken and loaded with many types of vegetables. I've even cooked a 'vegetarian' version i.e. without the chicken and it tasted just as good. The lotus roots are crunchy; potatoes, carrots and brinjal are soft and tender; bell peppers are sweet; and the chicken remained surprisingly crispy even after coated with vinegar sauce. I've adapted the recipe for this very colourful dish from Just One Cookbook.

Ingredients

1 chicken thigh (with skin, about 290g)

Marinade for chicken:

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon sake

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 teaspoon grated garlic

Vegetables:

3 medium sized potatoes

1 section of lotus root (300-400g, I buy those that are coated with wet mud as these are tastier)

1 carrot

1 brinjal

1 large onion (cut into wedges)

1 green/red/yellow bell pepper/capsicum (cut into wedges)

Vinegar sauce:

2 tablespoon sugar

1 and a half tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Half tablespoon rice vinegar (Just One Cookbook's recipe calls for black vinegar but I don't have it in my kitchen. So I replaced with rice vinegar)

Half tablespoon mirin

Half tablespoon water

Half tablespoon sake

1 teaspoon potato starch

1 spoonful of love 

Method

1. Clean chicken thigh and cut into small pieces. Marinate it for at least half hour.

2. Cut the vegetables to small pieces/wedges. For root vegetables like carrot and potatoes which take longer to deep fry, boil them first until they are tender (about 5-10 minutes), and then drain and set aside.

3. Deep fry the vegetables until the edges are light golden. Set aside.

4. Coat the chicken pieces in potato starch just before deep frying. Deep fry in batches until they are nice golden brown in colour. Drain and set aside. 

5. Remove the oil left from frying vegetables and chicken. Heat the wok and put all the vegetables and chicken into the wok. Stir fry over medium heat until they are evenly heated. Pour the vinegar sauce over the vegetables and chicken, stir fry to combine for one to two minutes.

6. Transfer to a big bowl or plate and serve.

Baked Sea Bass in Butter and Garlic

 烘烤鲈鱼

Enjoy restaurant quality baked sea bass in the comfort of your home. This delectable dish is very easy to cook. Do give it a try if you love garlic and butter. This recipe serves two. 

Ingredients

1 fresh sea bass fillet, about 170g to 200g  (do not buy farm-bred ones which carry a mud taste)

4 cloves of garlic (peeled)

2 tablespoon olive oil (I use cold press extra virgin olive oil)

20g unsalted butter (cut into thin slides)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Dashes of freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon white wine

1 spoonful of love

Method

1. Place garlic cloves in a small pot and add olive oil. Cook the garlic cloves over very low heat in the stove until the garlic cloves are tender and cooked through and lightly caramelized. Takes about 15 to 20 mins. Remove from heat and let the garlic cloves cool down to room temperature.

2. Rub both sides of the sea bass with olive oil (from cooking the garlic cloves), salt and black pepper.

3. Place the sea bass in a baking dish with the skin side facing up.

4. Place the butter slices on the skin.

5. Mash each garlic clove by pressing them between your thumb and index finger, and spread it on top of the butter.

6. Drizzle white wine into the dish and bake the sea bass in the pre-heated oven at 190 deg cel for 10 mins.

7. Remove from oven and baste the sea bass with the liquid (from the fish, white wine and butter) in the baking dish. Drizzle a bit of lemon juice over the sea bass, top with parsley / micro greens (if available) and serve hot.

Enjoy!

Nasi Ayam Penyet (Indonesian Smashed Fried Chicken Rice)

 印尼炸鸡

This is a very popular dish in Indonesia and widely found in Singapore's hawker centre and food courts. Ayam means "chicken" and Penyat means "Smashed" in Bahasa Indonesia. We went to a new food court for lunch two days ago and tried the Ayam Penyet there. It was very tasty, and I quickly search for its recipes. There are many versions and I adapted the recipes from Lisa's Lemony Kitchen and honest-to-goodness. I did not include recipe for sambal (chilli sauce/paste) as my family does not take spicy food.

Ingredients A 

1 chicken (cut into 4 pieces)

2 bay leaves

3 lemon grass (white part) - crush/smash it

2-3cm blue ginger (galangal) - crush/smash it

3 kaffir lime leaves - remove center vein

1 litre water 

2.5 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Spice paste (12 shallots, 5 garlic cloves, 4 candlenuts [optional], 1/4 teaspoon tumeric powder, 1/4 teaspoon coriander powder)

1 spoonful of love

Ingredients B 

50g rice flour

10g corn flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

100ml chicken broth

Sides which you can serve with this dish:

Tau Kwa/firm tofu - can fry using the same batter

Tempeh (fermented soybean) - can fry using the same batter. Click here to know more about tempeh.

Vegetables e.g. cucumber

Method

1. Prepare spice paste. I use a mortar and pestle to pound all the spices. You can use a blender.

2. Put all the ingredients A in a big pot and bring to boil. Then simmer for 1 hour until the water is reduced to half.

3. Remove chicken pieces from the pot and let the chicken and the chicken broth cool completely.

4. Prepare batter using ingredients B. The chicken broth is from above steps and should be cooled to room temperature before mixing with the batter. The batter is liquid in consistency. 

5. Cook rice as per normal but using the cooled chicken broth. I added a bunch of pandan leaves to make the rice more fragrant.

6. Smash each piece of chicken (I use pestle to do it). 

7. Dip the smashed chicken into the batter and deep fry until light golden in colour. 

8. Turn up the heat in the fryer/wok to approximately 180 degree celcius. Fry the chicken pieces again until nicely brown. This will take about 20seconds for each piece. Place the fried chicken on wire rack to cool.

9. Serve the fried chicken hot with rice and sides. 

Japanese Souffle Cheesecake

日式舒芙蕾芝士蛋糕

Souffle cheesecake originated in Japan and I recall that the first of such cake to sell in Singapore was under the brand 'miki ojisan'.

I baked this cheesecake last week. It has a pillowy soft, cottony texture and tastes best when chilled. 

Ingredients

Cream Cheese   160g (room temperature, take out from fridge at least half hour before baking starts)

Fresh milk         50g

Unsalted butter  20g

Cake flour          40g

Large eggs          4

Sugar                 70g

1 spoonful of love

Method

1. Separate the yolks from whites and keep the whites in fridge until ready to whisk (step 6)

2. Put butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl, and place it over a pot of hot water. Then whisk to combine these two ingredients until you get a smooth mixture.

3. Add milk to the cream cheese mixture and whisk to combine. Remove the mixing bowl from the hot water.

4. Sieve in cake flour and whisk to combine.

5. Add in egg yolks (all 4 of them) and whisk to combine.

6. Make meringue. Whisk egg whites using electric mixer or hand whisk and add in sugar in 3 batches. Stop whisking when you reach soft peaks i.e. the egg white peak bends a little when you lift the whisk.

7. Take 1/3 of the meringue and whisk gently into the cream cheese mixture (from step 5). Then pour the cream cheese mixture into the remaining meringue, and use spatula to fold quickly but gently.

8. Pour into baking pan (lined with parchment paper). I use a 20cam square pan. Tap the pan on the bench/table top a few times to remove air pockets.

9. Place the baking pan in a bigger baking tray/pan that is filled with water up to 2cm of the souffle cheesecake baking pan. Bake in 150 deg cel preheated oven (top and bottom heat, no fan) for 30mins, open the oven door fully 5 seconds, then lower the oven temperature to 100 deg cel and continue to bake for another 30mins. Every oven is different, so do adjust the baking temperature and timings accordingly. 

10. Leave the cake in the oven (door open) for 5 mins. Then remove the cake from the baking pan and place it on cooling rack. Chill the cake when it has cooled completely and enjoy!

Pandan Chiffon Cake

 斑斓戚風蛋糕

This recipe produced the best chiffon cake that is very soft and moist! I adapted from oladybakes who uses the cooked dough (烫面) method where the flour is slightly cooked in hot oil.

Ingredients

60g cooking oil (I use sunflower oil / coconut oil)

100g cake flour (I use Prima top flour)

4 egg yoks

5 egg whites

1 tsp fresh lemon juice (you can replace with 1/2 tsp cream of tartar if you have it)

70g caster sugar

1 tsp of pandan extract

95g coconut milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 spoonful of love

Method

A. To make pandan extract:

I have ready access to pandan leaves as I grow my own pandan plant. Blend 2 bundles of pandan leaves (about 12-15leaves) with 200ml water, squeeze the pulp and filter the pandan water using a fine mesh sieve. Store the pandan water in a container and keep in fridge for at least two days for the pandan extract to settle to the bottom of the container. The thick dark green sediment (see red arrow) is the pandan extract.

B. To make chiffon cake:

1. Stir pandan extract and salt into coconut milk and set aside.

2. Heat up the oil to 60+ deg cel. Add sieved cake flour and use a whisk to combine. Add the pandan coconut mixture (step 1) and whisk to combine. Add in the egg yolks one at a time, and whisk to combine. You will get a smooth and thick batter like this:

3. Use hand or stand mixer to whisk the egg whites, lemon juice and sugar (add in 3 batches) to stiff peak.

4. Take 1/3 of the meringue and whisk into the batter (step 2). Then pour the batter into the meringue and use spatula to fold in gently but quickly. 

5. Pour into cake tin and bang the tin a few times on table top to remove air pockets in the batter. Bake at 150 deg cel (top and bottom heat, no fan) for 30 - 35 minutes. Each oven is different, so please adjust baking temperature/time accordingly.

6. Invert the tin to cool the cake. Unmould the cake and serve.

Note to self:

- step 2, when pandan coconut mixture is added, the mixture will become thick and paste-like.

- step 5, 20cm cake tin