Cha Soba With Roasted Basil Chicken Karaage

I decided to have Soba for dinner to combat the sweltering heat. I prefer green tea soba in particular. However, eat cold soba alone any side dish seem too bland. After rummaging through the freezer, I found a pack of frozen basil chicken karaage that is ideal soba accompaniment. 


Cha Soba With Roasted Basil Chicken Karaage

• Cha Soba (available at Daiso for just $2)
• Bonito Sauce (available at Daiso for just $2)
• Basil Chicken Karaage (available at NTUC Fairprice)
• Wasabi

I decide to use the toaster oven bake the Basil Chicken Karaage to reduce oiliness. Baked the Chicken Karaage for 30mins, turning the chicken pieces after 15mins to achieve cripsy consistency. Heat pot with water till it boil. Add in the Cha Soba and reduce the fire as the Cha Soba from Daiso are quite thin and if the water is boiling will cause breakage. Cook the soba for 7 mins and drain in a colander and run thru cold running water to make the soba el dente. Next pour 2 tablespoon of bonito and water to prepare the soba dipping sauce. Add preferred amount of wasabi into the dipping sauce. Bon Appetit.

Roast Prawn Sauce Chicken

Prawn Sauce Chicken is one of the famous dish in "煮炒" literally translate to food stall that offer ala carte dishes that prepared upon order placement. Prawn Sauce Chicken is deep fried but the oil that used to fry the Prawn Sauce Chicken will not be reusable due to Prawn Sauce stench in the oil. In order to reduce such wastage, I decide to roast the Prawn Sauce Chicken instead of deep fry it. The result is uniquely tasteful as the fried version. It doesn't have the oily feeling while retaining the crispiness of the fried version.


Roast Prawn Sauce Chicken

• Prawn Sauce Chicken Powder (Available in all supermart)
• 4 Boneless Chicken Thighs
• Mirin

 Add in the mirin into the chicken thigh to remove the gamey smell. Add in the prawn sauce powder ensure the chicken thighs are evenly coated. Take care not to add to much as the powder contain significant amount of salt. Leave it to marinate overnight to allow the prawn sauce to infuse into the chicken thighs.

Before you roast the chicken thigh, heat up the frying pan with oil and sear the chicken thighs both side for about 3 mins. Place the chicken thigh in well oil oven tray and covered with foil to ensure that chicken remain succulent during the roasting the toaster oven.

Place it in the toaster oven and toast it for 30mins. After that, remove the foil and drain the sauce that accumulate on the oven tray. Put it back into the toaster oven without the foil and grill it 10mins till the skins turn brown and cripsy, Then you're ready to serve it with rice or noodle of choice. 

"Bad Mouth" Fried Chicken Wings - Bonchon 4 Fingers

After BBQ Chicken graced Singapore F&B, 4 Fingers Bonchon Crispy Chicken finally hit Orchard ION B4 to contest with the wealth of diverse F&B outlets with the only contender in Orchard ION for the fried chicken wings is Old Chang Kee unless you want to consider Dong Dae Mun which retail fired chicken cutlet etc. By chance, my makan kaki & me found the Bonchon is not vacant during one late sunday night while we wandering aimlessly in ION prompt us to give this Korean fried chicken a go for our money.

Our first look into the Bonchon menu give us a shock of our life. For 3 mid wings & 3 wingstick (3 Chicken Wings) are priced at $7.95 and for a set meal with drink $9.90. There are 2 flavour of choice :- Spicy Chili or Garlic Shoyu. We ordered $7.95 chicken only set with mixed spicy chili & garlic shoyu in order to try all the Bonchon fried chicken flavours.

After paying up $7.95, we move on to "spacious" unique reclining seating area while we wait for the fried chicken to served to us. While we waiting for the chicken served to us, we notice the video adverstisement screening in Bonchon video wall actually is a collection of video comment film from a group of fried chicken lovers "bad mouthing" other fried chicken franchise. Exact details of the comment I won't delve, I leave it those who are interested to dine in Bonchon to take a look. (Note: The video advert was screening during the time of my dinning, as for whether the advert is still screen in Bonchon, I'm unable to verify). After 5 to 8 minutes wait, the fried chicken wings were served to us.

My first glance of Bonchon Fried Chicken Wings, it is very puny like winglet & wingstick if you compared with Old Chang Kee Fried Chicken Wing. I guess maybe the redeeming factor is in its special flavoring sauce that is coated on the fried chicken. I proceed to take a bite on the Spicy Chili flavour. Bonchon is the most crispy fried chicken in Singapore but with a catch. Bonchon is also the driest fried chicken as you can forget about finding any meat juice.

Bonchon crispy crust is due to their special rice flour batter that contribute to its ability to retain its crispiness after being fried for a long time. The spicy chili sauce have a sweet fusion of Gochuzhang (Korean Chili Paste) & Tasbaco sauce which is pretty unique and I quite like it. As for the Garlic Shoyu, it is sweet shoyu with hint of garlic. For a hefty price of $7.95 for 3 dry crispy winglets & wingsticks, it is unlikely I would revisit Bonchon as I prefer crispy juicy chicken.

Handmade Soba That Never Fail To Amaze Me - Shimbashi Soba Raffles City

The sweltering heat bathing Lion City for the past few weeks doesn't seem to abate. Hot food no longer seem tempting to my palate. Nothing beat having soba during hot hot Singapore summer. Normally, I cook dry soba bought from supermarket or Daiso. Irregardless whatever brand of dry soba I purchased, nothing beat freshly made soba kneaded by human hand. Today my craving for quality cold soba prompt me to tried the Shimbashi soba outlet opened in Raffles City Basement. It been 3 years since I last tried the handmade soba at the newly open Shimbashi Soba at Paragon until now I still reminisce the el dente fresh buckwheat taste that deeply imprint in my brain.  

 I went down to the Raffles City outlet with my usual makan kaki, I tempted to take the Soba Serio $12.20 (simply just plain cold soba with soba dipping sauce and nothing else) but my makan kaki as usual indicated Soba serio although you can enjoy a full plate of soba if you calculate based on BOM (bill of material) might not be that valued for money. For value for money, it is best to go for the value set meal that is available in the Shimbashi's menu.

 
I settle for Teriyaki Don Value set that come with complimentary warm or cold soba while my makan kaki ordered the Tempura Don Value set. I ordered cold soba so that I can savor the handmade soba true el dente-ness. If serve warm, the soba will lose its el dente if left to soak in the soap too long. It took about 15 to 20 minutes, before the value sets were served to us.

The cold soba is served in ceramic dish topped with fresh wakame drenched with soba dipping sauce. Unable to hold back any further, I decide to assault the cold soba as its is the primary reason & mission. As I slurped in the cold soba and took my first bite, the memory when I had my first hand made soba in Shimbashi Soba came flooding back. The soba is still as el dente as I remembered with a fresh taste of buckwheat without any floury aftertaste you get from commercial dried soba. The citrus shoyu dipping sauce and fresh wakame is like the the woodwinds & strings in orchestra, compliment the soba very well without overwhelming your palate. You can taste the soba, shoyu & wakame indivdual taste distinctly.

The chicken teriyaki is not too shabby with very crispy chicken karaage drenched lightly with teriyaki sauce. The whole don ensemble is balanced, the teriyaki sauce not overpowering sweet which is good so you can still taste your chicken karaage and it goes well with the japanese rice. I would conclude that Shimbashi Soba's handmade soba never fails to amaze me as rarely I can visit another outlet and still get to savor the same taste & feel as its flagship during its initial opening. 

No Frills Crispy Fried Chicken Buffet - Dallas Fried Chicken & Ribs PMPO

To usher the first day of New Year 2010 is very simple for me, I just manage to book 2 prime seats for Avatar 3D at Cathay Cineplex at the last minute quite a impossible feat I would say. After the movie, we wander aimlessly along Orchard until we settle at PoMo aka ex-Paradiz Centre that got a face-lift and we chanced upon Dallas Fried Chicken & Ribs, a UK Fried Chicken Franchise with a Fried Chicken Buffet $11 per pax from 3pm to 6pm.

We decide to give it a "GO" as we were very famish and avid fried chicken lovers. Before that, I had read several mix reviews on Dallas. But I decide I should try Dallas with an open mind to see how they scale against leading Fried Chicken Franchise like Popeye & KFC. At buffet price of $11, it is a steal consider KFC family feast of 8 pieces chicken easily cost $25 and Popeye 3 pieces can easily reach $9.90.

The $11.00 buffet covers all the items in Dallas menu from Fried Chicken Wings, Nugget, Fish or Chicken Burger and Rolo (which is a chicken prata wrap) and 1 can of soft drink of your choice. We decide to go for the main highlight of the buffet and order 6 pieces of Dallas Fried Chicken. It took about 10 minutes or so and piping hot fried chicken was served to us on a tray layered with . The freshly fried Dallas Chickens were so fresh it literally "cooked" our fingers when we attempt to handle it. Adverse hunger had reinforced our fingers to withstand the heat and we managed to take a bite into the freshly fried chicken.

My first bite instantly conclude (freshly fried) Dallas chicken can easily KO Popeye & KFC off the fried chicken crown as the chicken is so succulent and juicy with crispy skin. In the flavour department, Dallas resemble KFC's original fried chicken. If you expecting the crispy outer crust like KFC's crispy or Popeye's, you will be disappointed. As I prefer the KFC's original flavour fried chicken (as compared to those crispy crust fried chicken) make Dallas's an ideal KFC replacement as you can never get this level of crispiness with KFC's original.

After having our 9th piece of fried chicken, I decide to order a fish burger as I hitting my limit and decide to give their fish burger a try while my friend settle for Rolo to end our buffet spree. Don't expect a MCD fillet`o'fish here as the fish fillet is those normal cheap fish fillet you can get at supermart. As for the Rolo, the prata wasn't fried crispy enough. Overall, the Rolo is still pliable if you not that fussy.

To objectively conclude my review, I would say Dallas is a no frills fried chicken restaurant that offer above average fried chicken (if you're avid KFC original fried chicken fan) with strength in price and freshness. Do note, Sometimes, you might be serve with those pre-fried chicken that was kept in the warmer. (For Buffet Only) You can tried ask the Dallas staff to fried a fresh batch and they will kindly oblige to your request (if they do not have too much fried chicken on the warmer). But be prepare to wait for 30 minutes, if you want your fried chicken to freshly fried.

Garlic Chicken Ham Portabello Baked Rice

Today is the final cook-out day as the long christmas holiday is ending. I decided to whip up a quick and easy Baked Rice as I got leftover yam rice and garlic chicken ham. Baked Rice is a derivative from French Au Gratin and is hugely popular in Singapore F&B restaurants like Swenson, Pastamania etc.

I dropped by neighbourhood NTUC scour all the offer items of the week - Leggo Pasta Baked Sauce ($3.95) and Portabello Mushroom ($2.95) to complete my baked rice creation. The baked rice come out great as the Leggo Pasta Baked Sauce is thicker than the normal Leggo Pasta Sauce as a result you can use it out of the bottle without the need to reduce it consistency. It is also ideal as a pizza base sauce as it's thick consistency will not cause your pizza base to become soggy.

Garlic Chicken Ham Portabello Baked Rice

• 2 slice of Garlic Chicken Ham
• 2 tablespoon of Leggo Pasta Baked Sauce
• 1 Portabello Mushroom Thinly Sliced
• 1 Bowl of Yam Rice
  
• Mozzarella Cheese

Layer the yam rice evenly on the ceramic baking dish.Optionally, you can use any cooked grain like couscous, fried rice or plain rice. Next layer the portabello mushroom slice to cover the rice leaving some for back rice topping. Slice the 2 slices of Garlic Chicken Ham diagonally until you have 8 slices. Layer the ham on top of each other on top of the portabello mushroom slices. Next scoop the Leggo Pasta Baked Sauce and ensure the whole baking dish is covered evenly with sauce. Now add in the rest of the portabello mushroom slice and top it off with mozzarella cheese. Baked in toaster oven for 15 mins until the cheese browned then serve hot.

Chinese Drunken Chicken

A change of work environment had kept me so occupied that I'm close to announcing my retirement to the world of cooking. Despite that, the spirit of cooking still burning strong in me and I took the opportunity of this long christmas holiday weekend to whip up this dish - Chinese Drunken Chicken. It is a chinese cold dish whereby the chicken have trace of liquor. It is one of the most unique chinese cold dish, as the chicken was serve chill which debunk preconception that chicken only taste good when it is warm.

Chinese Drunken Chicken

• 8 pcs of Chicken Mid-Wing (Thigh or Breast meat also goes well)
• 3/4 cup of Chinese Medlar
• 1/4 cup of Jujubes
• 1 teaspoon of Salt
• 1 tablespoon of Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1 to 1/2 cup of Chinese Cooking Wine
• 2 tablespoon of fish sauce or soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon of honey (optional)

Wash the chicken to remove any excess blood and drain. Add in 1/4 cups of Chinese Medlar, 1 teaspoon of Salt and 1 tablespoon of Chinese Cooking into the chicken wings and marinate for at least an hour or 2. Then put the wings into a steamer and steam it for 1 to 2 hours until the wings is cooked tender and leave it to cool.

Now you prepare the chinese wine marinade that will be use to prepare the drunken chicken. Add 1 cup of chinese cooking wine and 2 tablespoon of fish sauce/soya sauce mix well. Crush the jujubes add it together with the rest of the Chinese Medlar into the wine marinade. Leave the marinade for 1 to 2 hours to let the Jujubes and Medlar flavor to diffuse into the chinese wine. 

After that slowly add in the steam wings into the wine marinade till the marinade cover the chicken completely and chill for 2 hours in the fridge before serving. This is optional, you can add in a tablespoon of honey into the wine marinade to add a sweet twist to the traditional dish.

Thickest Curry - Go! Go! Curry

Another Japanese franchise restaurant (Go! Go! Curry) have bare it fangs in B4 of ION Orchard, competing for a share of Singapore F&B pie with fellow Japanese restaurants Ginza Barin, Gindaco & Aoba. You will a LCD broadcasting in japanese about Go! Go! Curry exploits in other countries and the number of people queuing just to have a GO for their curry. As there isn't much a crowd that day, so we decide to give it a GO as well. 

We were offered a paper menu showing the wide options Go! Go! Curry offer. You will be stumble why they have so many classes (Healthy, Economy, Business & First) amidst the curry type selection. The class is actually determine the amount of rice you get for your curry type you select. You don't expect they will give you additional or bigger piece of Pork Katsu if you order First or Business Class. What you will be getting will be bigger rice serving as you go down the classes. From what we gather about Go! Go! Curry's curry gravy was made from organic onions and no sugar were added to sweeten the curry, only organic onions that were cooked under low heat until caramelized till pure sweetness is added to make Go! Go! Curry gravy and the color of the curry gravy is black reminding you of black sesame paste.

After browsing through the menu, we decide to have Grand Slam as it is the only curry selection with all the toppings offered in under one. So we happily order 2 set of Grand Slam ($18.50 SGD), least to our knowledge, we had opened a door to Jigoku (meaning Hell if translate from Japanese). Before our orders served, we noticed that Go! Go! Curry's curry gravy seem to be premium and they do not seem to serve it in abundance if compared to other curry rice I had in Waraku or Tampopo. So I order extra curry topping of $3.00 for both of us.  

When our Grand Slam was served to us, we got a shock of our life the sheer size of Grand Slam. Grand Slam is a Business Class ranking curry that imbued with all the curry toppings that is enough to feed 3 adults. Neighboring Go! Go! Curry patrons especially a particular Japanese family from opposite table were conversing and making reference to our pure boldness or foolishness to order Grand Slam.

With a do or die conviction, we grit our teeth and assault the curry like mountaineer assaulting Mt Everest. After drenching the extra curry gravy topping on the katsu, we scoop a big of the black curry to taste. Go! Go! Curry is the thickest curry gravy I ever tasted. The sweetness in the curry isn't those "artificial" sweetness you get from adding sugar. It is purely derived from the onions. The curry is rich in texture but in flavor department it is not overwhelming with curry spices that is prevailing in other curry rice offered in Singapore. 

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It is a love or hate depending on individual as it is very thick until you sometimes find you might not have enough to last your whole meal. Luckily, we order extra curry gravy toppings to avert this issue. The chicken and pork katsu fried till very crispy while still maintaining it tender. My friend did complain the pork katsu too thin and do not have enough fat as compared to Tampopo. At this price with so much toppings, such omission is permissible as long the katsu is fresh and not dry. The sausage and the ebi fry doesn't impress me much. The hardboiled egg was overcook as you can see sulphur rings in them.

It took us quite a while to conquer this Mt Everest curry rice with my friend trailing behind barely alive. Go! Go! Curry is a unique curry rice on its own but if they are going to establish their roots in Singapore, they need to do better than just offering curry rice as Singaporean are fickle epicurean that crave for food variety and there are other major Japanese F&B are also offering varieties of curry rice.   

Chinese Chong Qing Mala Wings

It is a busy week for me as I was busy preparing for my work duties hand over that give birth to this recipe - Chinese Chong Qing Mala Wings that is equivalent of Mexican Chipotle Wings. The conceptualization of Chong Qing Mala Wings is from the famous Chong Qing Mala Hotpot - a popular chinese hotpot with thick layer of chili oil floating in the broth surface that any food condiments cook in it will have a hot spicy numbing taste that thrill your taste buds.

 Chinese Chong Qing Mala Wings

• 8 Pcs of Mid Joint Chicken Wings
• 1 Tablespoon of Chong Qing Mala Hotpot Paste (available for sale in Sheng Siong Supermart)
• 1 Teaspoon of Cooking Wine 
  

Marinate the chicken wings with cooking wine to remove raw poultry smell for 5 minutes. Add in the Chong Qing Mala Paste and rub it evenly on all the wings and ensure all the wings are coated with the paste. You do not need to add any other seasoning to the chicken because the Chong Mala Paste Paste is heavily seasoned and any additional seasoning added to to the wings will result in very salty wings. Heat up a non-stick frying pan without adding any oil (as the paste used to marinate the chicken already got chili oil in it), pan fried the wings for 5 mins on both side till you see it brown. Off the stove flame and leave it for another 5mins and serve hot with rice.

Stir-Fried Thai Tom Yam Chicken

This weekend is fully packed with activities for me. As a result, I couldn't cook any fanciful food until I saw my jar of Thai Tom Yam paste in the fridge that spark off this easy-to-cook recipe in my mind - Stir-Fried Tom Yam Chicken. I like to cook this dish during a busy schedule as it is relatively easy and no complex food preparation needed beforehand. I made modification to the recipe by adding few sprigs of Thai Basil Leaves that further enhance the aroma of the Stir-Fried Tom Yam Chicken to a new level. 

Stir-Fried Thai Tom Yam Chicken

• 1 Medium Boneless Chicken Thigh (Cut in Chunks)
• 1 Tablespoon of Thai Tom Yam Paste
• 1 Teaspoon of Cooking Wine
• 1 Teaspoon of Thai Fish Sauce (Optional)
• 2 Teaspoon of Sugar
• 1/2 Cup of Thai Basil Leaves
• 1 Tablespoon of Oil
  

Marinate the chicken thigh chunks with cooking wine, sugar, Thai Tom Yam paste and Fish Sauce. Make sure all the chicken parts are even coated and leave it to marinate overnight in the fridge for best result else at least leave it to marinate for 3 hours. Heat up the frying pan with oil, add in the chicken stir fry it for 5 mins until you see the chicken start to change color. Lower the heat as you do not want overcook the chicken and lose it tenderness, fried for another 5 mins then switch off the stove and add in the thai basil leaves and stir the chicken and make sure the basil leaves even distribute throughout the chicken. The latent heat from the Tom Yam Chicken will release the aroma from thai basil leave making the dish very aromatic and tasty.

Pad Thai That Touch My Heart - Ah Loy Thai

The foodie trek finally is coming to an end. I decide to end it at Shaw Centre (Beach Road) - Ah Loy Thai. Ah Loy Thai is one of the most elusive Thai restaurant I ever encountered as they do not operate in the afternoon or Sunday as a result I never got the chance to taste their Thai food.  

We reached Ah Loy Thai at 6pm and was delighted they are open for business. We are lucky the dinner crowd haven't came in yet. Ah Loy Thai is a no frills Thai restaurant as they do not charge GST or service charge. Basically, you tick down your orders on menu chit, paid for it at the cashier and sit down wait for your order to be serve. We order 2 Pad Thai ($4.80/pax) and a Thai Green Curry ($5.50).

 

 

As we gingerly wait for our orders, the dinner crowd finally comes and Ah Loy Thai  was fully packed in minutes with queue growing. At last, our Pad Thai and Green Curry finally came. When I took my first bite into the Pad Thai, I was amazed of the "Wok Hei" this Pad Thai packed. So far I haven't come across a Pad Thai that was cook with enough "Wok Hei" to touch my heart. The Pad Thai is adequately season with fish sauce coupled with generous serving of Sotong and Prawns that wasn't overcook. It might be a tat oily for some but the lime slice provide is adequate enough to reduce the excess oily feeling this Pad Thai might render.

I moved on try the Thai Green Curry and I find it not too thick (like soup curry) and not overwhelming with coconut cream which is a plus as I have bad experience with thick Thai Green Curry that gave me indigestion. My friend is surprised to find fish ball in the green curry as he no idea that fish ball can add as a accompaniment. The chicken pieces is chunky enough but wasn't as tender as I hoped. Ah Loy Thai would be the contender to rather expensive Thai Restaurant like ThaiXpress or Lerk Thai offering same kind of Thai food.

El Dente Rice - Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

I met up with my dead beat friend (just complete his 10km Nike Run in the morning) at Outram MRT station. He wanted to tag along as I planning to go and feast on a few well known hawkers that lies along Chinatown. The first foodie trek stop of the day is Maxwell Market that lies along Maxwell Road. Maxwell Market house a lot of famous hawker foods that appeared in lot newspaper, magazine as well TV.

We decide to settle for hainanese chicken rice at Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice as we are both famished from the long wait for him at the MRT and his 10km run. Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken rice have gain a lot of accolades from newspapers & TV naming it one of  the top chicken rice stall in Singapore. I persevere on even though the queue for Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice is snake-like long. My perseverance is finally rewarded when the auntie asked for my order.

I ordered 2 small plates of Hainanese Chicken Rice ($2.80) as I plan to save my stomach for others along my foodie trek. Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken rice is very generous as they don't skimp on the meat even if it is just for $2.80. First bite on the rice, bring you nice aroma of pandan leaf chicken infused rice. The rice is very El Dente like risotto but not dry which is very nice, so far not much chicken rice I ate can match Tian Tian on El Dente department. Tian Tian's rice is oilier than normal chicken rice, if you are counting calories you might want to reduce intake.

Tian Tian's Hainanese Chicken didn't leave me much of an impression as the chicken meat is pretty firm (for those who like firm chicken meat) but I prefer it to be tender like one of the notable one I had in Golden Mile Market. It might be due to the type of chicken use as different type of chickens - farm or kampong offers different meat texture when cooked. Tian Tian's chili sauce is standard kalamansi chili blend with garlic and ginger which is slightly spicier than others. Overall, it is quite a nice chicken rice as for whether it is worth the queue is highly depends on individual. As for me, I will probably give it a miss.

Pan Fried Peri Peri Wings

Peri-Peri Chicken, is chicken, marinated in a hot chile pepper marinade, then grilled. The dish's Portuguese and African origins are clearly seen in its names. This dish evolved in Angola and Mozambique (once Portuguese colonies) after Portuguese explorers and settlers brought American chile peppers to Africa. Nando's is one of the famous Peri Peri Chicken restaurant having franchises all over the world. Unfortunately, Nando's have yet set foot in Singapore.

I asked my colleague from Malaysia to purchase the Nando's Peri Peri Sauce so that I can made my own Peri Peri chicken. As I do not have an oven so instead of roasting or grilling the chicken. I will pan fried it on non-stick pan. The end result pretty good as the peri peri wing stick pretty succulent and spicy.
 

Pan Fried Peri Peri Wings

• 7 Piece of Mid-Chicken Wings
• 3 Tablespoon of Nando's Extra Spicy Peri Peri Sauce
• 1 Drop of Wright's Liquid Smoke
• 1 Lime Quarter Slice
• 1 Tablespoon of Jamaican Jerk Spice
• Salt
• Oil
  

Marinate the Mid-Chicken Wings with 2 tablespoons of peri peri sauce, liquid smoke, jamaican jerk spice, pinch of salt and lime juice. Leave it to marinate overight for best result. Heat up a non-stick frying pan lightly coated with oil and pan fried the wings till both side turn golden brown. Serve it on a plate, use a silicone brush and coat the remaining peri peri sauce on the wings and microwave on high settings for 2 mins. Serve it while it is hot.
 

Chicken Rassa - Indian Chicken Gravy

I'm brooding what gravy should I made for the upcoming biryani cooking session as I have no idea how to go about it until I chance on Aayi's Chicken Rassa which was said to great to serve with biryani. I decided add more vegetable into the chicken rassa to spruce it up. The end result is pretty good as the vegetable made the rassa less meaty and ideal accompaniment for biryani. 

Chicken Rassa - Indian Chicken Gravy

• 6-7 chicken wings
  
• 3/4 cup chopped onions
• 1/4 cup chopped tomato
• 1/2 teaspoon of coconut powder
  
• 2 tablespoon of yogurt
• 1 cup of chicken stock
  
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
  
• 4-5 cloves
• 2″ cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste
• 2 green chilies de-vein
• 4 sprigs of coriander
• 1 chopped potato cubes
  
• 1 chopped carrot cubes
  
• Oil
• Salt

Heat a 1 teaspoon and fry cloves, cinnamon, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, red chilies, 1/4 cup onion. When onion turns slightly brownish, add coconut and fry for sometime. Blend them.

Heat 1 teaspoon of oil and fry remaining onions, ginger-garlic paste till they are slightly brownish. Add the chopped tomato and fry till tomatoes become slightly tender. Now add chicken wings and paste, fry till oil separates.
Add well beaten yogurt, salt and cook till chicken is completely done. 

Add in the chicken stock, carrot, potato and boil until the chicken tender. Add chopped coriander and cook for another 1-2mins. The gravy get better as it cooked longer.

Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

After gathering information on how Dum Biryani should taste like from Bismillah Biryani, I decide to whip my my own version of Dum Biryani Hyderbadi style to celebrate Deepavali. Before my visit to Bismillah, I had google on the web and manage to find the cooking procedure for Dum Biryani at Vahrahvah.com.

Based on Vahrahvah instruction, the basmati rice need to precook to certain degree so that when you cook the meat together with the rice both will be evenly cooked. As Vaharahvah didn't specify how much you need to precook the basmatic rice, as a result my hyderabadi biryani didn't came out exactly as I wanted as the rice is not cooked well enough. In order to resolve this issue, I steam the rice over steamer for another 10mins and it came out pretty well.

Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

• 4 pieces of chicken thighs with bone
• 2 cups of basmati rice
• 15 strands of saffron soaked in hot water
• Chicken rassa
• 3 tablespoon of dry chopped red onions

 Marinade

• 60ml of yogurt
• 1 cup of fried dry chopped red onions
• 10 sprigs of coriander
• 1 packet of Shan Chicken Biryani Mix 50g
  
• 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
• 1 teaspoon of chopped ginger
• 1 quart slice lime
• salt
• 1 tablespoon of oil
  

Marinate the chicken thighs with a pinch of salt, garlic and ginger. Squeeze a lime on the chicken and made sure the chicken thighs are evenly marinated. Mix 25g of Shan Chicken Biryani Mix with 60ml of yogurt, coriander, chopped red onions and oil. Apply to the chicken thighs and ensure all the thighs are even coated with the biryani mix. It is best if the chicken thighs are marinated overnight. 

Before you pre-cook the basmati rice, you need to soak it for at least 30 mins. After that, you boil a pot of boiling water with oil and adequate salt in it. When you add in the rice, the water will cease to boil. When the water start to boil, time the cooking for 5mins and drain the rice on colander. On thick based pot or non-stick pot, line the marinated chicken thigh with skin facing the cooking surface as the skin will help protect the chicken from over cook.

Start scooping the pre-cook rice on the chicken thigh to form a think layer, start sprinkle some fried chopped onion coriander and splash the saffron water onto the rice. Repeat for for the next layer until you have completely fill the pot with pre-cook rice. Use a wet cloth and seal the pot with the lid and cook under medium heat for 30mins until you can smell the biryani fragrance the you can start to serve it with chicken rassa. Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani is at it's best when freshly cook so do not delay serving it.

Home Style Lok Lok - Skewer Mala Hotpot

Friend is crashing over my place for Ma La Hotpot. Due to the wet weather, it is ideal for hotpot. Rather than doing those normal style hotpot, I decide to do Lok Lok Hotpot for novelty. Lok Lok Hotpot is whereby the food condiments skewer on bamboo stick and cook in the hotpot. I did a basic skewer with standard cooked items and special chicken skewer and got quite a positive response from my friend.

Cooked Food Lok Lok

• Bamboo Skewers (retail at $2 at Daiso)
• Vegetable FIsh Balls
• Mushroom Pork Meat Balls
• Fake Crab Sticks
  
• Chikuwa
• Fried Fish Roll

You do not need to follow strictly the skewer items listed above. Feel free to experiment with other cooked items for the cooked food lok lok. Before you skewer the food items, check the depth of the hotpot with a skewer to see how much you food items you can skewer to ensure it could be fully cook when you immerse it in the hotpot .

Marinated Chicken Lok Lok

• Bamboo Skewers (retail at $2 at Daiso)
  
• 1 Chicken Thigh Chopped Chunk
  
• 1 Teaspoon of Garlic Puree
• 1 Teaspoon of Ginger Puree
• 1 Teaspoon of Cumin Powder
• 1 Teaspoon of Chili Powder
• Salt
  

Marinate the chicken chunks with garlic, ginger, cumin and chili powder with a pinch of salt overnight. As Daiso's bamboo skewer is pretty thick so if you need to take care in skewering the chicken pieces as you need use certain amount of prodding to poke through the meat. This marinated chicken lok lok taste equally fabulous if you pan fry or grill it.

  Mala Hotpot Hotpot Soup

• Mala Hotpot Soup Pack (retail $1.60 at Sheng Siong)
• 3 to 4 cups of Water

The Mala Hotpot Soup pack sold in Sheng Siong is heavily flavored, therefore you only need 3 to 4 cups of water boil it before you add in the Mala soup pack. Do not add in the whole mala soup pack into boiling water. Add in by tablespoon and do a taste test until the hotpot soup reach the spice level you are comfortable with. Then, you are ready to have a hotpot fiesta.

Hyderabadi Chicken Korma

I'm profess I'm quite an avid fan for Indian cuisine especially Indian curries as the curries although look the same but the taste can varies so much. While chatting with one of my friend (also Indian cuisine fan), he reminisce how he craved for Chicken Korma served with Parantha during his childhood years with it non-spicy yellowish gravy and succulent chicken drumstick that etched deeply in his memory.

This prompt me to google in the web for the recipe that matches his description. After much filtering, I managed to find the Bahavani's Chicken Korma matches closely to my friend description of Chicken Korma. I decide to give it a try with a twist in the preparation to increase the flavour of it.

Hyderabadi Chicken Korma

• 800 grams of Chicken Thighs Chunks
• 1/2 cup of Roasted Cashew Nuts Powdered
• 2 Green Chili Pureed
  
• 4 Cloves
• 1 Cardamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Garam Masala
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Cumin Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Turmeric Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Coriander Power
  
• 1 Tablespoon of Yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon of Butter
• 1 - 1/2 Cup of Water
  
• Salt
  

Marinade

• 1 Teaspoon of Garlic Chopped
• 1 Teaspoon of Ginger Chopped
• 1 Teaspoon of Cumin Powder
• 1 Teaspoon of Turmeric Powder
• 1 Teaspoon of Coriander Powder
• 1 Tablespoon of Yogurt

Unlike Bahavia's recipe, I prefer to pre-marinate the chicken piece as it allows the spice to permeate into the chicken better. After you rinse the chicken thighs dry and chopped it to chunky pieces into a mixing bowl. Add in the marinade ingredient with a pinch of salt and mixed it well with the chicken chunks. Take care to use a spatula or gloves to do the mixing to prevent your hand being stain by the Turmeric powder. After that, keep it in the refrigerator overnight to allow the marinade to soak into the chicken.

Heat up the non-stick frying pan or pot and add in the butter and let it melt. Made sure the heat is set to medium so that the butter doesn't burn. Next add in the Cardamon & Cloves and fry till you smell the fragrant then add in all the dry spices and stir it vigorously at medium low heat for a few sec till the butter separate. Add in the blended green chili and fry it for 1 minute then add in the yogurt fry for another 2 minutes. Add in the marinated chicken in to fry. If you find it too dry you can add in a bit of water. Next, add in the cashew nuts as it will give the curry more body and flavor. After 5 minutes, add in half a cup of water and lower the heat to let it simmer 10 to 15 mins so that the chicken will remain succulent and not overcook. Now you can add in salt to adjust the flavor to your liking.


 

Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤)

Lately, easy to cook herbal soup is in fad and A1 is one of the first food manufacturer to jump into the bandwagon with Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤) and Ten Whole Nourishing Soup (十全大补汤). Chinese herbs are grind to fine powder and put in filtered bag for easy cooking. So you no need to mess with the herbs quantity directly and after cooking you can easily remove it from the soup.

Today, I cook easy Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤) to try haha. Those who verse in herbal soup will laugh their head off why a guy need Eight Treasure Soup as this soup is primarily for female to rejuvenate after their (big aunty come) also known PMS. On the contrary to such belief, this soup is suitable for all sexes, especially if you are anemic, or suffering from faint spell and poor appetite.

Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤）

• 3 to 4 pieces of Chicken Thigh
• 1 Sachet of A1 Eight Treasure Soup ( Sold in Giant Megamart)
• 1 Cup of Baby Carrot or Chopped Carrot
• 2 Teaspoon of Salt & Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon of Cooking Wine
• Dash of Pepper
• Microwave Glade Wrap (Optional)
  

The rule of thumb for "brewing" Chinese Soup, the meat used to brew the soup need to rinse through hot water to remove any traces of bloods or rawness that might affect the soup. I personally find this procedure reduce the soup flavour so I devise a procedure to overcome it. Soak or rinse the chicken thigh in water to get rid of the excess blood. Drain the chicken thigh dry, then add in 2 teaspoon of salt & pepper and 1 teaspoon of cooking wine and massage the chicken thigh thoroughly. Keep it marinate overnight. I enclosed 2 variants of making Eight Treasure Soup depends on individual liking.

Consomme Version:
Soak a sachet of A1 Eight Treasure Soup in water and put it at the base of the bowl. Cover it with 1 cup of carrot or baby carrots then add in the pre-marinate chicken thigh. Seal the bowl with Microwave Glade wrap and put in the steamer and steam it for 2 to 3 hours. Slowly, you will see strong consomme soup will form in the bowl.

Normal Version:
Soak a sachet of A1 Eight Treasure Soup in water and put it at the base of the bowl. Cover it with 1 cup of carrot or baby carrots then add in the pre-marinate chicken thigh. Put the bowl in a steamer and steam it for 2 to 3 hours. As the steam is condense directly into the bowl, the soup will not be as concentrate as the consomme version. 

 

 

Donburi Series - Oyakodon

Nowadays you can see donburi sprouting everywhere in the heartland food court and hawker centre with alluring signboard showing generous serving donburi at attractive prices as low as $3.50. For those who have tried it will say you don't get what you paid just like Mac Donald's fillet'o'fish burger's fish patties had shrunk so much that you could hardly taste any fish when you take a bite. I'm a donburi fan as it easy and fast to cook with everything in a big bowl and oyakodon is my favorite.

  Oyakodon

• 1 Chicken Thigh
• 2 Sprig of Spring Onion
• Oyakodon Season Mix (Available at Cold Storage or Mediya) or Chicken Stock
• 2 Tablespoon of Sugar & Soya Sauce (If you don't have Oyakodon Mix)
• 1 Bowl of Cooked Rice
• 1 Teaspoon of Wine/Mirin
• 1 Tablespoon of Cooking Oil
• 70ml of water
• 1 Egg
  

You can prepare the chicken thigh beforehand slice it to chunk of 4 - 5 or slice it thinly depends on your preference but for my case chunky is the way to go. Marinate the slice chicken thigh with 1 teaspoon wine or mirin and a dash of salt and put it in container in fridge. Chop the spring onion 5cm or finer depending on your preference. You can do this all beforehand to cut cooking time when you get back from work.


You can use a small frypan with cover or get the donburi pan with cover at Daiso at $4 (cover & pan). I got the Daiso donburi pan which is pretty unique as unlike normal frying pan the pan handle is upright at 90°. Heat up pan with tablespoon of oil and add in the chopped spring onion and fry for 1 mins. Once you smell the aromatic fragance of the spring onion add in the chicken and fried for another 2 mins then add in Oyakodon Mix and 70ml of water and cover with the donburi pan with the lid until it boils. For those who dun have Oyakodon Mix can substitute with 1 Tablespoon of Mirin mixed well with 2 Tablespoons of Shoyu and 2 Tablespoon of Sugar. The measurement can be adjusted according to individual taste.



Beat up the egg and gently lace it on top and cover with the lid and let it boil for 2 mins and open the lid to check. Depends on individual, oyakodon serve in Japan normally the egg is not cook fully as they prefer the egg to be a bit runny. My case I prefer it more well cook, once ready you take the pan off the stove and gently slide it on bowl of hot rice and the Oyakodon is ready for the taking.

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori chicken is one of the most significant roast chicken dish in India. It is commonly mistaken tandoori chicken supposed to have a reddish or orangey appearance which is not true. Indian restaurant add food coloring to made the tandoori chicken appear orangey or reddish in color before roasting in tandor. Another downside with roasting the chicken in tandor the chicken meat will become too dry. Therefore, tandoori chicken sold outside commonly fall in this category. My rendition of the tandoori chicken will be grill rather than roast so as to keep the chicken meat succulent and still retain the wholesome flavour of the tandoori spices.

Tandoori Chicken

• 4 Chicken Thighs
• 2 Tablespoon Tandoori Spice Mix
• 1 Teaspoon Garlic Puree
• 1 Teaspoon Ginger Puree
• 1 Tablespoon Plain Yogurt
• Pinch of Salt
• 1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice

Remove the skin from the chicken thighs. Use a knife slice deep slits on chicken thigh and apply salt and lemon juice to it and leave it marinated for 15mins.

You can move on to prepare the tandoori paste while the chicken marinate. Add in all the ingredients into bowl and mix it until it form a paste form. Then apply to the chicken thighs and made sure all it is even applied and let it marinate for at least 1 hour or for best result overnight.

Heat up the grill until it hot enough and apply adequate oil to the grill. Once it start to smoke, put the chicken onto the grill and grill it for 10 mins on 1 side and 10 mins on the other side and you are ready to serve it over plain rice. 

Here is a tip, if you worry the grilling time is not enough to fully cook the chicken thighs. You can heat it up in the microwave under high settings for 2 minutes to fully cook it.