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.


 

Le Grand Jerk Chicken & Ham Sandwich

Recently, I just chanced upon McDonald new burger release - Le Grand Beef Sandwich retail only in selected McDonalds restaurant (Lido Ground Floor & Bras Brasah). It is big Ciabatta bread sandwich serve with oversized beef patty top with mayo, onion, tomato slices and 2 slice of cheese. The sandwich didn't left much impression on me solely because it was serve cold despite it was freshly made by the McD's staff.

However, the sheer size of the Ciabatta did impress me and I decided to do a ala-home version of Le Grand Sandwich with the leftover ingredients (honey baked ham, sliced jamaican jerk chicken, mozzarella & hormel's chili) I had left from previous cooking expedition. Upon chance, I manage to find cheap Ciabatta (6 for $1.95) at Giant Megamart and I decide to go all out making my Le Grand Sandwich.

Le Grand Jerk Chicken & Ham Sandwich

• 1/2 Jamaican Jerk Chicken Thigh Sliced
• 2 slices of Honey Baked Ham
• 1 loaf of Ciabatta
• 3 Tablespoon of Hormel's Turkey Bean Chili
• Mozzarella Cheese or Cheddar Cheese Slice

There is no strict rule in making this sandwich and you are free to substitute with leftover ingredients like sausages, bacon, egg you conveniently find in your fridge. As for how to make Jamaican Jerk Chicken I will post the recipe at a later date. On to making the Le Grand Sandwich, slit the Ciabatta lengthwise and unfold it as you fliping open a book.


Add the sliced Jamaican Jerk Chicken slice first onto the Ciabatta and top it with 3 tablespoons of Hormmel's Turkey Bean Chili. Next slice Honey Baked Ham in the middle and lace it on top of the Chili. Then, top it with lot of mozzarella or cheddar cheese slice close the Ciabatta and grill it using Kenwood Griller or alternatively at the toaster oven for 5 minutes till the cheese melts and you have a nice tasty Le Grand Sandwich that even supersede the original.

Saturday Cooking Spree Afterthought

With recession still in the loom, restaurant and foodcourt have been busy giving out promotions to retain customers but little effort  improving or maintaining the food quality and taste. Most of them is either busy cutting down food proportion or doing marketing to mislead general consumer that their food had improve but when you go to any of the restaurant and order their so called improved menu, you be won't surprised you don't get what they advertised.

I tried many newly open eateries and restaurants at Orchard ION but the food quality and taste doesn't not really live up to the franchise in Japan. There are a lot of food bloggers out there blogging on ION's restaurant and eateries so I won't dwell further in it. Cooking in home is not an arduous task as one believe. There are fast and easy way to cook without sweating. Microwave oven is one cooking device that can cut down cooking time as you can pre-cook certain food items and heat them up before serving and the person who consume it will believe you just cook it.

Cleaning is the next dreadful task one would shun cooking at home as seeing all the cooking utensil piling in the sink will enough to turn you off (even for "sex" lol). If you're skillful enough, you can cater some of the cleaning in certain time slot during the period of cooking like steaming or simmering which got long period of inactivity that doesn't need your personal attention. By the time the dish is ready, you have nothing much to clean and lot of times to enjoy your fruit of labor. The next dread is you do not want to stuck with the same food all day long, this can be easily resolve by rehashing the same ingredient with different style of cooking or serve it differently with rice or noodles.

I hope my cooking afterthought is enough to prompt those newbies in cooking to continue on. As in the long run, you will find the food you cook will even supersede those serve in eateries or restaurants at a fraction of the cost.
 

Dory Fish Herb Nugget

I had very bad experience with those "Ready To Fry" fish nuggets retailing in major supermarkets. They are a major disappointment as most are either thickly coated with flour or the fish nugget filling is fish meat blend into a mush then re-constitute into a nugget. The taste is not one who would desire.

Lately McCormick release a new product Fish Nugget Mix to address this issue. I bought a pack at NTUC Fairprice at promotion price of $0.99. I decided to give it a go since I got some Dory Fish available to experiment with. The dish came out quite appealing as the nugget is not too thickly coated and the herbs in the crispy nugget crust really compliment the dory fish well. The result is further justify by.the thumbs up given by my mum and her students.

   Dory Fish Herb Nugget

• 2 pieces of sutchi fillet slice nugget to nugget size
• 1 pack of McCormick Fish Nugget Mix
• 1 egg whip and dilute with a bit of water
• cooking oil

Make sure you wash and drain the sutchi fillet before you slice the sutchi fillet into nugget bite size. Dip the sutchi fillet in the egg wash and coat it with McCormick Fish Nugget Mix. Heat up a frying pan with cooking oil for 5-10 mins, fry the nugget until it turn golden brown. Drain and serve it hot with tartare sauce or mayonnaise.  

Aloo Bhaji

Beside the usual meat type curries India is famous for, actually there are a lot of vegetarian cuisine in their staple diet with primary focus on Dal. Aloo Bhaji (Potato Curry) is one of those easy to cook Indian vegetarian dish that is not too overwhelming for general people. It is ideal to pair it as a side with parantha or rice.

Aloo Bhaji

• 4 medium potato slice thickly
• 2 tablespoon of Shan Aloo Bhaji Mix (retail $1.90 SGD in Mustafa Centre)
  
• 1 medium tomato chopped cubes
  
• 1 medium onion chopped cubes
  
• salt
• 2 chili padi sliced thinly
  
• 1 chili slice thinly
  
• 1 1/2 cup of water
• 2 tablespoon cooking oil
  

Heat up the non-stick pot with cooking oil, add in the chopped onion and stirfry it until it start to brown and soften. Add in the chili and fry for another 2 mins and stir in the chopped tomato. If you find the masala too dry, you can add in a spoonful of water until you see the oil start separate. Add in the 2 tablespoon of Shan Aloo Bhaji Mix  into the masala and stirfry it for another 2 to 4 mins. Add in chopped potato and stir and ensure the masala coat every piece of potato for 5 mins. Add in the water cover let it boil for 10 mins. Open and check if the potato is tender by poking it with a fork. Once the potato is tender, lower the heat to a simmer to reduce and thicken the curry. Do a taste test and add additional salt if necessary. Once you satisfied with the taste, switch off the stove and serve.

Pan Fried Tandoori Sutchi Fillet

I start to feel I have been emphasizing too much meat recipe especially on poultry and it's getting kinda boring. I got some tandoori mix left from previous cooking expedition and decide why not do a Pan Fried Tandoori Sutchi Fillet as it will be quite a novel dish. It is best served with rice or you can innovate and serve it as a Tandoori Fish Burger with fresh lettuce. 

.Pan Fried Tandoori Sutchi Fillet

• 3 Pieces of Sutchi Fillet (2 Pack $3.20 at NTUC Fairprice)
• 1 Teaspoon Garlic Mince
• 1 Teaspoon Ginger Mince
• 2 Tablespoon Tandoori Mix
• 2 Tablespoon Yogurt ($1.20 at Sheng Siong)
• Salt
• Lime

Thaw the 3 pieces of sutchi fillet and made sure you run through water to clean it. After that, pat it dry with paper towel or squeeze out excess water with your hands. Sprinkle a bit of salt across the fillet and squeeze lime juice and give it a good rub and leave it to marinate for 15 mins.

Mix garlic, ginger, tandoori mix and yogurt to you get a fine paste. Applied it onto the sutchi fillet and ensure all of them are evenly coated. Leave it to marinate overnight for best result if not at least 1 hour. Heat a skillet or frying pan light coat with oil, panfried the sutchi fillet till each side start to brown.