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. 

Saffron Chicken Rice

Chicken rice have establish itself as one of the staple cuisine for general singapore populace that you can practically find a Chicken Rice stall in every foodcourt or hawker centre. The default taste for chicken rice more or less is cast in stone. Being a foodie that challenge the norm, I decide to up the ante by adding to saffron (one of the most expensive spice in the world) to this defined cuisine and manage to bring out a whole new taste spectrum.


Saffron Chicken Rice

• Yamie Chicken Rice (available in leading supermarket)
• 5 Saffron strands
• Water

Old School Version

• 1 to 2 cups of Thai Fragrant Rice
• 1 to 2 cups of Chicken Stock
• 1 Pandan Leaf crush and tied to knot
• 5 slices of Ginger
• 5 clove of Garlic crushed
• 5 Saffron strands
• Oil
• Salt

If you want to have quick chicken rice, simply go to leading supermart and purchase the Yamie Chicken Rice as it is rice that is pre-flavored. You simple need to add water and powered up your cooker and you have your chicken rice ready. For this instance, you just need to add in the saffron before you flip on the power switch. To approximate the amount of water needed, you can use the plastic bag that house the rice grain as a gauge. Once it fully cook, you see naturally orange tint in your chicken to indicate that saffron had infused into the rice grain.


For old school who like to do all the nitty gritty steps, simply heat up fried pan with oil and pan fry the garlic and ginger for 2 mins till you smell the aroma release from the ginger and garlic. Add in the rice grain and fry for another 5 mins to let the garlic and ginger infused into the rice grain. Turn off the flame and empty everything into the rice cooker and add in chicken stock accordance to the amount of rice used. Add in the pandan leaf, saffron and pinch of salt and powered up the rice cooker. Once it is done, you have your lovely saffron chicken rice.

Sichuan Mala Noodles With Prawn Gyoza & Sliced Roasted Chicken

My visit to Kim Gary normally is solely restricted to their curry rice as their curry is uniquely different and I'm unable to emulate. But I'm amused that there are patrons order their noodles dishes as they are generally concocted from instant noodle. Today is cold rainy second day of F1 2010, I intend to cook up instant noodle dish - Sichuan Mala Noodles for dinner that is comparable to those serve in Kim Gary.


Sichuan Mala Noodles With Prawn Gyoza & sliced Roasted Chicken

• Sichuan Spicy Seaweed Instant Noodle (currently on offer at $3.15 in NTUC)
• 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon of Chongqing Mala Paste
• 2 Frozen Prawn/Pork Gyoza
• 5 slices of Roasted Chicken (available in major supermart)

Boil the sufficient water in a pot and add in the instant noodle seasonings and Chongqing Mala paste. Next add in the frozen gyoza and cook it for 10mins then remove it from the broth and place it in a bowl together with the roasted chicken slices. Add in the instant noodle into the boiling broth. The trick to having an el dente instant noodle is removed the noodles from the boiling broth before it fully soften and set it aside in the serving bowl. After that, let the broth boil until it bubbles and pour it into the serving bowl. The residual heat in the broth will cook the noodles further to the texture of your liking.

Prawn/Pork Fried Gyoza

Lately, I have been craving for fried gyoza and I decide to have it for breakfast today. For those “十指不占阳春水“ translate literally to those who doesn't do household chores like cooking or cleaning would suggest going to foodcourt or restaurant Ding Tai Fung "鼎泰豐" to settle the craving. Unfortunately, the gyoza offered by the foodcourt or restaurant are unable to satisfied my palate for a more personalized and customize gyoza. I had experiment with many combination of gyoza fillings and by far this is the most flavorful combi that I had concocted. Without further ado, let proceed with the recipe.


Prawn/Pork Fried Gyoza

• 240gm of Minced Pork
• 1 bowl of De-Shell Raw Prawn
• 4 Brown Mushroom finely diced
• 1 tablespoon of finely diced Garlic
• 1 tablespoon of finely diced Ginger
• 2 stalk of finely chopped Spring Onion
• 1/2 slab of firm Tofu
• 2 teaspoon of Knorr Hao Chi powder
• 2 teaspoon of Maggi Chicken essence
• 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce
• 1 packet of gyoza skin (available at Shen Siong Supermart)
• 1 tablespoon of Mirin

For my previous gyoza filling recipes, I always add egg as a binding agent to hold the gyoza filling. From my experience, pan fry egg-bind gyoza filling tend to be quite dry. This time, I decide to replace it with tofu as the binding agent. In a big mixing bowl, mash the firm tofu and add in the rest of the ingredients - minced pork, prawn, mushroom, spring onion, garlic, ginger.

Next add in the flavoring agent - Hao Chi powder, Maggi Chicken essence, soya sauce and mirn into the mixing bowl. Now it is time to get your hand dirty. With a circular motion, blend the mixture until it sticky enough to form a ball. Next it time to fold the gyoza, you can follow the instruction in this video to fold your gyoza. You can fold all your gyoza and place them on tray with wax paper and freeze them in batches and store them in plastic bag. This allow you to take out the amount you need.


Fire up the non-stick frying pan with drizzle of cooking oil, and add in the frozen gyoza let it pan fry for 5 mins then add in 1/4 cup of water and cover with the fry pan and let it steam until the water dry up and wait for another 10 mins and serve. If you prefer much crispy base, leave it for addition 5 mins or more.

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.

Chinese Mala Hotpot Condiments

Chinese Mala "Spicy" Hotpot is such a fad in Singapore a lot of F&B importers are  importing the Mala Hotpot soup packs to resale to general consumer. Nowadays, you are easily spoil for choice with the variety of Mala Hotpot soup pack and I have consolidate a list of Mala Hotpot soup easily available in Singapore for those who want to DIY your own Mala Hotpot.

Emperor Meat Ball Soup

I'm down with flu and something soupy to combat the flu virus. After rummaging my fridge, I found I got some frozen minced beef left I decide to made Emperor Beef Meat Ball Soup.

Emperor Meat Ball Soup is a dish I conceptualize from the famous Pork Meat Ball Stew (红烧狮子头) that was served to Emperor Sui Yang Di (隋炀帝) of Sui Dynasty. Unlike its origin, my variant is healthier as the meat ball is steam and not fry. It is suitable for people that was down with flu as Chinese herbs are use to enhance efficacy of the dish to combat the flu virus.

Emperor Meat Ball Soup

• 300g Minced Beef (can replaced with pork or chicken)
• 1Teaspoon of soup stock concentrate
• 1 Teaspoon of minced garlic
• 1 Teaspoon of minced ginger
• 1/2 Teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1 Teaspoon of A1 Emperor Herb Chicken Spices
• 1 Egg
• 1 Packet of White Shimeji Mushroom

Chop half of the Shimeji mushroom into small bits as it will be mixed into the minced meat. Add in the minced beef, soup stock concentrate, garlic, ginger, A1 emperor herb chicken spices, sesame oil and chopped Shimeji mushroom in a mixing bowl. Use your clean hands and knead the mince meat and ensure the all the spices, mushroom and marinade is mix thorough. Slowly add in the beat egg wash while kneading the mince meat to help it bind the meat with the mushroom. Use your 2 hands and shape the mince beef to considerable size of 8cm. Line the meat balls in the ceramic bowl and top the rest of the Shimeji mushroom on the meat balls and steam it over a steamer for 1 to 2 hours till the bowl is fill with wholesome broth/soup as shown. Turn off the stove and serve it will rice or porridge.    

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.

Famous Lor Mee??? - Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee

After Maxwell Ham Jin Pang, it time to move to the next destination in the Foodie Trek is Amoy Food Centre that is located behind Maxwell Market. There are quite a few notable hawkers in Amoy Food Centre. I already set my target on the Amoy Street Lor Mee that was widely reported in the papers and TV. As it is our first time going to Amoy Food Centre, it took quite a while to reach there as we got lost when we took a wrong turn.

When we reached Amoy Food Centre at 2pm, a lot of stalls had already closed. However, lady luck is smiling in my favor as Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee is still open for business. As I notice they are about to close judging there is not much Lor Mee toppings left on the counter, I quickly proceed to order a small bowl of Lor Mee ($2.50).

Yuan Chun's Lor Mee is traditional style Lor Mee served with stewed pork belly, steam fish and fried crispy flour. However, it didn't hit me as the ideal Lor Mee I used to have when I was just a kid as the noodle isn't cook thoroughly as I can still taste the rawness. The stew pork belly and steam fish is rather dry maybe due to long exposure to atmosphere. Overall, it is a major disappointment (partly maybe because I came late during their closing) if compared to the Lor Mee I had previously in Tiong Bahru Market(Link). However, I will give the benefit of doubt to foodies that swear by Yuan Chun Lor Mee and reassess Yuan Chun Lor Mee at a later date.    

DIY Salty Fried Bun - China Street Hum Jin Pang

After having chicken rice, we still have some void left in our stomach. We decide to have Hum Jin Pang (literally translate as Salty Fried Bun) instead. Ham Jin Pang is a traditional bun that is cooked by frying. It is available either salty or sweet with red bean fillings inside. 

China Street Hum Jin Pang is one of the oldest resident hawker in Maxwell Market as far as I know. I have been eating their Hum Jin Pang since I was a kid and their Hum Jin Pang is simple down to earth without frills that capture heart of locals with price affordable ($1 for 6 buns) for all levels of life be it rich or poor.

The Hum Jin Pang is able to priced cheaply is due to the owner do not hire any extra helper and her belief Hum Jin Pang should be affordable to all walks of life. This belief really touch me as so far there isn't much hawker or restaurant dare lay claim on such belief.   

To keep cost low, everyone who ordered Hum Jin Pang will have to assist the owner to fry the Ham Jin Pang. Once you just place your order with the owner, pick up the long wooden chopstick and you ready to go. As my friend is not so adept in frying Ham Jin Pang, I took his place and fry our share. The main trick is to fry the Ham Jin Pang till golden brown then take out and drain on the colander. After that, you dip the Ham Jin Pang in caster sugar and pack it into paper bag. Ham Jin Pang is best consume when it newly fried as you can feel the outer crispy El Dente bun texture with traces of red filling spilling out that compliment with it. For those who never had freshly fried Ham Jin Pang to give it a try as it will be memorable to eat your own fried Ham Jin Pang.

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.

Hock Lam Street Beef Kway Teow

Today, I was "coerced" by my ex-colleague to join her for beef noodle dinner after work as it been quite a long while since we meet and she want to see my fruit of labor (the 9Kg I sheded in just 2 months without any special dieting or exercise). She manage to locate me in the crowd after much difficulty as she surprised how much weight I had shed. As it's pretty late, we cut short the greeting and proceed to the intended destination that is beef noodle.

I had no idea I will be having Hock Lam Street Beef Kway Teow along Purvis Street for dinner until my friend point it out to me. I had read quite a few positive review on Hock Lam Street Beef Kway Teow but I had yet taste it personally. So, I proceed to order $5 Dry Beef Kway Teow with the service staff. When the Dry Beef Kway Teow serve to me, I was quite surpise how "big" the serving is as I can get bigger portion at famous Scott Road Dry Beef Kway Teow at Orchard ION at comparable price. Portions aside, I decide to dig in and see how it fare against my favourite Zheng Yi Hainanese Beef Noodle.

Unfortunately, Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow dry version fail to impress me as similar to Scott Road the gravy have strong dark soya sauce aftertaste with just 3 beef slices. Much to my dismay, the beef slice is overcook and pretty tough. The only saving grace is the beef soup that accompanied the dry beef kway teow as the beef soup is comparable to Zheng Yi's beef soup in the herbs and beefy taste. However, Hock Lam's beef soup is more salty for those sodium intake conscious individual. For those going Hock Lam for their beef kway teow should forget about trying their dry version and order the wet version instead.

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.

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. 

 

 

Zheng Yi Hainanese Beef Noodle

I used to work at Siemen Pte Ltd for a period of time. Zheng Yi Hainanese Beef Noodle is one of the best tasting Beef noodle I ever tasted. It is a located in a nondescript "Kopitiam" at  intersection between Macpherson Road & Tai Thong Crescent. Even now, if I happen to pass by that area on business (because I don't own a car) I always made the effort to reserve tummy space for a bowl of rich beef noodles. The photo here is taken last year when I happen to pass by when I sending a faulty hard disk for RMA and it high time I should give the photo I took due credit.

Zheng Yi's Beef noodle retail from $4 to $6 and and you can customise which beef part (stomach,intestine,cartilage) or just the meat itself. You don't see this kind of offering in famous beef noodles in Katong or Odeon beef noodle. Similar to other beef noodles, you have the option of dry or version with either noodles or rice flat noodles(kwaytiao). The dry version is basically the wet version whereby it was thicken and additional dark soya sauce is added to darken it.

My personal preference is the dry version as you can better savour the beefy rich sauce as its cling on the noodle better. Despite that, you won't find the Zheng Yi's dry version too starchy like Odeon or Scott. Zheng Yi's dry version also doesn't have overpowering dark soya sauce that is very predominant in the common Beef Noodle staff. Zheng Yi doesn't overcook the beef slice like common beef noodles stall which is plus as I don't like overcook beef. The chilli served together is special belachan chili that really blend well with the noodle and being a chilli fanatic I always add it into the noodle for additional spiciness.

The dry version of the noodle is also served with a bowl of beef soup as a side. This beef soup is the best beef soup I ever tasted as its very rich with a tinge of herbs giving you "power" when you drink it. The attributing factor of it richness is due to assortment of beef parts use to made the soup and the soup gets better when you have it near to the stall closure.

Another worthy must try is Zheng Yi's wet version as the noodles is serve with the concentrated beefy soup that was serve as a side in the dry version. Zheng Yi's beef soup is comparable to Viet's beef pho soup with slight variant in the herb use to concoct the soup.The ideal time to eat this beef noodle is during rainy season as the richness can simply warm your heart or rejuvenate your tired soul. For those beef noodle lovers who haven't try it, it is a die die must try.     

Emperor Chicken Triple Play

Emperor Chicken is one of local soup delicacy that is commonly found in chinese soup stall in Singapore. It is similar to western chicken soup with the exception many chinese herbs are added to the soup. These herbs really help rejuvenate the tired soul and I can vouch for it. I always order it when I need a pick me up after a day of battle in the corporate jungle. The soup easily price from $4.50 to $5.50 or more depending on dining location. I decide to whip up my own version of Emperor Chicken (an excuse cook up to cut expenses during recession) and co-incidental create 2 spin-off dishes from it.

Emperor Chicken

• 400 - 500 gm of  Chicken Thigh (about 3 to 4 pieces)
• Emperor Chicken Herb Mix (get A1 Brand if available as their spices are blend finer)
• Chinese Cooking Wine or Mirin (Optional)
  
• Salt
• Baby Carrot or Enoki Mushroom
• Maggie Non- MSG Liquid Chicken Stock (Optional)
• Microwave Proof Glade Wrap (Can get it cheap at $2 at Daiso) 
  

Emperor Herb Mix can easily be found in all local supermarket like Giant, Sheng Siong, Cold Storage, Shop`N'Save and NTUC. Unlike those sold in soup stall, the Emperor Chicken herbs are blend into fine powder so that you can pre-marinate the chicken so that it can be imbue with the wholesome goodness of the chinese herbs. However, in powder form you cannot apply too much or it will be too overpowering. Enough of talk, let get on with it.


You can use half a chicken, or 8 pieces of wings or 4 to 5 pieces of chicken for this. First rinse the chicken under the running water and drain and excess left over water. If you have Chinese Cooking Wine or Mirin(if you have any), use a teaspoon of it together with a pinch of salt and rub the chicken pieces to remove the raw smell.

Add a teaspoon of the Emperor Chicken Herb mix together with a teaspoon of Maggie Liquid Chicken Stock into the chicken pieces. Ensure every pieces are evenly coated then leave it to marinate for at least an hour or overnight for best result. 

Line the bowl (that is deep enough to hold the chicken pieces with some allowance) with baby carrot before you place the marinated chicken pieces on top. Seal the bowl with a microwave glade wrap and place it in a steamer and steam it for 2 hours. After 2 hours of steam, you will notice whole chicken bouillon is collected below the bowl. The bouillon will have a faint sweetness of baby carrot in it which is superior than those sold in soup stall.

   
Grill Emperor Chicken

• 8 pieces of mid wings
• Emperor Chicken Herb Mix
• Salt
• Maggie Non-MSG Liquid Chicken Stock
• Electric Grill or Grill Pan 
  

Recently, I purchase a Kenwood multi-purpose sandwich maker that come with interchangeable grill plate. This spark off my creative culinary brain juice, we can have grill version of the Emperor Chicken instead of the common soup version.

The preparation is similar to the soup version which I will not repeat the preparation and marinate procedure here and move on to the grilling portion. If you have a Kenwood electric grill like me u can heating up the grill until the green indicator light up to indicate you can grill food items on it. Make sure you have coat ample cooking oil on grill plate. Line the wings onto the grill and close the cover of the grill and let it grill for 5 minutes. Open the grill and check on the wings brush oil on the wings then close the grill cover grill for another 5 mintues. Then it is ready to serve.

Fried Emperor Chicken 

• 8 pieces of mid wings
• Emperor Chicken Herb Mix
• Salt
• Maggie Non-MSG Liquid Chicken Stock
• Rice Flour
• Cooking Oil

The fried version of Emperor Chicken was conceptualize from Colonel Sander's Kentucky Fried Chicken whereby 11 spices were used. If the western got KFC why not asian have their own version.


The preparation procedure is same as before with the exception you might need to add additional 1 or 2 teaspoon of the Emperor Chicken Herb mix to the chicken as when it coat with rice flour the herb flavour will diminish. Next evenly coat the marinated wing pieces with layer of rice flour and set it aside for 30 minutes. 

Heat up the fryer and fried the wings till golden brown as shown. There you have Asia own version of Colonel Sander's 11 Spice Fried Chicken. Enjoy.

Tiong Bahru Reminisce Part 2

After morning course finished, I decided to walk down leisurely to Tiong Bahru Market. This time I remembered to capture the rustic post colonial building with my PSP cam. As you can see the place seem to untouched by the rapid urbanization brought forth by the Singapore government. However, urbanization signs already creeping in. Nevertheless, I enjoyed whatever that left as I walked down to Tiong Bahru Market.



This is one of the famous food stalls in Tiong Bahru that specialised in Roasted Pig (Roast Suckling Pig) and was showcased in many food variety show in Channel U and 8. I decided to give it a try since there isn't much of a queue.



Since Roast Suckling Pig price had jump due to shortage of supply from China, I decided to go for the cheaper alternative (Charsiew & Roast Pork rice) $5.00 SGD since Roast Suckling Pig price had jump due to shortage of supply from China. The Charsiew is rather lean but very tender unlike those comtemporary Charsiew rice stall out there whereby the pork was roasted too long result it being too tough. It is not sweet to extent of overpowering the pork . However, I prefer my Charsiew to have traces of pork fat adhere to the meat which those health conscious beings will shun. Charsiew tends to taste better with some pork fats as it protect the meat from being overcook and maintain its succulency.

Next, the Roasted Pork is pleasantly crispy at the skin and the fatty portion doesn't cover over 70% of it as compared to those Roasted Pork you find in others store. Unfortunately some of roasted pork skin is rather tough probably due to Singapore high humidity that result in the skin loses it crispiness and become tough. In conclusion, overall the charsiew roasted pork rice is pretty good but I believe there is a lot of room for improvement considering they had garnered so media recognition and awards.

Old Tiong Bahru Market Reminsce

I went early to Tiong Bahru Plaza to finalize my course payment. Since it has been 13 years since my last visit to Tiong Bahru Market, I decided to walk down to take a look at the new Tiong Bahru market that reopened in 13 November 2006. As I walk idly down Tiong Bahru Road enjoying the view of Tiong Bahru old building that lined up both side of Tiong Bahru.

I wondering those Tiong Bahru Market delicacies that I had enjoyed past 13 years whether they still be there after the major renovation. As it is a common that previous hawkers due to high rental after renovation, they will choose to move to other food centres. It took me about 15mins walk till I reached the new Tiong Bahru Market. I was suprised it is 2 storey and the food stalls is located at the second storey.


I always like the Tiong Bahru Lor Mee as I remembered correctly one particular Lor Mee store they serve steam fish as opposed to just with normal ngoh hiang and braised pork belly. I finally found the store Lor Mee 178, unfortunately they no longer serve Lor Mee with steam fish but Fried Shark Meat. I decided to give the evolved Lor Mee a try to see if it is better than the predecessor.

The Lor Mee thick soup is thick in the right constituency with hint of cinnamon that is missing in other Lor Mee that only taste of soy and nothing else. But the soup is not as robust in taste as compared to previous. Nevertheless, it is still superior to other Lor Mee soup base out there as other Lor Mee soup base become watery as you eat further. The usual Lor Mee condiment still there shred of pork belly and fried crispy flour bits. I decide to start on the fried shark meat and found it to be quite nice without the oily aftertaste. You can taste the shark meat is marinate well with ginger yet not too overpowering.

In conclusion, I still prefer if they still serve steam fish over fried shark meat as too much fried stuff don't really compliment the Lor Mee well and it is the steam fish that draw me to this Lor Mee. For those that like fried food, this is probably a welcome change they have been waiting to happen.