Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Pan- Fried Chicken Breast Fillet with Mango Salsa


This week has got me wondering into Mexicanville. The love affair first started with a simple meal,
quesadilla then it kinda cooled down for a while and the heat came back with me craving for guacamole and now salsa! At first it was just salsa and i thought i should make it into a meal instead of a side dish therefore i came up with this meal for dinner.

Ingredients

Mango Salsa
* 1 mango
* 4 medium tomatoes
* 1 medium yellow onion
* 3 cloves garlic
* 3 small jalapeno pepper
* 3 tbsp chopped cilantro
* 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
* Juice of one lemon

Method:
1) Dice the mango and tomatoes and chopped the onion and fresh cilantro. Then mince the garlic and jalapeno, set aside.
2) In a large bowl, mix everything together and stir until its thoroughly combined. Refrigerate it while you prepare the chicken.

Note:

For those that don't fancy a sour salsa, pick a sweet mango and add the lemon juice to taste.

Some even added olive oil to this salsa but i chose to omit it since i like it to be light and tangy. Those that love the heat of jalapeno , feel free to add one or two more, make sure you minced it real good so that it will blend together nicely with the rest of the ingredients.

This bowl of salsa can served up to 5-7 people depending on how much they love salsa.

Pan-Fried Chicken Breast Fillet
* 1/2 of whole chicken breast meat
* 1/8 tsp salt or to taste
* Coarse black pepper to taste
* 1 tbsp olive oil

Method:
1) Lightly salt the breast meat on both sides and season with coarse black pepper after that.
2) Heat a non-stick with the olive oil and pan fry the fillet.
3) Remove and set it on a kitchen towel before serving it together with the salsa.

Note:

For those that love more flavour on their meat, feel free to season with paprika or even cayenne pepper.

Serve this with the mango salsa on top and some chopped romaine lettuce on the side, if you like you can also add mashed potatoes.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Guacamole Dip




I've 2 more avocados left in the fridge from the sushi making yesterday and i didn't want those lovely avocados to go to waste therefore i decided to make guacamole out of it. It was both my mom's and bro's first time tasting it and surprisingly they loved it. My mom isn't a big fan of all this "foreign cuisine", she's more into oriental stuff therefore it was definitely a pleasant surprise that she actually liked the dip.

INGREDIENTS


* 2 avocados
* 1/2 lemon juiced
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 clove garlic
* 1 small tomato
* 1 small onion
* A handful of coriander leaves
* Black pepper to taste

Method:
1) Mashed the ripe avocados to the consistency you want with salt and lemon juice together in the bowl.
2) Once you're done mashing up the avocados, add in the finely chopped garlic, onions, tomato and coriander leaves. Season with black pepper to taste.

Note:
Choosing a right avocados for the dip is essential. A ripe avocado will yield to a gentle pressure when held in the palm of the hand and squeezed. The flesh turns brown quickly, so to prevent this, lemon or lime juice can be added after they are peeled if you're not goin to use it there and then.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Sushi

To be honest, i've been procrastinating on sushi making for almost a week now and i thought since i'm rather free today , then this should be the day where this little novice chef embark upon a new challenge - sushi.

I love sushi and i was a lil unsure of how it would turn out. i did some research and read a lil about sushi and everythin i need to know to come out with a decent looking and tasting sushi. I really had fun learning, from the various types of sushi and its name to the process of making each different type of sushi.





Over here, i've a few varieties of sushi. I'll start off from the far left, my very own version of Nigirizushi. Usually the toppings for Nigiri are typically raw fish such as tuna, salmon or other type of seafood. I've made 3 different toppings. The first one i topped with pan-fried marinated pork fillets, the second one i had a filament sticks (crabstick) and the third one i had cucumber and carrot on, all are bound to the rice with a thin strip of nori.

Next, starting from my far left, i have the California maki. Usually its done the Uramaki style but i made it the other way round where i have the nori outside ( Mazi zushi ). In the center, i have the sesame coated Uramaki with crabstick, cucumber and carrot. On my right, that's my crabstick + mayo Gunkanmaki . And the last one at the bottom , that would be another creation of mine with the combination of cucumber, carrot and pan-fried marinated pork fillet.

I wanted to experiment more and have more varieties but since it was my first attempt, i prepared just enough to experiment on it. For a first timer, i was definitely pleased with the end result. There will definitely be another sushi post in the future where i'll be featuring tamago and hopefully the original/typical nigirizushi.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

San Bei Ji ( 3 Cups Chicken )

Despite the name 3 cups chicken, literally translated from San Bei Ji, instead of using a full cup of each ingredients, i've modified the portion. I was first introduced to this dish when i was having dinner with a friend at a Kocha Taiwanese restaurant. That was my first time having it, i like the combination and the aromatic thai basil in this dish , therefore i was looking around and i even asked a Taiwanese friend for the recipe. Too bad she didnt have it but lucky me i found a few versions of the recipe over the net. I like this particular recipe the best.



INGREDIENTS

* 1 whole chicken
* 2 cups basil leaves
* 1/3 cup sesame oil
* Half a bulb garlic
* 10 slices ginger
* 2 chillies
* 3 tbsp brown sugar
* 1/3 cup light soy sauce
* 1/3 cup rice wine (Shao Hsing Hua Tiau)

Method:
1) Crush/roughly pound half bulb of the garlic, cut the chillies diagonally into a thick strip and set aside.
2) Heat the wok/non stick pan and pour 1/3 cup of sesame oil into the wok and add the chopped chicken pieces and stir fry until its bout 1/2 or 3/4 cook. Drain and set aside.
3) With the sesame oil in the wok, add in the crushed garlic and sliced ginger and stir fry till fragrant.
4) Add the cut chillies and give it a quick stir and add in the chicken and stir for a while.
5) Add in the rice wine and the light soy sauce and let it simmer.
6) Lastly add in the basil and sugar and let it simmer.

Note:

Its important to use thai basil for the sweet basil available will not give this dish that particular taste and aroma.



Monday, July 20, 2009

Blueberry Cheesecake

Cheesecake seems to have made a name for itself in the household, especially with my bro. I've no idea where or when he developed this love affair but i''m definitely having fun experimenting on cheesecake and baking it for him. Instead of the usual oreo cheesecake he loves , i thought i'd give blueberry a shot.



Ingredients


Base
* 320g digestive biscuits
* 1/4 cup melted butter


Method:
1) Crush the digestive with your rolling pin or just put it in the food processor if you have one.
2) Melt the butter and pour over the crushed biscuits and press it neatly onto the baking pan and set aside.
3) Wrap the baking pan with a double layer of aluminium foil.


Note:


The aluminium foil is to prevent the hot water from gettin into the base since i'm using a loose base baking pan.


Filling
* 500g cream cheese , softened
* 2/3 cups sugar
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 2/3 cups sour cream
* 2 eggs
* 1 can of blueberry


Method:
1) Beat the softened cream cheese until its well blended.
2) With the mixture still running, add sugar, salt and vanilla and continue mixing.
3) Next, pour in the sour cream and mix it thoroughly.

4) Put in the eggs.
5) Spread some blueberries on the base before pouring in the cream cheese.
6) Find a roasting pan that you can fit your baking pan in and fill up the roastin pan with boiling water halfway up the baking pan.
7) Bake in a preheated oven at 165 degree C for 1hr and 30mins in a 8inch springform/loose base pan.
8) After baking, allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.
9) Remove from the oven and let it cool before popping it into the fridge. Once it has totally cooled, spread the remaining blueberries on the cheesecake . Refrigerate for bout 5 hours, preferably overnight before serving.


Note:


For those that dont fancy refrigerating the cheesecake with the blueberry spread on it , do without it and just spread some right before serving it.


If you like , you can mix the whole can of blueberry into the creamcheese batter before pouring it into the baking pan.


To some out there , the display of it might look real disgusting but that's how my bro likes it, with chunks of blueberries on top. Personally i'll not be purchasing the same brand of blueberries the next time i make this. It's not as good as what i was being told by the shop keeper, i guess , she was tryin to push off her stocks eh?



Saturday, July 11, 2009

Oven Baked Chicken and Tofu Satay with Fruity Peanut Sauce

Personally i like satay but due to the traditional way of preparing it (grilled or barbequed over charcoal fire) i frequently stay away from it. i often find it rather oily for my liking for they often baste the satay with oil using a lemon grass or brush , also i'm pretty picky on how they serve it, where most of the satay sellers included a piece of "fat" together with the lean meat on the skewer.

So due to all that , i've decided to make my own version of satay with just lean meat and also oven bake it to reduce the amount of oil used. Since i'm sharing this new adventure of mine with a friend and her family, i prepared both the chicken and tofu satay for my friend's a vegan.

Ingredients

CHICKEN SATAY
* 3 pcs breast meat
* 6 tsp cumin powder
* 6 tsp coriander powder
* 3 tsp turmeric powder
* 3 stalks lemon grass (pound)
* 3 tbsp+ olive oil
* 6 tbsp brown sugar

Method:
1) Remove the skin from the chicken breast meat if any and cut it into strips or cube.
2) Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl thoroughly and then add the chicken strips to marinate. Its best to marinate it overnight.
3) Skewer the strips when you're ready to bake it at a preheated oven of 210 degree C for bout 15-20mins on each side.
4) Serve with some fresh onions and cucumber.


Note:

Using fresh turmeric to marinate the chicken strips will give it a more fragrant aroma as compared to the powder form.

The longer you bake , the less juicy is your chicken strips, therefore dont overbake it for you'll end up with a dry chicken strips.


FRUITY PEANUT SAUCE
* 300gm roasted peanuts
* 200ml coconut milk
* 1 cup tamarind juice
* sugar and salt to taste
* water

Spice Paste
* 3 tbsp chilli paste
* 10 shallots
* 8 cloves garlic
* 2 stalks lemongrass
* 5cm fresh turmeric (optional)
* 6cms ginger
* 4cm galangal
* 3 tsp cumin
* 2 tsp shrimp paste powder (optional)
* 6 candelnuts
* 1/2 Small pineapple (roughly blend)

Method:
1) Blend or pound the spice paste ingredients.
2) Heat some oil in the non-stick and add in the spice paste and stir fry until its aromatic.
3) Add the tamarind juice and stir it for a little while before adding ground nuts.
4) Keep stirring until its thoroughly mixed and add in the coconut milk.
5) Let it simmer and add in the roughly blended pineapple.
6) Add in more water if you like the sauce to be more watery.
7) Season with salt and sugar to taste.

Note:

I bought the readily available coarsely chopped roasted peanuts to save time. For those who can't find that , you'll need to dry fry the ground nuts until its aromatic, cool, remove the skin and pound it.

I also added blended pineapple juice, a few pieces of pineapple with some water. I used pineapple for the peanut sauce to give it a different touch as compared to the normal peanut sauce the satay sellers served. This is a remake of the peanut sauce i've tasted when i was down south.

I waited until the gravy has cooled down and poured 3/4 of the thick peanut sauce into the blender and blend it until its of a smooth and creamy consistency. I poured it back to the non-stick and stir under low heat and add more pineapple juice or tamarind juice until i achieve the consistency i like.


TOFU SATAY
* 3 pcs beancurd

Spice Paste
* 1 tsp cumin powder
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
* 8 shallots
* 1 tsp coriander powder
* 1 inch fresh turmeric
* 1 tsp sugar
* 1 stalk lemongrass
* 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* Salt to taste

Method:
1) Cubed the tofu to bite size or any size you fancy. Blend or pound all the spice paste ingredients.
2) Baste/coat the cubed beancurd with the spice paste and let it marinate overnight.
3) Skewer the beancurd when you're ready to bake.
4) Bake in a preheated oven of 210 degree C for bout 10mins on each side.
5) Serve with the fruity peanut sauce and some onions and cucumber.

Note:

If you like it to be spicy, add some chilli paste to the spice paste.

Handle the beancurd as gentle as possible when you coat it with the spice paste for you dont want to destroy it before you're able to eat it :). The spice paste will be of a rather thick consistency.


Monday, July 6, 2009

Asam Pedas Bawal Hitam ( Hot/Spicy and Sour Black Pomfret )

Asam Pedas is a well known dish both in Malacca and Johore.
Different culture has got a different interpretation of this particular dish. As for the one i've prepared over here, i'm not too sure bout its origin because i was told that there's the Malay-style and the Nyonya style of Asam Pedas. But one thing i know and very sure of is that i'm loving this dish!

This dish alone , got my bro goin for 3 servings of rice and for my mom, 2 servings! So i'd take this as a compliment from my bro since he's pretty fusy with fish. He loves his fish to be fried. Typical of him.

INGREDIENTS

* 800gm black pomfret
* 12 okras
* 2 tomatoes ( cut into wedges )
* 1 tbsp fish curry powder
* 5 springs daun kesum (Vietnamese coriander )
* 1 bunga kantan ( torch ginger)
* Oil
* Salt and sugar to taste
* 2 medium shallots (pound)
* 4-5 cups tamarind juice

Spice Paste (pound)
* 2 cloves garlic
* 2 stalks lemon grass (white part only)
* 15 shallots (small)
* 20 dried chillies (soaked )
* 2 tsp shrimp paste powder
* 4cm fresh ginger
* 3cm fresh turmeric

Method:
1) Stir fry the pounded shallots until fragrant and add in the spice paste and stir further until aromatic.
2) Pour in the tamarind juice and let it simmer.
3) Add in daun kesum and simmer a while and add in bunga kantan and okras.
4) Put in the pieces of fish and let it simmer further. Add in the tomato wedges.
5) Season with salt and sugar to taste.

Note:

You can replace the dried chillies with chilli paste to speed up the cooking process.

Its best to use fresh ginger and turmeric instead of the powdered form.

Halved or quartered the bunga kantan. If you like, you can slice it finely.

Add in more tamarind juice for those who wants more gravy to this dish. To make the tamarind juice : 1 1/4 cups water with tamarind pulp the size of small ping pong ball. To make this dish more savoury, always add in tamarind juice, be it thick or thin but never add in water.

Usually stingray will be used to prepare this dish but since my granny dont take stingray , therefore i've replaced it with a black pomfret. You can basically replace it with any type of fish you fancy.

In order to have a less oily asam pedas, be sure to cut down the oil use to fry the pounded shallots and spice paste. Start off with a lil and add more oil if you need to. I used a deep non stick to cook this dish therefore i only needed very little oil.

If you do not like your okras and tomatoes to be to cooked, add the okra at the same time you add your fish pieces and let it simmer and add in the tomato wedges. I added the okra first so that it will be soft enough for my granny.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Ayam Masak Rendang ( Chicken in Coconut Milk)

Rendang is an Indonesian dish originated from the Minangkabau, one of the etnic group in Indonesia and one of the characteristics food of this culture, it is served at ceremonial occassions and to honour guests. This particular dish is also popular in Singapore and Malaysia and its traditionally prepared by the Malay community during festive occasions. Usually rendang is made from beef but this dish can be prepared with chicken or mutton or even vegie.

Ingredients
* 1.3kg chicken
* 3 lemongrass (bruised)

Spice A ( Pound/blend)
* 15 shallots
* 15 cloves garlic
* 3 inch galangal
* 3 inch ginger
* 9 stalks lemongrass
* 30 dried chillies

Spice B
* 9 cloves
* 9 star anise
* 9 cardamon seeds

Spice C
* 3 cups thick coconut milk
* 3 cups water
* 3 tsp tamarind puree

Spice D
* 18 kaffir lime leaves
* 18 tbsp grated coconut
* 3 tbsp palm sugar

* Salt to taste

Method:
1) Dry fry the grated coconut until it turns golden brown and set aside.
2) Add some oil and stir fry Spice A and Spice B together until fragrant
3) Then add chopped chicken pieces and bruised lemongrass and saute
4) Next, add Spice C and let it simmer , stir occassionally.
5) Add spice D and reduce the heat to low and simmer. Preferably cover your pot/wok. Cooking will take approximately 2hrs for the gravy to dry up.

Note:
You can also add in some turmeric leaves, bay leaves and fresh turmeric. I omitted all of it. Its all up to your preferences. You can also include candlenuts as well.

Do chop your kaffir lime leaves finely when you add in to the wok together with your grated coconut.

The dry fried grated coconut produces oil as well , so its best to sieve the oil from time to time, like how i did it to reduce the amount of oil in the rendang.

This dish is best served with white steamed rice, ketupat or even lemang.



 
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