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.

Dory Fillet and Soft Tofu Soup

This mornin when i got up, i've got this craving for some clear soup. I didnt wanna make the usual potatoes, carrots and chicken soup. So i thought why not jst use the two tubes of soft tofu i have in the fridge and the remainin dory fillet i've got up in the fridge. 

So for this easy clear soup, here are the ingredients you need.

INGREDIENTS:

* chicken broth
* soft tofu/beancurd (cut into cubes)
* spring onion ( cut into 2cms or so)
* shredded ginger
* few sprigs of coriander
* white fish fillet ( i used Dory since i've some left in the fridge)
* Chinese rice wine ( Shao Hsing Hua Tiau)
* ginger juice
* salt
* pepper

Dory
* cut into bite size or slightly bigger
* season with Chinese rice wine, ginger juice & salt for 5-10mins

Method:

1) Pour chicken broth into pot and bring it to simmer
2) Add ginger, fish fillet and beancurd
3) Bring it to boil over high heat
4) Reduce heat to medium and cook until flavourful
5) Just before turning off the heat, add some Chinese rice wine, pepper and salt to taste
6) Add in spring onions 
7) Sprinkle with coriander and serve immediately

So in my own personal bowl, i added more pepper to it :) and my mom was teasin me bout how much i love pepper and when i'm running my own kitchen in the future it'd be all pepper and more pepper for the customers! 

Stir-fry Dory Fillet

There were 4 big dory fillets in the fridge when i was treasure hunting wht to cook. I wasn't too keen on turnin those fillets into fish and chips so i thought why not experiment on it.

I didnt know exactly wht to prepare with it. So i was like just goin with my intuition. So i took a large piece of fillet out, cut it into bite size. 

Next i seasoned it with, salt, pepper, fish sauce and paprika. Let it marinade for 30mins or so, dependin on how much time you have before you need to start cookin. 

I glazed it non-stick with some marjerin and pan fried the bite -sized fillet. At first i wanted to dish out on the paper towl but then decided since its pretty wet n it somehow turned into a gravy like thing with the marjerin, so i left it in there n add some sliced red onions and continue stir-fryin.

Since it was definitely too dry, i started to add in plum sauce, tomato sauce, chilli sauce, sugar & salt to taste and before dishin it out i drizzled it with rice wine.

I can taste the paprika when i bite into it, and the fillet was soft and tender but lack the sweetness from the flesh of the fish, i wonder why. With a question in mind, this geek cook will wiki or google to find out the answer!

Drunken Coriander Prawns

You must be wonderin why the name drunken coriander prawns? The word drunken is derived from one of the ingredients used in this dish and along with that i've inserted my favourite - coriander leaves! A lor of people dont fancy the taste nonetheless the smell of it. Both my bro and mom isnt a big fan of this herb. But me and my dad, we're both into zesty herbs.

I would say this is one of the easiest dish to cook. It doesnt require much ingredients and the cookin time is short as well. This dish is best to be cooked with the shell intact to give more flavour to the gravy. Since the prawns i have in the fridge are already shelled i've not much choice but to use it. 

For those who have the prawns in shells, do remember to trim the feelers of the prawns neatly with the kitchen scissors.

Ingredients you need would be : - medium-large prawns in shells , oil, sesame oil, minced garlic, finely shredded ginger. As for the sauce, you'll need chinese rice wine, salt and sugar chopped coriander leaves.

Heat wok with both types of oil, stir fry minced garlic and shredded ginger until fragrant. Stir in the prawns and fry a short while , add in rice wine and bring to boil.  Next, blend in sugar and salt to taste and add the chopped coriander and let it simmer for a while and dish out onto a bowl or platter. If you've slightly marinated ur prawns with salt then you can ommit adding salt into the sauce. 

My granny loves to have a lil more gravy with her rice so my version of the drunken prawns has a lil more gravy to it. If the taste of the gravy is too thick for you, do add in hot water to diluted the taste a lil.