Mediterranean Chicken

This is an absolutely quick and easy dinner to throw together when you have friends coming over. They would probably think that you had taken half a day to put this together.

Serve it on Sunday as well which means you would have time to put your feet up, have a cup of coffee and enjoy your favourite magazine. Let the oven to all the work!




Mediterranean Chicken
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups coarsely chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tablespoons drained capers, roughly minced (optional)
1/2 cup kalamata olives (optional)
5 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
12 bone-in chicken thighs (about 3 pounds), skinned
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup of chicken stock 
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped
3 sprigs of fresh thyme (use the leaves only)
Chopped fresh parsley (optional for garnishing)

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180C.

3) Season chicken with black pepper and salt.

4) In a large baking dish, layer with chopped onion, garlic, capers, olives, chopped tomatoes, fresh rosemary and thyme.  Season with black pepper and salt.

5) Place the chicken on top of the vegetables and drizzle with olive oil.  Pour the chicken stock into the baking dish and bake in oven for about 40 - 45 mins.  Cook until chicken is golden brown and the vegetables have soften.

6) Serve chicken with vegetables, garlic toast and garnish with some fresh parsley.

Claypot Chicken Rice

An absolutely delicious one pot meal which is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore More often than not, the rice is cooked in the claypot first and cooked ingredients like diced chicken and Chinese sausage are added in later.

Traditionally, the cooking is done over a charcoal stove, giving the dish a distinctive flavour. However if you don't have a claypot, no worries, just do the cooking in your rice cooker.





Claypot Chicken Rice
Recipe Adapted from Kuali
Serves 3 - 4

Ingredients:

500g (2 pieces) boneless chicken maryland
300g long grain rice
420ml water

Marinade for the Chicken:

1 tablepoon dark soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon ginger juice
1 tablespoon Chinese wine
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornflour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Garnish:

1 Chinese sausage (lap cheong), sliced
5 pieces Chinese mushroom, soaked and cut in half
Chopped spring onions and coriander for garnishing

Method:

1) Cut chicken into chunks, about 1.5" pieces. Combine the marinade ingredients and allow chicken to marinate in it for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

2) Heat a wok and add 1 tablespoon of oil.  Fry the Chinese sausage until lightly brown.  Remove and set aside.

3) Add the marinated chicken and Chinese sausages into the wok and stir fry for about 2 minutes.  Then add the mushroom and fry for another minute or two.  If the ingredients look a bit dry and a little bit of water (ingredients should have a little bit of sauce).  Add the Chinese sausage and mix.

4) Wash the rice in several changes of water and place into a claypot with 420ml water. Cook, covered, over medium heat, until water is almost absorbed.

5) Add the stir fried chicken over the rice. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of water over the meat/rice.

6) Lower the heat and cook, covered, until rice and chicken are cooked, about 15 to 20 minutes. Flake rice, cover lid and cook for further 5 minutes.

7) Remove from heat and top with spring onions and coriander. Serve immediately with sliced red chillies.

Lemon and Thyme Roast Chicken

I recently started a herb garden and I am glad to say that my plants are triving.  So now whenever I am in need of fresh herbs for cooking, I just head towards my planters and snip whatever I need.  I don't exactly have a garden as I stay in an apartment - so my herbs are actually grown in pots.

So it came about two weekends ago that I decided to make do a simple lemon (which I usually would have stock in my fridge) and thyme roast chicken.  This is truly a simple recipe and absolutely delicious.  It makes a great Sunday lunch or dinner for the whole family.





Lemon and Thyme Roast Chicken

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (approx 2.25kg), cleaned and pat dry
1 head of garlic, broken into pieces (do not remove the skin)
2 lemons, cut into half
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 onions, sliced into 1/8
4 sprigs of thyme
4 sprigs of rosemary
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp onion powder
2 Tbsp salted butter
1.5 cups cooked baby potatoes, slightly smashed
Salt and black pepper to taste
Additional olive oil for drizzling

Method:

1) Place the lemon juice, olive oil, sweet paprika, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste. into a bowl.  Mix the marinade until well combined.  Rub all over the chicken and leave for about an hour.

2) Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

3) In a roasting pan, layer the potatoes on the bottom, cut onion and 2/3 of the garlic cloves.  Add 3 pieces of the lemon halfs into the pan.  Roughly pull the leaves off half the thyme and rosemary sprigs and strew them over the vegetables.  Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle salt and black pepper.  Using your hands mix everything together and spread the mix out.

4) In the cavity of the chicken, stuff in half a lemon, the remaining garlic, the thyme and rosemary sprigs.  Push the butter under the skin of the chicken. 

5) Truss the legs with some string and tuck the wings under the chicken.  Place chicken on the bed of vegetables in the roasting pan, breast side up.  Add a final season of salt and black pepper.  Drizzle additional olive oil over the chicken.

6) Roast the chicken for about an hour until it is cooked.  If it starts to brown too much, place a foil over the chicken and continue to roast in the oven.

7) To serve, either carve at table or cut into 8 pieces and place on platter.  Serve vegetables separately and pour the gravy into a gravy bowl.

Soya Sauce Chicken

I have been meaning to make this dish for a long time now.  My mum used to make a similar version of this with chicken and also with beef.  However her beef version uses a lot more pepper ..... black pepper to be precise! 

There is a eatery shop directly opposite Hong Lim Market which is well-known for their delicious soya sauce chicken.  I used to frequent this shop when I was working around the corner many years ago.  It's not a fancy eatery and the shop front seems to have "stood still" in time.  The soya sauce chicken dish is either accompanied with white rice or egg noodles.   I was hoping that this recipe would come close to what this shop serves and how I remembered the dish's flavours.  And I was not disappointed at all ... it is really, really close!  Definitely a keeper's recipe and a dish that will be enjoyed by the whole family.




Soya Sauce Chicken

Serves 4 -5

Recipe Adapted from Rasa Malaysia.com

Ingredients:

1 medium size chicken (about 1.2kg), cleaned and cut into half 3-inch ginger, skin removed, sliced into thick pieces and lightly bruised
6 cloves garlic, peeled, whole and lightly bruised
2 stalks spring onions, tied into a knot
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick (about 2-inch length)
1 cup light soya sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee’s less salted version)
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
2 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon brandy or cognac
1 teaspoon white pepper
100g rock sugar (can be found in Asian grocery shop)
4 cups water


Ginger and Spring Onion Dip

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon ginger, minced finely and pounded
1 stalk spring onion, thinly sliced into rounds
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil

Method for the Dip:

To prepare the ginger and scallion dip, place the ginger, salt and spring onion into a small bowl. Heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan until it becomes really hot and starts to smoke. Pour the oil into the small bowl and stir until everything is combined. Be careful as the oil may splatter slightly when it touches the ginger mix.

Method for the Chicken:

1)   Add all ingredients (except the chicken) into a deep pot and bring it to a boil on high heat for 15 minutes. Add the chicken halfs into the pot and boil over high heat for about 10 minutes. Lower the heat to simmer for 30 minutes.

2) Then turn off the heat and let the chicken soak in the sauce until it has completely cooled. Chop the chicken up into bite size serving pieces. Place onto plate. Pour the sauce into a separate bowl to be served together with the dip. This dish is usually served at room temperature together with hot steaming bowl of rice.

Note:

 

Any left over sauce can be kept for other dishes such as soya sauce eggs. Add a few hard-boiled eggs into the sauce and let it sit overnight in the fridge. Alternatively you can use it as a marinade over deep fried beancurd.

Spanish Chicken Casserole

This particular casserole makes a great dish for family gatherings or when you have friends around.  The unusual flavours of this cassrole and somewhat reminded me of a tarjin because it had the citrus taste of the lemon juice.  I made this over a Sunday weekend and had it with crusty bread which was just nice to mop up the gravy.  I froze the remaining left overs.



Spanish Chicken Casserole
Serves 4
Recipe Adapted from Women's Weekly

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
4 chicken drumsticks
4 chicken thigh cutlets
1 large onion, chopped finely
4 medium potatoes, quartered
1/2 cup roasted pine nuts
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh basil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180C.

2)  Heat oil in a large flameproof casserole dish, brown the chicken in batches and set aside.

3) In the same pot, cook the onions until soft.  Return chicken to the dish.  Add potato, nuts, stock, wine, juice, garlic, all the thyme and basil and half of the parsley. Bring to a boil.

4) Cover the dish and place in the oven to cook for about 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.  Season with salt and pepper.

5) Once cooked, add the remain parsley, stir and dish out.  Serve with greens and crusty bread.

Satay Chicken

I'm not sure why this particular recipe is called Satay Chicken because it's flavours does not resemble the well known satays. Maybe it is the use of fresh grounded ingredients such as candlenut and lemongrass that gives it kinship to satay. However one thing I do know or what the recipe book tells me, is that this is a Peranakan dish.

Peranakans are the Chinese who immigrated to the Nusantara region and to assimilate themselves into the local culture they had adopted some of the Malay customs. Their food and style of cooking became a blend of Chinese and Malay and thus the birth of Peranakan. Peranakan recipes always uses fresh ingredients and some of their recipes are quite complicated.

In the olden times when the food processor or blender was a rare kitchen equipment, a pestel and motar would be used to pound all the fresh ingredients. In fact till this day, some of the older generation Peranakans would still insist on using the old fashion method to pound the ingredients. They swear that Peranakan dishes taste so much better as the pounding releases the oils and flavours slowly.





Satay Chicken
Recipe Adapted from "Female Cookbook Vol 12"

Ingredients:

1.6kg whole chicken, cut into 12 - 16 pieces
3 candlenut
10 dried red chillies
4 fresh red chillies
7 red shallots
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp shrimp paste
2 stalk lemon grass, the white part only
200 ml thick coconut cream (from packet)
1/4 cup water
3 - 4 Tbsp cooking oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1) Grind the candlenut, the chillies, shallots, garlic, shrimp paste and lemongrass until fine. Keep aside.

2) Heat the oil in a wok or a large pot until hot. Add the grounded paste into the oil, turn fire to medium. Fry the paste until oil starts to seep out and it smells fragrant. This should take about 4 - 5 minutes.

3) Add in the chicken pieces and fry for another 5 minutes.

4) Add 3/4 of the coconut cream and mix it with the 1/4 water. Add to the chicken and stir. Bring to a boil and then turn the fire to low/medium. Cook until the gravy thickens and reduced.

5) Add salt to taste. Then add the remaining coconut cream and continue to cook until the sauce has reduced.

6) I prefer this dish to have very little gravy but you could have more by reducing the cooking time.

Roast Chicken with Squashed Potatoes

My parents were in town recently and I decided that a simple dinner was in order. Definitely a "no hassle" dinner that night and to me it would have to be a simple roast chicken. Everything gets dumped into the oven and I don't have to watch it at all. I have done quite a few roast chicken variations before and decided to try something different this time round.

I used rosemary as the main herb which I think is pretty unusual. I have always associated rosemary with a lamb dish. Surprisingly it does taste good with chicken and throughout the roasting process the smell of the herb filled my entire kitchen. The lemon zest added that extra citrus flavour to the meat. I made squashed roast potatoes (I thought the word "squash" was kinda cute) to accompany the roast chicken. I must say that the potatoes were really, really good! As they had been roasted whole, the skin was crunchy when eaten warm.

I would call the entire meal a delicious one and great for entertaining if you have guests.





Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, medium sized 1 whole lemon (zest the lemon and leave the fruit whole)
5 springs of rosemary
2 1/2 Tbsp rock salt
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cut into very small cubes
2 Tbsp olive oil
Method:

1) Grind the rock salt, lemon zest and 2 sprigs of rosemary using a mortar or a food processor. Sieve the mixture. (The finer salt would be used to rub the outside of the chicken and the rest will be used to stuff the cavity of the chicken.)

2) Rinse the chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. This will help get a crispy skin. Season the cavity with the coarser salt mixture. Then add in the remaining 3 sprigs of rosemary. Cut the lemon in half and stuff it into the cavity. Finally truss the legs of the chicken with some string.

3) Next push the small cubes of butter under the skin of the whole chicken. Try to get the butter underneath as much skin surface of the chicken as much as possible. As the butter melts in the oven, it penetrates the skin and flesh and makes it more flavourful.

4) Then use the finer salt mixture to rub over the entire chicken. Finally using a brush, coat the outside of the chicken skin with the olive oil. Don't use all the oil as you will be basting the chicken several times during the cooking process.

5) Heat the oven to 200C and roast the chicken for about 45 - 55 minutes. Cook breast side up first. Every 15 minutes of cooking time, remove the chicken and brush the whole chicken with olive oil. Turn the bird half way into cooking time, so that the underside gets brown as well.

6) To check if the chicken is thoroughly cooked, pierce the thickest part of the chicken with a skewer. If the juices run clear, then the chicken should be done. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before carving.

Squashed Roast Potatoes

Ingredients:

350g small sized potatoes, washed and with skin
4 sprigs of rosemary

Method:

Boil the potatoes until they are cooked. Remove from pot and place onto a baking tray. Using a large spoon, squash the potatoes slightly and then place a small sprig of rosemary in each. Using some of the drippings from the roast chicken, cover all the potatoes and then roast in a 200C oven for about 35 – 40 minutes.

Yam Som-O (Spicy Pomelo Salad)

I was pleasantly surprised when I was checking my personal emails one evening to receive an invitation from Jasmine to attend a Food Bloggers tea-party. I did not know who Jasmine was but did know a couple of bloggers on the invitation list, namely Edith and Zhuoyuan . The tea-party would be hosted at Edith's house. This would not be the first time Edith would be hosting a food bloggers gathering. A year and half ago, she had hosted our first gathering and it was a tremendous success. Again Edith has so kindly opened her beautiful home to all of us.





As usual whenever food bloggers get together there would be a huge assortment of treats. This time round was no exception and the menu consisted mainly of desserts with a couple of savoury items thrown in. Almost everyone brought two types of desserts and we ended up with a huge feast. We had cupcakes, brownies, lemon bars, durian swiss roll, durian chiffon cake, cheesecakes, meat balls, macarons and more. Check out the below blogs of my "old" and new blogger friends, each and every one so very talented as well.

Edith of Precious Moments
Wendy of Wen's Delight
Cathy of Cathy's Joy
Jean of Noms I Must
Jess of J3ss Kitch3n
Jasmine of The Sweetylicious
Zhuoyuan of Baking Library

I decided to bring something savoury instead. And as I didn't have much time over the week, I made a Thai pomelo salad instead.



Yam Som-O (Spicy Pomelo Salad)
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 medium sized pomelo or 2 grapefruits
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
150g cooked prawns, sliced half lengthwise
200gm cooked chicken breast, shredded
2 Tbsp dessicated coconut
1/2 cup coconut cream
1 Tbsp dried shrimp, toasted and finely chopped
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Handful of mint leaves

Method:

1) Peel pomelo and shread the flesh. Leave as chunky pieces.

2) Place lime juice, fish sauce and sugar in a bowl and stir to mix until sugar has dissolved.

3) Then add in the prawns, chicken, dessicated coconut and coconut cream. Toss to coat the pomelo. Add in the mint leaves and transfer to serving platter. Sprinkle the top with dried shrimp and toasted sesame seeds and a few mint leaves.

4) Serve immediately as this salad does not keep over night.

Sticky Asian Chicken Drumlets

There's something about chicken wings or drumlets that make such great finger food. And you really do have to use your fingers to tackle this meal. This particular dish is definitely a "finger licking" experience and after eating a drumlet you would want to lick all the sauces off each and every one of your fingers.

I can honestly say that I didn't follow any recipe. In fact I just grabbed whatever sauce I had either in my refrigerator or on my countertop to create this marinade. So if you are like me, just be creative, throw a few sauces together to experiment and who knows you may end up with a real winner of a recipe!



Sticky Asian Chicken Drumlets
Serves 3 - 4

Ingredients:

20 pieces chicken drumlets
4 Tbsp terriyaki sauce
3 Tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp sweet Thai chilli sauce
1/2 tsp 5 spice powder (or use mixed spice)
1/2 tsp white pepper (or you could use black pepper)

Method:

1) Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the chicken drumlets which you would have cleaned earlier and patted dry. Marinate the drumlets for at least 2 hours or better still overnight in the refrigerator.

2) Once marinated, remove from refrigerator and leave to near room temperature. Heat oven to 190C. Line a baking sheet with foil and spread the drumlets on the sheet. Brush the drumlets with the marinate sauce and set the remaining sauce aside.

3) Place drumlets in oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until cooked. Turn the pieces mid way to baking and brush again with the marinate sauce. Return to oven. Begin to check after about 15 minutes, making sure they are browned. Just 5 minutes before the drumlets are thoroughly cooked, you can pour the remaining marinate on top of the drumlets, turn them around to coat with the sauce and place it back in the oven for a final browning.

Chicken Curry Puffs

Curry puff is a very popular snack in Malaysia. If you ask a Malaysian if this is true, they probably would tell you "yes". This snack can be considered Malaysia's version of the empanadas. It was usually found in Malay and Indian food stalls. Another Malay version of this snack is known as epok-epok, which is a much smaller version of the normal sized curry puff. Epok-epok are filled with a half boiled egg instead of chicken and sometimes spicy tinned sardines are also used. (I love the tinned sardine version.) The curry puffs which are found in Indian food stalls are usually of the vegetarian variety, with filings such as spicy potatoes, carrots and onions.

The popularity of curry puffs has taken such a huge leap that food manufacturers have now developed a frozen version of this snack. All you would need to do is just heat it up in an oven. However to me, there is still nothing like a freshly made curry puff.



Chicken Cuff Puffs

Ingredients:

Outer layer:
400g flour
50g margarine
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 egg
170 ml water

Inner Layer:
120g flour
60g shortening

Method For Wrapping:

Outer layer:
Boil margarine, water and salt. Pour into the flour. Add in egg. Knead well. Let dough rest for a while. Divide into 8 portions.

Inner layer:
Mix flour and lard/shortening together. Knead well and divide into 8 portions.

1) Wrap inner layer with outer layer. Flatten it and then roll it up like a swiss roll. Repeat twice and then divide into 2 portions.

2) With cut side on the table, roll dough into a circle and fill with a spoonful of curry filling. Wet the outer rim of circle and fold into half, seal the edges.

3) Puffs can be left to freeze and packed in ziploc bag when frozen until needed.

4) To fry frozen curry puffs, start them in cold oil. Remove several ladles of hot oil as the puffs are slightly brown, turn heat on to the highest and fry puffs until brown. This way will ensure that the puffs will not be soggy.

5) To fry the second batch, add in the slightly cool oil and put in the frozen puffs, frying the same way as above.

6) If you are frying immediately, heat up oil and then turn your fire to low. Add the curry puffs one at a time (do not over crowd).

7) Put fried puffs in 250F oven to keep warm.

To Make the Filing:

200g chicken fillet, diced
1 onion, diced
200g potatoes, diced, boiled and cubed
2 Tbsp meat curry powder, mixed with enough water to form a paste
1 stalk curry leaves, use leaves only
120ml water
Salt and sugar to taste
Seasoning

1) Mix the chicken fillet with the curry powder.

2) Heat about 3 Tbsp of oil in a pan until hot. Add the onions and fry until slightly soften.

3) Then add the diced chicken and curry leaves. Fry for about 2 minutes, then add in the water. Cook until water has almost evaporated.

4) Then add in the potatoes. Season to taste and cook for a further minute. Leave to cool completely before using.

Malaysian Curry Chicken

I first came across this particular Malaysian curry chicken recipe last year and since then have stuck with it, with some adaption to the original recipe of course! I will cook curry chicken now and then. During the recent blogger's meetup, I contributed this dish as part of the feast which we all enjoyed. I particular like my curry chicken to have a thicker gravy and a more robust flavour.

If you ask any Malaysian, they would probably have their own version of a curry chicken dish. As Malaysia is a multi-racial country, each ethnic race, Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian would have a different version of curry chicken. Additional ingredients may be used such as spices, like star anise, cloves or cinnamon stick, lemon grass, fresh or dried red chillies, candlenut, fresh tomatoes, blue ginger, tumeric root, tamarind paste, fresh curry leaves, yoghurt or dried shrimp paste. The flavours of each curry dish will also vary based on the additonal ingredients used.

(Photos were taken in a rush, so quality was somewhat compromised.)



Malaysian Curry Chicken
Recipe Adapted from "MalaysianFood.net"

Ingredients:

1 medium sized chicken (about 1.5kg) cut into serving size pieces
6 Tbsp Malaysian meat curry powder (or any brand meat curry powder) - I used Baba's meat curry powder
2 Tbsp chili powder (slightly less or more, depending on spice levels)
1/2 cup cooking oil
200ml thick coconut cream (I used Kara brand)
1 1/2 cups water
4 medium sized potatoes, cut into 1/2 or 1/3
Salt to taste
1/3 cup sliced red shallots (grind finely)
8 cloves of garlic, sliced (grind finely)
1 1/2 inch fresh ginger, sliced (grind finely)
2" piece cinnamon stick
3 pieces star anise
4 - 5 pieces of cloves
4 stalks of curry leaves, stalk removed

Method:

1) Grind the shallots, garlic and ginger until fine and set aside.

2) In a small bowl, combine meat curry powder and chili powder, add a few tbsp of water and mix into a thick paste.

3) in a large pot (preferably non-stick), heat oil on high, add ground paste, cinnamon, star anise and cloves, stir-fry until fragrant (about 4 - 5 minutes)

4) Add curry paste and curry leaves, reduce heat to medium-low, stir-fry until fragrant and oil starts to ooze from paste. Make sure that you keep stirring to prevent the paste from burning.

5) Add chicken pieces, bring heat up to med-high, stir to coat chicken well with curry paste. Fry for about 3 - 4 minutes.

6) Add the water and followed with coconut cream.

7) Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to slow to medium fire. Simmer covered for about 25 minutes. Stir occasionally.

8) Then add the potatoes and salt to taste. Continue cooking for about 15 - 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender and soft.

9) Serve curry with bread, prata or steamed white rice.