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Roast Chicken

Recipe (can go with chicken rice as well)
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 tbs salt
- As many unpeeled cloves of garlic as you like

1. Wash the chicken.

2. Dry the chicken.

3. Salt the chicken, including cavity. (or use five spice powder)

4. Throw in as many cloves of garlic/pandan leaf as you like, into the cavity. Then seal with a toothpick.

5. Place the chicken breast side up, in a baking tray. Surround with potatoes* if you wish to make this a one-dish meal.*For potatoes, it helps if you semi-cook them prior. Just cut into bite-sized chunks, drizzle very little oil and microwave them (covered) on high till they turn a little translucent around the edges. They will cook through during the roasting.

6. Roast for 50-60mins (200degrees) or until the juices run clear and the chicken has browned to a crisp.

7. Allow to cool upside down for at least 15mins so that juices can re-distribute.

8. Make gravy using the residual juices in the roasting pan by adding 1 rice bowl of chicken stock. Bring to a bowl and add a little diluted corn starch to thicken. Sieve through to remove charred bits. Serve chicken with gravy on the side.

Using the roast chicken carcass for stock:
http://www.noobcook.com/how-to-make-chicken-stock-from-roast-chicken/

SESAME OIL CHICKEN麻油鸡

Ingredients
(Serves 2-3)
- 1/2 chicken (about 600g), cut to small pieces (you can also use mid-sized drumlettes or chicken thighs)
- 2 tbsp sesame oil and 1 tbsp olive oil
- 5 slices ginger, stacked together and sliced thinly
- Chinese cooking wine (optional) – Hua Diao Jiu (花雕酒) or Shao Xing Jiu (绍兴酒)
water mixture
- 50ml water mixed with 1 tsp dark soy and 1/2 tsp light soy (stir well)
Directions
1. Heat sesame oil and olive oil, then add ginger strips. Stir fry till fragrant.
2. Add chicken pieces and stir fry for a few minutes.
3. Add water mixture and stir to make sure the chicken pieces are well coated with the sauce. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.
4. Open lid, add more water if the mixture is drying out, use kitchen tongs to flip chicken pieces to the other side, cover and simmer for another 5 minutes.
5. When the chicken is cooked, add a splash of Chinese wine and after a few seconds you can smell the wonderful aroma of the wine evaporating. Off the flame. Garnish with coriander and serve with warm steamed rice.

Cooking Notes
1. The simmering time will depend on the size of the chicken pieces – the smaller the pieces, the shorter the cooking time.
2.Instead of Chinese wine, you can also add hard liquor like D.O.M or X.O.
3. This is popular food for women on confinement (one month after childbirth). The confinement recipe usually contains more sesame oil, ginger and wine because it is believed that “heaty” foods are beneficial for women recuperating from childbirth.
4. My mum always add some canned button mushrooms though I don’t really like it. If you like them, you can add them during the last few minutes of simmering.

V-Day Main Course: SALMON IN LEMON SAUCE

- 1/2 Lemon
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt (marinate and to taste)

- Salmon

Salmon:
Marinate salmon in salt before cooking. Sear salmon on all sides. Remove.

Sauce:

Squeeze lemon juice in pan directly. Add olive oil. Add salt (omit if low sodium desired). Drizzle on salmon.

V Day Side Dish : Brussel Sprout with bak kua

STIR-FRIED BRUSSELS SPROUT WITH DRIED SOLE
Ingredients:
10 Brussels sprouts (cut into halves)
2 pieces of dried sole fillet (cut into small pieces)
2 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cooking oil
3 drops of sesame oil
A dash of pepper
A pinch of sugar

Method:

1.       Heat up a small pot of water and bring it to boil.

2.       Add a few drops of cooking oil into the water (to preserve the color of the Brussels sprouts) and boil the Brussels sprouts for two minutes. Drain and set aside.

3.       Heat up the wok and add the cooking oil.

4.       Add the sliced garlic and do a quick stir.

5.       Add in the dried sole fillet pieces and stir fry until they turn golden brown and crispy.

6.       Add in the Brussels sprouts, oyster sauce, water and stir fry for 1 minute.

7.       Add the sesame oil, a dash of white pepper powder and a pinch of sugar.

8.       Dish up and serve hot.

Note: May want to mix the oyster sauce and water together before adding. I used bak kwa (from CNY) instead of sole.

Almond crisps

From Auntie Cindy, Peter’s Mom

3 egg white
30 gm castor sugar (~2 tbsp)
40 gm ground almond powder
100 gm almonds flake

Beat egg white till bubble is form add in sugar and beat till stiff than fold in the ground almond powder. Than put mixture in pipping bag and pipe cookie out onto tray lay with non stick baking papper (very important otherwise cookie will stick to the baking tray and cannot be removed. Sprinkle almonds flake on top of cookies and bake for 1/2 an hour or until the back of the cookies is brown all through @ 150 degree

Spinach in superior broth

Ingredients (Serves 2)

- 250g Chinese spinach, ends trimmed, separate stems and leaves (see cooking note 1 below)
- 1 tbsp white bait, rinsed and patted dry
- 3 tbsp olive oil/vegetable oil
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled & sliced thinly
- 1/2 to 1 century egg, yolk portion cut to smaller pieces (see cooking variation note 1 and cooking note 2 below)
- 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Hua Diao or Shaoxing) (optional)

Sauce mixture (dissolve everything)
- 200ml ikan bilis (anchovies) stock (1l water, 100gm ikanbilis, 6 red dates boil for 10 min) (or you can cheat by dissolving 200 ml hot water with 1/4 knorr ikan bilis cube)
- 1/2 tsp abalone sauce (I use fortune brand)
- pinch of sugar

Directions
1. Heat oil, deep fry white bait till crispy (about 3 minutes or more) and set aside.
2. Using remaining oil in wok, add garlic slices and stir fry till garlic is slightly browned.
3. Add spinach stems and stir fry about a minute or so. Then add spinach leaves and stir fry till all the leaves are wilted.
4. Add sauce mixture and century egg pieces. Bring to a quick boil and simmer for about a minute. If using Chinese wine, drizzle some along the side of the wok and you’ll smell the aroma of the wine in a few seconds. Off the flame.
5. Portion to a serving dish and top with the previously fried white bait you prepared in step 1.

1. If you do not like century eggs, you can substitute with wolfberries instead. Soak 1 tsp of wolfberries in water till they are puffy. Instead of adding century eggs in step 4, add the soaked wolfberries.
2. You can add all types of ingredients to jazz up the dish. For example, you can add fresh white scallops, dried scallops or mushrooms.

Chicken Curry

Main Ingredients:
Lemongrass – 2 piece (white part, smashed)
8 Dried chilli

Curry Chicken Paste - $1 or 1 pack
Curry Leaves
Oyster sauce and Sugar to taste
4 chicken thighs
Water
Shallots – 6 pieces (omit if in paste)
Potatoes – 3 (leave skin on but scrub well)
Carrots – 2
Onions – 1
Long Beans – 10 to 15 pieces (cut into long snips)
Coconut milk/cream - one packet or one canned.
Ginger – 2 to 3 cm knob (omit if in paste)
Garlic – 1 head (omit if in paste)
Method:

Boil potatoes and other root vegetables in 1/3 pot of water.

In a heated wok, add two - three tablespoons of oil. In high heat, add in the smashed lemon grass which is cut up in two pieces and fry till you can smell the fragrance.

Then add in dried chilli, curry leaves and the curry paste mixture and fry on low heat till you can see red colour oil floating on top of the paste. Stir constantly at this stage as they stick to the bottom of the pan easily. This will take about 4 to 5 minutes of frying. Add oyster sauce and sugar to taste.

Then, add in the chicken pieces. Stir them around till they are coated evenly with the paste. While maintaining high heat, ensure that the chicken is coated evenly with the paste.

Add a little bit of the water in the boiling root vegetables "soup". After 3 minutes, add potatoes and rest of the “soup”.

Turn into medium low heat and let it simmer for at least 45 minutes to one hour. This allows the curry flavour to permeate into the chicken meat and also allowed the potatoes to "melt" into the sauce.

After one hour is up, add in long beans. Let it boil for few minutes, then pour in the coconut milk. Bring it up to a boil and switch off the heat. You do not want to boil the coconut milk mixture for too long as it will start to curdle.