Chicken

Korean Style Fried Chicken

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My husband is a big fried chicken lover. He loves all kinds of fried chicken, American style, Japanese style, or Korean style. Or maybe he just loves chicken. As I mentioned before, every time when I ask him what he want for lunch, his answer is always Teriyaki Chicken. I don’t know if there is a special setting in his brain. He just pushed that “my wife asks my opinion on the meal again” button, and his mouth just opened and spited the word “Teriyaki Chicken” out. Actually, most time I just ask him, but whether adopting his opinion or not is another thing. šŸ™‚

Back to the fried chicken. šŸ™‚ I found a pack of chicken drumsticksĀ  in the fridge. To me, chicken drumsticks are ideal to cook fried chicken. Since they are not so skinny as chicken wings or not so hard-to-cook as chicken legs.

  1. Wash chicken drumsticks (my pack contains 8 ) clean and drain them.
  2. Put all the drumsticks in a big bowl. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 black pepper. Also chop a small piece of ginger and add in. Mix them well.
  3. Roll drumsticks in potato starch. Let each one be coated with a thin starch layer and shake off the excess.
  4. Prepare frying oil. I didn’t measure the temperature of the oil. I just grab the bone end of one drumstick and slightly dip it into the oil. If a lot of bubbles show up around it and you can hear the sizzling, the temperature is OK. Gently slide the drumstick into the oil. For the whole frying process, I keep the low-medium heat. To make sure chicken is cooked thoroughly,Ā  frying may take 10-13 mins.
  5. Heat up the oil and fry again to get crispy out layer and golden brown color.

After frying twice, the outside shell is very hard.

Next step is to make sauce:

Heat a pan. Add in 1/2 tablespoon oil. Saute 2 or 3 chopped garlic cloves. If you want your chicken to be spicy, add in a little chopped dried chili. Then add in 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 1/2 tablespoon honey and 1 tablespoon vinegar. Turn to low heat and reduce the sauce a bit.

Add all fried chicken into the sauce. Stir to mix them well.

https://flic.kr/p/SfF2Lm

Chicken will be coated with sticky and shiny tasty sauce.

My husband cannot stop licking his finger.

I was thinking maybe someday if I don’t want to do what I am doing now, I can open a fried chicken restaurant to make money instead. :p

Chinese, food hunting, Uncategorized

Hangout @ Chinatown

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Well, today I have one day off and my husband also has time. We planned to go to Chinatown and have lunch there. He wanted to try a nasi lemak restaurant there. It’s the first time for us to go to Chinatown and hunt for non-Chinese food.

Chinatown of Singapore is really close to to the CBD. You can actually walk from Chinatown to CBD and also see blocks of tall buildings from Chinatown.

There are many places to have nice food in Chinatown, such as Amoy Street and Chinatown Food Street.

Chinatown has many traditional buildings of Nanyang style.

https://flic.kr/p/2eib1ts

The restaurant we went is at Ann Siang Rd.

https://flic.kr/p/2dgGSub

There are many bars, restaurants and cafes there.

The blue restaurant is the one we were going.

The Coconut Club.

It is not a very big restaurant. Their signature dish is nasi lemak, which can be told from the menu.

Actually, the price is more expensive than nasi lemak sold in other places. We can usually buy nasi lemak at around S$4 and even below. But still, this place is very popular. It was lunch time, many office workers came here for lunch. And I could see a long line waiting outside. My husband and I ordered 2 signature nasi lemak. We waited for a quite long time.

The big plate of rice, chicken, sambal chili sauce, fried peanuts & anchovy, egg and cucumber proves it is worth waiting.

Rice is full of coconut milk flavor and not too strong. ( I just realized what is wrong with the nasi lemak I cooked. I added in too much coconut milk into the rice.) Chicken is juicy and tender. The only thing I’m not so pleased with is the egg is very tiny. šŸ˜¦  I love Sambal chili sauce. The whole plate is a big portion. I could’t finish my chicken and asked my husband to help me finish it.

After nasi lemak, we also tried the dessert there.

My husband ordered Cendol:

Topped with Adzuki Red Bean. Full of creamy coconut milk and sticky gula Melaka (a kind of coconut sugar in brown color). My husband said it’s the best Cendol he’s ever had in Singapore.

I ordered Kueh (a Malay word means “cake”).

I really like the green & blue one. The upper layer is soft and melt in your mouth and the bottom layer is made of sticky rice. The small cake wrapped with coconut flakes on the right is too sweet to me.

After this satisfying lunch, we just found the cafe across the street.

Nanyang Old Coffee. A cafe my husband wanted to try a long time ago.

We went there. My husband ordered a cup of Yuanyang coffee. And I ordered Ang Ku Kueh.

I am not a coffee lover. My husband review towards his coffee was “not bad”. As to my Ang Ku Kueh, I chose green bean paste filling. It’s also not bad.

Finished coffee, we just wandered in Chinatown. Because Chinese New Year is coming in around 2 weeks or even less than 2 weeks.  The main color in Chinatown is Red.

Red lanterns.

Red Spring Couplets and Chinese New Year decorations.

https://flic.kr/p/QBsGor

Since 2019 is pig year according to Chinese Zodiac, Pig is also a regular element in gift shops or in the street.

https://flic.kr/p/23Lirci

https://flic.kr/p/23LisjD

Chinese New Year is a big festival for Chinese. We prepare lots of food. So you can see piles of snacks are there.

https://flic.kr/p/23LirCZ

Many shops gave free samples when you pass by. We get black peanuts to try.

Apart from so many things to say, Chinatown is heaven to foodie. I think all Chinese cuisine can be found here: Sichuan, Hunan, Northeast. No matter hot pot, Raosted duck, or seafood. We tried some of them before, I must say they taste authentic.

https://flic.kr/p/23LirVc

https://flic.kr/p/2dgGSDQ

https://flic.kr/p/23LirWV

https://flic.kr/p/QBsFzH

Ohhhhh, I’m hungry again……

Breakfast

Homemade Waffle

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Ingredients:

Flour 1 cup

Baking powder 1 1/2 tsp

Baking soda 1/8 tsp

Salt 1/2 tsp

Sugar 1 1/2 tablespoon

Water 1 cup

Canola oil 1 tablespoon

Melted butter 2 tablespoon

Egg 1 (separate white and yolk)

1. Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, slat, baking soda and baking powder) in a bowl.

2. Pour in water. Stir well.

3. Add in canola oil and butter. mix evenly.

4. Add in egg yolk first. Stir to let them be well mixed.

5. Slightly beat the egg white till a lot small bubbles show up. And add into the batter and stir well.

6. Heat the waffle maker. Scoop batter into it. Heat till brownish on both sides.

You can serve hot freshly made waffle with butter, syrup or cream, jam.

My husband loved them.

Chicken

Janpanese Style Fried Chicken Recipe

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1. Prepare a boneless chicken leg. Cut it into medium pieces.

2. Place chicken in a bowl. Add in 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sweet cooking wine, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp minced garlic and 1 tsp minced ginger. Mix well and marinate for about 30 mins.

3. Pour the marinade out. Beat 1 egg into the chicken. Mix by hand to let chicken be coated with egg.

4. Add in 2 tablespoon starch and 1 tablespoon flour. Mix well.

5. Deep fry flour-coated chicken till golden brown.

6. Turn up the heat and fry again to make them crispier.

Serve with lemon.

https://flic.kr/p/PHSAPL

Uncategorized, Vegetables

Winged Beans

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This is a completely new vegetable to me. I have never heard about it, never seen it before.

This is how they look like:

It also has the name: four-angled beans and dragon beans.

They look kind of strange to me at the first sight. I was very curious whether those small leaves are edible or not. And if it is hollow or there are seeds inside.

I bought them last night, and couldn’t wait to cook them today.

I trimmed the two ends and cut them into slices.

https://flic.kr/p/S9qePA

They are kind of in star shape. And yes! There are seeds inside. Their smell is not pungent and a bit like long beans.

I decided to cook it in a way similar to how I cook French beans.

  1. heat 1 tsp oil in the pan. Add in 1 clove of chopped garlic and a little ginger shreds. Saute till aromatic.
  2. Add all the winged bean slices in. Stir fry for 1 min.
  3. Add in 1 tsp sweet cooking wine, and 1 tsp light soy sauce. Toss aĀ  bit.
  4. Add in 1 tablespoon water. Cover with lid and simmer for 2 mins.
  5. Toss a bit. Add in chopped red chili (mine is spicy type) and lid on for another minute.
  6. Season with salt and serve hot.

Beans are chewy and taste a bit sweet. I like them.

https://flic.kr/p/2dbv1hQ

I was really worried that could I get food poisoning. But so far so good. No vomiting, noĀ  stomach ache, no diarrhea. šŸ™‚

I’m so exiting that I knew new vegetable today and I cooked it!

duck, Uncategorized

Duck Gizzard & Chili Stir-fry Recipe

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I like duck gizzard, and I also like chicken gizzard. Actually, when I was little, I didn’t eat any animal gut, mainly because I didn’t dare to. But there was one time, my neighbors had a BBQ party. They also gave us some skewers. One of them was chicken heart. I thought I just gave it one bite and see what it tastes like. After that bite, I fell in love with chicken heart immediately. Then later, I dared to eat gizzard, which is also yummy to me.

This dish is a quick stir-fry. And it’s a combination of duck gizzard and spicy flavor.

1. Cut duck gizzard into slices. For about 1 cm.

2. Chops 2 cloves of garlic, 1 stalk spring onion, 2 green chili and a little ginger.

3. Prepare the sauce: 1 tablespoon cooking wine, 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp corn starch and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix them well in a bowl.

4. Heat a pan. Add in 2 tsp oil. SautƩ ginger and garlic till aromatic.

5. Add duck gizzard in. Quickly stir fry with high heat for about 2-3 mins. They will turn white in color.

6. Add in green chili, stir fry till chili flavor is out.

7. Pour in the sauce. Let gizzard mix with sauce evenly. And reduce the sauce a bit.

8. Finally, sprinkle spring onion. Stir fry a bit. And ready to serve.

Fish

Steamed Cod Fish Fillet

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  1. sprinkle salt and 1 tsp Shaoxing wine over cod fish fillet.
  2. chop ginger into shreds, garlic into slices. Fry them till golden brown. Set aside for later use.
  3. place several ginger slices in a plate. Fish over the ginger. Steam fish for about 8 mins.
  4. pour the water in the plate out. Drizzle 1 tsp light soy sauce over the fish.
  5. Put fried ginger and garlic on the fish fillet. Top with green onion shreds.
  6. heat 1 tablespoon oil till very hot. Pour the hot oil over the fish.

Simple and easy.

And also yum!

tomato, Uncategorized, Vegetables

Sweet & Sour Fried Eggplant Recipe

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  1. Cut eggplant into slices. Soak them in water, also sprinkle in some salt.
  2. Wash several cherry tomatoes. Cut cross at the bottom. Soak them in hot water for a while. Peel them and set aside for later use.
  3. Squeeze the water out of eggplant. Place them in a big bowl. Add in 2-3 tablespoon corn starch.Ā  Shake a little to let eggplant be coated with starch.
  4. Fry eggplant till the starch layer becomes crispy. Set eggplant aside.
  5. Leave a little oil in the pan. Saute chopped garlic till aromatic.
  6. Add in cherry tomatoes with 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 table spoon vinegar, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce and 1 tablespoon water. Simmer a bit to reduce sauce.
  7. Add eggplant in. Stir to let eggplant coated with sauce.
  8. Add in green chili. Stir fry for another minute and ready to serve.

https://flic.kr/p/2c554A5

Pork

ā€œThe Rice Killerā€- Braised Pork Belly

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I’ve cooked braised pork belly for many many many times. Seems that my husband will never get tired of it. Due to the dark rich sauce and juicy tender pork, this dish also has a nick name “the rice killer”. Because with this dish, you can have a lot rice.

The secretĀ  lies in sugar and soy sauce. I can guarantee you that when you cook braised meat, add in soy sauce and sugar, you will get delicious sauce.

  1. Boil pork with cooking wine, ginger slices and green onion till soft and chopsticks can easily go through. Rinse under water. Cut whole pork belly into small cubes.
  2. Heat a pan. Because pork belly contains fat. So no need to add oil. Sear the pork with low-medium heat till brownish.
  3. Add in 1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce, 1 tsp dark soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon sugar and 1 tsp cooking wine. Stir fry to let pork be coated with sauce.
  4. Pour in enough hot water just covers all the pork. Also add in bay leaves, star anise and ginger slices. Bring to boil.
  5. Lid on and turn to low heat. Simmer for at least 20-30 mins. If you want your pork to be super soft, you can simmer for longer time, like 1 hour.
  6. Lid off. turn to high heat and reduce the sauce.

My husband has superpower of detecting this dish. Every time with this dish on table, he will just pick it up very accurately with no mistake. I have to threaten him that if he doesn’t have any vegetables in other plate, I will put this dish away. šŸ™‚

Cooking & Food & Recipes & Life