Nasi Ayam (Chicken Rice)

 

Hainanese Chicken Rice makes a regular appearance on our dinner table almost every Sunday evening. We would make a big batch of it so that it will last for the next couple of dinners. It's easy, simple and the kids hardly complain about it (unless it stretches out to the third or forth time in a row, then there'd be the occasional whining "Chicken rice? Again....?"). And so, I decided to try out a different version of chicken rice which is more Malay style, with the addition of spices like cinnamon and star anise. The chicken is rubbed with kecap manis before roasting it in the oven, which gives the skin a touch of sweetness.

 



Nasi Ayam (Chicken Rice) Recipe

Ingredients

1.8 kg chicken marylands (drumstick and thigh) - reserve the chicken fat for the rice
1-2 tbsp margarine/butter

Marinade:
3 tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Broth:
2 litres water
2 cloves garlic
2 slices ginger
500g chicken bones/wing tips
1 medium onion, quartered
1 large carrot, diced
Salt and pepper to taste
Coriander stems/roots
Coriander leaves for garnish

Rice:

3 rice cups (approx 2 1/4 metric cups) of jasmine/basmati rice, rinsed
2 tbsp margarine/butter
2 pieces of chicken fat
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 slices ginger
1 star anise
1 inch cinnamon stick
2 cloves
Chicken stock/broth
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
1 pandan leaf
1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Chilli sauce:

3-4 red chillies, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/2 inch ginger, grated
2-3 tsp white vinegar
2-3 tbsp chicken broth
Salt and sugar to taste

Chilli soy sauce:

Mix some kecap manis with chopped bird's eye chillies.

Method

Marinate the chicken by rubbing the salt and pepper all over, followed by the kecap manis. Leave refrigerated for 2-4 hours.

Prepare the chicken broth next. Bring water to the boil in a large pot and add garlic, ginger, chicken bones and onions. Simmer for 1 hour. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 190C. Rub some margarine/butter over and under the chicken skin. and roast the chicken for 45-50 minutes until browned and cooked through. Remove and chop into pieces.

While chicken is roasting, cook the rice. Heat up some margarine in a pan and fry the chicken fat for 3-5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, star anise, cinnamon and cloves to fry. Add in the rice and fry until rice is well coated with the mixture. Pour into rice cooker and add the chicken broth until it comes up to the mark on your rice cooker. Add lemongrass, pandan leaf and stir in salt to taste. Start the rice cooker, and once cooked, fluff up the rice with a fork.

To the remaining broth in the pot, add carrots and coriander stems/roots. Simmer for 10 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and garnish with coriander leaves.

To prepare chilli sauce, blend everything in a blender and adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve rice with chopped chicken, cucumber and tomatoes, chilli sauce, chilli soy sauce and chicken broth.

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Rainbow Jelly

Here's a sweet and colourful coconut-flavoured treat that kids (and grown-ups) of all ages will love.

Rainbow Jelly

 

Ingredients

Part A

10 grams agar-agar powder

1 litre water

200g (scant 1 cup) sugar

Food colouring

 

Part B

10 grams agar-agar powder

600 ml water

200g (scant 1 cup) sugar

400 ml coconut milk

½ teaspoon salt

Food colouring

 

Method

1.       Prepare a container about at least 3 inches high, about 10” x 10” in size.

2.       Combine ingredients in Part A (except for food colouring) in a pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently until the agar powder is dissolved. Turn off heat and keep warm.

3.       At the same time, combine the agar powder, water and sugar in Part B in another pot and bring to a boil. Then add coconut milk and salt, and bring it back to a boil. Turn off the heat immediately and keep warm.

4.       Measure 200ml of the mixture from A and pour into a jug, and add a few drops of food colouring. Mix well. Pour into the prepared container and leave in the fridge to cool for 5 minutes or until almost set (but not completely firm).

5.       While waiting, prepare 200ml of the coconut mixture from Part B and add food colouring.

6.       When the first layer has almost set, use a fork to lightly scratch the surface so that when you pour in the second layer, the layers stick together when they harden.

7.       Gently pour in the coconut mixture from step 5, and then leave to cool until almost set. Scratch the surface with a fork.

8.       Repeat steps 4-7 until mixture is used up. Refrigerate until cold before cutting into slices.

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Malaysian Satay Recipe

 

Mention the word "satay" and I am instantly reminded of my childhood years and years ago, how the Malay Satay Man would peddle his mobile satay stall on his bicycle in my neighbourhood, tooting his horn. Sometimes, I could even smell the aroma from my house, even though he could be grilling his satay down the road. I would get all excited at the prospect of having satay for dinner, and run to the window to see if I could detect any "smoke" signals in the sky. He made one of the best satays in town, and the fact that he peddled his stall around the neighbourhood meant that we could walk up to him with empty plates and bowls waiting to be filled with freshly made satay. Those were the simple things in life back then, though coming from a foodie family, food was and is a big deal, as to most Malaysians of course.

Malaysian Satay is such a luxury item in Sydney. I don't think I've ever ordered satay here before, not when I know it costs multiple times less back in Malaysia. Thai style satay is quite common here, although I'm not a fan of it as they are often presented as a single long piece of chicken breast meat on a bamboo skewer, grilled (and often a tad dry) and served with a sweet peanut sauce which tastes like peanut butter mixed with loads of palm sugar. I guess my tastebuds are more accustomed to savoury and spicy Malaysian cuisine, rather than the sweet side of Thai food.

Anyway, I digress. I had to make satay at home from scratch, and it's pretty simple really. Serve it with cucumbers and ketupat (compressed rice) for a complete meal.

Malaysian Satay Recipe

1kg (2 lbs) chicken thigh fillet or beef scotch fillet steak
Vegetable oil and a stick of lemongrass for basting

Marinade (finely blended into a paste):
150g shallots
4 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
2-3 lemongrass (white part only), sliced
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground fennel
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground turmeric
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp salt

Condiments:
1 red onion, sliced/cubed
Cucumbers, sliced into wedges
Ketupat (compressed rice cakes) - see here for recipe

You will need about 40-50 bamboo skewers (or less if they are long skewers), soaked in water for  a few hours.

Method:

1. Cut the meat into 1 inch x 2 inch slices, about 1/4 inch thick. Combine with marinade and mix well. Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and mix through. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
2. Thread the pieces of meat onto the bamboo skewers (about 3-4 pieces each) and set aside on a plate.
3. For basting the satay, take the lemongrass and smash the white part until it's "frayed" like a brush.
4. Grill the satay sticks over a barbecue, using the lemongrass "brush" to baste the satay with vegetable oil.
5. Serve with peanut sauce and condiments.

Satay sauce / Peanut sauce Recipe

500g raw unsalted peanuts, skinless
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp tamarind pulp, soaked in 1 cup hot water to extract the juice
2-3 cups water, plus extra
150g gula Melaka (dark brown palm sugar), chopped
4 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt or to taste

Spice paste (finely blended into a paste):
100g shallots
4 clove garlic
2-3 stalks lemongrass, white part only, chopped
15-20 long dried chillies, deseeded, soaked in a hot water overnight and chopped (discard the water)
1 inch galangal

Method:

1. Dry fry the peanuts in a large wok, without any oil, until the peanuts are lightly browned and fragrant. Remove and set aside to cool.
2. Pound/grind/blend the peanuts until almost smooth but with some coarse bits still visible, depending on whether you like it smooth or chunky I guess. Set aside.
3. Heat up the 1/2 cup oil in a medium sized pot. Add the blended spice paste and fry until the chilli oil starts to separate from the paste. Add the tamarind juice, gula Melaka and water and bring to a boil and simmer for 10-20 minutes.
4. Add the ground peanuts and stir to mix well. Bring to a boil, then add salt and brown sugar to taste. Add more water if it's too thick. Sauce will thicken as it cools.
5. Turn off heat and set the sauce aside until the oil rises to the top. Serve warm with satay and ketupat (rice cakes).

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Ayam Bakar (Indonesian Grilled Chicken)

I have a weakness for Indonesian grilled chicken (or Ayam Bakar as you will often find on Indonesian menus) - the char and smokiness from the caramelized chicken skin, the sweet aromatic spices, the distinctive taste of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) combined with the heat from the savoury sambal belacan, all complemented with a mound of steamed white rice. The preparation method involves first simmering the chicken in the pot with the spice mix (bumbu or rempah) so that the chicken absorbs all those wonderful flavours. I then reduced the sauce to a thick syrupy paste which I used to baste the chicken before placing under the grill. This gives it a more concentrated flavour and also helps form a shiny dark coating on the skin.

 
I was a little sceptical about making this for the first time, as I wasn't sure if the kids would take to the complex spices in this dish. Well, it turned out that they couldn't get enough of it! If only they could eat chilli, they don't know what they are missing out on without the sambal belacan!

Ayam Bakar Recipe

Ingredients

1.6kg (3.5 lbs) chicken Maryland (thigh + drumstick)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1-2 lemongrass, white part only, bruised
1 inch galangal, bruised
4 pieces kaffir lime leaves
2-3 cups water
6 tbsp kecap manis (I used Bango brand)
1 tbsp tamarind puree/juice
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
Dash of black pepper

Spice paste (finely blended):
100g (3oz) shallots
4 cloves garlic
3/4 inch ginger
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric

Method

1. Heat vegetable oil in a pot (large enough to arrange the chicken in one layer). Fry the spice paste for 5 minutes on medium heat until fragrant. Add lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves, water, kecap manis, tamarind puree, salt and sugar, and bring to a boil. Add the chicken and simmer for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Turn off the heat. If you have time, you can leave the chicken to soak in the sauce for another hour to let the flavours permeate into the meat.
2. Transfer the chicken to a baking dish or pan, as you will need to grill the chicken in the oven later. Leave the sauce in the pot, and bring it to a boil. Simmer until sauce is reduced to a thick paste. Spoon some of this paste onto the chicken (skin-side up).
3. Turn on the oven grill/broiler. Grill the chicken for 20 minutes or until the skin is caramelized and black. Be careful not to burn it. Brush on more of the reserved paste from step 2 above if you like and grill again.
4. Transfer to a serving dish and serve with steamed with rice, cucumbers, a drizzle of kecap manis and sambal belacan (see recipe below).

Sambal Belacan recipe

4 small chillies and 4-6 long red chillies (as desired)
4 candlenuts
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 tsp toasted belacan
Salt to taste
1 tsp sugar, or to taste
Splash of lime juice or vinegar

Method

Remove the chilli stalks. Place chillies and candlenuts in a pot of boiling water, and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain of the water. Roughly slice the chillies. Place chillies, belacan, candlenuts and garlic in a food processor/blender and chop finely. Add salt, sugar and lime juice to taste. Transfer to a small dish, and serve with Ayam Bakar. If desired, drizzle some kecap manis over the sambal belacan before serving.

 

 

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Easy No-Beat Red Velvet Cupcakes

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, one of the most popular cakes would be the Red Velvet - rich, red and luxurious and all that signifies romance. Bake some red velvet cupcakes for your loved ones this Valentine's Day. I've got the perfect recipe that's easy and super delicious - just whisk, mix and bake. Some of you might take a look at the recipe and think "Hmm....no butter in a cake?". This recipe uses oil instead, which makes it ultra soft and moist. The previous version of red velvet cake that I made used butter, and although it was delicious, it was relatively richer and denser, compared to this one which was light, moist, soft and fluffy. If you have to make red velvet cake, try this recipe first. It is so melt-in-your mouth heavenly good you'd fall in love with it.

Easy No-Beat Red Velvet Cupcakes

Adapted from Divascancook.com

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

2 Tablespoons unsweetened, cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil or canola

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 tbsp liquid red food colouring

1 teaspoon of white distilled vinegar

½ cup of prepared plain hot coffee

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 170C / 325F. Line muffin pans with paper cases.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and vegetable oil.
4. Mix in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and red food coloring until combined.
5. Stir in the coffee and white vinegar.
6. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients a little at time, mixing after each addition, just until combined.
7. Pour the batter evenly into each pan.
8. Bake in the middle rack for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
9. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Frost the cake with cream cheese frosting.

For cream chesse frosting, please refer to recipe here.

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Chinese Roast Pork (Siu Yuk)

There can never be too many recipes for chinese roast pork (or "siu yuk" as commonly known in Cantonese). Over the years, I have attempted various recipes and methods for achieving the perfect crackling - crispy and brittle enough that it doesn't break your teeth when you bite into it. It has always been a hit and miss for me. Either the skin doesn't fully crackle all over (leaving some parts soft and chewy), or the meat's dried out, or the crackling is burnt in some parts. But now, I have successfully made the almost-perfect roast pork, twice in a row. Woo-hoo! I must be doing something right there?

There's nothing particularly difficult about making roast pork (except the part where you have to prick a zillion holes in the skin). You just need the right ingredients, the right technique and the right tools. Someone gave us a pork-skin-pricking tool for Christmas two years ago, which you see below. Roast pork fanatics who make their own at home might have this tool, which is available in Malaysia and Singapore. I don't know what it's called, but it's made of wood with a bunch of super sharp needles at the end. If you don't have one, just use a sharp pointed knife to prick the skin, or simply score it (with a knife, of course) at 1/4 inch intervals. However, this special tool will yield the perfect crackling every time. If you have a metal meat tenderizer, that might actually work too!

This recipe has worked really well for me and my oven. Yes, my oven can be temperamental sometimes, especially when the heat doesn't distribute evenly. This time, I used fan-forced in first 50 minutes to achieve an evenly roasted golden crackling, and it worked! I then turned down the heat to let the pork continue cooking until tender. I also added a tray of water below the roasting rack to keep the meat from drying out in the oven. A brush of vinegar on the skin helps to attain a crispier crackling.

I found that it was not necessary to pour boiling water over the skin (to open up the pores). This step yielded a "harder" and crunchier skin. So my recipe only requires covering the raw pricked skin with plenty of salt, leave it to dry out in the fridge, and then brush off all the excess salt before roasting. The result was a much more brittle and crispy crackling. But then again, I bought the pork from a different shop, so maybe one pig was more thick-skinned than the other. I don't know, but it's still crackling, and crackling rocks!

Chinese Roast Pork (Siu Yuk)
Serves 8 | Prep 20 mins | Wait time 120 mins | Cook time 120 mins

Ingredients

1.3 kg (2.8 lbs) pork belly, skin on
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon vinegar, for brushing

Marinade (mix well in a small bowl):
2 tsp five-spice powder
1 tablespoon sea salt (cooking salt)
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 tsp sugar
2 cubes red fermented beancurd
1 tsp vegetable oil

Method

1. Rinse the pork under the tap and drip dry. Then, pat dry all over with a few paper towels.
2. Place on a chopping board, and poke holes all over the skin, as many as you possibly can. Use the tip of a sharp knife, or ideally, "The Pork-Skin-Pricking-Tool".
3. Turn the pork over skin side down. Rub the marinade all over the meat, including the sides of the pork.  Avoid getting any on the skin.
4. Carefully turn the pork over onto a clean plate, skin side up. Check that the skin is dry, if not pat well with paper towel.  Rub 1 tablespoon salt all over the skin until evenly covered.  This will draw out the moisture.
5. Place the pork in the fridge, uncovered, for 2-4 hours.
6. When ready to roast the pork, preheat oven to 230C fan-forced. 
7. Remove pork from the fridge. Use a paper towel to wipe off all the salt from the skin. Pat the skin dry. Place pork skin side up on a metal rack over a roasting tin. Fill the roasting tin with 1 inch of water. Place the roasting tin on the middle rack and roast for 30 minutes. Once the skin starts to crackle (about 30 minutes later), brush some vinegar over the skin and place the pork back in the oven. Continue to roast for 20 minutes until skin has fully crackled and is lightly golden. Watch it constantly to make sure the crackling doesn't burn!
8. Once crackling is nicely coloured, turn the oven temperature down to 180C (switch the oven to conventional - I turned off the fan-forced mode at this stage). Continue to roast for a 60-80 minute so that the meat is tender.
9. Remove from oven and let pork rest and cool down for 30 minutes before chopping into bite-sized pieces.  You will need a sharp cleaver for this. Enjoy while meat is warm and crackling is super crispy.

Note: This will be perfectly complemented by a sweet and sour chilli dipping sauce. Recipe below:

Vinegar Chilli Sauce

1 long red chilli, chopped
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp sugar (or to taste)
Pinch of salt

To prepare the sauce, use a mortar and pestle to pound the chilli until fine, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Add more sugar/salt if necessary. Transfer to a small bowl and use as a dipping sauce.

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Oxtail braised in red wine with sweet and sour carrots (sans turnips)

Here is another recipe from the "Gary Mehigan Favourites" cookbook. I thought I'd try it out as it was at the "top of his favourites list", although I had to make a few substitutions, particularly with the Barolo which costs a bomb (even more so as two bottles are needed for this). I used Cabernet Sauvignon instead. The recipe also called for baby turnips which I couldn't find (perhaps not in season?) and so I made do with just the baby carrots. They were delicious, cooked in butter and verjuice.  Quite a lot of preparation goes into cooking this as it also requires beef jus and beef stock. The oxtail turned out pretty well and could have done with another half hour in the oven so that they were meltingly tender all the way through. Tasty nonetheless, very savoury and complements the sweet and sour carrots which I love!

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