Orange chicken recipe

Another day in the kitchen but more importantly, another way to try to improve on a recipe:) This is a simple recipe that is popular at most Chinese restaurants and is secretly very easy to prepare.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 tsp orange zest
1 tbsp garlic chilli sauce
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp cornstarch

1. Cut chicken breast/ thigh fillets into slightly bigger than bite sized pieces, marinate overnight with soy sauce, pepper and chinese cooking wine.
2. Dust chicken pieces with plain flour and deep fry. Alternatively, you could coat them with panko crumbs and bake in an oven until done.
3. Cook the listed ingredients above in a saucepan over medium heat until the sauce is slightly thickened. This may take around 3-5 minutes. Add cornstarch and stir until the sauce is appropriately thickened.
4. Serve with a bowl of steamed rice. Feel free to sprinkle a bit of sesame seeds on them too, for aesthetic purposes;)

Nene Chicken, Malvern East MELB

As I diligently slave my time away at the gym, I am constantly reminded of the need to eat clean aka no indulging in anything deemed unhealthy such as sweets, fried food..basically anything that could not provide me with any health benefits.

Worried I was not although when I am allowed a cheat meal, there is no stopping me. Naturally, I would pick something bad ass to stuff myself with.

Always curious about Nene Chicken and when a branch is finally operating at Chadstone, why not sneak a few pieces into my protein craving tummy? A little late in the night and a few flavours were already sold out. Like that's going to stop me...

Garlic fried chicken - not too bad in terms of crispiness and flavour. Am glad that it comes with a separate dipping sauce as deep fried meat can often be dry.

Bulgogi chicken - coated in a sweetish, spicy sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds, we were a little dubious initially. However, I actually much preferred this version instead. There is something very addictive about the sauce used.

Just like any other Korean eateries, complimentary side dishes are included with every meal and I like our food was neatly packed into containers. Oh and if you are worried about getting your hands dirty, fret not as Nene also provides customers with disposable plastic gloves to use while picking at those chicken pieces.

 

Gami, CBD MELB

Following on from a fast foodie week, we decided to hit up a place known to serve up finger licking yummy fried chicken. Just about every Melbournian I have met knows and raves about this place so let's see if it lives up to it's expectations;)

Service is very efficient and I love the concept of free refills on their pickles, used to freshen up one's palate when the taste of fried food is too overwhelming.

We opted for the half and half with the original and soy garlic version. Comes with the option of having boneless pieces of chicken but costs a tad more. Also has an assortment of Korean side dishes to choose from if you need a little more than fried chicken to satisfy your tummy.

Verdict? Crispy, succulent pieces of chicken that is worth the hype, especially the soy garlic version. Would opt for the boneless version next time because I am kinda lazy to nibble around the bone hehe:)

Chicken lotus root soup recipe

I was craving for home cooked food one day and the first thing that came to mind was dried cuttlefish. Mum loves cuttlefish/squid and gets excited at the thought of having it for meals. I on the other hand, passes most of my cuttlefish portions to her.

This is a pretty easy recipe to follow through - fuss free and requires minimal ingredients. All you need is chicken, slices of lotus root, dried cuttlefish and dried dates. Bring all these ingredients to boil in a good sized pot and allow to simmer for a couple of hours. Season to taste and serve with rice.

Voila, your winter fix sorted.

Ipoh kai si hor fun recipe

I am nowhere near as adventurous when it comes to savoury food as opposed to making edible sweets. Rather, I tend to stick to simple, fool-proof recipes that won't make me cringe as I eat my way through it for the rest of the week.

This is a recipe that I have been meaning to attempt for the longest time but procrastinated, mainly due to the fact that I am not sure how it will turn out. Plus point is that it worked fine. Only downside is that prawns are not exactly a cheap ingredient. Be sure to keep track of prices prior to conjuring up this dish!

Ingredients:

Broth:
4 chicken carcasses - depending on how much stock you want
Enough water to cover the chicken carcasses
1kg tiger/ large-sized prawns

1. Bring chicken carcasses and water to a boil. Allow to simmer (this helps construct the soup's flavour profile). May take at least 1 hour. Season with salt and sugar.
2. De-shell and de-vein the prawns. Fry prawn shells in about 6 tbsp of oil until you get a vibrant orange colour in the oil. Press on the shells to extract more flavour.
3. Once soup is ready, add prawn shells and oil. Give it a good stir and allow to simmer for an extra 30 minutes.
4. Blanch chicken meat and prawns in soup until cooked. Set aside.

Assembly:
Shredded chicken meat
Prawns
Chives
Thin rice noodles
Chilli
Soy sauce

1. Soak rice noodles in hot water until it softens before cooking them in the soup.
2. Serve in a bowl, garnish with shredded chicken, prawns and chopped chives.
3. Thinly slice chilli and serve as a dipping sauce with soy sauce.

And that's about it really. Very simple and surprisingly good!:)

Honey soy chicken drumsticks recipe

I have jumped on the healthy bandwagon and decided to prepare my meals for the entire week in advance aka storing consistent portions of food in individual containers for daily use. Not something I do normally but I figured, why not give it a try?

Chicken drumsticks were on special at the local supermarket, can't say no to that, right? I had 14 drumsticks and leftover honey in the fridge that needs to be cleared so... honey soy chicken anyone?:) It is an easy recipe to follow with minimal preparations involved.

Ingredients:
14 chicken drumsticks
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Chicken marinate:
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup cooking sake
1/2 tsp sesame oil
A few dashes of pepper

Marinate chicken overnight.

Honey soy glaze:
4 tbsp honey
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp cooking wine

Mix all the glaze ingredients together and place the mix in a low heat pan. Stir every minute and allow it to caramelize or thicken. This may take about 7 minutes depending on the width of your pan.

Once caramelized, dip chicken drumsticks in the sauce to be coated. Line the chicken on a tray and bake at 160C for 45 minutes. With the extra sauce around the chicken drumsticks, use it to bathe the drumsticks. Do this every 15 minutes.

When the chicken is almost done, sprinkle sesame seeds. Allow to cool before storing or serve immediately as a meal:)

Teriyaki chicken recipe

This would be my third attempt making teriyaki chicken's sauce from scratch aka no packet sauces! I found it intimidating at first as I had no idea what to expect but after trying it out on a couple of occasions, I realized that it all boils down to ensuring that the added sugar caramelizes in the soy sauce. A little patience does go a long way.

A pretty fuss free recipe which requires few ingredients and probably easy to prepare if you have unexpected guests.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup mirin
1 tbsp kikkoman soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 kg chicken thigh fillets, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper

Fry chicken pieces on a heated pan with a bit of oil until you achieve a nice brown colour on both sides of the chicken (about 4 minutes on each side at medium heat but this depends on the thickness of the chicken meat).

To prepare the teriyaki sauce, warm a pan and add the mirin, soy sauce and sugar together. Use medium heat and allow the concoction to thicken. Keep stirring. This process takes at least 5 minutes depending on how wide your pan is. Be patient as the end result is yum!

Once the sauce thickens and resembles a slightly liquefied glucose syrup, toss your chicken in and allow the sauce to caramelize both sides of the chicken.

Serve immediately with rice and your choice of veges:)

Bon appetit!

Loh mai gai / steamed glutinous rice with chicken recipe

With Chinese New Year just around the corner, I can't help but dig deep into my oriental roots to inspire me in the kitchen:p I hardly make savoury hawker fare but made an exception when I craved for it. Back home, I can easily rock up to any traditional kopitiam shops/ coffee shops which has a steamer section that houses steamed buns and have it there and then. Sadly, this does not exist in Australia and I  suppose it is time to hit the kitchen once more.

Ingredients:
300g glutinous rice
100g chicken fillets, thinly sliced
A handful of shittake mushrooms, soaked and sliced
2 chinese sausages, thinly sliced

Chicken marinade:
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp sesame oil
Pepper to taste

Rice marinade:
1/2 tsp chinese five spice powder
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
Pepper to taste

Serves 3 people

Soak glutinous rice in water (just enough to cover it) for approximately 3 hours. Drain water and steam rice for 30 minutes. Remove rice from steamer and quickly add your rice marinade. Make sure every grain is coated!

As for your chicken, you can marinade it a day in advance. Fry the marinated chicken until it is cooked before tossing in the mushrooms.

Oil your bowls before placing bits of chicken, mushroom and sausage on. Top with the marinated rice and add about 1/3 cup of water to every small rice bowl that you use. It is a bit hard to judge but just make sure you do not overfill it with water otherwise the rice will turn out soggy and might spill out of the bowl:/

Enjoy!!:)

Vinegar braised chicken and onion recipe

What do you do when you have a bottle of italian red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar? Not much options, really. I searched high and low on the internet for several days and after what felt like a fruitless effort, I managed to stumble on a recipe which utilizes both of these ingredients.

Overall, the recipe did use up a good portion of vinegar but at the same time, it was a tad too acidic for my liking and hence, I could only use a bit of the roasted chicken juices to season my gravy with. The chicken tasted fine with about 30% acidic taste but this may be a bit too overwhelming for some. You have been warned!

Ingredients:
4 pieces of small onions, quartered
3 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
6 chicken legs
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup tomatoes
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Marinade the chicken for about 2 hours before roasting it in the oven at 160C for 1 hour and a few minutes or until done. You may adjust the proportion of vinegar and chicken broth to your liking.

Serve with steamed vegetables and oven roasted potatoes, with a side of gravy. Feel free to use mashed potatoes too!

Nasi goreng kampung recipe

I have a spare bag of dried anchovies in the pantry and decided to whip up some fried rice with it, perfect for those lazy days where all I want to do is have a quick meal.

Ingredients:
1 medium sized onion
1 shallot
2 garlic cloves
2 chillies
1 tbsp anchovies
1 tbsp cooking oil

Blend all the above ingredients in a food processor and fry for about 5 minutes. Add your chicken bits, a handful of green beans or bok choy and allow it to cook for at least 3 minutes before adding in about 100ml of chicken stock. Toss in about 2 cups of overnight rice and continue to cook.

Season with dark soy sauce, salt and sugar. Crack in an egg and continue stirring for another minute before serving.

Serve with your favourite type of chilli sauce be it sambal, sriracha or sweet chilli:)

Green tea cookies recipe

Now that I am finally done with my pharmacy exams, I have more time to actually carry out a few hobbies and one of them would be baking. As I diligently mixed the ingredients together, I couldn't help but reminiscence about my life thus far.

I can't recall much about my existence before the age of 7 but from 7 onwards, all I could remember was my crazy doodling obsession. I would willingly spend the entire school holidays doodling on scrap pieces of paper, rather than digesting science encyclopedias. My artwork passion may have been one of the prime reasons for my poor grades in school. When students my year got shuffled around based on their grades, I was shocked to be in the top class. Sadly enough, I was mostly the top from the bottom. Not that I really cared then. Students from that particular school were brought up in frugal conditions but some of them still did manage to ace their tests despite the hardships faced back home.

When I moved to Kuala Lumpur, I was hyped about my new surroundings but I did struggle to make new friends, mainly due to my introvert personality. Eventually, I did made friends after being someone's shadow for a few months. And then, I met a new-found hobby and interest, chess. What started out as friendly tournaments eventually won me third place the next year. I was overloaded with joy that I almost tripped on stage. I still dislike my academic work and paid little attention to tuition classes. What torture it was to listen to the teacher blab for 2 hours when I should be having my afternoon naps.

The young lass then moved on to high school. First impression: a sea of interesting people, mostly from wealthy backgrounds and many refused to achieve much academically. Although I wasn't among the top scholars, I still scored average. My interest in chess couldn't have been more ignited but I still found time for doodling. As I age, I grew fond of competitions and that pushed me to be a better scholar. Knowing that I can excel more than the top "brains" in class satisfied this hunger of mine. I constantly go through loads of practice questions but unfortunately, fell ill for the finals. I remember crying my eyes out knowing that I didn't get what I wanted.

At 17, I felt as though the weight of the world was resting on my shoulders. I attended my regular classes in addition to extra-curriculum activities and after school tuition sessions. I would come home feeling exhausted after all those activities and still needed to do some household chores and complete my homework. To top it off, I was aiming big for my chess competitions as it was the finale. When I have some spare time in between classes, I can be spotted with a variety of chess quiz booklets.

Everything paid off once I scored gold in one of my competitions. I did not sleep the night before but that one game made me jumped, danced and grinned like never before! I pushed myself even harder for the state competition but failed to thrive under pressure. I must have cried a river when that happened but somehow, I still managed to get into the state team. Attending training sessions were a hassle as I relied heavily on my relatives for transport. All paid off well when I did scored a couple of medals during the nation competition. After that, I was back to my studies. I did not attain my desired grades but I couldn't care less because I knew that as long as I have put in 100% effort, there is no reason to sulk over my mistakes.

I loved every bit of college despite not being the top student in class. I constantly kicked myself when I did not score good grades and pushed myself even harder but no drastic changes noticed. I was worried for my future. Not knowing where my true passion lies, I signed up for one degree and hoped for the best from my results. As usual, I was ill during my exams and cried when I realized that I may have screwed up my maths paper, one of the most important subjects in order to successfully enrol into uni. Thankfully, all went well and I was accepted into an Australian institution. That was 5 years ago. I finally learnt to not degrade myself and lived life to the fullest.

During my final year of uni, I struggled to find an internship at a pharmacy. I remember waking up early in the morning to seek job opportunities but no luck. While everyone else celebrated and have submitted their registration documents, I feared for my current status. I was nowhere as good as the other candidates and time was ticking. The opportunity finally came knocking on my door. I had my doubts but gave in to my faith.  Months down the track, the same place offered me another opportunity, a site to start practising as a professional.

Baking these cookies reminded me of how much I have changed since my childhood days. Like a cookie, I start off with nothing but I am capable of developing something extraordinary:)

Matcha cookies

240g plain flour
15g matcha powder
150 softened butter
130g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Mix all your ingredients together and form a roll (similar in appearance to a cucumber?) Bake for 20 minutes or until the top starts to brown.

Delicious cookies indeed! The white chocolate bits made cutting the log a bit messy but I was still able to even out the shape. Intense in flavour and ideal as gifts!

On a separate occassion, I have baked some cornflake cookies but it wasn't the exact taste that I was after. Will keep you posted when I do unravel the secrets behind it!

Lemon chicken~ Marinated the chicken in chinese rice wine, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Dipped the chicken in an egg white and cornflour mixture before frying until golden.

Vegetables is a must~ I even took the time to evenly slice the carrots:)

Hainanese chicken rice

Another day, another missed eating opportunity in Malaysia but luckily, there's heaps of recipes freely available, allowing one to re-create that much craved, uniquely Malaysian dish. I had accidentally bought more chicken pieces than I needed (probably a whole month's supply of chicken!) so I have decided to make some chicken rice.

Been trying to find the perfect recipe for preparing the chicken but so far, not much luck with finding it. Nevertheless, the accompanying rice and chilli sauce turned out fine:)

Was prepping my chicken legs for next day's dinner!

Hainanese chicken rice recipe was adapted from Rasa Malaysia

Rice:
4 cloves garlic
4 finely chopped shallots
Chicken broth
About 4x4cm piece of ginger
Chicken fats
Salt

* The amount of each ingredient that I have used was approximate (no weighing scales needed) and was adjusted as I was cooking. If you like more shallots in your rice, fry more shallots:)

The chicken, exfoliated (ie scrubbed with salt) and stuffed with ginger, spring onions and pandan leaves (If I had some on hand).

Chicken broth~ still needs improvements!

Randomly cutting up the ingredients

Chilli sauce which was prepped a day in advance (just to make my life simplified when I'm cooking the next day).

One must fry the chicken fats until it has released sufficient oil to evenly coat all the rice grains.

Chicken simmering in its own broth~

Chicken fats almost completely fried!

Fry ginger, shallots and garlic until fragrant before adding rice and frying it a bit. Add enough chicken stock to boil the rice until its cooked

Chilli sauce:
90g red chilies and bird’s eye chili (depending on how spicy you want it to be)
15g garlic
50g ginger
Salt
Sugar
Lime juice
A few spoons of chicken broth to bring everything together



Again, the amount of each ingredients can be varied depending on your tastebuds. As for the sugar, salt and lime juice, just add sufficient amounts (enough to taste).

Rice!:D

Ok..my chicken was probably in a sad state that day..I literally butchered it (hence the shredded mess at the side) but all in, not many bones attached as I had carefully taken all of them out just for ease of eating:)