Baked turmeric chicken in coconut milk

I bought a packet of coconut milk thinking to make jelly but ended up did not use it. It was sitting in my fridge for some time so I wanted to try using it to make nasi lemak. Not wanting to waste the remaining coconut milk, I added it to the chicken. It turned out to be very yummy. I know from the photos it looks crispy but trust me it is not the super crispy chicken. Haha =p

Ingredients
2 boneless chicken legs
turmeric powder
chopped garlic / garlic powder
salt
black pepper
6 Tbsp coconut milk
1 banana leaf (optional)

Recipe
1. Marinate the chicken with garlic, salt, black pepper and turmeric powder and set it aside for at least 30 minutes. I kept mine uncovered inside the fridge.
2. Heat up the pan with oil. Put the chicken in only when the oil is hot. Pan fry it on both sides for total about 6 minutes till each side is nicely brown.
3. Place a banana leaf on the baking tray and transfer the chicken to the baking tray.
4. In a small bowl, add a little salt, turmeric powder and black pepper to the coconut milk. Mix well then drizzle over the chicken on the baking tray.
5. Bake it for 180 degree for 20 minutes or till it is fully cooked.
6. Remove from tray and serve hot.

Note: the reason I added black pepper is because I heard it is good for turmeric absorption. In fact, turmeric + black pepper + coconut milk = components of the golden milk! :)

https://foodpharmacy.blog/2017/03/3-tricks-to-enhance-turmeric-absorption-and-boost-its-benefits/

Black fungus and egg drop soup [quick soup]

That day I came home did not really feel like to cook but my boy asked to eat at home. I did not have enough time to prepare our usual soup so decided to make something easy and simple so that he can have some soup for dinner. The ingredients in the soup are black fungus, dried mushrooms and eggs which are normally stocked in my kitchen. I only prepared a very small portion so the measurements are all estimated.

Ingredients

5 to 6 pcs dried black fungus 

3 to 4 pcs dried shiitake mushrooms 

1 beaten egg 

chopped spring onions (garnish)

chicken stock powder (you can replace with fresh stock if you have) 

water 

dark soy sauce 

light soy sauce

pepper 

Cornstarch solution 

Recipe

1. Soak the black fungus and shiitake mushrooms till softened and cut them into thin shreds. Discard the soaking water for black fungus, you can keep the soaking water for mushrooms. 

2. Add the soaking water for mushrooms in a pot and top up with water. Heat till it is boiling then add chicken stock powder.

3. Add in the black fungus and mushrooms. Let the soup boil for 10 to 15 minutes. 

4. Add a bit of dark soy sauce for the colour. Season with light soy sauce and pepper to your liking.

5. Thicken the soup with cornstarch solution. When the soup has thickened, turn off the fire and add in the beaten egg while stirring. 

6. Put the soup in a bowl and put some chopped spring onions for garnish. 

Note: you can add in some tofu and carrots if you happened to have them. Chilli oil and vinegar to make it hot and sour. For kids, I guess simple and plain will be good. 

Stir fry celery with scallops

I happened to have some celery in my fridge so I decided to combine it with scallops to make a stir fry. My favourite scallops go well with anything. :)

Ingredients
Approx. 15 scallops
3 celery sticks (cut into slices)
some chopped carrot slices
chopped garlic
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
salt
pepper

Recipe
1. Season the scallops with salt and pepper then pat dry with kitchen towel.
2. In a heated pan with oil, add in the scallops in a clockwise direction. Let it cook for 2 minutes till you see the juice oozing and slightly turning brown then flip over to the other side and let it cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from the pan both the scallops and the juice. Do NOT discard the juice.
3. In the wok, heat up the oil and add in chopped garlic. When the garlic is fragrant, add in the carrot and celery to stir fry. As you can see the celery is sliced thin, there is no need to cook too long as we do not want to lose the crispy texture.
4. Add in oyster sauce and stir fry to mix before adding the cooked scallops and the juice. Again the scallops are already cooked, we just want to give it a good mix. (Taste test the sauce, it might get a bit salty cuz of the natural salt in the scallop juices. You can dilute with a little water if you like.)Remove from the wok and serve.

Baked chicken in mandarin orange sauce

Every Chinese New year, I will end up with mandarin oranges and nobody eats them except me. To reduce wastage, I would try to add them in my cooking. This year I tried something new with chicken wings and my boy loves it. Sorry I am unable to provide very accurate measurements because I estimated while I was cooking.

Ingredients
7 chicken wings
1 tsp white sesame (garnish)
Shredded lettuce (garnish)

Marinate
Salt
White pepper
Cornstarch
Baking powder
Oil (I used extra light olive oil)

Sauce
2 Mandarin oranges (juiced)
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
garlic powder
1 tsp vinegar
sugar

Recipe
1. Marinate the chicken wings with the ingredients stated above. For the baking powder, I only added slightly less than half a tsp. Added some oil so that it is easier to coat the wings. Leave it for at least 30 minutes.
2. Arrange the wings neatly on the baking tray and make sure no overlapping so that they can get baked evenly for 180 degree 25 to 30 minutes. Depending on your oven, you can stop baking when you see the wings turn golden brown. See the picture above.
3. For the sauce, you can juice 2 mandarin oranges which yield about 1 small bowl for myself. Add oyster sauce, garlic powder, vinegar and a little sugar. Heat up the sauce mixture in the wok till it is boiling. Adjust the taste to your liking. i.e. if your oranges are not sweet, you need to add a little more sugar to balance the sweet sour taste.
4. Once you are happy with the sauce, add in the white sesame. Give it a good stir before adding in the baked wings. Coat the wings with the sauce then remove from wok. Serve the wings on a bed of shredded lettuce.

Note: if you do not like the sauce, you can always make the marinate more flavourful by adding in spices before baking them.

Baked chicken with onion slices

I wanted to clear the one and only onion in my pantry and decide to try baking chicken with onions. After researching around in google, I found this lovely recipe from the Spruce - Baked chicken with sweet onions. I modified it with what I had in my kitchen. The chicken was so tender and succulent that my boy kept praising it. I should find some time to cook this again.

Ingredients

2 deboned chicken legs 

1 yellow onion 

4 tbsp flour 

2 tsp Nomu Cajun rub (you can replace with your own spice mix) 

1/2 tsp garlic powder 

Salt

Black pepper 

Sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce 

1 tbsp honey 

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 

Recipe

1. Marinate the chicken legs with salt and black pepper. Cut the onion into slices and set aside. 

2. In a shallow tray, add the flour, spice rub and some garlic powder. Mix well. 

3. Heat the oil in the wok. Dry the chicken with kitchen towel then place the chicken on the tray and coat it with the flour evenly.

4. Gently put the chicken in the wok when the oil becomes hot. Leave it on medium heat for 3 minutes then flip over to brown it for another 2 minutes. Do the same for the other chicken leg.

5. Place the browned chicken on the baking tray. Add the onion slices into the same wok and let it soften.

6. In the meanwhile, add the sauce ingredients stated above to the wok and let it cook for a short while before transferring it on top of the chicken. 

7. Put the chicken in baking tray to the oven and cook it for about 15 to 20 minutes 180 degree celcius. Watch the oven it should be ready when the onion slices are nicely browned. The chicken is fully cooked when its juice runs clear.

8. Transfer to plate and serve. You can garnish with some fresh vegetables if you like. 

Stir fry pork slices in ginger

My favourite dish to eat during confinement was stir fry pork slices in ginger. Simple yet appetizing. Just need pork and ginger from the kitchen and you get a super yummy dish to go with rice.

Ingredients 

200g lean pork 

1 ginger knob 

Marinade 

White pepper 

Soy sauce 

Sesame oil 

Cornstarch 

Sauce 

1 Tbsp oyster sauce 

1 Tbsp light soy sauce 

1 tsp dark Soy sauce
4-5 Tbsp water 

Sugar 

Chinese cooking wine 

Recipe 

1. Cut the lean pork into thin slices. (Tip: you can start slicing when the pork is semi-thawed. It is easier to cut.) 

2. Marinate the pork slices using the marinade stated above. 

3. Cut the ginger into pieces (or slices if you don’t mind eating it). Prepare the sauce in a bowl using the ingredients stated except for sugar and Chinese cooking wine. 

4. Heat up the wok. Put in the ginger slices when the oil is hot. Let the ginger cook till fragrant.

5. Add in the pork slices. (At this point, I will turn on my kitchen timer to 3 minutes and try to watch the time as I cook. Cooking too long can make the slices turn tough) Do not be impatient and keep stirring the pork with the spatula. Let it cook a while before flipping the meat over to the other side. Make sure the pork is not pink anymore. (else when you pour in the sauce, you cannot see whether it is evenly cooked)

6. Pour in the sauce and let it boil. If you want it to be thicker, you can add cornstarch solution at this point. Test the sauce and adjust the taste with sugar. When you are almost ready to dish up, pour a little bit of Chinese cooking wine along the side of the wok, don’t just pour on top of it. 

7. Give it a last stir and remove from wok to serve.