A1 Chicken Curry

Yesterday, I had a sudden craving for curry and yet I didn't want to fuss around with all the poundings of curry paste .  Fortunately, I still had a packet of A1 Instant Chicken Curry Sauce in my pantry but no coconut milk.  So, I whipped up my no-fuss style curry (without the coconut milk) in less than 30 minutes! 

Ingredients :

  

- 1 packet of A1 Instant Chicken Curry Sauce
- 1 kampung chicken - cut into small pieces
- 4 potatoes - peeled and quartered
- 5 stalks of lemongrass (serai) - cut into 4cm to 5cm lengths, slit and crushed
- 4 sprigs of curry leaves
- 8 shallots - peeled and minced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 800ml water
- Salt - to taste
- 2 tbsp of Cooking oil

Methods :

1) Heat oil in a medium-sized wok and fry the shallot until slightly browned.  Add curry sauce and cinnamon stick.  Stir fry until fragrant.

2) Add chicken, potatoes, lemongrass and curry leaves. Stir and mix well.  

3) Add water and mix well.  Simmer with lid covered until chicken is cooked.

4)  Reduce heat.  Add salt to taste.

5)  Serve with warm rice or with bread.

I prefer thicker curry gravy and if coconut milk is added, wow...... you will get a richer curry gravy too....  Unfortunately, I was quite lazy to go out and buy the coconut milk.  Hence, the end result is chicken curry minus the coconut milk but the taste is still yummy yummy....

Should you want to add the coconut milk, you can add it at step no. 4.  In fact, you can also substitute the coconut milk with either yogurt or milk powder.

Stir Fried Bean Sprouts(Taugeh) with Chinese Chives (Kuchai)

I still have some Chinese chives from my previous dish, Scrambled Egg with Chinese Chives .  So, here's another simple dish to share with those who love taugeh!

Ingredients :

- Bean sprouts - washed

- 1 bunch of chinese chives - washed and cut

- 2 meat rolled (I bought it from the wet market) - sliced

- 1 garlic clove and ginger (washed and crushed)

Seasonings : (to taste)

- salt              

- soy sauce    

- fish sauce

cooking oil

Method :

1.  Heat wok  with some oil. 

2.  Fry garlic and ginger until aromatic.
3. Add in meat roll.
4. Throw in the taugeh and chives. 

5.  Add in seasonings and quickly stir the ingredients a few times.  Don't over cook the bean sprouts if you want to keep that crunchiness. 

6.  Serve hot.

Well, this is a very simple dish to prepare but well loved by those who like crunchy vegetable such as Taugeh (Bean Sprouts).  In addition,  Kuchai (Chinese Chives)  makes a perfect combination!

Vegetable Stock

Today I 'ransack' my refrigerator to see if there is still any available veggies which I might have forgotten to cook or any remaining veggies.  There I found  :

- 2 ears of corn 

- 1 small stick of burdock 

- 2  carrots 

- 2 big tomatoes 

So, I decided to cook vegetable stock.  I washed and cut everything and put them into  a big pot.  I also add :

- 2 big bombay onions

- 3 potatoes

- a handful of red dates

Seasonings :

- some crushed white peppercorn

- salt to taste

Then,  fill the pot with water.  Bring to boil and simmer for about an hour or until the stock is reduced to half.

Remove the pot from heat. 

My main intention is to keep the stock for noodles soup but my girls and I had almost finished the soup (I call it soup cos' it turned out very delicious!) during lunch.  Well, I am not going to keep this stock and might as well finish it later during dinner!

Again there is no rule on how to make this stock. Just throw in whatever you have in your fridge. It will be a delicious basis for your soups.  Moreover,  it is much cheaper than buying veggie stock and it is homemade!

Try it and you will not regret!!!  You may strain and freeze the stock for future use.