Ayam Masak Merah (Spicy Chicken with Tomato Gravy)

Ayam masak merah is a very delicious dish.  I would usually use instant paste as it is easy and fast to prepare.  However, this time I decided to follow all the necessary steps when I saw the recipe from Wendy at Johor Food Fest hosted by Annie, with some minor modification.

Ingredients :

- half chicken cut into bite pieces (marinated with turmeric, pepper and salt, set aside for about 30 minutes

- 3 red chilies

- 1 thumbsized ginger

- 1 whole garlic

- 4 shallots

- 1 red onion (sliced)

- 2 tomatoes (finely chopped)

- 1 cinnamon stick

- 3 cloves (bunga cengkih)

- 3 cardamoms (buah pelaga)

- 1/2 cup tomato ketchup

- 1/2 cup santan (coconut milk)

-1/2 cup canned green peas

- salt (to taste)

- sugar (to taste)

-cooking oil

Method :

1)  Blend shallots, chilies, ginger and garlic.

2)  Heat oil in a wok and pan fry marinated chicken until golden brown.  It is ok if the chicken is not cooked.

3)  Dish up and set aside.

4)  Leave about 2 - 3 tbsp of oil in the wok.  

4)  Lower the heat to medium and saute the blended ingredients until glossy.

5)  Put in cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and sliced onions.  Keep stirring until the onions is translucent and soft.

6)  Put in tomato ketchup, chopped tomatoes and coconut milk.  Stir and mix well.

7)  Return the fried chicken to the wok and cook until the gravy is reduced and thickened.

8)  Lastly add the green peas, salt and sugar.  Let it simmer for a while and it is ready to be served.

Serve hot with rice.  

"I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest, Johor Month hosted by Annie of Annielicious Food"

I'm also linking this post to September 2013 Cooking With Herbs Blog Challenge hosted by Lavender and Lovage.

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Simple Stir Fried Steamed Chicken with Soy Sauce

Don't know what to do with the left over steamed chicken?  

Well, this is a very common and yummy stir fried steamed chicken with soy sauce.  It is very fragrant especially when you add generous amount of ginger, onions and garlic.  My children love this dish so much and especially the yummylicious gravy!

It is so simple!  

Saute ginger, onions and garlic until aromatic.  Then, stir fry pieces of  steamed chicken with soy sauce, dark caramel sauce, salt and some sugar to taste. Add more water and you won't regret as the gravy is really great to go with rice!  Lastly, if you prefer, drizzle some Chinese cooking wine before dish out for serving.  Some like to add some shredded chili.  So yummyyy.......!!!

Serve it with bird's eye chili soy sauce (kicap cili padi).

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Super Easy Homecooked Kentucky Fried Chicken

Do you, at times, crave for fried chicken but do not want to get it from elsewhere except your own homecook?  Well, you can have a quick and yummy fried chicken and no need to fuss over what ingredients or seasonings to use.

What I did was to get a box of Kentucky all purpose seasoned flour.

Coat and mix well the chicken pieces with all purpose seasoned flour. 

Deep fry till golden brown.

Dish out and drain away excess oil.

And here is your finger licking good Kentucky fried chicken straight from your kitchen!  Enjoy it with your favourite chili sauce or tomato sauce right in front of your home tv.  Or enjoy it with your favourite novel (that's me!)  Super easy, isn't it?

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Pork Ribs with Chinese Mustard (Gai Choy) Soup

This soup is very refreshing and yummylicious..  Chinese mustard is delicious and you can also stir-fry it with tofu which I have posted previously.      

Ingredients :

- 500 gm of  pork ribs (washed and blanched)

- 1 head of Chinese mustard (washed and cut)

- 3 carrots (peeled and cut)

- 4 big thumbsized ginger (washed and crushed)

- 2 whole garlic (washed and crushed)

Method :

1)  Boil enough water for soup.

2)  Put all the ingredients in once the water started to boil.

3)  Boil for about 1 hour.

4)  Season with salt and serve hot.

Just realised that I have forgotten to take a shot of the soup in a serving bowl when I wanted to upload the photos into my computer.  Age is catching up, hehehe... :)

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White Radish (Daikon) with Chicken Soup

White radish or daikon is an excellent source of potassium, folate, vitamin C and also magnesium.  Besides it is believed to stimulate appetite, treat liver and gallbladder problems, and improves bowel movement.  It is also good for sore throat, digestion and expel phlegm . However, a word of caution. Chinese believe that you are not supposed to take white radish if you are on medication or herbal tonic as white radish neutralises the efficacy of any medicine or health tonics.  So whatever health supplement you take would go down the drain!

Here is a common and simple white radish soup that we used to cook. It is common to add dried cuttlefish to the soup. However, I prefer a simple and healthier soup minus the dried cuttlefish.

Ingredients :

- 2 white radish (washed, peeled and cut into chunks)

- Carrots (optional; sometimes I add carrots)

- 1/2 chicken (cleaned, cut and blanched)

- some dried mushrooms (washed, soaked and cut into halves.  This time I used the stems only which I used to collect and store in the freezer)

- 8 to 10 red dates

- 1 tbsp Chinese wolfberries (kei qi)

- salt (to taste)

Method :

1)  Fill pot with enough water for the soup.  Add white radish, mushrooms and red dates.  Boil at high heat.

2)  When the water started to boil, add chicken and boil at high heat for about 15 minutes.  Then, lower the heat and continue to boil for 1 hour.

3)  Add kei qi and boil at low heat for another 1/2 or 1 hour.

4)  Season with salt and serve hot.

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Stir Fried Tofu with Chinese Mustard (Gai Choy) - Meatless Recipe

Mustard greens are most often stir-fried or pickled and there's where our salted veggies (ham choy/kiam chai) come from! Our asam gai choy or kiam chai boey is often made with leftovers from a large meal especially during Chinese New Year. It involves stewing mustard greens with tamarind, dried chilies and leftover meals. Sometimes we would do it with fresh meats instead of the leftover meals. It is very yummy.....

I love gai choy and so do my family members. Besides kiam chai boey, I would boil soup with it or just a simple stir fry. We also love gai choy rice or porridge! Here is a simple stir-fry gai choy with fried tofu. Hope you like it.

Ingredients :- 
- 2 leaves of mustard greens (washed and sliced)
- 6 pcs of hard tofu (cut and deep fried. Set aside)
- some shredded carrot
- 1 thumbsized ginger (washed and crushed)
- garlic (washed and finely chopped)

Seasonings : (to taste)
- soy sauce
- salt

cooking oil

Method :
1) Heat oil in a wok. Saute garlic and ginger until aromatic.

2) Stir fry gai choy and shredded carrots.

3) Add fried tofu and stir for a while.

4) Add seasonings. Stir fry and mix well. If too dry, add some water.

5) Dish out and serve.

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Stir Fried Bitter Gourd with Meat

Bitter gourd (melon) might turn some people away from it due to its bitterness. However, it can really sweeten your health because of its disease preventing and health promoting phyto chemical compounds.

Bitter gourd is very low in calories but rich in nutrients. It is an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, and B3, C, magnesium, folic acid, zinc, phosphorus and manganese. Besides, it is high in fiber too. Bitter melon is recommended as insulin replacement in some diabetic patients.

My children did not like bitter gourd when they were kids but I insisted that they gave it a try whenever I cooked it. Now they like it very much! :)

The other day I was quite busy and didn't have time to cook. So, my hubby packed 2 meat dishes from the restaurant nearby and I just fried a simple veggie dish. One of the dishes he packed was sweet sour pork. My goodness, we didn't finish this dish as it was too salty for us. So, the next day I cooked it with bitter gourd and well, not bad leh.... We love it so much.
Ingredients :

- 1 bitter gourd (washed, de-seeded and sliced)

- 1/2 bowl of deep fried pork belly

- ginger (washed and crushed)

- garlic (washed and finely chopped)

- 1/2 tbsp of taucu (bean paste)

- soy sauce (to taste)

- salt (to taste)

- 1 cup water

cooking oil

Method :

1)  Heat oil in a wok. Saute garlic and ginger until aromatic.

2)  Add bitter gourd and stir fry for 1 or 2 minutes

3)  Add deep fried meat and the remaining ingredients.  

4)  Stir and mix well and add water.

5)  Cover and let it simmer until bitter gourd is soft and cooked.

6)  Dish out and serve.

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Stir Fried Cauliflower with Minced Meat

This is a simple dish and easy to prepare too.  You can mix any ingredients you like such as minced meat, prawns or even both.  

Ingredients : (no exact measurement)

- Cauliflower (washed, cut and blanched)

- Green peas (washed  and cut)

- Baby corns (washed and cut) I did not have baby corns for this time cos' I cooked whatever is available in the fridge.

- Carrot (washed and sliced)

- Minced meat

-Small shrimps 

- garlic and small onions (washed and chopped)

Seasonings :

- abalone sauce (or oyster sauce, optional)

- soy sauce

- salt

cooking oil

Method :

1)  Heat some oil in a wok and saute garlic and onion until aromatic.

2)  Add minced meat and shrimps.  Stir.

3)  Stir in the remaining ingredients and keep stirring. 

4)  Season with seasonings.

5)  Dish out and serve.

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