Monday 22 September 2014

Ginger Chicken Wine

Ginger Chicken Wine is usually labelled as confinement food for ladies during confinement period due to its efficiency in expelling wind and helps to strengthen the body.  There are a few versions of ginger chicken wine and for those who have yet to try the other version, do click at the links below for the recipe :


As I have been under the weather for few weeks due to bloated stomach and wind in my body, I decided to cook Ginger Chicken Wine.  Moreover, it's our family comfort food too.  This Ginger Chicken Wine is very easy to prepare and delectable too!  And yes, felt so much better after taking this but in addition, I too, boiled Ginger Lemongrass Tea.  It helps a lot too!


Ginger  Chicken Wine 
(adapted from Boon's Secret Recipe 2 with some minor modifications in red)

Ingredients :
- half free ranged chicken (chopped into bite pieces and marinated for one hour)
- 1 bowl of old Bentong ginger (sliced)
- 2 whole bulbs of garlic (peeled and leave as whole)
- 300ml water (or more if you prefer extra gravy)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil

Marinade :
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 tbsp cornflour

Seasoning A :
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce

Seasoning B :
- 4 tbsp of Chinese cooking Wine (I used Hua Tiao Chiew)
- 4 tbsp of Ginger Wine (I used Eu Yang Sang)

Method  :
1)  Heat wok with one tablespoon of sesame oil.  Saute ginger and garlic till aromatic.
2)  Stir in marinated chicken and stir fry till chicken meat has turned whitish.
3)  Add water and seasoning (A).  Bring to boil and turn to low heat.  Simmer for 25 minutes or until the chicken meat is tender and cooked.
4)  Add in seasoning (B). Stir and mix well.  
5)  Dish up and serve with hot steamed rice.
 Serve with hot steamed rice
Hope you all have a wonderful and healthy week ahead :)


I'm linking this post with Cook-Your-Books #16 @ kitchen flavours
                                                       
                                      I am linking this to The Weekend Social - Recipe, DIY and Craft Link Party Wk 39



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Monday 8 September 2014

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and Simple and Easy Red Bean Paste Snow Skin Mooncake

First of all, to all Chinese, HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL and happy family reunion.  

Today is Mid-autumn festival but I had already celebrated it yesterday as it was a Sunday and it was also my eldest girl's birthday.  So, to make things easier and convenient for everyone, we had a double celebration yesterday.


   For my darling girl's birthday, I baked Canadian Lemon Pound Cake  (<-- click  here for the recipe) for her.
In fact it was my first time baking a birthday cake for my girl.  In order to give her a surprise, I baked it when she was away for her ballet lesson.  By the time she arrived home, the cake was ready and of course, she was thrilled to see her first home baked birthday cake from her mum!!

Not only that, I had also made my first snow skin mooncake when the lady boss of the bakery supplier shop taught me how to do it.  So, with her ready recipe, I gave this a try, and I am glad I did it! Never know it's so easy to make snow skin mooncake.  
Ingredients for snow skin :  (I made 16 minis and 2 big snow skin mooncakes)
- 100gm kaofen (sifted)
- 80gm icing sugar (sifted)
- 30gm shortening
- 150ml iced water

Filling :
- 500gm red bean paste (store bought)
(divide into 16 portions of 25gm each and 2 portions of 50gm each.  Shape into balls)

Method :
1)  Mix kaofen, icing sugar and shortening until well combined.
2)  Add iced water and use a spatula to combine the mixture until dough is formed.
3)  Divide dough into 16 portions of 15gm each (for minis mooncakes) and 2 portions of 30gm each of dough (for big mooncakes).
4)  Flatten each dough with rolling pin and wrap it around 1 piece of filling.
5)  Lightly dust the ball of dough with kaofen and press the ball into a mooncake mould.  Press out.


6)  Keep mooncakes in an air-tight container and chill in the fridge before serving.
Happy Mooncake Festival and Have a wonderful Family Reunion :)

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Monday 18 August 2014

Fragrant Pork Belly with Thai Basil

My mini garden has been growing weeds....!!! Hubby wanted to throw away all my plants especially those inedible plants and keep those edible ones. What should I do??? I still want to keep my plants especially those herbs which I need it every now and then. At the end, we decided to keep only the edible plants and concentrate on edible garden which we think is more practical. Thai basil is in abundance and they are in fact too matured. So, what I did was to harvest all the herbs and replant them for another new batch of herbs garden.
Since Thai Basil is in abundance, I decided to fully utilize it. Hence, stewing pork belly with it is one of the many dishes I have cooked.

For your info, when I was young, I never like or would not touch pork belly. Even when I ever did eat it, I would always throw away the fat and take the lean meat. However, these few years, I don't know what has gotten into me. I LIKE pork belly especially the FAT!!! I know it's unhealthy but ah..... eat first health later... hahahaha.... The gravy is especially yummy and when mixed with rice, we can easily go for 2nd helping of rice! The recipe for this is taken from my previous posting on Stewed Pork Belly with Fried Tofu.

Ingredients :
- 1 strip of pork belly (blanched and cut)
- 1 bunch of Thai Basil
- 1/2 tbsp fermented soy bean paste/tau cheong (for frying)
- 1 1/2 tbsp fermented soy bean paste/tau cheong (to taste)
- 1 bulb of garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 thumbsized ginger (sliced and crushed)
- water (enough for stewing)

Seasonings : (to taste)
- a dash of salt
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp caramel sauce (reduce the amount if you don't like your dish to be in dark colour)
- 1 tsp sugar

Method :
1) Heat some oil in a wok and saute garlic, ginger and 1/2 tbsp of fermented soy bean paste until aromatic.

2) Add pork belly and stir fry for a while. Mix well.

3) Add water, the remaining fermented bean paste and caramel sauce. Stir and mix well.

4) Cover and let it boil at high heat for about 5 minutes. Then, lower the heat and let it simmer until the gravy is thickened and/or the meat is cooked and tender. It takes about 30 to 45 minutes depending on the fire and pot/wok used. Add water if you want more gravy.

5) Lastly, add in Thai Basil and the remaining seasonings. Bring it to a boil again for 1 or 2 minutes.

6) Dish up and serve with steamed rice.

If you like pork belly, this is a very flavorful dish
Hope you like this homey dish. It's also great to serve it with plain bread instead of steamed rice. Do enjoy.

I am linking this to TheWeekendSocial- Recipe & DIY Link Party


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