Kangkung Belacan

Kangkung [water convolvulus] is no doubt one of my favourite GREEN vegetable [yes! there's vege that's not GREEN!!! --> brinjal! ^_^]. Anyway, when I was in Malaysia, I took it for granted cos it's so easily found. I remember when I was in Standard 4@5 and at that time, hydroponic growing was all the rage; everyone had a hydroponic set at home....and we even have those planting projects in school. Kangkung was one of the easiest to grow on the set....so super-duper easy that it was like weed! Mum used to put the set next to the washing machine in a neat, little space at the back part of the houseand when the kangkung's all grown up, it was like our washing machine landed  in a jungle.

Here in Czech Republic....so far,I could only find it in Prague's Thai Asian Food Shop...and not for a cheap price either ~45CZK a packet ~200grams[??] [I'll probably get a big bag of it for the same price in Malaysia...:-P]

I was so tempted to carry a hydroponic set from home; so that I could plant on my own. [My heavy often overweight luggage plus the fact I have to lug it back using train/ bus to HK dissuaded that idea..]

My favourite way of eating kangkung is belacan-style! Ok...though to be honest, when I have to cook it, I was kinda cursing cos the smell was so strong, it permeated the whole flat. But eating it.....mmmmmmm...^_^ heeee....!

I don't exactly know how it's usually cooked..but this is what I did...lol..

Ingredients:
Kangkung
A pinch of belacan [According to Sara, use belacan like how you use salt...:-P]
Salt
Garlic
Chillies
Pepper
Water

Methods:

1. Wash kangkung thoroughly
2. Mix belacan with some water [so that it won't get burned when you fry it first]. Crush it into small pieces
3. Heat up oil in wok. Saute the belacan. Add in the garlic and chillies.
4. Add in kangkung....and proceed with a strong heart as you watch the amount of kangkung shrinks before your eyes...:-( Add seasonings.
5. Give it a few rounds of quick wokking
6. Dish it out
7. Eat with rice :-)

Verdict:
Me and Yumi were nearly tearing up [Ok, so I did all the tearing...she's pretty resistant to chillies] over the amount of chillies I used. SO! Do use your chillies with caution! You want to enjoy your kangkung, not cry from it. But other than that, I wish I could have this dish often....

Ok, actually even in Malaysia, I don't really eat this that often. Some old Chinese advice about it causing/ increase risk of gout etc...not sure what is in kangkung that causes that. But with my luck with my joints, I best be careful about this.  :-P

Hainanese Chicken Chop

Yes yes I know....it's been a long while since I posted up anything...I actually have so many food pics from my summer break in Malaysia, China and Singapore to share but my stupid internet will lag with all the GBs. =_=

Anyway, the new study year has started for me [Hello, sweet life of a 4th year!]. Seems like 4th years will have it easy but this is like the calm before the storm...5th year is reportedly hell-ish. But hopefully, this year will mean I have more time to experiment. Hee...

I have not transferred the picture for this post yet  but thought I'll just write down the recipe lest I forget it. Cos I really like it. :-P [Ta-da! Finally got my lazy ass up to reach for the transfer cord...^_^]

Hainanese chicken chop is another dish I grew up with. My family frequently go to Yut Kee at Jalan Dang Wangi, KL and I always order the same dish. We order other dishes like fried noodles etc but for me, this is the tops. I will literally lick the plate clean; including the sauce. :-D

The dish calls for a deboned chicken thigh. I have absolutely no idea how to. Of course, I searched it up. :-)
Turns out to be really easy! [Click to learn] And my dissecting skills comes in handy too. LOL....maybe I even have the makings of an orthopedic surgeon! Hehe...for chickens.

 Although I have a rough idea of how to cook it, I needed some guides to follow. There's not that many Hainanese chicken chop recipes around so I am really thankful to have found it at Rose's Kitchen. I had to modify it as I don't have certain ingredients and I had some extra ideas.

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Ingredients:
Chicken thigh, deboned. Do not remove the skin!
Salt
Pepper
Maggi seasoning sauce
Plain flour
Corn starch
1 egg, beaten
Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper.
2. Coat chicken with egg and dredge in corn starch. 
3. Coat chicken again with egg and this time dredge in plain flour.
4. Deep fry chicken until golden brown.  Dish out onto a serving plate.

 **I must have heard somewhere that double coating makes the chicken taste better and can maintain its crispiness and lock in moisture etc etc.....:-P

 

Ingredients for Gravy:
Potato wedges
~50g butter [I know it's ~50g cos its the same amount I cut up for my cornflake cookies ^_^]
Garlic, minced [Ooooh, I love my new garlic crusher from IKEA!]
Chicken granules [They have some thickening element so I didn't need to add cornstarch to thicken the sauce]
Onion wedges
Tomato wedges
Green peas [**]
Sweet corn [**]
Diced carrots [**]
 Salt
Pepper
Sugar
Maggi seasoning sauce
Lemon juice; adjust to taste [gives a slight tangy sour taste!]
[**I don't have these but it's good to have them...taste good and looks good]

Method:

1. Deep fry the potato wedges to half cook them.  Dish out and drain on paper towels.
2. Melt up the butter in another pan and saute the garlic.  Add the half-cooked potato wedges and the chicken granules. Add water to pan.  Cook over a low fire.
3. Add the onion and tomato wedges, green peas, sweet corn and dice carrots to gravy
4. Add seasoning to taste. 
5. Pour gravy over chicken chop and enjoy!

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Verdict:
It's surprisingly good! :-P The fried chicken has a really good and slight crispy texture to it despite being drenced in the gravy. The gravy tastes good but I am gonna experiment more with it to perfect it more...:-)

p/s: I made this again and then I realised I didn't write down lemon juice as part of the ingredients for the gravy! This is really important  for me cos I remember Yut Kee's gravy had this slight tangy-sourish taste that I couldn't place. Somehow, I managed to get that taste with lemon juice. ^_^

Mackerel Seafood Assam Pedas

While 'spring-cleaning' my cupboard of food, I found that I still have 2 packets of Assam Pedas Seafood Paste from Delichef. I knew I had to use it then for that week's cooking hangout even if it's a bit cheating...hehe! I researched a bit to confirm that people really do use mackerels for this dish. Frozen mackerels are available at Kaufland at CZK 59.90 for 1 kilogram of them. Each pack have roughly 4 fish with the head intact.

It was my first time using this fish. I had been searching for it ever since Anderson came for a visit and bought some marinated mackerel which he just microwaved. I think some people still cook this fish along with its head. But for me, I prefer to cut it off. :-P It was a funny time trying to deal with the preparation of the fish.

Ingredients: 

• Delichef Assam Pedas Seafood Paste
• Mackerel; chopped into large piece [If too small, the fish might just melt]
• Seafood mix
• Brinjal; somewhat large pieces
• Tomatoes; quartered [again, if too small, it will melt off]
• Chilli
• Lemon juice
• Egg; hard-boiled

Method:

1. Boil the eggs
2. Fry the brinjal in a pot; take it out after half cooked
3. Boil a pot of water in the same pot [reduce washing :-P] 
4. Add the paste into the pot; stirring it until it's mixed evenly
5. Add in brinjal and tomatoes
6. Add in mackerel and hard-boiled eggs
7. Lastly add in seafood mix [they are small already, so I didn't want to shrink them further....]
8. Taste and add lemon juice accordingly to how sour you like your Assam Pedas to be. :-)
9. Eat with rice. Soak the rice with the soup!  YUM!

[Note: At the point of adding the mackerel and hard-boiled eggs, I realized I put too much ingredients and we had to transfer to another pot...hehe...]

Verdict: 
Jannik like it just the way it is. But I think I would have preferred it to be a bit more sourish. Overall, it's just so, so easy to cook and really tasty. Gonna ask mum to get me more of the paste. XD Oh and I wish HK had okras. :-(

Japanese Curry with Rice

 

Japanese Curry is one of the food that just has to be on the list of every lazy student's list. 

1. It's easy to make
2. It doesn't take long
3. It's delicious regardless of what you add to it
4. It's filling
5. You usually would have leftovers, so you are pretty much settled for the next few meals! :-D

Ingredients:

1. Japanese Curry Roux [Any brand, any kind]
2. Any vegetables [I like potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and onions]
3. Meat eg. chicken, beef. Fish is not recommended because they tend to melt [For this time around, I made mine vegetarian]

 Methods:

1.  Lightly fry your meat and vegetables in a pot
2. Add water to your pot till it covers all the ingredients
3. Bring to boil; then break off a few pieces of curry roux and add to pot
4. Stir the roux around; let it melt
5. If at this point, you feel the curry is too soup-like, add more roux! :-D
6. It's done when the vegetables esp. potatoes are cooked 
7. Other than rice, it can be eaten with spaghetti, noodles, etc.

Verdict: 
There just couldn't be anything that I can imagine would go wrong in cooking this at all. 

Soy Sauce Pork

 I prepared the long beans as a back-up dish just in case my pork dish backfired. 

How's that for Plan B? :-P

I put off  trying to experiment making these because I don't know how to make it. Then seeing this dish again in VKeong's post ignited my courage! I searched but I couldn't find the recipe anywhere on the internet. All I had was the memory of its taste. And since my guinea pig for this experiment doesn't mind eating anything, I decided to just wing it. :-D

Ingredients:

• Pork Belly, sliced thinly [0.5cm, if you can :-P]
• Light Soy Sauce
• Dark Soy Sauce
• Sweet and Sour Sauce
• Sugar 
• Corn Flour

* I added them according to 'as I like' method' :-)

Method:

1. Slice the pork belly into thin pieces
2. Marinade with mixture of light soy sauce and dark soy sauce [for about 10 minutes]
3. Just before frying, coat the pork slices with corn flour evenly
4. Heat oil and fry them till crisp. At this point, it can already be eaten :-D
5. To make the sauce, add sweet and sour sauce, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce to empty pan
6. Add sugar and stir till its melted
7. Coat the fried pork with the sauce thoroughly

 

Experiment No. 1: Ready-to-be-eaten-as-it-is

 The true experiment: Coated with sauce :-D

Verdict: 
Maybe I have not eaten it for a very long time [which is true], but I felt it's the same exact stuff that I was craving for! It was, in my opinion, a success! I was so excited that I actually wing it correctly...wow! Just that we didn't cut the pork belly think enough, I think. Some pieces were a bit hard chewy-like. But it's so tough to cut them into nice thin slices. Definitely on my list of to-cook for my family when I get back home....:-) Thanks again, Jannik as the guinea pig this time.

*I need to start numbering my guinea pigs...haha :-P*

Fried Chicken Wings, Eggplant Curry & Sara's Random Mix

One of my housemate; Sara was feeling particularly productive today unlike me; who was going back and forth the room; on and off-ing at intervals, my fan and heater. It's good that her productiveness manifested in the form of cooking. Lucky me!

She promised me 2 or 3 days ago, to make me her finger-lickin' good chicken wings. The last time she made them was probably back in 1st Year itself! She haven't made it for so long that I've almost forgotten about it. These wings are reallyyyyy good. I remember texting her during summer break of 1st Year, telling her that her chicken wings were better than what I was eating at that time.

She spend almost half a day in the kitchen whipping up 2 other dishes as well; Eggplant Curry and something that is so mixed we don't know what to call it! :-D

Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

• 12 Chicken Wings
• Chilli Powder; poured randomly from the packet [:ROFL:]
• Curry Powder; also poured randomly from the packet but less than the chilli powder
• Turmeric Powder; 3/4 teaspoon
• Ginger; pureed
• Garlic; pureed
• Salt; added as you like <--the all-important ingredient in Sara's cooking! 

Method:

1. Blend the ginger and garlic
2. Marinate the chicken with the ginger and garlic puree, salt, turmeric powder, curry powder and chilli powder for at least 1 hour
3. Fry them till chicken is cooked and browned!

Eggplant Curry

Ingredients:

• 2 Eggplants; cut lengthwise
• A sprig of Curry Leaves
• A pack of Delichef Fish Curry Paste
• Garlic; grated
• Onions; grated
• Asam Keping [dried slices of tamarind fruit]
• Salt
• Water

Method:

1. Fry the cumin and mustard seeds till aromatic
2. Fry the grated garlic, onions,and curry leaves
3. Fry the eggplant till cooked
4. Add in the fish curry paste and mix with some water
5. Stir it constantly until oil separates
6. Add salt to taste.

Sara's Random Mix 

Ingredients:

• 1 Box of  Mori-Nu Silken Firm Tofu; diced
• Chicken; diced
• Baby Prawns
• Tom Yam Paste
• Chilli Powder
• Oyster Sauce; poured randomly from the bottle
• Fish Sauce; 1 teaspoon
• Sesame oil; poured randomly from the bottle
• Kaffir Lime Leaf
• Egg
• Salt

 Method:

1. Fry the kaffir lime leaf till aromatic
2. Fry the chicken till cooked
3. Fry the tofu til browned
4. Add in the prawns and fry for a bit
5. Break egg and mix in a bowl. Add to pan and fry it while breaking it up. 
6. Add in the tom yam paste
7. Add oyster sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil and chilli powder
8. Add salt; according to taste

** She really, really thought this up on her own; that's why it's named after her!**

 Verdicts:
I swore I don't feel that sick right after eating the chicken wings. I chomp down 5 at my first go after she finished frying them. The wings are miracle....fine, I might be guilty of exaggerating a little! :-P
The eggplant curry is so good with rice. The eggplant is so soft, just the way I like it.
Hmmm....the mix...it's an interesting mix; strongly flavoured with tom yam. Can really taste it very well even after drenching my rice with the curry and chomping on more wings!


I will be dreaming of chicken wings tonight *Paradise* That's how it feels like when there's someone to cook for you when you are sick. :-D Thank you, Sara...and Mom, I appreciate you more again!

When I am sick....Dakjuk is it!

 It seems like my body has its own weather sensor. With the change of weather, it's really easy for me to get sick. :-( But at least, this means Spring is here, finally!

Whenever anyone is sick back home, my mom will be cooking porridge and everyone has to join in. It's no wonder that I am used to associating eating porridge to being sick. When I am here and I am sick, I especially appreciate my mom! Here, I have to cook porridge myself. Previously, I cook porridge using my trusty rice cooker; like how my mom does it. Then a week or two ago, I saw this recipe on Maangchi's website and it seems so easy even without using a rice cooker! I have tried this recipe twice already...both times when I was actually not sick.

A word about Maangchi: I have been reading her website for about a year now...she's like my teacher of Korean food. Plus, she just comes off as such a positive, cheerful people person who loves sharing and encouraging her fans' cooking. I have so far tried her recipe for dakjuk, yachaejeon, and kimchi. Her instructions are clear and really easy to understand. Whenever I feel a craving for Korean food, I'll head over to her site and look for inspiration. :-)


Some modifications I made:
Instead of using a whole chicken, I used chicken pieces.
Didn't bother with soaking the rice for 1 hour...cut the time by maybe half.:-P
Didn't buy spring onion, so I skipped that.
I especially enjoy eating this with my homemade chilli sauce.

Ingredients:  modified from Wokking Mum's Hainanese Chicken Rice Chilli Sauce

• 3 Chillies [didn't bother removing the seeds :-P]
• 1 slice of Ginger
• 4 clove  of Garlic, skin removed
• 1 clove of Shallot
• A few squeeze of Lemon Juice [comes in a bottle]
• A cup of Chicken Broth [added to the consistency I want my chilli sauce to be]

Method: Put everything in a blender and blend away! *Be careful when taking a whiff of the newly made chilli sauce. I took too big of a whiff the first time and I think some of my olfactory cells died!

Results: AMAZING! ^_^ I was initially quite doubtful of all the garlic I put in...but by the end of cooking, it has all melted in the pot! The taste of the chicken is so comforting as well. And the chilli sauce accentuate the chicken taste of the porridge. Because my chicken were frozen, its blood kinda ooze out...scooped most of it out from the pot

Actually this dish reminds me of the porridge and steamed white chicken that I loved in a small town off Rawang....I think it's Sg. Buloh. It's a small stall by the roadside. The chicken is just so smooth and succulent! *dreaming*