This is an easy and simple to prepare one pot meal for dinner… Nasi Briyani Ayam. Actually I am trying to clear the packet of Basmathi rice in the fridge and thinking so hard how or what to cook with it. Googled for the recipe and most of it is so complicated and required many types of herbs and spices ingredients. I used to have one recipe shared by my home economist which is posted sometime back HERE, but I still felt that it uses a lot of ingredients. To cut short the recipe, I just make use of whatever spices is available in my fridge and the one pot rice meal came out wonderful.

Ingredients:
2 cups Basmathi rice, cleaned and drained
1 cup F&N Evaporated milk
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 pc cinnamon bark
2 pcs cloves
2 tsp salt
Some chopped onions, garlic and ginger
3 tablespoon butter
4 pcs chicken drumstick
Some cashew nuts for garnishing

Method:
1. Melt butter in a pan. Sautee chopped onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric powder and all the spices till fragrant.
2. Add in the Basmathi rice, chicken stock and evaporated milk. Mixed well and season with salt.
3. Transfer over to a rice cooker and arrange the chicken drumstick on top of the rice. Cook the rice till it is cook.
4. Garnish the rice with some cashew nuts.

This is one of the popular Chinese dish… Soy Sauce Chicken aka Si Yau Kai. This recipe was shared by my aunt and it goes well with rice. The amount of soy sauce used in this recipe is quite a lot because it needed to cover the whole chicken with soy sauce and let it simmer till the chicken is tender and cook. But I used less soy sauce because I wouldn’t want to waste my expensive Kikkoman soy sauce. And also, instead of using a whole chicken, I only used half chicken. The kids and Dearie Suki finished up the chicken during dinner. I think the next round I must use a whole chicken for this recipe.

Ingredients :
Half kampung chicken, cleaned and pat dry
1/2 cup Kikkoman soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 cup water
Few slices ginger
1 pc Star anise and cinnamon bark
Some chopped garlic
3 tbsp Chinese rice wine
2 tbsp sugar

Method:
1. Heat oil in pan. Saute chopped garlic, ginger. star anise and cinnamon bark till fragrant.
2. Add in water, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Chinese rice wine and sugar in the pan. Let it boil and add in the chicken.
3. Let is simmer under low fire till the chicken is cook, approximately 45 minutes.
4. Remove the chicken and chop into small pieces. Serve hot with white rice.

Ee-Thern loves soup and so am I. Dearie Suki and Le-Ann only drink either ABC or Lotus Root Soup.  During CNY, I got a lot of the ready Chinese herbal mix packet soup from Aunty AB. Last weekend I cleared all the goodies I received during CNY. Aunty AB gave me few packets of the Fatt Tiu Cheong herbal mix or simply it means Buddha Jump Over The Wall dish. It is one of the very expensive dish if we ordered from the restaurant.

Went to the wet market last week and bought one black chicken which cost me RM15 per bird. Cleaned it and throw it into the slow cooker together with 6 bowls of water and a packet of Fatt Tiu Cheong herbal mix. Double boiled for about 4 hours.I added in some dried scallop and mushroom in it. Alternatively, you can add in abalone, fish maw , shark fins or sea cucumber into the soup and double boiled it together.

In the packet itself, there are many types of Chinese herbs in it from red dates, ginseng slices, ginseng roots, dried scallop,  dried longan, wolfberries, yoke chuk and mushroom. After 4 hours, the soup came out so aromatic. Each of us had 2 bowls of it and the kids had it with rice. 

My two good friends came over for dinner on of the Saturday. Gosh… that was really long time ago. I think about two months ago. Just today I uploaded all the pictures and sort out the food shoots taken two - three months ago.  Also just realized my SONY digital camera kaput liao. The flash is not working and the pictures turned out sucks. The yellow colour Nasi Briyani become dark brown colour. The Curry Chicken cooked with Pasta sauce in nice red colour and the picture turned out to brown. Sigh… its time to save money again to invest in a better SLR camera.

My friends enjoyed the Nasi Briyani with Curry Chicken Both of them really enjoyed it and no left over that night. All gone. Give it a try on this recipe. It is a recipe created by my home economist. It is just so simple. I also prepared Acar Timun to serve along with it.

Rice Ingredients :
600g basmati rice, soak for ½ hour and drain
100ml evaporated filled milk
1 litre water
4 tsp chicken stock concentrate
1 large onion, sliced thinly
½ tsp tumeric powder
2 tsp salt
4 cloves
1 cinnamon bark
5 cardamon, crushed
1/2 cup of mixed vegetables

Chicken Curry Ingredients :
4 chicken whole legs, cut into two (1.2kg)
1 tbsp salt
30g chicken curry powder
2 tbsp garam masala
2 tbsp chopped ginger
1 cup chopped onions
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1/2 cup of green peas
1 bottle San Remo Mushroom & Tomato sauce

Method:

1. Marinate chicken with salt and curry powder for ½ hour.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons oil, sauté onions and ginger till fragrant. Put in chicken pieces and pan fry for 3 minutes.
3. Add in pasta sauce and 300ml water. Bring mixture to a boil, lower fire and simmer over medium fire until chicken is tender. Mixed in 2 tablespoons garam masala, big onions and green peas. Mixed well and dish up.
4. To cook rice, heat 2 tablespoons butter/ghee sauté cloves, cinnamon bark and cardamom till fragrant. Add in onions and tumeric powder. Fry till onions is lightly brown and then mixed in rice and tumeric powder.
5. Put rice into a rice cooker with milk, mixed vegetables, water and pandan leaves. Serve briyani rice with chicken curry and acar timun.

I was chopping off my pandan leaves plant outside my house and it is kind of waste if I throw the pandan leaves away.  I kept a bunch of the leaves in the fridge and use it for the Thai Pandan Chicken. It is a simple recipe to prepare but my skills of wrapping the pandan leaves over the chicken fillet is not that good. I think I need to brush up on that.

Ingredients :
3 pcs chicken thigh, de-boned, skinned and cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
Salt, sugar and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon corn flour
Large pandan leaves, for wrapping

Blended/ Pounded Ingredients :
3 onions
3 cloves garlic
2cm knob of fresh young ginger
1 stalk lemon grass, sliced finely

Method :
1. Combine pounded  ingredients with the rest of the ingredients and mix in chicken pieces. Marinate for few hours in the fridge.
2. Add coconut milk and mix well to blend. Wrap two pieces of chicken with a pandan leaf and use a toothpick to secure closed.
3. Deep-fry wrapped pandan chicken parcels in hot oil until chicken is cooked through. Serve immediately.

My favourite fried crispy belacan ( prawn paste ) chicken wings! Used to order this whenever I am on business trip in Penang at my previous job. I hardly see any restaurant near my house here have this dish. I tried out myself last Saturday and I am using the Lee Kum Kee fine shrimp paste for marination. It is just so delish and its finger licking good!

Ingredients:
12 pcs chicken wings
2 tbsp LKK fine shrimp paste
1 tbsp sugar
1 Egg
3 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp plain flour

Method:
1. Mix chicken wings with prawn paste, sugar and egg together and marinate over night in the fridge.
2. Add rice flour and plain into chicken wings. Mix well and season for another 30 mins before deep frying.
3. Heat oil till hot and deep fry till golden brown.
4. Dish up and serve hot with chilli sauce.

I was cleaning my kitchen cabinet and didn’t realize that I still have so much DOM at home. All are given by my suppliers and relatives during both my confinement. Counted and I still have about 8 bottles of it at home. Wah… so many of it and took one to give it to my cousin M who just gave birth to her #3 baby boy.

I don’t really like DOM because it is so sweet.  Even during my confinement I hardly drink it at night except if you are using that for cooking or steaming chicken. It is just so sweet. Dearie Suki was telling me what am I going to do with so much DOM at home? I jokingly told him I will keep it for Le-Ann’s confinement next time or for my future DIL’s confinement! LOL !

I was craving for confinement food. Miss all the confinement dish so much. Last week, I cook the kampong chicken with DOM and had that for the 2 days. People add only 4 tablespoon of DOM into the chicken but for me, I pour about a full cup of DOM into the chicken. I must admit I am a bit extreme on this. Thank GOD  I didn’t get drunk after eating it. LOL !

Ingredients :
1/2 kampong chicken, cut into small pieces
Some ginger, sliced thinly
1 piece of wood’s ear fungus, soaked and cut into small pieces
Sesame oil
1/2 cup water
DOM Liquor ( I used about 1 cup )
Salt to taste

Method :
1. Heat sesame oil in wok. Sautee ginger till fragrant.
2. Add in the kampong chicken and wood’s ear fungus. Stir-fried for a minute.
3. Add in the water and cover it the wok cover. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes or till the chicken is cook.
4. Season with salt and then add in some DOM liquor. ( I am a bit extreme on this cos I’ve added in about 1 cup of it. )
5. Dish up and serve hot with white rice or plain mee suah.

I have been busy lately. Not only that, I started to cook less. Felt so sorry for the kids and Dearie Suki for not feeding them with home cooked dishes. Anyway, I tried to cook at least 3 times a week and the rest of the days, just buy take away food. I think at times the kids love take away food more than my home cooked food. For Dearie Suki, he would prefer to eat at home rather than outside food.

My fridge is nearly empty this week as I was away in Penang the last weekend and I need to replenish it by today. Can’t wait to go to the night market tonight. This is what I cooked last nite… Stir-fried chicken with carrot and spring onion and added some bay leaves in it. I found it is rather weird with added bay leaves in it but the three picky eater didn’t complaint at all. Hahaha… looks like they like it.

Ingredients :
2 chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
Some chopped garlic and onion
1 carrot, cut into small pieces
2 sprig spring onion, cut into 2 inch length
2 pcs bay leaves
2 tbsps oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1/2 cup water
Salt, sugar and pepper to taste
Cornstarch for thickening

Method :
1. Season chicken with oyster sauce and dark soya sauce for about 1/2 an hour.
2. Heat oil in a wok. Sautee chopped garlic and onion till fragrant.
3. Add in carrots and bay leaves. Stir fried for a minute and then add in marinated chicken. Give it a stir and pour in the water and let it simmer till the chicken pieces is cook.
4. Season with salt, sugar and pepper to taste.
5. Then add in cornstarch to thicken the sauce and then stir in spring onion.
6. Dish up and serve hot with white rice.

Yippie! TGIF… but too bad tomorrow , Saturday, I need to get into the office to witness a write off of one my product together with the MOH officer and my principal. Haizzz… can’t they just give me a break and can’t they do the write off on weekdays instead of weekend? Since I am busy with meeting today,  I hope the warehouse manager will get ready the auto lifts in the warehouse for tomorrow exercise.

I made this Cheesy Chicken Quesadilla last weekend for lunch. Dearie Suki had this for lunch too but I knew it he don’t really like to have this kind of food. But after a few grumbling from me, I think he got no choice but to eat it minus the orange salad on the plate. Hahaha

To prepare this it is pretty simple. Just purchase one packet of Old El Paso Soft Taco Dinner Kit from the supermarket shelf and you will have scrumptios Mexican meal. All ingredients are available inside the Dinner Kit and you just need to add in any meat of your choice and one big onion. Wrapped the chicken filling on a piece of tortilla and then topped with mozarella cheese. Then I grilled it over the electronic grilling machine till the cheese melted and add a few dashes of Tabasco on it. Wow…. yummilicious meal. The kids even love it so much when I prepared for them in their bento last weekend.

Remember go and grab one packet of Old El Paso Soft Taco Dinner Kit or Old El Paso Fajita Dinner Kit at less than RM18.00 per pack to have an enjoyable Mexican meal at home today.

So lazy to cook and I just settled down with steamed Kampung Chicken for today lunch and dinner. Dearie Suki checked my car and found out my front tyre punctured again. Haizzz… we are supposed to go out for dinner but last minute he can’t find the car lifts and we have to wait for his brother to bring over to him.

Since we can’t go out, I just steam the kampung chicken. Steaming is just so easy. No mopping, no wiping the kitchen stove, and no oil splatting around the floor.  Furthermore it is more healthier. Try the steaming method and it is simply easy and fuss free.

Ingredients :
1 medium sized kampung chicken, washed and cleaned
4 - 5 pieces of Dong Kwai
Some salt and sesame oil
2 tbsps of Hsiao Tsing Wine / DOM

Method :
1. Cleaned the whole chicken and put in Dong Kwai inside the chicken cavities.
2. Steam over high heat of boiling water for about 30 - 45 minutes.
3. Once the chicken is done, rub some salt and sesame oil over the chicken and pour the Hsiao Tsing wine / DOM on the chicken essence ( the juice that came out from steaming )
4. Once the chicken is cooled, chop into small pieces.