Chicken Stew with Mushrooms, Potatoes and Carrots

This is a simple all-in-one dish that's perfect for those days when (i) you only have time to cook one dish, (ii) the weather is cold and you're hankering for a simple, hearty, filling meal.

This I cooked last Saturday for lunch.

Recipe :

2 chicken breast - chopped

2 carrots - peeled and chopped

3-4 potatoes - peeled and chopped into quarters

7-8 dried shiitake mushrooms - soaked and cut into strips

dark soy sauce - 2 tbsp

light soy sauce - 1 tbsp

1 tbsp corn flour - mixed with half cup water

3 beads garlic - pounded

3 cm ginger - peeled and sliced

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups water

3 tbsp oil for frying

Heat oil in wok, and fry chicken till lightly browned. Remove from wok. Fry ginger and garlic in same oil, then pour in the carrots and potatoes. Stir fry for 3 minutes, then add in the mushrooms. Fry another 2 minutes, stir in both soya sauce and add salt and pepper. Pour in water, wait till its boiled and leave to simmer for 5 mins. Add in the pre-fried chicken and continue to simmer for another 5 mins. Then add in the corn flour mixture to thicken. After 2 minutes, it should be done. Serve hot with rice.

Prep time : 15 minutes

Cooking time : 20 minutes

Serves : 5-6 persons.

Tip : Pour hot water over the raw chicken pieces to remove the fats and scummy bits. Drain the hot water after 1 minute.

Quick Spinach Stir Fry

Oh this one is easy peasy. Most important is that the spinach is cleaned thoroughly, with the hard stalks discarded. Local spinach tend to have some sand, so make sure they are soaked a while, rinsed and re-rinsed a few times under running water.

Recipe : Simple Stir Fried Spinach

One bunch of red/local spinach

3 beads of garlic - chopped finely

Salt to taste

1 tsp oil for frying

Put wok on medium heat, pour oil, and fry the garlic. Add in spinach once garlic is browned. Stir quickly until leaves are half-wilted (not too much otherwise it gets too soft) and lower heat. Pinch of salt to taste. You may pour a little bit of water to give it a steaming effect.

Serve hot.

Prep time : 8 mins.

Cooking time : 3-4 mins.

Serves : 3-4 persons.

Stir Fried Cabbage

This is a very simple and light vegetable stir-fry, great as a quick side dish.

Recipe : Stir Fried Cabbage

One round/white cabbage - chopped medium fine

2 shallots - sliced

3 beads garlic - chopped

Oil to fry

Salt and pepper

Heat oil, fry shallots and garlic till golden, on high heat. You need to be careful not to burn them. Once they start to brown, put in the cabbage and stir. Keep stirring for 2-3 minutes and taste. Add salt and pepper. 

You can add in chicken slices if you wish to make this a more filling dish. Add the chicken into the wok before the cabbage.

Prep time : 5-6 minutes.

Cooking time : 5-6 minutes

Serves : 5-6 persons.

Simple Egg Omelette

Aha. Time for comfort food.

Again it's a very simple, plain egg omelette.

Recipe : Simple Egg Omelette

3 eggs - beaten, add S&P

Onions - 2 medium, sliced

3 tbsp oil

Heat oil, and add onions. I usually add about a third of the raw sliced onions into the egg mixture as well. Once onions are translucent, pour in egg mixture. Let it cook on one side for about 2 mins then turn, for another 2 mins or so. I like my omelette a little browned.

Serve immediately while hot. Add tomato ketchup or chilli sauce, whichever you prefer.

Prep time : 3 minutes.

Cooking time : 4 minutes.

Serves : 3-4 persons.

Kai Lan with Oyster Sauce

As accompaniment to the fried chicken, I decided to have one veg dish:

Recipe : Kai Lan with Oyster Sauce

1 bunch of kai lan - cut inch length (aka Chinese broccoli I just learnt)

5 beads garlic - crushed and chopped

1 small shallot (optional) - sliced

3 tbsp oyster sauce - mix with 3 tbsp water

Oil to stir fry

Blanch kai lan in rolling boiling water for 30 seconds. Stalks need a bit longer. You're supposed to rinse it in cold water to retain its green colour, but I skipped this step :). I just set it aside on the serving plate, and quickly moved on to prepare the sauce otherwise the kai lan gets cold.

Fry half the garlic till golden for garnish.

Then, fry the rest of the garlic and onion, then add in oyster sauce mix. Stir for a minute or so, then once it starts to bubble up, pour oyster sauce mix onto kai lan, sprinkle/drizzle the fried garlic and serve immediately. Delicious with hot rice.

Some people prefer to leave the kai lan uncut. This makes it easier to blanch, but not so easy to eat.

Prep time : 10 mins.

Cooking time : 5-6 mins.

Serves : 5-6 persons.

Verdict : Alright. I prefer it more garlicky so will add more garlic next time, and without the shallot.

Deep Fried Chicken

So today I will cook deep fried chicken - easy stuff. I adjusted the quantity of spices used a little bit. Did the prep work last night.

Recipe : Deep Fried Chicken

2 front quarters, 2 back quarters chicken - chopped

3 tbsp red chilli powder 

2 tbsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp salt 

1 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp flour

1 egg - beaten

4 cups of oil for deep frying

Mix the chopped chicken thoroughly with the above ingredients (spices, flour and egg) in a big bowl, ensure chicken is well-covered. Then I poured the chicken and all the marinade in a zipbag and kept it in the chiller overnight. 

Heat up oil, and deep fry chicken thoroughly. Drain excess oil on paper towel or rack before serving.

Prep time : 15 mins

Cooking time : 15-20 mins

Serves : 5-6 persons.

Verdict : I need to add more salt to this recipe, and perhaps a little bit more of vinegar and some light soya sauce. Somehow it was missing something, I can't tell what. My cutting skills can be better. Haha, I need a big Chinese chopper.

Sorry for the LQ pic, taken with my hp-cam.

Stir Fried Long Beans with Egg

This is one of the simplest vegetable dishes which I like. Cooked this last night.

Recipe : Stir Fried Long Beans with Egg

1 bundle (ikat) dark green long beans 

2 eggs, beaten - add a pinch of salt and pepper

2 medium shallot - sliced

2 cloves garlic - sliced

Oil to fry

The beans need to be cut one by one. You can choose to cut it with a slant/thin diagonals (takes longer), or chop them into equal sized portions of 2 mm or so (faster).

Heat oil, fry shallots and garlic, add in the beans until almost cooked, then pour in the eggs quickly. Turn the mixture a few times to ensure eggs are thoroughly cooked.  Don't forget to taste! I like this dish to be on the dry side so I fry the eggs till it's browned.

Prep time : 10 minutes. 

Cooking time : 5-6 minutes.

Serves : 5-6 persons.

Verdict : Prefer it a bit drier. Heat needs to be higher in the beginning, as this is a quick stir fry.

Sardines and Onions

It was a very cold today. The rain in the afternoon kept the temperature down further and made me really hungry by 4 pm.

I always feel hungrier earlier when it's cold so I was thinking what to have for dinner in case mum didn't cook. Reaching home I saw that dinner was ready but I was hankering for some hot comfort food. Remembered there's a can of sardines in the larder so sardines it is :)

Recipe : Sardines and Onions

King Cup Sardines in Tomato Sauce - big tin

1 1/2 big onion - sliced

3 cloves garlic - smashed and sliced

Pinch of salt and black pepper

Bit of oil, 2-3 tbsp 

Oh as you know, the cooking bit is really easy. Fry onions and garlic until translucent, then pour in the sardines. Cook on medium heat for about 4-5 minutes. Stir a bit, don't break up the sardines unless you prefer them that way. Salt and pepper to taste. Optional - add some sliced red chilli if you prefer it hot. Sometimes I add in a tablespoon or two of chilli sauce instead. Serve with hot rice.

Prep Time : 5 minutes. 

Cooking Time : 5 mins. 

Serves : 3-4 big eaters, 5-6 small eaters.

Verdict : Definitely better with some spicyness. But this is good and very simple as well. Perfect for those quick dishes when in a rush.

Mmmmm. Yummmy. My tummy and tongue are happy.

The First Pinch of Salt

This blog is to document my trials and tribulations in the kitchen.

I'm an okay cook, trying to be better :)

If I can take pictures while cooking, will upload them to accompany the post. Otherwise, no pics.

Inspiration provided by all the cooking and eating shows on Channel 703.

Eat my shorts, Jamie! ;P