I can’t believe that this is my 50th post! And I am truly encouraged that some have left kind words of encouragement to me for the recipes here. You can’t imagine how much I beam from ear to ear when I read that some of my recipes have been tried and tested to satisfaction. It’s very much like how a chef will feel when the food that has been cooked is given the thumbs up or finished cleaned on the plate.

Anyway, for the 50th post, I would like to highlight a recipe which my wife shared with me (and cooked for me). She does cook…and she cooks well too. Only thing is that I have persuaded her to allow me to use the kitchen and enjoy my hobby of cooking instead.

This dish is tasty as it is hot and spicy whilst at the same time, has a hint of sourness to it (due to the vinegar / lime used). It is also very fragrant due to the quite liberal use of chinese cooking wine. It is a variant of Kung Po Chicken, I believe but tastes slightly different. Adjust the taste according to your preference. That very day when she cooked this dish, we had some cashew nuts at home and she decided to throw some in hence what you see in the picture. It is not in the recipe but you can add it in for extra bite!

This is my wife’s recipe for Sauteed Chicken Supreme with Dried Chillies

Ingredients

• 500 grammes of chicken supreme (the most tender part of chicken breast which is longish in shape, slice it to cubes / thick diagonal slices)
• 20 dried chillis (pre-soaked for 30 minutes, seeded and cut into halves)
• 5 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 4 tablespoons of cooking oil (preferably palm oil)

Marinade

• 1 tablespoon chinese cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon dark soya sauce
• 2 tablespoon corn flour

Seasoning

• 2 tablespoon chinese cooking wine
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar (or squeeze approximately 10 limes or more for juice)
• 1 teaspoon of cornflour
• 1/2 tablespoon of light soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon of water

Method

Pound meat slightly with blunt side of knife or tenderiser. Marinade for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in wok, fry the dried chilli for 30 seconds and then add the garlic. Continue to stir-fry till garlic begin to brown. Add chicken and fry till cooked (if you wish to add cashew nuts, add them now). Then add seasoning, stir well until evenly distributed and gravy dries up.

Serve hot with steamed white rice.

Remember I used to have a recipe called Mixed Vegetables - Cabbage, Carrots, Wood-Ear Fungus, Dried Lily Buds and Mushrooms? Well, I am going to modify that recipe a bit instead. Using most of the same ingredients, these will be steamed together with chicken to make a nice healthy dish.

In this dish, the chicken is sweet-tasting and has a hint of chinese cooking wine as it was marinated prior to steaming. The meat will usually be tender when cooked as whole chicken leg (drumstick and thigh meat) is used and the wine further tenderises the meat. This is in contrast with the crispness of the wood-ear fungus, sweetness of the carrots and lily buds and smoky taste of the mushrooms. Truly, it comes with a riot of taste and goes well with steamed white rice.

Actually, as emphasised in most of my recipes, you don’t actually have to follow the ingredients in full especially if you have difficulty finding them at the place you live. Just use a bit of creativity and substitute them with different ingredients. If you are not sure, feel free to ask me at the comment section below.

This is my recipe for Steamed Chicken with Carrots, Wood-Ear Fungus, Dried Lilybuds and Mushrooms.

Ingredients

• 2 whole chicken legs (chopped into bite pieces)
• 1 small sized carrot (sliced)
• 50 to 100 grammes of wood-ear fungus (pre-soaked till soft)
• 5 dried chinese mushrooms (pre-soaked till soft) or enoki, oyster or button mushrooms
• 50 grammes of dried lily buds (pre-soaked till soft and knotted in the middle)
• 1 whole bulb of garlic (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon of cooking oil (preferably palm oil)

Marinade for chicken

• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoons of light soya sauce
• A couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 tablespoon of chinese cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon of corn flour

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• Salt to taste

Method

Marinade the chicken for about an hour.

Heat oil in wok, followed by garlic and chinese mushrooms. Fry till garlic begins to brown. Add carrots, wood-ear fungus and lily buds. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Place chicken on a suitable plate for steaming (I use a stainless steel plate as seen in the picture above). Place the pre-stirfried vegetables on top of the chicken. Steam in wok / steamer for at least 20 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Fish Ball Bee Hoon Soup

Once in a while, we will cook Fish Ball Bee Hoon Soup for lunch on a weekend. Bee Hoon is also known as Rice Vermicelli. The clear soup is refreshing especially on a hot day. We usually use Ikan Bilis stock for the soup as it makes the soup tastier.

I would advise that you buy the Fish Balls from the wet market and have it cooked the same day to enjoy its freshness. If you are unable to cook them on the same day, do keep them in the fridge and cook them the next day. I don’t think preservatives are added to these fish balls and so, they don’t last long.

This is my recipe for Fish Ball Bee Hoon Soup. Serves 4 people.

Ingredients

• 1/2 packet of bee hoon (approximately 150 grammes) (pre-soaked in water for 30 minutes to soften)
• 15 to 20 fish balls
• 100 grammes of pork tenderloin (sliced thinly) (optional)
• 200 grammes of choy sum (chinese mustard leaves) (washed and cut into 6 cm lengths)
• 5 to 8 shallots (sliced thinly)
• 100 grammes of ikan bilis (dried anchovies)
• a pinch of salted chinese vegetables (tung chai)
• 3 tablespoons of palm oil
• 1.25 litres or 5 soup bowls of water

Marinade (for pork tenderloin slices)

• 2 teaspoons of light soya sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Seasoning

• 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon of MSG (optional)

Method

Marinade pork tenderloin slices for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, boil ikan bilis in water for at least 45 minutes. Remove ikan bilis when done.

Fry shallots in oil under medium heat till golden brown. Remove fried shallots from oil and set aside.

With remaining oil in wok / pot, stir-fry the pork tenderloin slices for 30 seconds. Add ikan bilis stock above and bring to boil.

Add pre-soaked bee hoon into boiling stock followed by choy sum and fish balls and let the ingredients cook for at least 2 minutes in boiling condition. The fish balls will float to surface when cooked. Add seasoning to taste.

Separate into individual bowls and sprinkle fried shallots and chinese salted vegetables prior to serving

Sambal Belacan Ladies Finger

Ladies finger, also known as Okra, is a fibrous pod full of round white seeds. Packed with vitamins and minerals, it is often used in Asian cuisine especially in India. Back home in Malaysia, it is commonly added to Assam Fish or Curry Fish. It is also cooked as a dish of its own and I usually stir-fry it with belacan sambal.

Ladies Finger or Okra

When choosing ladies finger, choose the younger pods which are usually lighter green in colour and smaller in size. Usually, the younger pods will have softer fur-like skin. These younger pods are more tender in texture and less fibrous.

And again, just like Kangkong Belacan, you should cook this dish using really high heat as you want to cook it in minimum time to preserve its juice.

This is my recipe for Sambal Belacan Ladies Finger

Ingredients

• Approximately 15 pieces of ladies finger (washed and sliced diagonally. Discard top / head)
• A pinch of sugar
• 50 ml warm water
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil (preferably palm oil)

Sambal belacan mix (pound / blended together)

• 50 grammes dried prawns / shrimps (pre-soaked for 10 minutes to soften)
• 20 grammes of belacan (buy from stores)
• 5 to 8 cloves garlic
• 5 to 8 cloves shallots
• 3 to 5 red chillis (remove seeds if you want the sambal to be less hot)

Method

Heat oil on wok at medium heat. Stir-fry the sambal belacan mix for about 2 minutes.

Increase heat to high and add ladies finger and sugar. Stir well for about 2 minutes or till the ladies finger is to your desired softness. Add a little water at a time if sambal belacan mix beginning to burn. As the sambal belacan mix contains dried prawns and belacan which are salty in itself, it may not be necessary to add salt.