Lemongrass Roast Chicken

It's has been a while since I posted a savoury recipe. I have just made this roast chicken for dinner and couldn't wait to share it with you. I saw this recipe from here a few weeks back but didn't get a chance to try it till this evening.

Lemongrass Roast Chicken (serves 4)
1 free range chicken (about 1 kg)
2 stalks lemongrass (use the white part only, sliced thinly)
5 cloves of garlic
2 cilantro roots
a few dash of white pepper
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar or palm sugar

1) Put the lemongrass, garlic, cilantro root, white pepper, oyster sauce, fish sauce and sugar into a food processor or mini chopper.  Chopped and mix into a paste.
2) Rub the paste on the chicken especially under the skin.
3) Let the chicken sit in the marinade for 3-4 hours in the fridge.
4) Pre-heat oven at 200 deg C. Take the chicken out and let it come to room temperature.
5) Put the chicken on a tray and cover with foil
6) Roast for 30 minutes.
7) Remove the foil and turn the heat up to 230 deg C.
8) Continue roasting for another 20 minutes till golden brown.
9) Serve with rice or salad.

This is my first time using Cilantro root (Chinese Parsley root) and I love the fragrance. I am looking forward to make the Thai style Chicken Rice which also uses Cilantro roots.

If you like this Lemongrass roast chicken, you can also try Roast Chicken with Tom Yum herbs.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

Bangkok Part 3 and Chicken Bak Kwa with cognac

This is the last part of my Bangkok trip. We took the sky train to Mo Chit station and reached Chucktuchack weekend market at 9am to avoid the crowd and the heat. I wanted to get some aromatherapy diffuser and managed to find the shop selling Yu products without having to search around. 2 of friends recommended the brand and told me that it's only available at the weekend market or Pratunum. The diffusers cost 250baht each or 700 baht for 3! Half the price of the cheaper brands in Singapore and about 20% cheaper than those sold in Siam Square area. I got 3 diffusers and 3 refills.

We saw some stalls selling food and sat down for breakfast. Fried rice and my favourite Thai omelette! The fried rice was a tad sweet. Mum kept looking at the next table who brought their own little tubs of chilli but due to language problems, we couldn't find out where to get those chilli. Next I went to the crockery section and was so tempted to buy so many stuff but I had to restrain myself. as they were heavy stuff to lug back. Mum bought some cushion covers and tissue covers as gifts for her friends. We left at 11am as we had to check out of the hotel at noon. While looking for the escalator to the sky train platform, I found the Jelly Bunny shop inside Mo Chit station. I first found this brand in 2012 and love their jelly shoes. They finally opened a shop here in Singapore. As we were rushing for time, I just showed the sales lady photos of 2 designs and bought those. We checked out of our hotel and had lunch at Som Tam again at the request of Mum. This concludes my trip to Bangkok.
My loot from Chucktuchack market:

I have seen recipes for homemade Bak Kwa (Dried Barbeque Meat) for a few years but have not gotten round to trying it out. After finishing my stash of Lim Chee Guan Bak Kwa within 3 days, I decided to make my own instead of going to the city to buy more. It was actually quite easy to make the bak kwa, just marinate the meat overnight, bake and grill for less than half hour and you will have tasty bak kaw. I tried making the Bak Kwa twice so far; the first time using Nasi Lemak Lover's recipe and store bought minced chicken and the 2nd time using Everyone Eats well in Flander's recipe and chicken thigh meat with the addition of Cognac. The bak kwa turned out a little too tough the first time round and the taste a little off due to the Hua Tiao wine. I tried again the next day using chicken thigh meat which had more fats and the taste turn out very tasty and fragrant. My mum reached for a 2nd piece when I asked her for her feedback :) Action speaks louder than words.

Homemade Chicken Bak Kwa(adapted from here)
450g chicken thigh meat
100g sugar
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1tbsp light soya sauce
1tsp kecap manis
1/2tbsp cognac
1tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp honey
1/8tsp five spice powder
1/2 tsp salt
a dash of pepper

1) Mince the chicken thigh meat in a food processor or chopper
2) Add all the seasoning and stir the meat till gluey (so that the meat will stick together)

3) Leave the minced chicken to marinate for 6-8 hours or overnight in the fridge
4) Line a cookie tray and spread the marinated meat with a rubber spatula as thinly as possible.

5) Bake the meat for 15 mins at 160 deg C. It will look like a big piece of cooked minced meat.
6) Cut up the meat into 9 pieces and change the greaseproof paper under the meat.

7) Brush some vegetable oil and diluted honey on the meat and grill the meat till brown on each side, about 10 mins on each side.

Yummy chicken bak kwa, all for less than S$10!

I toasted 2 slices of bread lightly and made a bak kwa sandwich the next day for breakfast.

All the bak kwa is gone by the next day when my mum and a friend dropped by.

I am submitting this post to "My Treasured Recipes #5 - Chinese New Year Goodies (Jan/Feb)" hosted my Miss B of Everyone Eats Well in Flanders and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House

Chicken and potato stew

Hello! Sorry to miss the posting last week. I was busy catching up with friends and preparing for a cupcake baking and decorating class which was held last Sunday. In between that I also had to plan and design 3 cakes which I have not done previously. They turned out beautifully. I will share pictures of those cakes in my next post.

This is my first time teaching a class. I had in mind a tea party where we could relax and let out creative juices flow. Thank you to friends who gave me tea and cupcake stand sets so that we could all have a nice tea party. We all had a great time including the assistants and the participants. I'm sure you have heard about expressing yourself through drawing and painting and now you can express yourself through cupcake decorating. We were amazed and blown away by the decorations done by the participants. They were beyond our expectations. You may not necessarily excel in Art but can still be fantastic in cake decorating. It's just a different type of canvas.

Here are the pictures from the class:

Amazing isn't it? Most of the participants have no prior experience in piping and decorating. This is such a wonderful way to express your love for your family and friends. The first picture shows that goodies I have baked for the participants. Quite a few of them including the owner of the kitchen we used couldn't stop munching on the Chocolate Cookie Slice.

Despite my crazy schedule, I managed to cook some meals with the help of my thermal pot.
Today I am going to share with you the recipe for a Chicken Potato Stew. Be warned to have plenty of bread or rice to serve with this stew. It's really good and you won't be able to stop at one bowl.

Chicken Potato Stew (serves 3-4)

1 medium size chicken (about 800g to 1 kg)
2-3 carrots
3-4 potatoes (I like to use russet potatoes)
1 white onion
2 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
4-6 dried chilli (soaked in water)
1 tbsp light soya sauce
2-3 tbsp corn syrup

1. Wash and cut the chicken into pieces. Remove the skin.
2. Wash and peel the onions, carrots and potatoes.
3 Cut the carrots and potatoes into chunks and slice the onion thinly
4. Cut the dried chilli into pieces
5. Heat up 1 tbsp of cooking oil in the thermal inner pot. Fry the onion and dried chilli till fragrant.
6. Add the chicken pieces and fry them till light brown.
7. Add the potatoes and carrots chunks and fry them for a while.
8. Add the oyster sauce, light soya sauce, sesame oil and corn syrup and mix well.
9. Add in 400ml of water and cover the pot. Bring the stew to a boil and turn off the fire. Put the pot into the thermal outer container and leave it to cook in the thermal for about an hour.
10. Garnish with some roasted sesame seeds. Serve the stew with rice or bread.

* For those who do not have a thermal pot, you can use a non stick pot to cook the stew and let it simmer till the potatoes are soft.

This stew is good for a picnic or as a meal in itself. I made a pot of this stew for a picnic 2 months back and we almost finished the whole pot even without any rice or bread.

Roast Chicken with Tom Yum herbs

Hello! It's good to be back after 2 weeks away! I was in Tokyo for a holiday in mid September and was so busy with baking before and after my trip that I didn't get a chance to write a post.

This was my first trip to the Land of the Rising Sun and like friends predicted, I love the place! The shopping, food and culture was amazing. I had the freshest sushi for breakfast at Tsukiji Fish market, spent around 2 hours in Kappabashi looking for baking tins that are not available in Singapore, saw the beauty of Mt Fuji......... I could go on and on.... Here are some of the pictures from my trip. I would love to return to Japan in the near future.

 Today I thought I would share with you on my favourite dish to make when I am entertaining guests.  Usually when I am entertaining guests at home, I love to make roast chicken as I can make it in advance and there's not much to clean up and I can be all dressed up in time to meet my guests when they arrive. I just have to prepare a salad, bread and a dessert for the sides and I am all ready!

Roast Chicken with Tom Yum herbs

1 chicken (half kg)
2-3 stalks lemongrass
a handful of kaffer lime leaves
1 inch thick galangal
salt and pepper
3 tbsp soften butter
2-3 russet potatoes
2 carrots
1 white onions

1) Wash and cut the lemongrass and galangal into smaller pieces. Put them and lime leaves and the soften butter into a food processor or mini chopper. Mix and chop them up into a paste.

2) Rub some salt and pepper all over the chicken. Rub the paste all over the chicken, under the skin and stuff some paste into the cavity of the chicken and put the remainder on top of the chicken. Leave the chicken in the fridge for at least half hour to marinate. You can make this the night before if you like.

3) Cut the potatoes, carrots and white onions into chunks. Lay them on a baking tray. Take the chicken out of the fridge and put it on top of the vegetables. Cover with foil and pre-heat the oven at 200 deg C.

4) Roast the chicken for about 40 minutes, turn the chicken over after 20 mins. Remove the foil and baked at 220 deg C for another 20 - 30 mins so that the chicken can brown nicely. Use a skewer/chopstick to prick the chicken, if there are no pink juices , the chicken is cooked.

5) Serve with a salad and some bread for a full meal.

Simple dish: Rice cooker claypot rice

When I was young, my mum loves to cook one dish meal as she finds it a bother to think  and cook 3 dishes and 1 soup which is typical for a Chinese meal. So my sis and I grew up on mee rebus, laksa, mee sian, fried rice, chicken rice..... etc. It wasn't till my secondary school days that I realised that meals in my family were different from my friends'. They were pretty envious that my weekend meals were so exciting! If only they knew, it was due to my mum's "laziness".

I had my mum to thank for being so adventurous in food... since young, she has exposed us to the different Asian cuisines in Singapore and Asia as she loves them and loves to travel. I have known of friends who have never tasted Singaporean Indian food except Roti Prata till they were earning their own money as their mums weren't as adventurous.

Since my overseas work stint in 2009, I have also learnt the beauty of one dish meals. They are simple and easy and just nice for 1 person or maybe 2. Most importantly, less to clean up and wash up! As you can tell, that's the part I dislike most about cooking and baking.

Last Friday, I cooked a simple claypot rice in rice cooker for lunch when a friend popped by to bake. Eating lunch at my nearby hawker centre was getting a little boring.

Rice Cooker Claypot rice (Serves 2)

1 cup uncooked Thai Rice
200g Chicken fillet, cubed
3 strips Turkey Bacon
3 dried Chinese Mushrooms, soaked
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
white pepper
spring onions/coriander (garnish)

1) Marinate the chicken fillet with the sesame oil, oyster sauce, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce and pepper.
2) Slice the turkey bacon and the Chinese mushrooms
3) Wash the Thai rice
4) Add water to cook the rice following the marks on the rice cooker.
5) Add in the chicken fillet together with the marinade, turkey bacon and chinese mushrooms into the rice cooker and start the rice cooker.
6) When the claypot rice is cooked, add more dark soya sauce and seasame oil (if desired) to the rice.
7) Serve the claypot rice with chopped spring onions or coriander.

This is one of my favourite one dish meals and I make them whenever I have turkey bacon in the fridge.

I served the claypot rice with a spinach soup last Friday. I used the thermal pot to cook Ikan Bilis together with red dates for stock and added spinach and wolfberry just before serving.

Simple dish: Steamed chicken wings with black fungus

I have been very busy baking mooncakes and birthday cakes this past week. Had friends who enquired about buying the cheese mooncakes after seeing my previous post. Never expected it to be a best seller! Even my mum who doesn't take much cheese has requested for a box of these mooncakes! As I am writing this post, the smell of cheese is wafting from the oven as I am baking another batch of the mooncakes. Hope you had the chance to try making these mooncakes.

I have also baked a cute cake for my sister and bro-in-law to celebrate their wedding anniversary and his birthday. I got the inspiration as they love ducks. At their wedding, they tied their wedding bands to a soft toy duck rather than on a pillow.

I have also made a coffee cake for a combined birthday celebration at a friend's place last weekend.

With the baking of the mooncakes and designing the cakes, I was way too busy to think of what to cook for dinner for myself. I wanted something simple and fast without much cleaning up to do afterwards.

My friend B, suggested steaming chicken wings and since I had leftover fresh black fungus, I decided to add that to my dish.

Steamed Chicken Wings with black fungus

4 Chicken wings
3-4 Red dates
2 slices of Ginger, cut into thin strips
1 tsp of wolfberries
4-5 pieces of fresh black fungus (you may use the dried ones but soak them till soft before use)
salt to taste
1 tsp Huatiao wine (optional)

1) Wash and soak the red dates and wolfberries
2) Clean the chicken wings, marinate with some salt.
3) Wash the the fresh black fungus
4) Place the fresh black fungus on a plate, put the chicken wings on top and scatter the red dates, wolfberries and ginger around the plate.
5) Add the Huatiao wine
6) Steam on high heat for about 10 mins till chicken wings are cooked.

You can steam this in your rice cooker when cooking rice and you can save on washing up a wok or steamer :)