Category: Chicken

{Spencer Cooks} Hainanese Chicken Rice

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One thing I truly miss is the food from back home. So when I got hold of the recipe of Hainanese Chicken Rice from the Taste of Asia Thermomix cookbook, I HAD TO try making it. Of course, I also had to make the dipping sauces, or else it wouldn’t be complete.

Prior to having Spencer, I have made chicken rice before, and it turned out great. But the multilayer cooking does make it a lot easier, and I have to say, the taste definitely doesn’t lose out to cooking it in the traditional way! Plus it was a huge hit with the two boys! hehe HOORAY!

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One thing I cannot do without when having chicken rice is the dipping sauces. Especially this ginger dipping sauce! I usually buy them off the shelf at an asain supermarket, but I love that I am able to make it from scratch and also to get it on the table in about 5 mins!

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Of course, the chilli dipping sauce too!

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This is definitely is and will continue to be the staple in our house. Succulent chicken pieces with flavourful rice, I cannot think of anything that is more comforting for dinner.

I was asked by a customer at a Varoma cooking class recently to post about how I cooked my chicken rice. Sorry it took so long, but here it is! Step-by-step! I hope you all will enjoy it as much as we do!

Hainanese Chicken Rice (Adapted from Taste of Asia)

Ginger Dipping Sauce

120g young ginger, peeled

50g eschalots, peeled

100g vegetable oil

1/2 tsp salt

Steps:

  1. Place ginger and eschalots into the bowl and chop for 5 secs/ Speed 7. Scrape the side of the bowl.dscf5285-1
  2. Add remaining ingredients and blend for 20 secs/ Speed 8.dscf5286-1
  3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and cook for 5 mins/100 deg C/ Speed 2. Pour into bowl or mini thermoserver, and set aside to have with Hainanese chicken rice.

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Note : Can be kept in a jar for 1 week or frozen for 3 months.

Chilli Dipping Sauce

100g big red chillies, cut into 3 pieces

20g ginger, peeled

50g garlic, peeled

80g white vinegar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tbs sugar

Steps:

  1. Place chilli, ginger and garlic into the bowl and chop for 5 secs/ Speed 8. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and repeat process for 2 more times.
  2. Add remaining ingredients and blend for 1 minute / Speed 6.
  3. Add salt and sugar. Pour into a serving bowl or mini thermoserver and set aside.

Hainanese Chicken Rice (Serves 4-6)

2 tsp chinese wine

2 tsp light soy sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

1 whole chicken (about 1.7kg)

4 cloves of garlic

2 spring onion, cut into half

8 slices of ginger, peeled

4 eschalots, peeled

1 tbs olive oil

300g jasmine rice, rinsed

1.5L chicken stock

2 pandan leaves

A packet of bean sprouts

Fried shallots & thinly sliced spring onion, to garnish

Steps :

  1. Mix the chinese wine, soy and sesame oil in a small bowl and rub it all over the chicken as well as inside the cavity.dscf5297-1
  2. Stuff two cloves of garlic, spring onion, and 4 slices of ginger into the cavity and place into the Varoma dish. Make sure the chicken doesn’t cover all the holes to ensure the steam can be circulated. Set aside. dscf5301-1
  3. Place the remaining garlic, ginger and eschalots and oil into the bowl and sauté for 2 mins/ Varoma temperature/ Reverse, Speed 2. Add the rice and sauté for 2 mins/ 100 deg C/ Reverse, Speed 2. Pour mixture into the steaming basket and place pandan leave in the middle and set aside.dscf5309-1dscf5312-1
  4. Place 1 L of chicken stock into the bowl. Place the steaming basket of sautéed rice into the bowl as well and set the Varoma into position. Steam for 20 mins/ Varoma temperature/ Speed 4. Remove the steaming basket from the bowl, and place the rice into the Thermoserver to keep warm while the chicken continues steaming. dscf5303-1
  5. Top up the bowl with another 500ml of chicken stock. Replace the Varoma back into position and continue cooking for another 30-45 minutes/ Varoma temperature/ Speed 4, depending on the size of your chicken. In the last 10 minutes of steaming, add the bean sprouts around the chicken to steam. dscf5313-1
  6. Mix 3 tsp light soy sauce, 2 tbs of hot water, 1/2 tsp sesame oil and 1/4 tsp of sugar in a bowl. Chop up the chicken and pour this sauce over the chicken before serving.

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Garnish with fried shallots and thinly sliced spring onions. Serve with the two dipping sauces prepared and a thick black soy sauce.

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Tuck in and enjoy!

Would love to hear what you think after you’ve tried this! Email me photos of your creation as I would love to see them!

Follow me on Thermolove to get more inspiration!

Remember to always cook and bake with love!  

Toddler Eats : Cheesy Chicken & Veggies Meatballs

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Now that Lochlan has turned one (where did time go??), I’m trying to wean him from purees and introduce chunkier food, to encourage him to chew. Don’t get me wrong, he knows how to chew. But just prefers the purees cause he could finish it much quicker. haha So this marks the start to my new series of Toddler Eats! Hopefully it will be helpful to mummies out there who also want to try different foods and make them from their kitchen when time permits!

I decided to try making something I thought he might like! I mean, who doesn’t enjoy a good meatball? Especially with the addition of cheeeeese! These are quick and easy and you could have it on its own or mix it with pasta and some homemade tomato sauce and viola! Meatball pasta!

Meatball pasta

Lochlan’s Verdict : 2 1/2 meatballs (together with other food for dinner and strawberries for dessert hehe). I think thats a not too bad start!

 With the addition of cheese, you don’t even need to add salt to it. So it’s perfect even for babies from 10 months! Especially if you wanna do Baby-Led-Weaning. hehe Perfect finger food! These are not just for your little ones at home, the mr and I enjoyed it too!

So here’s the recipe, do give it a shot and let me know what u or your kiddos think!

Cheesy Chicken & Veggies Meatballs (A Food Made With Love Original Recipe)

Ingredients : Makes 24-26 meatballs

250g mince chicken (or meat of your choice)

2 stalks of spring onions, finely sliced

1 small carrot, grated

1/4 apple, grated

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 zucchini, grated

2-3 florets of broccoli, finely chopped

50g cheddar cheese, grated

1 egg

Ground black pepper, to season

Ingredients

(I’ve got a double yolk! Lucky me! hehe)

Steps :

1) Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celcius. Spray/Oil a baking tray/ casserole dish and set it one side.

2) Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl until well combined.

Mixed till well combined

3) Using a tablespoon, roll the mixture into balls. Do note that the mixture will be a bit wet and sticky. Wetting your hands might help in the rolling process.

Rolled out

4) Place the meatballs onto the baking dish, and bake for 12-15 mins, until the meatballs are cooked through and/or slightly browned.

All baked

5) Serve as is or you could cook it in a homemade tomato sauce and toss it through some cooked pasta for a variety!

Enjoy!

P.S : You don’t have to grate the vegetables if you’re cooking for yourself or older kids and want more texture. Just finely diced them and it would be as delicious! Also you could always change the types of vegetables in the meatballs, find a combination that wins the most votes in your house! (:

Have a lovely weekend everyone! Remember to always cook and bake with love!

Till the next post, xx !

Chicken Tagine – MealDish

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Good evening dear readers! So sorry for the hiatus! It’s been a busy few months with Baby Ho’s grandparents (both paternal and maternal) and uncle & aunty coming to visit him consecutively! So I haven’t had the chance to sit down and churn posts out! But I will be doing it whenever I can, I promise!

So a few months back, I was introduced to MealDish. A website that aims to help people eat healthier, eat fresh, whilst minimising food waste and saving them time and money. This was absolutely perfect for me, especially since I can only get down to cooking with Baby Ho is asleep!

So off I went to the website and it’s so simple to use and follow!

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You just have to choose what you like, the number of recipes you want and then click the number of people you’re cooking for and get a meal plan! As easy as that!

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If you have any particular cuisine you would like to try, or specific ingredients to exclude or you have intolerances, there are options for you to tick too! So it’s really for everyone. I did different options and there are heaps of recipes to choose from. They even suggests side dishes that would go perfectly with the recipe you decide to cook that day. Sounds good, no?

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So I decided to just go with the quick option and choose the type of protein I wanted to cook with – Chicken! These were the 5 options I was given, and straight away I was drawn to the chicken tagine recipe, especially cause my beautiful tagine has been sitting on the shelf ever since I made my Moroccan meatballs one and half year ago! haha So it was time to get it on the stove again.

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If you’re a person who loves order and likes to get everything ready before you cook, Mealdish is definitely for you. The recipe comes with ‘Preparation Steps’ so that you have everything ready to go when you start cooking, missing nothing out! This cuts your cooking time and dinner will be on the table, pipping hot, in no time!

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Of course, there’s ‘Cooking Steps’ which are clear and easy to follow. What’s best about this website is that they have a ‘Shopping List’ tailored to the number of people you are cooking for. So there’s no waste and you just buy what is needed!

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Chicken Tagine

The results were as good as I thought it would be! The Mr loved it and even though I made enough for 4 people, we only had a serve left! What’s best is, this recipe had both protein and vegetables rolled into one! So we only needed that one dish for dinner. Paired with toasted Turkish bread – Dinner was ready within an hour!

So if you are looking for inspirations to cook your family or even just yourself something delicious, and want something quick and easy, hop onto the MealDish website and you will definitely find something you fancy!

Here’s the ingredients used for this dish. The steps are as described in the ‘Cooking Steps’ above! Or you could always just head to the website and search for the recipe to get the ingredient amounts tailored to the number of people you are cooking for!

Ingredients :

(For 4 people)

3/4 Onion whole

4 Garlic cloves

1 1/4 Celery stick

3/4 can tinned tomato

200g Pumpkin

2 tsp Coriander

3/4 tsp Ground Ginger

3/4 Cinnamon Stick

1/4 Lemon

1/4 cup apricot (I used raisins)

3/4 cup Chicken stock

8 Chicken drumstick

3/4 cup couscous

2 tbs fresh coriander

Chicken Tagine

Have a great rest of the day and hope you all will have an awesome hot dinner tonight since it’s freezing here in Melbourne!

Till the next post, remember to always cook and bake with love! xx

My Mr The Chef : Chicken Money Bag

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I am truly a lucky woman. I married a man who can seriously cook some delicious food! Although he’s really busy, he still takes time to cook something once in a while, which I am super thankful for! If you’ve followed me for a while now, you would have seen some of his creations : Hainanese chicken rice, roasted beef ribs, homemade bacon and polenta chips!

Ready to be served

I’m  not sure if you remember seeing this dish on Masterchef last year, but this was a dish by the ever so talented – Maggie Beer! The Mr wanted to make it the moment he saw it and boy am I glad he did. It was absolutely delicious! Tedious to prep, but all the hard work definitely paid off! Just imagine golden crispy chicken skin (like yum!) and the meat is just succulent and full of flavour on the inside! Together with the tomato chutney, it’s just the perfect pair!

Skinning the chicken

The trickiest part of the dish is probably skinning the whole chicken and keeping the skin whole, making sure there are no holes! The Mr did such a good job! He got it out in one go! Don’t think I would be able to do it. haha

So here’s the recipe from Maggie Beer! Give it a try, the hard work is definitely worth every delicious bite!

Chicken Money Bag with Preserved Lemon and Tomato Chutney (Recipe closely adapted from Maggie Beer, Serves 3)

For the chicken :

50g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

2 tbs olive oil

3 shallots, finely chopped

225g white button mushrooms, sliced

1 tbs lemon thyme leaves, chopped

1/3 cup white wine (I didn’t have Verjuice)

1.8kg whole chicken

100g chicken fat, finely chopped

1 1/2 tbs preserved lemon rind, chopped

1 1/4 tbs tarragon, chopped

15g sea salt flakes

1 egg

For the Preserved Lemon & Tomato Chutney : 

1 1/2 tbs Olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped

1/4 cup white wine (Use Verjuice if you have it!)

800g tomato, roughly chopped

100g preserved lemon, rinsed and chopped

110ml Red wine vinegar

90g caster sugar

Steps :

1) Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.

2) Place a heavy based pan over medium-high heat, add butter and heat until it has turned nutty brown. Add olive oil, shallots and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. Add thyme, toss to combine, and season with salt.

3) Deglaze the pan with white wine and cook until it is sticky and reduced. Place mushroom mixture in a large bowl, and set aside to cool.

4) Skin chicken and place in a bowl. Remove chicken marylands, roughly chop leg and thigh meat, then pulse in a food processor to a coarse paste. Add chicken fat and pulse to combine. Remove breasts and cut into two centimeters dice.

Prepping the chicken and mushroom mixture

5) Finely chop mushroom mixture, then add the preserved lemon rind and tarragon to cooled mushroom mixture and mix until well combined. Add chicken leg mixture, diced chicken breast, sea salt flakes and egg to the bowl and slap the mixture against the side of the bowl until combined.

Prepping the ingredients

Chicken mixture

6) Cut chicken skin into three even triangular shaped pieces.

7) Over a 6cm springform baking tin, place a sheet of cling wrap, then spread skin over. 

Making the money bags

8) Add chicken mixture, bring each end of the skin together to create a pouch, then place in the fridge for ten minutes to allow the skin to set.

Adding the chicken mixture

Bringing the skin together to create a pouch

9) Invert baking tins onto a baking tray and carefully lift tins to remove. The skin should remain neatly tucked underneath, holding the parcel together as it cooks.

All ready to be baked!

10) Place baking tray into oven, and cook for 25-30 minutes or until the skin is golden brown. If you have a meat thermometer, check to see that the internal temperature has reached 62 degrees celcius.

Baked till golden brown

11) Remove from the oven and allow it to rest for 15 minutes.

12) For the chutney : Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for five minutes until softened and translucent. Add garlic and rosemary, and cook for two minutes.

13) Deglaze the pan with white wine then add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a rapid simmer and cook until the mixture is reduced to about two cups and a chutney-like consistency. Remove from heat, and place into a bowl to cool. Season to taste with salt.

14) To serve : Slice the chicken money bags and serve on the tomato chutney. Enjoy! (:

chicken money bag sliced

Enjoy the coming weekend everyone! (: Hope this has inspired you to cook something special for your loved ones this weekend! Remember to always cook and bake with love!

Till the next post, xx

Oven-fried Chicken

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Fried chicken. How could you not like fried chicken? I would happily chow down two without much thought! haha But what could be better than fried chicken? Oven-fried chicken of course! Anything to make it feel a little less sinful than the oil-fried version. Just so you could enjoy it guilt-free. Definitely a win-win, if you ask me! (:

I chanced upon this recipe on Everyday Maven, and was coincidentally craving for something fried. It’s really quick and easy as well! Even though it’s baked, the chicken is so crunchy with every bite! The mr and I are addicted to it! We had it twice in a week. Definitely gonna make this for my family at the end of the year.

The chicken pieces were coated with crushed melba toast. I have to admit, I’ve heard of melba toast a number of times, but never really tried it or used it to cook. These were mini toasts that were baked and they were really amazing! Unlike normal bread crumbs, these ensures that the coating remains crunchy and not get soggy even after being baked. Would definitely not hesitate to use melba toast in the future! hehe

And what goes well with fried chicken? A side of kipfler and broccolini salad of course! Of course if you want to keep to the healthy-theme, you could always have it with a side of salad. Your tummies will still be satisfied. (: So I urge you to give this a try, you will never need to feel bad about have fried chicken ever again! hehe

Oven-fried Chicken (adapted from Everyday Maven)

800g chicken pieces (skin removed)

1 box of Melba toast (5-ounce/142g), crushed

1/2 tsp garlic salt

3/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 tsp hot paprika

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 cup kewpie mayonnaise

1 tbs Dijon mustard

Steps :

1) Place the melba toasts in a zip lock bag. Using a rolling pin, crush them till they are relatively fine, leaving some little pebbles for texture and maximum crunchiness. You could also place them in a food processor, but be careful not too completely pulverize them.

2) Add the garlic salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika and dried oregano into the zip lock bag and give it a good shake. Pour the seasoned crumbs into a plate.

3) In a separate bowl, mix the kewpie with the dijon mustard and mix till well combined.

4) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius. Coat each piece of chicken with the mayo mixture (just enough to lightly coat) and roll it in the melba toast crumbs. Make sure the chicken pieces are covered well and evenly.

5) Place the chicken pieces on a cooking rack and place in the oven to bake for 40 minutes.

Enjoy it with a side of your choice! (: Don’t worry, I didn’t only have one piece. hehe I couldn’t resist another (or two)! Have a great weekend everyone!

Remember to always cook and bake with love!

Pho Hung Vuong Saigon Springvale

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Winter just means one thing. Soup. and lots of it, just to keep out tummies warm and fuzzy! One thing we do love is a good pho. Before we moved, we used to always head to Footscray to have a nice big bowl (well small for me) of pho because it’s just around the corner. Now, thankfully Springvale is a 10 minutes drive away! Phew!

 I have to admit, we haven’t had the chance to explore the different shops in Springvale. Not as much as I would like to! You know sometimes when you’re nearer to a particular suburb, you tend to not explore it as much? Sadly, we kinda took the distance for granted. It is currently just a place I go to do my grocery shopping. We had to extend out (food) knowledge and we decided to head there last weekend with a mission : to find a place that sells pho as good as the one back at Footscray (Hung Vuong Saigon)! To my surprise, I actually found a Pho Hung Vuong Saigon here at Springvale as well! So of course we decided to give it a go.

Pho Hung Vuong Saigon Springvale

Address : Shop 2/15 Balmoral Avenue, Springvale Vic 3171

Telephone : 03 95585147

It was really packed though it was about 3pm in the afternoon. But the wait staff were really friendly and asked us politely to wait for just a few minutes before we could get a table. So we were more than willing to wait. In less than 10 minutes, our tables were ready for us! Talk about quick!

We sat down, and were asked almost immediately for our orders! I was a little shocked, but I think cause they have been around for 20 years, they reckon we have been there before and would know what we wanted! They had menus on their walls, but were either in mandarin or in vietnamese so we had no clue what they had! haha I shyly asked the wait staff if they had an english menu and he quickly got us some. Thank goodness! Their menu is slightly different from the one at Footscray. They specialise with pho. There wasn’t anything else on the menu. Short and sweet, it was. So we made our decisions and waited for our bowl of hot deliciousness to arrive.

I had the beef and beef brisket pho, as I always do. Love the thin and raw slices of beef that would just cook instantly when pushed into the hot soup! The first thing I always do is to take a spoonful of soup and slurp it! haha Sorry I know it sounds rude, but the soup is a crucial component of a good pho! It. was. incredible! The soup was clear and super tasty! Absolutely made my cold afternoon! I just wanted more after each mouthful. Plus, they were super generous with the beef and brisket! Both of which were so tender! Was a clear winner to me. I’ve found my new favourite place for pho! HAPPY!

The mr ordered the chicken special which had a whole load of chicken breast fillets, chicken sausage, chicken blood, giblets and a  pasteurized egg yolk. Now, that a lot of ingredients! And how clear is that bowl of soup? I had a taste of his soup and it was really tasty as well though it more delicate and sweet when compared to the beef one. The mr did enjoy it quite a bit! We did wish that they had the fried spring rolls though! Wanted some crunch! hehe

We left the place super stuffed and satisfied! Definitely heading back there, knowing that my craving for pho will be satisfied for sure! (: Where have you had the best pho? Do share! Have a good week ahead everyone!

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Spicy Chicken Bulgogi

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It’s winter and I don’t know about you, but I always crave for something spicy or soupy during this time of the year. I have to admit. Winter is my least favourite season of the year. Gloomy, wet and freezing! All I want to do is hide under my blankets and hibernate! Definitely can’t wait till it is over. But for now, winter warmers are a must!

If you’ve been reading my blog (and thank you for you constant support!), you know that I’ve been obsessing about the korean cuisine. When I do go to a korean restaurant, I would find myself looking at either the hotpot or hotplate page of the menu and I would end up ordering bulgogi. A hot favourite is beef bulgogi of course. But I also enjoy the spicy version of bulgogi. Don’t you? I’ve had really good spicy chicken hot plate at 7&7 in Carnegie and tonight, I was just craving for some! So I decided to make it for dinner!

Matched with a variety of mixed vegetables – it’s my version of a perfect and balanced meal. You have your carbs, protein and fiber all in one dish. Plus the heat from the dish just brings comfort to our tummies. Definitely a win-win! Have to thank Bee from Rasa Malaysia for her recipe for bulgogi. It’s delicious! (: Thank you for helping me satisfy a craving!

 Spicy Chicken Bulgogi (Adapted from Rasa Malaysia)

Ingredients : 

2 skinless chicken thighs, cut into strips

1/2 leek, thinly sliced

1/2 carrot, thinkly sliced

1/4 chinese cabbage, cut into strips

100g enoki mushrooms

4-5 spring onion, cut into large pieces

2 tbs olive oil

2 tbs water

ground white pepper to season

For the marinade : 

3 tbs Korean red chilli pepper paste (gochujang)*

1 tbs Korean red chilli pepper powder (gochugaru)*

2 tbs light soy sauce

2 tbs mirin

1 tbs sugar

1 tbs sesame oil

1 tbs mince garlic

1 tbs grated ginger

pinch of ground black pepper

Steps : 

1) Mix all the ingredients in the marinade and add the chicken strips. Mix well and allow the chicken to marinade for at least 30 mins to an hour.

2) Heat a deep frying pan on medium-high heat and add 1 tbs of olive oil. Add the leek and carrot and fry till soft. Add the cabbage and enoki mushrooms and fry until the vegetable is cooked. Season with ground white pepper. Place in the serving bowl and set aside.

3) Add the other tablespoon of olive oil into the pan and fry the chicken till cooked. Add water and all0w the chicken to simmer for 5-10 mins. Add the spring onion and fry for another 3 mins.

4) Serve the chicken on top of the vegetables. Have it with korean rice and ENJOY! (:

Definitely spicy enough to warm up our tummies tonight. The Mr was very happy (: This recipe is a keeper and perfect winter warmer. Do give it a try and let me know what you think!

So dear readers, what do you order when you’re at a korean restaurant? Would love to know!

* Note : You can get the red chilli pepper paste and powder from most asian supermarkets. I got mine from KFL at Springvale. If you have a korean supermarket near you, ever better! (: 

Nandos : Pre-opening Singapore

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Nandos
Bugis Junction
(Malay Street)
200 Victoria Street
#01-85 Bugis Junction

Thanks to Twitter I got a chance to enter the competition of winning pre-opening tickets for Nandos!

YES! Nandos has arrived in Singapore, at long last! (: And boy was it good!

Although there are only limited things we can order. but everything was freee! hehe (: What we were given were Nandos dollars, hehe so cute! 300 dollars to be exact.

So, almost immediately upon arrival, we were greeted by an enthusiastic bunch of people and were shown to our seats. It was a little different from the Nandos in Melbourne, as it’s not self-service. Rather we were served. They gave us a brief but clear explanation as to how the night was going to be and which are the dishes we could order.

As a starter, we were recommended to order the the peri soup and I was so glad you took that recommendation. It was really quite good! (:

and the food came very quickly too!

the happy faces (:

I had an extra ticket (I was given a table of 4) I asked Stephie to join us! (:

out chicken! (: hehe We ordered the HOT! we kinda felt that it’s actually spicier in Singapore as compared to the one we had in Melbourne. (: to suit the taste buds in Asia i suppose? it’s good! not complaining at ALL!

our sides! (: we were given a choice of 2 sides each! The must have that we all ordered as one of our sides was the peri peri chips. Then we ordered a different second side each.

I had the peri corn, steph had the peri potato salad, dad had the rice and mum had the coleslaw.

We all really enjoyed ourselves! (: Everyone who misses Nandos should really go give it a try! You won’t regret it!

Gnocchi : Made From Scratch

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Gnocchi. Little pillowy potato magic that when made and cooked properly would make you smile, and make your tummy very happy. (: Baby and I recently watched Masterchef Australia and saw Matt Moran’s dish of Gnocchi with burnt butter and sage and just couldn’t stop thinking about it. So we had to make it, and we had to make it for lunch today. hehe

Being ANZAC Day today, it was really difficult to get the ingredients we needed cause the supermarkets don’t open until 1pm. So we had to go to all the small marts to gather the ingredients and already that took a long while! There was a lot of prep work, and by the time we got lunch ready, it was already 230! But I think all the effort preparing the gnocchi was worth it! It was pretty yummy! hehe though we haven’t really had gnocchi at restaurants before, so there wasn’t a benchmark to compare it with! hehe But for a first attempt, it was pretty superbly yummy! hehe

so instead of the quail that Matt Moran had with his gnocchi, I made Nando’s roast chicken! (: It went pretty well! hehe although I’m very sure the quail would be better. But we had to substitute since we couldn’t get hold of the quail, plus, one quail would not be enough protein for the boys. haha

Here is the recipe adapted from Masterchef Australia, though to be honest, I made the gnocchi with “feel”. Didn’t follow the measurements, but use it as a guideline anyways! hehe (: ENJOY!

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Prawn Paste Chicken Drumlets

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after my last paper.
I just wanted to cook something nice
so I went to BoxHill and walked around waiting for inspiration to hit me
haha. so….
I saw drumlets and they were going cheap!
and then it hit me that I really miss having some prawn paste chicken

Prawn paste chicken is something I always had at the zhi char back home
haha so it was quick and easy decision.
I went to get a bottle of prawn paste and scooted home!

and it turned out quite well!
and boy was it yummy hehe
and trust me. after not sleeping enough
this was so easy to make
you could do it in a jiff and have dinner served before you know it!

so here’s the recipe (:
Hope you guys would enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients :

15 drumlets
1 tablespoon of prawn paste
1 tablespoon of chinese cooking wine
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoon corn flour
Pepper

Oil for deep frying

Steps :

1. Marinade the drumlets with all the other ingredients for at least ah hour.

2. Heat the oil in a deep dish on medium heat.

Tip : To make sure the oil is hot enough, dip the tip of a chopstick
and when you see bubbles, the oil is ready for deep frying.

3. Deep fry the drumlets till there are golden brown.
Do make sure the oil is not too hot, or else it will brown before it’s cooked!

We had some mince pork in the fridge.
so we rolled them into balls
and coated them with the prawn paste liquid left over from the drumlets
and fried them as well
and they were absolutely divine! (:

ENJOY!