Tag: home-cooked food

sticky baked chicken drumsticks

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recently.
Baby was asked to cook for Jacky and his crew
as he was going to use our living room for his film! hehe
and it was the first time we got to see Jacky in action! haha
he was the director. it was really quite cool (:

so anyways.
baby decided to cook something he thinks everyone would enjoy
and was quick to whip up so that they won’t go all hungry hehe


haha how cute are the chicken drumsticks?
it’s the only way we could fit all 35 of them (:

so here’s the recipe!
hope you guys would enjoy it!

sticky baked chicken drumsticks

(Adapted from Healthy Appetites by Gordan Ramsay)
Serves 5

olive oil
10 chicken drumsticks
salt and black pepper

Glaze :

6 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoon fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce
juice of 1 1/2 lemons
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil

Steps :

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Lightly oil a large baking dish.
Season the drumsticks with salt and pepper and arrange in the dish in a single layer

2. Drizzle over a little olive oil and use small pieces of aluminium foil to wrap around the ends.
Bake in the hot oven for 20 mins.

3. Prepare the glaze in the meantime.
Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl until evenly combined.

4. Take the chicken out of the oven and pour over the glaze to coat each drumstick.
Return to the oven and bake for another 20-30mins
turning several times until the chicken is tender and nicely glazed

5. Let the chicken rest for a few minutes before serving.

Tip : We served with bread rolls, garlic mash and some cucumber raita.
it balances the sweetness in the chicken dish!
and the sauce of the chicken was really good to go with the roll!

can u see all three of us?
it looks like Cheok is eating Lester’s head! hahaha (:
well. we are being nice hosts when we allowed the crew to have their dinner
and waited till the shoot was over before we tugged in.
little did we know the shoot would last till 10pm haha.
but was still quite fun!

Bak Chor Mee (Mince Meat Noodles)

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this is a dish we always cook for a meal
cause it’s easy, quick and it’s super yums! (:
if you like the sourish taste of vinegar
with the punch from the chilli oil.
and the saltiness from the fried mince meat.
this is the dish for you!
it sure is ours. haha. baby was very happy tonight!

it has many different steps to it.
and yes, preparation takes a while.
but when you are cooking it.
you can get it on the table very quick! (:
so here’s the recipe and I do hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients :
(for 2-3 persons)

Fried Mince Meat :

250g mince pork
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of thick dark soy sauce (those you use for chicken rice!)
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
6/7 pieces of button mushroom (from the can), sliced thinly

Stewed Mushroom :

6 dried chinese mushroom
1 tsp olive oil
sliced ginger
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
hot water

Noodles :

100g rice noodles (or more, depends on how much you eat)
bean sprouts
6 fishballs
10 slices of fish cake
spring onion, chopped (optional)
1/2 tablespoon chilli oil
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tablespoon black vinegar
A splash of fish sauce
Fried Shallots

Steps :

Fried Mince Meat

1. Heat the pan with the tablespoon of olive oil. Add the garlic and fry till it just turns a slight tinge of brown.
Add the mince meat and fry till cooked. Remember to break it up to small pieces.
Add the different sauces and fry, on medium-low heat, till all the liquid reduces.
Stirring occasionally. Add the button mushroom till it’s incorporated.

2. You can cook this in advance, and pop it into the microwave to heat it up just before serving

Stewed Mushroom

1. Pour hot water over the dried chinese mushrooms and soak for 15 mins.
Do not throw the water left after you take the mushrooms out.
Squeeze out the water of each mushroom, and cut it into relatively thin slices.

2. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a heavy-based pan. Add the slices ginger and fry till tender.
Add the mushrooms and fry till fragrant.
Add the oyster sauce and a few tablespoons of water (from the mushrooms)
cook under medium-low heat and allow the mushrooms to absorb the liquid (plumping it up in the process)

3. Keep adding water (at least 2 more additions) and allow it to cook over low heat for at least 30mins.
so that it’s soft and tender. and bursting with flavour!

Noodles :

1. In a large bowl, put the chilli oil, oyster sauce, vinegar and fish sauce and mix till incorporated.

2. Boil the rice noodles according to the instructions on the packet
(Normally, I put the noodles in hot boiling water and scoop it up almost immediately
or else it will get too soft and will break into small pieces easily)

3. In another pot, boil the fishballs, fish cakes and bean sprout till they are cooked (takes about 5-8mins)

Plating it up :

1. Once the rice noodles are done, pour it into the bowl and mix it well with the sauces.
To make sure each strand is coated well with the sauces.
Place the fishballs, fish cakes and bean sprout on the noodles.

2. Put a few pieces of the stewed mushroom in the bowl and top everything up with the mince meat.
Sprinkle with fried shallots and spring onion.

ENJOY!!!!! (:

Hainanese Chicken Rice

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It’s Friday Night!
and Fridays always mean good food and good company (:
loads of laughter. bad movies on tv. haha
So this week. we decided to cook Hainanese Chicken Rice!
Cause it’s been so long since we got to taste it.
and thanks to ieatishootipost for posting up the recipe!
so we could have it all the way down under!

it was SOOOO good!
and I bought like a super HUGE chicken (2.5kg) haha.
cause I thought Jacky was joining us.
so we ended up having heaps of leftovers.
for lunch and dinner the next day!

so here’s the recipe!
I’ve edited a bit cause there are things we couldn’t get
but it was still YUMMY!
Hope you guys will enjoy it as much as we did!

Five Star Boss’s Homestyle Kampong Chicken Rice Recipe

Chicken :

1 whole Kampong chicken (I couldnt get Kampong chicken, so I just got free range)
70ml sesame oil
60ml light soy sauce
Pandan leaves
60ml concentrated chicken stock (I used stock cubes)
Sliced ginger
5 cloves chopped garlic
Chicken bones (I didn’t have this)

Rice :

Cooking Oil (I left this out cause already had chicken fat!)
Chicken fat
Salt
Shallot oil (I put fried shallots instead)
Pandan leaves

Chilli :

4 heaps tablespoons of Lee Kum Kee garlic chilli sauce
2 tablespoons Soup Restaurant’s Ginger paste
chicken broth

Steps :

For the chicken, bring a pot of water to boil,
making sure that there is enough water so that the entire chicken can be submerged.
Once the water is boiling, put all the ingredients listed above into the boiling water.
Next, dip the chicken into the boiling water and dip it a few times until the skin is cooked.
Once the skin is cooked, leave the chicken under the water to cook.
This is to ensure that the skin does not break.

The cooking time is about 30 minutes for a 1.5kg chicken (So we cooked our 2.5kg chicken for 50mins).
Ensure that the water be kept just below the boiling point during the entire cooking process.


(the chicken was too huge to fit into our other only pot available! haha)

Once chicken is cooked, put the chicken immediately into cool water for a few minutes.
This will stop the cooking process and ensure that the meat will remain tender and the skin crunchy.

To cook the rice, combine the concentrated chicken stock
and the other ingredients listed above with enough water from the chicken broth to cover the rice.
The water level should be as per the normal levels for cooking white rice.
Cook the rice as per the normal method.

To prepare the chilli,
mix the ingredients listed above and put enough to the consistency you like.
You can add a squeeze of lime if you want.
I preferred mine without (:

Cut the chicken up into pieces.
and this is when you need a strong man to do it. haha
that’s my boy (:

the chicken was HUGE!
but it was cooked perfectly.
succulent and juicy!

so first you get the drumsticks and the wings out before you tackle the chicken breast!

just before you serve,
cut abit of spring onion and prepare the sauce to pour over the chicken

the sauce (optional but highly recommend) :

3 tablespoons of light soy sauce
2 splashes of maggi sauce
chicken stock

Just mix them altogether and pour it over the chicken.
REALLY good (:

YUMS! (:
oh yes. we boiled some chicken inerts in the stock which we cooked the chicken as well.
cause we are big fans!
and what is having chicken rice without the inerts? hehe

ENJOY everyone!

Pork Adobo

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when i first came over the Melbourne.
this was one of the few dishes from the Philippines Emily taught me to cook
and it’s a dish baby really enjoys!
As we seldom buy pork belly cause it’s more expensive than chicken breast. haha
I decided to get some today from Box Hill
and cook this dish for him! (:

it’s pretty simple and could be whipped up very quickly.
But I encourage you to let it cook over low heat for at least an hour
so that the meat gets tender and soft!
Have this with a side of veg and rice and your dinner is good to go!

so here’s the recipe.
Hope u all will enjoy it as much as we do!

Ingredients :

350g belly of pork, cut into cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, skin on (you can add more if you are a big fan of garlic)
3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoon mushroom flavoured dark soy sauce (or just normal dark soy sauce)
Pepper

Steps :

1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy based pan and add the cloves of garlic and allow it to brown

2. Add the pieces of pork and fry till they are slightly coloured on high heat.

3. Add the apple cider vinegar and dark soy sauce and allow it to come up to a boil.
Cover the pot and lower the fire to medium heat.

4. Cook for 10mins giving it a stir and lower the fire to the smallest.
Allow it to cook for at least 30mins before serving.

But I highly recommend you to allow it to cook for 1 hour to have the melt-in-the-mouth texture (:
Just make sure you check on it every 15 mins and give it a good stir to make sure it doesn’t dry up.
If it does, don’t panic! Just add a tablespoon of water and you will be fine!


After cooking on medium heat for 10 mins


After 35 mins


after an hour. It has the nice dark coloured and the meat is melt-in-your-mouth! (:

5. Pork Adobo. DONE!

ENJOY! (:

Pork Belly on Foodista

Three Cups Chicken (三杯鸡)

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Was surfing the web for inspiration for dinner tonight
and came across this on Rasa Malaysia
and boy do they have heaps of asian recipes!
and I came across the three cups chicken recipe.
and it reminded me of all the laughters we had in Taiwan with Haolin
with all their translations. haha
and this is really what it is called in english! haha
ah wells.

anyway. this was a big hit!
Baby loved it.
and the chicken breast was SO tender.
but the texture was like pork, according to baby
probably because of the baking soda.
and it tasted like pork. just with less fat! haha
so we found the cheaper alternative to lean pork!

so here’s the recipe!
hope u guys will enjoy it more than we do!



Ingredients :

1 lb. chicken (I used chicken breast)
6 slices peeled ginger (I used ginger paste)
6 cloves garlic (skin peeled)
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil (I used normal sesame oil)
1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
1 1/2 tablespoon dark sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis)
A big bunch of Thai basil leaves (I didn’t have this in the fridge so I just threw in two big handfuls of spinach)
1 tablespoon baking soda (to tenderize the chicken, optional)

I brought this over from Singapore. hehe
it’s super yummy!
and cause I didnt have fresh ginger.
I decided to use this instead (:



Steps :

1. Marinate the chicken with baking soda.
Set aside for 10 minutes before rinsing the chicken off with water.
Make sure the baking soda is completely rinsed off.
Cut the chicken breast into large chunks.
Pat dry the chicken pieces and set aside.

2. Heat up a claypot on high heat and add the sesame oil.
Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry until aromatic.

3. Add in chicken and do a few quick stirs.
Add soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and continue to stir-fry the chicken.
Cover the chicken and lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Add the spinach leaves and stir well with the chicken, cover to cook for 10-15mins.
Serve immediately with rice.

5. Three cups chicken. DONE! (:
Quick and easy!

YUMMILICIOUS! (:

Cheese Stuffed Chicken Wrapped In Bacon with Quinoa

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It’s the start of a new week
and I decided to cook something good to get rid of any Monday Blues. haha
Well. it worked. For me at least.
Cause cooking has always been therapeutic to me. (:
and I love it.
Gives me a chance to take a break in the midst of doing my case report that’s due on Thursday. haha
I’m half way there. and I will get there.
so anyways. back to the food!

Baby and I were watching some body builder’s wife’s cooking show sorta. haha
and she cooked quinoa.
knowing we had some lying in the drawer.
I decided to make it for dinner.
Just with a bit more taste. haha

so here’s the recipe! (:
Hope you all will enjoy it as much as we did!
it was YUMS!

cut it into half and the cheese would be oozing out! (:
baby sure enjoyed it. I’m sure you and your loved ones would too!

Ingredients :

Cheese stuffed chicken breast wrapped in bacon

2 chicken breasts
5 slices of bacon
10g garlic herb cream cheese (I used Boursin, and it’s so good)
15g creamy blue cheese

Quinoa

100g quinoa (far too much for the 2 of us haha)
300ml hot water
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 medium prawns, peeled, deveined and cut into small pieces
6 button mushrooms, sliced
handful of spinach leaves

Steps :

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius.
Place the quinoa in a sieve and wash it under cold water.
Transfer it into a pot and pour 300ml of hot water bringing it up to a boil
and lower the fire and boil for 15mins or until all the water is absorbed.
Put it to one side.

2. Slice the chicken breast in the middle to make a pocket.
Cream the garlic herb cheese and blue cheese together.
Stuff half of the mixture into the chicken breast.

3. Place the slices of bacon on the board and place the stuffed chicken over it.
Wrap it to cover the whole chicken breast.
Use a toothpick to hold it all together.

4. Heat the cast iron pan till it’s hot.
Place the bacon-wrapped chicken into the pan and cook it on that side for 4 mins.
Turn it onto the other side and put it into the oven and cook it for 10mins.
Take it out of the oven and leave it to rest while preparing the quinoa.

5. Heat a frying pan and heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil. Fry the onion and garlic till it’s soft.
Add the prawn and mushroom and fry till the mushrooms get soft.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add a handful of spinach and fry till the spinach leaves get soft and tender.

6. Take the pan off the heat.
Pour the cooked quinoa into the pan with the mushrooms and mix till incorporated.

7. Plating : Put the chicken on the plate and scoop a couple of big spoonfuls onto the plate.
Serve with a salad if you want more greens!

ENJOY! (:

Olive Rice with Cashews

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since baby and I were both home for lunch today
and we wanted something quick and simple
cos I had assignments to do
and baby had an online lesson plus studying for his mid sem test.
so i decided to wipe up a simple dish!

Olive Rice with Cashews and a side of Fried Egg with Prawns

I brought a few bottles of preserved olive vegetable
cause I wasn’t sure if you could get it from the Asian Supermarkets here.
they should! so just try looking for it. (:

There was a request from my nut that I put up easy chinese food recipes.
and I thought it wouldn’t be that bad an idea.
though some ingredients are added not using any measurements.
but in chinese cooking.
you add the sauce according to the taste u prefer!
so hey! (:
it’s free-lance cooking
if you would like to call it that. haha

so here is the recipe! ENJOY!

Ingredients :

Olive Rice with Cashews

1 cup of rice (brown or jasmine)
200g pork mince
2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tablespoon chinese cooking wine
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
pepper
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
3 tablespoon of preserved oilve vegetables (the bottle above)
a handful of cashews, lightly roasted

Fried egg with Prawns

3 eggs
6 medium to large prawns, peeled and devein and cut into small pieces
1 tsp sesame oil.
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
pepper


Steps :

1. Marinate the mince pork with oyster sauce, light soy sauce, pepper, chinese cooking wine and sesame oil.
Cook a cup of rice (according to instructions)

2. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and fry the garlic till it is about to turn golden.
Fry the marinated mince till it’s brown.
Add the preserved olive vegetables and stir-fry till it coats the mince relatively well.
Add the dark soy sauce and fry till it is almost dry.

3. When the rice is almost done,
pour the olive and meat mixture into the rice pot.
Give it a good stir and cover the lid, allowing the rice to cook further.

4. In another frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and fry the prawn till cooked (3-4 mins).
Add the fish sauce and fry a little longer.

5. Crack the 3 eggs into a bowl and add the light soy sauce and sesame oil.
Beat well and make sure everything is incorporated.

6. Add the egg and allow it to fry on one side like an omelette till the underside is brown.
Turn it and using a spetula, break the egg up into small pieces.
Fry for another 5 mins on medium heat.
Set to one side.

7. Serve the olive rice with roasted cashews and the fried egg. DONE! (:

Spring Bay Mussels with white wine and cream

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we bought mussles from the event and it was so cheap and fresh!
$6 for a kilo! (:
it’s half price compared to the price they sell in the markets
so we bought 1kg and decided to try one of the recipes they displayed on the counter
and it was SO GOOD!
baby really enjoyed it. and he regretted not getting 2kg of mussels. haha
next time!

so here’s the recipe
cause it’s really simple and you will be able to have a meal on the table in less than 10mins!
so give it a shot if you are a big fan of shellfish

Ingredients :

1kg packet Spring Bay Mussels
15g unsalted butter
1/2 red onion, very finely diced
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped (I used 2! cos we love garlic)
freshly ground pepper
a sprig of thyme
a bay leaf
100ml white wine
150ml thickened cream

Method :

1. Heat a large heavy based pot with a tight fitting lid over a low heat.
Add the butter, when it’s melted add the onion, garlic and some freshly ground pepper.
Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the onions are clear and soft.

2. Increase the heat to high, add the thyme, bay leaf, cream and wine
and cook for 3-4minutes or until the liquid has reduced by 1/3 in volume.
Open the packet of mussels and pour into a colander then give them a light rinse.

3. Pour the mussels into the boiling wine mixture, give them a stir and then quickly put on the lid.
Cook for 3 minutes or until the mussels open.

3. Mussels with white wine and cream. DONE! (:

and you know what goes best with this?

garlic bread of course! hehe
soak up all the super yummy juices of the mussels and the sauce!
B-E-A-UTIFUL! haha (:
love it!

plump and juicy mussels.
mmmm. (:
im a happy girl!

Enjoy everyone!

Unagi Fried Rice

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it’s now a new favourite in the house.
ever since I got hooked onto Unagi
and fell in love with the unagi fried rice at En Dining when I went back recently.
Baby and I have been trying to cook it
and hoping it will be close to what we had.
we came close.
but still not as good. haha (:
well practice makes perfect! so practice we shall!

but for now..
this is how it turned out!

so I know it may look like nothing fantastic.
but trust me. You will love it. haha
for real! (:
it’s awesome and very addictive.
thank God today is carbs day haha
wheeee!

here is the recipe for the rice!

Ingredients :

1 1/2 cups of cooked rice (allow it to cool for about 2 hrs)
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 pieces of garlic, chopped finely
1 egg
10g butter
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs Mirin
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs dark sauce
1 packet of Unagi (baked according to instructions behind the packet)



Steps :

1. Heat the oil and butter in the pan and fry the onion and garlic till the garlic just turns light brown.

2. Pour in the rice and fry till they are coated with the oil and add the 4 different sauces.
Please note that you can vary the amount of sauces to your liking. (:

3. Cut up the unagi after taking it out of the oven, and gently put it into the pan.
Fold the rice and unagi together, careful not to mash the fish up.

4. Crack and egg and fry till it coats the rice.

5. Unagi fried rice. DONE! (:

Simple pleasures in life.
AWESOME!

Wasabi Prawns

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Had this dish at Barstop on my recent trip home.
and have been wanting to make it for quite some time
found the recipe online and I’m quite happy with how it turned out!
and since we were having potluck tonight.
I decided to try making it! (seriously daring haha)
and was really relieved to hear that Peggy likes Wasabi prawns! haha
so made a good switch from Pork Adobo to Wasabi Prawns tonight (:

well. the wasabi taste is kept to the minimal.
but u can always add more if u wan more kick to it
so enjoy! (:
hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Recipe from Tung Lok Group’s cookbook, New Chinese Cuisine

Ingredients :

18 prawns, shelled & deveined (use the freshest, biggest prawns you can find.)
1 egg white
vegetable oil for deep frying
6tbsp cornflour
180ml mayonnaise
2 tbsp condensed milk (I didn’t put this)
2 tsp wasabi powder (can put more if you want more wasabi kick)
dash of lemon juice
sesame and seawood seasoning (for garnishing)

Steps :

1. Dip the prawns in egg white, then coat evenly with cornflour.

2. Deep fry the prawns in 180C (356F) for about 3 minutes, until prawns turn crispy.

3. In a separate dish, combine the mayonnaise, condensed milk, wasabi powder and lemon juice.

4. Toss the deep-fried prawns with the wasabi mayo until evenly coated.

5. Garnish with sesame and seaweed seasoning.

ENJOY! (: