The Perfect Roast Chicken

As far as I know, everyone has a Perfect Roast Chicken recipe, as I think everyone should. It's a thing that we can work towards perfection through our lives (amongst other things of course). For me, at the moment the Perfect Roast Chicken comes about like this:

Ingredients:
1-1.5 kg whole chicken.
Half a slab of salted butter
Parma Ham or bacon, chopped
Basil leaves, chopped finely
1 lemon
Rosemary stalks,2 whole
Fresh Ground Pepper

Mix butter, ham/bacon/ and basil leaves. Scrape in the zest of the lemon. Cut the rest of the lemon into slices and set aside.

Very carefully, using two fingers, separately the skin of the chicken from the flesh as much as you can. It will feel weird at first and does look quite strange when you have guests watching, but it's absolutely essential to transforming an ordinary chicken to perfection. Make one or two deep cuts into the thighs (this ensures that the thighs will be "overcooked" which is when they taste best).

Taking small lumps of the herbed butter mixture at a time, stuff them between the skin and the flesh of the chicken, and massage to spread it out as evenly as you can throughout the chicken. Put some of the mixture into the thigh slits too. Stuff the rosemary stalks and the slices of lemon into the crevice of the chicken. If you have a poultry lacer you can use it to close the cavities, but if not, hemp string would do. But then I can never find those when I need them anyway - and the chicken does fine usually

Preheat the oven to 210 C. Put in the chicken and roast for an hour turning it once in between. In the last half hour, you can throw in small new pototates and chopped onions on the baking tray to make a complete meal.

I had an almost magical experience when I indulged in a French Yellow Skin Chicken once in Hong Kong. It really was most succulent and the recipe was a roaring success even though it was my first attempt. I never repeated it again because those foreign chicks were incredibly expensive. I have used U.S. chicken, Brazillian chicken and Danish ones too. They all work really well, but never quite the same way as that French poulet. Back in Singapore, I guess because we are all more paranoid, foreign chicks are seldom found here. The regular ones in our supermarkets work too, but don't use a kampong chicken. It's great for Hainanese chicken rice but too skinny for angmoh recipes, lah.















Next chicken challenge: The Perfect Roast Chicken with Two Lemons

Mommy's Cod

Went home for lunch on Vesak Day and spent a rather nice morning yakking with mom about her new recipes. Told her that I was having the DVD Gang over in the evening and she suggested the following brilliant cod recipe which she thought up.

Black Teriyaki Cod with Sundried Tomatoes and Olives

2 pieces of black cod
3 tbsp of teriyaki sauce
1 clove chopped garlic
1 tbsp red chilli shreds
1 small lime
4 shredded pieces of sun-dried tomatoes
1 tbsp oliveoil from sun-dried tomatoes jar
2 tbsp chopped black olives
1 tbsp chopped cilantro


In a large pan, heat up 2 tbsp of oil. Cook cod under medium heat for 3 minutes each side. Set aside to cool slightly.

To prepare the sauce:

In a small bowl, mix teriyaki sauce, garlic, olive oil and squeeze in lime.
Heat in microwave for 3 minutes.

Place shredded sun-dried tomatoes and chopped olives on cooked cod. Pour hot teriyaki mixture over and serve with pilav and blanched baby asparagus.

Not sure why, but I kept thinking of the following mnemonic when I was trying the recipe yesterday.

My - Mercury
Very - Venus
Educated - Earth
Mother - Mars
Just - Jupiter
Served - Saturn
Us - Uranus
Nine - Neptune
Pies - Pluto

She served us so much more than that. Thanks Mom! Happy Mother's Day. :)

My Kitchens

Since you asked how small exactly was the hobbit kitchen I cooked in for 6 years in Hong Kong.



















It was er...ergonomic.

Now, things are a little better. :)

The Really Fat-Free Potato Salad

It was Yellowstonehusky who made The First Really Fat Free Potato Salad at a New Year's Eve gathering in 2004. We loved it, and were impressed by how good it tasted despite the "fat-free" part. I had always meant to ask him for the recipe but never got round to it. When the occasion came for me to make a potato salad for some friends, it took some mental reverse engineering and research on the internet to come up with this version. I don't think it tastes exactly the same as the very good one Yellowstonehusky made, but it was very interesting to erm...study the potato- salad- making business and realize that (i) potatoes, especially more flavorful ones like red-skinned potatoes, have their own creamy texture which makes it unnecessary to put in much fat-ful stuff like mayonnaise, (ii) other strong flavours like mustards and vinegar and herbs can make the dish interesting; and (iii) German potato salads never contain mayonnaise (ok, random fact).

Ingredients

8 new red potatoes
2 hard boiled eggs chopped (remove and mash the yolk to add creaminess to the dressing)
3 Tbls. dried parsley flakes
2 Tbls. grated onion
2 Tbls. Dijon mustard
2 Tbls. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. dill tips
1/2 tsp. black pepper
paprika - for garnish

-Boil potatoes in water until tender when tested with a fork.
-While potatoes cook, beat together all remaining ingredients; set aside.
-Drain boiled potatoes, place in a large bowl, and allow to cool slightly.
-Slowly pour prepared mixture over cooled potatoes and stir to coat.
-Sprinkle with a little paprika, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

Turkish Pilav

No dairy, no pork, no lamb, no wheat. Those were the instructions for the Sedar (Passover) Supper that the Bookclubbers simulated on Maundy Thursday just past. After looking through some internet recipes for Kosher/Egyptian/Middle Eastern dishes, I decided to try something from the Turkish cookbook that I bought 3 years ago in Istanbul. It turned out to be a great hearty rice dish that I think I will be cooking quite frequently for dinner gatherings.

One thing though, whatever you do, don't use organic brown rice like I did. Even after 1 hour of soaking, 20 minutes of nuking in the microwave, 40 minutes of browning in the skillet, the rice was still a little too al dente (eventually if you simmer it for like 2 hours, it does become soft!)

Ingredients

2 cups of rice (I shall try long grain basmatic next time, or actual pilav)
3 cups of the chicken stock
2 tblsp of olive oil (or margarine if you are not cooking for Passover!)
1 medium size onion
1 can of diced tomatoes
4 pieces of chicken liver (or more! I found out that 20 of them costs only $1.30!)
2 tblsp of pine nuts
2 tblsp of currants
A dash of dill tips
2 tsp of salt
3 tblsp of sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon powder
1 tsp of marjoram
A dash of freshly ground black pepper

- Cover the rice with salted lukewarm water. Leave for 20 minutes. Wash several times and drain.
- Heat the olive oil in a deep large saucepan. Add cleaned and diced liver and saute lightly. Set aside.
- In the same pan, brown chopped onion and pine nuts. Add half cooked rice (I nuked them for a bit first) and brown on high heat fo 10 minutes.
- Add salt, pepper, sugar, currants, diced tomato and chicken stock. Mix well
- Cover and cook first on medium heat, later on low heat for 15 minutes, until water is absorbed.
- Add the various spices and simmer under cover on very low heat for 20 minutes.
- Mix in the liver with a wooden spoon and serve with a main meat dish (e.g. lamb, beef, or turkey)

How to have a Laksa Party when Living Away

My very cool ironman boss in Singapore is sadly leaving us to go back to the London office after a 6 year blast in Asia. He is the most open-minded ang moh I know when it comes to food - knowing exactly how to order his grilled sotong at Pagi Sore and working deftly through fatt-choy-covered-giant abalones at CNY lunches. On Monday, we were talking about how he would sorely miss the food in Singapore after leaving. So I shared with him how, out of deprivation while living abroad, one could create the whole hawker centre menu out of the amazing pre-mixes sold here.

So this entry is for (i) Roger (ii) my erstwhile fellow migrants in HK (carry on the tradition, my countrymen!) and (iii) this accidental chef to remember those happy days by... :)

Now, a "Laksa Party" became a generic term for a food gathering of Singaporeans and their friends from the world over, where the main items on the menu were constituted by local dishes. It didn't need to, but often included laksa. A typical menu would be (i) nasi lemak (ii) laksa, (iii) sayur lodeh (vegetable curry) (iii) rendang (iv) rojak, and if we had the rights tools and executioners, chilli crab!
Laksa

The Prima Taste Laksa premix is still the closest to the real thing that one could get, if a tad more expensive than the other brands. The truly wonderful thing about it is that it has everything you need to make the gravy base, including coconut powder, and even has a pack of sambal chilli and chopped laksa leaves! No problem even if you are living in Central Europe! Instructions are very easy to follow and you can get a great sauce in 15 minutes flat.

The challenge is in finding the right kind of noodles. The short transclucent noodles that we get here cannot really be found anywhere else. I have experimented with vietnamese rice sticks, sichuan dandan noodles, even pasta. It may not in the end be such a big issue anyway, as the gravy sauce really does go down well with most things. The key thing to note is that the noodles should not be cooked too soggy. I have found plain yellow egg noodles to be the most popular with the folks. After that, it's about finding everybody's favorite "liao" to put into the noodles. Shrimp and mussels are a main feature (I have thought of putting "hum" or raw clams, but Hepatatis scares did constrain me).

The "liao":

Hard boiled eggs, halved
Tau Pok (fried beancurd, but if you can't find these, regular tofu cubes, lightly stir fried first, will do)
Fish cake, sliced(or fishballs if you can't find)
Enoki Mushrooms (Philly's favorite!)
Anything else really, to soak up the gravy!


Nasi Lemak
This became my favorite thing to cook in Hong Kong because I could prepare the rice and other ingredients ahead of time and transport them to the party venue more easily than laksa or curries (my hobbit sized apartment became too small to host large parties).

Preparing the rice: you need raw rice, coconut milk and pandan flavoring (I've been lucky enough to always find pandan leaves in the Wanchai market, but one should have a bottle of Pandan essence on standby just in case they are extinct in your location. Or you could grow a Pandan plant in a greenhouse). Wash the rice, and pour half part water, half part coconut milk over it in the rice-cooker. Tie a bunch of pandan leaves in a knot and leave it in the cooker while the rice cooks (for about 20 minutes).

Again, there's an infinite variety of things you can eat nasi lemak with. Egg, white bait fried with peanuts, sardines, or dry rendang curry etc. For an authentic touch, cut up some squares of banana leaves to place on the serving plates (remember to wash them first with hot water, there are often spiders!) - you can get these at Thai or Indonesian provision shops in the Central/Wanchai markets.

Rojak
This was a surprising favourite with our non-Singaporean friends. After getting over the initial skepticism of eating cuts fruits and you tiao with shrimp paste and chilli, I think they had a whole lot of fun with the rojak bowl. The rojak paste can be bought in bottled form for $1.50, and I used to buy them here to give as gifts to my Hong Kong friends. Sometimes just a good selection of cubed fruit (Thai water apples, guava, pineapple) lightly dipped in the rojak sauce can make a good side salad dish with nasi lemak or curries. Pound some peanuts until they are fine for sprinkling over the fruits.

Other great sauce mixes to stock up when away from Laksa-land.













And of course, the most important ingredient of all, good food-loving friends at the party! :)

Pacific Islands Coleslaw (with Lo Hei dressing!)

I found this recipe on the very good Robbie Haf website, and it is really quite an interesting way to make and eat coleslaw, even though I must admit that with all that chopping and shredding of veggies, I am usually happy enough to buy tubs of the KFC version for my own consumption. This version, however, is a great one to make for a lunch or dinner party where the mains are neither too ang-moh or chinese (okay, I am trying to avoid the word "fusion"). People are sure to be guessing why the dressing tastes so so familiar... Gong Hei Fatt Choy! :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup peanut butter (non crunchy type)
2 1/2 Tblsp. soy sauce
2 Tblsp. raw sugar
2 Tblsp. minced ginger (bottled kind is fine)
1 Tblsp. fresh minced garlic
Coleslaw mix (ready-packed or from scratch with shredded purple cabbage and carrots)
4 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup of chopped peanuts

Preparation:

- Whisk the vinegar, peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar, ginger and garlic together in a bowl. Add more or less raw sugar and ginger to taste.
- Toss the coleslaw, onions and chopped peanuts in a large salad bowl.
- Best served with dressing on the side, unchilled.

Serves 10-12. Preparation time: 15-30 minutes