Foodelicious!

One of my favorite food in this world. Hahahahahaha.. yes, I am a rice person and I must have my rice no matter where I am. Anyway, recently was craving for a home cooked chicken rice for the longest time. The last time I had a home cooked chicken rice was yonks ago and it was made by a hainanese woman and it was awesome.

Anyway, since my cravings was getting really bad and coincidentally, was having a dear friend over for dinner, I decided to make my hainanese chicken rice. Kampung chicken nicely steamed instead of boiled. I  like to give the chicken a bit of treatment of sesame oil and salt scrub before steaming. Hehehe..and of course, a must have, pestle and mortar pounded chili sauce and ginger sauce and added on a peanut and lotus root soup with a blanched kai lan. Oh yes! the rice, I cooked the rice like how the Hainanese woman did yonks ago.. with a slice or two of ginger, a dollop of butter, lots of good quality chicken stock and a small piece of pandan leave. Hehehehe.. the rice smell so good when it was cooking and that made me so hungry.

So, my dear friend came and we sat down to have our Hainanese chicken rice dinner which she enjoyed tremendously.. and without shame asked if she could take home some! Hahahahhaa.. with great pleasure! I always like the idea of my guests requesting to take home the food I cook.

It has been raining nearly everyday for the past month and such weather are expected during end of the year. This is one of the best times for me.. hehehehe.. as I love the rain. Without the rain, the weather here is simply.. HORRIBLE! always hot and humid with terrible blazing sun. But with the rain.. aaaaaaahhh... it's just so lovely.. and always, during such weather, I crave for warm comfort food and one of them is chicken porridge with century eggs.

I have a few versions of chicken porridge. Hehehehe.. I have the simple and quick one that you can see here or the complicated one. For today, I made the simple and quick version plainly because, I was greedy and hungry! Hahahahahahaha. The simple and quick version requires very little work.. just dump the rice and water to boil, leave it to boil stirring occasionally to keep it from sticky to the base of the pot.. and once the porridge is nearly done, add in the cooked shredded chicken. Season it with the usual salt, pepper, sesame oil and garnish it with spring onion, julienne ginger with slices of century eggs. It's one of the easiest comfort food that one can make when one is terribly busy.

Where else, the complicated version requires steamed chicken that has been seasoned with lots of chinese wine and salt. The method of cooking is the same but the extra work comes from preparing the chicken way ahead, steaming it, rubbing every part of the chicken with chinese wine, salt and a bit of pepper and leaving it to marinate for a few days. This complicated version is super delicious and I learnt this from my grandma yonks ago. Didnt I say we never waste food?? Hehehe...

Anyway, back to this simple and quick chicken porridge.. this is best as it is or if you like, you can have this with chinese fried curlers (yau char kwai) which I dont fancy. Life is always beautiful with simple things and Praise the LORD that I am blessed with such simplicity.

This is an all time favorite.... glutinous rice with mushroom and chicken all nicely seasoned with evergreen seasoning like soya sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and a dash of pepper and a pinch of salt.. simple but awesome! It's a great dish for breakfast or snacking.. hehehehehe.... nothing beats a good wholesome snack anytime of the day!

Anyway, I had this nagging craving for this for the longest time. The ones sold outside didnt do the trick, I should know.. hahahhaa.. but being lazy, I thought my craving can be satisfied by getting a serving from the "mills"... hahahaa.. So, when craving wasn't satisfied, I know I have to get my lazy ass up and start making a batch.....

Lazy as I am, I didnt bother to put them into cups or bowls.. I just put them in a tray and when it's ready, it smell so good... I love the taste of steamed glutinous rice.. it has that springy feel and a certain aroma that incite one to eat and eat and eat and eat.. ok! enough said. Hahahaha..

So, I kept some for my snack and the rest I brought to work and share.. it was indeed a joyous occasion where everyone enjoyed a good hearty breakfast! 

I was approached by a lady over the phone one day and she enquired if I was keen to cook for her on Sunday and she drops by to pick the food up. I was taken by surprised!! Hahahahaha.. and so, from that day, I was thrown into the roller coaster of dinner catering ..there is the planning of the menu, the sourcing of ingredients and finally, the works. Tiring but a good experience and an opportunity to explore my cooking creativity. Heh! heh! heh!

As these food are kept in the fridge as most of my customers are working people, I am mindful that the food I propose have to taste just as good if not better after being kept in the fridge. Hence, a lot of times, I make sure I have a variety of meat and vegetables that can be kept for a few days in the fridge and taste as good as it was just freshly cooked.

 

For once, I have a Sunday to myself.. no orders.. no rushing.. no nothing.. it's a great change from my usual Sundays. Hehehe...

This is an all time favorite with kids and adults since beginning of time! This dish is good with hot weather, rainy weather, no appetite days, fussy kids days or simply a lazy to cook days. Yup, take your pick as to what day it's today for me.. hehehehehe...

Originally, this recipe calls for Pork but since I dont eat pork, I substitute it with chicken fillet. Season the chicken fillet, chop up some onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and pineapples. Heat up the wok with oil till very hot, fry the chicken fillet, scoop up! Fry the onions, garlic, tomatoes, cucumber, pineapple and add in the sauce.. tomato sauce, a dash of vinegar, salt, sugar, plum sauce, worchestire sauce. Throw in the fried chicken fillet and toss it around a bit and dish up! Serve with hot rice and that will make a bad day seem bearable! Hehehe..

Did I mentioned that I went to British Museum in London twice? Oh yes, the museum is so big, I had to do it in 2 days.. 2 full days!! And during the 2nd trip back to British Museum, I came across this very unique sandwich... Yes, I was hungry and desperate for a bite!!

I had this really yummy sandwich that had simple ingredients.. roast chicken and rocket.. the combination was simply mind blowing and addictive. I love the way the peppery taste from rocket leaves compliment the roast chicken and tomatoes and other condiments and with an orange juice or warm tea, it is yumms!!

Anyway, since I am back here with no really yummy bread in sight that is REALLY BREAD and not some cottony mush, I set out to make my own bread and create this sandwich..yes, I miss London.. I miss their super delicious food! and I must say, I did quite well with this sandwich. I served them to my friends for tea today! I intend to propose this for parties.. hehehe..

I was a bit adventurous recently and decided to make these terribly yummy spicy chicken pie.. These are mini actually but they are really good for tea or parties.. (these were ordered by a lady for her theatre & drama school function) Anyway, back to these yummy pies.. hhhmmm...

The usual puff pastry with cubed potatoes and chunks of chicken fillet nicely spiced up... Every bite you get a mouthful of pastry with flavorful potatoes and chicken fillet.. The aroma of the spices just go so well with something like puff pastry.. crispy and light..

These are sold at RM3.50 each with a minimum order of 20 pieces.

It was sunny but breezy today.. and I am just lazing around in my garden looking at my plants and a very butchered frangipani tree. Yes, it was the time again to prune and trim the tree.. Everytime I have the gardener do that, I am reminded of what GOD said in the bible.. there is a time for everything.. Time to flower, time to grow, time to fruit.. time to rest... Anyway, since I am lazy, I decided to make a simple dinner.. stir fried spinach and har cheong kai aka prawn paste fried chicken..

Yes, I was all curious with this har cheong kai aka prawn paste fried chicken because my nephew, a cute little 5 year old told his dad that he will marry anyone who can cook him this dish! Hahahaha... so, with my little adventure streak.. I made har cheong kai.. and very frankly, I find it a bit too salty and being not a big fan of fried chicken, I find it a OK dish.. however, my monster loved it! She loved the saltiness and prawn paste flavor. Maybe it is the eating in the garden that affected that decision!?? Hmmm...

So, a breezy sunday evening with har cheong kai.....

This is what I served for my Sunday Lunch at my secret garden... Nasi Tomato with patcri nenas, timun acar and ayam masak merah. The acar timun is simply crunchy and refreshing.. the flavor is very light and appetising especially when you pair it with patcri nenas. I don't know about you people but patcri nenas is excellent with rice. Of course, one has to make sure the patcri nenas is wickedly delicious! Hehehe..

This lunch couldn't have been more appropriate with the current weather that is simply lovely.. breezy with a gentle sun.. Life is beautiful!!

Otak - Otak.. It is a nyonya dish which apparently originated from bygone era european seamen. I was told that it was the Dutch seamen that introduced this dish. These seamen preserved their fish dish by flavoring with herbs and have it all wrapped up in cloth and steamed. As it was wrapped in cloth, it does not have the nice smooth surface but instead it looks like brain especially since it was white, soft and squishy. Hence the name.

Of course, the innovative nyonyas added their signature into this dish by spicing it up! By the way, did you all know that this is a common dish amongst seafaring europeans of today such as the Scandinavian countries. Theirs is also slightly spicy as they acquired the spices from South Africa?

A big thank you to Chin See for enlightening us with this history...

Curry puff - A well known snack that is everybody's favorite! Of course, this wasnt so pretty as it should be for some reason. I blame it on the weather. It has been exceptionally hot and humid these past weeks and handling the oil based pastry was simply.. challenging is a mild way of putting it. The uniqueness of this pastry is that it has an oil and water based pastries.. combined and it will give you a very crispy and light pastry that will not go soft and chewy like rubberband.

As for the filling, I made it with potatoes and chunks of chicken fillet. Please note it is chunks and not minced chicken meat. I dont like minced chicken meat in my curry puff or pies. It is just not happening. No style!! Anyway, I didnt flavour it too spicy as I wanted to entice the kids with this.

And of course, we had the ever famous popiah.. make ourselves popiah.. put whatever you like in your popiah or in Brandon's case, dont put anything but the sauce on the popiah (skin).. That was Brandon's style of popiah...

Here we have the condiments, the main star, the skin and sauce and final product..

And of course, the final product!!

The best part of it all was the company! I had great fun hosting this lunch. Thank you for making my Sunday fun..

The weather has been very perfect for me lately.. rainy and cooling and that just inspire me to cook! Hehehe.. I am not a big fan of hot, humid and sunny weather. For some reason, such weather always makes me very irritable and sleepy. Hence, when the rain comes, I am very cheerful and creative!

The above was what I whipped up for dinner yesterday. Roast chicken leg with potato salad and loads of garden greens.. (iceberg lettuce, wild rocket and cherry tomatoes) dressed up in balsamic vinegar. I must say, such menu are easy peasy for working people like me.. boil the potatoes, mix it all up with herbs and mayo to make a salad while the chicken leg is roasting in the oven, make the gravy, clean the garden greens. When chicken leg is ready, just assemble and ATTACK! Wahahaha!

Scrumptious and in many ways, healthy too... All done in a mere 1.5 hours.

That was my dinner sometime last week... chicken patty was made with minced chicken fillet and flavored with herbs from my mini herb garden, pan fried and sandwiched with lots of romaine lettuce and rocket. Since I was feeling up to it, I also made potato salad to go with my burger.

Yup, the burger was not greasy and arteries clogging and I had it with a dash of tomato sauce and home made barbecue sauce. ... simply yummilicious!

Nope.. this is not for sale. It's my dinner!!