Eating clean: Steamed chicken with Chicken Essence

Ingredients

1.2 kg chicken, chopped into parts
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp hua tiao chiew
1 + 1 tsp of sesame oil
 A knob of ginger sliced into matchsticks

1 bottle of Chicken Essence

8 large chinese mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons of wolfberries

Handful of black fungus, sliced

Method

Put everything into a large bowl and mix well together to marinate.
Arrange chicken parts in a steaming plate. Place black fungus and chinese mushrooms on top of the chicken. 

Pour Chicken Essence over. 

Press in all ingredients to ensure that all parts are well coated with the liquid. 

Finish with a dash of sesame oil before putting it into the steamer.

Steam for 20 minutes or until cooked.

*Add red dates for added sweetness :)

I added soya sauce for added fragrance

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

One pot wonders: Stewed pork & chicken rice | 红烧排骨鸡肉饭

Ingredients

1 large can of stewed pork chops, roughly shredded with bone removed (I used Gulong brand)

1 chicken breast, sliced and marinated with 1 tsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1 tsp of sesame oil, a dash of pepper and shaoxing wine)

1 carrot, sliced

1 packet of baby bok choy, stem removed and chopped into thirds

20g of dried shrimp (1 small handful)

1 tbsp of chilli scallop floss (Sun Kee brand)

Soy sauce mixture: 2 tbsp of dark soya sauce + 1 tbsp of soy sauce in 250ml of water

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp of oil

4 cups of rice

8 cups of water + 200ml of water 

Method

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan, add minced garlic, dried shrimp and scallop floss. Stir fry till fragrant. Add chicken breast and fry till cooked before setting it aside.

In the rice cooker, rinse rice and add water. Add stewed pork chops and gravy. 

Place carrot slices into the rice. Add the cooked chicken breast, soy sauce mixture and stir thoroughly to ensure that rice is evenly coated with the sauce. Set the rice cooker to cook.

Midway in the cooking process, add baby bok choy and stir it into the half cooked rice. Add water if necessary. 

Serve topped with chopped spring onions and cut red chilli. 

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

*Lean pork slices can be used instead of chicken breast with the same marinade
*Chinese cabbage can be used instead of baby bok choy
*I would add chinese mushrooms :) except that I already had a miso barramundi soup with mushrooms.
*Only when my rice was partially cooked, I added the soy sauce mixture and stirred it into the rice to ensure that the sauce is evenly distributed throughout.

Pho better or pho worse

The day started out simple.

The search for the best pho at 46 Bat Dan according to a travel web post.

And to our dismay, it was already closed for the day.

So pho better or pho worse, we decided to settle for a chicken pho at the road junction that we had passed on our pho search.

We took our seats on these tiny plastic chairs that threatened to break under our hefty bottoms. Or so it felt like. And no, we don't actually have hefty butts.

The lower the chairs are to the ground, the better the food's gonna taste. Right?

Eating like the locals do, we made our order for two bowls of chicken pho and looked upon the dishes of cut chilli and parsley exposed to all the elements and impartial to all diners. Coming from the city, it's gotta be a tough call not worrying about stomach upsets.

But since we were here, ditch those thoughts and live and eat like the locals do. The food's gotta be good for people to squash themselves at junction of a busy road (as all roads are in Hanoi).

When this arrived? The reason was clear for the crowds.

Heaven in the form of a bowl of piping hot chicken pho :)

Jamie's 30 minute meals. MADE.

How to whip up a meal that impresses.

All the time.

Every Time.

In 30 minutes.

These were some of Jamie's 30 minute meal recipes that we've tried and tested this long weekend.

Adapted from the recipes on 

www.jamieoliver.com/

Perfect roast potatoes

Tips & tweaks:

Use Yukon Gold potatoes.

They are my gold standard for baked carbs that are worth every single calorie.

Salt generously.

And those cloves of garlic would be so sweet, you wish you put more in the first place.

Mustard chicken with leek

Tips & tweaks:

Even a non mustard lover would eat this all up.

The taste of wholegrain mustard is not the same as mustard from a squeeze bottle on hotdogs.

Just so there was gravy,

some chicken broth was added.

And because bacon ANYTHING tastes like heaven,

some roughly chopped pieces of bacon were thrown in. 

Leek.

More leek definitely.

It was a lot more watery that planned but the unmistakable sweetness from the mustard and savoury tinge from the bacon was unmistakable.

And perhaps the added taste dimensions of some pan fried crisp bacon as toppings in the next attempt.

The best pork chops sans the crackling

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-recipes/the-best-pork-chops-with-fresh-bay-salt-crackling-and-squashed-purple-potatoes

Cubed carrots and beetroot.

Sage.

Rosemary.

And a generous drizzle of olive oil.

As always.

Roast them for half an hour at 220 degrees celcius.

Tips & tweaks:

The meats were marinated for about 3 hours.

The honey was omitted.

The apple cider did wonders to lock in the juice in the pork chops.

Side salad of lettuce, chopped sundried tomatoes, pitted olives and cubed feta cheese.

Generously drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Top with roughly torn pieces of turkey breast.

Now that's what I call a HAPPY MEAL :)

and a healthy one at that.

Yum.

Midweek lunch break @ Swensens

It's always a joy to meet up with a dear friend. 

And her lil daughter.

Perfectly innocent, pure unadulterated joy in her own kiddy bubble. 

We settled in for lunch break but we never got round to making our orders till a long while later.

Just too much to talk about. Too much to catch up on.

We met at 1pm at Swensens in Northpoint.

Smack in the middle of the timeslot for their weekday lunch treats. 

Monday-Fridays from 11am -2pm.

And apparently we could've chosen from a free side, sundae or free drink. 

Apparently.

That's because right after our order of mains, she enquired what we would like for a free side. There was no mention of a sundae or drink choice. :(

I would've really loved a sundae today.

Sore throats really don't go well with fried anything.

Still,

these were perfectly battered and tasting divine piping hot.

Deep fried mushrooms

Juicy mushrooms encased in a perfectly crisp batter.

Even when it's no longer piping hot.

Spice 'N' Chic

A first time for me.

It was served as promised, plump and tender chicken strips full on flavour.

Just a little on the salty side.

My friend had a Healthier choice Pesto Salmon.

Nicely grilled with flaky salmon pieces that her daughter loved.

While I went for the works on their signature Mega Burger.

And boy was it massive.

The burger patty was a little too well done but it was still juicy and delish.

And their sunny side up egg with chicken ham and turkey bacon made it feel like I was having a double meal of breakfast and lunch altogether at once.

My only reservation was that the burger bun at its base was a little soaked over with oil.

It was all too much but I loved every bit of it.

If pregnancy was bliss,

I definitely felt it at lunch. :)

All photos were taken with no filter applied.

The counter seats at Swensens here in Northpoint were right next to the window and the lighting there for photos was just perfect.

It was a good midweek break.

A delicious catch up session with my favourite mama.

Happy belated birthday my dear friend!

Chicken soup for the soul.

Black charcoal and white hot ash. 

I watch as she toils over the well-worn stove. 

Her movements restricted. 

Her hearing impaired. 

Her speech lacking in life. 

Her pride, 

however, 

intact. 

As a proud woman who devotes her life to keeping the house in order. 

She will clean. 

And cook. 

For as long as she lives. 

Her stubborness translates into a perfect bowl of chicken soup. 

She feeds my soul. 

My grandma.

Chicken, pork rib, mushroom stew.

Grandma's back in the game.

She's got an amazing strength and great talent when it comes to the kitchen and all that which 'home cooking' stands for.

Today's stew was cooked over charcoal.

Which really made all the difference in the world.

The best part?

The stew is kept heated and never burnt, gently bubbling over the leftover white-hot ashes.

Generous cuts of chinese black flower mushrooms,

meaty pork ribs with soft bones, 

chicken drumsticks and hardboiled eggs.

Stewed in a light soy gravy.

The mushrooms were fully absorbent of the gravy and burst into a plethora of juices on first bite.

The pork ribs were stewed till tender and fell apart almost immediately.

Likewise for the chicken drumsticks.

The gravy.

Was fragrant and light enough on tastebuds to be drunk almost like a soup.

Which was perfect since that meant I could happily skip rice. :) 

Home cooked.

Always the best kind of yum.

Drury lane on a dreary day

T'was a rainy day.

And we still went ahead to paint the town red.

With a cafe that had a brilliantly red shop front!

It was packed but not impossibly so.

They have a second floor for a quiet respite from the queues, cooking on the grills and the steady hum of the espresso machines downstairs.

With empty crates separating the tables, a skateboard haphazardly leaning off the sides.
I liked the rustic feel and spacious layout on the second level.

They have a crate right next to the sofa seat where diners can help themselves to condiments and sauces.
It's a nice touch to bottle their drinking water so that each table can have their own bottles to refill their cups.

Communal yet the line of privacy isn't crossed.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the peanut butter muffins I was looking forward to that day.
They do muffins on a 'pay as you wish' scheme.
And if you didn't already know,
Drury Lane is where the muffin man lives!

Oh do you know the muffin man,
The muffin man, the muffin man,
Do you know the muffin man,
Who lives in Drury Lane?

Oh yes, I know the muffin man,
The muffin man, the muffin man,
Yes, I know the muffin man,
Who lives in Drury Lane

They do indeed have some awesome muffins. :)

We skipped that and had sandwiches that day.
Steak and caramelised onions.
And chicken avocado.
With sides of mushrooms and a poached egg.

The mushroom serving was much too tiny but then, one cannot expect too much for their pocket friendly prices.
The egg though, did not come with hollandaise sauce.
Tragic but not unbearably so.
We were too hungry to go downstairs to ask.

The breads were crisp on the outside and soft to chew on the insides.
Dense enough to be filling, light enough to enjoyed.
Of course,
I wished for more fillings within just so I could finish my breads. :)

And who could forget dessert?
The chocolate salted caramel tart had a solid buttery tart base to hold all of that liquefied pleasure within.
Salty sweet.
Makes it nothing short of a perfect treat.
Mess alert though!

Flat white- the standard order.
Was good but I'd much prefer the one at Anthesis.

Affordability meets palatability.
Right here at Drury Lane.
Till the next time,
Mr Muffin Man! x