~ seeking peace spice by spice by spice
This is one dish which I think many Malay homes would like…except mine. That said, there were no leftovers for this dish. Haha.
It’s essentially chicken in yogurt sauce. In true fashion, I did two substitutions. One, instead of santan (coconutcream) I used a bit of no fat milk. And instead of potatoes, I used zucchini. The dish is fragrant and tastes good with hot rice. It’s not spicy at all. I’ve included the original recipe from the cookbook but it’s in Malay.
Yesterday for brunch I made this for the kids. And then today, we tried a new chicken wings place and the chicken tenders I had for them was not so different than the ones I made for them! But it costs a whole lot more. It really is more worth it and satisfying to cook at home.
The chicken tenders were so easy to do. First, I coated them with seasoned flour (plain flour, salt and mixed dried herbs), eggs and then coated them again in the flour instead of breadcrumbs. Then I Happy Called them. Yes, using Happy Call has become a verb in my vernacular. 😀 Anyway, I used my seasoned olive oil to really Happy Call the chicken tenders.
For the sauce, I used St Dalfour Peach jam mixed with water, five spice powder and cloves and boiled till it becomes a saucy consistency. However, I’m such a spicy person that I ate the peach sauce with my extra hot Peri-Peri sauce. Yumz.
This evening I roasted duck. The outcome was fairly good, only I wished I had the time to roast it for an hour longer so the skin will be paper crispy.
I first washed and patted the duck dry. Then scored the duck. I rubbed five spice powder and salt all over really well and then in a 150 degree oven, roasted it for an hour. While roasting, I made the glaze. In a saucepan I boiled molasses, honey, star anise, cloves and mandarin peel and a bit of water till syrupy. After one hour in the oven, remove the duck fat that would have accumulated in the tray, turn duck over and roast for another hour. The final hour glaze the duck with the marinade. Like I said, another hour of pure roasting before the hour I glazing would have been perfect. But the duck meat came out succulent and not dry, the flavour from the five spice and marinade really lovely.
A few weeks ago, I made arooq again after many years. I remember making these when I was a beginning teacher, and had brought some to work. It was a hit. Even back then, before marriage, I was already interested in cooking. Now, if only I can actually make a career out of cooking!
The recipe is very simple. All you need is ground chicken meat. I usually buy the breast part and then grind them myself in a chopper. To that, add a tablespoon of plain flour, chopped green chillies, turmeric, chilli powder, chopped spring onions, one egg, salt and pepper. And then chill in the fridge for an hour before using a spoon to drop them in hot oil. Delicious.
Having to create lesson packages for Emily of Emerald Hill ignited my obsession for Peranakan food for a while. For quite some time, I was craving Peranakan dishes. I made my mother cook mee siam and then bought kueh pie tee shells from Cold Storage so that my mother is forced to make the filling for it. To be fair, the first time I did compensate her but when the craving came again, I just bought the pie tee cups and asked her ever so sweetly to make the filling. Again.
Then one night I decided to open up my old Peranakan cookbook written by a famous Malaysian cook – Florence Tan – and found a recipe so simple that it begged to be cooked that very night. Yes, that very night (anyway, I had a defrosted chicken lying around in the fridge) I made this simple simple dish, following exact measurements given (using my baking cups to measure out my taucheong!) and it was a success. The kids and the adult loved it.
The Occasional Cook 