~ seeking peace spice by spice by spice
Yesterday, I saw this at M&S…
This morning, I decided to make use of leftover roasted chicken to make a delicious sandwich. It beats buying from Macs. Cheaper and you can enjoy breakfast from the comforts of your own home.
I just love breakfast. It’s definitely the best time of the day. And I love cooking breakfast. More breakfast ideas coming up soon…
Chicken Wings when grilled in the oven using a rack comes out real crispy. My chicken wings turned out reeeeal good today. The marinade was simply dark and light soy, ginger slices and garlic. The secret is to put them on a rack and they’ll crisp up.
OK, nobody I know have heard of this dish. It even has a weird name. The worst part is that my mom told me that she got this dish from my father-in-law’s mother so I proudly cooked a batch years ago and he’s never even heard of it! Strange, right? I checked with my aunt, who is my father-in-law’s sister-in-law (it’s complicated) and again, she said that she learnt to make this dish from her mother-n-law which my father-in-law has not even heard of nor tasted! I still don’t get it.
Well, whatever the story is, this is one fabulous dish. It starts with frying small winglets and baby drumlets till cooked. Then, in a wok, you fry curry leaves, dried chillies, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, finely diced onions, garlic till really fragrant. And then you add in the fried chicken. And then you add a bit of brown sugar and chilli powder. Stir till everything’s well-coated.
I cooked this again recently but I used chicken thighs instead. The loveliness actually comes not from eating the chicken but all the lovely spices with hot white rice.
I learnt of this recipe years ago as an undergrad browsing through the cookery section of the library. It’s a recipe contributed by one of our MPs. So easy to make yet so delicious. All you need is to marinade chicken wings with dried rosemary, garlic, olive oil and salt and then pop them in the oven.
Recently, I discovered this wonderful and beautiful pink fine grain – Himalayan Salt. And they are so cheap at Mustafa. Anyway, seasoning your chicken wings with this pink salt makes the dish so unbelievably delicious that I feel sad not having discovered this wonderful salt years ago. That would have impressed my boyfriend tremendously. Then again, he gets to eat my food every day now. Almost. But I digress.
I watch lots and lots of food shows and one thing that puzzles me is that these Ang Moh (Caucasian) cooks throw away the wingtips. Even Alton Brown, the cooking scientist (or he believes himself to be) said that the wingtips have no culinary value at all. MORON! I am very sure that here in little old Singapore, the wingtip is sucked on, chewed and if crispy enough, completely obliterated in a matter of seconds. Why, I fight with The Little Girl for this ‘culinary goodness’!Hmph!
Anyway, for this recipe, I use whole garlic cloves on top of minced garlic to spread over the chicken wings. The whole garlic cloves will roast and taste oh so wonderful. I used fresh rosemary for this recipe just because I had some on hand. Ah, the smell of it roasting in the chicken. I love olive oil, garlic, good quality salt and chicken all working so harmoniously together in the hot hot oven. The smell, even if you don’t get to eat the chicken (sorry neighbours!) will make you float.
See that soft roasted garlic goodness? All mine. 😀 Swooning. I make this dish very often. Very often indeed.
The recipe for this chicken dish are:
Chicken, Garlic Salt, Rosemary and Lemon.
OK, and a sprinkling of black pepper. What makes this dish so lovely is the fresh rosemary. Mmmm…
Oh, and of course, olive oil. I threw in my garlic bulbs, just so I could suck on the roasted garlic. And don’t forget the olive oil. I also laced the chicken with Turkey bacon strips. That got gobbled up first (pun intended), especially The Girl, who was fighting to get my piece.
The Occasional Cook 