Sticky Chilli and Mirin Chicken Wings

Sticky, spicy, sweet, salty and juicy chicken wings....if that doesn't get your taste buds moving, I don't know what will! We only recently discovered this absolutely finger licking good recipe from Sabrina Ghayour and it immediately became one of our fave recipes as we simply couldn't get enough of it!

Ingredients (Recipe from Sabrina Ghayour)
800g-1kg of free range chicken wings
150l of dark soy sauce
75ml of Mirin
4 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce
4 heaped tablespoons on caster sugar
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
2 red chillies
4 inches of peeled ginger
3 cloves of peeled garlic

Method
1) Preheat oven to 150 deg C.
2) Using a hand blender, pour all the ingredients (aside from your chicken wings) into the container that comes with your hand blender and blitz together all your ingredients until your reach a smooth liquid. Place your chicken wings into a large bowl and pour over the marinade and leave it for at least 2 hours.
3) Place the chicken wings in a baking tray.
4) Using a pastry brush, give the wings one last coating of sauce before placing them in the oven to cook for 25 minutes before giving it another brush of the marinade. 
5) Repeat this process another 3 times, marinating every 25 minutes and then allow them to cook for a final 25 mins (total cooking time of 1 hours and 40 mins) before serving. 

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Originating from Hainan, China, Hainanese Chicken Rice, a very popular dish, was brought over to Singapore by immigrants and have evolved to what we see being sold in almost every corner of Singapore! Tender, succulent chicken served with fragrant rice that has been cooked in chicken stock, accompanied with a soy, sesame oil dressing as well as a spicy homemade chilli sauce makes for a very, very satisfying meal. 

Chicken rice recipe adapted from I am a Feeder and Chilli sauce recipe adapted from Feast to the World

Ingredients (Serves 2)

For the chicken:

2 free-range whole chicken legs

Bunch of spring onions 

2 pandan leaves, tied into a knot

4″ knob of ginger, peeled and sliced

Water (see method)

Sea salt

Large bowl of ice water

For the rice:

1.5 cups of rice

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced

2-3″ knob of ginger, peeled and finely minced

2-3 tbsps vegetable oil

1-2 tbsps Sesame oil

1 pandan leaves, tied into a knot

For the chilli sauce:

6 large fresh red chillies

2 small clove garlic

5cm fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tsp sugar

To serve:

Half a cucumber, sliced

Garlic chilli sauce (above)

Sesame oil

Achar (Recipe here)

Method

1. Rub the chicken legs all over with the sea salt, then place into a large pot with the spring onions, pandan leaves, ginger and add enough water to cover the chicken legs completely. 

2. Bring the pot to the boil over a medium-high heat, then turn it right down to a simmer and skim off the scum that floats to the top. Don’t allow the stock to boil again or it’ll turn cloudy. Simmer for around 20-25 mins, removing any more scum from the top. When you chicken is cooked, remove immediately and plunge into the bowl of ice water. Strain the stock and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, in another saucepan, heat the vegetable oil over a medium heat, then add the finely minced ginger, garlic and fry until fragrant – be careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the washed rice and stir, making sure the rice is well coated, the ginger and garlic distributed and the grains are beginning to stick to the bottom of the pan. Add about 1-2 tbsps sesame oil and stir well until evenly distributed.

4. Pour the rice mixture into the rice cooker and cook it as per normal, using the chicken stock instead of water

4. To make the chilli sauce, put all ingredients into a blender and pulse into a paste. Season with salt to taste.

5. To serve, plate the rice, cold chicken, sliced cucumber, achar and garlic chilli sauce. Mix 1 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tbsp of sesame oil and drizzle it over the chicken. 

Honey Mustard Chicken Pot with Parsnips

One pot meals has got to be everyone's favourite dish to cook when one is tired or lazy. The less to wash the better right? Of course, this will probably not apply to those with dishwashers but sadly, I still do not own one of those time saving kitchen appliance. One day perhaps!!!

This dish may not look terribly beautiful but it sure is tasty. Honey and mustard has been proven to be a winning combination, as a salad dressing, a baste, a condiment and now in a casserole as well!

Adapted from Good Food
Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
8 bone-in chicken thighs , skin removed
2 onions , finely chopped
350g parsnips , cut into sticks
5 medium potatoes
300ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
2 tbsp clear honey
few thyme sprigs
flat-leaf parsley , to serve (optional)

Method
1) Heat oil in a large frying pan or shallow casserole with a lid. Cook the onions for 5 mins until softened.
2) Nestle the thighs amongst the onions and add the potatoes. Mix the stock with the mustard and honey, then pour in. Scatter over the thyme, then bring to a simmer. Cover, then cook for 15 mins, then add the parsnips.  Cook for another half hour until the chicken is tender. At this point, you may want to add more mustard or honey according to your taste. 
3) Garnish with parsley and serve.

Hola! Paella with Chicken and Chorizo!!

One of my absolutely fave place in London is Borough Market, where one can find loads of fresh , wonderful and sometimes unusual produce! I made a trip there recently and look at what I found....aren't they pretty? I also bought  big bowl of the sweetest plum tomatoes I ever tasted for only £1!

Pattypan and Carnival Squash

Brindisa, a Spanish food store in Borough Market is the place to go when you want to find any food related spanish stuff!! Jamon, chorizo, paprika, saffron, paella pan...you name it and they will have it! Stocked up on some chorizo, calasparra rice, paprika so of course i had to cook us some Paella when we got home! I still don't own a paella pan so I just used one of my heavy bottom cast iron pan which worked well too.

Adapted from Gordon Ramsay World Kitchen. Serves 4 to 6.

Ingredients

400g Bomba or Calasparra rice

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, about 600g

sea salt and black pepper

200g chorizo sausage

3 tbsp olive oil

1 red pepper, cored deseeded and chopped

1 orange pepper, cored deseeded and chopped

6 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 litre vegetable stock

pinch of saffron threads

3/4 tsp smoked paprika

100g peas, thawed if frozen

6 large tomatoes, skinned deseeded and chopped

handful of flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped

lemon wedges, to serve

Method

1) Rinse the rice well, drain and set aside. Cut the chicken in to bitesize pieces and season with salt and pepper. Cut the chorizo sausage into thick slices.
2) Heat olive oil in a large pan and brown the chicken pieces all over. Remove to a plate and set aside.Add the chorizo slices to the pan and saute for 2 mins, then add the chopped peppers and garlic. Cook for 3-4 mins, stirring frequently until peppers start to soften.
3) Stir in the rice and cook, stirring, for a few mins to taste the grains. Add stock, saffron and paprika. Bring it to a boil, add chicken pieces and lower the heat. Simmer for 15 mins, untouched. What we want is for a crust to form at the bottom so we should minimise any stirring.
4) Add the peas and chopped tomatoes, giving it a gentle stir and continue cooking for a further 10-15 mins, untouched. When rice is cooked and retains a slight bite, remove the pan from the heat and leave to stand for a few mins.
5) Scatter chopped parsley over the paella then serve with lemon wedges.

Negi Miso Chicken

I absolutely love learning about new cooking techniques, new ingredients as well as the new method of cooking common ingredients. One of my favourite places to pick all of the above up is on the lovely Nami's Just One Cookbook Blog. I've learnt quite a bit about easy Japanese cooking from her and am looking forward to more interesting recipes.

One of the first recipe I've tried from her massive collection of recipes is the Negi Miso Chicken and yes it's simply delish! It's versatile too as according to Nami, it can be used as a dip, a marinade for fish or meat and to make yaki onigiri(grilled rice balls) too. I used leeks in place of the Tokyo Negi and I found this recipe really interesting as I won't usually think of using a vegetable to marinade chicken!

Adapted from Just One Cookbook.

• Ingredients for Negi Miso
• 1 cup (packed) Leeks (1 green top part)
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• <Seasonings>
• 2 ½ Tbsp. miso
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. mirin
• 1/2 tsp. soy sauce

• Ingredients for Negi Miso Chicken
• Negi Miso
• 5 Chicken thighs/breasts
• Oil

METHOD:

Method for Negi Miso:

1. Chop green part of the leeks into fine rounds.
2. In a large frying pan, heat sesame oil on high heat and stir fry leeks until wilted.
3. Add seasoning and keep stirring. Miso burns easily so keep stirring while you cook. Once  dehydrated, turn off the heat and set aside to cool down.

Method for Negi Miso Chicken:

1. Wash chicken and pat dry with paper towel. In a bowl or Ziploc bag, combine the chicken with Negi Miso and marinate for at least 3 hours.
2. Instead of pan frying the chicken, i roasted the chicken at 200 deg C for 30 mins and it was delicious too!!

Ayam Pongteh (Nyonya Chicken Stew)

Peranakan or Nyonya cooking is a marriage of Chinese and Malay ingredients as well as techniques. So who are the Peranakans? Well, they are descendants of Chinese Migrants who inter-married with local Malays in mainly Penang, Malacca, Indonesia and Singapore.  Malacca is a haven for Nyonya cooking so be sure pay this town a visit when you are in Malaysia! 


Ayam(Chicken) Pongteh or Babi(Pork) Pongteh is a famous Nyoyna dish, one that's always cooked during festive occasions such as Chinese New Year, Birthdays etc. It's always a good idea to cook a big batch of this as the flavours developed even more after being kept overnight.


Recipe taken from Secrets of Nyonya Cooking by Florence Tan but I made a few changes such using a food processor to chop up the shallots and garlic as I was lazy. I would have probably taken a while day if i tried pounding them! I also drastically reduced the amount of oil required as 180ml just sounds very scary! haha The amount of light soy sauce was halved too. The following recipe is the exact one found in the cookbook, for those who are daring enough to use that much oil. :)

Ingredients
180ml cooking oil
30 Shallots, peeled and finely pounded 
15 cloves garlic,peeled and finely pounded
150grams soy bean paste (tau cheong)
1kg chicken,cut into bite-size pieces
10 dried chinese mushrooms, soaked in water and stemmed
1litre water
3 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 teaspoons thick soy sauce
50g sugar
1 sprig coriander leaves


Method
1) Heat cooking oil and fry pounded shallots and garlic until fragrant. Add preserved soy bean paste and saute until oil surfaces.
2) Add the chicken and mushrooms. Stir-fry until well mixed. Add water.
3) Bring to a boil and add potatoes. Season with the 2 soy sauces and sugar. Lower the heat and simmer for 25 mins until potatoes and chicken are cooked.
4) Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.