Aglio Aglio receipe

Roasted Chicken receipe

Every cook swears by one method or recipe for roasting a chicken, but tricky techniques, fussy brines, and fancy rubs aside, only two things matter: crispy skin and juicy, flavorful meat. This basic method gives you both without any special pans or weird ingredients. Just rub the bird with oil, salt, and pepper, add a few aromatics, roast for a few minutes on high heat, then finish on low. Use any leftover meat in a Chicken Salad Sandwich, or use the carcass and roasted vegetables to make Chicken Stock.

Game plan: If you have the time and want crispier skin, salt the chicken the night before and refrigerate it uncovered. Let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before roasting.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (4- to 5-pound) whole chicken, neck and giblets removed from the cavity
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 medium lemon, thinly sliced (optional)
• Fresh herbs, such as parsley, rosemary, or thyme (optional)

Pickled Vegetables

Ingredients:

~syrup

1/2 cup rice vinegar 

1/2 cup sugar

Few small chilies (thinly sliced)

*More if prefer spicy

*I can taste the heat of thinly sliced chilies. Just halfed the chilies if you prefer dish out when you eat.

~vegetables

3 medium cucumbers

1 small carrot

2 big chilies

1 big onion (I used white onion. Bombay onion is better)

2-3 tsp salt 

Methods:

1. Remove seeds from big chillies. Cut diagonal into strips. Leave aside.

2. Add vinegar and sugar in a pot. Bring to boil and stir occasionally till sugar melt. 

3. Off the heat, add in small and strips chilies and leave to cool completely.

 

4. Peel the cucumber. Cut length wise into half. Then further divide into quarter. With a knife remove seeds by running blade from one side to other side. Cut diagonal into thin slices. Slice till all finish.

* not need to be very thin as you can taste its crunch after pickled.

5. Sprinkle about 2 teaspoons salt into cucumber slices bowl. Mix with hands till all well combine. Keep aside for about 5 minutes for the salt to extract excess water from cucumber.

 

6. While waiting for cucumber do the same for carrot and onion.

 

7. Squeeze all the salty juice out. Rinse (with drinking water) and squeeze again (I rinse for one more time and squeeze again). Do the same for carrot and onion.

*Taste it. It should not be too salty.

 

8. Toss all the squeezed vegetables into the cool vinegar mixture. Keep into container with lid on. Keep in fridge and best to enjoy after an hour.

Chinese-style Pickled Vegetables

• SERVES: one x 750ml bottle of pickles
• PREP: 20 mins
• COOK: 5 mins

This Chinese-style pickles is the perfect appetizer dish to complement any Chinese meal. You can eat it an hour after soaking but for best results, allow to soak overnight before consumption. Keeps refrigerated for about a week (though it will probably not last that long).

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cucumber de-seeded, cut to uniform, chunky fries strips
• 1 carrot peeled, cut to uniform, chunky fries strips
• 8 shallots peeled and thinly sliced
• 50 grams sliced pineapples diced
• 2 chilli padi sliced thinly; to taste
• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp + a pinch of salt to taste
• one x 750ml glass bottle

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Rub cut cucumber with 1 tsp salt, allow to 'sweat' for at least 30 minutes. This will make the cucumbers more crunchy. Rinse, drain and squeeze dry.
   
2. In a saucepan, bring to a simmer: vinegar, sugar, water and a pinch of salt, until the sugar dissolves. Adjust to taste accordingly to your preference.
   
3. When the vinegar solution has cooled, add to it the prepared cucumber, carrot, shallots, pineapple and chilli. Store in a covered glass bottle and refrigerate.

Assam Squid

Assam or tamarind is commonly used in Malay cooking to give the curry or gravy a sour taste.  In this recipe, we are using lemon to do the trick, and lemon has its own fragrance to give the dish a twist.  This recipe caters for a little more gravy that you could go with steam rice.

Ingredients

1. 2 big Squid (Sotong)
2. 4 table spoon curry powder for fish (get from supermarket)
3. 4 table spoon sugar
4. 1/2 teaspoon salt
5. 1/2 to 1 lemon - depends on desired sourness
6. 1 big onion
7. 4 table spoon cooking oil
8. 1 cup water

Method

1. Wash the squid and remove the head.  Remove the back-bone of the squid (a transparent strip that runs along the length of the squid body.  Remove the skin of the squid. (you can do it with your finger nails or a knife, scrape off a little and you can pull it off easily).  For the squid head, cut away the eyes, and also squeeze out the “ball” from the mouth of the squid (its quite hard to eat). 
2. You can make a cut through the length of the squid body, hence opening up the tube shape to a flat piece of meat.  Then cut into strips perpendicular to the length of the squid, about 1 cm width.  Lightly score criss cross lines with sharp knife on the side that was the inside of the squid.
3. Put in bowl and add salt, sugar and curry powder and mix.  Optional you may add some chilli paste to make it more spicy (the curry powder is already spicy).  Leave to season for 30 mins.
4. Peel onion and slice, set aside.
5. Squeeze lemon for the juice and set aside.
6. Heat up pan, add oil and onion , fry till fragrant.
7. Add in seasoned squid and fry till curled up. Add water and allow to boil for 3 mins. Add in lemon juice (you may add half first and taste, and if you like it more sour, then add a little more, otherwise it may be too sour and you cannot do anything about it.) Once lemon juice is added and slightly boil, you may remove from heat.  Do not further boil as the fragrant of lemon may go away, and over cooking squid will make it tough.

BBQ chicken wings

Ingredients

• 12 chicken wings
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce

• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
  

  Directions

  1. In a shallow glass bowl combine the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, ground black pepper and dried basil. Mix together. Add chicken wings, cover and refrigerate overnight. Stir together again the next day.
  2. Lightly oil grill and preheat to high heat.
  3. Remove wings from marinade and discard remaining marinade. Grill chicken wings over preheated grill for 8 to 12 minutes each side, or until cooked through and juices run clear.

Soy Sauce Chicken

Soy Sauce Chicken ("Si Yau Kai") Recipe    

Serves 4-6

1 Chicken (about 1.5 kg)

Two bowls of light soy sauce 

Half a bowl of thick dark soy sauce

Dashes of White Pepper

One bowl of Rock Sugar 

2-3 stalks of Spring Onions, Cut into 1-2 inch lengths 

2-3 inch ginger, lightly pounded

20 cloves of garlic, lightly bruised (if you like garlic, by all means, use more)

Aromatics: 2-3 Star Aniseed, 1 Cinnamon Stick

Herbs: Scallions, cilantro stem and roots

3 bowls of water

Optional - 3 lemon peels, 2 liquorice sticks (ganchao)

Garnishing: Cilantro and Spring Onions

Accompaniment: Boiled eggs, sliced cucumber, Bean Curd (Tau Kwa)

Chilli sauce: Fresh Chillies, Lime, Sugar, and a bit of oil

Note: I am suggesting that you are make more sauce then you need as this means you do not need to turn the chicken around and minimise the chance of tearing the skin. You want to poach the whole chicken at one go. The leftover sauce can be reused again. 

Method

1. Heat up your rice cooker or pot.
2. Add some oils and dump the aromatics, herbs and garlic bulbs in.  Fry for about 2 minutes till fragrant (i.e you smell something nice :)).
3. Add the sauces. Simmer for about half an hour to develop the flavours.
4. Once the sauce is done, put the chicken in. Add water to ensure the chicken is floating in the pot. You may need to use a wire rack to push the chicken in. If it is not in contact with the sides, the skin will not break. 
5. If you are using a normal pot, control the fire. Put in on a very low simmer. I prefer to use the rice cooker because the warm function holds the temperature well. Cook the chicken within the range of 72 to 80°C for 90 minutes. If you use too high a heat and boil the chicken constantly, the meat will release more juices resulting in drier meat. And of course the skin will tear. The first sign that the chicken is overcook is torn skin. I use a thermometer to monitor the temperature. Switch the rice cooker to cooking mode, letting the temp hit about 78C and then put it on warm mode. Once it go down to 72C, switch to cooking mode. I am sure you can get the idea. Depending on the types of pot you have, you can of course experiment various ways of cooking the chicken within the temp range. Thermal Pots are also good for this. If the chicken is small, an hour will work.
6. After it is done, take the chicken out and let it rest till it comes down to room temp. At this stage, it is still gently cooking inside. To test whether the chicken is cook, stick something sharp into the thigh meat. If the juice is clear, it is done. If pink, poach some more. It is up to your personal preference. Some like the thigh meat pink. 
7. Remove some of the sauce and cook it further in another pot., You may want to make it sweeter. Thicken it with some corn flour. You may need to strain the finished to separate out the residual bits. 
8. Chop the chicken. This is an art in itself. After all the careful cooking to keep the skin perfect, you don't want to mess it up for the dining table. Use a sharp cleaver (ie. sharpen it!). Cut off the thighs and wings first. Separate to larger pieces, smash lightly and do a quick cleaver chop. Hmm...I will show you on to do this in another post as visuals will be more helpful. You can also google and there are many cooks out there who will demo on how to chop up a chicken.   

I am using NTUC's Kampung Chicken here

The leftover sauce can be reused  for another lot of chicken. I boil the eggs alongside the chicken (you do not need boiling temperature to make hard boiled eggs!). Peel the eggs and dump them back to the sauce so that they get a nice brown color. As for the Tau Kwa, they do impart a sour taste if left too long in the sauce. I prefer to separate out a portion of the sauce and braise them separately.

The great thing about this dish is after you have made the sauce, it can be reused again. The second time round will be easier as the sauce is well flavoured and good to go to serve a second tour of duty. You can also use the sauce to braise pork belly or trotters. Boil the sauce first before you keep it in the fridge.   

Serve with steamed rice, the condiments on the side and add the rest of the cilantro leaves on the plated chicken pieces.The whole cilantro is used - nothing is thrown away.You can also add cucumber, the faithful companion to this dish. And of course some fried shallots will be good too. Enjoy.   

Remember, it is important that the chicken is not overcooked. Poach gently...slow and low. If you have a Sous Vide appliance, use it and it is the most convenient way for precision temp control. If not , using the rice cooker alone works well too.  

Tell me if this recipe works for you.

Some dreamy sides..

 

Taste the Font

Posted on July 24, 2013 by jasmine

Primprim is a creative communication studio based out of Lithuania where it’s heads Catherine Žilinskienė and Miglė Vasiliauskaitė have created this very cool installation that represents fonts as paper foods. In their series “Taste the Font” they have taken popular dishes, made them from paper and have associated each dish to different typography for Vilnius Design Week.