Soy Sauce Chicken

Happy Friday!  This week I am still busy after the long weekend breaks.  It is May now.  I am looking for some ideas for celebrating my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary in the end of this month. If you have some brilliant ideas, please share.  Today I prepare a wonderful dish that my mom and dad love it very much. It is soy sauce chicken which is simple and easy.  Hope all of you enjoy!

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Serve: 4

Ingredients:

-      1 free-range chicken (about 1.8 kg)

-      ½ cup light soy sauce      

-      ¼ cup dark soy sauce

-      10g ginger(6 slices)

-      2 spring onion (sliced)

-      2 garlic cloves (sliced)

-      30g rock sugar

-      2 tbsp Shaoxing wine

-      ½ tsp table salt

-      1 slice dried mandarin peel (soaped in warm water until tender)

-      ¾ cup water

-      1½ tsp vegetable oil

Method:

1.	Use a towel to make the chicken dry after cleaning.  Tie the chicken legs together by using a piece of white string.  Rub the chicken all over with Shaoxing wine.  Marinate the inside body of the chicken with salt.  Then stuff the chicken cavity with half of the spring onions and 3 slices of ginger.  Set it aside for 10 minutes.
2.	In a mixing bowl, add soy sauce, dark soy sauce and water and mix well.  Set aside.
3.	Heat a non-stick wok or pot over medium heat.  Add oil, ginger, spring onion and garlic.  Stir-fry for 1 minute, add the mixture of soy sauce.  In the meantime, reduce to low heat, add mandarin peel and sugar.  Then boil until the sugar is dissolved.
4.	Toss in the chicken.  Baste the exposed area with cooking sauce.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Use a pair of large chopsticks to turn the chicken upside down carefully and simmer for another 10 minutes.  Baste the chicken a few times during cooking. Then turn the chicken to another side again and simmer for a further 15 minutes.  Check whether it is cooked by inserting a thin skewer or a thick needle in one of the thigh joints. If it is cooked, it produces clear liquid.  Once cooked, switch off the fire and let it rest inside the pot for 15 minutes.
5.	Serve the carved chicken on a big plate.  Spoon the sauce from the pot over the chicken and ready to serve.
	Tips:
i.	Do not simmer the chicken over medium or high heat.  Otherwise, the chicken will be overcooked and the meat is not smooth and tender.
ii.	The cooking time depends on how big the chicken is.

Stir-Fry egg noodles with chicken and veggie

I just finished a relaxed and joyful vacation in Hong Kong during the Christmas holidays.  Since I love eating and enjoy cooking very much, I always spent time on walking around wet markets and shops which sell cutlery, tableware and cooking utensils in the trip.  I like wandering along Shanghai Street in Yau Ma Tei.  It is like a centre of kitchenware.  There are some traditional Chinese kitchenware shops which are selling everything from professional kitchenware for food and beverage industry to daily use kitchen utensils like Chinese knifes and chopping boards, bamboo steamers, etc.  I bought some items there, one of them is a pair of long wooden chopsticks for cooking noodles.  I will let you know what I had bought and write a post to introduce more about Shanghai Street in the coming days.

I like cooking and eating healthy food.  I use less oil to stir-fry the noodles in this recipe.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

l  480g chicken breast fillet (sliced)

l  2 dried egg noodles

l  1 onion (sliced)

l  1 carrot (sliced)                                          

l  40g lettuce (finely sliced)

l  4 baby sweetcorn (sliced)

l  15g bean sprouts

l  1 garlic clove (finely chopped)

l  3 tsp olive oil

l  ½ cup water

l  2 spring onion (sliced)

l  ¼ tsp salt

Seasoning:

l  1 tsp fish sauce

l  ½ tsp brown sugar

l  1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Sauce:

l  1 tbsp oyster sauce

l  ½ tsp sesame oil

l  1 tbsp dark soy sauce

l  3 tbsp water

Method:

1.	Season the chicken fillets with fish sauce, brown sugar and black pepper.
2.	Boil water in a saucepan and add salt.  Add dried egg noodles over medium heat and simmer for 3 minutes and use the chopsticks or a fork to stir occasionally.  Drain well.
3.	Heat a non-stick wok or pan over medium heat and add 1 tsp oil. Add garlic and chicken fillets, then stir-fry for 3 minutes.  Set aside.
4.	In the meantime, add 2 tsp oil into the wok over medium heat.  Add carrot, baby sweetcorn and 2 tbsp water, then stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add onion and chicken fillets into the wok and continue to stir fry for another 2 minutes.  Then add the lettuce  and bean sprouts, and pour in half cup of water.  Cover it for 3 minutes.
5.	Mix the sauce ingredients well in a small bowl.  Pour the sauce into the wok and stir well.
6.	Add the egg noodles into wok and stir fry with all the ingredients.  Mix well and garnish with spring onion.

Stir-fry Chicken in DIY Black Bean Sauce

When you are reading this post, I go on a vacation in Hong Kong.  I will stay there in the coming two weeks and keep posting photos and updates about my visit.  

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

-      150g chicken fillets (sliced)   

-      60g green pepper (chopped)

-      60g red pepper (chopped)

-      100g onion (chopped)

-      ½ tbsp black bean (minced)

-      2 garlic clove (minced)

-      4g ginger (finely sliced)

-      1 tsp rice wine/white wine

-      ½ tsp soy sauce

-      ¼ tsp brown sugar

-      1 tbsp olive oil  

-      5 tbsp water

-      1 spring onion (finely chopped)

Seasoning:   

-      1 tsp light soy sauce

-      1 tsp rice wine/white wine

-      ¼ tsp corn flour

-      ¼ tsp sesame oil

-      ½ tsp sugar

Thickening sauce:

-      1 tsp corn flour

-      1½ tsp water

Method:

1.	Season the chicken with soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, corn flour and sesame oil for 10 minutes.
2.	Heat ½ tbsp oil in a non-stick pan over low-medium heat.  Add the chicken pieces and pan-fry both sides for 1-2 minutes till a bit golden brown.  Remove from heat and set aside.
3.	In the meantime, heat ½ tbsp oil in a non-stick wok over medium heat.  Add ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute.  Toss in garlic and soya bean and then stir-fry for another 1 minute.
4.	Add the onion, green pepper, red pepper, chicken and wine; then keep stir-frying for 1 minute.  Pour in water, season with soy sauce and sugar and cover for 2-3 minutes.
5.	In a small mixing bowl, mix the corn flour and water well in order to prepare the thickening sauce.  Stir in the thickening sauce and stir-fry for a further 1-2 minutes until the sauce is thickened.
6.	Garnish with spring onion and ready to serve with rice.

Chicken Salad Rolls with Japanese Sesame Sauce

This morning I met my friend at a Korean supermarket.  We talked a lot about the Bonfire night and both of us enjoyed the spectacular firework display.  She said she had barbecue lunch during the last two weekends.  She wants to have some simple and healthy food.  Then I suggested her using rice paper to make veggie rolls for her lunch.  I hope she likes them!

The weather has changed so suddenly.  I lost my appetite after I got sick for the flu since Monday.  I feel better after eating four chicken salad rolls with sesame sauce and a bowl of minced beef congee.  This is a delicious and simple recipe that came at the perfect time.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serve: 1

Ingredients:

-         100g chicken fillet

-         4 pieces of rice paper

-         ¼ tsp ginger powder

-         ¼ tsp garlic powder

-         ½ tsp light soy sauce

-         ¼ tsp sugar                                  

-         70g cucumber (finely sliced/ julienne)

-         50g carrot (finely sliced/julienne)
-         4 slices of lettuce 

-         1-1.5 cup of warm drinking water

Sauce:

-         1 tbsp Japanese sesame sauce (light)

-         1 tsp drinking water

-         ½ tsp soy sauce

-         ¼ tsp sugar

-         a pinch of white sesame seed

Method:

1.	Preheat the steamer.
2.	Season the chicken with ginger powder, garlic powder, light soy sauce and sugar for 10 minutes.  Then put the meat on the steamer tray and steam it for 8 minutes.  Take out the meat and let it cool down.  Then tear the meat into bite-sized strips and set aside.
3.	In a small mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients of sauce well.  Set aside.
4.	Place a piece of rice paper in a place with warm drinking water until a bit tender.  Divide the carrot, cucumber and the meat in four equal portions.
5.	Wrap the roll: soak the rice paper in a large plate of warm water for 10 seconds until a bit tender.  Lay the rice paper on a board or a flat surface; place one piece of lettuce, one portion of carrot, meat and cucumber in the middle of rice paper.  Then put a tea spoon of sauce on top of the filling.  Fold the bottom of the rice paper to cover the filling. Then tuck and roll the rice paper from right to left as tightly as possible.
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	NOTE: As the rice paper is very delicate, do not soak them too longer or they will break apart. Do not soak all rice paper in advance.  It is better to soak one at a time when it is ready to be used.