It truly has been ages since I last update but it’s not because of laziness. My MAC was completely spoilt. And while now it seems to be A-OK, it is working at a very slow speed.
So I shall resume by sharing about my latest craze: making my own chicken rice – the authentic way. Including how to chop it up chinese style.
It’s all very simple actually. For the white chicken version, I boiled one whole chicken cut in half for easier handling in a pot of water that has lots of sliced ginger and one or two (if small) whole onions. After 20-25 minutes of cooking under high heat, I turned off the heat off and let the chicken just stay in there for a further 20-30 min. And then when I am ready to take the chicken out, I stand by a basin of ice-cold water and dunk the chicken in there. This step is extremely crucial in achieving a gelatinous, firm skin.
For the rice, I used the same water that I had boiled the chicken in, but before that, I used ready-made Chicken rice paste from the shelf to fry my rice (basmati) in. I also added a pandan leaf. Next time, I will try just using garlic and ginger and nothing else.
For the chilli sauce, plenty of fresh red chillies, loads more of chilli padi (red), lime juice, sugar and salt.
Then I decided to make a roasted version just a few days ago. I marinated the chicken with light soya sauce, sweet soya sauce, honey and garlic/ginger paste. The next time, I will also use five spice powder. The real roasted variety found in hawker centres is actually fried but I’d rather roast mine in the oven. The result is OK but the skin will not be as crispy.
And then, I cloned my chicken rice by assembling it the same way as in my favourite halal chicken rice stall -Tang’s Tea house. I sliced cucumbers thinkly the same way and drizzled a mixture of light soy sauce and sesame oil over my chopped chicken.
Speaking of chopped chicken… this is where I learnt how to do it properly last Tuesday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0gqdhl7PCo
It was so fun! I finally made use of my cleaver.
Alas, I didn’t manage to take a picture of my table that day. But it was enjoyable and I shall be cooking this again and again and again…
The Occasional Cook 