CHICKEN STEW

This is another family all-time favorite. Evolved from the lamb stew which we absolutely love !
Another no fail recipe! Even my eleven year old son can do it !
There is no need to follow to the T on the ingredient amount - just use it as a guideline ! We love carrots and potatoes so I use a lot of them!

Ingredients:
4 pips of garlic,
chopped finely.



4 large red onions ,
(about 150 gm)
diced



1 can button
mushrooms
sliced


4 pcs carrots
(about 300 gm)
cut in angular
shape



6 pcs potatoes
( about 500 gm)
cut angular shapes

Half a chicken
( about 800 gm )
Cut them,
coat with seasoned flour
(KFC flour) and
deep fry till brown.

LETS COOK THEM NOW!

Heat up about 3 Tabsp oil and fry the garlic till brown

Add in onionsAdd in the carrots,potatoes and mushroom. Add in the chickenAdd in water ,enough to cover the ingredients. Add more if you want more gravy.Add black pepper and salt to taste. Bring to boil then let it simmer for 30 minutes till the gravy thickens. alternatively, you can put in a casserole and bake it in the oven for 40 min.

Its ready !

Serve with rice or....

maraconi . Also good with spaghetti or fettucini.

ENJOY !!!!!

Kiam Hoo CHICKEN RICE

Salted fish ( kiam hoo in Hokkien) chicken rice was a specialty dish of Roy ( my late husband ). We have never been able to cook it as nice as him but close............

Am sharing this family favorite.....

INGREDIENTS

600 gm rice
( I used brown rice here since
we had been eating brown rice.
Of course white rice can also be used)
Wash and soak the rice in water
for about 30 minutes.
100 gm sliced mushroom (optional)
( Using ready sliced mushroom
is easy but the flavor is not as
strong as using the whole mushrooms )
Soak the mushroom in hot
water to soften them.

20 gm ginger - sliced.

( Add more if you like ginger
- up to 60 gm
If you have kids and they
freak out at the sight of ginger ,
just slice them in big pieces and
remove after cooking. If you are
the type who love the ginger taste,
chop them up into small pieces - they have a real good taste when you bite into them! )
100 gm big onions ,
diced



1 kg Chicken , cut into desired sizes.

( If the chicken rice is served with
many other dishes, minced chicken
can be used instead . )

100 gm salted fish, sliced
( I use salted ikan kurau
as there is no small bones)


******************************************************
METHOD

Heat up some oil in the wok and fry the salted fish till brown.
Set aside.

Using the same oil, add onions and ginger.

Add mushrooms and continue to fry.

Add in the chicken and thick black sauce.

Add the soaked rice and then
the salt fish. Add a few rock
sugar or 1 teaspoon of sugar.
Add the rice and continue to fry.

Transfer the fried mixture into
the rice cooker . Add 1000ml
water. ( 600 ml if using white rice).

Leave to cook.

Finally........BON APPETIT !

Otan jyo bi, o me deto do zai masu

Otan jyo bi, o me deto do zai masu - that’s Happy Birthday in Japanese !

October “babies”

October “babies” Chris and Jessica had the privilege to celebrate their birthday at Ivy’s residence in Mutiara Damansara . Married to a Japanese , Ivy treated us to some home cooked Japanese cuisine .

Sushi queen Amelia and gang were early to help with the sushi – errr…… which resulted in different sizes? Those big ones must be from Amelia! The sushi were yummy , rolled with egg, cucumber, preserved radish, tuna.

Sushi

I simply love the cucumber pickles . Made from thin slices of Japanese cucumber, just marinate with some Japanese vinegar, salt and sugar to taste. Light and refreshing.

Cucumber pickle

The grilled Saba fish was truly delicious. Just simply grilled over the electric grill, the meat was sweet and juicy.

Grilling saba fish

Saba fish, ready to eat!

The “dessert” was cold tofu . It was really cool – first time I enjoyed cold tofu !

Cold tofu

Amelia and her tofu

Ah….then the drinks! Carol took the trouble to bring all her “kar chan” to make us ice-blended tropical cocktail – which was quite potent! Whatever there was inside, the party became a bit more noisy after the second round of drinks! Ivy had those cute little wine tags and we had so much fun choosing our tags ! Thanks Carol! Next time will be frozen margarita!

Tropical ice blended cocktail

Carol - Sexiest bartender !

Yum seng ?

What’s a birthday celebration without a cake? The cake was specially ordered and even though arrived late , was well worth the wait !

The cake

Happy Birthday Chris !

生日快乐Jessica !

The Great Pumpkin

Do you like pumpkin? I just lurve it !

Mum used to stir fry it with some dried shrimps. I prefer them steamed. Taste really good!
The popularity of pumpkin has caught on recently and people has gotten more creative in using pumpkin - like pumpkin fried rice and pumpkin bee hoon - truly delicious!

Bought a pumpkin 2 days ago and mum cooked half of it. Today , she asked me to use the the other half to make pumpkin cake.

Hmmm...Ok its my first attempt and I wanted to bring out the fulll flavor of pumpkin. So I tried this and it worked ! So Yummy ! An easy no- fail recipe !



Steamed Pumpkin Cake




Half a pumpkin ( pumpkin size was about 7" diameter - sorry I forgot to weigh ! )
- cut away the skin and seeds, dice into half inch cubes
Use 1/3 of the pumpkin and pulverise in a blender with 1 cup of water.

1/2 cup dried shrimp - deep fry till crispy. Set aside half for the cake.
Pulverise the balance and set aside to use as topping.

1 cup minced chicken
1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup water

Method:

Heat up 3 Tbsp oil and stir fry mince chicken. Add in the pumpkin and continue to fry. Add in the blended pumpkin and continue to cook another 5 minutes. Add the dried shrimp.Add salt and 1/4 tsp chicken stock granules(optional).

Mix the rice flour with 1/2 cup water. add to the mixture and continue to cook till it thickens.

Put the entire mixture into a 10" pan and steam for 30 minutes.

Cool , sprinkle the pulverised dried shrimps and serve.You can also add in dried onions.

********************************************************************

Do you know ...............?


>>>>>The largest pumpkin pie ever made was over five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. It used 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and took six hours to bake.

>>>>>Pumpkins are members of the vine crops family called cucurbits

>>>>>The name pumpkin orginated from "pepon" – the Greek word for "large melon."
>>>>>Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A.

>>>>>Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites

>>>>>Pumpkins are monoecious, having both male and female flowers


Female Flower.
The pumpkin forms at the base of the flower.



Male pumpkin flower


>>>>>The word "pumpkin" is rated the 40th most beautiful word in the English language, according to a recent survey by the British Council. ( But puleese , don't call me pumpkin! )

*************************************************************** PUMPKIN JOKES

What is a pumpkin's favorite sport? Squash

What's the ratio of a pumpkin's circumference to its diameter?
Pumpkin Pi