Sunset Chicken and Veggies

Haha. Poetic name, no? Anyway, Puasa not withstanding, my sungkais here have been less than satisfactory. A lot of eating out, quite a bit of indomie as well. Sigh. Seems like I haven't had a proper dinner since I came back! How depressing.

Our new kitchen is really nice, if a bit small. Its got a lovely large oven (which I can't wait to use to make cookies, or something! so nice!) and a breakfast bar, which the other two were simple ecstatic about. One of my main complaints is that since we don't have a dining table yet, we have to eat all our meals there. Since *someone* refuses to get a low dinner table (akin to those Japanese dinner tables in all those dramas/animes ;) ) and we don't really have space for a dinner table AND chairs, I doubt we would be getting one anytime soon... A pity, really.

Anyway, it seems like our schedules have all stabilised a bit now, so I look forward to regular dinners ;) We start off with a really simple one here...

What you need:
Chicken thighs
Ground turmeric (kunyit)
Tomato sauce
Salt
Sugar
Chilli powder

What you do:

1. Mix everything (except for the chicken) according to taste until you get a nice smooth paste. Your chicken can be very tomato-ey or very kunyit-y, depending on how you want it to taste like.
2. Make slashes into the flesh of the chicken thighs with a sharp knife. Rub the paste from above into the chicken, especially into the cuts made in the chicken.
3. Marinate for as long as you can. One day if possible, at least half an hour if you're short of time.
4. Sprinkle as much (or as little) chilli powder over the chicken.
5. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 C for about 40 minutes to one hour, or until the chicken juices run clear.

I gave this chicken its name due to the lovely golden colour (yes yes, I know its blurry) it gets from the turmeric and chilli powder. This is actually an adapted recipe from our family "cookbook." Its been known with various names, particularly "Ayam Bakar Kuning". But I think my name for it now is much nicer, haha.

This is a particularly versatile dish, I think. The actual ingredients can be varied to your taste (although, of course, turmeric is the main component) and it can be cooked in various ways, as well. We have the baked one here, but it can also be fried, braised, etc etc etc (at least, I'm pretty sure it can, hee ~)

This was one of the recipes from Brunei that I made sure to remember, since I really like it. I can't quite get it the same though, since the chicken was not quite as moist as I remember. Well, the chicken itself was tender, but the skin was slightly dry. Weird... oh well... Oh, and for added flavour, you could add asam jawa (or tamarinds) to your marinade. I think that would be quite nice.

But but but! Chicken was not my only dish tonight! I also cooked (coz Hadi insisted) a dish of vegetables! It was relatively simple: chopped up cabbage, carrots and broccoli simmered in oyster sauce (and a bit of water) until they were soft, then drizzled with sesame oil. I don't dare go exotic with vegetables yet, since this IS my first time cooking veggies. But it didn't turn out too bad, actually! Even I ate it, which is saying something! True, I didn't have that much, and I didn't dare touch the broccoli, but its a start! Soon, I'll be a regular rabbit! Hee~

Quote of the day: Food is an important part of a balanced diet. ;)