Sweet Ginger Chicken

Hadi likes ginger a lot, I think. So far, he's done about three dishes, all bearing ginger in their titles, including this one. I don't really mind all that much I guess. I think ginger has a pretty good flavour, as long as you don't bite into it, hehe. Although Hadi likes biting into it, heh. Anyway, in this dish, ginger is fried briefly to soften their their flavour, then simmered with sweet soy sauce and chicken to make a ginger-flavoured ayam kicap, hehe. So, here we go!

What you need:
Chicken pieces (we had guests over, so we used a lot this time, heh)
2 inches fresh ginger, chopped finely
4 tablespoons kicap manis (sweet soy sauce)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 cup water, plus extra
1 tablespoon cornflour, dissolved in extra water to make a paste
Sprinkling of cayenne pepper and turmeric, for seasoning
Oil, for frying

What you do:

1. Heat up some oil in a wok and fry the ginger for about 3 minutes, or until softened.
2. Add the chicken and fry briefly, until browned - about 5 minutes.
3. Add the soy sauces and water. Sprinkle cayenne pepper and turmeric and mix well. Simmer over medium-high heat until chicken is tender all the way through - about 20 minutes.
4. Add cornflour paste to thicken the sauce and simmer for about 2 minutes. Serve.

This tasted like a typical ayam kicap recipe, except for the ginger, of course. There was really a lot of ginger in there. Hadi used the sweet soy sauce because well, he likes sweet things. It was quite nice, just very familiar. Typical Hadi recipe, heh. He likes to simmer things, because you can basically forget about it for the next 30 minutes or so.

If I were Hadi, I would've been very nervous, because I don't like cooking for unfamiliar people. I'm always scared that I'll mess up in some way, heh. Low self esteem, that's me. But Hadi handled it like a pro (although he *did* do it a bit late, since everyone was starving very early in the evening, hehe) And he did quite well, I think. I'm pretty sure our guests were happy with the food. :D

It was quite an interesting experience though, hehe. Hadi was cooking for five people, which, in our small kitchen, is quite hard. The rice was just about enough, and we didn't have a table to fit everyone! We had to eat on a towel on the floor. :P How sad... But it was a very social dinner, so I quite enjoyed it, hehe.

Because of our guests, we decided to show them some parts of Bristol. So, we went all the way to the main university area, just to get a cup of hot chocolate, which we could've gotten at home anyway! It was really cold tonight, almost freezing! It was really foggy as well, which it has been for the last couple of days, heh. Its fun seeing all the fog, something you almost never get in Brunei, hehe. Apparently, the fog in London was worse, but its still nice to have some fog. Its cold, but it feels like you're in an exotic place, hoho. Plus, doesn't the hot chocolate look like it was worth the journey??? Ahahaha.

I'm quite sleepy, so sorry if my post this time sounds a bit incoherent. Until tomorrow~

Quote of the day: This kitchen is closed because of illness - sick of cooking.