Puasa Special: Puff Pastries

Puff pastries are absolutely delicious! When made properly, they practically melt in your mouth, with the juicy filling just oozing out. The choice of filling is yours, either sweet or savoury. What I'll give here is the savoury kind, though you should technically be able to do the sweet kind as well. I'm not sure if the puff pastry would be sweet in that case, though.

So...what exactly is puff pastry? Puff pastry is a really flaky, really buttery pastry that is really difficult to make. They are the epitome of Puasa (and Raya) food - too troublesome to make everyday, but oh so delicious and impressive looking! So try the recipe below ... if you dare ;):

What you need:
Butter
Flour
Salt
Iced Water

Filling - similar to that in the Bun recipe before

What you do:

1. Sift the flour and salt onto a large clean surface. Add just a little bit of butter (which is just soft enough so that it would be easy to knead) and ice-cold water. Knead gently, until the dough is smooth and does not stick to your fingers. Add more eater if needed - the dough should be nice and elastic.
2. Divide the dough into 2, and roll out each one seperately, in quite thin pieces. Spread soft butter or margarine (but not melted!) onto one flat piece, and place the other piece on the butter, to make a sandwich, of sorts. Roll the sandwich gently, to seal the butter in. Make sure that the butter does not leak through the edges.
3. Fold one third of the dough towards the middle, then the remaining third towards the middle, to form 3 layers. Press down gently, but do not seal the edges. Place in the refrigerator to cool down for about 15 minutes.
4. Place it onto a floured surface. Roll and fold as before, with the unsealed edges now in the middle of the pastry. Turn and repeat 3 more times. Place in the fridge for about 15 minutes to cool down.
5. Repeat step 4 one more time. The pastry is now ready to use. At all times, make sure the pastry is cool and never let the butter melt. Otherwise, you will lose the flakiness. make the pastry a day before filling, leaving it in the fridge the whole time before using, to make sure that all the butter inside has hardened.
6. To fill the pastry, roll out the pastry into a flat piece. Trim the edges. Divide into 2 (or 3, if you have a particular big piece). Place the desired filling into the middle of each piece, and carefully wrap the pastry around it to form a "log".
7. These pastry logs can be stored for quite a long time in the freezer, so you can make them in advance, then whip them out for guests whenever you want.
8. To cake the pastries, cut the pastry logs into bite sized pieces - with a SHARP knife! the pastry must be frozen when baked in the oven. Brush lightly beaten egg over each piece. Place into an oven preheated at 230 C and bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

These pastries can be eaten hot or cold, though the y are particularly yummy hot. *drool* (why, oh why, am I writing this masa puasa?) They are particularly impressive when served for Raya. Engage your guests in some conversation while they are baking in the oven, excuse yourself for a bit, and come back with piping hot puff pastries! Make them slightly smaller in this case, and place them into little pastry cases (you know...the paper cases they use for tarts and stuff?) before serving them on a pretty plate. I guarantee your guests will be amazed!

Unfortunately, puff pastry is quite tedious to make. Do not overhandle the dough, or let the butter melt. If it shows any sign of being too soft, pop it into the fridge (or freezer) to cool down for a bit before continuing. Obviously, don't work in direct sunlight. The extra dough you get from trimming the edges in step 6 can still be used. Cut them into smaller pieces and roll them (with your hands, I mean) to form smaller "empty" puffs - which are still quite yummy! Or you can mix with a little bit of cheese, and bake them.

Ready-made puff pastry IS available (though I'm not so sure in Brunei), but the ones I've tried before leave a lot to be desired. They weren't as rich and buttery, nor were they as flaky as home-made pastry - and the rich and buttery flakiness of puff pastry is what makes it so yummy! But they do provide an easier alternative, I admit. Also, in case my instructions were too garbled for you, here's a site that provides an illustrated recipe for making puff pastries. I am sure though, that as you get more experienced, you will have no more need for it ;)

Puasa Special: Easy Kebabs

Again, this is not really one of my favorites, though my family members really really like it. Hanisah claimed that she would be able to eat 4 or 5 of these! One good thing though, the filling of these kebabs are easily adjusted so that anyone can eat it - even picky me! And they are easily made in advance, and keep well, so they are an easy Sungkai food! So....what are you waiting for? ;)

What you need:
Minced beef
Minced onions
Minced garlic
Curry Powder
Salt
Tomato sauce
Chilli sauce
Mayonaise
Cucumber
Fresh tomato

Pitta bread

What you do:

1. Marinate the minced beef with the onions, garlic, curry powder and salt for about 15 minutes.
2. Heat up a little oil in a frying pan and add the beef. When almost cooked through, season with tomato or chilli sauce, depending on how hot you want it to be.
3. At this point, the filling can be stored in the fridge for a few days, until you need it.
4. To assemble the kebabs, chop up the cucumber and tomato into small pieces, and mix it into the beef filling.
5. Cut the pitta bread into half to form pockets, and spread mayonaise on the inside.
6. Fill it with the beef and vegetable mixture, and you're done! If you're serving it later, heat briefly in a microwave to warm it up.

The thing that is nice about these kebabs is that they can be adapted to almost anyone's taste. For example, I take mine without mayo or veggies - a "plain" kebab, if you like. Apparently, its better if you chop beef up into small pieces by hand, but pre-minced beef is an easier alternative. You don't even have to use beef! Feel free to use lamb, chicken, fish, veggies... anything you want, really! Serve with a fresh green salad to make it a healthier meal.

When I eat plain kebabs that are sold in restaurants/shops, they always come off too... dry, somehow, since they are meant to be served with mayo and other sauces. But these homemade kebabs are just right... juicy enough, but not too wet so that they are too hard to eat. Of course, you might say these aren't authentic kebabs, since kebab meat should be slowly roasted on on a skewer, but again, these are a cheaper (and most likely healthier!) kebabs than commercially available ones. At least you KNOW what goes into the kebabs ;)

Puasa Special: Jeruk Belimbing

Edit: Right....so I made a boo-boo. Apparently, you do not use baby starfruit. Apparently, its a completely different belimbing altogether. Erm, the informal Brunei nickname for it is quite... hmm... but apparently, the Malaysians call it belimbing asam? familiar anyone? Anyways, what you use for the jeruk belimbing is the mature fruit, not the baby one...

And, if it it helps any, just last night (during a tahlil thing at my grandmother's) I saw someone praising this jeruk with my own eyes ;) Ibu had brought over the jeruk to serve at the table. At the end of the tahlil, the lady was saying how nyaman it was, and took a plastic bag to tapau some of it. So yea... if you try your hand at making this, I'm sure you won't be disappointed! :D

Jeruk belimbing (or preserved starfruit) is something I do not eat, I have to admit. But our relatives really like this, and there have been repeated requests for the recipe, so why not feature it here? :D

What you need:
Young starfruit
Salt
Sugar
A lot of water

What you do:

1. Like all fruit, wash the starfruit, no matter where you got them from.
2. Chop them up into large pieces, maybe 2 or 3 pieces per fruit.
3. Soak in salted water for about 10-12 hours. At this point, the green fruit would have turned yellow.
4. Transfer the fruit pieces into jars filled with concentrated sugar water. This should be a very thick solution. Store in the fridge, and serve whenever you want! :D

And that's it! This recipe actually came about because unfortunately, our starfruits do not develop into ripe starfruits easily. They either just fall of the tree, or are hijack ed by the monkeys as soon as they are ready to eat (or maybe even a little before!) Which is a pity, because I do remember picking the ripe starfruits a few years back. It seems as though circumstances have changed, sigh. Here's how the baby starfruit look like ^^

If you want, you can add chillies into the final step, to give the jeruk a bit of a zing! Cut them up and just stir well to mix. Serve the jars straight from the fridge, with little bowls so that people can take what they want :D I'm sure this will be very popular, particularly with adults. Children might not quite be so fond of it. :P Another jeruk we sometimes make is jeruk manga... But that's another recipe for another day ;)

Honey-Roasted Cashew Nuts

Now this is another family favorite that is super easy to make. All you need is an oven, and raw cashews - as well as various things with which to flavour them :) In this case, we use honey.

What you need:
Raw cashew nuts
Honey
Salt
Icing sugar

What you do:

1. Preheat an oven to 100 C. Spread the cashews single layer on a baking tray, and roast in the oven until they are a light golden brown.
2. Place the cashews (Careful! They're hot!) into a large-ish bowl. Drizzle the honey (as much as you like) and just a pinch of salt onto them, and mix well.
3. Spread the honey-covered cashews onto the baking tray, and place once more into the oven for about 15 minutes.
4. Let it cool, then dust the cashews with icing sugar to prevent them from sticking, and ta-dah! You're done!

Cashews are the only nuts I eat. i used to like pistachios, but because of an unfortunate incident, I no longer do. My other siblings also like cashews, although they do eat other kinds of nuts. We particularly like the honey-roasted version that is sold in shops. So its no surprise that Ibu would try and duplicate it. Coz you have to admit... they are quite overpriced! Granted, this isn't exactly the same, but I think it is a good enough substitute. Our other relatives certainly like them well enough when we bring this along :D

Other than honey, you can flavour your cashews with just plain salt, dust them with plain icing sugar, or just eat them like that! They are also an easy Hari Raya finger food, to serve to your guests. And why not? Nuts are healthy for you, particularly cashew nuts :D Right! Time for a little health education, hee~

1. Nuts can lower your risk of heart disease. Yes, nuts do contain a lot of oil, but this is the healthy oil! Unsaturated fats are good for you, and a diet rich in them (instead of saturated animal fats) have been shown to lead to a heart-healthy life.
2. Cashews, in particular, have a lower fat content than most other nuts, with at least 75% being unstaturated fatty acids. And 75% of the UNSATURATED fatty acids are apparently oelic acid - the same fatty acid associated with olive oil!
3. Each nut has specific health benefits, so it is recommended that you eat a variety. (Um, oops?) Cashews are said to have a lot of iron, which is needed for haemoglobin in your blood. They also have significant amounts of copper, magnesium, zinc and biotin, each of which is essential in some part of your body.

So enjoy some nuts in your everyday life! Cashews, in particular, are quite versatile. They are common ingredients in Indian and Chinese cooking, and can even be eaten in salads and the like. Eat some nuts everyday, and be healthy healthy healthy!

Note: The information above is for general knowledge only, and should not be a replacement for professional advice ;)

Puasa Special: Chicken and Beef Buns

This year is the first time in 2 years I get to puasa (for a few days, at least) in Brunei. Yayz! And of course, wiht most households, Puasa brings out...special dishes. Dishes which would otherwise not see the light of day. Dishes that are usually too troublesome to make, but are "okay" after a (hard) day's fasting. My house, in fact, has several so called "Puasa Dishes", which I will introduce in various Puasa Specials throughout my week here (actually, less than a week, how sad). So anyway, here we go!

What you need:

75g butter
150g flour
3-4 eggs
250ml water
1/2 tsp salt

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or minced beef
Frozen uncooked fries
Various seasonings, eg salt, pepper, soy sauce

What you do:

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, place the water and butter. Heat until the butter melts and the water is boiling.
2. Add the flour all at once, and stir vigorously until the mixture is well combined. Take off the heat.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring well to combine fully before adding the next one. Stir the mixture until it looks slightly shiny and does not stick as much to the saucepan surface.
4. To make the filling, its up to you! For the chicken filling, I would make a sort of Chicken Pie-type filling, only a bit more drier. To do this, boil the chicken in salted water until cooked. To make it easier, use pre-minced chicken. Add chopped up uncooked fries, and simmer until the potato is soft. Season well with chicken stock, salt and pepper.
5. For the beef filling, first stiryfry garlic, onions and curry powder until soft. Add tomato sauce, salt and pepper, then add the minced beef and frozen potatoes. Cook until both the meat and potato is cooked.
6. To assemble the bun, flatten a bit of the egg dough in your hand, and place some of the filling tin the middle of it. Wrap the dough around the filling to form the bun. Press the bun lightly to join the edges.
7. Brush the top of the buns with lightly beaten egg, place on a baking tray and bake in an oven (180 C) for about 30 minutes. They are best eaten while hot, but are still yumym when cold. :D Try it!

This, I am proud to say, is an original recipe by Ibu :D hehehe, so take note of it, people! ;) When we brought this to our relative's house for the first sungkai this time round, people were ooh-ing over it.

This is actually a very easy recipe. I might even make it once in the UK, if I ever have time. For Raya, maybe? If you want to make a large batch, feel free to multiply the ingredients by the respective amounts, but watch it on the eggs. You don't want the dough to go too soft, but it can't be too stiff either.

Feel free to use whatever you like for the filling, really. The chicken one is the most popular one in my house, but its up to your personal taste. The seasonings can be varied quite considerably, I think, since egg goes with quite a lot of things. And yes, egg is the main flavour of the dough. The bun is soft, and creamy and very egg-y :P You can even use a fully vegetable filling, I should think! Not that I am a fan of vegetables...

To decorate further, you can sprinkle some sesame seeds over the egg glaze before baking the buns. This can also be quite useful in distingushing between different fillings, as we have done with the beef buns. :D

Unfortunately, these buns do not store well, so bake them the day you make them. Also, they are quite fragile, so serve them as a single layer, as far as possible.

And that's it from me this time round! Look forward to the next Puasa Special :D

Pasar Malam

Now that Puasa is finally here again, pasar malams (or pasars malams? maybe just night markets :P) will be getting more and more common. I cheated a bit, and took pictures at the market at the back of the Gadong Wet Market during the day (ahem, Yeah, a lot of cheating :P), but they are all essentially the same, I think.

So, to those of you who are not familiar with pasar malam (I myself have been to one only since this year, I am ashamed to admit) shame on you! Go out and experience one aspect of Bruneian night life ;) I find it very fascinating. There are so many things being sold at cheap prices in such a small space! Absolutely wonderful! Among the more common items are pre-cooked food, freshly cooked food, fresh fruits and veggies, and um....clothes. Yeah, clothes, and perfumes and the like. Like I said, absolutely interesting :P

Now a lot of you out there (if anyone is still reading my poor neglected blog, sniff sniff) will probably know much much more about pasar malam than me. In fact, I have a nagging feeling that several things I've said already are wrong. But oh well! Leaving that aside, I'll only hit the high spots. My absolute favorites. The stars of pasar malam. (You will realise that my pictures are actually taken during the day. Please disregard this. I no longer have the energy to go out at night, sigh. :( Plus pictures are better taken during the day really.)

So, first up, is.... Keropok Lekor! I have only heard of this 'keropok' since last year, so I am not sure how long it has been around. Its not really a keropok, to me. When I first heard of it, I thought it was the usual crunchy keropok ikan. Apparently, its not. Keropok lekor is this fabulously crispy, completely oily, superbly unhealthy sna ck made of flour and fish. I didn't really want to try it, coz I am really not a fan of fish (yes, again, the chicken girl thing ;) ) but when I did... wow! It was a revelation! It is fried proof that anything that is unhealthy for you will taste good, no matter how much you don't like the base ingredients :P That said, like most other dishes in pasar malam, you have to look around for the best ones, pick a favorite ;) There was one stall we bought it from that put a lot more fish in them than the first one I tasted. Izzah liked it very much, but it gave me an allergic reaction instead :/ Even though I'm pretty sure it has no crustaceans. Ah well...

Next up is... well, ok, I lied. I only wanted to talk about the keropok lekor... I still don't know the market well enough to talk about the various food highlights :( But I will give examples on what kind of food you can get, hehe. So... next up, is the salai section! Ikan salai (or smoked fish) is one of Ibu's favouritest dishes, though I don't like it muc h. There are usually different varieties of fish available, and for some reason, they are usually sold side by side with tongkeng ayam (you reaaallly don't want to know the translation for this. If you don't know what it is, keep it that way :P). I would've thought tongkeng (okay, okay! its chicken butt. At least, i think it is) would've been sold next to satay. But anyway, again, tongkeng being sold on a stick like satay, is again, a new development for me. I have never heard about it before this year. Like the keropok lekor, it is super unhealthy and very very very very fatty. Hee~ I have not tasted it, and do not plan to anytime soon. :P To get addicted to it is scary, and besides, I've tasted tongkeng once before, and didn't really like it.

Anyways, asides from the food that is cooked while you wait, there are also various foods and drinks that are pre-made at home and brought to the market by the vendor. Almost every kind of food you can think of will be sold. There's mee goreng, nasi goreng, ayam goreng, cakoi, soto and.... well, all sorts really! Which is why these stalls are so popular during Puasa with the people who are too busy (or lazy :P) to cook. You can get (almost) anything your heart desires! ;) Even traditional Brune i food is sold, like in the last picture. I have no idea what its name is, unfortunately. In my house, it goes as "makanan brunei" :P It seems to be a pancake type thing with nuts, or something, as filling.

But the pasar malam is not just about cooked food! Oh no, not at all. Fresh fruits and vegetables (though not so much of the latter at true pasar malams, I think) are also available and super super cheap prices! The vegetables are all fresh and green, and the in-season fruits look really fresh! (Though by the end of the season , they look decidedly unwell...). Like the food section, the more popular vendors will have a constant stream of customers, while their neighbours look enviously on. For the smaller seasonal fruits (like rambutan, or lychee! yum!) some sellers would even urge you to taste a couple before you buy, to make sure it really is very sweet. That is so nice of them, I think, hee ~

Sigh, talking about all this food is getting me hungry... So, I suppose I'm off for now :D Selamat berpuasa everyone! *looking forward for my first sahur in 2 years* hee~

Charcoal BBQ & Grill

Charcoal is one of those places that I always hear about, but never bothered going. Well, ta-dah! As a last minute thing before the start of puasa, we went there today (at the recommendation of Ka Pijah who, apparently, is addicted to the food there).

Anyway, as soon as we entered, the place impressed. Although it was a bit *too* dim for me (I prefer a brighter sunnier room), the restaurant was very cosy and exuded a quiet warmth. Or maybe that was just me feeling the heat of the grill. Yes, like most restaurants nowadays it seems, you can also watch the chefs at Charcoal prepare your food as you wait. The seating all looked *very* comfortable. Unfortunately, they were unable to seat a party of 10 at the comfy chairs, so we got typical restaurant chairs instead :(

Service was (unexpectedly) good. As soon as we came in and joined the other people in our group who were already there, we were seated and handed a menu. We did have to wait a while before we were able to place our orders, but that was nothing major.

One look at the menu, and I'm glad that we were being treated there by one of my aunts (as opposed to me paying for myself :P). The main dishes were upwards of $15 typically, and the appetisers were about $5 each. The drinks and desserts were also not less than $5 each, eep! >.<>

Apparently, THE best dish in the restaurant (according to Ka Pijah) is the ribs (from beef - or cows? - in case you're wondering). I forget the full name of the dish, but they come in two seasonings, I think - hot and honey. Because there were so many of us, we ordered the party platter, which consisted of chicken wings (appetisers), corn on the cob, various veggies and of course, the ribs. Each platter was about enough to serve 4-5 people (relatively big eaters, all of us).

The food was actually quite good, although I had some misgivings, since it WAS beef (hey, I

'm a chicken girl! ;) ) But the ribs were reeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllly tender, and I mean REALLY tender, and were not all that strong tasting really. You could barely tell it was beef. The seasoning was acceptable, though a bit too sweet for me. I think we didn't get the spicy version, but we did get spicy chicken wings, which was waaaaaayyyyyyyy too hot. I could smell the spiciness, without even tasting the chicken. So yeah, hot. As I me ntioned before, lighting was really dim, so my picture isn't all that great, but oh well, good enough, I guess.

The presentation of the food was actually quite good, particularly the drinks and desserts. I think they just love putting all sorts of decorations for the drinks, even an aloevera leaf o n the rim of one of the cups! (Note, this should not be sucked on. Pretending to have an aloevera leaf tongue is really not as funny as you may think it is. I hope you get the POINT). Even the apple juice looked really nice, but I got a horrible picture so I'm not going to show you what it looks like :P But here are a few pictures you can drool over.

So my verdict? The food was good, though a bit too pricey, for me. It wasn't really my type of food though, since I definitely enjoy chicken more. A beef person might enjoy it more, a pure meat eater very much so, since practically the whole meal consisted of just protein protein protein (except for the drinks and desserts, of course. And the wedges.). But it was defnitely an interesting experience. I'll probably never go there again, unless someone brings me along (um, hint? :P) but I defnitely recommend to those of you who like their meat to go and try this out. :)

Pan-Fried Garlic Chicken

This was actually to be roasted, but because of a miscommunication, somehow or other, I had to fry it instead. Oh well, it didn't actually turn out all that bad, so I might try the oven-cooked version someday.

What you need:
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoonds soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon dried parsley
Salt, to taste
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but into 3 inch pieces
Dried parsley, to taste

What you do:

1. Mix the butter, garlic, soy sauce, pepper, salt and parsley in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 2 minutes, or until the butter is melted.
2. Pour the butter mixture over the chicken and marinate for at least 15 minutes.
3. Heat a non-stick pan over high heat, and add the chicken, a few pieces at a time. Make sure they are flat on the pan surface. Fry until one side of the chicken is golden-brown, then turn and fry the other side. Absolutely no oil is required, the butter in the marinade will more than make up for it.
4. Drain the butter from the chicken, place on a serving dish, and garnish with more parsley. Serve immediately.

I wasn't sure what kind of reaction to expect, but I felt slightly disconcerted when I served this for lunch, because I heard....nothing. Just silence, even from the resident picky eater. No complaints, but no praises either.

Looking for some confirmation, I asked everyone how the chicken was. They all said it was delicious, but what kind of answer can they give to tha t question anyway? :P But, I guess I'll take their word for it, cause even I found it yummy. I wasn't sure that people would like so much garlic taste, but even Qawi took second helpings, which was reassuring. So...YEY! Another success for an Ihsan original recipe! ;)

I think the baked version might look a little better though. Not quite sure about the taste, but presentation will definitely be better. If you want to try it out, I suggest you use thighs, boneless if possible, skinless, if you want. Marinate the chicken in half of the butter mixture for about 15 minutes, then pop it into a 180 C oven, single layer with the skin side up. Baste occasionally with the extra marinade (this is where the chicken will start looking nice and pretty :) ). Once cooked through, sprinkle with more dried parsley and serve immediately :D Use the juices in the baking pan to make a gravy, if you want.

Golden Roast Chicken

This recipe is derived from the recipe contributed by Hamizah a few posts ago. She said that it was the basis of her "mummy-style Ideal chicken" and I must say, it certainly is sweet enough. My siblings said that it didn't taste much like Ideal chicken though, sorry Mizah ;) Although, that might have been partly my fault. The original 'recipe' only had four ingredients, and short ingredient lists make me nervous. So I took the liberty of adding a few more things. Oh well... Live and learn ;)

What you need:
1 whole chicken
Golden syrup
Minced shallots
Minced garlic
Salt
Tomato ketchup
Soy sauce (light, with a splash of dark)
-> All ingredients should be used according to your own taste. Bear in mind that golden syrup is almost pure sugar...

What you do:

1. Combine all ingredients (except the chicken) in a bowl and mix well.
2. Pour over the chicken in a small bowl, or even better, a container. Marinate for at least one day in the fridge.
3. Check that the chicken hasn't frozen in the fridge. If it had, defrost, then pop in an oven heated to 180 C.
4. Roast for about 1 hour, or until the chicken juices run clear. Baste the chicken with the extra marinade once in awhile during the cooking process, to achieve a nice go lden colour.

My main mistake in making the marinade was that it didn't have enough salt. The chicken had flavour, but only of sugar. Not very pleasant for someone who doesn't really like sweet things. So if I make this again, I would add more salt.

In fact, I would add more of everything else as well, particularly the minced shallots and garlic. I'm a big fan of them now, haha, and I didn't quite get a taste of them in the chicken. All I tasted was sugar, sugar and more sugar. The marinade smelled really good while I was making it, but I should've had a taste, just to make sure. The presentation of the chicken sure turned out well though, mostly due to the basting of the chicken with the marinade while it was cooking. So I fully recommend you do this, although it can be quite troublesome, I admit.

While marinating the chicken, turn it once in awhile, to make sure that all parts of the chicken absorb the marinade. Or, even better, place in a plastic bag that is just big enough for the chicken, and make sure the marinade covers the whole chicken once the bag is closed tight. Feel free to use chicken pieces (instead of whole chicken) if you want. They'll take a shorter time to cook, so check the oven once in awhile.

Personally, I did think it tasted like Ideal chicken, but no one else agreed. Oh well, to me, all sweet chicken taste almost the same, haha. I would like to add more ingredients (with perhaps less of the golden syrup) next time. It won't be much like Ideal's chicken then, but I think this would be a good base for sweet chicken. Just add your own flavourings :D

And on a side note, no water supply for more than 36 hours now, and we're still counting. Apparently, its a problem with the pump now, no longer the electricity. FUNtastic, yea? ;) Or rather, SMELLerific, haha. Or FUMEtastic... or PONGtastic? hahaha, that was a particularly good one. Right.... I am just babbling now... I'm off!

Quote of the day: When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time!

10-Minute Ayam Kicap

No, I am not kidding. This superbly simple recipe for ayam kicap (soysauce chicken) takes only 10 minutes to cook! Maybe even less, depending on how you cook it. Great for all those last minute cooking assignments :D And its yummy too! What more can you ask? :D

What you need:
Boneless (skinless, if you prefer) chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 2 inch cubes
4 teaspoons cornflour
4 teaspoons minced garlic
4 teaspoons minced shallots
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons white vinegar
6 tablespoons soysauce (I used mostly light, with a splash of dark for colour)
1/3 cup water
Chilli powder, to taste (optional)
Sesame oil, to taste
Oil, for cooking

What you do:

1. Marinate the chicken briefly in sesame oil (at least 15 minutes) and coat lightly in cornflour.
2. Heat some oil in a wok, and stirfry the chicken pieces.
3. Once the chicken is almost cooked, add in the minced onions and garlic. Stir to mix thoroughly.
4. Once the chicken is cooked and is nice and aromatic (from the garlic and onions :D yum!), add in the sugar, vinegar, soysauce and water.
5. Simmer until the sauce is nice and thick. Sprinkle in the chilli powder, if you want, and drizzle some sesame oil. Mix well and serve immediately.

When I told my family that I was cooking "Special Ayam Kicap" for lunch, most of them groaned. Admittedly, I have made quite a few special ayam kicaps, and not all of them have turned out all that different. Thankfully, this one tasted just enough to make a difference :D

First, the fact that the onions and garlic were minced (mine were actually put through the food processer) gave a huge impact to the sauce. With every bite, there is this delicate flavour of onions and garlic, which really is quite nice :D In fact, this brought some comparisions with teroyaki chicken (which, in some recipes, does have onions and garlic :D) While you may feel free to add in some sliced onions, I do fully recommend that you add in at least some minced ones. In fact, if I ever cook this again, I would probably add in some minced ginger as well :D Just make sure to add it in just before the chicken is cooked, not too early, otherwise they might burn. Particularly the minced ones. Ooooo, and add in some spring onions together with the sesame oil in the last step. I didn't have any handy, but it would make the chicken taste even nicer! (and look better, hehe)

Also, do coat the chicken in cornflour first, before stirfrying it. Don't be lazy, hehe. It doesn't take all that long and helps the yumminess factor of the dish tremendously. First of all, the cornflour helps to thicken the sauce, later on in the cooking process. Plus, this is just my theory, but the cornflour coat seems to help the sauce "stick" to the chicken better, giving a much more flavoursome chicken :D

Thighs really are the best pieces to use, but if you wish t o control what you eat, feel free to use breasts instead. I've just heard about some fairly alarming facts about eating chicken tonight actually, but I am thinking (hoping!!) that it was just all an exaggeration. Everyone hope with me! ;)

Oyster Sauce Roast Chicken

Whee~ Finally another update. I haven't actually been cooking much the past week, and even if I do, I just use repeat recipes. This was another Ihsan "hantam" recipe. Its a nice and simple recipe that yields quite a delicious result. Yey, anyone? ;) I was given only 15 minutes to come up with this, hehe. Last minute cooking assigment :P I would say.. I passed ;)

What you need:
One whole chicken (or smaller pieces, if you want)
Oyster sauce
Tomato ketchup
Hoisin sauce
Black pepper
Sesame oil

What you do:

1. Brush the chicken all over with sesame oil and leave for about 5 minutes (including inside the chicken cavity, if you're using whole chicken).
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients (according to taste) together and smear (ahem. spread) all over the chicken. Leave to marinate for at least two hours if you have time.
3. Pop the chicken into an oven heated to 180 C and roast for about 45 minutes, or until the juices run clear.
4. Brush some more sesame oil over the hot chicken, and serve immediately.

Since most of my siblings are not too big fans of hoisin sauce, I just used one teaspoon of that, just enough to give some flavour. The main flavour, of course, should come from the oyster sauce. Unfortunately, Hanisah, who is a huge fan of oyster sauce chicken claimed that this didn't taste like oyster sauce. Too much tomato sauce, maybe?

I quite liked it actually (files it away for UK use). Funnily enough, even though oyster sauce features prominently in our meals there, we never t ried roasting it. We've tried roasting all sorts of flavours though, including curry - which was a complete disaster, for me anyway :P And yes, I know the picture is not the best ever. But the lighting wasn't the best ever... :P

Just so you know, from our experience, once roast chicken is done, it released a lot of juices. If your chicken looks almost burnt but still doesn't have a lot of juices, the oven temperature is probably too high. But, once the juices are plentiful, remove from the oven otherwise you'll end up with tough dry chicken ;)