Gooey Chicken

Come to think of it, we haven't had a stir-fry dish for awhile. You know, a proper one with shallots and onions and chicken all covered in oyster sauce. I complained about their frequency for awhile, but now I'm actually missing the simplicity and general saltiness, hehehe. So, tonight, Justin decides to serve up a *slightly* modified version of his usual stirfry. Here we go!

What you need:
3 boneless chicken pieces, cut into bite-sized pieces (we used drumsticks)
1 cup Japanese breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon garlic powder (or 3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped finely)

1 onion, sliced finely
3 shallots, sliced finely
2 dried red chillies, chopped
3 dried shiitake mushrooms, sliced finely (after 10 minutes soak in hot water)
Oil, for cooking

2 tablespoons oyster sauce, in some water
Sesame oil
White pepper

1 tablespoon cornflour, mixed with some water
2 spring onions, chopped

What you do:

1. Mix the breadcrumbs and garlic powder together. Dip the chicken pieces in water (or milk/egg if you want) and coat with the breadcrumb mixture.
2. Heat some oil in a wok. Justin used TWO tablespoons to fry the chicken without draining the oil off, but feel free to either deepfry or use less oil. Just get the chicken pieces cooked and golden brown. :)
3. Add in the onions, shallots, chillies and mushrooms. Fry for another 2-3 minutes or until onions are softened and translucent.
4. Add the oyster sauce (with enough water so that it coats the chicken pieces) and drizzle over sesame oil. Season liberally with white pepper.
5. Finally, add in the cornflour-water mixture, simmer till thickened and garnish with the spring onions. Serve.

Yes. I know the name of dish doesn't inspire much confidence. Gooey is never good when associated with food - except perhaps chocolate and ambuyat, hehe. But there was no other way to describe it. It was gooey. Though not in a bad way. But seriously, the boys put in ONE tablespoon of cornflour, and knowing them, it was a heaped one too! And yes, Hadi was an accomplice in this. Justin asked how much to put in, and put in one teaspoon, but Hadi took the liberty of adding a whole load more. I usually put one teaspoon, maybe two teaspoons max. Oh well.

But anyway, this dish gave a nice hit of salt, hehe. Maybe its just me, but we've been eating way too many things recently. I'm slightly tired of it, though I bet Hadi is not. And apart from the general texture, the chicken was good! Tasted of oyster sauce with a hint of pepper. Never a bad thing, hehe. Although, the breadcrumb coating kinda fell apart in the sauce, and probably contributed to the stickiness. A pity. It would have been nice if it was crispy. Japanese breadcrumbs always give a great texture, but not when you slather it in so much thick sauce, I guess. :P

In other news, there was an article in New Scientist that suggests that although food plays a pretty important part in determining our weight, genetic factors may play a role too. Phoo~ The volunteers in the study took in more than 6000 calories (!!!) per day, but some of them had very little weight gain, it seems. Some of them even gained muscle mass! And no, they weren't allowed to exercise very much. Some people just have all the luck it seems :P As one of my friends once put, it is time to give up trying to BE thin, and just try to LOOK thin instead. Haha.

Also, a very big deal is being made of the snow that has fallen in the UK recently. Its probably the first snowfall for the year. But, just so you know, Bristol has had no snow. :( We're in the south-west, and the weirdest thing is, people in the south-east have had snow. People in Wales (just to our west) have had snow. But Bristol, which is smack dab in the middle of these two places, has had no snow~! Even London has had snow. THREE winters here, and I've only seen snow pile up just once in my first year. And that melted before dawn even came. So depressing. Maybe I should've studied in Scotland or something :P

Quote of the day: Hunger - One of the few cravings that cannot be appeased with another solution.