.::. Steamed Herbal Chicken .::.

These days, I have fallen in love with steaming. My favorite is steamed herbal chicken with chicken essence. It's so yummy and nutritious, plus obviously healthy! Goes really well with rice!

Generally, marinate chicken and add in some chinese herbs (optional), wolfberries, red dates and pour in a bottle of chicken essence. Steam it for about 30 minutes and you get really yummy and tender chicken!

.::. Braised Duck .::.

Mummy used to make braised duck, and it's one of the FIL's favorite dishes too.  And I am very much addicted to Teo Chew Muay these days after the husband made me a convert.  I used to think that Teo Chew Muay was for old people till the husband brought me for Teo Chew Muay repeatedly despite my protests.  Now, I have it for breakfast many times a week and felt like reproducing my favorite dishes at home.

I didn't follow exactly any recipe.  Mummy only gave me some instructions and I googled some recipes and did it my own way.  It did turn out pretty well though the husband thinks the meat is not tender enough.  The tastes was there, perhaps longer braising might be required.

Ingredients:
Garlic
5 spices powder
Blue Ginger
Ginger
Lemon Grass
Cinnamon Stick
Peppercorns
Start Anise
Dark Soy Sauce
Sugar

(1) I did it with a whole duck.  Cut the legs and the head.  Blanch it in boiling water and leave it to cool and drip dry.



(2) Marinate it with 5-spcies powder and dark soy sauce overnight.



(3) Heat up some oil and sauté the garlic and blue ginger and ginger till fragrant.



(4) Add the lemon grass (cut the stalk into pieces) and stir for awhile more.

(5) Add a few teaspoons of sugar to cover the bottom of the pot and let it caramelize.



(6) Add the other spices in and stir for awhile before adding dark soy sauce and water.  I added a bottle (500ml).



(7) Let it boil for 15 minutes before adding in the duck.

(8) Braise the duck and turn it regularly if liquid does not cover duck fully.



I braised it for about 2-3 hours, and it turned out beautifully although the meat did not turn dark.

Tip: I cut out some duck fats to sauté with the garlic and blue ginger to give it more taste.



And these were the dishes for teo chew muay for the night.

Braised duck was a success.  =) 

The husband gave me a 7/10, and complained that the duck meat wasn't tender enough.  Pretty good comments generally and good enough for the first try!

.::. Home - Cook - Wash .::.

We have moved in for a week, and everything passed by in a flash.  There's so much to do, so little time. A typical day starts at 6am and I'm rushing to either run errands or head to the supermarket after work.  Then it's cooking or washing and ironing.  It's like a race against time, but there's so much satisfaction seeing our love nest come together.

I've planned to cook often in the new home.  Having your own kitchen is love.  But I realized that cooking on weekdays is a lot more challenging that I thought.  Having to cook after work, then wash up and do laundry or ironing is really hard work.

I've been cooking about twice to three times a week, and we eat with our neighbors at times.



This is tonight's dinner after getting our rice cooker last weekend.  China kailan with 3-cups chicken.  The husband tuned to an Asian cooking program a few nights ago and I picked up the dish.

And I made egg tofu from soy milk and eggs last weekend when dining with the neighbors.

Home-made Egg Toufu

Ingredients:
500ml unsweetened soy milk
6 eggs
Condiments such as salt

Instructions:
Sieve the mixture of both ingredients and steam at low heat for about 15 minutes.



The sieved mixture.



The steamed product.  High heat causes air bubbles and pimples, but I'm using induction and I've no clue how low is low.  I started with 100 degrees, but after 15 minutes, it's still a liquid mixture.  I increased the temperature to 120 and it was ready in another 10 minutes.  I suspect that it's still too high which causes the ugly texture at the bottom.  The top was fine, so was the middle.

I then fried the tofu before stir-frying minced meat with cai-po (preserved turnips) before finishing it with a dash of fried onions.  I think I lacked dark soy sauce.



It was really time consuming, I spent almost 3 hours on this, steaming 2 batches of tofu.  The frying part takes the longest time!

I would probably give it a 6.5/10.  Lots of room for improvements!

This weekend's plan is to try a duck dish and have teo chew porridge.