Thursday

Fried Chicken with Oat Coating

Besides flour and bread crumbs, I also like to use oat as a coating to my fried chicken. I find that it is crispier, softer and not too oily when oat is used. It is very easy to do and the procedure is similar to that of the former. Do try!






Ingredients
2 slices of chicken breast, cut into 2 inch cubes
pepper
salt
*Marinade the chicken with salt and pepper to your taste.

Coating ingredients
Oat
flour
2 eggs, beaten
masala spices (mixed with the flour)

Methods
1. Heat the pan with oil, while the oil is heating, cover the chicken breast cubes with flour.

2. Secondly, cover the chicken that has been coated with flour with the eggs.

3. Thirdly, cover the chicken with the oats before frying.

4. Repeat the process with all chicken and fry until golden brown.

*serves 4-6 people

Steamed Fish @ Siakap

Once in a while we would dig in a fabulous steamed fish after eating lots of rich flavoured dishes like curries and kurmas. The best fish to be steamed would be siakap or kerapu but bawal would also be good. Some would use kerisi for steaming, but for this recipe I have used a medium sized siakap that I got from Tesco recently. You do not need a long time to steam the fish. It will take about five minutes to cook. Besides, preparing the ingredients does not too much of your time either. That is why this dish is easy and fast and you can steam it a few minutes before having your meals provided that you have prepared all the ingredients before hand. Here it goes!

Ingredients
A steamer
Medium sized siakap, cleaned and marinade with some salt and pepper
3 inch ginger, thinly sliced
1 big onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic, thinly sliced
1 carrot, 1 inch sliced
1/2 zucchini, 1 inch sliced
2 fresh red chillies, thinly sliced
3 Table spoon dark soy sauce
3 Table spoon thin soy sauce
1 Table spoon oyster sauce
1 Table spoon fish sauce
1 Table spoon white and black pepper
salt, to taste
dried onions, as desired
some oil

Methods
1. Heat the steamer. When the steamer is hot, put the fish in. After that, put the sliced ginger on top of the fish and let it steam until tender.

2. When the fish is cooked, take it out and put it in a serving dish and you can then prepare the sauce. Leave the ginger on top of the fish.

3. In a pan, heat the oil and add in the garlic and onion. Cook until golden brown. 

4. When they have turned golden brown, add in the dark and thin soy sauce, oyster sauce and fish sauce. Mix well. You may add some water if you wish.

5. Then, add in the carrots and zucchini. Cook for a while before adding in the salt, pepper and fresh red chillies.

6. Lastly, add in the dried onions and mix well. 

7. Right before serving, sprinkle some dried onions and fresh chillies as garnishing.

*serves 2-4 people







Rice Porridge My Style

The Malays normally call this version of porridge as Bubur Lambok. It's called as such because there will be a mixture of everything in it. From meat to vegetables, all sorts, as long as you have those mixtures, it will be called as such. The Malays prefer to put local vegetables like pucuk paku and pucuk ubi to name a few together with dried and fresh shrimps, chicken flesh, meat and some herbs. The main ingredient besides the above would be coconut milk. I normally will make this porridge whenever I have no appetite to eat anything solid or when the stomach is upset. For this one, I have put some vegetables like carrots, potatoes and long beans and some fresh and dried shrimps. Do try!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups rice, washed and drained
500 ml coconut milk
1 big onion, sliced
3 inch ginger, sliced
4 lemon grass, thinly sliced
1 carrot, cubed
3 potatoes, cubed
long beans, thinly cut
1 cup dried shrimps, pounded
500 gm fresh shrimps, cleaned
salt, to taste
fried onions, as desired
1 Table spoon coarse black pepper

Methods
1. In a 10 inch cooking pot, cook the rice with lots of water. The water should be about three quarter of the pot. Cook the rice until tender.

2. Add in the onions, ginger, lemon grass and cook until all ingredients soften, about 15 minutes.

3. When the mixture has thicken and starchy, add in the carrots, potatoes and long beans. Cook for another few minutes before adding in the coconut milk, salt and pepper to taste.

4. Lastly, sprinkle some dried onions and stir well.

5. Pour the rice porridge into a bowl and garnish with some dried onions as well.

*serves 4-6 people