Thursday, October 22, 2009

Pandan Chicken Wings & Pandan Coconut Swiss Roll

Let's go GREEN today! No, not talking about Earth day. If you know me well, you know half the time I'm referring to food, hahaha. I'm talking about Pandan, yes pandan leaves, A.K.A. screwpine leaves as some will call it. It's fragrant and very commonly used in South-east Asia, especially in Nonya dishes. Not only for cooking purposes, people uses it in ways like repelling bugs and undesired smells in enclosed areas. I remember years ago, whenever I take a taxi in Singapore, inside the cab will always have a bunch of pandan leaves at the back of the rear window area! True story! So anyway, when I was at the wet market over the weekend, I bought 2 big bunches of pandan leaves, which only cost me Rm0.70...so cheap! I remember I had to pay like USD$2 for 5 small sticky leaves in California! So, in order to make full use of the cheap pricing & abundance of this fragrant and versatile leave/herb, I cooked 2 easy and delicious dishes to share with everyone.
This is actually a very simple dish to prepare. I found the recipe in "大牌檔菜" Book 17, cookbook. And since I wanted it to be a "kids friendly" dish, I decided to modified it not omit the curry powder which was called for in the recipe. Here's my version of the Pandan chicken:

Ingredients for Pandan Chicken:
4 chicken wings, cut into half, becomes 8 pieces
8 pieces of pandan leaves
8 bamboo sticks / toothpicks
5 cups cooking oil for frying

Marinate:
2 shallots, remove skin, sliced thin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Dash of sesame oil & pepper
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp chicken powder
1 tsp oyster sauce

Method:
  • Mix chicken with marinate and let it season for at least 1hr.
  • Tie the chicken pieces with pandan leaves and secure it with bamboo sticks/ toothpicks.
  • Heat up the oil and deep fry the chicken till golden brown. Dish up and drain oil on paper towels. Serve while still warm.
As you can see, I did not really do a good job wrapping the pandan leaves around the chicken pieces. But luckily it did not fall off while it was been fried. Have to tell you the whole house smell soooo good while it was frying up in the kitchen....yummy! The chicken was tender and flavorful with an evident pandan aroma...delish! Shall try making it with deboned chicken thigh next time...so I can pop the whole meat in my mouth, something like a h'orderves. ;) Definitely a keeper....do try it when you can find fresh pandan leaves in the market.

Next up is desert, Pandan Coconut Swiss Roll. Whenever I want a nice piece of fluffy soft cake with some delicious filling...swiss rolls always does it. It's simple to make, much lesser time and trouble to prepare. And since I am on the "pandan theme" today, I decided to make pandan cake!
I do apologise for not taking nicer pictures for this cake. It was kind of a last minute decision to make it, so was in a rush to go pick up my girls towards the end. So did not bother much about the lighting etc etc. :-P I got this delicious swiss roll recipe from "Alex Goh Baking Class : Fruity Cakes". Actually have been putting this recipe on hold for awhile....with all the birthdays and vacation awhile back. ;-P Glad that I can finally get back to baking something simple and yummy. ;)

Ingredients for Pandan Coconut Swiss Roll Cake:
60g butter
60g plain flour
60g coconut milk
green food colouring
1 tsp pandan leaf juice

4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
90g sugar
pinch of salt

Filling:
200ml Whipping cream, whipped
1/4 cup sweetened red beans (I used Valrohna chooclate balls)

Method:
  • In a large heat proof bowl, microwave the butter till it all melts, about 1 minute on high. Add flour into melted butter and whisk to form thick paste.
  • Add the egg yolks and stir to combine. Add pandan juice, coconut milk and green food coloring and stir again.
  • Preheat oven to 180°C. Butter a baking tray of about 10cm by 14cm. Line with parchment paper and butter the top of the parchment paper.
  • Beat egg whites with salt until foamy. Continue to beat the egg whites and slowly add the sugar to it. Beat till mixture is stiff peaks.
  • Gently fold in the egg whites to the flour mixture in 3 portions. Making sure most of the white is not visible after folding.
  • Pour cake batter into prepared tray and bake at 180°C for 15 mins. Then lower the temperature to 170°C and bake for another 5 mins.
  • When done, remove cake from oven and immediately remove from baking tray. Let cool on rack for 5 mins. Then using another parchment or clean kitchen towel, flip the cake over and peel off the parchment paper. Continue to let cool for another 15 minutes.
  • In the meantime, prepare the filling. Whipped the cream with the confectioner's sugar and vanilla extract till firm peaks.
  • Spread the whipping cream on the cooled cake and sprinkle the sweetened red beans or valrohna chocolate balls on the cream.
  • Then roll up the cake from short side. Kept it roll up in the parchmant / kitchen towel till the cake is "stable". Slice and serve! ;)
Can see that my swiss roll is kind of "deflated" after much handling. Probably because the amount of filling used in this recipe. The original recipe calls for 250ml whipping cream...but I have already reduced to 200ml. I guess it's really up to your own personal preference. :P The presence of Valrohna chocolate balls were like little sweet surprises when you bite into the cake, extra texture, nice! Feel free to omit the sweetened red beans or chocolate balls...the cake is already very nice on it's own .;)
So go green today, try out these pandan recipes...you'll love it! Happy cooking!

15 comments:

  1. I have the Alex Goh book too! It has some strange cakes in there.....
    I love pandan :)
    The cake looks yummy *drool*

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  2. The Pandan chicken wings look so yummy and the Swiss roll cake look so delicious too with so much filling in it.

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  3. You're right Von, that book has some pretty interesting recipes. Actually I can't wait to try some of them! ;D Yeah, me too, pandan is very nice...do try this pandan swiss roll recipe...it's yummy good! ;)


    Thanks Anncoo for the compliments! ;) I actually gobbled up 2 big slices of the cake when it was done! Can already feel the "extra roll" around my belly! :-P

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  4. First time see this pandan chicken wings. It looks very appetizing. I guess the chicken wings must be full of pandan flavours. Very special!

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  5. Hi Grace,
    Really? I thought it was quite a popular Nonya/Malay dish. But you know what, doesn't matter, now you can make it at home, it's simple and delicious. I bet you and your hubby will enjoy it a lot. ;)

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  6. Hi Honey Bee,

    Refering to your older post of the Thousand Layer Choc Cake, can u kindly advise what type/brand of chocolate do u normally use for making chocolate ganache pls? Thank You.

    Penang.

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  7. Hi Penang,
    FYI, you can always post your comment at the post you're interested, I will know which one it is. As for the ganache, I was fortunate enough to get hold of Valrohna chocolate lately, which is what I used in that recipe. If I cannot find Valrohna, I used Lindt 70% for that purpose, hope that helps. :)

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  8. Hey,

    Thank you so much for your prompt n ever willing reply. Ohhh... u used Varlhona as well.

    Hv a nice weekend.

    Rgds,
    Penang.

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  9. Hey, the swiss roll is nice..thanks for sharing, but how come i didn't get to try the pandan chicken..??? That's one of my favourite too....hee hee..;p

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  10. Hey Reese,
    It's the first time I made these Pandan chicken...so did not know what I expect. Next time make more then pass some to you ok?

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  11. Hi Bee Bee, i have the 大牌档菜Book17 too..... !!!! Is my favourite chicken wings..BUT..No chance to cook those fried dishes.... because of my kids!! They cannot eat those fried food, biscuits, cold thing & chocolate! Poor thing.. & make me headache, dunno what to cook!So everyday i need to think of stew or steam dishes for them :-(

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  12. Hi Janice,
    Yes, heard from your sister that you seldom cook those fried dishes and "heaty" desert. Think of it this way, it's very healthy and good for you and your kids. :) But the scarifies you have to make to give up not eating them at home too....hats off to you!!

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  13. ya.... those fast food ( my favourite) i really gave up!!! :-( My husband & i will hide when we eating ice-cream!!hahaa.... funny rite ???? no choice!!!

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  14. Really?! Oh dear....hope all these will pass and you can bring your adorable kids to have an ice-cream session next time. ;) *fingers-crossed*

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