Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Pandan Chicken Revisited

Hi hi! Happy New year one and all! Sorry again for the long silence. Have been trying to adjust to the new time schedule plus adapting back to "school life" after it reopened. :P It's never easy, but a mommy's got to do what a mommy's got to do right? Lol! Anyway, I'm also glad my kids are back in their school routine to keep them busy and learning...so I have more free time to bake, haha! (happily rubbing hands) I guess those friends in FB will notice I have been baking more often this month! So much so that I have already 5-6 backlogs for the past 2 weeks! :P 

Without further ado, let's start the new year post with a wonderful Asian dish, Pandan Chicken! Okay, I actually made pandan chicken years back, but somehow I remembered besides the wonderful pandan scent, the taste of the chicken was not flavorful enough. *bummer!* And just last Sunday, I had Pandan chicken at a Thai restaurant which left me wondering if I can replicate that wonderful taste myself! I searched on the net and realize some on the recipes online are leaning more to the "Chinese" flare rather then the authentic Thai taste, with the addition of oyster sauce? Hmmm....anyway, I found Gertrude's recipe (My Kitchen Snippets) is the closest version to Thai. She used turmeric and fish sauce for the marinate, pretty Thai I think. What's best, it can be baked! No messy frying and its healthier, I like! :)
This recipe indeed didn't disappoint. :) Although the chicken does look a little pale versus those fried ones. :P I reckon if I did fry it, it will taste pretty much like the ones I had at the restaurant. ;) However, being lazy to clean up the oily mess, I settled with baking. :) Nevertheless, the aroma from pandan was heavenly! And the chicken was still tender and very flavorful, score!
I made slight changes to the original recipe as I wanted a smaller portion and I didn't have all cilantro roots with me. :P Nevertheless, it turned out super! Thanks Gertrude!

Ingredients for Pandan Chicken (Serves 3-4)
300-400g boneless skinless chicken thighs, or chicken breast
1 tbsp of minced ginger
1 tbsp finely minced garlic
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp palm or light brown sugar
1/2 tsp of tumeric powder
pandan leaves (soaked in clean water for at least an hour)
  • Cut the chicken into pieces of about 1.5 to 2 inches cube/size. 
  • In a large mixing bowl, add in all the ingredients except the pandan leaves and the chicken pieces, mix well.
  • Marinate the chicken for at least for an hour or overnight in the fridge.
  • Preheat the oven to 200C. Remove the pandan leaves from the water.
  • Wrap the chicken pieces in the pandan leaves and secure it with a toothpick. Repeat till all the chicken pieces has been wrapped up.
  • Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes till clear juices oozes out and the pandan leaves turn brown.
  • Once cooked, remove from oven and serve while still warm.
I really enjoy this dish very much, and will definitely make this again for sure, especially since my picky eater daughter gave compliments on how delicious it was. :) Looks like I have ways to use up my pandan leaves besides baking cakes now, heehee. :)

Okay, have a wonderful night all! Will try to post up a bread recipe before the week ends.
Cheers! 

15 comments:

  1. I actually prefer your baked version to the fried one. It's lighter and just as delicious. Happy New Year!

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  2. Hey Bee! You sure you did not take those pictures in the Thai restaurant? :P

    Well done!

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  3. Hi Bee, I'm sure this baked chicken is definitely healthier than the deep fried. Sure like to try this recipe for the new year holiday :D

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  4. You just remind me I have so long did not bake this pandan chicken , hehehe..I have plenty of pandan leaves and shall cook again but this time I want to not heslthy version of deep fry.

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  5. Bee Bee, you make me wanna eat this dish now, and I definitely prefer bake than deep fry.

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  6. Mmm this looks good. I love how it's baked instead of fried! Pity we don't get fresh pandan leaves in Perth, I don't think the frozen ones will do well in this dish =(

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  7. It has been a while since I made this dish. Thanks for the reminder. It time to make some since I have some big pandan leaves :)

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  8. good morning bee, i think i like both fried and baked versions..the thing is i dont know whether i know how to wrap the pandan leaves around the chicken neatly or not..hehe...

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  9. Ooo... cool that you can bake this instead of frying. I can make this at home too :) Thanks for sharing.

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  10. looks like restuarant quality food. happy new year xx

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  11. 凡是和PANDAN叶有关的料理都能锁住我的心,哈哈:)

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  12. Happy New Year, Bee Bee! What a great start for 2013. Love your pandan chicken & also the sweet potato balls. Slurpppp... Hope you're having a lovely evening. LIfe is getting busy busy busy after school reopened.I'm sure you too.
    Regards, Kristy

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  13. Hi Bee,

    It is never easy to be a blogging mum. Can totally understand. LOL!

    I love eating pandan chicken. I would definitely re-visit this beautiful dish. The only cons with this recipe is too much pandan is too expensive to buy in Melbourne :p

    Zoe

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  14. When I saw no deep frying, I knew immediately that I have to bookmark this. Thanks!

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  15. Cannot resist this when saw ur post! Done it and it taste so good!M

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