One Pot Chicken Casserole

The haze coming from Indonesia has gotten bad to worst. Most of the families are trying not to be outdoors and that would means more home cooking. :P So I can totally understand when someone (like me) having to think what to cook 3 meals for a few days in a  row at home, it can get a little draining. A simple one pot dish is definitely a good idea. Less mess and less washing for sure! Plus I have been meaning to put up this Chicken casserole / Chicken stew recipe for the longest time. An easy dish that I always go back to every now and then. You can twig parts of the recipe by substituting some of the ingredients, but the "base" ingredients and technique are pretty much the same. 

Toast up some good baguette and you can mop up that delicious gravy from the dish. And this time I used Le Creuset's 26 cm Cool Mint Buffet casserole pot to cook this dish. Yes, all the cooking done in this casserole pot itself, brilliant isn't it!

Personally I love this buffet casserole pot. 26 cm diameter pot seems like the perfect size for my 4 pax family needs. It is approximately 3 inches tall, not your usual cast-iron pot height, but still deep enough for frying too. Easier to store and the wide flat cooking surface is good for cooking dishes like risotto or even pan searing two steaks at one go. Hopefully I can get to work on these recipes as well soon! 

In the meantime....Chicken casserole! Let's have a run down what are the required ingredients for this dish. ;)

Ingredients for One Pot Chicken Casserole  (serves 3-4 adults)

2 whole chicken legs
2 whole chicken wings
3-4 smoked sausages or any sausage link of your preference
1 large onion, diced
3 garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 cup thawed frozen green peas
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into bite size
2-3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
4 stalks celery sticks, cut into bite size
8-10 cremini mushrooms, cut into 4 sections 

Thickening rue : (not shown in pic)
3 tbsp unsalted butter
4 tbsp plain flour
400 ml homemade / store bought chicken stock (not shown)

Salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

• After you have rinsed the chicken pieces, drain them dry and season well with salt and pepper.

• Add about 1 cup of cooking oil in the buffet casserole over medium low fire. Prepare some plain flour + 1 tsp baking powder to coat the chicken pieces for frying. Mix the flour well then coat the chicken pieces and dust off extra. Gently drop them in the preheated cooking oil to fry.

• Repeat till all the chicken pieces are coated and placed into the cooking oil to fry. Fry at medium low temperature and making sure you do not burnt them.

• Remember to turn the chicken pieces and fry on both sides. Each sides takes about 6-8 minutes to fry up till golden brown. No worries if some of the blood oozes out, usually happens when you uses frozen chicken pieces. Remove the chicken pieces and drain over paper towels for use later. Personally I feel this frying of the chicken pieces is quite an important step, so do not skip it. It helps seal the juices and flavours of the chicken.

• Drain away the frying oil. It is okay that bits of the meat is "stuck" at the base of the casserole. Once you add in your next ingredient (onions), it will slowly render off. Those bits are gonna help flavour your dish, so please DO NOT scrap them away. Add in the chopped onion and 1 tsp of olive oil over medium low fire and stir to cook.

• Cook till the onions starts to soften. Give the base a slight scrap to release the bits of meat. Next add in the sausages or bacon, whichever you fancy. These salty flavourful meats will boost that extra depth in flavour in the chicken casserole. 

• Cook the sausages for a couple minutes. Add in the chopped vegetables ; potato, celery and carrots. Cook for 5-6 minutes till the vegetables are half cooked, stirring constantly.

• Add salt and fresh ground pepper to the vegetables. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add in the cremini mushrooms and sweet peas in. Cover the casserole and leave it to cook for 2 minutes. The mushroom will cook down on its own. 
• After 2-3 minutes, open the cover and give it a quick stir. Now you can start making the rue which will thicken the whole dish. Place the cold butter right in the center of the hot casserole and let it melt down.

• Once the butter is melted, add in the 3 tbsp of plain flour and cook over that "Pool" of melted  butter. Stir to cook the flour and butter mixture. Make sure the fire level is at low, and do not burnt your ingredients. 
• The flour butter mixture will start ti bubble a little. At this point, stir in the chicken stock. Slowly drizzle in and stir as you pour to mix well.

• Bring the whole casserole to a gently boil. At this point, you can season a little more. Salt, sugar, pepper, then stir well. Lastly, add in the fried chicken pieces.

• Cover the pot and let it simmer for a good 13-15 minutes at low fire. Till all the ingredients "marinate" each other's flavour and taste. Off the fire and let sit covered for a good 30 minutes. Yes marinate further with the heat retained by the casserole pot itself. 

Well if this doesn't spell comfort, I don't know what does. Thick flavourful gravy coating the tender soft chicken. And those soft vegetables are just irresistible too! Whether you prefer to have this chicken casserole with steam rice or toasted bread or just plain alone on it's own, I can guarantee you will enjoy every bite of it.

The buffet casserole did make this dish an ease to prepare. Everything done with in it, no fuss no hassle, easy peasy. And that cast iron pot did retained the heat super well. Reason  said that is after I cooked it for 1.5hrs, it was still warm and nice.

Hope you guys love this simple chicken casserole one pot meal. If you decided to try this out, do drop me a comment as well, either here or at IG @Honeybeesweets.sg, appreciate it. Happy cooking!

Do what you love!

Hainanese Chicken Rice

I believe everyone in Singapore has tasted Chicken rice before or the least know what it is when it is mention. It is such a common and popular dish for decades and it is no surprise that many home cooks has their own special recipe. Okay, I am not talking about cooking it from a box or some premix from a package or bottle, I meant really cooking it from scratch! I admit I fall in that category of using premix prior to this, convenient and frankly speaking its not bad in taste too. But the satisfaction of know you can whip this up yourself and actually taste great, how awesome is that?Haha! But I do believe every different family has their own recipe in cooking this...just like my mum's! But the surprising thing is I never consulted my mum on this before cooking from scratch...I just go! You would think it's so difficult to cook this....no no its not, I promise. Plus the end result is gonna wow you that you can actually cook this awesome heehee:D

Okay enough talk, here is the recipe for my chicken rice:

Ingredients for Chicken Rice (Serves 4)
1 whole chicken (get fresh, not frozen is possible)
2 tbsp salt

5 slices fresh peeled ginger 
2 sprigs of spring onion, cut into segments

6 shallots peeled 
8 garlic cloves
8 slices peeled ginger
2 pandan leaves

2.5 cups washed white rice (I mixed 1 cup brown rice heehee)


salt to taste
2 cups chicken stock (Optional, I used some chicken powder and water)
1 cucumber, sliced (I used Japanese, less seed and not as bitter)

Sauce over the chicken
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar

Ice water (1.5Liter) for "shocking' the chicken

• Clean the whole chicken by rinsing in water and remove unwanted parts. Dab dry and rub the whole chicken with salt, a good 2 tablespoons all over the chicken including the cavity area. Let it marinate for 20 minutes.
• Prepare the steamer, at a medium fire. Place the chicken in the steamer together with the ginger slices and the spring onion segments after 20 minutes. 
• Steam till the juice runs clear when pricked at the deepest part of the met. I pricked the part between the inner thigh and breast. Mine took about 30-35 minutes to fully cooked. Timing depends on the size of the chicken.
• 
  
• In the mean time, place garlic, shallots and ginger slices into a blender and zap till fine.
• Heat up the wok with 3 tbsp of vegetable oil and add in all of the ground mixture and stir fry till fragrant.Cook about 5-8 minutes at medium low heat till fragrant, add in the 2 pandan leaves (knotted) and stir for 30 seconds. Remove from fire.
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• Place the washed rice in the cooker together with cooked mixture earlier with the pandan leaves. Add salt and chicken seasoning (if desired) together with enough water. Give it a quick stir and cook the rice in the cooker.
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• Once the chicken has been cooked, remove it from the steamer and gently place in the prepared ice water to cool it down. Leave the chicken in the water for 5-10 minutes. Then remove and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting.
• Prepare the special sauce for the chicken. This sauce will perk up the flavor and keeps the meat moist and flavorful.
• Chop up the chicken nicely, and drizzle the special soy sauce mixture over the chicken. Serve with the cooked rice while still warm.
• The drippings of the chicken while steaming was used for making soup. I added cubed silken tofu and slices of fish cake plus a bit of salt & 2 cups water. (Optional)

Look at the juicy and tender meat!I was so happy this turned out well! I am actually looking forward to cooking it again. ;) Plus the family was all praise about it...best part is you know there is no preservatives, yay!
The weekend is around the corner, do consider taking the chance to cook this for your family. I know you can walk across the street to the food stall to buy a pack, but it will be so so so different and worth it, guarantee!

Try it and let me know how you like it. Happy advance weekend to you guys! Cheers!

Roasted Lemongrass Chicken (Gai Ob Ta Khai) -AFF featuring Thailand

Posting a quick one in support of this month's AFF featuring Thailand. This time I made something simple; Roasted Lemongrass Chicken (Gai Ob Ta Khai). The key to making this dish a successful one is the long hours of marination. So it is best to make this ahead and let it chill in the fridge marinating. :) But the cooking part was really a no fuss easy oven baked dish!

Check out the glisten on that chicken wing haha! I guess to every meat we enjoy, we wish its tender, succulent and flavorful. Well this dish pretty much covers all these criteria! So let's check out what you need to get this on your dinner table. ;) I adapted this recipe from "Cooking Classics Thailand" by Forest Leong.

Ingredients for Roasted Lemongrass Chicken Wings (Serves 3-4)
8 chicken wings, trimmed of fat, wash and pat dry
3 lemongrass stalks
2 Tbsp olive oil

Marinate
2 lemongrass stalks, ends trimmed and bruised
1 tbsp dark soy
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
125 ml water 

Method:

• Prepare the marinate 3-4 hours ahead. Chop the lemongrass finely. Heat the saucepan on medium fire and add in the lemongrass in. Then add in all the rest of the marinate ingredients and bring to a boil. Then remove from fire, cover and let cool completely.
• Once the marinate is cooled, pour into a big mixing bowl. Then add in the chicken wings, coat the chicken wings well with the marinate sauce. Leave the chicken to absorb the marinate in the fridge for 3-4hrs.
• Preheat the oven to 200C
• Take chicken wings out from the fridge. Arrange chicken pieces on an aluminum foil lined baking tray. 
• Using the bruised lemongrass stalk, dip in cooking oil and use it as a brush and brush the chicken wings well. This step will help crisp up the skin / surface and prevent burning.
• Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or till the juice runs clear.
• Remove from oven and place on serving plate and serve immediately. Garnish with lemongrass if desired. 

The skin was crisp and super flavorful. So delicious with a bowl of steam rice! Loving the savory, lemon twist in this dish. If you like lemongrass like I do, you should definitely give this a try. :)

I am submitting this to Asian Food Fest ( Thailand ) November Month hosted by frozen wings

Nonya Curry Chicken (Kari Kapitan) for MFF featuring Penang

Yikes! Unbelievable...June is almost over! How did that happen? I guess good times always swing by faster. :P Okay, I guess enough talking and lets get the post up so I might possibly have more time later for another recipe. :)

I have decided to make Spicy Nonya Chicken curry (aka Kari Kapitan) this time, as it's been awhile since I last had good curry. Plus when I saw it at Phong Hong's post, I was pretty sure I had to cook it, haha! Without a doubt, it was awesome, taste, aroma and flavor...burst full of yumminess in every bite. :P

Ever since I started making my own curry paste, there was no looking back. Seriously taste so much better then those packet ones. Much more punch and flavorful plus the gravy is thicker too! Love! Even with the gravy itself, I can devour a bowl of rice on its own, haha! 

I followed Phong Hong's recipe (which I believe was originated from Amy Beh) pretty closely but less of the belachan granulates / paste. I was worried the taste will be too strong, haha! Thanks Phong Hong for again another fabulous dish! Noms! Will post the recipe here for easier reference:

Ingredients for Nonya Curry Chicken (Kari Kapitan) (serves 2-3ppl)
3 chicken legs, chopped into smaller chunks
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks
1 key lime (I didn't have kaffir lime)
Salt and sugar to taste
200ml coconut milk
2 or 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled

Curry Paste
4 tbsp of chili paste (see here for the brand I use)
15 shallots, peeled
5 garlic gloves
3 stalks of lemongrass heart
1 inch fresh tumeric (careful don't get stained!)
5 candle nuts (buah keras)
1 tsp belachan paste

• To make the paste, place all the ingredients in a blender and zap it till it is smooth and creamy. You can either add a bit of water or coconut milk if it is too dry to blend.
• In a pot, heat up 2 tsp of cooking oil at medium low heat. Add in curry paste and cook it till it is aromatic. Be careful don't let it burn. 
• Add in the chicken pieces and stir to coat all the meat with the paste well. Once the meat becomes opaque, add in the potatoes and stir well.
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• Cook for another minute and add in the coconut milk. Once the mixture boils, lower the fire to simmer for another 8-10 minutes till chicken is cooked through and the potato is fork tender.
• Add in the lime juice, seasoning and hard boiled eggs the last, stir gently and serve while still hot with steam rice.Yummy!

OMG, need I say more? This is really very tasty curry guys, you have to try it yourself! Go crazy!

I am happy to submit this to this month's Malaysian Food Fest Penang Month hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies.

okay folks, gotta go and cook lunch now!
Have a good one!

Ayam Percik for MFF featuring Kelantan

Hi hi again, look who's posting another curry recipe, haha! Yeah, ever since I started joining MFF, I have been cooking up delicious dishes that I would probably not even cook off from a cookbook. I really learn a lot in these few months,mainly about the Malay food culture in different states and how yummy they are. Thanks again to the organizers for hosting such a great event for all of us bloggers and readers to learn about the wonderful food in Malaysia!

My post today is Ayam Percik. After seeing Kelly and Peng posting this recipe, I was pretty much sold! My key concern is usually the gathering of the spices or root vegetables that are required in the spice mix. Since this recipe's spice mix was not too complicated, this dish was relatively easy to prepare! The only mistake I made was adding a little too much of the tamarind paste....yikes! So it was kind of on the sourish side, and I had to add a wee bit more sugar to mild it down, haha!

Ehh...why my Ayam Percik colour different from Kelly and Peng's version?! Okay...because I used ground chilli paste instead of the dried chilli! Sorry, laziness got the better of me. :P But i reckon the taste shouldn't differ too much. :P Here is the recipe for my reference and the slight change I made:

Ingredient

4 chicken drumsticks
200ml coconut milk
3 cardamoms
3 cloves
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch mixed with water

Spice paste : Blend till paste form

3 cloves garlic
1 thumb sized ginger
3 shallots
1.5 tbsp of chili paste (I used Singlong brand)1/4 cup water
1 stalk lemongrass

Method 

• Marinate chicken drumsticks with spice paste for at least 1/2 hours.
• Transfer everything into a pot or pan and pour half the coconut milk over it. Add in cardamon, cloves and lemongrass and cook over medium heat until chicken is partly cooked, for about 15mins. Season with tamarind paste, salt & sugar halfway through.
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• Take the chicken out from the pot, reserving the coconut milk mixture. Place the chicken on a baking tray and grill for 10mins.
• Meanwhile, discard the cardamom and cloves from the gravy. Add the remaining coconut milk and the starch water and simmer until thick. Adjust taste if necessary.
• Coat the chicken with some of the coconut sauce and continue to grill for another 5 mins.
• Once done, drizzle some reserved gravy over the chicken and serve with steam rice while it is still warm.

I think this is quite a delicious curry! It is amazing how the change and twist of some ingredients can result in all these different curry flavors. I truly regret not doubling this recipe!

I am very happy to submit this post to Malaysian Food Fest Kelantan Month hosted by Gertrude of My Kitchen Snippets.  

Have a great weekend all!

Kuzi Ayam (Kelantan Style Chicken Curry)

Yay! I am so glad I got to make a dish for MFF event earlier this time! Hate it when I had to do the mad rush all the time. Ehh...not that I am particularly free now but it was all due to Phong Hong's fabulous recipe and urged me to cook it proto, haha! After the Kay Hong dish (which I cook so often now), I knew I can trust her dishes. :) I had to hand it to her that she shares one the yummiest curries. Thanks Phong Hong! :D So this time in support of MFF event featuring Kelantan, I've made Kuzi Ayam (Kelantan Style Chicken Curry), yummy!

I actually had a hard time trying to take nicer pictures out of this curry dish, lol! I bet all bloggers have this annoying problem when it comes to brown colored food...so hard to capture a good one *sigh*. :P But I tell you the taste is so yummy...even though it is the first not spicy curry I made. I was thrilled to make it because my little ones can enjoy it together with me, haha! Plus the ingredients were not hard to gather at all. :) Here is the recipe as adapted from Phong Hong:

Ingredients for Kuzi Ayam (Serves 4-5ppl)
Dry spice powder mixture:
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground fennel
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp freshly grated/pounded peeled ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

800g chicken thigh and drum
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I completely omitted ghee)
250g thinly sliced onions
30g slivered almonds
80g California raisins
150ml tomato puree
50ml ketchup
200ml coconut milk
300-350ml water

1 tbsp sugar (optional: to counter off the tangy taste from the tomato)

• In a mixing bowl, marinate the chicken pieces with the chopped garlic and salt and let sit for 10-15 minutes.
• In a frying pot, add the vegetable oil and heat up at medium fire. Fry the onions till golden brown, dish up and drain on paper towels.
• Fry the slivered almonds for just a minute to get it slight golden brown. Don't over do it, or it'll char and taste bitter...not good eats. :P (I did not fry the raisins because it plums up after boiling in the curry sauce)
• Remove most of the oil leaving only 1 tsp amount. Add in the marinated chicken pieces and cook till lightly brown .
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• Add in coconut milk, water, tomato puree, ketchup and stir a while. Then add in all the ground spices and again stir to mix well.
• Add in the fried onions (which I didn't ground also), silvered almonds and raisins. Bring mixture to a boil and add in sugar and salt to taste. Reduce fire to low and simmer mixture for about 15-20 minutes till tender.

My kids really like this curry! And I was really glad the spices didn't give off a strong spice taste...really creamy with a slight tangy taste. I actually added a potato and some hard boiled eggs, haha...Sedap!

Unfortunately I didn't try to make nasi tomato as what Phong Hong as suggested...but it was still very good! :P And I am very sure I will be cooking this again ...and again! :)

I am very happy to submit this post to Malaysian Food Fest Kelantan Month hosted by Gertrude of My Kitchen Snippets.  

Have a great day all!

Steamed Herbal Chicken Drumlets

As promised, I will post up something before the crazy new school term starts again. I'm actually setting my kids "free" today since it's their last free day...so they are basically doing whatever they want. Playing 24-7. (~.~") Have to keep reminding myself, you only get to be a kid once. :P And because of that, I have some free time now to blog, lol! Today a simple and yet healthy recipes that I am so sure anyone can do it in jiffy! First is Steamed Herbal Chicken Drum-lets. 

This is a dish I have made up to 6-7 times for the last couple months. Because it's yummy and easy! I either change the main ingredient to a whole chicken or white fish fillet. This time I made it slightly simpler by using just chicken drum-lets, which I find it much easier to eat too. :P 

Ingredients for Steamed Herbal Chicken Drumlets: (Serves 4)
12 chicken drumlets, skin removed
6 pieces of dried red date
10 pieces of dried longan
5-6 pieces of Yu Zhu Pian ( 玉竹片)
5-6 pieces of Dang Gui (当归)
2 tbsp Gou Qi (枸杞)

Marinate:
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
some white pepper

Seasoning:
1 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
1/2 tsp salt

• In a mixing bowl, add in the de-skinned chicken drumlets and all of the marinate ingredients. Mix well and cover to marinate for at least an hour.
• Give all the herbs a quick rinse. Then in a small bowl, add in all the rest of the herbal ingredients except the Gou Qi (枸杞). Add a cup of water and soak the herbs for 15 minutes, except Gou Qi (枸杞).
•  
• Meanwhile, set up the steamer. Line your chicken drum-lets in the steamer bowl and pour in the soaked herbs and add the  Gou Qi (枸杞) over the top.
• Steam at medium high heat for at least 10-15 minutes. If you are using whole chicken, steam at least 20 minutes.
• Once done, remove from steamer and serve immediately with steam rice. Enjoy!  

Fresh out of the steamer! Yummy! If you are worried that your young child doesn't like the taste, you can add a wee bit sugar to the marinate or seasoning to sweeten it a little. But you know the red dates, gou qi & dried longan makes the dish naturally sweet and yummy already! 

Bare in mind to remove the skin of the poultry so the dish will not turn out greasy. I literally drink the soup just like that, it is so yummy! :) Even my kids find this dish delicious, and that is why I repetitively made it over the last couple months, lol! Plus us woman totally need to eat more tonic food to keep up our health. :)

Okay, gonna keep this a short one, have a great weekend everyone!
Promise will be back soon with a desert and I just fell in love...stay tune. ;)

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.
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• 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!