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

Matcha soba noodle salad -AFF featuring Japan

Okay, this is gonna be another rushed out post for AFF. Matcha soba noodle salad, a simple yet all so refreshing and delicious meal to have at anytime of the day. And it is really really so easy to prepare...I think even my kids can do it haha!

Ingredients for Matcha soda noodle salad (Serves 1)
1/2 package of matcha soba (or any flavor you prefer)
1 egg (tamago), beaten and pan fried, cut into thin strip
3-4 imitation crab meat, cut into thin strips
2 slices ham, sliced thin
1/2 Japanese cucumber, sliced thinly
1 tsp vegetable / olive oil

Dipping sauce:
1 tsp dashi granules
50ml mirin
50 soy sauce
1 tsp caster sugar 

• Bring a pot of water to boil and add in the soba noodles. Takes about 4-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the noodle. Do read the package for details.
• Drain and rinse under tap water to cool it to stop it from cooking.
• Toss the cooled noodles in vegetable or olive oil to prevent it from sticking together.
• Place all the sliced ingredients nicely over the noodles. Then add a tsp of the tobiko over the top as garnish if desired.
• Prepare the dipping sauce by mixing everything together.
• You can either toss the toppings together and drizzle the sauce over or simple just fork out mouthfuls of noodle to dip into the sauce. Enjoy!

Such a simple and healthy dish to serve to your family and friends! Do try this at home. :)

I am happy to submit this to this month's Asian Food Fest #1 Oct 2013 : Japan, hosted by Alan from travelling-foodies