Wuxi Style Braised Spareribs

Wuxi is one of big city in China which is very famous with their silk and delicious dishes, one of them is this braised spareribs. More article about Wuxi can be found here. I was searching for this recipe and ended up in aunty Lily's blog. She wrote a lot of great chinese recipe and i should try them one by one. This finger lickin' sparerib is my favorite and i always ordered this dish everytime i dine out in chinese restaurant.

Stir Fry Chicken With Hot Bean Sauce

Hot bean sauce (la dou ban jiang) is a very popular condiment and commonly used in Chinese cooking especially in Szechuan cuisines. It goes very well with any seafood, chicken, tofu and other vegetable like bamboo shot and eggplant. In this version, i use boneless-skinless chicken thigh, recipe adapted from easy Chinese stir fry by Angela Cheng

Recipe for braised chicken with hot bean sauce

Ingredients:

1 boneless chicken thigh
4 cloves garlic
1 stalk scallion
seasoning 1:
1 egg white
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
seasoning 2:
1/2 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp hot bean sauce
2 tbsp water
1 tsp cornstarch

- Cut chicken into bite size, marinate with seasoning 1 for 20 minutes then deep fry till half done. Set aside. Heat another tbsp oil, saute garlic and scallion till fragrant add chicken, stir fry for few minutes. Add seasoning 2, mix well. Remove from heat and serve while it's hot.

Beef Rendang

Most people say, cooking rendang is kinda wasting time and that also my main reason for never making rendang on my own. I hate stay in my tiny kitchen for more than 20 minutes and i hate to leave my kitchen when my stove is on. I almost burn the whole apartment once, and it really remind me to be more careful when leaving kitchen with fire on.
In the end, i decide to use pressure cooker to make this rendang. It still tastes as good as the stewing version. It took 1 hour to be done, 45 minutes in pressure cooker plus 15 minutes simmering to dry off the gravy.
Recipe adapted from NCC and of course with little modification to suit my ingredient's availability

Most Authentic Taiwanese Stewed Ground Pork ( Lo Ba )

If you've ever come to Taiwan, you'll find this menu in every local Chinese restaurant, no matter it is high class or road side one. I've been trying so many recipe, but none of them meet the authentic taste of traditional Taiwanese lo ba which is usually served with steamed white rice, a piece of stewed deep fried tofu, yellow preserved radish and it served in a clay bowl, topped with freshly chopped cilantro. Yumm...my favorite lunch, cheap and delicious, hahaa..yeah i love anything with "cheap" word in it. Lo ba literally mean stewed meat in Taiwanese/Hokkien. Lo= stew ba=meat, while in Mandarin it called lu rou.
Couple days ago, i watched TV show hosted by mr.blablah, i dont even know his name, but my sister say he is one of the best chef in Taiwan. He said that the secret condiment that usually taken down from lo ba recipe is the cinnamon powder. Lo ba won't have its authentic taste without cinnamon powder. So, here i go again, doing experiment and come up with the most authentic taste of lo ba ( i don't celebrate April's fool day, so don't worry about being fooled by me)

Recipe for Taiwanese Stewed Ground Pork

Ingredients:
650 gr ground pork (preferably with lots of fat)
1/3 cup sliced shallot
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup chinese rice wine
6 cups water
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 tbsp sugar
2 star anise
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (or more to suit your taste)

-Heat oil, saute chopped shallot and garlic until fragrant, add star anise and ground cinnamon, stir well, add in ground pork and stir quickly to break the meat into small bits. Add soy sauce, sugar and rice wine, once the meat has changed color. Pour six cups of water and cover the pan, let it simmer for 2,5-3 hours.

Padang Style Chicken Rendang

If you wonder what Padang mean, it is capital city of West Sumatra, Indonesia, which is very famous with their delicious cuisine. Rendang is the most famous one. If u ever went to Jakarta, you'll find Padang Restaurant almost in every corner of street, with their glass window stacked up with food.
Rendang is basically meat cooked in thick, creamy coconut milk and spices. There are two kind of rendang, one is made from beef and the other from chicken. The spices used in both dishes also different, so beef and chicken rendang has a different flavor.

Ingredients:
600 g boneless chicken thigh, cubed
1 large potato, cubed
4 cups thick coconut milk
1 stalk lemon grass, bruised
2 bay leaves
2 lime leaves

Spice to grind:
8 red chili
5 cloves shallot
3 cloves garlic
4 candle nut
1/2 inch ginger
1 tsp galangal powder
1 tsp turmeric powder

-Heat 2 tbsp cooking oil in a wok, add all the ingredients except chicken, potato and coconut milk.
Stir for 2 minutes, add chicken and stir again till chicken no longer pink. Add potato and coconut milk and taste with salt. Simmer for 30 minutes until chicken tender. Serve over warm white rice.

Spicy and Yummy Beef

Actually, this is my 2nd time of cooking this delicious and spicy beef. I did not get chance to capture the 1st one coz it gone as soon as it done (it was dinner time and i have some friends around) and thats doesn't matter at all coz i know i would cook it again and again.
It seems, i'm addicted to spicy food more and more. Meal without spicy "stuffs" is tasteless now, but sometimes when you cook pasta and etc, there's no way you going to serve it with something like.....SAMBAL. Right?
Thanks to Mba Retno for the recipe, and here is the English version with slight modification.

Ingredients:

800 g beef (tender part)
1 tbsp ground corriander
1/2 cup tamarind water

Spice to grind:
15 small red chili
4 big red chili
1/2 big red onion
6 cloves garlic
1 tbsp sugar

-Slice meat into 1 cm thick, then pound it with meat pounder till they're almost flat. Marinate with ground coriander and tamarind water for 2 hours, then bake at 180° C until color has changed. Deep fry in hot oil till brown and set aside.
Heat a tbsp oil and saute all the spices, add meat and taste with salt. Continue stirring until almost dry. Serve warm with plain rice....yummy.

Chinese Chives Flower with Black Bean

Taiwanese name it chang ying thou chai, mean house fly's head vegetable. Though it sounds terribly disgusting, but it absolutely delicious and most important of all, no "real" fly's head added to it.

Ingredients:

100 g ground pork
80 g chopped chinese chives flower
2 tbsp mashed/minced garlic
6-8 red chili, sliced
1 tbsp fermented black bean
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp cornstarch
salt and sugar to taste

- Marinate ground pork with 2 tbsp soy sauce, cornstarch and few drops oil. Heat 1 tbsp oil, saute garlic till fragrant, add in black bean and red chili, stir for another minute. Add pork and stir quickly. Season with soy sauce, salt and sugar. Stir in chopped chives and continue stirring for few minute. Remove from heat

Chicken With Preserved Green Chili

What can i say about this? It's just... taste heavenly!!

Ingredients:

2 chicken thigh, cut into pieces
2 stalk lemon grass, take the white part
2 lime leaves
2 candle nut
4 cloves shallot
2 cloves garlic
8 red chili
3 preserved green chili, shred
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
3 tbsp lemon juice

- Grind all the spices except preserved green chili, heat 2 tbsp oil and saute the spices till it become oily, add in chicken, shredded green chili and stir for another minute. Pour 2 cup water and simmer till chicken tender and gravy almost dry. Add lemon juice and remove from heat.

Chicken in Red Wine Sauce

One of my favorite chicken, recipe adapted from 培梅创意家常菜 (creative Chinese home dishes). Original recipe use button mushroom but i skip it, since i don't stock the button mushroom.

Ingredients:
4 chicken drumstick, halved
1/2 large onion, sliced
1 can button mushroom
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp red wine
2 tbsp ketchup
salt and pepper to taste
carrot for garnish

-Heat 2 tbsp oil, saute garlic and sliced onion till fragrant. Add in mushroom and stir for 1 min, add chicken and stir till the color changed, add in red wine and ketchup. Pour 2 cups of water and simmer till chicken tender.

Black Pepper Beef

Ingredients:

100 g sliced beef(tender part)
1/2 large onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp oil
salt and fresh ground black pepper as u need

-Marinate beef with soy sauce, cornstarch and oil for 15 mins. Heat a tbsp oil, saute garlic and stir fry beef quickly, remove from heat and set aside. Stir in sliced onion and fry till fragrant, add in beef and taste with salt and pepper.

Indonesian Style Chicken Curry

Indonesian name it kare ayam. Kare mean curry, ayam mean chicken. Though it looks like curry, but it did not contain any curry powder. The yellow color comes from turmeric powder, and it has very different taste with those Indian curry(which i prefer most) And by the way, what the curry powder made of????

Ingredients:

4 chicken drumstick
1 cup thick coconut milk
5 cloves shallot
3 cloves garlic
3 candle nut
5 red chilies
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 stalk lemon grass
2 slice galangal
2 bay leaves
2 lime leaves

- Grind all the ingredients except lemon grass, galangal, bay leaves and lime leaves. Heat 1 tbsp oil, saute all the ingredients till fragrant, add chicken and coat with the spices, let it stand for 2 minutes on both side, add a cup of water and cover the pan. Let it simmer for 15 mins. Pour in coconut milk and continue cooking till gravy almost dry.

Chicken in Creamy Orange Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 boneless chicken breast, sliced
1/2 cup fresh snow peas
1 large orange, squeezed
2 tbsp chopped peanut
1 inch ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp white wine
1 tsp cornstarch + 1 tsp extra
2 tbsp peanut oil
1 scallion, chopped

- Marinate chicken with soy sauce, wine, ginger, cornstarch, chopped scallion and few drops of peanut oil. Let it stand for 30 mins. Combine orange juice with 1 tsp cornstarch, set aside.
Heat 2 tbsp peanut oil, saute garlic add chicken stir fry for few minutes. Add snow peas and chopped peanut, continue frying until chicken tender. Stir in orange juice mixture until thickened. Serve hot

Most Spicy Indonesian Food Ever!!!

The challenge also come from J when i called him on lunch break, few days back. He have this super spicy chicken rica rica. He challenge me whether i can cook his favorite food. And this is the first time i cook this famous spicy Indonesian dish.
Chicken rica rica originally come from Manado, rica rica mean spicy in their language. I gobbled 2 cone ice cream after having dinner. It is just...too spicy. Then if i'm a chili "addict", J is a chili "maniac"

Rawon

I've been craving this soup for months and the only problem is how can i get the blacknut, while no one selling it?
Went to Indonesian Mart and grab some Indofood instant paste and the problem solved !!
Taste was not as delicious as my mom's one, but it is better than i keep drooling whenever i remember it.

Soft Spicy Crisp Fried Chicken

Inspired by my last night dinner in Cafe Bellini, Italian chain restaurant with their curry flavor fried seafood, i made this my own fried chicken breast with chili powder. Sound weird isn't it? It is soft, crispy and a bit tangy. If u don't like spicy then u can substitute chili powder with ground pepper.
And here is list of things that i use

1 chicken breast, sliced
4 egg yolk
2 tbsp corn starch
1 bowl all purpose flour
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
oil for deep frying

- Marinate chicken with egg yolk and corn starch for 30 mins.
In a large plastic bag, shake together flour+chili powder+salt, be very careful not to sniff the chili powder when you open the bag, otherwise you'll sneezing all night long(wear mask if possible).
Coat chicken with flour and deep fry over medium fire till brown.

Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:

1 boneless and skinless chicken breast, halved
1/2 cup corn starch
3/4 cup water
2 egg yolk
3 cups vegetable oil
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp ground white pepper
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp minced ginger
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp extra corn starch
1 stalk spring onion

-Marinate chicken breast with 1/2 cup cornstarch, 1/4 cup water, egg yolks and white pepper for 1 hour. Heat 2 cups oil until sizzling. Fry chicken breasts, until brown and tender on both side. Remove to kitchen/paper towels and keep warm
-Cook chicken broth, brown sugar and ginger over low fire, add 2 tbsp cornstarch. Stir frequently until thickens, boil for 1 minute, stir in lemon juice and remove from heat.
-Cut each chicken breast and arrange on serving dish. Pour sauce over, sprinkle with scallions.

Spicy Chicken in Red

Here is my mom version of Ayam masak merah. I never pass over this kind of delicious Indonesian dish since last year.

Ingredients:

300 g chicken fillet
5 cloves shallot
3 cloves garlic
1 cm ginger
2 big red chili
8 small red chili (or as u like)
1 tsp coriander powder
3 lime leaves
1 stalk lemon grass
1 ripe tomato, diced

- Marinate chicken with coriander powder and salt for 15 minutes and then deep fry until brown. Set aside. Blend all the ingredients, except lime leaves and tomato. Heat 1 tbsp oil, saute blended ingredients until fragrant, add lime leaves and 2 cups of water. Simmer for 1 min. Add chicken and diced tomato, cover and simmer over low fire until gravy almost dry.