Coconut Chicken Soup

C-O-C-O-N-U-T

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 C.H.I.C.K.E.N
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H2O

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Coconut Chicken Soup

Ingredients

3 coconuts

3 drumsticks or your favorite chicken parts

3 pitted red dates

3 Chinese mushrooms (pre-soak to soften and remove stem)

Few ginger slices

1 tbsp wolfberries 

Pinch of salt

Method

1. Cut away any visible fats from the chicken parts, I kept the skin intact. Blanch chicken parts in a pot of boiling water with ginger slices and pinch of salt. Blanching purges aggregated proteins, residual blood, surface bacteria and other impurities before you cook it. Discard the water and ginger.

2. Use a chopper to chop open the top of coconut. Pour the coconut water into a jug and set aside. Scrap some coconut flesh using a metal spoon and set aside. The toughest job in this recipe is to chop open the coconut, I am not good at that so I left it to the man in the house to execute the task. I have provided some links on how to chop open the coconut at the bottom of the page, if you are keen to try ;)

3. Place chicken parts, 1 red date, 1 mushroom and some coconut flesh into each coconut. Use a sieve to pour in coconut water until 2/3 full and top with 1/3 plain water till the brim.

4. Cover the coconut with the cap and steam for 1.5-2 hours. I wrapped the base of the coconut with aluminum foil as my steamer is quite shallow preventing water seepage.

5. Half hour before serving add in wolfberries and pinch of salt (really little bit of salt only).

BON APPETIT

The above is the most straight forward method. Now if you prefer something more complex to play with, refer to the alternative method:

Alternative Method

You may realize that you have a lot more coconut water than what is required. You can either enjoy the cooling coconut water on its own or cook everything in a pot instead.

So for step 3 (above) instead of putting the ingredients inside each coconut to steam, use a pot to cook all ingredients. Coconut water vs plain water ratio is the same, 2/3 coconut water vs 1/3 plain water. After boiled, simmer for 1.5hours in pot. From here you could serve your coconut chicken soup, it has more chicken taste as compared to steaming inside the coconut. At this junction, the soup is already very flavorful. But if you are as curious as me trying to see the difference between cooking in a pot and steaming in the coconut, you could scoop the ingredients and soup into the coconut to steam for 1/2hr before serving. The coconut fragrance really make the difference ;)

Online links on how to chop open a coconut

http://youtu.be/VMeYi0IAoH4

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/cookingtipstools/ss/youngcoconut.htm

Happy Monkey Year

Wishing All A Happy Lunar New Year!

HUAT HUAT HUAT!

Air-fried Chicken Pie

I always find it quite a chore to make chicken pies as you need to make the dough, cook the filling and bake it. But with the help of the puff pastry sheet and air-fryer, things seem more manageable ;) Here's a good recipe shared by Chelsia.

Ingredients
2 chicken thighs (deboned and cut into cubes)
1 onion (diced)
1 carrot (diced)
2 small potatoes (diced)
Mushrooms (optional)
2 hard-boiled eggs (remove shell and cut into half)
Light soya sauce
Pepper

Salt
Black pepper
Italian mixed dried herbs

Garlic powder
Worcestershire sauce

Plain flour
Milk

2 sheets of Pampas puff pastry (available from Phoon Huat)
Melted butter to glaze

Methods
1) Season the chicken cubes with light soya sauce and pepper.
2) In a pan/wok, saute onion and add in carrot and potatoes.Add some water to cook the vegetables followed by adding in chicken cubes and mushrooms.
3) Add in salt, black pepper, dried herbs, garlic powder, worcestershire sauce.
4) When the chicken cubes are cooked, sprinkle some plain flour and stir well. Pour in some milk and simmer for the vegetables to be soften.
5) On a non-stick baking tray (of Philips air fryer) lay 1 piece of Pampas puff pastry sheet as the pie base, use a fork to gently poke some holes.
6) Pour in the cooked filling and arrange the eggs on top.
7) Trim off the edge excess to make it neat. Use a brush to glaze the edges of the pastry with melted butter.
8) Cut the 2nd piece of puff pastry sheet to desired size enough to cover the top, I used a fork to press down the edges a little and poke some holes at the center.
9) Brush the top with melt butter and airfry at 180 degree for about 6 mins or until it form golden brown.

Air-fried Char Siew

 

 I used to roast my char siew using oven and after tried it on air-fryer, I find the latter is faster and tastier ;)

Ingredients (2pax)
200g Pork Shoulder Butt
1 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
1/2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tsp Light Soya Sauce
1/2 tsp Dark Soya Sauce
1 tsp Chinese Cooking Wine (eg Hua Tiao Wine)
1/2 tsp Sesame Oil
1/2 tbsp Honey
1/2 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp Chinese Five Spice powder
Dash of White Pepper

Rice and cucumber slices to go with the char siew

Methods
1. Slice the shoulder butt meat into 2 long pieces.
2. Marinate with all above mentioned seasoning and leave inside fridge overnight.
3. Pre-heat AF at 200 deg C for 5mins.
4. Place the meat slices on baking tray (without sauce) and AF for 10 mins at same temperature (oil not needed). At 5mins, baste with sauce and flip to the other side.
5. Reduce temperature to 160 degree C and AF for about 15mins until charred at some areas. Same thing, baste and flip at every 5mins interval until done.
6. Cool the char siew a bit and slice.
7. Heat up the remaining sauce and serve with the char siew.

 Oven-roasted char siew, using pork belly

Air-fried Skinny Crust Hawaiian Pizza

Quick and easy fix by using Tortilla wrap as pizza base to achieve a thin crust.

Ingredients
1 Tortilla wrap
1 slice of fresh pineapple (or from can)
2 slices of ham
2 tbsp tomato pasta sauce
Generous serving of Mozzarella cheese
Black pepper & Italian mixed dried herbs (optional)

Packaging of Tortilla wraps

Before air-frying on the grill pan

Methods

This is easy, just assemble everything together by
- Spread tomato pasta sauce on wrap
- Arrange diced pineapple and ham all over
- Sprinkle generous serving of cheese
- More pineapples and ham cubes on top
- Sprinkle some black pepper and Italian mixed dried herbs(optional)
- Pre heat Airfryer at 180 deg C and place the pizza in for 7 mins.
- Serve hot and you could sprinkle some Parmesan cheese.

Fruity Pizza on Toast

Did another version using fruits and bread. Instead of pineapple cubes and ham, we used pineapple cubes and banana slices and not forgetting the pasta sauce and lots of cheese. We placed everything on a bread and AF for just 5 mins. Viola! Done! Quick Supper at 11pm! Oh gosh too late to eat but when you are hungry you have to give in...hahaha...

Air-fried Turkish Yogurt Grilled Chicken

Ingredients
2 deboned chicken thighs (cut into small pieces about 5x4 skewers)
2 tsp minced fresh tomatoes
2 tsp plain yogurt
1 sprig rosemary (chopped)
1-2 tsp honey
Salt & pepper

Methods
1) Marinate the thigh meat with all seasoning overnight and thread the meat on skewers
2) Airfry at 180 degree C for about 12-14 mins, check especially after 10 mins
3) Serve with grilled pumpkins and your favorite chilli/creamy sauce.

Grilled pumpkin
Remove skin and cut the pumpkin into small pieces. Season with black pepper and salt, spread a little oil and air fry at the base at 180 degree C for 15mins or until they are soften with a little browning.

 

I use the base of Airfryer to grill the pumpkins, followed by baking mussel button mushrooms using the basket. Lastly is to stack the double rack on the basket for the chicken skewers by cooking 3 items at the same time. This requires close monitoring because their timing are different, the only common requirement is the temperature where 180 degree C is used.

Year End Parties (with Pasta Salad & Air-fried Roast Chicken recipes)

Hosting a party can be pretty stressful especially when you need to cook for many people. Planning is important and if things can be done in advance it does help a lot so that you being the host is able to mingle with your guests. Honestly speaking I am very lousy when it comes to cooking for a big crowd as normal days I only cook for my hubby and I. Hence I still have a lot to learn on the art of hosting parties. For example a cake or cream puffs could be done a day in advance. Freshly baked bread is an ideal starter especially if you have a bread machine. Start the machine 3 hours prior to the meal time and when the timer beeps you that the bread is ready, that's the ring for the meal commencement. Serve with some butter, cheese or balsamic vinegar over some wine. Doesn't that sound great? If you have more time, soup will definitely be a crowd-pleaser when served with bread.

Another item that you could prepare earlier is the pasta salad. It has carbohydrate being the staple food and vegetables to balance the diet. If your party is for dinner, you could prepare this as early in the morning and leave it in the fridge. Recipe of Pasta Salad is found in this page.

For meat item I will go with a roasted whole chicken and this can be done in 30mins in a air fryer and an hour in the oven.

PASTA SALAD

Ingredients

1/2 box of pasta (any shapes, I used bow tie)
2 hard boiled eggs (boiled, remove shells and sliced)
2-3 potatoes (boiled till soft and cut into big cubes)
1 box of cherry tomatoes (halved)
1 Japanese cucumber (1/2cm sliced)
100g streaky bacon (cut into small pieces, rinse with water, squeeze dry and fry/air fry till crispy)
10 grey prawns (remove shells & veins, boiled till cooked)
1 box of raisin to sprinkle

Salad sauce
1/2 bottle of mayonnaise
About 5 tbsp of fresh milk (depends on how runny you want the sauce to be, amount can be adjusted)
Pepper
Few drops of fresh lemon juice

Methods
1) In a pot of boiling water with few drops of olive oil and salt, cook pasta till Al dente. Drain the water and leave aside to cool.
2) Separately prepare all other ingredients.
3) When all ingredients are cooled, prepare the salad sauce and toss everything together lightly in order not to mash the potatoes.
4) Keep in fridge until ready to serve.

These ready-cooked baby back ribs are so good, they are tender and flavorful. I got them from Foodie Marketplace and all you need is to defrost them and bake at 160 degree for 20mins. If you don't tell your guests these are store-purchased, they couldn't tell. All they will see is you bringing the tray out from the oven and serve right to their table ;) Shhhhhhhh.....

 AIR-FRIED ROAST CHICKEN

The air-fried roasted whole chicken is easy and quick. About 30mins at 180 degree C and another 5mins at 200mins C is all it takes to impress my guests. Timing varies according to the size of the chicken. The advantage of air fryer is having the flexibility to pull out the basket and check as often as you like.

Ingredient
1 spring or small chicken (that can fit into Air fryer)

Seasoning
1 tsp Oyster sauce
1/4 tsp Dark soya sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese cooking wine
1/2 tsp Sesame oil
Pinch of pepper

Note: I am using kitchen measuring spoons, they are bigger compared to cutlery spoons.

End year is all about parties and food, from Christmas's eve all the way to New Year day. One whole week to celebrate with food. Here are some photos of what I had cooked up with:

Hairy Gourd with Meatball Soup

Ingredient

1 hairy gourd

1 carrot

150g minced pork (could use lesser depends on which much meatballs you want)

1 honey date

Handful of dried anchovies (buy those meant for soup)

Salt

marinade for the meat :
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp Chinese cooking wine
1 inch ginger (minced finely)
Dash of pepper
1 tsp cornflour 

Method

1) Marinate the minced pork for 30mins or leave it overnight.

2) Peel the hairy gourd and halve it lengthwise, use a spoon to scoop and discard the seeds, slice into small piece.

3) Peel the carrot and slice it.

4) Fill a pot of water and bring it to boil. Rinse the dried anchovies and put into a stock bag then add to the water.

5) Add in the honey date, hairy gourd and carrot. Boil for 2-3 mins and simmer for 30 mins.

6) Roll the marinated minced pork into small balls.

7) Bring the soup to boil and add in the meatballs. Once the meatballs are cooked, add a pinch of salt to taste.

8) Serve.