Poulet Basquaise by Angela Seah Thulin

Another french classic dish but using dry white wine this time! This dish has a tangy dry taste, defined by the mix of capsicum and wine. I am so surprised that my son likes it - He said he likes the tomato taste in it.... Anyway, give it a try!!

Ingredients -
3 chicken thighs (800g)
1 medium size green capsicum, sliced
1 medium size red capsicum, sliced
2 tomatoes (180g)
1 big yellow onion (200g)
2 cloves garlic, grated (3g)
1/2 cup dry white wine (Chardonnay)
1/2 cup chicken broth (water + 1/2 knorr chicken cube)
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 tsp salt
Dash of ground pepper
some parsley
oil

Steps -
1. Rub the chicken thighs with salt and then wash off and pat dry. Season them with salt and pepper.
2. In a pan with heated oil, sear the chicken till both sides beautifully brown but not cooked. Set aside.
3. In another pot with heated oil, cook the onions, red and green paprika till they softened alittle, then add grated garlic in and mix well. Follow by adding tomatoes in and let it cook till break down and thicken. 
4. Add the dried thyme in and stir to mix well. Turn to med-low heat, pour the white wine in and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes. Then add the broth in.
5. Return the seared chicken thighs to the pot with fresh thyme, covered with lid on med-low heat and let it cook for 25-30 minutes or until chicken thigh is cooked and tender. Add some parsley and keep some for garnish.Taste and adjust accordingly.
6. Remove the thighs to a plate and leave the sauce in the pot. Turn heat to high - to reduce the sauce alittle / for few minutes.

Done. Garnish with parsley. Serve the chicken on top of rice.

Note -
The amount of ingredients used are just nice for 2-3 pax. Since my son don't really eat the vegetables hence the veg portion is just nice for me and husband. He took a piece of the chicken thigh. 

  

Char Siew (Pork) 叉烧肉 by Angela Seah Thulin

Char Siew in Sweden? Yes, it is! What can be more satisfying than a great meal??!! Sweet, tender soft meat - my husband who is Swedish loves this dish!

What is Char Siew? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_siu

YouTube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z4InpQFyK4

Facebook link - https://www.facebook.com/sassyangelakitchen/photos/a.233714530168481.1073741830.233664896840111/475595635980368/?type=3&theater

Ingredients -
800g pork collar
1 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 1/2 tbsp LKK light soya sauce...
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp LKK dark soya sauce
4 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp honey
LKK = Lee Kum Kee Sauce

For a smaller portion recipe - http://platepalate.blogspot.se/2015/08/char-siew-by-angela-seah-thulin.html


Steps -
1. Mix above together with the meat and marinate overnight.
2. Remove pork from fridge and rest for 15-20mins to room temperature.
3. In a pot on med-high heat, add the pork and pour all the marination sauce in and cook it with lid covered. Stir / flip the meat every 5-8 minutes to ensure each side evenly cooked and to prevent charred. At around 20 minutes - Turn heat to medium and check if the meat is cooked by poking to see if the juice run clear. 
4. Around 25minutes, sauce will slowly thicken and likely some parts of the meat will charred. Total cook time should not be more than 30minutes, depending on how thick your meat is. 

*Optional step - If you like your meat to be more charred, after all the above steps, bake in preheated oven 200degree for 2-3 mins at each side. Bake the meat for a few more minutes if you prefer it to be more charred.

After 25 minutes

Notes - 
1. I am using electric stove and my total cook time using ceramic pot for this 800g pork took me exactly 31minutes. If you are using gas stove, you may have to flip the meat very often as well as controlling the heat.
2. Remove meat from pot and let it cool for 5-10 minutes.
3. Because the sauce has thicken, i added 30ml water in, stir to mix well and boil the mixture again. I used this sauce to drizzle on the rice.
4. The type of pork I used in Swedish is Fläskkarré.

Pulut Hitam by Angela Seah Thulin

What is Bubur Hitam? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubur_ketan_hitam

Serves 3-4 rice bowl

Ingredients -
3 pandan leaves, tied
200g glutinous black rice (premium quality)
5.5 cups water water
1 round block of gula melaka 
Few tbsp of granulated sugar
Some coconut milk (I used Kara brand)
Pinch of salt

Steps -
1) Wash the rice till run clean and soak for an hour.
2) In a pot with boiling water, place the pandan leaves and washed rice in. Let it come to a boil.
3) Then lower the flames and let it simmer till liquid turn creamy, rice is soft yet with a bite to the grain. About 50 minutes to an hour. Stir once a in while.
4) Add sugar and gula melaka in, adjust taste accordingly and keep stirring till suagr dissolve.
5) Then in another pot, pour coconut milk in and let it come to a gentle boil and add salt to it. Set aside.
6) To serve - drizzle coconut milk on it.
7) Any balance, pour on popsicle container and freeze it.

Notes - 
1. Because i did not soak my glutinous rice so it took me about an hour to get it cooked despite using Le Creuset pot.
2. I boiled with 5 cups of water first. The other 0.5 cup water was added a while later.

Braised duck by Angela Seah Thulin

There are many kinds of braised duck recipes. I love the Teochew braised duck that my ex mother-in-law made. Hers are more towards the sweet side, black (not dark brown, as her soya sauce are of a special brand that she orders from Malaysia) and the gravy is often pretty thick too. I've done this dish before using her method but today, i added a few ingredients. It resulted in a more balanced taste where all the herbs blended well together. 

Ingredients -
1 whole duck
8 tbsp sugar
2.5 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
2 cloves
1 dried bay leaf
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp Lee Kum Kee dark soy sauce
8 slices of blue ginger 
5 slices ginger, gently smashed

Steps -
1. Clean the whole duck.
2. Rub salt all over the duck and rinse off. Then pat dry the duck.
3. Stuff any few slices of the ginger into cavity.
4. Heat up wok. Pour the sugar in and cook till it melts.
5. Hold the duck (hand at one end each), sear one side of the duck by few secs then flip to the other to cook.
6. Pour dark soya sauce on top of the duck body, then add water (covering at least 1/2 of the duck), add cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves, bay leaf and ginger.
7. Give a stir and cover with lid. Let it cook on low heat for 2hrs.. Flip the duck at every 15-20minutes.

For the dry noodles serving - i just blanched the mee pok with boiling water for a while then into cold icy water few secs and then back into boiling water for another few seconds. The same method for the bean sprouts. In a bowl, i added some sesame oil, transferred the ready mee pok and bean sprouts in and then scooped some of the duck gravy to the mee pok - and done!

Notes -
1. My duck weighed 1.7kg
2. I cooked my braised duck for 1 hour 10 mins on low heat using Le Creuset 27cm pot.

Thai Roasted Chicken by Angela Seah Thulin

Wishing everyone HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016!!!

We had french cuisine - Coq au vin, yesterday (30th Dec), and today we go for Thai cuisine!! Thai roasted chicken - yes its tender and flavorful just like the Coq au vin. And our favorite homemade tom yum soup and candied tapioca for dessert.

Tom yum soup recipe - https://www.facebook.com/sassyangelakitchen/photos/a.233725063500761.1073741833.233664896840111/366897603516839/?type=3&theater

Candied tapioca - https://www.facebook.com/sassyangelakitchen/photos/a.233725063500761.1073741833.233664896840111/293087620897838/?type=3&theater

Ingredients -

1 whole chicken 

2 stalks of lemongrass (cut into 4 parts and lightly smashed)

5 slices of blue ginger

10 pcs of kaffir lime leaves, torn

1 shallot, quartered

50ml water

Marinate to the inner skin of the chicken (Part B)

1/2 tsp of white peppercorn

Few dashes of ground pepper abt 1/4 tsp

6 cloves garlic

3 cilantro roots + 3cm cilantro stems

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp palm sugar, chopped finely

3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp dark soya sauce

Steps -

1. Rub the whole chicken with salt and then wash off and pat dry. 

2. Using a motar, pound all the part B together. Set aside.

3. With your hands, loosen the skin on the breast and other side so that you can stuff the part B into it. Make sure you keep the skin intact. Repeat the steps to the legs and both side of the body. Save some for cavity about a tbsp.

4. Season the chicken cavity with generous amount of salt.Then stuff the cavity with balance part B together with lemongrass, ginger, kaffir leaves and shallots except water. Tie legs together with butcher twine. Set aside for 30mins.

Preheat your oven to 180degree celsius.

5. In a roasting tray with olive oil, place the chicken with breast side up. Drizzle some olive oil on the chicken.

6. Into the oven. After roasting in the oven for 20-30minutes, you will see dark charred on the breast, take a small piece of aluminium foil and cover the breast part only. Pour 50ml water to the pan. Continue roasting the chicken till cooked about 40-50minutes (Every 1/2kg chicken at 30minutes.)
7. Check that your chicken is done by inserting skewer at the thigh/legs and that the juices run clear. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Pour the juices from the tray to a bowl and serve. Done.

Note -
1. Every oven temperature varies. I baked my chicken at 175 degree celsius for 1hour 15minutes.

2. My chicken weighed 1.1kg.
3. Original recipe from Hot-Thai-Kitchen 

Coq au vin by Angela Seah Thulin

Our New Year's dinner!! Strongly recommend you to try out this dish. We all loved it and before i knew it, all the plates were emptied! 

Coq au vin (translate from french: ''rooster/cock with wine'') is a traditional french dish that is made by braising chicken with wine, broth, bacon and mushrooms until its soft and tender.

Ingredients -
4 strips of bacon, diced it to smaller strips
13g butter
3 big chicken thighs with skin on
1 carrot cut into bigger chunk, about 100g
150g button mushroom, quartered
1 big yellow onion, diced
1/4 tsp dried thyme
160ml chicken broth (I used 160ml water with 1/2 chicken knorr cube)
60ml red wine
1 - 2 garlic cloves (9g)
1 tbsp tomato paste
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 dried bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Using the baguette to dip with the sauce, sooo yummy!

Steps - 
1. Rub the chicken thighs with salt and then wash off and pat dry. Season them with salt and pepper.
2. Using oven safe casserole (I used Le Creuset 22cm with stainless steel knob), melt the butter first and then pan fried the bacon until crispy. Remove the bacon to paper towel and keep the fats in the pot.
3. In the same pot, sear both sides of the chicken thighs till nicely browned. Then remove the thighs and set them aside.
4. In the same pot, sauté the carrot, mushrooms and onions until onion turn translucent then add 1/4 tsp dried thyme in. Mix well.
5. Deglaze the pot now by adding red wine and half of the chicken broth (80ml) in and cook for a minute. Stir. Then add the rest of the chicken broth, garlic cloves, tomato paste, sprigs of thyme, bay leaf and salt. Stir to mix well.
6. After it comes to a gentle boil, add worcestershire sauce in.

Preheat oven to 175 degree celsius

7. Lower your heat to simmer. Add the crispy bacon back in, stir. Then add the seared chicken thighs back in too with skin side up. Scoop some sauce over the chicken. Cover with lid.
8. Into the preheated oven and bake for 45mins or until chicken thighs are tender. Done, garnish with more fresh thyme! 

Serve with mashed potatoes, pasta or crusty baguette. Yumzzz!

Notes -
1. When i made this the third time (when i invited my mother-in-law over) with double up portion, i did not double up the dried thyme, tomato paste, garlic, bay leaves, salt and even omit worcestershire sauce. But i used more fresh sprigs of thyme and added few more bacons. It was absolutely delicious too!!! 

Mushroom tartlets and raspberry cookies

''Fake'' Shark Fins soup by Angela Seah Thulin

Ingredients -

3 Chinese mushroom, soak to soften
3-4 sticks Crab sticks, tear into thin strips
1 boiled chicken breast meat (80g), tear into thin strips
crab meat
corn (opt)
Potato flour with water
An egg, beaten

Sauce -
4.5 cups water
1.5 tbsp oyster sauce or less if u don't wan so dark.
Some Light soya sauce
1 tbsp hua tiao jiu
1/8 of the chicken Knorr cube (opt) or bit of chicken powder

Steps -
1. Boil the water and the sauce first.
2. Then add soaked mushroom in to cook till soften for 5-10 mins, then add breast meat or crab meat in, let it cook for a while.
3. Add crab sticks in. Pour the potato flour with water in to thicken the soup. Stir as you pour.
4. Pour the beaten egg in and stir as you pour. 

Done. Garnish with coriander.

Chocolate cupcake with Nutella frosting by Angela Seah Thulin

Makes about 18 cupcakes

Ingredients - 
220g cake flour
75g Hershey's cocoa powder (special dark), sifted
150g unsalted butter, room temperature
110g brown sugar 
100g sugar 
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract 
300ml fresh milk
50ml heavy cream (36% fat content)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp coffee (1tsp expresso + 2tbsp hot water)

Steps - 
1. In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Then add the eggs in one at a time and beat to mix well. Follow by the vanilla extract. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, mix the milk, heavy cream and coffee together. These are wet ingredients.
3. In another bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together. These are dry ingredients.
4. In 3 additions of the dry ingredients, add them to point no. 1 and whisk together. Do not overbeat. At the same time, in 2 additions, add the wet ingredients in to point 1 and whisk together.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree celsius for 20-25 minutes.

Notes:
1. Every oven temperature varies, i baked them at 165 degree celsius for 16 minutes.
2. These cupcakes are NOT SWEET on its own. But with the frosting, it goes well. You may wish to add 30g more sugar.


Nutella frosting
210g unsalted butter, room temperature
110g icing powder
6 tbsp Nutella
120g chocolate chip, melted
1.5 tsp vanilla extract 
1 tbsp milk (optional)

Steps - 
1. Whisk the butter till soft and add icing sugar in. Follow by vanilla extract, melted chocolate and add nutella in. If you like this consistency, you may omit the 1 tbsp of milk.

Chinese Fried Carrot cake 菜头粿 by Angela Seah Thulin

                                 
                                 

Stir fry Chai Tow kway

In Singapore, we call it Chai Tow Kway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chai_tow_kway
It is made with radish cake (steamed rice flour, water, and shredded white daikon), which is then stir-fried with eggs, preserved radish, and other seasonings. The radish cake is often served in large rectangular slabs which are steamed and then later fried whole. 

Ingredients -

500g rice flour
1500ml water
500g radish, grated or sliced thinly
2 Chinese sausage / diced it (Lup Cheong)
80g coarsely chopped dried shrimps
4 tbsp chopped shallots
1 tsp salt
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp chicken stock granules
3 dashes pepper
3 tbsp oil for frying

Steps -
1) In a big bowl, combine rice flour, water, radish.
2) Heat oil and fry the shallots, then dried shrimps followed by Chinese sausages.
3) Pour in point 1 plus all other seasonings into point 2 and continue to stir over flames. Stir till mixture thicken.
4) Pour into 10 inch tin and steam for 45 mins
5) Let it cool. Then refrigerate overnight. Cut into your desired slices and pan-fried or deep fried. Enjoy!! 

Notes - 
1. I use 3 Lup Cheong and 30g dried shrimps. Individual preference as i don't really fancy dried shrimps.
2. If you like to use this recipe to stir fry as Chai Tow Kway, you may wish to omit lup cheong and dried shrimps. Up to you.

Basically to fry it with sweet caramel sauce - 
1. In a wok with oil, sautee the preserved radish (cai por) first follow by minced garlic otherwise sautee minced garlic till fragrant.
2. Add the ready steamed carrot cake (out from fridge) in and cook till soft or warm
3. Crack an egg in and mix them altogether only when egg is about to be cooked. 
4. Lastly, add sweet caramel sauce or even abit of dark soya sauce in to taste and adjust accordingly.

I prefer eating it this way :)

Roasted Chicken with lemon, garlic & parsley by Angela Seah Thulin

Merry Christmas, Everyone!  

Just a simple pre-Christmas meal together. Roasted chicken, brussels sprouts served with pan fried potatoes with thyme and green salad. And what is a Christmas revelry without log cake? So...I baked a chocolate ganache log cake.

Using Gordon Ramsay's recipe from his roasted turkey video, however i used chicken instead. This is pretty easy to do yet yummy. Despite the long hours roasting in oven, the chicken breast meat remains tender and juicy with crispy skin...

Part (A) Ingredients 
1.4kg free range chicken
1 Big yellow onion, halved
1 Lemon, halved
5 dried bay leaves
Olive oil
Bacon 6-8 slices
salt and pepper

Part (B) Lemon, garlic, parsley butter 
120g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/2 tbsp olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
few dashes of dried parsley

Steps -
1. Rub the chicken with salt, wash away and pat dry the chicken.
2. Prepare the part B in a bowl. Mix well.
3. Season the chicken cavity with generous amount of salt and pepper.Then stuff cavity with onion, lemon and bay leaves.
4. With your hands, loosen the skin on the breast and other side so that you can stuff the part B into it. Make sure you keep the skin intact. Repeat the steps to the legs and both side of the body.

Point 4

Ex. spread the butter mixture all over

Preheat oven to 220degree celsius. 

5. Use the part B to rub gently on the outer skin of the whole chicken. Season with some salt and pepper again.
6. In a big roasting tray with olive oil, place the chicken with breast side up. Drizzle some olive oil on the chicken.
7. Into the oven for 10-12 minutes. Baste the chicken with the juices from the tray. Then covered the breast with bacon. Baste with juices again.
8. Reduce the oven temperature to 180degree celsius and cook for 1.5hrs. (Every 1/2kg chicken at 30minutes.)
9. Check that your chicken is done by inserting skewer at the thigh/legs and that the juices run clear. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Pour the balanced juices with the lemon, garlic, bay leaves to a small pot and cook it a while or you may serve it like that. Done.

After the first 10 mins in oven. Point 7

Done after 1.5hrs

Link to the Gordon Ramsay's video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I93nany8nQI

Note -
1. Every oven temperature varies. I baked my chicken at 165 degree celsius for 1hour 35minutes.
2. I stuffed the balanced butter mix into the cavity :)

Brussels sprout and Potatoes

Recipe:

http://platepalate.blogspot.se/2014/12/chocolate-ganache-christmas-yulelog-cake.html