Oven Baked Turmeric Chicken Leg

I digged out some turmeric from the garden last Sunday and used them to marinade the chicken legs . I truly enjoy gardening especially on a Sunday before the sun comes out.  I was happy with the harvest. The leaves are used for cooking rendang and the roots are used for marinating fish or meat or for making curry.  Turmeric has a peppery warm and bitter flavor and has a mild fragrance slightly reminiscent of orange and ginger. It is best known as one of the ingredients used to make curry and it also gives ballpark  mustard its bright yellow color.  It has a long list of health benefits too.  I understand that turmeric and onion may help prevent colon cancer...so today recipe has turmeric and onion in it :)  Oven baked Turmeric Chicken Leg is easy to prepare and healthy too :p

Oven Baked Turmeric Chicken Leg -  from WB's Kitchen

Ingredients :-

2 Chicken Legs - with skin intact, wash , clean and dry with paper towel

Pound together 
4 fresh turmeric - sliced
1 tsp of black pepper
4 shallots - sliced

1 tsp of sea salt or to taste

Method:

Pound turmeric , black pepper and shallots together till you get a paste that is netiher too fine nor too coarse.  Add salt to the paste and rub onto the chicken leg and leave to marinade for an hour or more.

Preheat oven 10 minutes @200 C degrees.  Place the marinated chicken leg on rack over a baking tray lined with aluminium foil and placed on the middle rack in the oven and baked for 35-40 minutes till evenly browned and cooked.  Take out and let cook. The skin should be crispy.

Enjoy!

home grown turmeric :)

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Stir Fry Celery With Sea Prawns

Something simple and delicious like this stir fry celery with sea prawns.  A good combination of taste and texture.  The celery is crunchy and sweet and the sea prawns has the sea scent and is springy and this can be served as a side dish.  For me, I can just chomp them down all by myself.....:p and leave nothing for the Wild Boar.  Just kidding, good things are to be shared , right?  And the generous garlic and chilli flakes adds flavor to the dish...yummy good !   As you can see, it is without any gravy.  Just add a few tablespoons of water and close wok with the cover for a few minutes so as to soften the celery and not to overcook them or it will lose its crunch.  Love the freshness of the prawns too ! mmmmm I want to cook this simple and yet delicious dish for the coming meals. 

Stir Fry Celery With Sea Prawns  - adapted from WB's Kitchen


12 pieces of sea prawns- remove shell , devein and season with salt and pepper
3 stalks of celery - cut into half and remove string - slice slanting

3 pips of garlic- chopped
a dash of chilli flakes   -  I use those from Dominoes :p
a pinch of sea salt
1 tablespoon of cooking oil/olive oil
3 tablespoon of water

Method:

Heat wok with oil and saute garlic till fragrant and add in prawns and stir fry till they turned orangey pink, add in the cut celery and water.  Stir fry for a minute till well combined  and cover wok with the wok cover for another few minutes. Add in sea salt and chilli flakes.  Dish up and serve as a side dish or a dish stand alone.

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Bloggers Meet Up And Mama Yu Nasi Kukus

Gertrude of My Kitchen Snippets is back for the CNY and I thought it would be great to meet up with her last Wednesday since I had a mission to accomplish in KL on that day.  Killing two birds with one stone as the saying goes :p   I am an opportunist LOL!  I asked Gert, can we meet up on the 12th since I will be there with Cheah of No Frill Recipes .  Gertrude told me that her classmate , Yik Wah and Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover will be joining us and you can guess how happy I was to hear that ,coz I have not seen Sonia since our very first blogger meet up in March 1, 2010...almost four years I have not seen Sonia, though I do meet up with Gertrude each time she is back from the States.  It was a great meet up and we had fun catching up with one another . And guess what, we met up at Madam Kwan's again :)  Sonia brought along some of her Pumpkin Kueh With Mung Beans  for us....as dessert.  It was delicious and now I have bookmarked it for my next kueh making .  My wish came true, I wanted her "gold bars" and truly she brought some for us :)   

After Sonia left us, Gertrude, Cheah , Yik Wah and myself adjourned to Mid Valley's Oasis Food Court for our second round of food :)  Yea , I won't return to Ipoh without trying out Mama Yu 's Nasi Kukus....highly recommended by Andy Lee :)   Let me introduce you to Mama Yu's Nasi Kukus .

Mamayu was born into a family of cooks from Tanah Merah, Kelantan. At a very young age, like those before her, Mamayu has shown passion for cooking, often following her mother to their stall to learn the trade.  After years of cooking and guidance from her mother, she has managed to master the skill of cooking authentic Kelantanese cuisine such as their very well received Kuah Kerutuk & Gulai Kawah.  

If you have not been to MamaYu's Nasi Kukus kiosk at Oasis Food Court, do drop by and try out their Nasi Kukus With Ayam Goreng Berempah that comes with Kuah Kerutuk and Gulai Kawah . And they serve Nasi Lemak With Ayam Goreng Berempah too.  And in the morning , they have Rice Noodle Balls ( something like Chee Cheong Fun but rolled up like spring roll )  . We didn't get to try their rice noodle balls.  But I promised myself that I will return with Wild Boar when we next visit Mid Valley.   Andy Lee, thanks for introducing us to Mama Yu's.  We love the Ayam Goreng Rempah...crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside. Nasi Kukus....yea their rice are steamed ! 

It would be 100% perfect if it the owner has added more rempah and salt to the chicken :)  On the whole it was good.  Prices are reasonable and for KL standard, it is really worth eating.   Needless to say,  we left for Ipoh so full that Cheah and myself just have to skip dinner :p  sometimes I am not wrong when I called myself a glutton !  Of course not you la Cheah...I mean myself LOL!  Btw, I lugged back a barrel of fried chicken from Popeye and a sandwich from Subway  *  all for Wild Boar **

these delicious looking Ayam Goreng Berempah 

enough to make me drool while I was taking shots of it

to show Wild Boar :)

Mama Yu's Nasi Kukus with Ayam Goreng Berempah

that comes with side dish  - mixed veggie, cucumber and prawn crackers

and Kuah Kerutuk and Gulai Kawah

RM 8.90

Awww...this Nasi Lemak With Ayam Goreng Berempah

comes with cucmber slices, half piece of hard boiled egg, kuah sambal, ikan bilis

and fried peanuts and prawn crackers garnish with

the crispy rempah 

RM 8.90

Nasi Lemak Biasa 

(without the Ayam Goreng Berempah

RM 4.90

I was told that Mama Yu's Nasi Kukus  now have 3 branches :)

MamaYu 1st kiosk:

Ming Tien Restaurant

Jalan Pjs 11/28a, Bandar Sunway.

MamaYu 2nd kiosk:

Restaurant Nam Yiang

Jalan Pjs 7/22, Bandar Sunway.

MamaYu 3rd kiosk:

Mid Valley Oasis Food court, lot no.10

Note:   We had a wonderful trip to Mid Valley...speaking on behalf of Cheah too :p  Thank you Sonia and Gertrude for all the gifts.  Love them very much !

Enjoy !

Romanesco Broccoli With Bacon Chips And Cheddar Cheese

Excerpt taken from here

Romanesco broccoli (also known as Roman cauliflower) belongs to the Brassicaceae family, it is a variety of Brassica oleracea and its scientific name is Brassica oleracea var. italica. Known and eaten since the days of ancient Rome, it looks rather like a cauliflower but is yellowy-green coloured and conical in shape. Romanesco broccoli is a biennial plant; it has a taproot from which a great number of secondary roots sprout, as does the stem, on which the straight leaves and head grow. The head is formed by a group of flowers (an inflorescence) and is the part normally eaten. The inflorescence of Romanesco broccoli is amazing; in fact it represents a natural fractal, composed of a spiral group of rosettes that are, in turn, made up of spiral rosettes.

I could not resist buying them when I saw them being sold at one of the supermarket.  Bought one head which costs more than the normal broccoli.  I paid RM 7 for one small head of Romanesco Broccoli.  I like the spiral rosettes and the crunchy texture and as a vegetable its texture is far more crunchy and its flavor is not as assertive, being delicate and nutty . It has a striking appearance and   is beautiful to look at :)  I have some bacon chips in the freezer and I decided to make a simple side dish out of it.  I fry the bacon chips till crispy so that there is no more fat on them ( healthier )   Mix the blanched broccoli  together with the fried bacon chips and throw in some grated cheddar cheese on top. Baked them in preheated oven of 170C for ten minutes.  Mmmmm the melted cheese adds flavor and taste to the romanesco  broccoli. And you can guess how much I love this ...forget about the calories from the cheese and bacon!  Eating in Moderation is still my motto where food is concern !

By the way, as a vegetable Romanesco Broccoli is rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin K , dietary fiber and carotenoids.

Enjoy !  

Curry Kapitan

It has been a long time since I cooked something nice for WB.  He loves his mother's Curry Kapitan, a nonya chicken curry dish. Nonya cuisine is a unique example of a successful fusion cuisine created by the Chinese people moved to Malaysia and adapted their cooking with the local spices. Curry Kapitan is named for Kapitan China, the title that the Portugese gave to the head of the Chinese clans in Melaka in the 15th century.  I was first introduced to this dish by my mother-in-law.  I used to have lunch at her place during the weekend when WB and myself were courting :p and I fell in love with WB  this dish at first taste.  It took me 20 years married to WB to master this dish to perfection.  With WB constantly comparing his mom's dish and mine, of course I finally managed to get as close to his mother's signature Curry Kapitan but landed me with pain for days on my operated arm :(  I carried the heavy old fashioned mortar and pestle ! forgetting my operated arm for a minute.  I have a blender but I preferred the spices to be pounded rather than machined. I prefer pounding the spices the old fashioned method even though it gives me pain after the pounding LOL!   Today , the pain is lessen but it was worth the pain.  No pain no gain ! :p  WB gave me 99.5 points !!!!  Dancing on trotters despite the pain :p

Curry Kapitan - adapted from WB's Kitchen

Ingredients:

4 chicken legs or 1000 gms of any other parts  - into 3 pieces each leg
5 kaffir lime leaves
200 ml thick coconut milk
salt to taste
1 lime juice
3 tbsp of vegetable oil

Spices for pounding

2 stalks of lemon grass - sliced
15 shallots
5 cloves of garlic
15 pieces of fresh red chillies or 4 tbsp of chilli boh ( chilli paste)
1 thumb size piece of fresh turmeric
1 thumb size piece of galangal
4 or 5 candlenuts ( buah keras )
1/2 inch square belacan ( shrimp paste )

Method:

Pound all the spices till fine ( you can blend them if you like ).

Fry the spice mix and kaffir leaves till fragrant and oil surfaced .  Add in the chicken pieces until chicken is browned and almost cooked.  Add in the coconut milk and bring to boil and the chicken is tender and cooked.  Add in the lime juice and salt to taste.

Enjoy !

Stir Fry Leeks With Chicken Tenders

I bought quite a lot of leeks from the supermart.  The price was much cheaper than last year and many women were buying them for the CNY.  I joined them and bought a kilo back .  I love the scent and you can stir fry them with roast pork or chicken tenders.  For a healthier version, I stir fry them with chicken tender strips and added ' fat choy ' instead of using roast pork.  But , of course it will taste better when stir fry with roast pork :)

Excerpt taken from here 

Fat choy (Nostoc flagelliforme), also known as faat choy, fa cai, black moss, hair moss or hair weed is a terrestrial cyanobacterium (a type ofphotosynthetic bacteria) that is used as a vegetable in Chinese cuisine. When dried, the product has the appearance of black hair. For that reason, its name in Chinese means "hair vegetable." When soaked, this vegetable has a very soft texture which is like very fine vermicelli. Fat choy grows on the ground in the Gobi Desert and the Qinghai Plateau. Over-harvesting on the Mongolian steppes has furthered erosion and desertification in those areas. The Chinese government has limited its harvesting, which has caused its price to increase. This may be one reason why some commercially available fat choy has been found to be adulterated with strands of a non-cellular starchy material, with other additives and dyes. Real fat choy is dark green in color, while the counterfeit fat choy appears black.

Stir Fry Leeks With Chicken Tenders  - from WB's Kitchen


Ingredients

chinese leeks - soak, clean and slice slanting 1/4 inch thick ( amount up to individual taste)
chicken tenders - cut into strips marinate with oyster sauce, white pepper and corn flour
fatt choy - soak , clean and drained
garlic - chopped
1 tbsp of vegetable oil

thickening

corn flour + water + chinese cooking wine
salt to taste

Method:

Heat up oil in wok and when the oil is hot, add in the chopped garlic and saute the garlic till fragrant. Add in the marinated chicken tenders and stir fry till cooked.  Add in the sliced leeks and fatt choy and stir fry till well mixed with the chicken tenders.  And when the leeks turned dark green and is cooked , add in the thickening and salt to taste. Continue cooking for a few seconds.  Dish up and serve hot with rice.

Simple and a healthy dish....nom nom

Have a great weekend !  :)

Cured Meat - Chinese Sausages And Waxed Duck Leg

Cured meat - waxed duck leg and chinese sausages was once a upon my favorite . Due to healthier diet, I have cut off this cured meat for some years but recently I received 2 pairs of wax duck legs and a kg of chinese sausages for CNY.  Thank you so much Elaine for gifting this delicious cured meat to us.  Wow, after some many years of abstaining from eating these chinese cured meat , it became  a rare delicacy to WB and myself :p Anyway, I steamed these delectable and aromatic meat for our dinner .

To make it less oily and waxy ,  I poured hot boiling water on the duck leg and let it immersed in the hot water for 20 minutes.  I then removed the skin and fat from the duck meat. And for the Chinese sausages, I removed the skin too. Cut them into biteable sizes and then steamed them for 30 minutes . Before steaming , I added 1 tsp of light soy sauce.  While they were steaming in the steamer, I prepared onions pickles.  Sliced one big red bombay onion into thin slices.  Add calamansi juice to the onion slices.  serving the steamed cured meat, garnish tthe meat with the pickled onions.  Count the calories later. We both tucked in like a glutton and had more than what we are supposed to consume in LOL!   Nom nom nom ...it was heavenly ! :)

Savory Fried Prawns

Prawn in Cantonese is  'Ha ' and it is a must have dish during the CNY for the chinese. It  sounds like haha ( laughter ) and Chinese like the sound of it .  I will normally cook them on the 3rd day of CNY .  On the eve , I have them for steamboat and on the 3rd day, I cook them simple by just pan fried them with some cut chillies and spring onions and garlic.  This combination of chilli and garlic gives out a nice aroma and it taste really good just with these three ingredients.  But be prepared for the aroma to stay for an hour while pan frying them over high heat.  The pungent chilli will make you sneeze like nobody business and without the extractor in the kitchen...mmm the aroma of fresh sea prawns , garlic and chilli in  will lingers on .  Love this dish and this is the only time I will tuck in more than I am allowed.  I am sure you guys ate a lot during the first three days of CNY  :) 

Pan Fried Prawns - from WB's Kitchen

Ingredients:

1/2 kg of fresh sea prawns - snip off the sharp part of the head off and devein ,leave the shell intact

4 cloves of garlic - chopped
2 chillies - sliced
1 stalk of spring onion - sliced
1 tbsp of vegetable oil

seasoning for prawns
 a pinch of sea salt
a dash of ground  white pepper
a tsp of sugar
1 tbsp of corn flour for coating the prawns before frying

a tsp of thick sauce

Method:

Heat a tbsp of oil in a wok over high heat,  when the oil is smoking, put in the prawns and fried it till it turn orangey red on both sides .  Push aside, add in the chopped garlic, chilli and white part of the spring onions and fry till fragrant. Push back the prawns and stir fry till the prawns are coated with the garlic chilli mixture. Add a tsp of thick sauce and the remaining green part of spring onions and stir fry till well combined.  Dish up and serve with rice.

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