This is a classic chicken curry, Chinese Malaysian-style.  It goes really well with tumeric sticky rice.

Chef’s tip: Curry powder is commonly used in Malaysia, the concoction is similar to Sri Lankan curry powder.  Here’s a recipe to make your own curry powder.

Ingredients
6 pieces chicken legs with thighs, bones and skin on
2 tablespoons curry powder

3 small Russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 2-inch wedges
2 cups canola oil

Spice paste:
5 red jalapeno chilies, seeded
8 shallots
3 stalks lemon grass
1 inch galangal
1 inch fresh turmeric / 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon roasted belacan
5 candlenuts

Sauce:
¼ cup canola oil
5 sprigs curry leaves
1 cup water
3 cups coconut milk, reserve 1 cup of the cream
2 tablespoons kosher salt, to taste

Marinating the chicken:
1.    Rub the curry powder over the chicken
Preparing the potatoes
2.    Peel the potatoes and cut each into 4 pieces. Pat dry.
3.    Heat a skillet with about 2-inch of oil.  Fry the potatoes till it is golden on the outside.  Remove and set aside.  The potatoes need not be cooked through.
Preparing the spice paste
4.    Roughly chop up all the spice paste ingredients (except lemongrass and galangal that needs to be finely chopped).
5.    Place all spice paste ingredients in a food processor and grind into a fine paste.
Cooking the curry
6.    Heat about ¼ cup of oil in a pot on medium high.  Add the spice paste and curry leaves fry till fragrant and red, about 5 minutes.
7.    Add the marinated chicken and fry for about 3 minutes.
8.    Add 1 cup water and 2 cups of coconut milk and salt.  Simmer for about 10 minutes
9.    Add the fried potatoes and reserved 1 cup coconut milk, and simmer uncovered until chicken is tender and gravy has thicken, about 30 minutes-45 minutes.  Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

Serves: 6

Tags: curry, Malaysian.

Last night in class, we made Hainanese Chicken Rice.  The dish, often being claimed as the national dish of Singapore, always surprises folks unfamiliar to it on how tasty and flavorful it can be for a poached chicken and rice dish.  You need to use a whole chicken – chicken parts just won’t do.  Preferably a yellow-feathered, free range, organic chicken, or what they say back home, a “kampung” chicken.  The sauces are a must.

Chef’s tip: Poaching the chicken as described in great detail in the recipe – hot dip, long bath, and cold plunge  – may sound like a spa treatment, but it makes for really tender and moist chicken.  There you go -  proof that spas are good for you.

Rice:
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 inches ginger, peeled
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 cups jasmine rice
4 ½ cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
4 Pandan (screwpine) leaves

Chicken:
1 small chicken, about 3 lbs
2 tablespoon ginger, grated
1 teaspoon five spice powder

Soup:
2 inches ginger, peeled, smashed
3 stalks green onions, cut into 4 inch pieces
2 tablespoons Chinese wine
3 tablespoons kosher salt

1 small head of napa cabbage, tear into large pieces

Dressing Sauce:
3 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
¼ cup canola oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon brown sugar

Garnish:
½ English cucumber, sliced thinly
1 cup green onions, julienned
1 cup cilantro

Preparing the Rice:
1.    Smash garlic with skin on lightly, lightly smashed with the back of the knife, garlic should still be somewhat whole.  Peel ginger.  Smash into large pieces.  Set aside.
2.    In a 6 quart pot, fry garlic and ginger in sesame oil till fragrant. Add dry rice and coat the rice with the oil.  Saute for 1 minute until rice is translucent.
3.    Add chicken broth and salt.  Tie the pandan leaves into a knot and embed into the rice.
4.    Bring to a boil.  Wrap the pot cover with a tea towel and cover the pot and simmer under low heat for 20 minutes.  Do not open the cover at all.
5.    Remove from heat, and let sit 10 minutes.
6.    Remove garlic, ginger and pandan prior to serving.  Fluff the rice.
Preparing the chicken:
7.    Mix grated ginger with the five spice powder. Rub the chicken inside with it.
8.    Fill a large stockpot of water enough to cover the chicken.  Add ginger, green onions, Chinese wine and salt and bring to boil. When water boils, dunk in the chicken and bring to a boil again.  When it comes to a boil, cover, turn heat down and simmer 5 mins. Turn off heat & leave chicken for 40 mins in the covered pot.  Remove scum that forms on top with a slotted spoon.
9.    Remove chicken, and plunge chicken into a ice water bath for 5 mins.
10.    In the meantime, bring the chicken soup back to a boil.   Turn off heat. Plunge chicken back into hot soup for 2 mins to reheat. Remove chicken, and drain. Cut up chicken to 8 pieces.
11.    Add napa cabbage to the soup, salt to taste, and boil another 10 minutes till soft.
Preparing the dressing sauce & garnish:
12.    Mince garlic.  Brown garlic in oil till light golden brown.  Remove from heat.  Let cool.
13.    Whisk into the garlic oil the sesame oil, soy sauce and brown sugar.
14.    Slice cucumber.  Finely shred green onions (length wise) and cilantro
Assembling
15.    Mount a bowl of rice, top with chicken pieces.  Drizzle dressing on chicken. Garnish with cucumber, green onions and cilantro.  Serve with Ginger-Green Onion Sauce and Chili Garlic Sauce and a bowl of the soup.

Serves: 8

Chili Garlic Sauce

4 cloves garlic
10 fresh red chilies, deseeded
5 small sweet red peppers, deseeded
1 ½ inch ginger, peeled, chopped
2 small shallot, peeled, chopped
2 tablespoons sugar
Juice from 2 limes, to make ½ cup
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
½ teaspoon kosher salt

1.    Process to a fine paste all ingredients together in a food processor
2.    Season with sugar and salt to taste.
3.    Add more lime juice if needed.

Sauce will last for 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Ginger-Green Onion Sauce

3 inches length young ginger, peeled and grated to make to make 4 Tablespoons
1 stalk green onions, green parts only, finely minced
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 – 2 teaspoons kosher salt

1.    Grate ginger with a microplace and mince green onions
2.    In a small pot, mix all ingredients together and heat mixture.  Bring to boil for ½ minute until the mixture fully sizzles.

Tags: Singaporean, street foods.

This is my nephew, Christian’s, favorite bao!  We simply call it “Dai Bao” (translated “Big Bun”) coz it’s like ye big.  The size of a Big Mac, really. These days, it’s hard to find the Dai Bao. They are becoming almost extinct in this modern world of dainty dim sums. I call it the Dim Sum Evolution Theory! When my mom visits her grandchildren in Hong Kong, she brings a few of these Dai Baos with her from PJ.  The bao is filled with chicken, shiitake mushrooms, lap cheung sausages and my favorite part – half a hard boiled egg.

Chef’s tip: Marinating the chicken with cornstarch gives it a velvety texture. The best way to determine if the chicken is cooked through is by using a thermometer.

Ingredients:

1 portion of Basic Yeast Dough – see below

Marinade:
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
1 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoons Chinese rice wine
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper, ground
1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 1/2 lb chicken thighs, skinless, trimmed, vut into 1/2 inch strips
3 Tablespoons cilantro stems
2 pairs Chinese sausage, sliced
8 pieces shiitake, cut into half
4 hard boiled eggs, halved

8 pieces of 4 x 4 wax paper.

Prepare the dough
1. Make 1 recipe of Basic Yeast Dough for Steamed Buns. Make sure you cover the finished dough with a damp tea cloth.
Preparing the filling
2. Mix all the marinade ingredients (oyster sauce, soy, sesame oil, wine, salt, pepper, sugar, cornstarch and water) together in a bowl. Add chicken and marinate 2 hours. Toss in the chopped cilantro stems.
Assembling
3. Take a dough portion, work into a round ball about 2 inch in diameter. Flatten it into a 8-inch round with a rolling pin about ¼ inch thick. Make sure the edges are half as thin as the center.
5. Place 2 heaping Tablespoons of chicken into dough. Add 1/8th of the sausage, mushrooms and the half egg. Pull the sides to meet at the center, making a ruffled fold as you work. Pinch the top together and give it a twist to seal. Pinch off any extra dough at the top. Place onto a piece of waxed paper.
6. Place buns in steamer about 2 inches apart and cover with a damp cloth. Allow buns to rise in a draft-free place for about 20 minutes.
Steaming
7. Place steamer over the simmering water for 25minutes, or until bun is well risen or when a thermometer inserted into the bun reads 165F. Add water if necessary so that wok is not dried out.

Serves: 8 buns

Basic Yeast Dough Recipe

This is a recipe for the dough of the fluffy white skins of the char siu bao and the shanghai cabbage buns. It’s truly versatile — you can use the same dough and fill it with sweetened mashed red beans or lotus seeds for a dessert treat. Or just steam it by itself to turn it into “man tou” essentially steamed white bread that is used to soak up the wonderful sauce of Sichuanese or Hunanese dishes. If you shape the bun into a flat disc, it becomes the base for peking duck.

The dough can be allowed to rise slowly, covered, in the refrigerator for 1 day. Bring to room temperature before using. If you are not using the dough straight away, punch it down and wrap tightly with plastic wrap, for up to 3 days.

3 Tablespoons sugar
½ Tablespoons active dry yeast
½ cup + 2 Tablespoons hot water
½ cup + 2 Tablespoons cold water

3 cups unbleached “00” or high protein bread flour plus additional for kneading
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons canola oil

2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted

Part 1: Making and proofing the dough.
1. Proofing the yeast: Dissolve sugar in hot water. Add cold water to make a warm solution (105 – 115°F). Dissolve the yeast in the sugar solution. Stir lightly, and let stand in a warm place until mixture develops a creamy foam, about 7 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
2. Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle, and add yeast mixture and oil and stir to incorporate the flour until dough holds together and just come away from side of bowl. Add a little more water if needed.
3. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead. Lightly flour your hands if necessary. Knead (by using the heels of your hands and your body weight to push away from you, pull it back and fold in the sides of the dough towards the center. Turn the dough right angle every few kneads) until dough is smooth, soft, and elastic, about 10 minutes. Form into a ball.
4. Lightly oil a large bowl, put the dough into the bowl and turn the dough so that all sides are coated. Cover the bowl tightly with a plastic wrap/damp tea cloth and let dough rise in a warm (75-80°F), draft-free place until doubled in bulk, 1-3 hours. The dough is ready when it does not spring back when poked with a finger.

Part 2: Finishing the dough – Using the dough
1. Uncover the dough, punch it down and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.
2. Flatten it and make a well in the center. Sprinkle baking powder in the well, gather up the sides and fold to the center to incorporate the baking powder. Knead lightly for a few minutes till it becomes a ball again.
3. Divide the dough into two cylinders. Cut each into 4. Make 8 2-inch ball portions. Cover dough with a damp tea cloth as you work.
4. Proceed with dumpling recipes

Note: This basic dough can be used for char siu bau steamed pork bun recipes, plain steamed man tou recipes, shanghai cabbage steamed buns, chicken steamed bun recipes.

Tags: Cantonese, dim sum, dumpling.