Char Siew Chicken with Fragrant Buttered Rice

Char Siew chicken served with chicken rice is such a common food pairing which you can find in almost any kopitiam in Penang. Eating them is such a pleasure that they blend so harmoniously on your tongue, with the perfect proportion of sweetness and saltiness. The recipe is too applicable as chicken wing marinates for BBQ (which will crown you the name Chicken Wing King/Queen I gurantee).

Char Siew Chicken with Chicken Buttered Rice

Ingredients:

Char Siew chicken:
2 fresh chicken breast fillet
30g chopped garlic
30g chopped ginger
50g sweet Taucheow
30ml honey
3tbsp oyster sauce
30g sugar
1/4 tbsp five spice powder

Fragrant Buttered Rice:
1 cup Thai fragrant rice
25g butter
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 tsp crushed ginger
2 pcs pandan leaves
1.5 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp salt

Yield: feeds 2 stomachs

Methods:

Char Siew Chicken:
1. Marinate the chicken with oyster sauce, sugar and five spice powder. Cover with cling wrap and keep in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours.

2. Saute chopped garlic and ginger in some oil till fragrant. Add sweet taucheow and honey. Mix well and simmer for 1 min.

3. Pour the gravy on the surface of the chicken (on a baking tray).

4. Roast in oven at 160°C for 20 to 30 mins until the meat is cooked in the caramelised sauce.

5. Serve with chicken buttered rice.

Chicken Buttered Rice:

1. Rinse and drain fragrant rice.

2. Saute garlic and ginger with butter in a pot.

3. Add chicken stock, pandan leaves and salt.

4. Pour the mixture onto the rice in a rice cooker and cook as usual.

5. Serve with Char Siew Chicken.

If you think that those those instant bottled Char Siew sauce makes no difference than this, I can only tell you that you are so wrong. Trust me, spend a little more time and I assure you that you will dream of yourself chopping Char Siew at your own Char Siew stall after you eat this dish.

Green Curry Chicken

This dish has a very delightful shade of green, the type of green that used to be my favourite colour when I was young. It's not hard to make green curry from scratch. But if you are really an eventful person that you wanna save the hassle as much as possible, you can always get the readied green curry paste at the supermarket. Bear in mind that green curry paste that made by hand has a really vibrant flavour that a commercial product can never hope to achieve.

Sexy shade of green

Green Curry Chicken

Ingredients:
500g any chicken parts of your preference
250g potatoes, halved
1 cup chicken stock
1½ cup coconut milk
3 kaffir lime leaves, lightly crushed

Green curry paste:
4 long green chillies, seeded and chopped
1 cup fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 stalk lemon grass, smashed
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp white pepper
2 tbsp peanut oil

Garnishing:
Coriander leaves

Yield: feeds 4 stomachs

Method:
1. Place all the ingredients for green curry paste into a food processor and process until smooth. Paste is ready and set aside.

2. Heat a frying pan with a little oil over medium heat. Add green curry paste. Cook, stirring, for approximately 5 minutes or until the paste is fragrant.

3. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and cook, stirring to coat, for 2 minutes.

4. Add the chicken stock, coconut milk, potatoes, kaffir lime leaves and a pinch to salt to taste. Simmer for 25 minutes or until the chicken is tender and the curry is thick.

5. Garnish with some coriander leaves.

Green Curry Chicken

If you are able to scoop out some time to make your own green curry paste, it's well worth the small effort required. And you will be amazed how flavoursome this dish turns out with the effort you spent.

Lastly, I personally think that GREEN curry is really sexier than the ordinary red one. :)