Yam Cake

I’m in Indianapolis at my God-daughter’s and decided to made her some ‘comfort food’ … Yam Cake aka Woo Tau Ko aka Or Koay …. I am very pleased with how successful it turned out even though a couple ingredients were missing 😉

Couldn’t have turned out better … just the right firmness and sliced perfectly!  This is known as Wu Tau Ko (Cantonese) aka Or Koay (Hokkien) aka Yam Cake

Didn’t have any proper tray to steam it in so made do with the only available spring-form cake tin …it was perfect as then the yam cake did not stick to the tin and could be easily lifted out of the tin after slicing 😉  I didn’t garnish it with the fried dried shrimps + Chinese sausages (I added the latter) but instead added it all into the Yam Cake and steam … I simply garnish it with crispy fried shallots, diced spring onions (scallion) and chopped chillies

This is MY comfort food … now and again I’d crave for this so just as well that I can make this at home … seen here served with a fresh salad of letuce, tomatoes & Lebanese cucumber + appropriate chilli & sweet (bean) sauce

RECIPE

Ingredients : (A)

250g yam, diced

1 cup water

(B) Mix together and sieved

125g rice flour

20g tapioca flour

1 cup water

1/4 tsp alkaline water

Seasoning

1 tbsp Maggi chicken stock granules

Salt to taste

Dash of pepper

1/4 tsp sugar

For garnishing

50g dried prawns, soaked and chopped coarsely

4 shallots, sliced

2 stalks spring onions, chopped

2 sprigs Chinese parsley and

 red chillies

Method :

• Heat 4 tbsp oil and sauté shallots till crisp … remove and leave the oil in the wok… add dried prawns and sauté till fragrant Remove and set aside for garnishing
• Add 2 tbsp oil to the remaining oil in the wok, add yam and stir fry well … mix in water and bring to a boil
• Add in (B) and seasoning and cook till batter is fairly thick then pour thick batter into a well-greased 25cm round tray
• Steam till yam cake is set and cooked through then leave aside to cool, then garnish and cut into diamond shapes
• Serve with chilli sauce

Stewed Chicken in Rose Wine Soy Sauce

Look at the awesome colour of the chicken legs … again, this is a Chinese stew and normally would be chopped up into bite sized pieces and served up as one of the dishes around the table with rice for dinner/lunch …but here, Hubby & I had it as our main course just the way it is …a tad saltier than I like it so I know better now to use less soy sauce if we are going to dine the Western style than the Chinese style with rice … would have been perfect if it was eaten with rice to soak up the sauce!

The amount of spices used in this dish is unbelievable and it all blended so well and the taste of the sauce and chicken is simply out of this world … definitely a MUST-TRY recipe if you hadn’t made this before 😉

The spices …… top from left to right and clockwise … ‘luo han kuo’ (aka Buddha’s Fruit/Monk’s Fruit); red distilled grains; ‘dan gui’ (aka dong quai/angelica sinensis); ‘gan chao’ (Chinese liquorice roots); cinnamon, ‘chao guo’; cloves; star anise; dried tangerine peel (in the center)

RECIPE

Ingredients:

I whole chicken (I used 6 whole chicken legs instead)

4 Tbsp Chinese rose wine

1 Tbsp red distilled grains

1000 – 1500ml water

500 – 1000ml light soy sauce

Spices:

5 slices “gan chao” (Chinese liquorice)

1pc dried tangerine peel

5 start anise

½ “luo han guo”

1 “chao guo”

10 cloves

1″ cinnamon stick

3 slices “dang gui”

Seasoning:

200ml light soy sauce

200g rock sugar

 Method:

• Blanch chicken in boiling water, drain well and set aside
• Boil seasoning in a pot until sugar is completely dissolved or until the soy sauce is slightly thickened, remove from heat and set aside
• To make the stewing stock, boil the water and light soy sauce in a deep pot until boiling … add in all the spices and red distilled grains and continue to boil for 5 minutes …blend in the thickened seasoning and rose wine and bring stock back to the boil
• Place the chicken in the the stock ….bring to the boil and then continue to stew, covered, over a low heat for 10 minutes
• Remove from heat, leave the chicken to soak in the stock for further 20 minutes or until the flavour has been absorbed and the chicken is cooked through
• Dish up and drained … chop into bit-sized pieces and serve hot with rice

Braised Duck with Ginger & Reddish Cheese

This is one of my all time favourite duck recipe … Braised Duck with Ginger & Reddish Cheese …. a Chinese recipe and normally would be served up with rice but here, we dined the Western-style … just the braised duck with some Stir-Fried Soya Bean Sprouts as the main for our dinner 😉

some of the ingredients …. from top right clockwise … fresh ginger, dried chillies, reddish cheese, salted/fermented bean paste ..what’s missing here is the star anise which I added later on!

RECIPE

Ingredients:

1 whole duck (1kg), chopped into 8 – 10 pieces 

300g young ginger, sliced

2 Tbsp chopped garlic

1½pcs reddish cheese

3 Tbsp salted/fermented bean paste

3 star anise

2 – 3 dried chillies, optional

1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine

1,500ml water

Method:

• Heat up 3 Tbsp oil in a pre-heated wok ….sauté ginger, chopped garlic, reddish cheese, dried chillies and salted/fermented bean paste until fragrant
• Add in duck, star anise and Shaoxing wine …stir fry over low heat until aromatic
• Pour in water, bring to a boil then braise the duck, covered, over low heat for approximately 1 hour or until the duck is tender  and sauce has thicken 
• Dish out and serve hot with rice or dine the way we did … Western-style … just the duck with some Stir Fried Soya Bean Sprouts 

Judie’s Beggar’s Chicken

This is my own version of Beggar’s Chicken … stuffed with Chinese Herbs baked encased in a flour dough …Beggar’s Chicken is made with a whole chicken, and in a restaurant, it is often served up in this hard flour dough case so that the diners get to crack it open to enjoy a mighty, tasty treat!

Don’t it look simply awesome? The herbal gravy is ‘to-die-for’ …. you can either eat it as it is or with plain steamed rice.
Simply a palate teaser…the chicken is sensuously soft and it merely just slips off the bones and melts in your mouth!

 Like some popular food, Beggar’s Chicken has a Chinese folklore tale behind it … this is a dish that originated from Beijing, China and it is said that a starving, homeless beggar had stolen a chicken from someone’s farm but realized he had no stove nor any tools to cook it so he built a fire and killed the chicken, wrapped it in slush and put the mud wrapped chicken over the fire to cook.  Just then, the Emperor and his entourage happened to be passing by and the Emperor was attracted by the aroma of the baked chicken.  The Emperor stoped and dined with the beggar, demanding to know how such delicious meal is cooked.  “Beggar’s Chicken” thus is subsequently added to the list of dishes served at the Imperial Court.

It is the baking in the flour dough that makes this bird most intriguing, tender tasty and Beggar’s Chicken is packed full of flavour that is most unique!!  

It is said that in the “Chinese kitchen”, the Chinese are not too happy with the name “Beggar’s Chicken” hence in Beijing, “Beggar’s Chicken” is not popularly known as “Fu Guai Gai” or “Rich & Noble Chicken” 😉

RECIPE

Ingredients: 

1 whole chicken, 1½ kg

 10g tong sum (Codonopsis Pilosula)

 10g dong quai (Angelica sinensis)

 8g pak kei (Astragalus Root)

 5g kei chee (Wolfberries)

 5g ginseng (optional)

 10g dried longan flesh

 1 cup water

 3 tsp salt

 3 Tbsp Chinese wine

 1kg plain flour

 water

 Oven bag/cling film

 Aluminium foil

 Method:

•  Clean the Chicken and rub the whole chicken, inside & outside with half of the salt
• Heat up oven to 220°C
• Put all the herbs + 1 Tbsp Chinese Wine in a pot together with the 1 cup water and the rest of the salt and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for further 5 minutes
• Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the boiled herbs mixture
• Secure the opening either by stitiching it up or tootpicks/bamboo skewers
• Put the chicken in the oven bag (or wrap up with cling film) and then aluminium foil, set aside
• Combine the plain flour with enough water to make a pliable dough
• Roll out the dough into a circle big enough to enclose the whole chicken parcel
• Place the chicken parcel in the centre and bring the dough up to enclose the chicken securely and overlap the edges and knead to seal the dough crust close
• Place it on a baking sheet and bake in the pre-heated oven for  2 hours 
• When done, use a pestle or kitchen chopper and break open the flour dough crust, open the foil &  bag/cling film carefully and tip the chicken and gravy into a serving dish, drizzle the balance of the Chinese Wine over the chicken and serve up as it is with a salad or served up with plain steamed rice and a stir-fried vegetable dish.

Lor Mai Kai/”Steamed Chicken Glutinous Rice”

We had this for dinner so I served it up with some stir-fried spinach with garlic & home-made sweet chilli sauce.
Lor Mai Kai is actually part of the ‘dim sum’ range and normally eaten over breakfast/lunch/brunch but it is also often eaten as a light supper nowadays.

RECIPE

Ingredients:

1 tsp chopped garlic

3 Tbsp oil + extra 1 tsp oil

200g glutinous rice

8 dried black mushrooms

100g Chinese BBQ pork (char siew)

20g Chinese sausages

150g deboned chicken, cut in bite size pieces

2/3 cup water 

 Seasoning:

1/2 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

1 tsp Shaoxing wine

1 1/2 Tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

Method:

• Wash glutinous rice in a strainer and soak in clean water for 4 hours
• Soak dried black mushrooms in a bowl of cold water
• Slice BBQ Pork/Char Siew and Chinese sausages to 1/2 cm thickness
• Marinate chicken pieces with half of the combined seasoning mixture
• Heat up a wok with 3 Tbsp oil and add in chopped garlic
• Add glutinous rice, remaining seasoning and 2/3 cup water 
• Stir to mix evenly for about 5 minutes then turn off flame and set aside
• Put the mushrooms with 1 tsp oil in a small caserole and microwave on power HIGH for 1 1/2 minutes, uncovered and set aside
• Heat up a big steamer or wok with water on high flame
• Divide the seasoned chicken pieces and all other prepared ingredients (including the rice mixture) into 4 portions by layering these ingredients in the base of 4 small bowls/pyrex cups in the following order : seasoned chicken, mushrooms, BBQ pork/char siew, Chinese sausages and lastly, top with the half-cooked rice
• Carefully place these 4 filled bowls/cups onto the steamer and steam on high flame for 15 – 20 minutes until rice/chicken pieces are cooked through
• Turn bowls/cups over onto a serving plate, remove bowls/cups and serve up with sweet chilli sauce + some green vegetables, if preferred.