September 13, 2010

Long Weekend

And so with the Hari Raya holidays making it a long weekend, my parents make their way to visit me, and went for their shopping spree as well. Coming over to the Klang Valley during Hari Raya holidays seems like a yearly affair since they always like the city without its usual bustling crowd and traffic. And when they are in town for visits, I get goodies. Kampung goodies.

So mum brought me two chickens and a basketful of dokong.

Knowing how I like things certain way, mum get the chicken cleaned, chopped up and froze in containers. All sealed in a polystyrene box all the way from Kelantan. And unlike the usual chicken you get from the supermarket, I know mum has definitely chose the best and the freshest of all.

Fresh ingredients make a huge difference even with the simplest way of cooking it. So I thaw the chicken, and prepared a simple sauce for steaming.

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Steamed Chicken with dong quai

1 chicken (cut and cleaned)

3 slices of dong guai (adjust to your preference, more if you like it more ‘herby’)

Sauce mix (a tablespoon of soy sauce, a dash of black pepper, a dash of sesame oil, a tablespoon of Shaoxing wine and two to three tablespoon of water)

A few slices of ginger

A teeny bit of garlic (a clove, chopped up)

The garlic and ginger on the base of a heat proof place, then arrange the chicken on it. Pour the sauce mix over and slot in the dong guai slices evenly. Steamed for about 20 minutes or till the chicken is tender.

 

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And like all meals, balanced it with vegetables.

I call this,

Cabbage crunchies

200gms of cabbage, sliced

100gms of carrots, sliced

A handful of wood ear fungus, sliced

A teaspoon of dried shrimps

A teaspoon of chopped garlic

A few slices of ginger

In a hot wok, fry the ginger, and the dried shrimps with a mix of sesame and cooking oil. Add in the garlic and fry ‘em till it's sweet smelling. Then add in carrots and the wood ear fungus. Add in teaspoon oyster sauce, then put in the cabbage. Stir fry till its soft, then add in a dash of soy sauce, nampla and pepper. Plate it.

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A simple dinner with awesome kampung goodness. Yumz.

11 comments:

Bernie Wong said...

That looks Delicious!!, I am going to try that the next time I get fresh chicken from one of the local farmers here

qwazymonkey said...

Oooh! masak makan seorang-orang lah! Chis, takpe. Sabar aje lah.

Mana video kami lah?

Babe_KL said...

I steam my chicken this way too, nice! Sometimes I add slices of lap cheong without the dong gui!

PureGlutton said...

Yumm - real authentic home-cooked goodness!

gfad said...

Aahh.. something I can whip up too! Just gotta go get some chicken. Thanks for the idea! :)

Sometimes it's really difficult getting certain ingredients to cook those simple meals we take for granted in Msia. Like air kapur and pandan leaf for kuih talam! :D

Chaokar said...

bern: get spring chicken!

monkay: monyet tak boleh makan ayam! hahahaha. i am thinking to make sambal kerang this thursday la.

babe: as long as the chicken is fresh it's tasty right !!

PG: yes it is. YUMz

gfad: yeah it's really simple. When the ingredients are fresh (seafood / chicken) i like them steamed. Somehow it bring out the flavors more. try to learn the local 'kueh' there and teach everyone la.

Ciki said...

lucky you. why never invite me over for dinner ar? :P

jason said...

Double yumz

J said...

Mmmmm. Looks good! Simple and nice :)

Clare @ Mrs Multitasker said...

Gimme this kind of food any day of the week! =)

Rachel@Any Idiot Can said...

The cabbage crunchies look amazing. The only thing I don't like about the chicken is it still has the skin on and I don't like boiled chicken skin (only deep fried, LOL). Still, it does look tasty.