Chinese Pumpkin Cake - Healthy Steamed Recipe

Pumpkin cake made from a nice little pumpkin I bought from Jaya Jusco
Nice golden orange pumpkin colour and the cake before steaming After tasting the Pumpkin cake that a neighbour across my house gave me, I decided to try out the recipe. Actually the ingredients and method of making Chinese Pumpkin cake is similar to Yam Cake but instead of yam, pumpkin is used. Therefore, I incorporated my yam cake recipe into making a pumpkin cake. The pumpkin cake taste good if eaten with sweet chee cheong fun sauce and garlic chilly sauce.

Ingredients
Pumpkin, diced, 1 bowl
Rice flour, equal portion with wheat flour
Wheat flour, equal portion with rice flour
Salt to taste

Garnish
Spring onions, 2 stalks, cut into small pieces
Shallots, 5 pcs, sliced and deep fried until crispy
Dried prawns, 3 table spoons, blended and fried until crispy

Mix rice flour and wheat flour, equal portion in a steaming stray. Add water and mix thoroughly. Vary the amount of water to get the texture of the cake that you want. The more water you add the stickier and soft it will be. If you like hard pumpkin cake texture, then add less water and make a thick paste. A rule of the thumb is to add water until the mixture viscosity is almost similar to honey at room temperature (25 Dec C). Add salt to taste and pumpkin. Steam the mixture in high heat for 20 minutes. Let it cool down a bit before adding the garnish on top. Garnish with springs onions, shallots and dried prawns. Cut out the pumpkin cake and serve with garlic chilly sauce with brown sweet chee cheong fun sauce.

Caramelised Garlic Pork Belly Recipe

I learn this wonderful and yummy recipe from Sonia, Nasi Lemak Lover. The dish turned out rather well and everyone in my family likes it very much. My version has a little gravy because my little toddler likes to add it to his rice. Here is the recipe or you can check out Sonia’s blog for the original version!

Ingredients
Pork Belly, 500 gms
Sugar, 3 table spoons
Salt to taste
Soya Sauce, 3 table spoons
Vineger, 1 table spoon
Chinese Cooking wine, 1 table spoon (I ran out of rice wine so I used Shao Shing Chiew instead)
Garlic, 5 cloves, chopped finely
Water A little Corn starch with water to thicken the gravy

Heat up pot and add in sugar. Use low heat and if you are worried that the sugar will get burned, add a little water. Stir the mixture to even out the heat so that the sugar will caramelised perfectly. Add in the pork and garlic once the sugar turned brown. Stir for a short while. Put in the vinegar, cooking wine and garlic. Stir fry for a short while. Add water and cook for around 30 to 45 minutes or until the meat is tender. Open the pot lit and stir until all the water almost dried out. Add corn starch water mix and salt to taste. Serve with white rice!

Ngaku (Arrowheads, Duck Potato, Wapato Saggitaria Latifolia) Plant – Nice Chinese New Year Decoration

Before Chinese New Year and After Chinese New Year!

I planted three leftovers ngaku bulbs in the pot where I kept my little Bettas (Siamese fighting fish, Trey Khem) offspring before Chinese New Year. They really grow very fast! Take a look at the picture I took yesterday and the one before Chinese New Year. The arrow head shaped Ngaku (Arrowheads, Duck Potato, Wapato Saggitaria Latifolia) leaves that pointed sky ward looks very green and majestic. Ngaku grows very well if you put it in a pot with stones and flood it with water. I love to watch my little betta fishes (Trey Khem) swimming and playing around the ngaku roots. They seem to enjoy swimming around it very much! So, Ngaku not only makes nice crispy chips when deep fried or as vital ingredients for many Chinese New Year recipes but also as an attractive decorative plants for our house!

Chai Leng Park Great Wellesley Old Cinema Restaurant –3rd Day CNY Famly Meal

It was the third day of Chinese New Year and my family decided eats out for lunch. My dad loves the Curry Fish Head dish in Great Wellesley Restaurant, so we decided to have out little family gathering there. Since there were 15 of us, we opt for two separate medium size table so that everyone can dine comfortable. Here is the review of the dishes we ordered,

Curry Fish Head They use Grouper (Kerapu) fish head for this dish. The fish is rather large and full of meat. The curry is creamy with a little tinge of sourness. I flooded my white rice with the favourful curry gravy. Nice! Both tables finished all the fish head!

Braised Tofu with Mushroom This is my daughter’s favourite dish. She virtually ate all her rice with this dish alone. The tofu has very nice and smooth texture. It is garnished with some crunchy lettuce. This is another nice and simple dish!

Cashew Nuts Chicken The kids love this dish. The diced chicken meat is fried with cashew nuts, capsicum (bell pepper), button mushroom, onion and carrot. I can’t figure out what sauce they use but it tasted unique to me.

Stir Fried Tau Miu (Sweet Pea Sprouts) The serving is rather large, nothing to shout but the tau miu (Sweet Pea Sprouts) is very crunchy and fresh!

Kung Po Frogs (Thin Kai Kung Po) We actually ordered this dish for one table only because we thought that the kids would not want to eat frogs. However when the dish arrived the kids tucked in into it and love the taste so much. All the frogs are gone in a jiffy! I think they should not deep fry the frogs before cooking it with the kung po gravy. Deep frying made the frog meat very tough, took away all the natural taste and sweetness.

We also ordered two bowls of Shark Fin soup for the kids but I did not take the picture. It cost RM10 per bowl. The total bill for 15 people (two table of similar dish) came up to be around RM240.

Address : Great Wellesley Restaurant Jalan Kurau Chai Leng Park 13700, Prai, Butterworth

Map to Chai Leng Park, Butterwoth Great Wellesley Old Cinema Restaurant

Baked Jacket Fish (Ikan Barat, Unicorn Fish, Scientific name Monacanthidae) with Pineapple Recipe

Fish with 'jacket' on but the flesh is white and sweet!

This is a simple and quick recipe but I guess only jacket fish is suitable to be used in this recipe. The meaty texture and sweet jacket fish flesh blends well with the simple spices used. It took me a jiffy to prepare this dish; marinade the fish, wrap it up with aluminium foil and pop it in the oven for 25 minutes! I threw in a few pieces of pineapples as well to give it some fruitiness flavours.

Ingredients
Jacket fish, 1 pc (I used half cut from a large fish for this recipe)
Turmeric, 1 teaspoon
Chilli powder, ½ teaspoon
Lemon juice, 1 table spoon
Salt to taste
A little vegetable oil
Pineapples, 7 to 8 pcs
Onions, 1 pc, cut into 4

Marinade the fish with all the ingredients and set it aside for 15 minutes. Spread out an aluminium foil and put the fish on it. Pour all the excess gravy into the foil. Wrap it up and bake in preheated oven at 200 Deg C for 25 minutes. Serve with white rice.

Note : Check out information about high payment Euro currency ads CPM program at my blog http://pete-makemoneyworkingfromhome.blogspot.com/2010/02/earn-euro-from-2-cpm-up-to-13-cpm-cost.html

Capsicum Ring Ngah Ku Chicken to Welcome the Year of the Golden Tiger (Peteformation Festive Dish Recipe)

When first I thought about making capsicum rings, I was actually imagining about a tiger leaping through a ring over to a New Year, towards prosperity and good health! So, if you strike 4D or Toto after eating this dish, don’t forget to ‘belanja’ (treat) me, ok? Ha ha ha! Capsicum or Chilli Pepper (Bell Pepper, Paprika, Solanaceae family) has nice aroma if it is deep fried, roasted or barbecued. I thought that it would be nice and presentable if I use pan fried capsicum rings to decorate a Chicken Ngah Ku (Arrowheads, Saggitaria Saggitifolia) dish. Ngah Ku gave the dish a little crunchiness and I also used deep fried shark meat salted fish to give it an extra flavour. You can add some cashew nuts and dried chilli to spice up the dish a little. However, since my little toddler would be eating it for dinner, I did not add in these two ingredients.

Ingredients
Capsicum, 1 large, cut into rings; keep the top part for decoration
Chicken Meat, 300 gms, cut into cubes
Ngah Ku (arrowheads), 3 bulbs, cut into small cubes
Garlic, 5 cloves, chopped finely
Onions, 1 pc, cut into four
White Pepper, a dash
Oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon
Salted fish, 2 pcs, deep fried, break into small pieces
Cashew nuts, ½ cup (optional)
Sesame oil, 1 teaspoon
Corn flour, 2 teaspoons mixed with a little water
Salt to taste

Heat up pan and put in a little vegetable oil. Fry the capsicum rings until they are slightly burned. Arrange the capsicum rings in the serving plate. Use the remaining oil to sautéed garlic and onions. Add in the chicken and stir fry until it is cooked. Put in the ngah ku, white pepper, oyster sauce, salted fish, cashew nuts, sesame oil and salt to taste. Fry until all the ingredients are well mixed. Pour the corn flour water mixture to hold all the ingredients together so that it is easier to hold them together in the capsicum rings. I used some finely chopped carrots to garnish the dish. WISHING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

KEONG HEE HUAT CHAI!

Check out my Quickie Baked Cheese Thyme Tofu at http://veganformation.blogspot.com/2010/02/quickie-baked-vegan-tofu-with-cheese.html

My Family Daily Bread, Pan Fried Chicken Breast with Hailam Style Chicken Chop Sauce – Recipe

I have been baking bread at home ever since some of the major suppliers of bread increased their price by 20 sen (cents) per loaf just because the price of sugar increases by 20 sen per kilogramme. I am against the steep increase of the price of bread because they definitely don’t use 1 kilogramme of sugar for one loaf of bread! Anyway, home made bread is so much better as I do not use bread softener, preservative or any other artificial ingredients. It takes me only 10 minutes to prepare the dough which I will leave it aside for the yeast to work for at least 2 hours. Then I will put the expanded dough in my bread pan and let it rise further for around half and hour. The baking takes only 25 minutes. Although I use normal flour the texture and final result turns out to be almost the same as the one sold commercially! This morning, my family had a nice breakfast of freshly baked bread and pan fried chicken breast with Hailam Style Chicken Chop Sauce.

Home Made Bread

Flour, 5cups, (I use normal flour but for better result use bread flour or high protein flour)

Dry Yeast, 1 teaspoon

Salt, 1 teaspoon

Sugar, 2 table spoons

Milk powder, 1 table spoon

Butter, 2 table spoons

Shortening, 2 table spoons

Mix all the dry ingredients together and then add in the butter. Add water and knead the dough until they are well mix. If you want soft and moist bread, add more water to the dough. Let the dough rise for around 2 hours. Then make a few folds with the dough and put it in a well greased bread pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes at 200 Deg C.

Marinade

Chicken Breast, 4 pcs

Worcestershire sauce, 1 table spoon

Hickory Barbecue sauce, 1 table spoon

Cumin, ½ teaspoon

Lemon juice, from ½ fruit

Honey, 2 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Corn flour, 1 table spoon

Heat up non-stick wok and add in a little vegetable oil. Fry the chicken breast until it turns golden brown. Take out the chicken and leave the leftover gravy in the pan.

Hailam Style Sauce

Onion, 1 pc, cut into four

Tomato, 1 pc, cut into four

Carrot, 1 pc, diced

Cauliflower, around ½ rice bowl, cut into bite size

Celery, 2 stalks, cut into small pieces (optional)

Potato, 1 large, diced

Butter, 1 tablespoon

Corn flour mixed with water to thicken gravy

Thyme, ½ teaspoon (optional)

Pepper to taste

Salt to taste

A dash of soya sauce

Water

Use the left over oil and gravy in the pan to caramelise the onions. Add around 3 bowls of water. Add in the potato and let it boil until the potato turn soft. Put in the rest of the ingredients. If there is leftover marinade, add this in as well. Bring to a boil and thicken the gravy with corn flour water mixture. Pour the gravy over the pan fried chicken and serve. You can dip the home made bread in the gravy. Nice!

Quickie Curry Mee Recipe – A Surprised Supper Meal!

When I asked my daughter what she wants to eat for supper, she told me cheekily that she wanted curry mee. She knew that it is quite impossible for me to cook up something that complicated for supper. However, she was in for a surprise when I managed to prepare a very simplified version of curry me using all the ingredients that I have within 30 minutes. First I put two pots water to boil at the same time, one to cook the bihun (rice vermicelli) and one for the curry mee soup. I recycled the bihun hot water and used it to make a hard boil egg. While waiting for the water to boil, I prepare the shallots and serai (lemongrass) from my garden. For the creamy taste, I used cheese as a substitute for coconut milk (santan). So, here is another quickie meal recipe.

Quickie Curry Mee
Ingredients
Prawns, 3 pcs with shell
Cheese, 1 piece (or you can use evaporated milk)
Water, 2 rice bowls
Oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon
Curry powder, 2 table spoons mixed with a little water \
Chilly Powder, 1 teaspoon (optional) \
Shallots, 3 pcs, chopped finely
Serai, 1 pc, chopped finely \
Salt to taste
Egg, 1 pc, hard boiled and cut into two
Long beans, 2 pcs, cut into 1 inch length
Bihun (rice vermicelli, I don’t have yellow mee in stock) , 2 servings, cook shortly in hot water to soften

Bring water for soup to a boil and add in the prawns. Add in the oyster sauce, cheese, long beans and salt to taste. Let the soup boil for a short while and turn off the fire. Heat up wok and put in a little vegetable oil. Sautéed the serai and shallots until golden brown. Then add in the curry paste and chilly powder. Stir fry the mixture until fragrant. Put the fried mixture into the soup. Put some of the soften bihun on a bowl and pour the soup over it. Garnish with hard boil egg and serve. ‘Daddy’s Curry Mee is ready’, I called out. My daughter didn’t believe me until she sees it for herself! Ha ha ha!

Shortcut Butter Chicken Rice, Everything Nice (Recipe)

I would cook Chicken Rice whenever the kids grew tired of eating the usual steamed rice with dishes. As it would take some time to prepare the chicken broth for the rice, normally I don’t use this method to prepare the rice. For the chicken sometimes I would just steam it and if time permits I would prepare roasted one. Here is my recipe for a Shortcut Butter Chicken Rice

Ingredients and Instruction
Chicken Rice
Rice, 2 small cups
Butter, 2 tablespoons
Garlic, 5 cloves
Turmeric, a dash
Pandan leaves (screwpine), 3 pcs
Salt to taste
Chicken Broth (optional), enough to cook rice grains

Put the rice in a rice cooker and add around 1cm of water (or chicken broth) above the rice (the water added depends on the grade and age of the rice you use, so please vary the amount of water). Add in the butter, garlic, turmeric, pandan leaves and salt. Press the cook button.....Butter Chicken rice on the way! Garnish rice with cucumber slice before serving. Chicken ½ Chicken, Steam the chicken in high heat for 20 minutes. Take out and the chicken in cold water for a short while. Then continue steaming the chicken for another 10 minutes.

Chicken Rice Chili
Fresh Chilli, 5 pcs
Garlic, 5 cloves
Ginger, Optional
Salt to taste
Lime juice from 3 limes
Sugar to taste

Put all Chicken rice chilly ingredients in blender and blend until all ingredients turned fine.

Chicken Rice Soya Sauce
Garlic, 3 cloves, minced
Light Soya sauce, 7 table spoons
Sesame oil, 1 table spoon

 Heat up wok and add in the sesame oil. Sauteed garlic until fragrant and add in the soya sauce. Add a little water to vary the saltiness according to your taste.

Refreshing C2 Cool & Clean Green Tea – Do I look Cool?

Today, daddy brought back a few bottles of Apple, Lemon and Forest Fruit C2 Cool & Clean Green Tea. Dad says that he is not buying carbonated drinks for us this Chinese New Year. Therefore, he got us these non-carbonated C2 Green Tea drinks!

When I heard the word ‘Cool’, I quickly put on all my cowboys gears and grab three bottles of C2 Refreshing 100% Natural Green Tea! Heh heh heh, do I look cool now?

Ok, first let me try the Forest Fruit Flavour! Wow, the mixed fruit flavour is nice and refreshing! Very smooth as well! Good drink for a tough cowboy like me! Cheers!

Now, I will try the Apple Flavour C2. Mmmmmmm, my favourite fruit. Arrrrgggggg, my sister is coming, I want to drink all two bottles of C2 at one go! My sister said that she likes the Lemon Flavour one! Her school canteen sells this drink as well! Lucky me, next time can 'tumpang' (ask) her to buy for me! Ha ha ha!

Now that I am all freshened up, its’ time to ride into the sunset......, Arriba Arriba......Hiiiiiiyaaaaaaa!

Stay tune for lecture from Daddy. Aiyo, so many scientific term lorrr! Catechins are natural antioxidant found in green teas (Camellia Sinensis). These powerful antioxidants can help to fight the effects of stress by reducing cholesterol levels, lowering blood pressure and boosting the immune system. C2 brews 100% pure and natural green tea leaves gently to retain the antioxidants normally lost in other extraction processes. In order to retain all the goodness, the freshness and flavor of natural green tea, the green tea leaves are brewed and bottled on the very same day by C2 Cool & Clean. Then they are packed in convenient 350ml reseal-able PET bottle that you can ‘sip & seal” and “drink on the go”. C2 is a Halal certified product! The addition of three types of fruity flavours enhances the taste and musk the bitter taste of Green ea/Chinese Tea. I have seen C2 Cool & Clean Green Tea being sold at in Giant, 7- Eleven, Jusco, Mydin and some shops near my housing estate. Check it out!

Salted Ginger Wine Prawns Recipe

I was wondering what to do with a few leftover prawns I have from a steamboat dinner. I thought that it might be good to bake them with salt using my old iron wok. I spread some salt in the wok and bake it for a few minutes only so that I would not end up with dried prawns (heh Bee)! LOL! Anyway, salt can damage the wok lining especially when it is hot, so for this recipe you better use unwanted wok or an aluminium foil as protection. You can also line above the salt with a few slices of tong kwai to extra aroma but then......Tong Kwai plus prawn become super aphrodisiac, I won’t be responsible for what will happen after consuming.......! ha ha ha!

Ingredients
Large Prawns, 7 pcs
Salt, 2 table spoons (or less if you don’t want it to be too salty)
Ginger wine (optional or you can also use rice wine), 1 tablespoon

Marinade the prawns with ginger wine for around 10 minutes. Spread the salt on the wok and heat it up. Place the prawns above the salt, let all the juices dry off and cover up the wok with a lid for around 2 minutes. When the prawns turned red, flip it over to the other side and put back the lid for around 1 minute or before the prawn’s burn a little. Take out the prawns and scrape away all the excess salt. Garnish with cilantro and serve while it is still hot. Ginger wine with some fresh prawns. Salt in my old iron wok! Oppps I used to much salt! Arrange the prawn in the wok. Let all the juices dry off before closing the lid.

Cover the lid and Tada! the prawns are ready for dinner!

Greek Mint Honey Roast Chicken Recipe

My sister got me this nice dried mint herb from her trip to Greek, recently. It has a very strong mint aroma. I was wondering what I should do with it other than making mint sauce for lamb chops. Anyway, I have a quarter chicken (top part) left in my freezer and thought that I could try roasting it with the mint. This experiment resulted in a minty and sweet taste aromatic roast chicken.

Ingredients
Chicken Quarter (top breast part), 1 pc, make a few vertical cut to allow the breast meat to absorb the marinade
Mint, (fresh or dried), 1 table spoon dried mint herbs
Lemon juice from ½ fruit
Soya sauce, 1 table spoon
Black soya sauce, a dash
Honey for glazing
Salt to taste, I used around 1 teaspoon

Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients except the honey. Roast in preheated oven at 180 Deg C for 1 hour or less. Make sure that the chicken is not burnt by checking it from time to time. Lower the temperature if the chicken starts to get dark too fast. Open the oven door after roasting for 45 minutes and glaze the chicken with honey. Then continue roasting it for another 15 minutes.

A Husband and Wife Undying Love – True Story about My Cousin

I have just got an email from Australia that my cousin’s wife who was suffering from Muscular Dystrophy has already passed on. I remembered as a young primary school student; the first time I met my cousin’s wife when they were newly married in London and he brought her back to my hometown. They were one of the loveliest couple I have ever met. Not long after they got married, they moved to Australia, where my cousin’s wife, an avid cook became quite popular among the community there. She regularly holds cooking demonstration in Australia and I think she wrote a few cooking books as well. Unfortunately she was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy more than 18 years ago. Slowly, her health deteriorated, her movements are impaired severely and she became wheelchair bound. As times goes by her condition worsened and she would even choked on her own saliva at times. My cousin quit from his job to take care of his wife full time. What amazed me was, despite his wife condition, my cousin would take her travelling to other countries every year. They have even visited many third world countries like Botswana, South Africa, Vietnam, and Cambodia and even climbed the Great Wall of China. Every year they will visit all our relatives across Malaysia. I cannot imagine the true grit, love and determination that my cousin has, to travel all over the world with his wife who needs 100% support from him all the time. Same goes to his wife as well, to be able to travel in view of her health condition. They were in KL before Xmas last year and we went over to Pavillon for our dinner. My cousin wanted his wife (a foodie, like me) to taste some of the food there although she was actually taking special food via a cavity and pipe through her stomach. I remembered that he had to order soft food like lam mee (noodles) to feed her. Then he used a special powder to make the ‘teh tarik’ (milk tea) thicker so that she will not choked as all her muscle function is gone. Whenever we met, she would whisper very softly and incoherently in to my ear, ‘Hi Peter’. I never thought that this would be our last meeting with her because over the last 18 years we would see her almost every year visiting us in KL without fail! But then it is rarely for someone with a condition like her to live that long. Even, all the doctors in Australia were amazed that my cousin’s wife survived that long. I guess the answer lies in the true love and care!

Pontian Wantan Noodles (Mee) at Sungai Wang Plaza, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur

Curry Mee (Curry Laksa). Opps, forgot to take photo before eating! LOL! Fried wantons and my daughter's favourite strawberry snow ice. See all the ice sheet folds? Just like tissue papers!
After a day out shopping, we decided to have our dinner at Sg Wang Plaza before driving home. We found this wantan noodle shop on the 3rd floor in the shopping complex and decided to check it out. I am not sure whether there is an original Pontian Wantan Mee in Pontian, Johore or not but this restaurant looked decent to me. I ordered a bowl of curry laksa (Curry Mee, RM5, and USD1.50) and my daughter had the Wantan Mee Soup (RM4.80, USD 1.45). For side dishes we ordered a plate of fried wanton (RM4, USD 1.20). My daughter wanted to try the Strawberry Snow Ice (RM3.90, USD1.18), so I ordered one for her and one Kopi O ice (Iced Coffee, RM1.70, USD0.50) for myself. The curry laksa (curry mee) is creamy and I like the mint like minced leaves the added to it. It actually tastes a little like Sarawak laksa minus the herbs and they use thick type of rice vermicelli in it. The Wanton Mee soup is nice too. I took a sip of the soup and found it to be quite tasty. I love chewing on the crunchy fried wanton but I think that the size is rather small. Anyway, I finished the whole plate in a jiffy! LOL! My daughter loves the Strawberry Snow Ice dessert so much. The ice is very fine and they are carved it as thin as a piece of tissue paper. In fact the whole serving looks like pieces of tissues folded together. It melts gently in your mouth! Nice! So in total we paid RM19.40 (no tax!) for all the food. This is reasonable price for an outlet located in prime Kuala Lumpur Golden Triangle area.

Location
Pontian Wantan Noodles Lot 5, 3rd Floor, Sungai Wang Plaza Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100, Kuala Lumpur

Steamed Waxed Duck (Lap Ngap Pei) with Ngaku (Arrowhead, Saggitaria Saggittifolia) & Tofu Recipe – A Festive Dish for Chinese New Year

The dry food stuff vendor whose stall I frequent in the Kepong Baru market recommended that I try the lap ngap (waxed duck) that he has in stock. He happily sold one waxed duck thigh with drumsticks intact at RM4.70 to me. Yup, you can get good bargain for the food stuff in this wonderful and busy wet market. I also bought some Ngaku (Arrowheads) to cook with the waxed duck. The Waxed duck which is imported from China is rather tough and very salty. It is cured in salt and dried in the open for weeks, exposing to the cold and dry China’s winter breeze. To get rid of the salt, you can wash it thoroughly in water or just soak it for a short while. I cut out the meat into small pieces so that it will be easier for my kids to eat it. The Chinese like to cook ngaku with waxed duck because it will absorb all the salt and flavour of the duck resulting in a crunchy savoury potato like ngaku. Ingredients Waxed duck thigh (Lup Ngap Pei), 1 pc Ngaku, 3 pcs, remove skins and cut each of it into four Old Ginger, 1”x2”, cut into slices Soft Tofu, 5 to six pieces Arrange all the ingredients in a steaming tray. Steam in high heat for 30 minutes or longer if you want he duck meat to be tenderer. Another way is to put the whole steaming tray on top of rice that is almost cooked (this is energy savings way, LOL). You can garnish it with fresh spring onions before serving. Taste good with white rice or porridge! Happy Chinese New Year Everyone!

Slowly Baked Beggar Chicken Copy Cat Recipe

Uncooked chicken with Chinese herbs. All wrapped up in aluminium foil before baking My copy cat Beggar Chicken all done and ready to eat. Only bones left in split seconds!

The original Beggar chicken covered in clay bought from Jalan Kuching in my previous post http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2010/01/beggar-chicken-jalan-kuching-kuala.html No more quickie recipe to post, so now I am writing about Slowwwwwlyyyy Cook Beggar Chicken Copy Cat Recipe. I tried to make Beggar Chicken, like the one I bought from Jalan Kuching, minus the clay of course! LOL! The Chinese herbs I used are the same as the original Beggar Chicken and instead of baking it in charcoal amber, I used my electric oven. Anyway, the final taste and flavour were almost similar to the original beggar chicken although the aroma of my copy cat chicken is not that strong. Here is the recipe that ‘Superman’ won’t like! Ha ha ha!

Ingredients
Half Chicken (I used half because that is the only one I have in my fridge that day)
Tong Kwai, 2 slices,
Huaishan, 2 slices
Hongzao (Red Dates), 5 pcs
Kei Chi (Qizi, Lycium barbarum), 1 table spoon
Yuk Chuk, 10 slices
Tong som (Dang Shen), 1 pcs
Chinese Rice Wine, 1 table spoon
Soya Sauce, 2 table spoons
Salt to taste
A little water

Put the chicken in an aluminium foil and add in all the other ingredients. Cover the top part with another aluminium foil and seal the joints by folding it so that the steam would not escape during baking. Bake the chicken in a preheated oven at 200 Deg C for around 2 hours. Served while still hot! Happy ‘slow’ cooking! LOL!

Benefits of Chinese Herbs
1) Huaishan (Discorea Yam, Dioscorea opposita) – Improve digestion, respiratory function, kidneys and increases vitality(Qi).
2) Hongzao (Red Dates, Ziziphus jujuba) – Improve Qi (vitality), nourishes the blood and reduces stress.
3) Yul Chuk (Polygonatum root, Polygonatum odoratum) – Moisturises our internal organ, balances Yin energy, clear wind and softens the sinews.
4) Tong Kwai (Angelica Sinensis Root, Radix Angelicae sinensis) – Stimulating effect on the uterus, tonic for blood and regulating menses, lubricate the bowels, improve immune system, antioxidant, protect digestion system and improve blood circulation.
5) Tong Som (Dang shen, Salvia Root, Dang Shen (Radix Codonopsis Pilosulae)) – Tonic for the blood, spleen, stomach, Qi, lungs and lowers blood pressure. It also can increase our white blood cells count. 6) Kei Chi (Lycium Berries, Lycium Barbarum) – Brighten the eyes, moistens the lungs and enriches Yin energy.