Slow Cooker Spiced Lamb Shanks

 

This recipe was updated on 21 July 2013. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I usually don’t make this dish in the summer (even though it’s been a cool summer this year), as this is more of a Fall or Winter meal, but lamb shanks were on sale and they’re one of my favorite ingredients. I previously made this dish with red wine or port but decided instead to try a Chardonnay this time, and I was pleased with the results (you can just as easily use chicken stock). I also got the idea to add lemon to the dish from this recipe that was featured in the Wall Street Journal. However, what really makes this dish tasty are the spices – cumin, fennel, coriander, allspice, and pepper - which are toasted before being ground (and then adding turmeric). The spice mix would also work for pork (a future recipe).

The other piece of information came from America’s Test Kitchen. They use Minute Tapioca (made by Kraft) to thicken sauces in a slow cooker. They found that tapioca starch holds up well to the long cooking time in slow cooker, whereas other thickeners, such as corn starch, break down and don’t thicken. Minute Tapioca can be found in any grocery store, but it’s pretty expensive when you compare it to regular tapioca starch, which is available in Asian markets. They both thicken the liquid equally as well, so I use regular tapioca starch.

The Lamb Shanks can either be browned in a wok or Dutch oven, or in a barbeque (smoked with hickory and rosemary) before adding the shanks to the slow cooker. The lamb shanks can be browned the night before cooking.

Enjoy!

Stir Fried Beef with Long Beans (豆角炒牛肉, Dau6 Gok3 Caau2 Ngau4 Juk6)

 

This recipe was updated on 01 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Long Beans is a favorite vegetable of mine. It goes well with pork spareribs and for this recipe, beef. Long beans differ from regular green beans in the most obvious way; they are really long in length. If you can’t find long beans at your favorite market, you can easily substitute regular green beans.

Enjoy!

Soy Sauce Chicken and Peach Pasta Salad

There was an article in the local newspaper’s food section on barbequed peaches. That gave me the idea to include peaches in a chicken salad that I was about to make using leftovers from the Grilled Soy Sauce Chicken (Siu¹ Haau¹ Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹, 燒烤豉油雞) recipe. While I didn’t barbeque the peaches, they tasted great after briefly baking (after halving and pitting) in my toaster oven.

I used a balsamic yogurt dressing and it turned out to be an OK dressing, but it lacked the tang I expected. The next time I made this dressing, I used rice vinegar, instead of balsamic, and upped the amount of lemon/lime juice, and it tasted much better. The yogurt dressing is also healthier than a mayonnaise based dressing.

The first crop of cherry tomatoes from my garden was also available, along with some very small Sungold tomatoes (some no larger than ⅛ of an inch). I also included button mushrooms and some basil to complete the pasta salad. In addition to the pasta salad, I made Garlic Garlic Bread to complete the meal.

Enjoy!

Garlic Garlic Bread

If you like garlic, then this is the garlic bread for you. It’s really very simple; you crush cloves of garlic with olive oil on bread with garlic baked into it (like you get at Costco). Toast the bread, and it’s ready to eat. Have the bread with Soy Sauce Chicken and Peach Pasta salad (recipe can be found here), Seafood Pasta Salad (recipe can be found here), or Greek Yogurt Soy Sauce Chicken Pasta Salad (recipe can be found here).

Enjoy!

Grilled Soy Sauce Chicken (燒烤豉油雞, Siu1 Haau1 Si6 Jau4 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 16 Aug 2015. Some instructions and equipment were changed.

I used a basic soy sauce marinade for a grilled whole chicken. I cut the chicken in half before grilling and removed the backbone (which I grilled with the rest of the chicken) to decrease the cooking time over a whole chicken. You don’t have to use a whole chicken as the technique used in this recipe will work equally as well with chicken parts (drumsticks, thighs, breast…). Adding a smoking wood to the grill, such as oak, hickory, mesquite, pecan, further enhances the flavor. Both direct and indirect cooking on the grill is used for this recipe. I used the cool side of a covered grill for indirect heat to cook the chicken for 15 minutes, and then move the chicken, skin side down, to the hot side of a covered grill to crisp the skin for 3-5 minutes before flipping the chicken over and repeating the process. Depending upon your grill, your previous experience, and the amount of grill heat remaining, the direct heat cooking time may have to be increased or decreased.

You can look at the Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak⁶ Zaam² Gai¹) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng¹ Cung¹ Jau⁴) recipe for instructions on cutting and arranging a chicken on a platter. You can adapt the cutting method to account for the chicken already being halved without a backbone.

Enjoy!

Grilled Cumin Lamb Shoulder Steak (燒烤孜然羊肩肉, Siu1 Haau1 Zi1 Jin4 Joeng4 Gin1 Juk6)

 

This recipe was updated on 17 Dec 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

The same marinade that was used for the Grilled Cumin Turkey Wings (孜然火雞翼, Zi¹ Jin⁴ Fo² Gai¹ Jik⁶) recipe also goes very well with lamb, in this case lamb shoulder steaks. You need to grill the lamb shoulder steaks using direct heat to cook them. The marinade uses cumin, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorn to give the lamb its spicy flavor.

Enjoy!

Grilled Cumin Turkey Wings (燒烤孜然火雞翼, Siu1 Haau1 Zi1 Jin4 Fo2 Gai1 Jik6)

This recipe was updated on 01 Nov 2015. The Chinese name, and some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Turkey wings were on sale and I decided to get them instead of chicken for a change. Since turkey wings are larger than their chicken counterparts, the turkey wings parts are separated before grilling. You can choose to not grill the wing tips (and keep them for stock), or you can grill and eat them as I usually do. The marinade uses cumin, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorn to give the wings its spicy flavor.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Marinated Bean Curd with Fuzzy Melon (腐乳五香豆腐節瓜雞, Fu6 Jyu5 Ng5 Hoeng1 Dau6 Fu6 Zit3 Gwaa1 Gai1)

 

This recipe was updated on 29 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

This is an easy dish to prepare and fermented bean curd is the basis of the sauce. Each bean curd looks like a little soft rectangular pillow and is packed together in a bottle. I happen to use 7 of the fermented bean curds, but you’ll have to judge how much to use depending upon your taste. The sauce is light in color, so soy sauce is not used (but is used to marinate the chicken) since this would darken it. Marinated bean curd (or five spice bean curd) is the other ingredient used in this dish. Marinated bean curd is not fermented, but spiced and its texture is firm, so it doesn’t break up when stir fried. If you can’t find marinated bean curd at your local Asian market, use a firm pressed tofu as a substitute.

Enjoy!

Grilled Bourbon Chicken Wings (燒烤波本鷄翼, Siu1 Haau1 Bo1 Bun2 Gai1 Jik6)

 

This recipe was updated on 17 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and the Chinese name added.

Somehow, bourbon and chicken seem to go together. Adding your favorite bourbon (e.g. Jack Daniels, Jim Beam…) to chicken wing marinade before grilling gives the wings a unique and tasty flavor. Adding a smoking wood to the grill, such as hickory, mesquite, pecan, or whatever your favorite wood is, further enhances the flavor. You can choose to remove the wing tips before marinating, but I leave them on since I don’t mind eating them. I first smoked the wings covered over indirect heat before grilling over direct heat to get the grill marks. This is a simple recipe to make and I hope you will try it.

Enjoy!

Pepperoni, Mushroom, and Olive Pizza

Making your own fresh pizza and not eating frozen is one of the joys of life. To create the dough, I use Cheri’s Favorite Pizza Dough Recipe. You can read the background story here, but her secret is to add semolina flour to the dough.  I use the dough setting on my bread machine to create the dough rather than a food processor and I use all the dough to create one 14-inch pizza (rather than 2 medium pizzas as called for in the original recipe) since I like my crusts thicker than thin. The recipe says that you can make the dough in 5 minutes, but using my bread machine takes at least 45-60 minutes.

I use a Cuisinart 14-inch non-stick pizza pan to hold the pizza. Even though I have a convection oven, I use the oven mode (no convection) set at the highest temperature (in my case 555⁰F) and with the rack set at the lowest point so that the pizza is as close to the lower heating element as possible to get a crispy crust for 10-15 minutes. I found that if I use the convection setting, the toppings burn before the crust gets done. Depending upon your oven characteristics, your results might differ.

You can, of course, add any toppings that your heart desires. This pizza happens to use pepperoni, mushrooms, and Kalamata olives. For sauce I use a bottled tomato sauce from Trader Joe’s that I like – Trader Giotto’s Puttanesca Sauce – which contains anchovy and anchovy paste, among other ingredients. The cheese is a pre-packaged six cheese Italian blend (of course, your favorite cheeses can be used). Finally, I added the basil on top of the pizza at the last moment, since I forgot to place some down on the pizza after the sauce. This resulted in some rather sad looking dehydrated basil on top of the pizza (next time I won’t forget).

Enjoy!

Steamed Lemon Chicken and Shrimp with Black Bean Sauce (豆豉檸蒸蝦鷄, Dau6 Si6 Ning4 Zing1 Haa1 Gai1)

 

This recipe was updated on 30 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

 

When I first moved out of my parents’ house, many years ago, I was cooking novice. My Mom had always prepared the meals and now it was going to be up to me to do the cooking. Parents, being who they are, helped the newly independent kid by supplying some tools for me to succeed on my own. One thing my mom gave me was some 3x5 cards (remember those!) with recipes on them. The roots of this dish come from that original 3x5 card, which I still have.

 

The original dish my Mom used to make was Lemon Chicken with Black Bean Sauce. This was a healthier version of the fried lemon chicken dish with gloppy sauce that you get at Chinese restaurants. This dish is steamed and the lemon accompanies a black bean sauce (which is a great taste combination). I’ve modified the original ingredients slightly and added a flourish of shrimp to the dish, but the roots of the dish remain as written on that 3x5 card.

 

The chicken should be marinated at least 4 hours (overnight is preferable) and you’ll need to defrost the shrimp before steaming the dish. Other than those preparation steps, the dish is quick and easy to prepare (perfect for any cooking novice!).

 

Enjoy!

Grilled Magic Dust Beef Porterhouse and Pork Rib Steaks

Magic Dust is a spice mix created by champion BBQ pit master Mike Mills. The recipe can be found at the About.com web site.  You can use the mix on any meat. I happen to use it on beef and pork.

Enjoy!

Beef with Bitter Melon (苦瓜牛肉, Fu2 Gwaa1 Ngau4 Juk6)

 

This recipe was updated on 22 May 2014. Quantities and measurements for some ingredients were changed, as well as the addition of metric measurements.
 

Beef with bitter melon in a black bean sauce is another classic, easy to prepare Chinese dish. I make this dish when I want something quick to eat. Bitter melon, for those who are not familiar with this vegetable, tastes exactly as it’s named and could be considered an acquired taste. I happen to like bitter melon and you can easily moderate the bitterness of the melon to your taste. The beef needs some preparation time, so you’ll need a minimum of 1 hour for marinating, but also can be marinated overnight.

Enjoy!

Spicy Pork and Dried Shrimp with Chives (油辣椒蝦米豬肉, Jau4 Laat6 Ziu1 Haa1 Mai5 Zyu1 Juk6)

 

This recipe was updated on 02 Nov 2015. The Chinese name was added, some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I bought chives at my local Asian supermarket because they looked good and I’ve never really cooked many dishes using them (plus they were cheap). If you’ve been reading my recipes, you’ll probably notice that many dishes are created from what’s available in my refrigerator. This is another dish that falls into this category. I’ve never made this dish before, but I had the ingredients and I needed to cook something for dinner. The leftovers (if any) make a good topping for noodles.

Enjoy!

Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak6 Zaam2 Gai1) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng1 Cung1 Jau4)

This recipe was updated on 07 Sep 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

When I was living with my sister and her husband while my house was being remodeled (over 15 years ago), I made this dish, took it out of the refrigerator, and put it out on the counter to warm up before cutting. While I was occupied preparing other things for dinner, their cat, Phoenix, also noticed that there was a chicken and jumped onto the counter to investigate. As I turned around and noticed that there’s more than just a chicken sitting on the counter, Phoenix starts licking the chicken! Needless to say, I shooed the cat away. Phoenix looked very unhappy, since it just lost possession of a tasty bird, and I wondered what to do with the chicken. I figured that if the cat thought the chicken was tasty, then the chicken is still tasty. So I washed the chicken under the faucet and proceeded to cut it up under the watchful gaze of Phoenix. We ate the chicken that night for dinner. My sister still laughs at this story and I can truthfully say that my chicken is kitty licking good!

Fried Rice (Caau2 Faan6, 炒飯)

Fried rice (caau² faan⁶, 炒飯) is one of my favorite dishes to make and one of the first dishes I ever learned to cook. It’s Chinese comfort food. Fried rice is the ultimate leftover dish because leftover rice and other leftover ingredients are used. For this version, I added homemade hickory smoked bacon and Chinese broccoli (gai³ lan⁴, 芥蘭) to this easy to prepare dish, but you can add any ingredient that’s available. Other fried rice ingredient variations are pictured at the end. Oyster sauce (hou⁴ jau⁴, 蠔油) completes the dish.

Enjoy!

Chinese Broccoli Beef with Oyster Sauce (芥蘭牛肉, Gaai3 Laan4 Ngau4 Juk6)

This recipe was updated on 27 May 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Chinese broccoli beef is a classic, easy to prepare Cantonese-American dish. I make this dish when I want something quick to eat. This version adds button mushrooms and uses Lee Kum Kee brand premium oyster sauce to complete the dish, but if you have some time, you can use rehydrated Shiitake mushrooms. The beef needs some preparation time, so you’ll need a minimum of one hour for marinating, but also can be marinated overnight.

Enjoy!

Spicy Pork Rice Roll Chow Fun (辣豆辦豬肉炒粉, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zyu1 Juk6 Caau2 Fan2)

This recipe was updated on 26 May 2015. Some instructions were changed.

Fried flat rice noodles is a simple Chinese noodle dish to make and a favorite of mine. The final dish is usually the result of what is in my refrigerator since you can use just about any ingredient to prepare this dish using fresh flat wide rice noodles. This version uses fresh rice roll noodles, which as the name implies, are round and not flat, along with ground pork, bean sprouts, Chinese broccoli, and chopped scallions in a spicy bean sauce. If you are unable to get fresh rice roll noodles at your local Asian market, the easier to find flat wide rice noodles can be substituted. The ground pork needs some preparation time, so you’ll need a minimum of one hour for marinating, but also can be marinated overnight.

Chow fun noodles are available fresh and unrefrigerated from your local Asian market. The noodle’s texture is soft when kept at room temperature. In California, there’s actually a law that permits these noodles to be kept and sold at room temperature. Once refrigerated, the noodles become hard and have a different texture when cooked. You should use the noodles the day of purchase. If this is not possible, then the noodles should be refrigerated and brought up to room temperature before use (the noodles will not regain its previous soft texture). The noodles will also have to be separated before cooking.

Enjoy!

Cucumber and Jellyfish Salad (Ceng1 Gwaa1 Hoi2 Zit3 Saa1 Leot6, 青瓜海蜇沙律)

 

This recipe was updated on 30 Dec 2013. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

 

This salad might seem to be an unusual combination of ingredients, cucumber and jellyfish, but it’s one that I grew up with and was one of my Grandmother’s favorite dishes. You used to have to buy salted jellyfish, soak it multiple times to hydrate and to remove the salt, and then cut it into long strips. Now it comes pre-packaged (as “instant jellyfish”) and ready to eat! The dressing is sesame oil and rice vinegar.

It’s easy to make and I used to make it for work potlucks. I would get quizzical looks from people and when asked what it was, I would just say, “It’s a Chinese Cucumber Salad, have some, you’ll like it”. After people gobbled it up, I would tell them what was really in it.

Enjoy!

Grilled Rib Eye Steak with Mustard Mayonnaise

In honor of the Fourth of July, here’s a simple meat spice rub for when you have a carnivorous urge. In this case the rub was used on a grilled rib eye steak, but will work with just about any meat. A mustard mayonnaise further flavors the grilled steak.

Enjoy!

Welcome to Duck Soup Easy

Welcome to the new home for the blog previously called Make Yummy. You'll find all the old Make Yummy recipes at this new site and more. I've refromatted the recipes and the design of the new blog. Let me know what you think!

Duck Soup is American slang for easy, so the name of the new blog could be Easy Easy. Duck is also a play on words for my name (Doug). The name struck me as appropriate since I'm always looking for easy to cook everyday recipes.

Please enjoy the recipes and musings at my new home.

Chicken and Asparagus Fermented Black Bean Stir Fry (豆豉蘆筍鷄, Dau6 Si6 Lou4 Seon2 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 07 Oct 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

This is a classic easy to prepare dish. I happen to have chicken available, but you can use whatever is in your refrigerator to stir fry with the asparagus and straw mushrooms. The salted black beans (also called fermented black beans) and garlic give the dish its distinctive taste. If you don’t have salted black beans, use a prepared black bean garlic sauce available in a jar at your local Asian market (my favorite brand is Lee Kum Kee).

The root end of the asparagus has a tough skin. The usual advice is to take the root end of the asparagus in one hand and the tip end with the other, snap the asparagus (it breaks at the natural tough-tender skin boundary), and discard the root end and use the tip end. However that results in a lot of waste (in my opinion) since the center of the root end is still tender and edible, it’s just the skin that’s tough. So I’ve found that if you use a vegetable peeler, you can remove the tough outer skin and use the entire asparagus stalk. It takes some practice to just remove the asparagus’ tough skin. My first efforts using a vegetable peeler resulted in breaking the stalks and/or peeling too much of the asparagus at the root end, so I had some odd looking asparagus pieces. I’ve tried using a knife to remove the skin, but I’ve found that with practice the vegetable peeler removes less of the asparagus stalk root end’s tender center.

Enjoy!

Crispy Salmon Skin Wrap with Wasabi Mayonnaise

The usual breakfast wrap has bacon or sausage, together with scrambled eggs and hash browns. Since I had salmon skins leftover from the Crispy Teriyaki Salmon Skin meal, I replaced the pork with the salmon skins. With the addition of wasabi mayonnaise and shiso leaves, this made for a yummy Sunday brunch dish.

Crispy Teriyaki Salmon Skin Noodle Soup

Sometimes you just want to have some soup noodles and not the stuff that comes pre-packaged with the mystery packet of soup spices. You can easily create a healthy noodle soup using ingredients that are already in your pantry and refrigerator in very little time.

Since I had salmon skins leftover from the Crispy Teriyaki Salmon Skin meal, I used this ingredient as the starting point for the noodle soup. The miso paste already contains dashi, which is bonito fish stock, so you just add water to make the soup base. Rice noodles (fresh or dried), dried seaweed, sliced pepper, cilantro, mint, and chopped scallions complete the dish. I usually prepare the entire meal in a covered heat proof bowl, so this is a one dish meal.

This is an easy and fast dish to prepare when the hankering for noodle soup hits you. I hope you enjoy this yummy noodle soup.

Grilled Turmeric Chicken Sandwich and Radish Kimchi

In honor of the first pepper being harvested from my garden, I made a Vietnamese-style sandwich (Bánh Mì) using the pepper and one of the chicken breasts left over from the Malay-Style Grilled Turmeric Chicken Breast recipe, along with some herbs (the Thai basil is also from my garden) and radish kimchi for lunch. This isn’t an authentic Vietnamese recipe and I just used ingredients that were available in my refrigerator.

The bread is from the local Vietnamese bakery (via my local Asian market). The bread is baked fresh and delivered daily in packages of five. You can easily substitute your favorite bread, but this bread is light, inexpensive, and tasty, so I would definitely go for the Vietnamese bread if you can get it. Usually I cut the bread open to make a deep pocket rather than slicing the bread open fully as in the picture above, but cutting it open makes for a better photo. Making a pocket allows all the good stuff to stay in the sandwich and not drip out while you eat!

The kimchi makes a nice addition to the meal. I got hooked on kimchi after my many visits to South Korea, where it’s served at every meal (in what seems like endless varieties). I buy my kimchi bottled at the local Korean market; in this case it’s a radish kimchi. Kimchi is a healthy and tasty addition to any meal in my opinion.

The sandwich is easy to assemble and the kimchi comes from a jar. So it takes very little time to make the sandwich, dish out the kimchi, and start eating. Enjoy!

Red Fermented Bean Curd Pork Spareribs (南乳排骨, Naam4 Jyu5 Paai4 Gwat1)

 

This recipe was updated on 07 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

 

Pork sparerib dishes are some of my favorites. This particular sparerib dish uses red fermented bean curd together with Chinese long beans and shiitake mushrooms. Fermented bean curd is another Chinese ingredient that could be considered an acquired taste. I like its flavor since I grew up eating dishes with it. Red fermented bean curd is red because of the addition of red rice, which gives a distinctive color and taste to the dish. If this is the first time you’ve ever used this ingredient, you might want to reduce the amount used in this dish.

 

Enjoy!

Eggs with Bitter Melon (Scrambled Style) (苦瓜炒蛋, Fu2 Gwaa1 Caau2 Daan6)

This recipe was updated on 04 Oct 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Bitter melon, for those who are not familiar with this vegetable, tastes exactly as it’s named and could be considered an acquired taste. I happen to like bitter melon and you can easily moderate the bitterness of the melon to your taste. If you just remove the seeds and pith from the center of the bitter melon and cook it, the bitterness will depend upon the vegetable’s age and could be rather strong. Some people like their bitter melon this way (try it this way with pork spareribs).

Salting and then washing the sliced bitter melon turns out to be the easiest and fastest way to remove any excess bitterness. If the bitter melon is slightly wet, the salt does a better job. I just use wet hands to mix the bitter melon slices and salt together, and that seems to do the trick. You only need 5 minutes to reduce the bitterness. The bitterness will diminish further the longer you leave the salt on the bitter melon, and is mostly removed after 10 minutes. For me, that defeats the purpose of eating this vegetable, and you’re probably losing the nutrients and health benefits. I can see how getting rid of the bitterness is a way to get your kids to eat this vegetable. You can get them acclimated to the taste and then ramp up the bitterness over time! Another method to reduce bitterness involves blanching the bitter melon before stir frying, but you need another pot and boiled water. The texture of the bitter melon will also be different if you use the blanching method.

The Eggs with Bitter Melon (Pancake Style) (苦瓜炒蛋, Fu² Gwaa¹ Caau² Daan⁶) recipe is another version of this dish, where you make an egg pancake with the bitter melon. The preparation is the same, but the cooking method differs.

Enjoy!

Crispy Teriyaki Salmon Skin

Guess what I had for dinner last night? I had every intention of eating leftovers, but after making a stop at a local Japanese market, I couldn’t resist buying the salmon skins. Salmon skins are not considered a prime part of the fish and so are very inexpensive. Since salmon goes together so well with eggs, I decided to also prepare eggs with bitter melon - which is another classic (Chinese) combination.

The Eggs with Bitter Melon recipe is here. Continue reading and you’ll find out how easy it is to make crispy teriyaki salmon skins. Please enjoy!

Chicken and Fuzzy Melon Turmeric Stir Fry

If this recipe looks familiar, you’ve been looking at the first two recipes that I posted. I have to admit that I couldn’t throw away the remainder of the marinade used in the Malay-Style Grilled Turmeric Chicken Breast recipe, and I had some chicken and fuzzy melon left over from the Steamed Chicken with Salt Fish, Basil, and Fuzzy Melon recipe. So I combined what was left in my refrigerator and made a stir fry. As you can see, I’ll use whatever’s available to make a meal.

It usually is not a good idea to reuse a marinade, but in this case the leftover marinade was cooked thoroughly to make the sauce for the dish. Since I expect you to make this recipe from scratch, the ingredients are listed with that assumption.

The chicken needs some preparation time, so you’ll need a minimum of 2 hours for prep and marinating, but marinating overnight is preferable. The baking soda serves to make the finished cooked chicken very tender – just be sure to wash it out before marinating. This step can be omitted, but try tenderizing your chicken (or any other meat for that matter) this way and you’re likely to be a believer.

This turned out to be a tasty single-dish meal and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Malay-Style Grilled Turmeric Chicken Breasts (燒烤馬來黃薑雞胸肉, Siu1 Haau1 Maa5 Loi4 Wong4 Goeng1 Gai1 Hung1 Juk6)

This recipe was updated on 04 Nov 2015. The Chinese name was added, some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

 

Grilling chicken outside in the barbeque is one of my favorite methods to cook chicken. Adding a smoking wood to the grill, such as hickory, mesquite, pecan, or whatever your favorite wood is, further enhances the flavor of the chicken. This recipe was adapted from the Turmeric Fried (Grilled) Chicken recipe from the Best Recipes, Foods, and Travel blog, which no longer exists. This is not an authentic Malay recipe since a wet marinade is used before the chicken is grilled or smoked.

 

Enjoy!

Steamed Chicken with Salt Fish, Basil, and Fuzzy Melon

The recipe was adapted from the Steamed Chicken and Salt Fish recipe from the House of Annie blog. This version adds basil and fuzzy melon to make a one dish meal. Boneless chicken thigh pieces are used instead of the drumettes. Regardless, the chicken should be marinated at least 4 hours (overnight is preferable) before steaming.

The ingredients should be layered in a heat proof dish in the following order:

1. Fuzzy melon in one layer on the bottom of the heat proof dish
2. Basil leaves layered on top of the fuzzy melon base
3. Marinated chicken
4. Salt Fish
5. Julienned ginger

I hope you enjoy this dish!