April 9, 2008 at 3:22 pm · Filed under Recipes: Appetizers
What’s your favorite cold dish? Cold dish usually reminds me cold crabs, cold soba noodles and the first dish in every Chinese wedding banquet. I wonder why the first dish is called the Cold Dish (冷盘) though some of the items in the dish consists of deep fried spring rolls, braised duck, etc.. and they are not really served chilled.
How about some peanut butter with cold tofu? This is a dish B often had when he was still staying with his family. It’s like a family dish. He calls it the 陈家私房菜 (The Chen’s Secret Recipes). So naturally, shortly after we got married, he promised to whip up some of his family’s ‘special’ dishes. And he made me waited for a good one and a half years before I got to savor this. Although along the way, he did cooked some other dishes like their Foochow Red Wine Chicken(红糟鸡), Mee Sua in Rich Hua Teow Wine Soup with Egg (蛋面线)… Wait… I think that’s about it!
His family seems to like peanut butter. He once made for me his regular lunch at home, peanut butter noodles. I was skeptical about the taste. And I didn’t quite stomach this well. The noodles was cloyingly dry with the peanut butter sauce. After a few mouthful, I said, “No, thanks. I’ll stick to my instant noodles.” And I happily slurped up my curry instant noodles. And that was the first time he cooked something for me. Okay, I know it’s my bad, but I couldn’t make myself chomp down the sticky dry noodles.
So how did the cold tofu with peanut butter sauce fare? Excellent!! Although my first try on the peanut butter noodles was pretty bad, but this definitely works for me. It’s really easy to make and comforting to eat. The ingredients and steps are simple. You can adjust the amount of seasoning according to your own taste bud. The below recipe is just a guide. If you prefer it to be more salty, then add more soy sauce. Like it more watery, add more hot water.
Cold Tofu with Peanut Butter Sauce Dressing
topped with Pork Floss and Century egg
Serves 2
1 silky tofu (standard size packed tofu from supermarket)
1 century egg (diced or cut into wedges)
2 tbsp pork floss
1 tbsp creamy peanut butter
sesame oil
½ tbsp light soy sauce
½ cup of hot water
spring onion for garnish (optional)
Remove tofu from container and wash it clean under slow running water. Drain well and place it on a plate. Chill it in the refrigerator. You can prepare this half an hour ahead.
To prepare the dressing, mix peanut butter sauce with hot water. You can add the water bit by bit and stir until the desired consistency. Next, add light soy sauce and a dash of sesame oil. Taste and season according to your preferred taste.
Pour the peanut butter dressing over the tofu, topped with pork floss and century egg. Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve.
We loved to mash and mix up all the ingredients in the plate before tucking in. If you ever try making this dish, let me know how it goes for you.
April 3, 2008 at 2:29 am · Filed under Recipes: Greens, Recipes: Poultry
“Hey! Stop it! I’m really stuffed!!” This must be what the chicken thigh was telling me. Instead of making the usual roasted chicken, I added some stuffing to the chicken thigh. The idea struck me when I recalled having chicken ballotine at a café, chicken breast or thigh rolled with some vegetables inside.
There are 2 pots of edible herbs added to my ‘mini garden’, namely basil and lemon balm. Fresh basil comes in handy when I whip up pasta dishes which are regular meals in the house. Or simply just toss them together with my salad. I didn’t know why I chose to grow lemon balm. It’s from the mint family, not much of a mint smell, but very strong lemon scent. Rubbing the leaves sometimes makes me happy, although sometimes I thought I am inhaling Mama Lemon, the dish detergent! I figured I could use it for baking which I seldom do these days. Well, I can also chopped them up and toss with salad too, for an added zesty taste.
As these 2 pots of herbs starts to flourish, I was so eager to harvest them. So apart from stuffing sautéed diced mushrooms and carrots with the chicken thigh, I stuffed together some of my freshly harvested basil and lemon balm leaves. You can omit these 2 herbs totally, as I was just getting excited that I wanted to use them in anything I cook!
I should have gotten some kitchen twine to tie up the chicken thigh tight instead, I used toothpicks to stitch them up, which didn’t worked very well. As you can see from the photo, the stuffing were dropping out.
The chicken thighs didn’t look good after they were roasted as they were a bit dry on the outside and still slightly raw on the inside. I would probably lower the oven temperature and roast them longer if I were to make this again. Another thing I will try is to use a rolling pin and roll it over the chicken thigh. This might make them thinner and thus a larger surface for containing the stuffing. Or I would roast a whole chicken, with some rice stuffing as well. That would be really nice to have for a weekend dinner!
Stuffed Chicken Thighs with Roasted Vegetables
Serves 2
3 chicken thighs, deboned
30g butter
150g fresh shitake mushrooms, diced
1 small carrot, diced
2 big russet potatoes, cut into wedges
1 white onion, quartered
1 bulb garlic
4 baby corns
½ zucchini, cut into chunks
½ capsicum, cut into chunks
½ cup fresh basil leaves
½ cup lemon balm leaves
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
dried parsley
paprika
black ground pepper
salt
Rub chicken thighs with salt, black ground pepper and olive oil. Leave it aside.
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Heat pan with butter. Once butter starts to bubbles, Sauté chopped garlic till fragrant. Add mushrooms and carrots. Sauté them till the mushrooms are cooked. Add about 1 tsp of dried parsley and stir for another 30 secs. Set aside on a plate for cooling.
Toss potatoes with dried parsley, parprika, salt and black ground pepper. Seasoned to your own preference. Next, drizzle olive oil generously and toss evenly.
Toss baby corn, zucchini and capsicum with black ground pepper and olive oil. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the vegetables and toss evenly. Adding balsamic vinegar is optional.
Next, place some stuffing on the chicken thigh and rolled it up. Tie it with kitchen twine to secure the stuffing. Else, probably use toothpicks like I did. Be careful when poking the toothpicks through the chicken.
Lastly, arrange the vegetables(tossed vegetables, onion and garlic) and potatoes nicely around the chicken thighs on a roasting tray. I like the potatoes to be at the outermost edge as they will get slightly burnt on the edges and still soft on the inside. Brush more olive oil on the chicken skin if you want to have crispy skin to munch on.
Place roasting tray into the oven and bake for approximately 30 to 40 minutes. Chicken is cooked when you insert a knife and the juices are clear.
Sounds tedious, but it isn’t really complicated. It’s easier to stuff everything into a whole chicken. I wish I can cook a whole chicken instead but there will be a lot of leftovers for just the 2 of us.
