Home Made Chicken Essence

My children are very fussy when it comes to drinking chicken essence. They will not drink any brand and any type of bottled chicken essence. They just hate the taste. Even the mildest plain Brand's Chicken Essence also failed to win them over. So I had to try cooking chicken essence myself. The first time I cooked this, they drank every drop of it! And they have lovingly named it 'Mummy's Chicken Essence'. I have tried numerous ways on making chicken essence. And I am happy to say I have found the best method that makes the best pure chicken essence, with no water added.

Ever since the launch of this new product, Sakura Fresh Chicken, I have been using it for my chicken dishes, especially for chicken essence and soups. The chicken is reared in a clean and controlled environment by a group of qualified technicians using advanced Japanese lactobcillus farming technology. They do not inject the chicken with anitbiotics, thus the chicken is more tender, tasty & juicy. They have several other products like bean sprouts and eggs which I have found to be delicious too.



I must say that Sakura Fresh Chicken is really very good and it does not have a lot of fats like normal chickens do. And it tastes better than kampung chickens. It may be a little more expensive, but with the quality that I get, I feel that it's worth every penny. Moreover any food that is not injected with synthetic antibiotics is always a good thing for out health.

Inorder to make the pure chicken essence, I have to mention about the Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker that I use. I saw this in a Taiwanese TV program showing that it can to extract pure chicken essence without having to add any water. And the amount of essence was quite a lot. I know that other pressure cookers can also do the same. But I have found them to be not as effective as this. This pressure cooker has 2 internal inserts - a perforated and a non-perforated one. Place 5 bowls of water into the pressure cooker pot, place the non-perforated insert into the pot (leave it empty - this is where all the chicken essence will drip into), then place the perforated insert (with the prepared chicken inside) into the pot. Lock the pressure cooker lid and cook. I was very happy when I found out that it was available in Singapore too. I quickly contacted the Singapore agent, and got myself one set. And I have no regrets ever since! Now I can cook delicious pure chicken essence for my family.

To expedite the process of defrosting the chicken, I placed it into my oven and used the defrost mode. It is good to know that I can defrost frozen food in my oven other than just baking :)

 my oven's defrost function

 place the chicken into a large ziploc bag

(this prevents water from splashing around when flattening the chicken)

 use the back of a chopper knife and flatten the chicken

(make sure to smash on all the boney areas)

 the 'flattened' chicken

 place flattened chicken into the perforated insert

 place the non perforated insert into the pot

 place the perforated insert (with the chicken inside) into the pot

 use high heat & cook till 2 red lines appear

(this indicates that it has reached the right pressure)

 see how dry the chicken has become?...

... all the essence and juice is HERE!

 a big bowl of pure chicken essence!

Home Made Pure Chicken Essence

Ingredients:

1 Sakura Fresh Chicken

salt & sugar to taste

Method:

1. Wash chicken thoroughly, cut away the feet and trim away the fatty areas.
2. Place into a large ziploc bag, seal the opening (remember to press out the air first). Use the back of a chopper knife and flatten the chicken as much as you can. Be sure to break all the boney areas. This step is important so that more juice can be extracted from the chicken.
3. Place 5 bowls of water into the pot. Place the non-perforated insert into the pot.
4. Place prepared chicken into the perforated insert and place this into the pot.
5. Close and lock the pressure cooker lid.
6. Use high heat and cook till the needle shows 2 red lines. Lower the heat and cook for 2hrs.
7. When the time is up, turn off the heat and let the pressure cooker cool down before you open the lid.
8. Add salt & sugar to taste.

Note:

• You can also use a normal pressure cooker to make this. Place enough water into the pot. Place a metal stand into the pot.  Place a bowl or small metal pot inside. Place another metal stand into this bowl or pot. Place the prepared chicken on the metal stand. Cover and lock the pressure cooker lid. For this method you will have to find metal stands, and bowl that can fit into your pressure cooker. If your pressure cooker comes with some inserts, use those. Just make sure that the water you put into the bottom of the pot is not too much or else it can go into the chicken essence and it'll become very diluted.
• It is also possible, using the above arrangement, for a normal pot. But you will have to cook it for many hours. From what i know, is at least 5hrs and the chicken essence is only about a bowl. 
• As my kids do not like the smell & taste of chinese herbs, I don't add them when I make my chicken essence. But you can add the herbs of your choice into the container where the essence will be collected in. But do not add too much or the soup will be bitter. 
• Using my Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker, I get about 725ml of chicken essence enough for my family of 4



Babi Pongteh

This is another Nonya dish, I think you can tell by now, that I really love peranakan nonya cuisine. There is this restaurant at Binjai Park called IVINS that sells very nice peranakan food at very reasonable prices. My family and I dine there at least once a month. One of the dishes that I always order is Babi Pongteh. I just love the aroma of tauceo in this dish, and the gravy goes very well with plain white rice. It is not spicy at all and my kids love it too. You can use pork ribs, pork collar meat or pork lean meat for this dish. My hubby is more health conscious, he told me to use lean meat next time. But this dish will taste delicious with any type of pork you choose.

It is best to get the better quality tauceo and black soya sauce for this recipe. It makes a lot of difference in the taste. Of course, the better quality it is, the more costly it gets. But since I'm cooking for my family and loved ones it's better to use quality ingredients. Remove the seeds from the green chilli if you only want the sweetness of the chilli and not the heat. I have added 1 green chilli in this recipe, you can add more if you prefer. I made my own coriander powder by lightly toasting the coriander seeds on a dry pan and grind them into powder. For this recipe, you need about 1tbsp of coriander seeds to get 1/2tbsp of coriander powder. This is one of those dishes that will taste even more robust the next day - provided you can still have leftovers on the first day!

Pic 1

stir-fry the shallots, garlic, coriander paste & tauceo

Pic 2

add in the pork ribs & stir-fry

Pic 3

add in the dark soya sauce & sugar

Pic 4

add in water & simmer till pork ribs are tender

Babi Pongteh

Ingredients:

500g prime pork ribs (cut into sections)

12 shallots (peel & coarsely grind)

4 cloves of garlic (peel & coarsely grind)

1tbsp tauceo (crushed)

1/2tbsp coriander powder

3tbsp oil

425ml water

1tbsp sugar

1tbsp dark soya sauce

1/4tsp salt

Method:

1. Coarsely grind the peeled shallots & garlic together.
2. Add some water to coriander powder to form a paste.
3. Heat wok over high heat, add oil. Lower heat and stir-fry ground shallots & garlic. Fry till golden brown. Sprinkle a little water to prevent it from burning.
4. Add the coriander paste and the tauceo. Sprinkle a little water again and fry till fragrant. (see pic 1)
5. Over high heat, add in the pork ribs and stir-fry for 3 mins. (see pic 2)
6. Add sugar & dark soya sauce. (see pic 3)
7. Lower heat and add half of the remaining water and simmer for 2 mins.
8. Add the rest of the water and bring to the boil, simmer till pork ribs are tender about 20-25 mins. (see pic 4)
9. Remove the spare ribs from the gravy, simmer (without lid) the gravy till it's reduced to half and becomes slightly thicker. Pour gravy over the spare ribs & serve.

Hae Bee Hiam - Dry Sambal Prawn

This is the first time I am trying this recipe. My hubby loves Hae Bee Hiam, so today I've decided to surprise him by cooking this. It was difficult to surprise him as the whole house was fused with it's aroma. Hae Bee Hiam is great with plain rice, nasi lemak, porridge, bread. If you like to make soft buns, this will be great as a bun filling. You can cook a batch of this and keep it in the fridge whenever you need it. It keeps well in the refrigerator. But of course, don't keep it for too long, as all homecooked food are best eaten fresh. But keeping this for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator is ok.

The ingredients for this recipe is very simple, no difficult to find ingredients. These are ingredients that you should have in your kitchen any time of the day. Dried prawns, shallots, some limes and red chillies. The tedious work is in the peeling of the many shallots and slicing them up. It may tear up your eyes a bit, if you are worried, you can place the shallots in the refrigerator for a few minutes before peeling and slicing them. But I need not do that as I wear spectacles, so the spicy 'vapour' can hardly reach my eyes. Pick out impurities from the dried prawns and wash them 3 times to really wash away all the dirt. Drain well and then use a powerful grinder machine and grind the dried prawns finely. You may have to do it in a few batches to get everything finely ground up. Grind up the red chillies too. I removed the seeds for this recipe, but if you prefer it more spicy you can leave them intact.

 Pic 1

stir-fry the sliced shallots with 4tbsp oil

 Pic 2

be careful not to burn the shallots

 Pic 3

stir-fry till the onions are nicely browned

 Pic 4

chilli oil

 Pic 5

stir-fry the dried prawns till toasty light & fluffy



Hae Bee Hiam - Dry Sambal Prawn

Ingredients:

300g dried prawns (rinse 3 times, shake off excess water and grind finely)

1tbsp lime juice

300g shallots (weight is after peeling, sliced up)

2tbsp sugar

Chilli oil:

6 red chillies (grind finely)

4tbsp oil

Method:

1. Add lime juice to ground dried prawns. Set aside.
2. Heat wok and add oil. Use medium low heat and stir-fry the sliced shallots (see pic 1). Stir every now and then to prevent it burning. It may seem like the oil is too little, do not add more oil. The onions will reduce down as it cooks (see pic 2). This prcoess can take about 10-15 mins depending on your heat flame. It does not need to be crispy, it just needs to be nicely browned (see pic 3).
3. When shallots are browned, drain well the oil and set aside.
4. Using the same oil that is still in the wok, stir-fry the ground red chillies. Once the oil becomes red in color, turn off the heat. Let it cool for a few minutes. This will make the oil ooze out from the chillies. Drain the red chilli pulp, press out the oil well. Discard the pulp.
5. Reheat the chilli oil in the wok over a medium low heat. Add in the dried prawns and stir-fry till it's light and toasty. This will also take about 10-15 mins. do not leave this unattended as it can burn easily. You know it's done when it feels light as you fry with the wok ladle. It will also be dry and crisp.
6. Turn off the heat and add in the fried shallots. Mix well using a hand balloon whisk. Using this will enable the fried shallots to incorporate well into the toasty dried prawns.
7. Cool completely and store in airtight container. Best kept in the refrigerator.



Nonya Beef Brisket Curry

My paternal grandma is a Nonya Ba Ba. She was the one who looked after me and my elder brother when we were young. I'm very much influenced by her, and naturally very close to her as well. She loves to cook curries, and lots of peranakan dishes. When she was younger, she loved to make kuehs and pastries for the Lunar New Year. I can still remember the time when all of us would squat at the charcoal stove along the corridor to make Love Letters. I regret to say that I have not learnt any of her cooking skills. I was too young to think of cooking then. I only concentrated on eating her goodies!

For this recipe, the above are all the ingredients you'll need. It's a easy fuss-free dish. I got my curry powder from Shermay's Cooking School. When I was there at one of the baking workshops, I was so blessed to have won a prize for the lucky draw. It was a packet of Nonya Curry Powder. This curry powder is Shermay's grandmother's (Mrs Lee Chin Koon) recipe. Mrs Lee is well known for all her nonya recipes. I must say, I really like this curry powder very much. It has a nice curry spice aroma that is not too over-powering. The recipe I'm using here is adapted from the recipe that came along with the curry powder.

I have recently heard of quite a few cases of young adults having heart problems. A church friend of mine, also rather young, recently had a heart attack and had to undergo a heart bypass surgery. The news came as a shock to me as he was so fit and young. It is really scary that one can have heart problems at such a young age. It has triggered me to be more selective with my food and the type of oil I use for cooking. I came across Grapeseed Oil and find it a very healthy oil suitable for asian cooking. Grapeseed oil offers the lowest concentration of mono-unsaturated acids (16%) and the highest poly-unsaturated acids (72%) of any vegetable oil. It is not only cholesterol free, it also reduces the cholesterol accumulation in the body. It naturally contains vitamin E. It also contains the highest proportion of linoleic acid (70%), a fatty acid which acts as a transporter for saturated fats thus preventing accumulation in the arteries. It also helps to reduce high blood pressure. Grapeseed oil is made from the grape seeds after the wine pressing. It does not have a strong flavor aftertaste, therefore it's perfect for sautéing, baking, or frying. Grapeseed oil has the highest flash point of any oil. this means that it can be heated up to 225C with no smoking, splatter or burnt taste, and does not convert to harmful trans-fatty acids as other oils do. The high flash point makes grapeseed oil an excellent choice for deep frying foods. Olive oil is of course a very healthy type of oil too. But the strong olive taste may affect the outcome of the dish you are cooking. My family & I can't stand the taste and smell of olives. So grapeseed oil is the next best choice for us. The downside is, it's the most expensive oil around and there's only one or two brands to choose from. I got this from Fairprice Finest at Bukit Timah.

 Pic 1

Fry onions & garlic till golden brown

 Pic 2

Add in curry paste & fry till fragrant

 Pic 3

Add in the beef cubes and stir fry on high heat

 Pic 4

Add in the coconut milk & keep stirring

 Pic 5

Reduce to this consistency

Beef Brisket Curry

Ingredients:

400g    beef brisket

1/4       onion (sliced)

1 clove garlic (sliced)

2tbsp    oil

1/2tsp   lime juice

3/4tsp   sugar

3/4tsp   salt

Mix together to form the curry paste:

2.5tbsp Nonya Curry Powder

2.5tbsp water

140ml  thick coconut milk

Mix together to get the tamarind water (must be strained):

1/4 rounded tbsp tamarind pulp

5tbsp water

Method:

1. Heat wok over high heat till it's hot. Add in the oil.
2. Lower the heat and stir-fry the sliced onion & garlic. Fry till golden brown - be careful not to burn it (see pic 1)
3. Sprinkle in a little of the tamarind water (to prevent onion & garlic from getting burnt)
4. Add in the curry paste. Fry till fragrant. Add in the remaining tamarind water (see pic 2)
5. Add the beef brisket cubes and fry overy high heat (see pic 3)
6. Add coconut milk and bring to the boil. Make sure to stir continuosly to prevent it from curdling (see pic 4)
7. Reduce to low heat and simmer covered for about 30-45 mins or till beef is tender.
8. Once beef is tender, open the cover and cook till curry sauce is reduced (see pic 5)
9. Add in lime juice and season with sugar and salt.



Steamed Coffee Layer Cake

Yesterday, 25th June 2011, was the 17th wedding anniversary of my darling hubby and me. I made this cake for the occassion, but was busy with the celebration to post it up. My hubby loves coffee cakes, but he's not really a coffee drinker. He prefers to dink tea. But I'm a coffee drinker but I'm not so into coffee cakes. We are so different right? Ha ha... Anyway the logic is opposite attracts, so that's why we are so attracted to each other I suppose.

This cake is a bit like the traditional Kueh Lapis but it's steamed and not baked. I think the next time I make this again, I'll change the coffee flavour to chocolate. You can change it to any flavour you like. I think even mango will be nice. I am not a person that will spend a lot of time on decorating a cake, and my hubby doesn't like whipped cream very much. So I've just done a very simple sifting of some icing sugar on top and added some cake decor accessories which I always keep when I buy cakes from the shops.

The most important thing to note about this cake is in the control of the flame when steaming. Use medium heat to steam or else the cake will be very kueh in texture and big bubbles will also form on the cake. Also make sure to cover the steamer lid with a piece of tea towel so that water will not drip onto the cake. Take note also that the water in the pot below does not touch the steamer rack on top.

Pic 1
Creaming the butter & sugar

Pic 2
Texture of the batter after adding the eggs. It's normal that it looks curdled.

Pic 3
Texture of the batter after condensed milk is added. It now looks less curdled.

Pic 4
Sift flour & salt into the butter mixture

Pic 5
Use a hand whisk to incorporate the ingredients

Pic 6
Equally divide the batter into 2 portions - coffee and vanilla

My 24cm AMC steamer pot

Spread each layer of batter quickly and smoothly

Each vanilla layer is 100g

Each coffee layer is 100g

Poke many holes with a cake tester before pouring the batter on top

Use medium flame heat to steam

 Steamed Coffee Layer Cake

Ingredients:
250g     unsalted butter (room temperature)
110g     castor sugar
5           eggs (room temperature each 60g)
200g     condensed milk
1tsp      vanilla extract
200g     self-raising flour
1/2tsp   salt
2tsp      coffee extract
3tbsp    instant coffee powder

Method:

1. Line the base of a 7" round/square cake tin with parchment paper.
2. Use an electrical stand mixer and cream butter and sugar till fluffy and pale yellow in color. It should look like butter cream (see Pic 1). Remember to stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time.
3. Add in the eggs, one at a time. After adding the 4th or 5th egg the batter will start to curdle (see Pic 2). Don't worry, it's normal.
4. Add in the condensed milk and vanilla extract. Whisk well, the batter will look less curdled (see Pic 3).
5. Remove mixer bowl from the stand mixer. Sift the self-raising flour and salt into the butter mixture. Put it back on the stand mixer and let the mixer whisk it for a couple of rounds on medium low speed. Do not over mix or the batter will develop gluten and cake will be tough textured.
6. Remove mixer bowl from the stand mixer and use a hand balloon whisk to incororate all the ingredients evenly.
7. Weigh the overall weight of the batter and divide into 2 equal portions (see Pic 6).
8. Set aside one of the half portion for later use as the vanilla layer. 
9. Add coffee extract and sift the instant coffee powder to the other half portion. This will be the coffee layer.
10. Weigh 100g of the vanilla batter and spread onto the prepared cake tin. Steam on medium heat for 6 mins.
11. When 6 mins is up, remove cake tin from the steamer. Use a cake tester and poke many holes on the cake. Make sure to poke all the way through to the bottom of the cake tin.
12. Weigh 100g of the coffee batter and spread on top of the vanilla layer. Steam on medium heat for 6 mins.
13. Repeat with the layering process till all the batters are used up.
14. At the last two layers steam for a little longer time. About 10-15 mins each layer. Open the steamer lid every 2-3 mins to check on the cake. Make sure no big bubbles form. Lower the heat if neccessary.
15. When the cake is done (cake tester comes out clean when poked at the centre of the cake), remove from the steamer pot and let it cool in the cake tin for a while.
16. When the cake is cool enough to handle, use a flat blade knife to run on the sides of the cake tin. Flip over onto a plate and serve.
17. Cake is best eaten in 3 days.