Hainan Chicken Rice with Roast Chicken

Its been 4 months since my last blog. Hope I have not lost too many readers as I have sort of neglected this blog due to other interests I have discovered. However, I am still as interested in cooking and eating as ever. Just that I seem to have a bit less time to blog about them now. But anyway, here is an update on one of my favourite dishes.

Back in 2008, I wrote a comprehensive guide to how I cook Hainan Chicken Rice with lots of images. Sadly, the host have now taken all the pics down. One day, I will upload them again. But in the meantime, here is the link anyway. You will get the idea even if you just read the text.

Click here.

This blog basically is the same except that the chicken is actually roasted instead of poached.

Normally a chicken lasts 2 days for us. On the second day, I reheat the chicken in the microwave, let it cool a bit and then chop it. On this occassion, I decided to roast the chicken for the second day. This adds extra taste to it to compensate the loss of smooth texture as a result of reheating.

All I do is rub a mixture of dark soy, honey, 5 spice, salt and pepper to the dry cold chicken. Then let it dry at room temp for an hour. After that, put in a VERY hot oven, so that it cooks the surface quickly and not cook the inside for too long. After all , the chicken is already cooked.

These are the results.

Btw, I glazed the skin with its own fat dripping, but not too much to retain some form of crispiness. Commercially, the vendors would bathe the skin with hot oil to get an even golden brown colouring.

Sambal Sotong ( Chilli Squid )

Everytime I make some sambal paste, I freeze some and use it for various dishes at another time. Here is one, which is essentially the same sauce I used for this Nasi Lemak dish here.

Such simplicity! Fry the sambal, then add the cleaned squid and cook for 10-15 minutes and that's it. One of my favourite Malaysian dishes which you cannot buy anywhere, but in Malaysian restaurants, and even then, the quality is unpredictable.

Lee Chong Wei - 2010 All England Mens Singles Champion!!

Great achievement! Second singles Malaysian player to win this prestigious tournament in 44 years. However it was not without controversy as we clearly saw in tv replays that his winning shot was indeed out, but called in. I would lodge a protest if I was in the Japanese camp. But anyway, that aside, it was a great moment for Malaysian sport, and I hope it goes some way towards uniting the nation in these politically turbulent times.

Wel done, Chong Wei!

Good Luck to Lee Chong Wei in All England Final 2010!

Just watched him destroy Peter Gade in the semis this afternoon. Looks like this will be his year, especially since his main nemesis, Lin Dan, got knocked out of the tournament the day before. I suppose Malaysian badminton fans all over the world now has a date with the TV tomorrow, Sunday, 14th March, from 12pm GMT, to cheer Chong Wei on! For those lucky enough to be at the NIA in Birmingham, I envy you - the atmosphere looked great on TV!

A tribute to Fred Chan

I dont think anyone here know him, but he is one of the many people who inspired me to start a food blog. More specifically, he is a Chinese living in the north west of England, like myself, with a passion for food. Sadly he passed away recently after a long illness, so RIP, Fred. You will be missed.

You can still view his food blog here.

Eason Chan is coming to Manchester

It is indeed a rare privilege for Mancunians to be treated to a performance by a a Cantopop superstar in our city. From the details below, you can see that it is not exactly cheap and they seem to have also chosen a rather small venue, probably not very confident of being able to fill up a large arena. However, I think they are underestimating his popularity here and I am sure the tickets will sell out very quickly. I think anyone who has even the slightest interest in Cantopop will want to go, whether they are a fan of Eason or not, as I cannot remember there ever having been an east Asian singer ever gracing our city. So get in there fast if you are from Manchester. Dont say you havent been warned!

And here is a clip of a song from the album above!

Happy Chinese New Year 2010!

Manchester's Chinatown was awash with colours and people and noise yesterday, Sunday 14th Feb 2010 to mark the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Tiger. Here's wishing all Chinese visitors Gong Xi Fa Cai!

And here is the video of the dragon dance.