Stir-Fried Asparagus with Chicken & Bacon

Asparagus is quite expensive in Hong Kong throughout the year. I still can remember that a plate of blanched asparagus might cost a fortune in some Chinese restaurants. Luckily, I can easily find beautiful and fresh asparagus when they are in season in Australia. Asparagus could go very well with chicken. This dish, stir-fried asparagus was also enriched with the flavour of diced bacon. Yummy!

Ingredients:

• 200g asparagus
• 100g chicken thigh (or chicken breast), diced
• 1/2 strip bacon
  
• 1 tsp garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp XO sauce (available at Asian stores)
• a dash Shaoxing wine
• 3 tbsp chicken stock

Marinade:

• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
  
• 1/2 tsp cornflour
• a pinch pepper
• a dash sesame oil

Thickening:

• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp cornflour
• 2 tbsp water

Method:

1. Rinse asparagus and drain well. Cut into about 5cm (2 inch) lengths and put the thicker sections apart from the thinner ones.
2. Marinate chicken for 20 minutes. Roughly chop bacon.
3. Heat oil in wok or pan over medium heat. Cook bacon until golden brown or crisp if desired. Transfer on paper towels to absorb excess oil. Add chicken in wok. Stir fry until cooked, about 3 minutes.
4. Add some oil in the same wok, sauté garlic over medium-high heat. Toss in the thicker sections of asparagus as they need more time to cook. After stir-frying for a while, add thinner sections. Stirring occasionally. Sprinkle wine. Add stock and cook until sauce dries up a bit and the asparagus is cooked. Yet don’t overcook them, lest they turn yellow. Toss back chicken and bacon. Add thickening and XO sauce. Quickly stir and combine well. Done!

Baked Lamb Shanks with Mashed Potatoes

It’s quite cold these few days in Brisbane. The weather reminds me of my favourite dish, the baked lamb shanks. The meat is really tender, coating with rich sauce, that would literally fall off the bone and melt in my mouth. We like to serve the lamb shanks with an Italian seasoning, gremolata that adds extra flavours to the meat. What a comfort food in chilling days!

Ingredients:

• 2 lamb shanks, about 900g
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

• 3 stalks rosemary
• 4 stalks celery, roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cups (500ml) dry red wine
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 strip orange zest, 1x3 inch
• a dash of olive oil (or cooking oil)

Ingredients of mashed potatoes:

• 2 potatoes
• butter, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• hot milk, to taste

Ingredients of Gremolata:

• 2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C (356F). Place rack in the middle.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat on a frying pan. Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper. Add them to the pan and cook until all sides are lightly golden, about 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer lamb shanks to a large casserole, covered.
3. Heat some oil in the same frying pan to sauté onion, celery, carrot and rosemary over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all ingredients soften and lightly brown. Add tomato paste and combine well. Cook for another 2 minutes. Increase heat to high. Add red wine and boil over high heat about 10 to 15 minutes. Cook until liquid thickens.
4. Return lamb shanks to pan. Add orange zest and chicken stock. Bring to boil, then transfer into the casserole. The lamb should be covered by sauce. Cover and bake for at least 2 hours, until lamb softens, turning lamb after 1 hour if necessary.
5. While baking lamb, peel potatoes and roughly chop into chunks. Cook in boiling water for 20 minutes, or until softened. Drain well. Place in a large bowl and let rest for a while. Mash potatoes and season with salt, butter, pepper and milk to taste.
   
   
   
   
6. In another small bowl, combine crushed garlic, parsley and lemon zest. That’s unique “gremolata”, really yummy to go with hot lamb shanks.
   
   
   
   
7. When the lamb shanks are ready, discard rosemary. Serve with mash and gremolata.

Soy Sauce Chicken (With Less Soy Sauce)

To cook a whole chicken is really a challenge. If the chicken thigh is cooked, the other parts might be over-cooked and the meat turns tough. When it comes to cook the whole chicken in soy sauce, it yields experiences and skills to control the heat and cooking time.

I found it’s much easier to get satisfied results with this cast-iron casserole. It heats foods evenly and retains the heat inside for longer time. The cast-iron casserole is extremely good for slow cooking. So I used it to cook the popular Chinese dish, soy sauce chicken. Traditionally, the amount of soy sauce that has to be used is quite a lot. It has to cover the whole chicken. Having done the cooking, it’s a problem of how to recycle the soy sauce as it’s too much. With the cast-iron casserole, the cooking calls for smaller amount of soy sauce that easily consumes, either for going with white rice, or frying noodles. It’s extremely yummy!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1.7kg organic chicken (or free range chicken)
  
• 1/2 cup light soy sauce
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 6 to 8 slices old ginger
• 2 stalks spring onion
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 30g rock sugar
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• a small piece dried tangerine peel, optional (homemade or get from Asian stores)
• 3/4 cup water

Method:

1. Soak tangerine peel to soften and rinse well. Set aside.
2. Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Place half of the spring onion and ginger into the chicken cavity. Rub wine all over the chicken. Tie chicken legs together with a string (as picture shown).
3. In a large casserole, heat up some cooking oil and sauté ginger, garlic and spring onion. Pour light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and water into the casserole. Add tangerine peel. Bring to a boil. Add rock sugar and slower the heat to low. Carefully place chicken into the casserole. Beware that the heat should be as low as enough to keep little bubbles springing up. Don’t use high heat because the chicken would be over-cooked easily and the meat won’t be smooth and tender otherwise.
4. First, place chicken’s breast down for 10 minutes, covered. Turn chicken’s back down for another 8 minutes, covered. Turn chicken to left, leg to the bottom, for 13 minutes, covered. Then turn chicken to right, leg to the bottom, for another 13 minutes, covered. Remove the lid, turn chicken’s breast down to the bottom again. Cook over high heat until the sauce boils vigorously again. Cover and turn off the heat. We’re going to use the heat inside the casserole and continue to cook the chicken for another 20 to 25 minutes. Test the chicken if it’s cooked through or not. Insert a needle or chopstick into the thickest part, like chicken thigh, if clear liquid runs out without any blood, it’s done. If it's not cooked, then heat the sauce for a few minutes more. Transfer chicken to a platter and wait until the juice absorbs, about 5 minutes. Discard the ginger and spring onion inside the cavity. Cut into bite-sized chunks. Ladle hot soy sauce over the chicken. Serve hot.

Notes:

1. The cooking time depends on how big the chicken is.
2. Every time you turn the chicken, baste with the soy sauce to keep the whole chicken moist and add colour evenly.
3. Use half of a chicken or chicken legs if you like. It’s much easier and needs shorter cooking time.

Baked Coconut Chicken in Portuguese Style

Both coconut milk and chicken are my family’s favourite foods. Cooking both of them together will definitely win everybody. This Portuguese coconut chicken looks like curry, but it’s not hot at all. This time I’ve deliberately added many different vegetables that cooked in coconut sauce, topped with creamy baked cheese. Who can resist the chicken inside? Ha…

Ingredients:

• 400g chicken thigh fillet (or chicken breast)
• 2 potatoes, chopped
• 1/2 carrot, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 green beans
• 1/4 capsicum
• 1 cup cheese

• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 3 bowls fried rice (or white rice)

Marinade:

• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger sauce
• pepper, to taste

Thickening:

• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 2 tbsp water

Method:

1. Rinse chicken meat and pat dry with paper towels. Trim fat and cut into bite-size. Marinate for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 200C (390F).
2. Heat oil on saucepan and sauté minced garlic. Toss in onion and sauté until translucent. Add marinated chicken and cook over medium heat, until lightly brown. Add potatoes and carrots, stir until evenly heat all ingredients. Sprinkle turmeric powder and cumin powder. Stir fry until aromatic. Pour chicken stock and bring to a boil. Slow heat to medium-low and cook until the potatoes turn soft. Add green beans and capsicum and cook for a while. Add coconut milk and bring to boil again. Add thickening and cook to your preferred consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Taste by yourself until you’re satisfied.
3. While cooking the sauce, heat up another wok (or frying-pan). Add whisked egg to fry rice. Head over and take a look at how to fry yummy rice. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
4. Transfer fried rice (or hot white rice) to a ceramic baking dish. Pour coconut sauce over the rice. Sprinkle cheese to your preference. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until cheese turns golden. Done. Serve hot.

Notes:

1. Use the left-over rice to fry is the key to have yummy fried rice.
2. If you use white rice, it should be a bit drier than usual because it will absorb the coconut sauce while baking.

Kung Pao Chicken Recipe

Kung Pao chicken (or Kung Po chicken, 宮保雞丁) is a very famous and popular Chinese dish, originating in Sichuan province, central-western China. This dish is quite hot, yet you can adjust the amount of chilies and suit your preference to mild or little hot in homecooking anyway. Many people are very curious about why this dish is called Kung Pao chicken instead of chili chicken or fried chicken. According to Wikipedia, the dish is named after a late Qing Dynasty official, Ding Baozhen (1820 -1886). He was born in Guizhou, served as head of Shandong province and later as governor of Sichuan province. His title was Gōng Bǎo (宮保), or palatial guardian. The name "Kung Pao" chicken is derived from this title.

Nice stories about Ding were spreading around Chinese community. Ding was very found of foods and skillful in cooking. He also hired many famous cooks in his home to cook for his guests. There was a dish, fried diced chicken, often served on his guests’ tables. His guests loved this dish very much. So they named his fried diced chicken as Gong Bao Chicken.

Ingredients:

• 200g chicken breast, diced
• 1/4 capsicum, diced
  
• 50g peanuts
• 3 to 4 garlic, sliced
• 6 dried chilies, roughly chopped
• a dash of Shaoxing wine

Marinade:

• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• A dash of sesame oil
• A pinch of pepper

Seasoning:

• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬)
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• Sesame oil, to taste

Method:

1. Marinade diced chicken for 30 minutes.
2. Bake peanuts in a preheated oven (180C/356F) for 3 to 5 minutes until lightly brown. Don’t let them unattended. Or you might like to deep fry peanuts in hot oil. Note that the peanuts will continue to turn darker after draining out from hot oil. Set aside
   
3. Heat oil in a wok or frying-pan. Sauté garlic and dried chilies over medium heat until aromatic. Toss in marinated chicken and stir-fry until the outsides turn white. Sprinkle wine and stir quickly. Add capsicum and cook until softened. When the chicken is cooked through, add seasonings. Turn heat to high and cook until sauce dries up a bit. Sprinkle peanuts. Dish up and serve hot.