Braised Chicken with Potatoes

This dish reminds me of childhood as my mom used to cook this very often for us. The chicken and potatoes are braised in dark soy sauce until soft and tender. With the thick rich sauce after long braising this dish goes really well with rice. I am going to do a series of my mom’s cooking here. Since some of my nieces already left home to further their studies oversea, they can always refer here if they wanted to make some home cooked dishes.

Ingredients:

Half chicken
2 potatoes – peel and quartered
2 medium size carrots – peel and cut into chunks
1 small onion – quartered
4 slices of ginger
3 cloves garlic – chopped

Rendang Ayam Goreng/Fried Chicken Rendang

One of my Malay friends shares this recipe with me many years ago. I remember eating this dish at her house and she roughly told me the ingredients and way to cook it. This dish is a bit different from the regular Rendang Ayam . This dish is not as spicy and also has a sweet and tangy taste to it. We like it a lot especially eating it with rice. I hope you give this dish a try as I am pretty sure you and your family are going to enjoy it as much as we do.

Ingredients:

1 small chicken – about 2.5 pounds
3 stalk lemongrass – removed the outer layers and smashed it
3 kaffir lime leaves
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp kicap manis/sweet soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp tamarind pulp + ½ cup water
Sugar and salt to taste

Soft Donuts

In conjunction of National Donut Day who is celebrated on the 1st Friday of June each year, I made these super soft donuts for our afternoon tea.

National Donut Day is on the first Friday of June each year, succeeding the Donut Day event created by the Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the women who served donuts to soldiers during World War I. The holiday celebrates the donut — an edible, torus-shaped piece of dough which is deep-fried and sweetened. Many American donut stores offer free donuts on National Donut Day. (Wikipedia)

Grass Jelly, Mango, Lychee with Thai Basil Seeds

We are having some scorching hot weather for the past few days and the temperature went up to upper 90’s today. It was so hot and humid that I went to bed only around 2.00am last night and already up by 6.00am as I can't just stay in bed in this condition. It is a bit unusual to be this hot at this time of the year. I can foresee some very hot days coming our way this summer season. This is a simple dessert that I prepared to cool us down few days ago.

You might notice some black speckles in the dessert. That is Thai Basil seeds or in Malay it is called Biji Selaseh. In Malaysia it is used very often in sweet beverages or dessert like ABC (air batu campur/shaved ice) or air bandung (rose syrup drink). Apparently some used these seed for dieting (feeling full with swelled seeds filling the stomach) and they are also used for the medicinal purposes in India to reduce blood sugar levels. It also prevents peptic ulcers and other stress related conditions like hypertension and asthma.