In Singapore you can find many “chicken rice” stalls, and usually there is a choice of “white” chicken or “roast” chicken.  This recipe is for the white boil chicken, which is prepare by poaching the chicken in hot water.  As the preparation is simply poaching the chicken, the chicken has to be fresh, and frozen chicken should not be used as frozen chicken has some “ice” taste.  For best result, use free range chicken or kampong chicken.

Ingredient

1. 1 fresh chicken
2.  stalk of spring onion
3. 1 slice of ginger
4. ½ teaspoon salt
5. 1 teaspoon sesame oil
6. 1 pot of water (enough to submerge the chicken)
7. 1 tablespoon salt for cleaning the chicken

Gravy and garnish

1. 3 tablespoon light soya sauce
2. 1 tablespoon sesame oil
3. ½ teaspoon sugar
4. ½ cucumber
5. 1 stalk of Chinese parsley

Method

1. Clean the whole chicken of feathers and internal organs.  Rub 1 tablespoon of salt on the skin and gut for 2-3 mins, and rinse away.
2. Boil the water in a big pot (big enough to submerge the whole chicken).  When boil, add in ½ teaspoon salt, a slice of ginger, and a stalk of spring onion.
3. Submerge the chicken and using high heat to bring the water to boil.  Once the water boil, bring down the heat to medium,  and allow it to simmer for 10 mins.  Turn off the heat and cover (and do not open and check) the pot for 40 mins.
4. When time is up, open the cover, and remove the chicken and drain dry. Rub sesame oil on the skin, and leave it to cool.  Do not cut when warm.
5. In a bowl, put in ½ teaspoon sugar and 3 tablespoon light soya sauce and 3 tablespoon hot chicken stock (hot so that sugar dissolve easier), stir till sugar dissolve.
6. Remove the skin of cucumber, half it through the center along the length of the cucumber and then slices into thick slices diagonally.  Place them in the center of the flat plate.
7. Cut chicken into pieces and lay them nicely on the plate on top of the sliced cucumber. (usually placing them to resemble the whole chicken).  Then, evenly sprinkle the sauce in item 5 on the chicken.  Cut some Chinese parsley and put on top of the chicken.
8. Serve cool.

Tip:  stock used to cook the chicken can be kept for future cooking as stock, or made into a soup and serve with chicken, or use to cook chicken rice.

Note that the chicken meat should be in a state where it just reach its cooked state, something like medium well, so that the meat is very tender.   If it is well done, the meat will be too tough (or “old”).  However, there might be some reddish color of the meat near the bone (especially when frozen chicken is used).  If you find that some of the meat is not cook, you could increase the simmering time slightly next time.  It also depends how big is the pot and how much water you have, as water is the only thing that retain the heat to cook the chicken, ie having lesser water will tend not to cook the chicken that well. (you have to try it few times to perfect it)

This dish goes well with rice by mixing the gravy and the tofu into the rice and eat together.

Ingredient

1. 1 ½ to 2 blocks of Soft tofu (prefer unicurd organic tofu, they are really soft)
2. 150g Minced chicken or pork (or you may replace with de-shelled shrimps)
3. 2 garlic
4. 2 tablespoon light soya sauce
5. 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
6. ½ tablespoon sugar
7. ¼ teaspoon salt
8. ½ teaspoon corn flour (to thicken the gravy)
9. ½ cup water
10. 3 tablespoon frying oil

Method

1. Peel and chopped the garlic and set aside.
2. Cut the tofu into smaller blocks (1 block of tofu may cut into 4)
3. Prepare the gravy in a cup, with ½ cup of water,  add in the soya sauce, oyster sauce, salt, sugar and corn flour.  (tip, when adding corn flour, it will float and just leave it until it sinks, and then stir.  This will prevent it from forming lumps)
4. Heat up frying pan and add in oil.
5. Use high heat and wait till pan is really hot, and slowly slide in the tofu (make sure tofu has little moisture as possible as this makes the oil splash).  Get ready a splash blocker or any pot cover to shield you in case the oil did splash.   Do not throw in the tofu as this will break the soft tofu and also create a splash of oil.
6. Flip the tofu when slightly brown (alternatively, you may use a different pot to deep fry the tofu and skip step 5 and 6
7. Scoop up the tofu or just push it to one side. Put in the garlic and fry till fragrant.  Add in the minced chicken/pork or prawn and stir.  If using minced meat, make sure you keep pressing and stirring to prevent it from forming big chunks.
8. Pour in the gravy ingredient in step 3, allow it to boil and thickens. Mixed it around by pushing (as stirring and flipping breaks up the tofu).
9. Serve hot.

There are occasions that I find that the minced beef in supermarket sold over the butcher counter is not fresh. How can you tell?  First look for dark brown spots or patches.  The minced beef looks generally bright red, but if it is stale, there might be areas of ½ cm diameter of dark brown patches. Fresh beef should be bright red throughout.  Next, the test that never fail, is to smell it.  So far, the all butchers allow me to smell it before I buy (maybe some may not like it).  Ask for the packet from him before he seals it.  Fresh beef smells very nice with a fragrance that resembles tomatoes. Stale meat don’t have that smell, and usually gives a weak stench (it is not totally smelly, but you can pick up that stale smell). 

Ingredients

1. 1 hairy gourd
2. ¼ teaspoon salt
3. ½ tablespoon soya sauce
4. ½ teaspoon sugar
5. 1 garlic
6. 1 small bunch bean vermicelli
7. 2 tablespoon cooking oil
8. 1/2 cup water
9. 1 tablespoon scoop of dried shrimp or dried silver fish.

Method

1. Remove skin of hairy gourd and cut into thin strips (about ½ cm thick).
2. Soak bean vermicelli for 15 mins. Soak dried shrimp if using dried shrimp for 30 mins.
3. Peel garlic and minced.
4. Heat up a pot or wok with oil, add in garlic and dried shrimp or silver fish, fry till fragrant. Add in hairy gourd and stir fry for 3 minutes.  Add in bean vermicelli and 1/2 cup water (can use the water used to soak the dried shrimp too).  Cover to simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add salt, sugar, soya sauce.  Stir and serve.
6. Vegetarian version do not add the dried shrimp or silver fish.

This is another version of the grill lamb cutlet with thyme, a more localize recipe with curry powder and curry leaves. 

Ingredients

1. 2 tablespoon Curry Leaves chopped
2. 6 slices of French Lamb cutlet
3. 3 teaspoon of curry powder for meat (pre-mix, sold in supermarkets)
4. ½ teaspoon Salt
5. 1 teaspoon honey
6. 2 tablespoon olive oil

Method

1. Wash the lamb chop, dab dry. Using tenderizing hammer or back of a cleaver, lightly chop the meat to make it more tender.
2. Wash the curry leaves, and use only the leaves, not the stem. Chop finely.
3. Sprinkle chopped curry leaves and curry powder evenly and pat it so that they stick on the meat.
4. In a mixing bowl, add in salt, honey, olive oil and mix thoroughly. Apply this evenly on both side of the lamp meat, and allow to marinate for 30 mins.
5. Heat up grilling pan until very hot.  Grill lamp for 3-4 mins each side.