Tag: chicken

Recipe for Classic American Southern Creamed Chicken

I have a recipe book called The Complete Southern Cookbook which I have been dying to use since I got it several months ago. I kept delaying its christening because we haven’t bought a deep fat fryer yet. I mean what’s the point of attempting any soul food if I don’t have no deep fat fryer!?

But alas, our search for a deep fat fryer that’s not in puke beige plastic has not been successful. Couldn’t wait no more, so I poured through the book to find something that didn’t need deep frying. Classic Creamed Chicken. Perfect.

# – Classic southern creamed chicken.

The ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoon of butter
  • 1 can of button mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/4 cup of dry white wine
  • 500 grams of skinless chicken breasts, cut into large dice
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon of black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
  • 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
  • 220 grams of sour cream (I substituted with yogurt though, healthier & cheaper :D)

    • # – First, open the can of cream of mushroom soup and pour into the sour cream (or yogurt in my case).

    # – Whisk until combined. Then, set aside.

    # – Melt the two tablespoon of butter in a large pan.

    # – Add the mushroom, onions and garlic into the butter and fry until fragrant.

    # – Pour in the diced chicken.

    # – Followed by the white wine.

    # – Add salt, black pepper and paprika. Stir well.

    # – Lastly, pour in the creamed of mushroom soup + yogurt mixture.

    # – Stir until combined and simmer for 5-6 minutes more.

    # – Classic southern creamed chicken, DONE! Serve with homemade cornbread or toasts if you want.

    Creamy, delicious and addictive. Definitely soul food! Will post up the recipe for homemade cornbread soon, it’s really easy to make and goes so well with the creamed chicken.

    Happy cooking!

    Fool-proof herb roast chicken recipe.

    If I have to name one blogger that inspired me to cook and share recipes on my blog, it would be The Pioneer Woman. For one whole year prior to moving into our current home, I read her blog every single day and fantasized about cooking and making delicious, wholesome food.

    She’s the reason why I enjoy cooking so much, her step-by-step pictures make cooking so much less daunting and accessible to someone like me, who had never cooked anything beyond frying an egg. She is an amazing woman; a wonderful mother, wife, a wordsmith, a brilliant photographer and of course, an amazing cook! I’d be happy to be able to achieve 1/10 of what she has.

    (Btw, she also has a dog named Charlie! Teeheehee)

    So anyway, I found this fool proof herb roast chicken recipe from her. It has become my fallback recipe for whenever I have no idea what to cook but would like something with a bit of a flair…I’d make this roast chicken. It’s ridiculously easy to prepare & cook and tastes perfect.

    # – Fool-proof herb roast chicken.

    The ingredients:

  • 1 whole chicken about 1.3kg, cleaned & gutted
  • 1 onion, quartered
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • 1 handful of 3 different herbs, dry or fresh (I used sage, basil and chervil)
  • 60 ml of cooking oil (I used grapeseed oil)
  • Salt & Pepper

    • # – First, clean and pat the chicken dry with paper towels. This step is important to get crispy chicken skin.

    # – Then, rub salt all over the chicken as well as the cavity.

    # – Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the quartered onion, garlic and lemon. Don’t overstuff the cavity or the chicken won’t cook evenly. Set chicken aside.

    # – Next, chop up all the herbs finely.

    # – Put the chopped herbs in a bowl and pour in the cooking oil.

    # – Season the herbs with salt and pepper. Stir to mix.

    # – Now, massage the herb oil all over the chicken. Don’t pour in all the oil, the objective is just to get the herbs sticking to the skin. If there’s any leftover herb, feel free to stuff them into the cavity.

    # – Stick it into a pre-heated oven at 230 degrees celcius for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.

    # – Herb roast chicken, DONE!

    # – Lift the chicken out from the pool of chicken fat & serve with assortment of roast vegetables.

    # – Crispy skin and juicy, aromatic flesh. Yums.

    If you’ve always been afraid to roast a whole chicken, I can understand how daunting it must be. However, this recipe seriously changed my perceptions and I hope it would yours too.

    Sweet & sour chicken recipe.

    I very rarely deep fry my food. Not because we don’t like fried food but cause I hate dealing with the leftover surplus of oil. I guess I could pour the surplus into an oil pot but you know what, I haven’t gotten around to buy one that looks nice and fits into the interior of the kitchen. Yes, this is one of my shortcomings as a human being.

    We’re definitely going to get a electronic deep fryer but before that, we’d need to get a washing/dryer machine, a stand mixer, a new 4-6 slice toaster, a new kettle, a new rice cooker that’s not white in colour…all in that order :P

    # – Sweet & sour chicken recipe.

    Anyway, I made an exception for this sweet & sour chicken because (1) it’s time to redeem myself for sweet & sour chicken disaster circa 2006 and (2) it’s DELICIOUS!

    For the marinade:

    • 2 pieces of chicken breasts, cut into desirable bite size
    • 1 tablespoon of bicarbonate soda
    • 4 tablespoons of corn flour
    • 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
    • 2 tablespoon of chinese rice wine (optional)
    • A pinch of salt and pepper

    For the sweet & sour sauce:

    • 300 ml of water
    • 2 tablespoons of tamarind paste
    • 3 tablespoons of tomato puree or tomato ketchup
    • 1 tablespoon of sugar
    • A pinch of salt

    For the mix of vegetables:

    • 2 medium onions, quartered
    • 150 grams of pineapple, cut into cubes
    • 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
    • 1 large red chilli, seeded and cut into large rectangles (you can use capsicum)
    • A sliver of ginger

    # – First, marinate the chicken in the marinade ingredients for about 30 minutes.

    # – Then, prepare the sweet & sour sauce by stirring the sauce ingredients together till combined. Set aside.

    # – Heat up enough oil to cover the chickens in a wok and throw the chicken in one by one. Don’t crowd the wok and work in batches.

    # – Remove when golden brown and place on a paper towel to drain.

    # – After all the frying, pour away the oil to leave just about 2 tablespoons in the wok. Throw in the mix of vegetables.

    # – Followed by the sweet & sour sauce prepared earlier. Allow it to simmer gently.

    # – Taste and season with salt if needed.

    # – When sauce has achieved the desired consistency, throw in the deep fried chicken nuggets. Stir to coat chicken with the sauce. Remove from heat to serve.

    # – Sweet & sour chicken, DONE!

    # – Serve with piping hot rice. Yums :)

    The chicken was tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. The sauce had just the right balance of flavours while the vegetables were nice & crunchy. Absolutely divine with rice.

    I believe you can substitute chicken with other meats like pork or fish as well. Have fun cooking!