Another 3 plus 1 meal for Year 2012

My recent posts were mostly cakes and desserts.  While I enjoy baking cakes and creating sweet little treats, cooking remains my greatest passion, especially Chinese cuisine.  So, I shall end this year with another 3 plus 1 meal post.

What's for dinner:

Chayote & Carrot Pork Ribs Soup (similar recipe over here)

Steamed Chicken with Ginger Sauce

Light and Healthy Tofu with Broccoli

Crispy Tofu Puff with Meat Filling

Steamed Chicken with Ginger Sauce

The chicken is steamed in a rice cooker.  Rice cooker cooks similar to a pressure cooker.  The result is quick, tasty and juicy chicken.  Compare to the traditional method of poaching the chicken in a pot of hot water, this method is much easier and I find the chicken more flavourful.

Preparation:

* Mixed spice ingredients: 2 knots of pandan leaves, crushed lemon grass, few slices of ginger, crushed garlic/onions/spring onion (your preference...  I like to have them all!).  

* Rub the whole chicken with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sesame oil, leave to marinate for about 30 minutes.

To cook:

* Place some of the mixed spice ingredients at the bottom of the rice cooker.  Place chicken on top (with a knot of pandan leaves and lemon grass inside the chicken).  Pour 2 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine and 1/2 cup of water over the chicken.  

*Cover and press cook button.  Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes (depends on your rice cooker) and switch to keep warm mode for another 10 minutes (the heat inside will continue to cook the chicken).  Remove the chicken, cool slightly before cutting up the chicken.

*Serve with warm shallot and ginger sauce.

*Use the gravy in the rice cooker for cooking rice.

You can also use chicken wings/thighs/drums to prepare this:

Light and Healthy Tofu with Broccoli

The tofu dish is light and tasty.  Very few basic ingredients - chopped ham, corn kernels, carrot, breech mushrooms, silken tofu and broccoli.  Other: 2 slices of ginger, stock, 1 egg white

To cook:

*  Blanch the broccoli in boiling water. Set aside.

* Stir fry ham/carrot/mushroom/corn with ginger slices till fragrant.  Add in stock, bring to boil.  Add tofu and simmer for a minute.  Add seasoning (salt/oyster sauce etc) to taste.  Thicken with corn starch solution and add in beaten egg white.  

* Serve with blanched broccoli.

Crispy Tofu Puff with Meat Filling

The taste is similar to ngoh hiang, except it is crispier on the outside, due to the tofu puff (invert inside out).  For the filling, you can use prawn, fish or meat paste.  I used 1 part minced meat to 1 part chopped garlic chives and water chestnut.  Combine the filling ingredients together, seasoned with oyster sauce, sesame oil, pepper etc.  Cover and keep the filling in fridge for an hour before stuffing inside the tofu puff.

To prepare:

*  Cut a small opening at the side of each tofu puff.  Gently turn the puff inside out.

* Stuff each tofu puff with a teaspoon of meat filling.

* Deep fried in hot oil till golden.  

Tofu puffs with meat and chives fillings is very tasty.  You can steam it instead of deep frying, or cook in soup with noodles and some leafy vegetables for a healthy one-dish meal.    For this menu, since my other dishes were rather light, so I deep fried these tofu puffs for variety in taste and texture.

Soupy Tofu Puffs with Bee Hoon and Guangxi Stuffed Tofu Puffs

 

Other 3 plus 1 menus are listed over here.  

Wishing all a Happy and Healthy 2013.