Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup - 参鸡汤

Ginseng Chicken Soup(参鸡汤) or Samgyetang in Korea translation is a traditional soup served in the summer to replace nutrients lost through excessive sweating and physical exertion during the hot summers in Korea. And the main ingredients of this soup is using whole young chicken, glutinous rice, Korean ginseng, red dates, garlic, ginseng and perhaps some herbs like wolfberries and dang gui.

  But here I am sharing with you another light and simple version using only whole chicken, ginseng, glutinous rice and red dates which is good enough to produce a pot of delicious and nutritious ginseng chicken soup.

Ingredients: (serves 2 - 4)

1 Medium Size Chicken, about 1 – 1.2kg
¼ Cup of Glutinous Rice
4 – 5 Soup Ginseng Roots
4 – 6 Red Dates
1.2 Litre of Boiling Water
1 Stalk of Spring Onion, sliced
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Method:

1. Soak 1/4 cup of sweet rice for 1 hour.

2. Wash and rinse your chicken in cold running water, trim the extra fats, emptied and cleaned the cavity, removed the head, neck and feet.

3. Bring a big pot of water to boil, blanched the whole clean chicken in boiling water for about 3 – 5 minutes. (flipped at least once)

4. Removed and rinse over cold running water for 20 seconds and set aside.

5. Next stuff the chicken with the soaked glutinous rice, 2 – 3 ginseng root and half of the red dates then place the chicken in the empty soup pot. (I used a big claypot for this)

6. Slowly add in boiling water on the side of the chicken till it cover almost ¾ or more more of the chicken and let soup comes to bring over medium heat.

7. When the soup starts boiling, skim off any foam and fat that rises to the surface. Add in the rest of the Ginseng Root and red dates, low the heat and simmer for at least 1 hour. (I simmer mine for about 1½ hours on very low heat)

8. Serve it with salt, freshly ground pepper and chopped spring onion.

Note:-

~ Depending on the size of the chicken you might even need to simmer the soup for more than an hour in order for the chicken to cooked through.

~ If you do not have any Korean Ginseng, you could always used any soup ginseng root that can be easily purchased from any Chinese Medical Shop. I bought mine from ZTP at around S$6.00 for 5 stalks of dried ginseng.

This is what we have for dinner after 1.5 hours of simmering over very hot heat on the stove. The minute you opened the cover the room would be filled with the fragrant aroma of the ginseng and each mouthful of soup is infuse with the sweet flavour that is disperse from the ingredients used. Do give this a try during cold and rainy days and it will definitely makes a great dish.

Christmas Potluck Dishes

Festive seasons are always full of parties and gatherings. With Christmas just a few days around the corner I am sure most of you are busying with the festive feast preparation too. As usual every year our church cell group would organize Christmas potluck party a week before Christmas where each family would bring along some food/goodies to share with each other during the gathering.

This year with my NEW Tupperware Tapau set we could easily prepared and brings the food without being afraid that the gravy from the food might leak out half way through the journey or having trouble to pack food in multi sizes containers. Below are some of the food we prepared and packed for our last week Christmas potluck gathering using my Eco-friendly Tapau containers.

Using one of the 1-Litre size Crystalwave Dish to pack some homemade pizza , gingerbread man and tart as finger food.

For starter we packed some freshly prepared salad using red and green coral lettuce, rocket leaves, mixed dried fruits and etc with some Italian dressing in another similar Crystalwave Dish.

As for the big Crystalware bowl mum used it to pack some curry chicken to go with the freshly baked baguette which most of us love to use it for dipping the curry gravy (in order to prevent the bread from contact with the curry gravy you can place a layer of aluminum foil/baking baker on the holder before placing the bread).

Before reheating the curry chicken in the microwave, open the cover and remove the noodle holder with bread then secure the cover back on the Crystalwave bowl leaving only the vent cap open. Reheat the curry chicken for about 2  - 3 minutes high (depending on the microwave voltage) and serve warm with bread.

These collage photos shows the ingredients and steps on preparing the chicken curry.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

1 Medium Size Chicken, about 1 - 1.2kg
1 Packet Hai's Instant Curry Chicken Paste
3 Medium Potato
150ml Coconut Milk
600ml Hot Water
1 Medium Tomato, optional

Method:
1. Trim, clean and chop the chicken into bite-size chunks and set aside.
2. Peel the skin of the potato, cut into cubes.
3. Preheat a medium pot and sauté the Hai’s instant curry paste on medium low heat for about 1 minute or so till fragrant.
4. Stir in the chicken pieces and potato cubes, give it a quick stir till combined.
5. Slowly pour in hot water till the chicken mixture is almost covered with water.
6. Add in tomato wedges and when the mixture comes to boil again simmer it on medium how heat for about 15 minutes or till the chicken and potato are cooked through.
7. Lower the heat, slowly stir in the coconut milk and simmer for another 5 minutes till done.
8. Serve warm with white rice or baguette.

Note:
~ If you prefer thick and creamy curry gravy, you can use 250ml coconut milk/cream with 500ml hot water as stated from the instructions from the back of the packaging.


This is the new packing of Hai's Instant Curry Chicken Paste that I have used for this recipe.

If you have read through the 2 previous Tupperware posts (refer to links below) that I have shared I am sure you would agreed with me that this Tupperware set is indeed a great gift for Christmas season. You could use it not only as a TaPau container but as well as for packing homecook food or snacks too. I believed there are still many ways of using this wonder products which some of you are practicing so do share with us your valuable tips if you do own a set.

Related Tupperware Tapau Set Links
1. Go Green with Tupperware TaPau Set
2. Comfort Food At Ease


This Tupperware Tapau Set retails at S$49.00 which comes with  2 Crystalwave Dishes in 1-Litre capacity,  1 Crystalwave Bowl in 2-Litres capacity, 1 Noodle Holder and a Grip-n-Go Cariolier. And if you are interested to know more about this product do take look at their website here ”http://www.tupperware.com.sg/” or contact any one of the nearest Tupperware outlets shown below:

Note:-

This post is sponsored by Tupperware Singapore but the opinions expressed are 100% mine. No photos or text may be reproduced without seeking prior permission.

Stir-fried Chicken Fillet with Thai Basil Leaves

Not long ago, I have tried a similar version of this dish using minced pork which you could refer to the recipe HERE. And for this "Stir-fried Chicken Fillet with Thai Basil Leave" dish, I replaced the minced pork with chicken fillet strips which brings up another flavour and texture to this unique Thai street food. I am sure it would be a popular choice for those who prefer lean meat such as chicken breast meat which is low in fat content.

Oven Baked Fried Chicken Bento

Pin It

Do you like fried chicken? I am sure most of you would rise up your hands and say yes. Recent years there so many fast food outlets such as "KFC", "Wendy", "Popeye Chicken" and etc selling fried chicken. And there are also frozen Fried Chicken that is available in the local supermarkets too. In this post, I would like to share with you some tips and ideas on how I made use of some CP Fried Chicken (Original Flavour) to prepare this cute little "Chicky Bento".

Fried Chicken is one of my boy's favourite deep-fried finger food that I would always prepared from scratch using chicken wings, seasoning, flour batter and etc. But with this CP Fried Chicken that can be easily grab from any supermarket it actually shorten my time on preparing these deep-fried stuffs for the family.

  The CP Fried Chicken (Original Flavour) are coated in a specially light and crispy batter that stays crispy on the outer skin even after 30 minutes or more. I choose the oven baked method to prepare these chicken as I find it more healthier than deep-fried with oil. To assemble the bento, here are the ingredients and steps:-

Ingredients:

1 Bowl of Cooked Rice
2 - 3 Pieces of CP Fried Chicken
1/4 Japanese Cucumber, cut into long sticks
1/4 Carrot, peeled outer skin cut into long sticks
Some Lettuce Leaves, optional
Some Fresh Fruit of Your Choice

Method:

1. Place the fried chicken in the oven toaster and toast it for about 15 – 20 minutes, turn occasionally to prevent it from getting burnt.
2. While waiting for the chicken to be done, cut the Japanese cucumber and carrot into long veggie sticks as side for the bento.
3. Assemble the bento accordingly; you can place the fried chicken (if too big pieces for the kid, you could cut it into bite size) together with the veggie sticks in a container.
4. Drizzle some roasted black sesame seeds on the rice if you preferred.
5. Serve the bento set with cut fruits immediately or packed it for your outing.


Do you want to have a piece of these "Mickey" face cutout dragon fruit for after meal dessert? I am sure most of the Disney fan kids would love this special treat which would change their mindset on eating fruits.To make this cute cutout from the dragon fruit you would need to have the mickey ring cutter shown HERE.(1st photo of the post)

Don't worry if you don't possess any of these bento items, you could always start off by using some simple tools that are available at Daiso (S$2 shop) or even some online bento site such as New Stylish Tokyo (http://www.nst.my/), Bento Craft (http://bentocraft.com/) and etc.

CP Food's Latest "Chicky" Products

Recently I have shared post on how to use some CP Thai Shrimp Cake to prepare 4 quick and easy finger food and one dish meal recipes. If you are interested to read more about this releated post, you can the link HERE. As for this post I would once again loves to share with you some simple ways of preparing different type of CP Chicken Products in less than 30 minutes.

These are the colleage photos of the ingredients and steps to prepare the "Claypot Chicken Rice".

Ingredients: (Serves 2)

6 - 8 Pieces of CP Charcoal-Grilled Chicken
160g (1 Rice Cooker Cup) Uncook Rice
320ml Water
Some Baby Bok Choy
1 Egg, optional
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
Dried Shallot and Chopped Spring Onion for Garnishing

Method:

1.Rinse the uncooked rice with tap water for a few rounds, drained well and add in suitable amount of water to cook the rice.
2. Place the claypot with rice over the stove, bring it to boil and low the heat to simmer the mixture till the water is half way dried off.
3. Next place the frozen CP Charcoal-Grilled Chicken starts from the middle and some baby bok choy along  the side.
4. Use can use two leaves from the bok choy to act as a base to support the egg before cracking it onto the rice.
5. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of sesame oil over the top of the vegetable and egg then cover and let it continue to simmer on very low heat for about 5 - 7 minutes till the chicken is heat through and egg is half way cooked.
6. Serve warm with dried shallot, chopped spring onion and drizzle of dark soy sauce according to your preference.

Note:-

~ You can also cook this dish using rice cooker. Just cook the rice as per usual then place the ingredient on top of the half-way cooked through mixture and let it cook and keep warm the the chicken is warm through.

This soft and tender CP Charcoal-Grilled Chicken is marinated in a distinctive Japanese-style sauce and slowly grilled over real charcoal fire. These pieces of charcoal grilled chicken is made using quality chicken leg meat that contins 0 Trans Fat and most important fact it contain no preservatives which most parents like us concern of.

This is one of our quick and easy one-dish meal for lunch busy busy weekends where my kid needs to rush for enrichment classes or when I am too lazy to cook 2 - 3 courses meal. So with a pack of these delicious and charcoal-grilled chicken you can either use it for making claypot rice like me or, microwave it till done and served with blanched noodles will be a great deal too.

This small bite-size CP Chicken Cake makes a great finger food for parties or gatherings which is easier for the guest to pick up and go. The ingredients of these chicken cakes consists of minced chicken meat and corn bits as well as some stands of vermicelli for extra crunch. You can either deep-fried, oven toast or microwave it but for me I prefer pan-fried which used lesser oil but it would give it a nice golden coating.

To have something refreshing to go with the Chicken Cake I came out with some "Century Egg Salad" which goes pretty well with it.

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
1 Century Egg, cut into small cubes
2 Small Shallot, thinly sliced
1 Small Red Chilli, roughly chopped
1 Medium Tomato, cut into small cubes
1/4 Japanese Cucumber, cut into small cubes
1/2 Tablespoon Frozen/Fresh Corn Kernels, optional
1 Teaspoon of Oil

Method:

1. Preheat a small saucepan with 1 teaspoon of oil and sauté the sliced shallot and chopped chilli till fragrant.
2. Toss in all the rest of the ingredients and give it a quick stir to heat them through.
3. Remove from heat and serve warm together with the Chicken Cakes.


Do you like fried chicken? I am sure most of you would rise up your hands and say yes. There are so many fried chicken fast food outlets around such as "KFC", "Wendy", "Popeye Chicken" and etc. But what about those frozen Fried Chicken that available in the local supermarkets, have you ever tried them before? Here, I have use the CP Fried Chicken (Original Flavour) to prepare this cute little "Chicky Bento" which I personally think that these fried chicken pieces taste just as good as those selling in the fast food outlets. For more details about this Chicky Bento, do check back for the upcoming recipe soon.

Thai Green Curry Chicken

Our family prefers Thai Green Curry when compared to their Red Curry even though sometime it might tends to be slightly spicy and it has that hint of sweetness that is not usually associated with red curries. Plus by adding some fresh Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves together with extra dose of coconut milk it actually lifts up the aroma and taste of this dish too.

Stir-Fried Pork With Basil Leave

Stir-fried Pork with Basil Leave (Pad Gra Prao) is one of the most common street/household food in Thailand. It’s usually served as a quick one-dish meal eaten with white rice and usually topped with an extra fried egg. And since I have some Thai Sweet Basil left over from preparing the Thai Green Curry (recipe HERE), I decided use them for this stir-fried pork with basil leave to go with the curry.

Thai Red Duck Curry

This Thai Red Duck Curry is one of my favourite curry dishes during my 2.5 years in Brisbane. I remembered we used to drive at least 3 hours once a month to and from our home to Chinatown in order to get roast duck to make this dish. And I must admit that duck meat definitely goes well with something sweet and sour like plums sauce so in this case this dish blends well with lychees and pineapples as one of the ingredients.

Seah's Emperor Herbs Chicken

Steam Herbal Chicken either with steam rice or blanched noodles where we could drizzle those delicious sauce over it. Whenever we unwrapped the chicken parcel, the dining room will be filled with wonder aroma of the herbs. And with the usual tight working schedule, preparing a simple and yet delicious meal is always something challenging for me. So often I would need to settle some of our meals with those quick and easy ingredients or products which can be easily purchase off shelf from the supermarket.

Since most of us are craving for herbal chicken, I decided to fix one over the weekend using one of my favourite Seah’s Emperor Herbs Chicken Spices. This is definitely a quick and easy meal and the main ingredients that you required would be either some chicken parts or the whole chicken plus a packet of ready spices. This recipe I only used half of the chicken for steaming while the other half for making “Chicken, Longan and Burdock Soup” (recipe HERE).

Ingredients:
1/2 packet of Seah's Emperor Herbs Chicken Spices
1/2 Whole Chicken, around 500g
Aluminum Foil and Wrapper(included in packet)
3 Red Dates, cut into thick strips
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries
1 1/2 Tablespoon of Drinking Water

Method:
1. Trim, rinse and use some kitchen paper towel to pat dry the chicken.
2. Rub the spices on the external skin and internal of the chicken.
3. Top with red dates and wolfberries then drizzle the water over the top.
4. Wrap the chicken with the wrapper(tie a knot) then follow by aluminum foil.
5. Steam for about 1.5 - 2 hours depending on your preference of the meat texture.

Tips:

~ The purpose of adding water is to have more gravy for the end product.

~ Red dates and wolfberries will further enhance the taste and fragrant.

~ For stronger taste, you can also drizzle a spoonful of D.O.M Benedictine Liquor over the pipping hot chicken before serving.

 

You can get this Seah's Emperor Herbs Chicken Spices at any leading supermarket or provision stalls near your area. And if you would like to try something different, perhaps you can try this less than 30 minutes oven baked "Salt-Roasted chicken Spices" too.

Seah's Singapore Chicken Curry

Singapore Chicken Curry is always one of the dishes that most Singaporean craves for when they are oversea for work purpose or studies. Like myself when I was away from Singapore, I always stock up more than a dozen pack with me during my visit home so that I can easily whipped up this all time favourite during special occasions or as when we feel like having some home cook dishes.

Inside my recent gift pack from Seah’s Spices (click HERE to read more), I have found a pack of the Singapore Chicken Curry Spices that I have not tried before. And since mum is craving for some Chicken Curry, we decided to give this new spice a try.

We bought some chicken wings, potato, tomato, onion and coconut cream to cook this dish. But as you notice from the photo above, there is a pack of coconut powder that comes with the curry spices which makes it easier for those who is overseas where coconut cream/milk is not easily found. But in Singapore we do prefer to add in either fresh or ready packed coconut milk/cream to enhance the flavour of the curry.

The method used here is slight different from the method shown on the package as mum preferred to stir-fry the ingredients a while to release the aroma of the onion and spices before adding water. So here goes our modify version of the Chicken Curry:-

Ingredients: (serves 4)
1 Packet of Seah’s Singapore Chicken Curry Spices
8 Chicken Wings
3 Medium Size Potato, cut into chunks
3 Medium Size Tomato, cut into wedges
2 Medium Onion, cut into wedges
800ml Boiling Water
100ml Coconut Cream

Method:
1.Wash and trim the fat off from the chicken wings and set aside.
2. Preheat a soup pot with 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil, add in the onion and sauté till fragrant (about 30 seconds) then add in the chicken pieces and potato then continue to stir on and off for another 30 seconds or so.
3. Next slowly add in the curry spices and stir the mixture till well combined.
4. Add in 800ml or more boiling water to cover the chicken pieces when the curry comes to boil, add in the tomato wedges and slowly simmer over low heat for about 15 – 20 minutes till the potato soften and meat is cooked through.
5. Lastly, slowly stir in the coconut cream and turn off the heat when the mixture comes to boil.
6. You can served warm with steam rice or baguette.

Note:
~ If you prefer something more spicy or that nice red chilli oil colour on your curry, you can add in 1 teaspoon of Sambal Blachan together with the spices to make it extra spicy.


Although some of the pre-mix spices cannot whipped out the authentic flavour compare to those freshly grind spices but I am sure with all these ready made spices it actually helps to shorten cooking time for working mum like me or overseas friends who missed having those wonderful local dishes.

So if you wish to try out some of these spices, do come and join us on the Giveaway event HERE whereby you can win some Seah’s spices of your choice.

Steam Chicken Fillet With Huai Shan

Are you interested to try something simple, light and healthy but at the same time with those kind restaurant serving presentation to impress your family this weekend. If your answer is "Yes" then why not, try out this quick and simple one dish meal with Fresh Huai Shan, Chicken Fillet and Mushroom to conquer their taste buds.

For most of the frequent readers here, you will know that I love to use "Fresh Huai Shan" in my cooking especially - soup. Huai Shan benefits the spleen and stomach as well as strengthens the body.

There are a few types of Huai Shan various from Fresh to Dried type. In most supermarkets or wet market, you will find two type of fresh huai shan from either China or Japan. Japan Huai Shan will be much more expensive ranging from S$8.00 - S$10.00 per kilogram. Some people might find it difficult to handle fresh huai shan as it's kind of slippy and the gluey starch might make your hand itchy. Perhaps you can wear a disposal gloves or plastic bag before handling it.

This is a very nutritious and healthy watching dish that use fresh huai shan from Japan, lean chicken fillet and dried mushroom. The fresh huai shan slices and dried mushroom are pre-steam using chicken stock in order for them to absorb the flavour from the stock.

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
200g Chicken Fillet
100g Fresh Huai Shan(鲜淮山)
5 Small Dried Mushrooms
5g Wolfberries
80 - 100ml Chicken Stock

Marinade:
1 Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Ginger Juice
1/2 Teaspoon Cornflour
Dash of Sesame Oil

Method:
1. Remove the stalks from the dried mushrooms then soak them in hot water till soften.
2. Peel of the outer skin of the fresh huai shan, rinse then cut it into 0.5cm thick circle slices.
3. Place the fresh huai shan, soaked mushrooms and chicken stock in a deep plate, steam them for about 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, rinse and slice chicken fillet into strips then mix it with marinade.
5. When the huai shan mixture is done, lower the heat, slowly arrange the marinated chicken fillet on top of the huai shan with the wolfberries on top.
6. Steam the mixture for about 8 minutes or till done on medium high heat.
7. Serve hot on the plate itself or re-arrange it on individual serving plates.

After steaming, the fresh huai shan taste wonderfully soft and full of flavour due to the chicken stock, mushroom and fillet. This dish goes very well with either steam rice or porridge especially it's gravy which is so tasty and sweet.

Preserved Sausage & Chicken Claypot Rice

Preparing "One Pot" dish is always the best and most convenient cooking method for working mum like me. Sometime when I am running out of ideas on what to cook or too lazy to do all the preparation/washing for cooking I will start thinking of my favourite one pot dish which is "Preserved Sausage & Chicken Claypot Rice".

This dish is preferred to be cooked in a claypot rather than rice-cooker or etc. Only with the claypot it will brings out the flavour and burning effect of the rice at the bottom of the pot which add on that special aroma to this dish.

Since now it is still within the Chinese New Year period (usually it last for 15 days), you can find all kinds of waxed meat/preserved sausages around some supermarket or those dried grocery stalls in the wet market. Out from the few range of "Preserved Sausage - 腊肠", I was attracted to this "XO Charcoal Sausage" which I wonder whether the sausage will have any "XO" liquor taste in it.

Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
1 1/2 Cup Uncooked Rice
3 Cup Water
3 Boneless Chicken Drumsticks with Thighs
1 Pair of Preserved Sausage
Some Shredded Ginger
A Few Section of Spring Onion

Marinade For Chicken:
1 Teaspoon of Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon of Corn Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Cooking Wine
1/2 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
Dash of Pepper

For Garnish:
Spring Onion, cut diagonal rings
Chilli, cut into rings

Method:
1. Rinse the uncooked rice a few times and soak it with 3 cups of water (usually the amount of water is twice the amount of uncooked rice) in the claypot for about an hour or so.
2. Washed, trim away the fats and skin of the chicken, cut into bite-size pieces and marinate it with the above marinade for at least 20 minutes.
3. Cut off a little slice from the top of the preserved sausage, peel off the outer layer of the skin (we always removed the outer layer of the plastic skin before eating), cut the sausage into 0.5cm thin slices and set aside.
4. Preheat a small saucepan and saute the shredded ginger and spring onion with 1 teaspoon of oil till fragrance, add in the marinated chicken pieces and fry for about 30 second on each side or till it turn slightly brown in colour.
5. Removed and set aside for later use.
6. Cook the rice over medium heat, when the water begins to boil, lower the heat and let it cooked till the water level is almost the same as the rice, arrange the sausage on top of the rice with the half cooked chicken in the center. (you have to work fast so that the water will not dry out before you finished add the ingredients)
7. Cover the lid of the claypot and simmer the rice and meat over very low heat for about 5 - 7 minutes till the meat is cooked through.
8. When done, garnish it with extra spring onion, cut chilli and drizzle of dark soy sauce and served hot.

Note:-
~ The reason that I pan-fry the chicken pieces is to shorten the cooking time and at the same time enhance the flavour of the chicken.

For those who love one pot dish, I am sure this will be a quick and easy dish for you. And instead of having this all-time flavour at those stalls outside, why not try to grab some fresh ingredients and prepare this dish for you and your family instead.