KFC - 2 Pieces Meal Set

I am sure you are familiar with this........Yes Yes!!! This is the "KFC - Kentucky Fried Chicken" which most of us love to have it either regularly or once in a while. I remember vividly that my 1st encounter with KCF was during my Primary School days which is almost twenties over year. During that time fast food restaurants were not as common as these days and we don't really get a chance to visit it unless during special occasions.

For me, I have a habit to test out different fast food outlets whenever I am overseas. Because I find each country will somehow or rather served some unique items which represent as their signature dish. So far whenever I visit KFC, I will always ordered their 2 Pieces Set Meal which I can enjoy my favourite side dishes and chicken and at the same time catch up with some of my childhood memories where my dad will give us a treat if I do well in my exam.

I have always fancy their "Coleslaw" which is fresh and yummy and it really goes well with those deep-fried chicken.

Look at their Whipped Potato which is so smooth and creamy. I love to dipped my fries in it and eat together which will give it extra flavour.

If I would have to choose between Original or Hot & Spicy, my choice was always on "Hot & Spicy". I love the crispy outer skin which is marinated with spicy herbs and fried till perfection.

Pineapple & Bitter Gourd Chicken Soup

I get the idea of cooking this soup from my recent Taiwan Trip which we have a similar soup during one of our lunch meal. From the soup ingredients that they served, I replicate a similar soup, which taste just as closed as what we had. I was delighted with the end result even though initially I was still worrying about the outcome due to the different type of Bitter Gourd that we have in Singapore.

During my trip at Taiwan, what we mostly saw is this White Bitter Gourd which is available at their supermarket or vegetable stall. It is kind of different from the Green Bitter Gourd that we have over here. This White Bitter Gourd is cultivates by Taiwan agriculture and is known as “白玉苦瓜” which is a very common vegetable used in most household or restaurants. It is very popular among the Taiwanese because of its colour and it does not have any bitter taste at all too. It is normally used to cook this soup dish known as “Pineapple & Bitter Gourd Chicken Soup -凤梨苦瓜鸡” which is what I am going to share today.

Since we cannot find any "White Bitter Gourd - 白玉苦瓜" in Singapore(if anyone of you know where we can get this in Singapore, please share with me) we have to focus on another key ingredient which is the "Pineapple - 凤梨". Try to get the good grade pineapple which is golden in colour and most important it must be sweet and fragrant so that your soup will be burst with that light and refreshing taste. And according to the fruit seller, what I got over here is known as the "Honey Pineapple" from Thailand which cost S$2.00 for half of the portion.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
4 Chicken Drumsticks
1 Medium Size Bitter Gourd, 500g
1/2 Thai Honey Pineapple, cut into big chunks
1 Medium Carrot, cut into chunks
8 - 10 Red Dates(红枣)
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries(枸杞)
1.5 Litres of Water
1/2 Chicken Stock Cube, optional

Method:
1. Trim the fat and remove the skin from the drumsticks, rinse and set aside.
2. Bring a pot of water to boil, blanched the drumsticks for about 5 minutes in boiling water, removed and rinse again.
3. Add 1.5 Litres of water to the soup pot and bring it to boil.
3. While waiting for the water to boil, cut the bitter gourd length-wise into half, scraped off all the seeds and white pits in it then cut into 1"/1.5" thick slices.
4. Place the bitter gourd slices in a big mixing bowl or so, add in 1 teaspoon of salt briefly rub it/massage together with the bitter gourd slices for a few seconds. (this is helps to reduce the bitterness of the bitter gourd)
5. Next, rinse it well and drop it into the boiling water together with all the above ingredients except the wolfberries.
6. When the soup mixture comes to boil again, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer it for about 30 - 40 minutes.
7. Add in the wolfberries in the last 5 minutes and you can season the soup with some salt or chicken stock cube to taste if you prefer.


If you are curious with the taste of this soup, I can guarantee you that it is not bitter at all. And when cooking this soup, you will be delighted with the fragrance that is being release from the pineapple as it smell so wonderful. But a point to note:- as this is a very cooling soup due to the combination of bitter gourd and pineapple, for those who is weak, just recover from sickness or after menses perhaps you should avoid taking this soup or if you want just take it in small amount. If you do try out this soup, please leave me your feedback and share with me your opinion :)

Foodfare @ Ang Mo Kio Hub

There are about 6 NTUC Foodfare outlets located at different parts of Singapore such as at Simei MRT, Rivervale Mall, Admiralty MRT and etc. Today the outlet that we went to is located at the 3rd level of Ang Mo Kio Hub. You can find a large varieties of food like Chicken Rice, Korea/Japanese Food, Fish Soup, Wanton Noodles, Dim Sum and a lot more. I am sure you can find something that you like over there.

While roaming around to look for our brunch today, I decided to get a plate of this Chai Tow Kway which is also known as "Fried Carrot Cake - 菜头粿". In Singapore, there is two version of fried carrot cake which is either "Black" or "White". The Black version is usually rice cake fried with garlic, eggs and thick sweet soy sauce. While the White version which shown on the photo above does not use any sweet soy sauce and the carrot cake is fried on top of the beaten egg to form a nice golden crust. Sometime they are served with some extra chilli and spring onion accordingly to individual preference.

Stall No. 06
Thye Hong @ #03-12


While waiting for the Fried Carrot Cake, I was attracted to the Congee stall next to it. Other than selling different varieties of Claypot Congee, this stall also have a few Hot Plate with rice dishes. Since it is brunch, I decided to try their "Hong Kong Style Porridge" which cost, S$4.90 per claypot.

There are a lot of ingredients in it such as fish slices, peanut, ikan bilis, scallop, cuttlefish and fried fritter - 油条. This porridge texture and taste of this porridge is kind of different from the normal Cantonese porridge which those creamy texture. As you can see from the photo, you still can see grain of rice in the porridge and it's very fragrant and tasty due to the added ingredients.

Stall No. 07
Congee/Hot Plate @ #03-12


Due to the hot weather recently, most of the drink stalls are always packed with long queue of people. Even the drinks stall at this Foodfare is also packed with crowds getting their drinks, desserts or toasts. While getting our drinks, I spotted mum's favourite Soupsop dessert which I think she would love to have it for after meal dessert. But I was kind of disappointed that those shaved ice is actually more than the soursop topping which make this dessert kind of expensive for the price of S$2.00.