Curry Chicken

So my sister brought me curry powder when she visited me about 3 weeks ago, but prior to this I had never used curry powder, neither did I know how to use it. Called home to ask, but no one could give me clear directions so I decided to try it my way anyway. Also, I did not have lemongrass, nor candlenuts, nor shallots so I was really skeptical about how this was going to turn out.

I remember thinking to myself in the kitchen that if this turned out good, its gonna be sheer luck and a lot of good guessing. Thankfully, it did! As usual, I used my 5-in-1 magic pot and that made the cooking and cleaning time so much shorter.

Ingredients: please note that ingredients are an estimate
- 600g of boneless chicken thighs (you can use other parts as well and with bones but as my husband is lazy with bone picking, this is his favourite option)
-1 tomato, cut in quarters
- half a clove of garlic and about a finger size of ginger, blended into a paste
- a handful of toasted pecan nuts, powdered (according to recipes online, cashew nuts were required but I did not have those so pecans were a substitute for me, they worked fine all the same)
- 1 medium sized brown onion thinly sliced (most asian recipes call for shallots, but this worked fine anyhow)
- a small packet of spices, 5g containing of star anise, cinnamon bark and fennel seeds
- 80g of curry powder (add another 5-10g if you prefer a spicier curry)
- 250g of coconut milk
- 5 potatoes cut into slices
- 4 hard boiled eggs, shelled
- 4-5 heaped table spoons of full cream milk, dissolved in 1.5 cup water
- salt and sugar to taste
- 2 carrots (if you prefer to have them in your curry, i usually don't but have found that there is no harm adding anyway)

Directions:
Using the brown function of my 5-in-1 cooker, I fried the spices in about 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil until fragrant. Alternatively, do this in a wok. Then add onions until brown and add the blended paste of garlic and ginger, by now, your kitchen should smell quite wonderful. Add in the tomatoes, potatoes and chicken and cover with 900ml of water and leave to simmer until chicken pieces are cooked. For me, I just put on high pressure cooking function for 6 minutes in the same pot.

Then add the curry powder, the powdered nut, both the coconut milk and full cream milk and stir to combine evenly. If you prefer to have carrots in your curry add it in at this stage too. Simmer again for around 5 minutes until potato is soft. (For me, I just turned the 5-in-1 cooker on low pressure mode and cooked for another 6 minutes). Then add sugar and salt to taste and finally add in the boiled eggs. Serve with rice or toasted french bread. Enjoy!

Baked eggs with roasted chicken

Decided to make a trip to safeway after visiting friends last night and got a half priced roasted chicken. While lazing in bed this morning, I thought of having baked eggs but realized I didn't have chorizos nor spinach. However, I did have some choy sum( please refer http://blogs.smh.com.au/lifestyle/chewonthis/archives/2008/03/post_6.html if you don't know what it is) and roasted chicken.

Then I started googling, "baked eggs with roasted chicken recipe" but there were none! So I decided to make it up. First, I partially cooked a handful of leaves of choy sum in the microwave after washing them then I drizzled them with a little of my garlic infused olive oil and also scooped up some garlic bits just so that they would give more flavour. Next, I peeled some chicken and laid them on the vegetable as and crumbled some of the filling from the chicken among the shreds of chicken as well. The filling seems to consist of breadcrumbs soaked in chicken oil with herbs but after they were baked they were flavourful all the same. Then, I took a slice of cheese from the fridge and tore them into pieces before cracking 3 large eggs over them. Finish with a dash of salt and freshly ground pepper, then bake in a 180 degrees preheated oven till the egg while has set and the cheese starts browning.

I served with garlic bread and hot matcha latte and coffee. The husband said "no need to go out for brunch anymore!"

Chicken pot pie

One of the ultimate comfort foods during winter is this, the humble chicken pie. The best part is, its so easy to make! You could bake them in individual ramkins like those shown above (if you're based down under, you could get ramkins cheap from the dfo at 1.25 each), or bake it as a huge pie that a couple could dig into.

The original recipe was taken from here: http://www.mycookinghut.com/2011/11/21/chicken-pot-pie/ and yes, I know she has way prettier pictures than me, but its just me and my galaxy camera with limited ingredients, cooking space and utensils, but my point is: its easy enough for any amateur.

Ingredients:

- 300g skinless chicken breast, cut into cubes

- 1.5 cup mixed frozen vegetables (I used corn, carrot and peas)

- 1 cup cream

- 3 stalks tarragon, chopped

- 1 brown onion, chopped

- 2 potatoes, chopped (optional, if you would like a fuller meal)

- 1 medium sized carrot, cut into cubes

- Pepper and salt to taste

- 1 tbps butter

- 1 egg, beaten

- Frozen puff pastry sheets

Directions:

Melt butter, and saute onions together with carrots, this is to give your carrots time to get soft. If like me you have a stock of home-made garlic infused olive oil sitting around, it definitely wouldn't hurt to add a splash of it during cooking. While the onions are browning, marinate the chicken pieces with salt, pepper, soy and a some corn flour (this is optional but doing so will actually give you a chance to "velvet" the chicken pieces when cooking. Alternatively, you may just use them as-is)

When the onions are brown, toss the chicken pieces in with the mixed vegetables (and potatoes if you've decided to have some) and add the cream. As the cream is bubbling, add the chopped tarragon, mix and adjust taste with salt and pepper. Fill your pyrex bowl or any oven safe vessel with your mixture and then top it off with the pastry. Seal the sides of your pastry with a fork by pressing it around the perimeter, this will leave pretty fork marks. Egg wash the pastry with a pastry brush, or if you don't own one like me, use your fingers. It will be baked so just make sure your finger is clean (: Bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius until the pastry is brown and its read to eat!

I always have a problem of left over egg so you could do one of the following: add it to any other dish you are cooking, make another batch of pot pie the next day and use it up, pour some into your pie filling while its still cooking, or just add fresh milk, salt and pepper and stick it in the microwave for a mini serving of scrambled eggs.