Airfried Roasted chickpeas

I have never been a fan of legumes but have recently met a vegan colleague. I asked her what to do with chickpeas and blackbeans, as I didn't relish eating hummus (made from chickpeas) perpetually. She told me to roast them. 

I came across this airfry recipe and was hooked. Straight out of the oven, they reminded me of kachang putih! Unfortunately once I put them in a salad, they deflated. Still tasted nutty but the crispiness was gone. I don't think there's any way to over come that. However this recipe gave me a instant memory of my childhood and compared to other recipes, it's super easy too.

Love and lemons: https://www.loveandlemons.com/roasted-chickpeas/

My method is slightly adapted based on what I read in other recipes.

1. Drain a can of chickpeas well. Spread it out in a single layer (e.g. on a baking sheet). Allow to air dry for about an hour, turning if possible (but be careful as chickpeas can disintegrate).

2. Pat dry with kitchen towel. Toss through 1 tbsp of olive oil and salt. Add in any other desired dry power (e.g. spices or herbs).

3. Air fry in a single layer for 18 minutes.

4. These are GREAT straight out of the oven. If putting a salad, add them last (although it didn't make a difference to me once I tossed the salad).

Cantonese char siu belly pork

I chose this recipe from Rasa Malaysia because it uses belly pork and more importantly, nam yu and rose wine which I had bought specially for the recipe. Most other char siu recipes either use hoi sin sauce - which I can accept - but the most egregious are those that just use store bought ready made char siu sauce (usually Lee Kum Kee!) I really reduced the amount of sugar she used from 8 tbsp to 8 tsp because there were already so many sweet ingredients inside!

Ingredients
500g pork belly, skinless (I left the skin on)
4 garlic cloves, skinned and minced
2 pieces of nam yu
1 tbsp maltose or honey
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp thick dark soya sauce (I used cooking caramel)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp 5-spice powder
¼ tsp ground white pepper
8 tsp sugar

Method
1. In a disposal bag, mix the marinade and let the pork belly sit to marinate for 4 hours or best, overnight.
2. Next day, drain and reserve the marinade. Pat dry the pork belly with kitchen towels.
3. Place the pork belly on a wire mesh (skin down down) over a baking tray and roast for 15 minutes.
4. Brush the marinade over the meat and flip over to the skin side to roast for another 15 minutes. Check that the meat is done, if not, continue roasting until cooked.
5. Either crank up the oven and char grill until slightly charred or toss it on the barbecue skin down down to grill for some char.
6. Strain the sauce of garlic bits and microwave or cook in a small pot and reduce till thickened. Serve the sauce on the rice with the char siu on the side.

Five spiced orange pork chops with sweet potato

Suddenly inspired to come up with this recipe based on the sheer number of fortnight old oranges we have lying in the fridge!

Ingredients

500g pork chops or pork rashers

1 tbsp ginger, minced

1 tbsp five spice powder

1 tbsp garlic, minced

1 white onion, chopped

2 oranges, zest and juice

1 tsp rock salt or more to taste

Cracked black pepper to taste

3 sweet potatoes

Method

1) Marinade pork in all the ingredients except the sweet potatoes and oranges for at least half an hour, best overnight.

2) Peel and cube the sweet potato.

3) In a roasting dish, assemble as follows: 

Place sweet potatoes cubes at the bottom. On top, place the pork. Drizzle over the zest and juice of the oranges, I even stuff the used orange peels in between the sweet potatoes to provide fragrance as their oils are released in the heat.

4) Roast at 220 deg C for 15 mins if the pork has skin to form crackling before turning down to 150 deg C to slow cook for another 35 to 45 minutes or till cooked. If the pork has no skin, start at 200 deg C for 10 mins then turn down to 150 deg C for another 45 to 60 mins or till cooked.

5) Serve on a bed of cous cous.

Chinese roasted five spice chicken

I finally tried the Chinese roast chicken recipe from here. Based on the recipe by Rasa Malaysia, I finally found the Chinese roast chicken of my childhood. I always thought it had to do with a certain rub that my maids used to use, but I found that this recipe recreates the taste equally faithfully. The only problem lies with my technique, which differs from Rasa Malaysia because I'm impatient and don't have the time to let the chicken skin dry. I also compensated by mopping up excess moisture with paper towels and using a higher temperature, but it doesn't seem to have worked. But I guess there are no shortcuts to success, and next time I'll try to follow it more faithfully. The following is my recipe, not hers but is certainly based on hers.

Chinese roast chicken, served with over roasted vegetables

Ingredients
Marinade
1 kg drumsticks, cleaned
2 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp Chinese wine
1 tsp five spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp crushed ginger
1 1/2 tbsp honey
1 tsp sesame oil

Coating
1 tbsp white rice vinegar
1/2 tsp honey
1 tbsp rice wine

Method
1) Marinate the chicken thighs in the marinade, preferably overnight.
2) Scald the chicken thighs with boiling water. This washes the marinade off the skin. Drain and blot dry wtih paper towels. (next time, I'll also let it air dry for about an hour in the fridge, uncovered).
3) Coat the skin the the marinade. Leave it to dry for about 3 hours. (I only did 1/2 hour! Next time I'll leave it for the required 3 hours, in the fridge)
4) Roast at 220 deg C for 20 minutes, turning halfway. Turn down the temperature to 180 deg C and roast for another 25 minutes, or 200 deg C for another 20 minutes if you're impatient. Naturally, the longer and the lower the temperature, the more succulent your chicken will be.
5) Rest the chicken for about 10 to 15 minutes, covered under an aluminium foil before serving.

Updated: i tried the full recipe, with skin airing for half then the 3 hours and using the same 220 then 200 deg C roasting ... The skin was crispy but still not for long, and the meat was a bit too dry.

CNY Chicken recipes

Two CNY recipes by one of my favourite food bloggers, Rasa Malaysia. Recipes that I've always wanted to know how to do but could never find the right recipes, simply because I didn't know the correct name for them! Eg the roast chicken you find on ang mo sites are quite different from the roast chicken we get in Chinese restaurants.

Soya sauce chicken: http://rasamalaysia.com/chinese-soy-sauce-chicken-recipe/2/
Roast chicken: http://rasamalaysia.com/chinese-roast-chicken/2/

Perfect roast potatoes

I never thought I'd get it but it really does work!

Recipe from here: http://www.onepotchefshow.com/

The difference really is in using the right potatoes. I used Deserrie, which are prefect for roast and baked potatoes because it is very floury.

The tips from the video really help to. Here's what I did.

1) Chop the potato into equal sized chunks. I did mine like a 1 to 1.5 inches cube so that it would only take 20 to 25 minutes to cook. That's about slicing the potato (hand sized) into about 3 lengthwise. Pat down to dry with kitchen towels.

2) Important : use a fork to score them all over. This increases the crisp factor.

3) Salt generously, or about 1 tbsp of salt for 2 potatoes. Sounds like a lot, but salt is important to the crispy element. Add about 1 tbsp of oil (avoid olive oil which has a low smoking point). Lard or duck fat is best if you have it. Add herbs (I used rosemary and sage). Toss together well.

4) Arrange on a cookie sheet (preferably a pan which doesn't have high edges which will keep the moisture in. Try to keep them separate to ensure good airflow and crisping on all sides, so that the potato chunks don't stew together. This next step is very important: dot with butter.

5) Put cookie sheet into a hot 220 deg C oven. Bake for about 25 minutes, checking at 20 mins. Turn the potato chunks at 15 mins. For some reason, I put it on foil but the potatoes still stuck to the foil despite all the oil! I used a spatula to loosen them.

6) Serve IMMEDIATELY because it does get soft really fast!

Roast beef dinner

Ingredients

700g of beef (not too sure what this cut is called, but the packaging said that it came with its own roasting tray, so I assume its roast-suitable!)

2 tsp of sage

2 tsp rosemary

2 tbsp soya sauce

For the sauce,

1 glass red wine

1 red onion, chopped

2 dollops of butter

1 tsp English mustard

Method

1) Marinate the beef. 

2) Preheat oven to 250 deg C. Drain the marinate and pat dry the roasting joint with some kitchen towels. Pop it onto the tray and into the oven once it has reached the desired temperature. Roast for 10 minutes using convection+grill function.

3) After 10 minutes, turn down the heat to 200 deg C and turn off the grill function. Roast for another 30 minutes.

4) Once ready, take it out of the oven and cover with foil to keep warm. Let it rest for a total of 30 to 40 minutes.

5) Prepare the sauce. Saute the onions in butter until caramelised. 

6) Pour in the wine and reduce till syrupy consistency. Pour in any resting juices from the beef joint, and the tsp of mustard. Adjust seasoning of the sauce, with salt and pepper if required. Finish off the sauce with another dollop of butter for a shiny finish.

7) Carve the beef and drizzle over the sauce to serve.

Best Roast Potatoes

Taken from Jamie's Family Christmas ep 3 on Channel 4

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1.5kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil
• 1 bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
• Red wine vinegar

Flavour combo 1:

• A good couple of lugs of olive oil
• A bunch of fresh rosemary, leaves picked

Flavour combo 2:

• 50g butter, cut into little cubes
• A bunch of fresh sage, roughly torn
• 1 clementine

Flavour combo 3:

• 2 tablespoons goose fat
• A bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• A couple of fresh bay leaves

Method: How to make perfect roast potatoes

1. Preheat your oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5. Peel your potatoes with a knife or speed peeler and cut any larger ones so they’re all an even-size - twice the size of a squash ball is about right. Wash your potatoes in cold water to get rid of any extra starch then tip into a large pot, cover with cold water and season well. Bring to the boil and cook for about 6 to 7 minutes, so that they’re parboiled, then drain in a colander and leave to steam dry for 3 minutes. Give the colander a bit of a shake to help chuff up the potatoes – this will help to make them super crisp later on.

2. At this point, you need to decide which flavour combo to go with. Tip your potatoes into a tray or pan in one layer, and add your fat – olive oil, butter or goose fat – then season really well with salt and pepper. At this stage, I’m not going to add any more flavour. Toss your potatoes in the fat, or use a spoon or fish slice to mix it all up. You could get the potatoes up to this stage the day before, simply cover them with cling film or tin foil and pop in the bottom of your fridge or in a cool place until you need them. Put your potatoes in the hot oven to cook for 30 minutes until lightly golden and three quarters cooked.

3. Now’s the time for my new trick. Gently squash each potato with a potato masher to increase the surface area – the more of your potato that’s in contact with the pan, the crispier it will be. Whichever fat you’re using, you now want to prepare the rest of the flavourings. Add a good lug of olive oil to a small bowl and add the herbs, garlic and a splash of red wine vinegar, then scrunch and mix it up a bit. If you’re using butter, peel in a good few strips of clementine zest with a speed peeler – you won’t eat these but they’ll add amazing flavour. Add the flavour to your potatoes and give the pan a good shake, then pop back in the hot oven for 40 to 45 minutes until perfect for your liking. You’re looking for gnarly, crispy, bubbly and delicious.

4. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain off some of the excess fat, then tuck in! I’d be happy with any of these flavour combos, but this year I’ll be going for butter, but maybe with the rosemary and garlic. So you really can mix it up however you like.

Roast chicken with a tomato based pasta

Its been quite some time since I've had to cook, with the heat and all. Thankfully the weather has turned cooler so this is the most complicated (yes, it's kinda sad - this is considered complicated) dish that I've done in a long long time. Been inspired by all my pseudo cooking in Cafe World and I must say it has inspired me.

Ingredients
1 cup pasta (I used shells because they can retain the sauce better)

tomato sauce
1 tin canned stewed tomato - I have been told to use whole tomatoes and break them up, its tastier than pre-chopped ones
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp parsley

roast chicken
10 chicken wings (mid portion, not drumlet)
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp worchester sauce
1 tbsp rosemary
1 tsp dill
1 tbsp thyme
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Method
1) Marinade the chicken, preferably overnight. Preheat the oven to 220 deg C.
2) In a pot, lightly saute the garlic, be careful not to burn it. Pour in the tinned tomato, herbs and spices
3) Prepare the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
4) Roast the chicken at 220 deg C for 5 minutes, turning down to 200 deg C for another 13 to 15 minutes or until cooked.
5) Assemble by plating up the pasta, then pouring on the sauce and finally topping off with roast chicken. If there are any drippings from the roast chicken, you can pour it on top.

Nigella Feasts: Garlic Roast Potatoes

3 pounds maincrop potatoes
1/3 cup regular olive oil
1 head garlic
Kosher salt
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Wash and dry the potatoes, but don't bother to peel them, and cut them into about 3/4-inch dice. Toss in a large oven tray and pour over the oil, smulching around with your hands to mix well. Separate the head of garlic into cloves adding them to the tray, and roast for about 1 hour, turning once or twice during that time, until crispy and golden but still soft on the inside. When they're done, remove to a large plate and sprinkle with salt.

Nigella Express: Buttermilk Roast Chicken

12 chicken drumsticks (approximately 3 pounds total weight)
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, bruised and skins removed
1 tablespoon crushed peppercorns
1 tablespoon Maldon salt, sea salt or 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon maple syrup
Place the chicken drumsticks in a large freezer bag, and add the buttermilk and 1/4 cup of oil.
Add the bruised garlic cloves to the bag with the crushed peppercorns and salt.
Sprinkle in the ground cumin and finally add the maple syrup, and then squish everything in the freezer bag around to mix the marinade and coat the chicken.
Leave the buttermilk marinated chicken in the fridge ideally overnight or out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Take the chicken pieces out of the bag shaking off the excess marinade, and then arrange them in a roasting tin lined with foil.
Drizzle over the 2 remaining tablespoons of oil, and then roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until brown, even scorched in parts, and juicily cooked through.

Roast chicken

I'm suddenly very into roast chicken, but can't figure out the 'trick' behind them. I used to think 200 deg C for 20 mins has been a rather fullproof cooking temp for most things, even for chicken, but somehow it hasn't been working so well recently.

Came across 2 recipes,

Sage & Onion Roast Chicken and Buttermilk Roast Chickenand although recipes call for 220 deg C, and the portion sizes are more or less similar (1 whole chicken or 10 pieces) yet the timing varies greatly. In fact, the 1st recipe is for 10 pieces and takes 1.25 hours, but the 2nd recipe is for 12 pieces yet takes only 1/2 hour.

Well hopefully with more experimentation, I'll get the hang of things. I'm always on the look out for fast and rapid roast chicken recipes cos hey, who's really got the time to sit and wait for a chicken to roast, eh?

Still more Jaime (3) - Flour and water crust chicken

This is a popular idea in Singapore now but I won't attribute it to Jaime. We have the 'curry in a bread' idea here which is basically the same idea - bake a curry in a bread and presto, u get both! Jaime thought up this recipe as a easy-no fuss and no mess way to transport your chicken and bread to a picnic!

Taken from Jaime Oliver's forum but the recipe comes from "Happy Days with the Naked Chef"

Ingredients (Serves 4)
(Jaime's comments) This is a great dish to serve up to friends - they'll wonder if you've gone a bit mad when you produce what looks like a huge lump of pastry and put it in the middle of the table! It's a great way to cook chicken - the meat steams inside the pastry crust and becomes incredibly tender. I've used nice small spring chickens, or poussins, in this recipe but it's just as easy to use one 2kg/4.5lb bird and roast it for 2 hours instead. ps. you don't eat the pastry! (altho u can eat the crusty bits with the juices from the chicken)
905gr/2lb plain flour
2 fat lemons
2 handfuls of fresh sage leaves, picked
1 handful of fresh thyme leaves, picked
picked 8 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 spring chickens

Method
1) Put your flour into a large bowl, and mix in around 500ml/18fl oz of water, bit by bit, until you have a dough that is pliable and elastic and not too sticky. Cover and put to one side while you prepare the chickens.
2) Using a peeler, remove the peel from 1 of the lemons and bash up with the sage, thyme and garlic, in a pestle and mortar, or use a metal bowl and a rolling pin. Add your olive oil and plenty of seasoning. This flavourful marinade is great with just about all kinds of meat.
3) Roll up your sleeves and rub the marinade all over the chickens as well as inside the cavity.
4) Slice the remaining lemon and stick a slice or two inside the cavity of each chicken.

In the show, Jaime puts the lemon in a pot of boiling water for about 10 mins while he seasons the bird. He then scores it with a knife and sticks it into the cavity of the chicken (this is 1 big chicken instead of 4 spring chickens). According to him, the lemon will 'explode' and ooze flavour everywhere.

5) Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas7.
6) Get your dough mix, divide it into 4 pieces, and roll each one out to about 0.5cm/1/4inch thick.
7) Now mould a piece of dough around each of the chickens so that you have 4 airtight parcels. Leave for 5 minutes, then bake in the preheated oven for an hour. The crust will harden during cooking, steaming and protecting the chicken while keeping all the lovely juices inside which will give you a fantastic homemade gravy.
8) Let the chickens rest for 15 minutes after baking, then bring them to the table and for a bit of drama, crack open each crust in front of your guests. You'll unleash a wicked aroma, steam, the lot, so waft it around a bit. Very impressive stuff. Serve simply with some potatoes and greens.