Dakjjim Braised oyster sauce chicken

Original recipe is http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/dakjjim but mine is more Chinese-fied, ie less sweet. The only thing more Korean is the addition of the sweet potato starch noodles which was a good choice. I love these noodles over tang hoon which tends to break down.

Ingredients
1.2kg chicken parts
2 medium potatoes, cubed
2 medium carrots, cubed
½ onion
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
Sprinkle of sesame seeds
Dash of white pepper
150g sweet potato starch noodles
10 cups water

Method

1) In a little sesame seed oil, brown the chicken parts, then add onions, carrots and potatoes.

2) Add the sauces, pepper and water. The water should be enough to cover the chicken so use more or less as required. Bring to a boil and skim off the scum and oil. Turn down the heat to a simmer (I used a slow cooker)

3) Soak the noodles in hot water fresh off the boil for about 10 minutes till softened.

4) Add the noodles about 10 minutes from the end.

5) Splash on sesame oil and sprinkle on sesame seeds.

Braised spare ribs

I have been cooking this recipe for a year now, and only recently changed to spare ribs. I thought the flavour improved because of the bone, but this time there was no bone yet delicious because I changed a few ingredients. What a difference just putting sweet sauce instead of sugar, and adding fennel seeds and an otoshibuta make! I didn't even marinade the pork!

Updated from here: http://simmetra.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/on-my-second-attempt-success-i-adapted.html

Ingredients
1kg of belly pork
5 tbsp light soya sauce
10 tbsp dark soya sauce
3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp ginger crushed
1 tbsp garlic crushed
1 tbsp 5 spice powder
5 cloves
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick (i cheated using 1 tbsp cinnamon powder since I didn't have the stick version)

1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp sichuan peppercorns

1 fresh chilli (not for spiciness but for flavour, so I left it whole, not chopped)
3 tbsp sweet sauce (kechup manis)
1 tau kwa, cubed
1 packet tau pok
6 eggs

Water

Method

1) Put the spices in a stock bag. Set aside.

2) To a deep stock pot, add all the sauces, pork, condiments and spices.

3) Pour in enough water to submerge the meat. Bring to a boil and skim away fat and scum. Turn down to a simmer for 10 to 20 minutes till cooked. I find 10 minutes is enough, shorter than belly pork. Cover with otoshibuta.

4) In another pot, hard boil the eggs as preferred. Once cooked, plunge in cold water and peel. Set aside.

5) Lift the otoshibuta and add the eggs and tau kwa. Bring back to a boil and cover with otoshibuta. Turn off the flame. Cover and steep for at least 2 hours but the longer the better.

6) 10 minutes before serving, lift the ototshibuta and introduce the tau pok, then recover with otoshibuta. Don't steep this for too long or it gets too salty.

7) Serve with steamed rice, Jasmine preferred.

Braised soya sauce chicken

I used the same recipe that I used for belly pork but used chicken drumsticks instead.

Ingredients
1.2kg of chicken drumsticks (about 10)
7 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp 5 spice powder
5 cloves
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick (i cheated using 1 tbsp cinnamon powder since I didn't have the stick version)
3 tbsp sugar
1 tau kwa, cubed
1 packet tau pok
6 eggs

Method
1) Marinade pork, preferably overnight, in 2 tbsp each of light soya, dark soya, 1 tbsp sugar and rice wine.
2) Transfer to a pot and put in another 5 tbsp light soya, 10 tbsp dark soya, 2 tbsp sugar, then all the other ingredients. Additional rice wine is optional. Add water, enough to submerge.
3) Bring to a boil then simmer and skim off the fat and impurities. Simmer till cooked, approx 20 mins (my AMC pot needs only 10). Add in the tau pok and tau kwa in the last 5 minutes if using. Turn off the flame and let steep for about 45 minutes to absorb the flavours.
4) In another pot, boil the eggs. I bring the eggs up from cold water, eggs out of the fridge, then bring to a boil and turn off. The eggs steep for approx 6 minutes to get the shoyu squidgy egg consistency, but this needs to be peeled very very carefully. Otherwise, hard boiled eggs take about 10 minutes if steeping time, depending on your pot. (Yes, i used AMC again)
5) Add the carefully peeled eggs into the main pot at the same time as the toufu products. If using shoyu egg, only serve it but don't steep it in the sauce, otherwise the salt draws out the moisture and u end up with hard boiled egg, which kinda defeats the purpose and wastes your efforts. If adding in hard boiled eggs, you may need to periodically rotate the egg to get an even coloring.
6) Serve with warm rice.

Braised soya sauce pork

On my second attempt, success! I adapted the recipes from Here and it seemed to work quite well the difference being that I used the right cut of pork, belly pork instead of shoulder or twee bak, and left the skin on, which made it meltingly gelatinous. Both recipes didn't add tau pok which I consider to be essential. It is important to try to keep the pork belly whole. Altho it takes longer to cook, it keeps the pork moist during cooking.

Ingredients
1kg of belly pork
2 + 5 tbsp light soya sauce
2+ 10 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp 5 spice powder
5 cloves
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick (i cheated using 1 tbsp cinnamon powder since I didn't have the stick version)
3 tbsp sugar
1 tau kwa, cubed
1 packet tau pok
6 eggs

Method
1) Marinade pork, preferably overnight, in 2 tbsp each of light soya, dark soya, 1 tbsp sugar and rice wine.
2) Transfer to a pot and put in another 5 tbsp light soya, 10 tbsp dark soya, 2 tbsp sugar and then all the other ingredients. Additional rice wine is optional. Add water, enough to cover.
3) Bring to a boil then simmer and skim off the fat and impurities. Simmer till cooked, approx 20 mins (my AMC pot needs only 10). Add in the tau pok and tau kwa in the last 5 minutes if using. Turn off the flame and let steep for about 45 minutes to absorb the flavours.
4) In another pot, boil the eggs. I bring the eggs up from cold water, eggs out of the fridge, then bring to a boil and turn off. The eggs steep for approx 6 minutes to get the shoyu squidgy egg consistency, but this needs to be peeled very very carefully. Otherwise, hard boiled eggs take about 10 minutes if steeping time, depending on your pot. (Yes, i used AMC again)
5) Add the carefully peeled eggs into the main pot at the same time as the toufu products. If using shoyu egg, only serve it but don't steep it in the sauce, otherwise the salt draws out the moisture and u end up with hard boiled egg, which kinda defeats the purpose and wastes your efforts. If adding in hard boiled eggs, you may need to periodically rotate the egg to get an even coloring.
6) Serve with warm rice.

Everything is still 'bek bek' because it hasn't had time to steep, but you get the idea!

Soya sauce pork

Two recipes which I'll like to try:

Ginger vinegar trotters: http://ellenaguan.blogspot.sg/2010/06/ginger-vinegar-trotter.html
Soya sauce pork belly: http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/braised-pork-belly-with-rice.html
Another Tau Yew Bak: http://www.noobcook.com/tau-yu-bak-braised-pork-belly-in-soy/2/

Soya sauce chicken

I adapted the recipe from : http://rasamalaysia.com/chinese-soy-sauce-chicken-recipe/2/

Ingredients
9 chicken drumsticks (original recipe uses about 6 pieces)
3 cloves
3 star anise
1 tsp five spice powder
1 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp ginger
8 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in 1 cup of water till soft then drained and sliced. Reserve the soaking water.
6 hard boiled eggs
1 cup dark soya sauce
1.5 cups light soya sauce
4 cups water

Method
1) Add all the ingredients, except the drained mushrooms, eggs and chicken. Add the water and water used to soak mushrooms. Bring to a boil for 15 minutes.
2) Add the drained mushrooms and chicken. Bring to a rolling boil for 10 minutes, uncovered. Turn down the flame, skim off impurities. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. It may be useful to give a taste to see whether the soya sauce is too salty and adjust accordingly. I found that the brand of light soya sauce I used to be particularly salty and had to top up with water.
3) Turn off the fire and add the eggs. Let everything steep for several hours. You may have to occasionally turn the chicken and eggs to ensure that all sides get a chance to steep and they don't get uneven 'tan marks'.
4) Serve with steamed rice, or in my case, I used noodles for 'longevity' during this CNY period. As an option, garnish with coriander or parsley and chilli.

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/