The purple Red Cabbage Soup

I split the red cabbage to three usages, and chose to post at different times because I just did not want you to have an overdose on red cabbage.


This is exactly like minestrone. Minestrone heavy on the tang and over-generous on cabbage! Ha! Ok, let's call it vegetable soup, then. Purple vegetables soup.

Red Cabbage Soup
Ingredients: shredded red cabbage, minced garlic, sliced onions, cubed tomatoes, water, salt and pepper

Directions: Add some canola or olive oil, add in garlic and onions, then followed by cabbage to allow it to soften. Add in tomatoes, mix well and let it simmer for a while. Add in water accordingly to make soup portions. Salt and pepper to taste.



Red cabbage recipes:
Red Cabbage Salad
Stir Fry Red Cabbage

Tag: soup, vegetable soup, red cabbage

Pepper Pork Chops - white and black pepper, I love!

I don't cook completely new dishes every time. Sometimes, new dishes and recipes mean improvement of older recipes and dishes, such as this Pepper Pork recipe.



Pepper Pork Chop
Ingredients: Pork loin chops, ground white pepper, ground black pepper, dark soy sauce, brown sugar, some oyster sauce

Directions:
1. Rub the slices of pork with ground white pepper and black pepper
2. Add some dark soya sauce, oyster sauce and some brown sugar. Marinate them (leave them in the fridge, at least one hour)
3. Heat up some oil in a frying pan. On medium heat, pan-fry the marinated pieces for a few minutes(~3mins) one one side, then turn over and pan-fry other side until cooked.
4. Place in aluminium foil, seal it if not served immediately (note: this can keep the pork chops warm and retain the juice and moisture in the pork chops. Further, if you are worried that the pork chops may be undercooked in Step 3, the heat which you seal the pork chops in within can allow a little further cooking in the pork chops). This is not another Foil-Cooking but surely, tin foil gives a good neat trick again!



If you find such pork chops boring, you can try this Apple Pork Chops recipe.

Tag: pork chops, pepper pork chops

Steamed chicken - two easy recipes

Foil-steaming is what I turn to when I am really lazy, especially when it comes to poultry. But I thought foil-steaming follows similar concept as roasting/baking in an oven ? No heating a pan of oil, no sauteing different ingredients at different stages, no standing near the stove to "eyeball" the cooking, no washing of greasy pan - sounds almost like idiot cooking. You only need to assemble, seal and cook (steam) - sounds even more like idiot cooking. Other than steamed meat cake, I do it many ways with chicken too.

Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms, Ginger and Green Onions
Ingredients: 6-8 chicken wings (note:chose smaller pieces of chicken so that it takes shorter time to cook), 1tbsp soy sauce, 1tsp brown sugar, 2tsp oyster sauce, 1tbsp rice wine, 1tsp sesame oil, some pepper, mushrooms, strips of ginger and green onion

Steamed Chicken with Carrots and Onions
Ingredients: 8 drumlets (note:chose smaller pieces of chicken so that it takes shorter time to cook), 1tbsp soy sauce, 1tsp brown sugar, 2tsp oyster sauce, 1tbsp rice wine, 1tsp sesame oil, some pepper, 1tbsp coke(optional), carrots and onions (note: they will sweeten the entire dish when cooked)

See how the carrots and onions turn sweet and soft after steaming

For these two dishes, basically what you need to do is assemble then steam for about 15-20 mins (depending on size and amount of chicken used)

Don't even need to wash a plate or greasy wok/pan for your cooking.

Tag: steaming, chicken

Stir Fry Red Cabbage with Tomatoes

I can't be only using all the red cabbage for just the red cabbage apple salad. So, other than the traditional way to make salad, I have also used it the less traditional way. I STIR FRIED IT!
...if I can stir fry napa cabbage or Chinese cabbage, I don't see why I can't stir fry red cabbage. ERrrrmmm...I might be wrong?


And so...I did not deviate too far. I did not add dried shrimps just like how I would do Chinese stir fry cabbage. I added tomatoes instead, just like how I would do minestrone. I think you can follow my logic here. Yes?

Stir Fry Red Cabbage with Tomatoes
Ingredients: sliced red cabbage, minced garlic, sliced onions, cubed tomatoes, salt and pepper

Directions: Add some canola or olive oil, add in garlic and onions, then followed by cabbage to allow it to soften. Add in tomatoes, mix well and let it simmer for a while. Salt and pepper to taste.



Voila! One simple dish done, out of not wanting to make salad!

I have been short of writing spirit recently. And since it is almost weekend, I shall not write any further.

Enjoy your weekend :D

Tag: red cabbage, stir fry, cabbage

Buttered Mushrooms with Onion and Herbs

Anyone dislikes mushrooms over here ? Ever since I started buying and using fresh mushrooms in my cooking when I was in the United States, I find it hard to resist fresh mushrooms while I was in Taiwan or now when I'm back in Singapore. Not as if I have not eaten fresh mushrooms before since birth in Singapore. It's just that my association with mushrooms when I was younger was either dried shitake mushrooms or canned button mushrooms. Dried shitake mushrooms are still good for flavoring broths and braising with chicken while canned mushrooms can really come in handy when putting up a dish such as Mui Fan or Braised Noodles or when you really do not have the time to wipe-clean the mushrooms and slice or cut them.

Fresh mushrooms are really what I love when I cook pasta and stir-frys.



Buttered Mushrooms with Onion and Herbs
Ingredients:
some butter, olive oil, 1 red onion thinly sliced, fresh mushrooms(I used a mixture of white and brown), oregano, salt, freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Butter and oil saute pan
2. Add red onions and saute till soft, dash some salt
3. Add in mushrooms and saute till onions caramelize and mushrooms turn soft
4. Add in freshly ground black pepper and herbs



Tag: mushrooms, buttered mushrooms

How to make shrimps and prawns curl

Remember those curly shrimps in my fried rice fit for the "emperor" ? I'll hand over the trick for these lovely curlies. Click for bigger picture!

When you slit the shrimps to de-vein, do not cut through to the other side so that you can keep one whole shrimp intact. Then, cut a little opening at the other side of the head-end so that the tail-end of the shrimp can be slipped in?! Errrr...did I sound confusing ? Woops...

Also read how I "fork" the scallions, or....tips for cutting onions to increase sweetness.

Tag: shrimps, prawns

Chicken Macaroni Soup - comfort when the world goes Holy Dow!

Holy Cow! If you have read the crisis and turmoil in the media (all kinds) everyday since last month, I bet you would not want to hear another Holy Dow in my blog. So how about...


Holy Macaroni,
This is one comfort food for me;
Carrots and celery do some trick,
There is no secret and hidden tip.


Look at the colors...or does the sound of chicken macaroni tempt you enough ? I totally enjoy homemade chicken macaroni. Whenever I cook this, I can see the smile on my other half. Though he has limited ability over Mandarin (Chinese language), I will still hear him say "Yes ...就是这个味 - this is THE TASTE!" ...then *silent*....except for the chomp chomp chomp I hear for the rest of the meal. We are easy people to satisfy...you know :D

Chicken macaroni soup
Ingredients:
- Any chicken parts you prefer (except the head and buttocks!)
-3-5 stalks from a bunch of celery, washed and sliced
-0.75lbs baby carrot, washed and cut into halves
-dried mushrooms, soaked in water to clean; then chopped to pieces
- 1 small knob (3-4cm) of ginger, cut into half
-water (adjust accordingly)
-1 cup chicken broth(option: since you will be boiling chicken in water too - you will be cooking your own broth too)
-pinch of salt, to taste
-dash of pepper, to taste
-drops of sesame oil
-cilantro and red chili, sliced to garnish
- fried shallots for garnish if you have
-vegetables such as bok choy as side dish

Directions:
1.Boil the chicken in water for ~15-30mins (depending on size of chicken used) with celery, carrots, ginger and mushrooms, till chicken is cooked through. Add salt to taste in the process
2.Remove boiled chicken from pot, to cool. When cooled, shred the chicken, set aside (the unused shredded chicken, keep in fridge or freezer for future use)
3.Throw the chicken rib/bones back into the pot of warm soup, dash in some white pepper, stir and mix well
4.Meanwhile, cook macaroni in boiling water according to package instructions, shd be about 10mins or less
5.When ready to serve, heat up the pot of soup and ladle flavorful soup of celery, carrots and mushrooms over the macaroni, top with shredded chicken
6.Garnish with cilantro and red chili

P.S. If you wish to have more vegetables, you can add any seasonable leafy greens (bok choy, you cai, chinese spinach) to the chicken macaroni soup as the side.



Tag: macaroni, chicken macaroni

Egg and Shrimp Fried Rice with Emperor Vegetables

OK. NO rice cooker meals for now. I'm just doing what most people do with leftover rice (or I call it a "purposed" leftover) . I cooked twice the amount of rice in the rice cooker one day, consumed one half as-is with dishes such as Spicy Beef with Mushrooms, Three-Cup Chicken or Chinese Steamed Fish; and the other half - I kept it in the fridge for fried rice the next day. Yay, FRIED RICE in a pan...alas, and not FRIED RICE in a rice cooker.



Egg and Shrimp Fried Rice with Basella Alba (Emperor Vegetable)
Ingredients:
Basella Alba, shrimps, eggs, red chili, ginger, oyster sauce, soy sauce, leftover cold rice

Directions:
Fry the Basella Alba
1. In lightly oiled pan, fry ginger and red chili, then add in the vegetable, add ~1tsp oyster sauce
2. When vegetable is cooked to tender (yet not overcooked to limpy), set aside.

Fry the other ingredients and rice
3. In the same pan, add in some oil, then add in eggs to scramble it. Before the eggs are cooked, add in shrimps and rice and fry the rice (make sure mixed well with eggs and shrimps) at medium heat (Note: at low heat, the rice tends to stick to the pan).
4. Add in soy sauce, and pepper to taste


5. When fried rice is ready, you can add in the vegetables (and mix well). Note: Make sure you don't add all the gravy of the vegetables in there. Add in some gravy but not all. The rice will just absorb some moisture and flavor of the vegetable, yet not turn wet and soggy


Want some ?


More about Basella Alba, read more here.

Tag: vegetable, Basella Alba,fried rice

Lemongrass Steamed Fish with Ginger, Cilantro and Green Onions

How I wish Singapore could educate consumers about seafood around the Asia region since some of Singapore's fish imports come from neighboring Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.


With good qualify fresh seafood, I go for minimal cooking. Lightly grilled, simply baked or easily steamed. And I usually don't deep fry a fresh fish unless it is called for.


Lemongrass Steamed Red Snapper
Ingredients:
snapper fillet rubbed with salt and pepper and drizzle of cooking wine and soy sauce; and these herbs - lemongrass, cilranto, green onion, ginger, red chili; and silken tofu cubes (optional)


Directions:
With the lightly seasoned fish, place in steamer with the herbs and tofu and steam about 8 mins.

You could also try one of these Fish recipes:
Steamed Toman(snakehead) fillet with Ginger and Green Onions
Steamed Cod Fish Rolls
Pan Fried Snapper in Soy Sauce and Ginger
Tandoori Tilapia
Steamed Halibut with Tofu, Shallots and Cilantro

Tag: steamed fish, lemograss steamed fish

Shrimps and eggs - an idea gets sensational here!

I don't deal with flour but that does not mean I cannot buy cute cookie cutters :)


I am going to work on a tasty time-saver side-dish - it's for you...so that you can have more time for other preparations (eg. cooking THE jaw-dropping, drool-worthy main dish, shopping for gifts, wrapping gifts etc.) for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But I assure you, your guests will still be dropping their jaws, and drooling much when they see this! Surprise them!



If one picture tells it all, you know how easy it can be. And if one picture tells it all, you know how delectable it can be.

Shrimp with Egg/"I-HEART-Shrimp" recipe
Ingredients: Medium/large shrimp dabbed dry, seasoned with pepper, sliced to half (but not completely separated, tip of shrimp intact - refer to pictures), eggs, cilantro, soy sauce/salt and pepper for the egg, black pepper

Directions:
1. Whisk the eggs with some soy sauce/salt and pepper
2. In a oiled large area flat pan, place the shrimps around the pan, making sure they are not too close one another. When one side of shrimp is lightly browned(hear sizzles), flip the shrimps over to cook the other side
3. Pour the whisked eggs gently around the pan so that it fills the empty spaces within the shrimps
4. Add cilantro leaf near each shrimp on the egg. Give a gentle press (using flat turnover ladle) over the entire egg with shrimp and cilantro
5. Cut out each egg (with shrimp + cilantro) using a cookie cutter and serve.
Option: I enjoyed mine with mango salsa. It goes really well! You could just have coarsely ground black pepper sprinkled on it if you really want it easier.



Similar idea from the spinach omelette "cookie" - remember ?

Other shrimp-worthy sides and snacks:
Shrimp Toasts, Shrimp Squares
Bread Crusted Shrimp Rolls
Nori/Seaweed Shrimps

This side dish goes well with mango salsa. My recipe for mango-kiwi salsa here.

Tag: omelette, shrimp omelette, shrimps, snacks, party food

Spicy Sambal Chili Eggs for World Egg Day

These Sambal Chili Eggs are spicilicious - definitely good with steamed rice or up the stakes... ...with... ... how about Nasi Lemak ?



Spicy Chili Eggs/Sambal Chili Eggs
Ingredients:
Eggs - to be hard-boiled; 1-2 medium onions, sambal chili (I used bottled sambal chili - in California, they are available in Asian supermarkets such as Ranch 99); sugar

Directions:
In a lightly oiled pan, fry the sambal chili to exude aroma. Add in onions and saute till onions are caramelized. Add in some sugar if mixture is too salty. Top the sambal chili onions over the eggs.

Heavenly...


Check out Teczcape - An Escape to Food for more!

Tag: eggs, sambal chili eggs

Rice plate of Scallion Ginger Beef, French Bean Omelet and Bok Choy

My rice plate....Hungry Lady's Plate


Another VIEW of the same...


Red Cargo + Brown Rice served with Vegetables(Bok Choy), French Bean Omelet, Green Onion Ginger Beef.

Tag: long bean omelet, french bean, rice plate, long bean

Foil steaming the meat saves your time

When I have no time, I will dump everything (make sure the ingredients are compatible!) into the slow cooker and let is slowly cook. A beef stew can be prepared just like that. As you all know, the slow cooker is S-L-O-W...so if you have REAaaaaLLY no time to even wait, this is my "no-pride" cooking for you. Mix everything up in "cake" form and steam it.


Does this look like a "steep cliff" to climb ?
*Cooked this while I was in Taiwan

Here I have mushrooms, baby carrots, diced shrimps, sliced green onions and half a pack of soft tofu mixed into ground meat (pork is used here) that has been marinated/seasoned with some salt, dark soy sauce, cooking wine, white pepper and dashes of sesame oil.

Nope - I did not mix and mesh all the tofu into the meat as one big lump (that will be too URRGGgghhh!). Instead, the remaining half of the tofu - I layer it like lasagna with the meat mixture. A layer of pre-marinated meat (already mixed with mushrooms, baby carrots, diced shrimps and sliced green onions) at the bottom; followed by some cubed tofu, then another layer of meat mixture; followed by another layer of cubed tofu. Steam for 10-20mins depending on size of "cake".

This is meat "cake"! My own homemade version of 蒸肉饼 ! Can be classified as another busy-executive cooking :P ....no time lazy to make cooking preparations, no time lazy to cook, no time lazy to wash the plates (notice I use aluminum foil?) and even no time lazy to present this nicely on a plate to take decent photographs…that's me!

I hope I have not made you lose your appetite but it is really quite tasty. ^o^

Tag: steamed meat

Chinese Steamed Fish Toman (Snakehead) Fillet

A Chinese-style Steamed Fish...best for the busy executives who have no time to cook, yet desire to adopt a healthy meal plan of dining in as often as possible. You can thaw the fish (remove frozen fillet from freezer) in the fridge before leaving for work in the morning (or overnight the day before). When you return from work in the evenings - remove the thawed fillet from the fridge (marinate as follow, below), cut the tomatoes, mushrooms, green onions and ginger, assemble and steam. Refer Directions below.


Chinese-style Steamed Toman Fillet
Ingredients:
Toman fish fillet (snakehead) - some salt and white pepper, rubbed gently on the fish + lightly marinate with 1tsp rice wine + 3 drops of sesame oil + 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce; sliced ginger; sliced green onion,; tomato - cut into wedges; thinly sliced mushrooms

Directions:
1. Remove the thawed fillet and marinate (as per Ingredients above)
2. Cut and prepare tomatoes, mushrooms, green onions and ginger (Note: In this process, the fish is marinated for some time)
3. Assemble, then steam for 5-8mins, depending on thickness of fillet. Thickness of ~1.5cm about 7mins (Note: you can always slice thinner to reduce cooking time but only if you have time to do slicing of a thick fillet. Note1: Another trick is to "score" the fish so that it allows thorough seasoning and reduce time to cook)
4. Serve with steamed rice

Other easy Fish recipes:
Steamed Cod Fish Rolls
Pan Fried Fish in Soy Sauce and Ginger
Tandoori Fish
Steamed Fish with Tofu, Shallots and Cilantro

Tag: steamed fish, chinese steamed fish

Red Cabbage Apple Salad

I have made a Red Cabbage Salad recently to beat the hot weather in Singapore and at the same time, celebrating the coming Autumn/Fall in the US - with the addition of apples in this salad.

Red Cabbage and Apple Salad
Ingredients:
Red cabbage, julienned; thinly sliced apples cut into strips.

Dressing: squeeze of fresh lemon, dash of vinegar + 1tsp sugar

Directions: Add the dressing into the cabbage and apple mixture and toss well. Chill before serving.

Fight the heat with this crisp cool salad! It will be a great appetizer!


Other salad recipes:
Warm Pasta Salad
Celery and Carrots Salad
Fusili with Shrimps and Celery
Bok Choy Salad

Autumn/Fall in the US: Visit Sonoma Farm Trail. Do some apple picking!

Tag: salad, red cabbage, apples

Tom Yum/Tom Yam Noodles

The French Bean Omelette was done in Singapore, so is this dish. This dish basically, is on assembling rather than on culinary skills. But even if you assemble, you want to make sure the ingredients are compatible and the sequence is correct. Are you going to guess what I am preparing?


Tom Yum/Tom Yam Noodle Soup
Ingredients:
Instant noodles - less the seasoning packs(option: use any noodles or pasta, or even glass noodles!), canned tuna(I swear by AYAM brand tuna), tomatoes, bok choy, silken tofu(cut into cubes)

Directions:
1. Cook the noodles, then set aside
2. Prepare pot of water to simmer/boil - blanch the bok choy, then set aside with the noodles
3. Add in canned tuna to same pot of water so that the "spices" will work naturally to flavor the "soup broth"
4. Add in tofu and tomatoes in the soup broth if you want. Otherwise, you can add to your noodles and then ladle hot soup over the final dish before serving



Other Tom Yum recipes:
Tom Yum/Tom Yam Glass Noodles
Tom Yum/Tom Yam Fried Rice

Tag: noodles, tom yum, tom yam

Eggs - cooking tips and basic culinary knowledge

Bakers and cooks out there, when you need to whisk 3 eggs in preparation for your recipe or dish, do you crack all the eggs into one bowl or do you prepare a smaller bowl by the side - crack each egg into the small bowl before adding that egg with the rest of the other eggs?

It makes sense to me so I am picking up this good habit

I understand that some Chinese culinary schools teach the latter. It is considered basic culinary knowledge because you would not want to be "cracking" a bad egg into a pool of "good" eggs (with no chance to response) and contaminating the other "good" eggs. Next time you make French Bean Omelette or Spinach Italian Sausage Omelette, you know what to do.

Other cooking tips:
How to make half-boiled eggs, the "fuss-free" way
Spring onions preparation tips
How to get tender beef
How to cut onions to make it less pungent

Tag: cooking tips

Beef and Mushrooms in Light Curry Sauce

Remember I had these mushrooms? I transformed them to a lightly spiced dish using curry powder! WT *...*...(muted) ?! Curry powder ?

Yes...yes..I'm so excited to share this with you. I found that by adding some curry powder to this stir fry, it simply became a new dish for me.


Spiced Beef and Assorted Japanese Mushrooms
Ingredients: Ground beef, half a onion- sliced and chopped finely, assorted mushrooms, 1tbsp oyster sauce, 2tsp curry powder (Note: depending on how strong a curry flavor you want but do not use too much or it will become a full-blown curry beef dish- as in...too much goopy gravy)

Directions:
1. In lightly oiled pan, add in onions to saute and when slightly softened (half way to "translucence"), add in beef and the mushrooms and fry them in the pan (low-medium heat)
2. Add 1tbsp oyster sauce, then ~2 tsp curry powder and mix well
3. Add some water(not too much), let it simmer on low heat till the mushrooms become more tender and till the sauce reduce (Note: Since this is intentionally not a curry beef dish that will have lots of gravy, I was mindful about just keeping the dish...moist. In addition, the curry powder is supposed to add just that hint of curry spice flavor but not to overpower the taste of beef and mushrooms)


Isn't that simple? Delicious. Simply delicious.

Tag: mushrooms, beef

French Bean Omelet

French Bean Omelet/Long Bean Omelet
Ingredients: Long bean/french bean, diced to small bits (as shown in picture above), 2-3 eggs whisked with some added dark soy sauce and white pepper

Directions:
1. Heat pan with cooking oil and fry the bean bits with some salt and pepper
2. When beans bits have softened, add the egg covering the pan surface. Allow the egg to cook on one side a few minutes till lightly browned (Note:I like some crispy bits on this omelet somehow. If you prefer it moist, then don't "overcook" it)
3. Then flip over the other side to finish cooking
4. Enjoy with porridge or rice





Tag: long bean omelet, french bean, omelet, long bean

Easy Tomato Pasta on Egg - Omelette wrapped Pasta?

Anyone knows the Japanese language equivalent of "Pasta"? Well, I would like to have a more appropriate name for a dish spawn from omuraisu (omelette rice). Haha!


If there is omu (omelette)-raisu (rice), why not omu-"pasta" ? What I was missing out was just wrapping the pasta up within the enclosing omelette. Hmmm....ok, I am making a fuss out of this. I just wanted something different (and EGG-tra) for my pasta and why not this? Those who enjoys tomato ketchup on their omelettes may like this dish. That is no tomato ketchup in here but you get tomato-based pasta sauce/gravy on your omelette-style egg! ^o^

Easy Pasta on Egg/Omelette Tomato Pasta
Ingredients:
cooked pasta, minced pork(chicken or beef,you wish), diced shrimps, minced garlic, sliced onions, can of diced tomatoes, salt and black pepper, basil/oregano dried herbs(option) PLUS additional two-three eggs

Directions:
1. Fry the egg like an omelette, set aside. At the same time, you can cook your pasta according to package instructions. Any shell or screwy pasta is recommended since it will be easier to eat with the egg.
2. Saute the onions in olive oil till they soften. Add in garlic and minced pork and cook till the pork is almost cooked(from pink to light brown).
3. Add in the shrimps. As they are diced, they will cook very quickly.
4. Add in diced tomatoes with the juice
5. Mix well, add salt and black pepper to taste
6. Before serving, add in cooked pasta, toss well in the tomato-based pasta sauce and serve on the omelette

Viola!


You can try these pasta dishes on omelette too!
Beef and Mushroom Pasta with Bok Choy
Mushroom Beef Pasta with Spicy Sauce

As long as the sauce is not a soup, tomato-based or cream-based works fine on omelette; and it is best to use shell or screwy type pasta for ease of eating!

Tag: pasta, omelette

Three Cup Chicken, or Vegetarian's Three-Cup Mushrooms

Two cups? What cups? A cup, B, C...F or G cup for Gargantuan? :P How about three cups in equal sizes? Heeee.....

Hey you, I am talking about Three-Cup Chicken (三杯鸡 San Bei Ji). And it is NOT Three Cups of Chicken, either. This is another really simple yet robust dish, making use of easy available seasonings and....tapping on the aroma of fresh basil!

Simple. First, you need chicken (wings or other parts, fresh or frozen - up to you). Not Three Cups of chicken BUT the essentials THREE CUPS - each of equal amt. dark soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil - hence the name Three-Cup Chicken.

This dish is popular in Taiwan and so I had a go at it when I was in Taiwan. I've seen it demonstrated in some Taiwan cooking programmes but here, I have it tailored to more "homemade" cooking. Sure, use a claypot at the final stage if you wish. I don't have a claypot then, so made do without it. If you are vegetarian, you can try have a go at Three-Cup Mushrooms - easily another flavor- and fragrance- bombed dish.


Three Cup Chicken
Ingredients:
Chicken wings(I use frozen and had it thawed), garlic, ginger, green onions, slice red chili (de-seed if you don't want too spicy), fresh basil

Seasoning: Proportion of sesame oil and dark soy sauce and cooking (rice) wine should be equal.

Directions:
1. Heat up sesame oil in wok or pan
2. Add ginger to fry in sesame oil till it exudes aroma
3. Add chicken wings (that's what I use - frozen chicken wings that have been thawed), sear the chicken to brown on all sides
4. Add minced garlic, followed by dark soy sauce. Turn down heat to simmer 5-8 minutes. (Note: Taste test here - if too salty, add a little brown sugar to "tone" it down)
5.Turn heat up again when sauce is bubbling, add the Chinese wine (Note: when adding wine, do not drizzle directly on the chicken; instead slowly pour wine on the sides of the pan, allowing the heated metal to evaporate the alcohol content; this way, the fragrance of the wine is retained)
6.Cook till chicken is done and sauce has reduced (Note: At this stage, you can pre-heat a claypot on your stove, then pour the entire mixture into the claypot)
7. Add fresh basil and red chili last, mix well
8. Garnish with scallions. Best with steamed rice!

Delicious!

Tag: chicken, three cup chicken