Tag Archives: hong lim FC

Chicken Rice 白斩鸡饭

Posted on by

been doing poached chicken白斩鸡 quite a bit, most recently for a 9pax homecooked lunch on 9.3.2015.

1 of the delectable dishes i made was “hong lim FC curry chicken noodles”. basically i used the same method to make the poached chicken白斩鸡, just that the chicken stock needed to be more intense to produce a tasty chicken curry gravy.

though i have made the poached chicken白斩鸡 many a times, i had not gotten around to making the chilli sauce & the rice. recently my son in london shared on family whatsapp the chicken rice he made for his friends. that finally got me to try out my own chicken rice.

so i followed my trusted poached chicken白斩鸡 recipe & made another tasty, moist, tender chicken.

this was my very first time though to attempt the chicken rice.

chicken stock

chicken stock

after i deboned the chicken, i put pack the bones to the stock & boiled for another 2 hrs, reducing to a very flavourful chicken stock. i was cooking 2 cups of rice so took out 2 cups of chicken stock to cool down.

chicken rice after frying before cooking

chicken rice after frying before cooking

1 browned 3 chopped shallots, then added 2 teaspoon minced garlic & slice ginger (3cm piece) & fry for short time to get the fragrance aroma, then i added the 2 cups of rice and mixed thoroughly. i removed rice & put in the rice cooker & wait for the stock & rice to cool.

chicken rice cooked with stock

chicken rice cooked with stock

then i cooked the rice in my regular rice cooker.

chicken rice

chicken rice

chicken rice

chicken rice

the rice tasted a tad soft at first, but when eaten with the chicken, chilli & black sauce (& even overnight), it tasted pretty good.

soup - chicken stock

soup – chicken stock

the stock was heavenly!

chilli

chilli

i wasn’t sure about the chilli. i picked 1 recipe but did not have 6 large red chilli, so i made do with 3 chilli padi + a large red tomato. the blend needed the bulk. i reduced lime juice to 1 tablespoon (from 1/3cup or about 5 tbsp), added 1 tbsp mirin, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, then blended. and after tasting added 1 tsp tsuyu.

chilli taste was pretty ok. daughter said it tasted good but different from the chicken rice chilli. wife though i had too much shallot, no sesame, & just above average kind of good. i guess that was ok for my first try.

it was basically just inertia that i cooked many times poached chicken白斩鸡 but avoided the rice & chilli. anyway will do more chicken rice soon!^^

c.h.e.f andy

Curry Chicken Noodles – Finale

Posted on by

i tried my hands first at curry chicken noodles because i so like the hong lim FC curry chicken noodles.

i like both stalls but like ah heng’s better-

  1. Irresistible Curry Chicken Noodles @ Ah Heng on 19Jan2015
  2. Heng Kee (興记) Curry Chicken Noodles at Hong Lim Food Centre on 7Nov2014
  3. Shiok Curry Chicken Noodles @ Ah Heng on 16Sep2013

& i make a very good poached chicken 白斩鸡 (i would say as good as ah heng’s & better than most chicken rice stalls) & also a very good nonya curry chicken i.e. a good flavourful chicken curry, i fancied i could combine the 2 & make a decent curry chicken noodles.

that was when i tried my hands and recorded as Curry Chicken Noodles – Part One almost 2 years ago on 29.6.2013.

i served it to my friends at a 11pax Homegourmet Dinner on 11Jun2013, & everyone loved it. still, i said “Curry Chicken Noodles – Part One” because i wasn’t totally happy with the results, it was not near enough to ah hen’s.

this time though i think i have graduated. it was jolly good. haha!^

i had a 9pax homecooked lunch featuring chilli crab angel hair (w/o crab), another “crabless” beehoon, and this curry chicken noodles on 9.3.2015.^^

curry for curry chicken noodles

curry for curry chicken noodles

curry for curry chicken noodles

curry for curry chicken noodles

my chicken curry looked potent, as it should be!^^

since i was using the curry as sauce i.e. not cooking with the chicken (chicken was poached separately), so i used a lot of chicken bones (2 chicken) to make a very flavour broth for the curry soup. 🙂

noodles, fishcake,bean sprouts

noodles, fishcake,bean sprouts

fish cake,bean sprouts

fish cake,bean sprouts

i had the yellow noodles & thick beehoon done al dente, placed in cold water & ice to make sure they stopped cooking & were firm & not mushy. same for the bean sprouts, still crunchy (but not in  cold water, just aga or estimate, not so critical).

& the second most important after the curry soup, the poached chicken 白斩鸡. this my pride & joy. haha!^^ i think it was very good. 🙂

curry chicken noodles

curry chicken noodles

all ready to serve, in 9 bowls.

only thing i could not replicate is the hot, cold, hot sequence! which is (1)cook the noodles (2) put in cold water to stop cooking (3) put back in hot soup to warm before adding soup.

i did the first 2 already. the last is so that the noodles are warm (mine were cold obviously), so the hot soup when added will not have so much drop in temperature.

well, it’s not perfect la!

curry chicken noodles

curry chicken noodles

still it was a pretty good!

all my friends loved it. in the end it’s also that i myself loved it & felt very good about it!

overall the dish was “almost” there la! & my chicken definitely equal if not better.^^

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole chicken (I use 1.4kg from Giant hypermarket OR Sheng Shiong)
  • 2l chicken stock  (from bones of 2 chicken)
  • 300ml thick coconut milk or to taste
  • 4 star anise
  • 1 clove
  • 2 cinnamon stick
  • 2 stems lemon grass (white part)
  • 4 tbsp oil
  • 1 tbsp sea salt (about that but also to taste)
  • 1.5 tbsp sugar (about that but also to taste)
  • 10 pieces of dried taupok (each cut into 4 strips)
  • 2 potatoes peeled & diced (about 10 pieces)
  • 3  ikan parang (西刀鱼) fish cake
  • 200g tau gay

for spice paste (ground in mixer or pound in mortar):

  • 100g dried prawns
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 18 shallots
  • 18 dried chilli (soaked in water & removed seeds)
  • 10g coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp fennel powder
  • 3 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp tumeric powder

Directions:

  1. Cook the chicken curry – stir-fry star anise, cinnamon stick & cloves over low heat. add in the spice paste and stir-fry till fragrant. add the curry leaves and fry them really well. add chicken stock with dried prawns & bring to boil. use the carcase of 1 chicken as stock base. subsequently after cooking & deboning the whole chicken, use the bones/carcase to add to the soup – so 2 chicken bones/carcase to provide the soup stock flavours. add diced potatoes to add to the body of the soup & cook for about 1/2hr or till they break by pressing against the side of the saucepan. add sea salt & sugar & add 200ml thick coconut milk OR to taste.
  2. Cook the chicken – See poached chicken 白斩鸡.
  3. Condiments – grill ikan parang (西刀鱼) fish cake in a toaster oven, let them cool & then slice them. add taupok (dried bean curd) nearer the end of cooking.
  4. Serve with noodles – boil yellow noodles & thick beehoon for laksa till just cooked (al dente) and put in ice bath to stop cooking so noodles are QQ. when everything is done, serve yellow noodles & thick beehoon in bowl & add the fishcake & cut chicken. then add boiling curry soup with taupok & potatoes & serve.

Chilli Crab Angel Hair Pasta (w/o Crab)

Posted on by
chilli crab angel hair pasta wo crab

chilli crab angel hair pasta (w/o crab)

was making a few “newer” dishes for my friends to try out at a 9pax homecooked lunch yesterday on 9.3.2015.

chilli crab capellini (angel hair pasta) on 26.4.2015

one dish was chilli crab pasta, a dish i tried once before. looking at the date 7.3.2013, it was 2 years back!

i also did “crabless” beehoon & the “hong lim FC curry chicken noodles”.

my family & i are not so crazy about crabs & i don’t buy & cook crabs (i may try later).

the idea here is to use prawns stock to deliver the shellfish broth taste w/o using crabs. since i was also trying about my crab beehoon (or “crabless” beehoon) on my friends & making the prawn head & shell stock, so i might as well do this chilli crab dish as well. i decided to use some leftover angel hair. it fit the dish quite perfectly.

my friends all loved the dish. one commented this was actually the more creative dish.

another friend said-

Yes, I like this dish. The angel hair pasta is well infused with the tasty seafood broth.

another even more effusive, exuberant comment went-

Seldom have I eaten so much! Still digesting and trying to figure out the mysteriously delicious spicy angel hair sphagetti with hint of exotic eastern spices that awoken my palate

not sure if we were talking about the same dish though? hahaha!^^

indeed i think it was a lot better than the one i did 2 years back (if i can even remember!). but this time i had more sauce, and i used angel hair which infused more of the chilli “crab” taste. haha!^^

well, only just because it is so-called “fusion” dish, but so many places in singapore (restaurants & cafes) now do this dish, it is nothing special.

also, it was a very easy dish to do c/w the “crabless” beehoon & the “hong lim FC curry chicken noodles”.

the main thing was the sauce, which i repeated from the recipe i did on 7.3.2013 (below). only thing i added 6 chopped shallots (instead of 4), 3 ketchup (instead of 4) & 2 chilli padi (instead of 1), & i ran out of shaoxing wine so i added 1 tbsp xo brandy.

c.h.e.f andy

 

Ingredients:

  • 6 chopped shallots
  • 3 tsp chopped garlic
  • 1 in chopped ginger
  • 3 tbsp ketchup
  • 1 tbsp garlic chilli sauce
  • 2 chilli padi
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp flat sugar
  • 1 tbsp shaoxing wine
  • 1 tsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tsplime juice
  • 2 cup prawn stock
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup fresh coriander

Directions:

  1. Prepare the prawn shell stock – fry & boil prawn shells & heads in a large dutch oven for 3 hrs, strain and set aside the stock
  2. Prepare the chilli crab sauce –
    • mix the ketchup, chilli sauce, oyster sauce, shaoxing wine, vinegar. lime juice in a large bowl.
    • finely chopped the shallots, ginger, garlic and chilli padi (or pulse till finely chopped in a food processor).
    • add oil to a large wok over medium heat. and fry the chopped shallots, ginger, garlic & chilli padi for few minutes.
    • stir in the prepared mix from the large bowl, reduce heat and simmer of 3 or 4 minutes.
    • add the prawn shell stock, bring to boil, turn off the fire and set aside to use when required. before use, beat 1 egg and stir in & mix well.
  3. Prepare the spaghetti– add some salt & oil to water and boil the spaghetti according to timing instructions & drain in a colander.
  4. Cook – empty the prepared olive oil & browned garlic into a hot wok. pour the chilli crab sauce into the wok. heat briefly then turn off the fire, add in the spaghetti & toss & add sea salt to taste. Place the spaghetti in a serving dish and garnish with fresh coriander.