Chinese Dishes
1. Bak Kut Teh
Ingredients
Spices tied in a cloth square:
1 cinnamon stick
4-5 cloves
1 tsp white peppercorns
1 tbs kei chee (dried hawthorn berries)
2 whole star anises
500g (1 lb) meaty pork ribs
2 whole heads of garlic, unpeeled
1 tbs black soya sauce
6-7 cups of water
1 tbs salt
1-2 heads iceberg lettuce, washed and separated
Method
1. Place ribs, spice packet and the garlic in a pot.
2. Add water to cover and bring to the boil.
3. Skim off the meat scum as it rises.
4. Add soya sauce and salt.
5. Reduce heat to simmering and cook till ribs are tender.
6. Place a few lettuce leaves in the bowl before dishing out the ribs and soup.
7. Serve with white rice and sliced red chilli in dark soya sauce on the side.
2. Hainanese Chicken Rice
Ingredients
1 (2-pound) chicken
1 scallion, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 slices fresh, peeled ginger
6 tbsp vegetable oil or chicken oil rendered from chicken fat
6 to 8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 cups long-grain uncooked rice, washed and drained
1 tsp fine salt
Mix together for Chilli Sauce
2 to 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
5 tbsp finely chopped fresh red chilies
5 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 tsp fine salt
1/2 cup boiling hot chicken soup
Method
1. Boil a large pot of water.
2. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with scallion and ginger.
3. Add chicken to boiling water, breast side-down.
4. Lower the heat to a simmer just under boiling point and cook, covered until just cooked through, about 40 minutes.
5. Bathe the chicken in an ice water bath till chicken is cold to create a tender, springy texture.
6. Heat oil in a rice cooker, add garlic, stir fry till fragrant.
7. Add uncooked rice, stir fry for two minutes, add salt and enough chicken soup to cover 1/2 inch above the top of the rice.
8. Boil on high heat, lower heat when steam holes form, cover and steam for 30 minutes till rice is cooked.
9. Chop chicken and serve with steaming hot rice and chilli sauce. Dark soya sauce is the ideal accompaniment.
Nice recipes! The pictures look yummy and the recipes given are very useful! I think Singaporeans should indeed feel proud of the different traditional dishes of the ethnic groups, and should learn how to cook them too, may use the recipes some time to cook these dishes!
ReplyDelete