food
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Nasi Ayam (Malaysian-styled chicken rice)

Never did it cross my mind that I would take cooking to a whole new level of passion. Before this, I was already grateful that I know how to cook maggie (pfft!) to prolong my survival when ibu is not around. Nasi ayam sounds waaayyyyy too complicated than it is. Actually it is simple but of course, if you don't do it right, it's still not going to taste yummy. By learning how to make nasi ayam, you will also acquire the skills to make sup ayam (chicken soup)! Double shot. Now, who doesn't like that? ;)

Ingredients:


Rice

Onions, ginger and garlic (chopped)
Chicken (chopped into several-medium sized parts)
Oyster sauce/soy sauce/black pepper sauce/BBQ sauce (either one to flavour the chicken)
Fresh chilies (4-5)
A cup of vinegar
1/2 cup of sugar
Sup bunjut (spices) *optional
Ajinomoto (seasoning)
Salt
Oil

There are four components in a good nasi ayam dish: chicken soup, chicken rice, fried chicken and chilli sauce.

To prepare chicken rice, we start with making chicken soup.

1. Heat the oil up in the pan.
2. Toss in the chopped onions, ginger and garlic and fry them until they become brown and the smell rises.
3. Put in the sliced chicken into the pan and let them there for a few minutes, stir occasionally.
4. Now pour in water (don't put too much but not too less either because you'll need it to cook rice and leave some for the soup).
5. Put in the sup bunjut, sprinkle some Ajinomoto and salt. At this point, make sure you're cooking the soup using small fire. Stir occasionally while waiting for the soup to boil.
6. Now, taste the soup. Does it need more salt? If so, sprinkle in salt until the taste is just right.
7. Separate the chicken from the soup and put it in a tupperware or a big bowl whichever suits you.

Chicken rice
1. Wash your rice.
2. Pour the chicken soup into the rice cooker just like you pour in water to cook rice.
3. Sprinkle some turmeric powder to make the rice slightly yellowish.
4. Turn on your rice cooker and now, refocus yourself to the chicken.


Fried chicken
1. To give the chicken some flavour, I usually use oyster sauce.
2. Before frying, smear the chicken with oyster sauce (or any sauce you intend to use) and keep them in a container for a good 15 minutes.
3. Next, you can start heating up oil in your wok and fry your chicken parts until they're brown.
*You don't get dark brown fried chicken when you use oyster sauce, usually they turn slightly brown. If you still want your chicken to get dark brown, mix it with a bit of soy sauce to give it the colour.
4. Don't forget to sprinkle some salt!

Chili sauce
1. Blend in some fresh chilies (4-5) together with a cup of vinegar and half a cup of sugar (you can add more sugar if you want) using a blender (duh). And the sauce is supposed to be runny.
2. It's  done! That's all. hahah 


Tadaa! Now, you can decorate your dish the way you like it. And the chicken rice is done. :)

There are some parts in Malaysia that serve the chicken rice with kicap as well but I'm not really sure how they make kicap so feel free to use store-bought kicap. The difference is not obvious though. Well, I guess.
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Popia


Popia or popiah (whichever way you want to spell it) is one of my favourite local delicacies. I simply looove the crunchy taste on the outside and variety of fillings we usually get in a popia. Delish! I had difficulties trying to stop eating these mini crunchy rolls the other day. Definitely a must try.

Ingredients:

Popia skin (sold in packets and square in shape)
Oil (for frying)

Fillings:
Chicken (minced)
Vegetables mixture (sold in packets)
Onions, garlic (chopped/sliced)
Salt

*You're always free to change the fillings according to your liking. For example, substitute chicken with eggs, add in taugeh (green bean).


How:
Usually people start making popia by preparing the fillings. 

1. Heat up the oil.
2. Pour the onions and garlic into the pan until the smell rises and the onions and garlic turn slightly brown.
3. Now put the minced chicken into the pan and fry it until it's cooked. Later, add in the vegetables mixture and mix well with the chicken. 
4. Sprinkle some salt until the taste is just fine (depends on you). Now, let cool.

When you purchase the popia skin packet, the skins are kind of stuck to one another and pretty tricky to remove. If the packet's cold, let it warm or be equal to the room temperature and start separating the skins by pulling it slowly (it's like you're peeling). But do this one by one. 

1. After you've separated a skin, spread it on a plate and spoon some stuffing (chicken, vegetables etc) onto the skin. 
2. Then, fold the popia so that it looks like a roll. It's not really important how you fold it as long as the popia holds the filling well. The folding technique is up to the individuals.
3. Lastly, fry it with oil until the popia turn golden brown. 

Bon Appetit!
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