Chicken in Shrimp Sauce

Some time ago, I wanted to cook chap chye (Chinese mixed vegetable stew) but couldn't find both fermented bean curd or soy bean paste (tau cheo) at the local stores. Instead, I found Lee Kum Kee's Fine Shrimp Sauce (made from fermented shrimp and salt) and thought, "What the heck." The chap chye turned out a wee bit too salty but PJ commented the shrimp sauce went very well with the black fungus. That got me thinking about pairing the two, along with chicken and Chinese mushrooms and voila! I have a chicken in shrimp sauce dish which earned me a 9.5/10 from PJ tonight. :) 

Serves: 2 hungry people
Cooking time: 20 minutes

ingredients 
2 tbsp sesame oil
5 slices peeled ginger
7 medium sized chicken drumsticks (750-800g), with skin
5 garlic cloves, peeled and bruised
6 Chinese mushrooms
1 handful of dried black fungus
320ml of soaking liquid
1 tsp of shrimp sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee Fine Shrimp Sauce)
Dash of light soy sauce (optional)

method
Soak Chinese mushrooms and black fungus in a bowl of hot water. When softened, remove them from the bowl and retain the soaking liquid. Squeeze out the water from mushrooms and slice them into half. Cut black fungus into smaller pieces.

Heat oil in wok or large pan. Stir fry the ginger till fragrant.

Add drumsticks and stir fry for a few minutes, until the exterior is no longer pink.

Add garlic, mushrooms, black fungus, soaking liquid and shrimp sauce. Stir well. Cover with lid and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Flip the chicken pieces occasionally with a kitchen tongs so that they can absorb the sauce.

(optional) If the sauce is not salty enough, you may wish to drizzle a bit of light soy sauce (I used about 1 tsp) to enhance the flavour.

Lamb with Chickpeas and Lentils (Ghosh vari daar)

Since relocating to Mumbai in May, we hadn't invited any friends over for a meal because 1) we only had 4 chairs at our tiny IKEA dining table; 2) there were only 4 plates, 2 cups, 4 forks and 4 spoons; and 3) I wasn't confident cooking for guests. But due to a recent kind donation of utensils and crockery from a returned Singaporean and a "shameless" self-invitation from a friend (it went like this: "We've been seeing all your food pictures and wonder when you're going to cook for us!") , we finally invited a couple of friends over last night. And this was what I cooked:  

Everyone enjoyed the mutton dish 'cos the meat was so just tender and the gravy flavourful.

This fantastic recipe is from Cooking with My Indian Mother-in-Law  and I've modified it slightly to reduce the heat and to make it slow carb diet friendly. 

Serves: 4
Cooking time: At least 1.5 hours

ingredients
225g/1 cup of channa dal (split chickpeas), well rinsed (I used dried whole chickpeas, soaked overnight) 
2 tbsp moong dal, well rinsed (any type of lentils will be fine actually)
500g mutton (or lamb shoulder or leg, if you can), cubed with bone retained, trimmed of fat and rinsed to remove stray splinters of bone
1.5 tsp salt
3 fat cloves garlic
3cm ginger
2 green chilies
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp peanut/cooking oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2.5cm cinnamon stick
3 cardamoms
3 cloves
10 black peppercorns
4 tbsp crushed canned plum tomatoes and juice (I replaced with 1 chopped fresh tomato and 3 tbsp of tomato puree)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tbsp finely chopped coriander stems
2 medium potatoes, peeled and halved (Omitted because of PJ's slow-carb diet)
Juice of half a lemon (optional)
1/2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (optional)

method 
Put both types of dal in a small pan with 4 cups/1 litre of water and bring to the boil. Skim off any scum, then partially cover the pan and simmer until the pulses are soft. This should take about 30 minutes - you may need to add more boiling water from time to time. (If you are using whole chickpeas, cook it for 30 minutes first before adding lentils; then cook for another 30 minutes i.e., total 1 hr).

Meanwhile, put the meat in a small pan with 500ml/2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp of salt. Bring to the boil, skim off any scum and cook rapidly for 10 mins. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes until tender.

Crush the garlic, ginger, 1 green chili, cumin seeds and 1 tsp of salt to a paste. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion, cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves and peppercorns. Cook over moderate heat until the edges of the onion begin to turn brown. Add the garlic-ginger paste and cook for a minute or so, then add the tomatoes, the remaining chili (left whole), turmeric, coriander stems and the potatoes (optional). Stir well and simmer until the oil pools around the masala mixture.

Add the cooked meat and its cooking liquid to the masala and continue to cook over medium heat. Puree the dal and its cooking water using a hand-held blender, or beat with a whisk - it should be fairly think and soupy. Add it to the masala. Simmer gently until the potatoes are tender (if you're not using potatoes, just simmer for another 15-20 minutes).

(optional step) When you're ready to serve, stir in the lemon juice and chopped coriander and check the seasoning, adding more salt if necessary (not really!).

notes
If you prefer more heat, use 4 green chilies - 2 in the paste, and 2 whole with the tomato mixture.

Tom Yum Soup with Prawns & Chicken Meatballs

Ever since a colleague introduced me to Noob Cook, I've been eagerly combing the website to identify suitable Asian recipes that I can cook here in India. Her Tom Kha Talay  is something completely doable and I had meant to cook it today, only to be too lazy to source for good fish fillets. Instead, I decided to tweak the recipe somewhat and popped over to the nearby cold storage (NOT the Cold Storage in Singapore. Cold storage here are shops which sell fresh chicken meat, pork, mutton, eggs and sometimes other frozen meats/seafood etc.) and got some fresh chicken meat to make meatballs. The chicken meatballs turned out pretty fragrant and sweet, and unlike most times, I actually noted down the ingredients that went in (it was pretty much a "I think this should work so let's try lat" first-time effort). So here's the recipe for my tom yum soup with prawns and chicken meatballs. Definitely a slow carb diet friendly meal. 

Serves: 2
Cooking time: 15 minutes

ingredients 

for chicken meatballs
200g chicken breast fillet, chopped into smaller pieces
200g chicken thigh (skinless, boneless), chopped into smaller pieces
4 fat garlic cloves, peeled
2 small shallots, peeled
1 tbsp fresh mint leaves
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves & stem (around 3-4 small stalks)
1 level tsp salt

the rest
700ml water
40-50g tom yum paste
1 stalk  fresh basil
1 lime
2 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
1 chilli padi
150g french beans, tips removed, cut to 1.5inches pieces
100g fresh button mushrooms, quartered (stems removed if preferred. For me, I removed the stems but throw them into the soup for the flavour and extra crunch)
11-12 medium sized prawns, shelled & deveined (tails left)
Fish sauce
Chilli flakes
Mint leaves
Tobasco sauce (optional/if needed)

method
Mince the 400g of chicken meat together (pulse on and off in a food processor). Scoop out the chicken meat into a mixing bowl. Next, add the garlic, shallots, mint leaves, coriander and salt into the food processor. Blend until ingredients are finely chopped. Scrape the mixture into the chicken mince and stir well to blend. With slightly wet hands, scoop out a generous tablespoon worth of the mixture and gently roll it into balls. Set the meatballs aside on a plate. Mixture should yield around 9-10 servings.

To make the soup base, bring water to boil in a deep saucepan. Add tom yum paste, basil, juice of lime, kaffir lime leaves and chill padi. Let mixture simmer for a while.

Carefully add the chicken meatballs into the soup. After around 7 minutes, the meatballs will float to the surface (a sign that they are cooked). Add mushrooms and french beans and cook for 2 minutes. Add prawns and cook for another minute.

Season with fish sauce, chilli flakes and tobasco sauce (if you need more spice and sourness). Garnish with mint leaves and serve immediately.