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.

Stir-fry Okra in Homemade Shrimp Paste (paired with spaghetti)

I wanted a home-cooked lunch for myself last week but only had okra (or lady's fingers) in my fridge. Recalling how my mum used to stir-fry them with dried shrimps and chilli, I decided to make a savoury and thick paste to stir-fry the okra and lay it on top spaghetti to make a simple meal.

Serves: 1 

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes for spaghetti; 10 mins for okra 

ingredients 

Handful of spaghetti
1 medium onion, quartered
3 garlic cloves
2 bird's eye chilli (commonly called Thai Chillies or Chilli Padi)
2 tbsp small dried shrimps
1 tbsp of cooking oil
1 tbsp of light soya sauce
10 medium-sized okra, cut into 3cm pieces

method

Bring a pot of water and some salt to boil. Throw in the spaghetti and cook as per instructions on packaging.

Whilst the spaghetti is cooking, put the onion, garlic, chilli and shrimps in a blender and blend at low speed for about 10 seconds (or until everything is finely chopped). Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok and fry the blended paste for about 3-5 minus, until slightly browned. Season with soya sauce. 

Stir in okra and stir-fry for another 5 minutes (or longer, if you prefer slightly mushy okra). Add a tablespoon of water if the mixture starts to stick to the pan. 

Serve on top of spaghetti or plain white rice or lentils if you are on the slow carb diet.