Tuesday, January 02, 2007

A New Year, A New Beginning

Happy New Year one and all.

2007 will be a challenging year for me as I embark on new responsibilities and different roles at work. I have much to learn and I have to learn them fast. There is always the initial apprehension and I must psyche myself to overcome the fear of the unknown as only by overcoming this fear will I then be able to perform well. Wish me luck.

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My first bake to usher in the New Year is the Chestnut Tartlets. The insides of tart shells are brushed with melted chocolate before being filled with Cream Patissiere. A dollop of whipped cream is then piped on top of the Cream Patissiere. Finally, chestnut puree is dizzled all over. The whole concoction is then topped off with a single chocolate almond. The rum-laced Cream Patissiere is silky smooth and the chestnut puree is very fragrant. Absolutely wonderful with a cup of black coffee.
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For lunch, I had prepared three dishes.

The first is Prime Ribs with Bittergourd in Homemade Glutinuous Wine. The wine was made by DH's colleague. The hearty dish tasted sweetly of wine and is fantastic with a bowl, no make it two, of steaming hot rice.
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The next dish is something which I saw during my last trip to Malacca. I was walking past this coffeeshop and saw a newspaper cutting on one of the famous Muar Otah Fishpaste. Accompanying the report was a picture of a dish of longbeans that were fried with the otah fishpaste. I did not get a chance to try this dish as the stall was closed but I had imagine it to be cooked in the same way as longbeans with sambal dried prawns. This dish can be prepared in a jiffy as you do away with all the pounding of spices and dried shrimps for the sambal. All you need is to fry the longbeans in otah fish paste and the dish is ready in a flash.
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The final dish is Honey Marmite Chicken. I first tasted this during lunch at Far East Plaza. I liked it so much that I went back a second time just to try to figure out what goes in. I think I have pretty much got it down to pat and dare say I that it tasted even better than the original.
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If you want to give it a try, here is my recipe:

Honey Marmite Chicken
3 chicken thighs
Wash and drain the thighs well. Chop each into 4 (or 5 if the thighs are big) pieces. Marinate for half to one hour in 2 tbsp light soya sauce and 1 tbps Hua Tiao wine.

Gravy:
1 rounded tsp Marmite yeast extract
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp light soya sauce
Mix everything together.

1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tbsp Hua Tiao wine

Method:
1) Deep fry the chicken pieces in batches till golden brown and skin is crispy. Drain on paper towels to absorb excess oil.
2) Heat 1 tbsp oil and saute garlics till light brown.
3) Add the gravy ingredients and cook till glossy.
4) Add the fried chicken pieces and quickly toss to coat well.
5) Splash in the wine from the side of the wok just before dishing up the chicken.

Note:
If you want a bit more gravy, you can increase gravy ingredients by 50%. There should be just enough gravy to coat the chicken (they should not be 'swimming' in it.)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rusti,

Happy New Year.... I love the look of your Marmite chicken... I am not sure if I can find it here though. Can I substitute Marmite with Vegiemite? Vegiemite is an yeast extract spread which is very popular here in Australia... Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Hi Ginny,

wow, thanks for the recipe. I love marmite chicken. I dont have marmite at home, I think I will try out using vegiemite.

Cheers,
Alice

Rusti said...

Hi White Poplar & Anonymous. Yes you can use Vegiemite. They are both quite similar in taste.

Anonymous said...

Hi ginny
can share how to cook the bittergourd with ribs? looks great..

Rusti said...

Hi Jo,
Marinate the prime ribs for about 45mins in light soya sauce and baking soda to tenderise the meat(if you wish).

Saute the sliced bittergourd till they turn dark green and dish up.
Saute some chopped garlics and sliced chillies, add the ribs and fry till they changed color. Add in 4-5 Chinese soup spoons of the glutinuous wine, stir a bit and add some Taiwanese Aged Soya Paste (or oyster sauce) & dark soya sauce (for color). Add water to cover the ribs and simmer covered with lid till water is reduced by half. Add in the bittergourd and simmer till ribs soften and the bittergourd has absorb the flavors. Add more wine to taste and adjust seasonings. Thicken gravy with cornflour mixture.

Anonymous said...

thanx ginny!
muacks

Anonymous said...

Hi, I've tried the marmite chicken for dinner today. I used vegemite and the dish turn out awesome(something like the restaurant meal!!). Thanks.

Rusti said...

Hi Anonymous (Fri,19Sep)

It is very good isn't it. I love it too.

I have improvised further by tossing in some curry leaves just before dishing up. Just saute the leaves in oil till crispy.
It lifts the dish to a new dimension.
Ginny