Ayam Sioh (Chicken in Spicy Tamarind Sauce) is a variant of Duck Sioh (Itik Sioh). This dish is essentially a sour and sweet based stew with a strong hint of tamarind juice (asam jawa) and ketumbar (coriander) spice. I have a feeling that this dish is a Baba-Nyonya Peranakan dish but I stand corrected. Anyway, I was introduced to this dish by my mother-in-law a couple of years back and took a liking to it due to its appetizing taste.

Thankfully, my lovely wife has inherited her mother’s recipe and over the weekend, decided to cook up this dish for Father’s Day lunch. We could not finish the dish as we used 1 whole chicken but we are not complaining because the longer this dish keeps, the tastier it gets. For better results, duck is preferred as the meat is “tougher” to withstand the marinate using tamarind juice. If you can’t find duck, try using “village / kampong” chicken or free-range chicken. Read the rest of this entry »

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Once in a while when I eat out at “mixed-rice” stalls (stalls which sell white rice with a mind-boggling choice of side dishes which you can choose and be priced accordingly), I will eat this dish - Ginger Sauced Chicken. Well, I confess that I don’t actually know the real name of this dish but since it is a ginger sauce based dish with chicken, I reckoned it should be called Ginger Sauced Chicken.

After a few tries outside, I attempted this dish and it turned out quite okay. Only thing is I haven’t actually perfected the art of having the chicken nicely fried without having too thick a batter. Whilst the picture above was as a result of what I cooked, I am modifying the recipe a bit into what I think would be better. You can actually fry the chicken pieces beforehand or don’t. It is up to you really. But the highlight is the ginger sauce. Give it a try.

This is my recipe for Ginger Sauced Chicken Read the rest of this entry »

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The one and only time I’ve tasted this Pork Leg Hoi Sin Stew (name given by myself) was during Chinese New Year when my mother-in-law cooked this. I was totally blown away by this dish as it is so delicious that even my 3 year old daughter was asking for seconds and third helpings. So, why is this dish so delicious? I mean, it is only pork leg stew!

Okay…the gravy is an interesting blend of sweet hoi sin sauce with salted plums. Add some dried chillies for spiciness and a touch of chinese cooking wine for the aroma. Stew it for at least an hour and you’ll get absolute melt-in-the-mouth layer of fat, smooth skin as well as soft and tender flavour infused meat. My! What a mouthful! Okay, it might sound that I was exaggerating but you’re missing out something really really tasty if you don’t try out this recipe! Read the rest of this entry »

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Another simple dish to try out here : Stir Fried Ladies Fingers with Anchovies. Ladies Fingers is also known as Okra whilst locally, anchovies are also known as Ikan Bilis. The anchovies come in many sizes and for this dish, the medium sized ones are chosed wherein the head and bones are removed prior to cooking. The cooking time for this dish depends on your liking really because some like their ladies finger cooked till soft and limp. For me, I prefer it slightly crunchy. Feels healthier as well

This is my recipe for Stir Fried Ladies Fingers with Anchovies Read the rest of this entry »

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