A frequent dish at home. Looks real simple, yet packs a whole lot of flavor.

This is where I like to amp it up. Ginger, garlic, scallions and sesame oil come together and bring a pale looking chicken to a whole new level. Finally everything hinges on the chili sauce.. And we do not want to dissappoint.

I usually make a lot.. bound to dissappear ... fast...

Ingredients:

Chicken
6 chicken breasts, preferably organic
3-inch nub of fresh ginger cut thinly
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2.8 L chicken broth
A pinch of salt if necessary
2 stalks green onions, cut into small slices (both the green and white parts)

Rice:
5 cups long-grain uncooked rice, washed and soaked in cool water for 10 min or longer
5 cups reserved chicken poaching broth
1 tbsp of minced ginger

Chili Sauce:
1 tsp lime juice
2 tbsp reserved chicken poaching broth
2 tsp sugar
4 tbsp sriracha chili sauce
4 cloves garlic
1-inch nub of ginger
A pinch of salt, to taste

To Serve:
1/4 cup dark soy sauce
Few sprigs cilantro
1 cucumber, thinly sliced or cut into bite-sized chunks

Directions:
1. In a pot, add chicken, ginger, garlic, and broth and add water if necessary to completely submerge the chicken. Boil until the chicken is fully cooked. It should come apart with a fork.
2. Remove chicken from pot and coat with sesame oil on a plate.

3. In a rice cooker, cook the rice with 5 cups of the chicken broth reserved from the previous steps and ginger.

4. In a blender, add in the ingredients for the chili sauce and blend until smooth.

5. Use eight cups of leftover broth to serve as soup, heating it up in a pot again and seasoning with salt if necessary.

6. Plate a cup of rice with the chicken breasts, some dark soy sauce, some cucumber slices, and a bowl of soup with cilantro to garnish.

Directions:

1. In a bain marie, melt the chocolate with the butter in a medium bowl
2. In a stand mixer, whip the egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff.
3. To the chocolate bowl, slowly add the sugar and then the egg yolks, one by one, mixing after each addition.
4. Lightly fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.
5. Spoon or pipe into your show piece receptacles.
6. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Serve with cream, chocolate shavings, raspberries, or maybe all of them.

There were seven of us and six of them: two couples and nine kids. Dinner was at our place. Some of the kids played 18 holes that day, some spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. We definitely needed a lot of sustenance for refueling!


I can't remember what I made that night, but it involved a lot of spicy Indonesian food and copious amounts of rice.  And Jeny brought her signature Malaysian Fish Curry, something she can apparently conjure because she travels with this very set of spices.

Wow! This fish curry was amazing! My kids loved it and my hubby loved it. Her kids enjoyed my dishes, and my troops devoured hers. Guess the grass is always greener or spicier on the other side ;)



Now I hardly ask for a recipe if the cook doesn't offer it. But this was different. I actually had to pester her for the recipe. Not that she didn't want to part with it, but just to make sure she didn't forget ... it was sooo good! Besides, she was leaving in a day or two! She was nice enough to bring her packet of panch puran, her fish curry powder and a generous handful of curry leaves for my first attempt, along with her hand-written scribble of the recipe.

Thanks, Jeny! Been making it a few times now, to the delight of the spice loving folks at home.

Ingredients:
3 lbs snapper fillets (any firm-fleshed fish will do as well)
4 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp panchpuran (or panch phoran) spice mix*
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1" piece of ginger, minced
10-15 curry leaves
4 tomatoes, cut into wedges
2 cans coconut milk (or 1 can coconut milk and 1 can evaporated milk)
4 tbsp Baba's fish curry powder
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp turmeric powder
500 g (3 cups) cut or whole okra
1/2 cup thick tamarind juice (from 3 tbsp of tamarind block with 1 cup water)
Salt to taste

Directions:
1. In a sauté pan, heat oil until it shimmers, then add the panch puran spice mix.
2. When it starts to pop, add the onions, garlic and ginger, sweat this for 3-4 minutes.
3. Then put the curry leaves and tomatoes in.

4. When tomatoes are softened, pour in the coconut milk along with the dry ingredients and the okra.
5. When it starts to boil, add salt and tamarind juice (adjust quantity to taste).
6. Finally place the fish in gently.

Prepare this dish before hand until #5, then warm and add fish just before dinner time.

Note about okra: sautéing okra makes it slimy, so make sure to add it after coconut milk has gone in, that way the juices cook with it.

* Panch puran or panch phoran is an East Indian or Bengali seed mix. Easy to put together if you have the basic Indian spices at home. It's even nice to cook rice with. Equal portions of:
Brown Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds
Fennel seeds
Fenugreek seeds
Nigella seeds