Manado/Minahasan Food : Ayam Rica-Rica (half instant)

Ayam rica-rica is a very famous Manadonese dish among non-Manado/Minahasa people. The word "rica" means chili, so it is very obvious that ayam rica-rica is supposed to be spicy. But if you are not a big fan of hot food, don't worry because the amount of chili can be adjusted according to your preference.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Chicken Rice is one of the wellknown dish in Singapore. It is sold in almost all of the food courts in Singapore. I remember, with only S$ 2.50 I can buy a plate of chicken rice set in my school canteen. But this dish may cost more in other proper chicken rice Restaurant.

I admit that I didn't eat chicken rice often in Singapore. This is not my favourite dish, mostly because it can be found everywhere. But few days ago, I saw a blog of a friend posting about chicken rice and since then I am challenged to make one here.

This is not a authentic way to make a real chicken rice, but at least this can remind of my time in Singapore. I try to combine recipes from internet with the limited ingredients and tools in my kitchen. Dedicated for friends who have leave Singapore for a some time or for good and want to make their own home made chicken rice.

I don't know how the best chicken rice supposed to taste, but here I present you my first ever try of making chicken rice (white) complete with its garlic sauce, soup and eggs.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Chicken :
4 pcs chicken legs
2 stalks spring onion
6 slices ginger
4 bulbs garlic lightly cracked
2 bulbs onion diced
1 tbsp coriander powder
1000 ml water
2 tbsp salt

Rice:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
500 grams rice
1 big shallot / 3 small size shallots thinly sliced
2 tbsp grated ginger
4 bulbs grated garlic
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp salt

Garlic Sauce:
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 bulbs garlic
2 padi chili (optional)
1 big red long paprika / 4 red chili
2 tbsp lime / lemon juice
salt to taste
sugar to taste
3 tbsp chicken stock

Eggs:
100 ml Water
6 hard boiled eggs
4 tbsp dark soy sauce
small container

Additional:
2 tbsp sesame oil
cucumber

Step 1 (Chicken):

1. Put spring onion, ginger, garlic, onion, coriander powder, and water in a big pot and brig to rolling boil.
2. Put chicken legs in the boiling water. Make sure the water is enough to cover all of the chicken parts. Cover the pot and boil for 5 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat, and do not lift the cover. Let the chicken to be cooked for 30 minutes with the remaining heat and steam. (In my case I'm using pressure cooker because it has a tight lid. Rice cooker pot might be used in this process)
4. Once the chicken throughly cooked, take out all of the chicken legs from the pot and rinse them with running water or iced water bath.
5. Deboned the chicken legs and set the meat aside. Brush the sesame oil on the chicken and set the meat aside.
6. Keep the remaining chicken bones for making chicken stock.

Step 2 (Chicken Stock):

1. Add chicken bones to the earlier pot and boil it for around 20 minutes.
2. Drain off the stock and set aside.

Step 3 (rice):

1. Wash rice, and strain it. Set aside.
2. Add vegetable oil on the heated pan.
3. Add shallot, garlic, and ginger. Saute until fragrant.
4. Add the earlier strained rice and salt, and stir until fragrant.
5. Move all the rice mixtures into rice cooker. Add half of the chicken stock to it and adjust the liquid volume with water if the water level is not enough. (Follow a normal rice cooking water level)
6. Cook it until the fragrance of the rice fill your room/house. I love this part.. hehe

Step 4 (sauce);

1. Mashed chili, garlic, and ginger with mortar and pestle, or simply blend it with food processor until they reach a paste consistency.
2. Add in chicken stock, lime juice, sugar, and salt.

Step 5 (eggs):

1. Peeled hard boiled eggs and dip it in a mixture of water and soya souce.
2. Put in a small water tight container. Leave them for a while. Turn the container upside down each 5 minutes just to get the color of egg evenly brown.

Step 6 (soup):

1. Reheat the left stock
2. Add salt, white pepper and sliced spring onion.

Combine every element except soup in one plate and add sliced cucumber as garnish. Serve it with hot chicken stock soup.

Portion: 6 person

Self note:

1. My first rice need more salt
2. The amount of garlic chili sauce is too much for 6 person portion. It is still not perfect for me, but I'm not sure how to improve it. Maybe the garlic or ginger was too strong, or I just need to try another recipe for garlich chili sauce.
3. Next try: etter chicken deboning skill for better presentation.
4. More improvements needed for the eggs. Maybe new recipe. This time I just use the easiest one.

Simple Chicken Satay ~ Sate Ayam

Satee~ Satee~
It's an easy dish to prepare and surely a favorite dish to serve when you miss home (Indonesia). This time I used instant sate sauce that I bought in Indonesia.

Sate Ayam

Ingredients:
500 g chicken breast cubed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp tamarin (disolved in water)
4 tbsp Indonesian sweet soy sauce

Margarine (keep it later for grilling)
Bamboo skewers (soak in water for one hour to avoid burning)

Instant peanut sate souce (prepare according to instructions in packaging)

You'll need:
Grilling pan/plate

Grilling Satay

Steps:
1. Marinate chicken breast in all ingredients (except margarine) for 4 hours in fridge.
2. Thread the chicken cubes onto bamboo skewers and grill for 2-3 minutes each side.
3. Serve with rice, peanut sauce, sweet soy sauce, slices of shallots and cucumber.

Enjoy!

Chicken Veggie Soup

Soup time! It's the simplest type of meal that people can cook. Now I want to make it more complicated. Read to the end, try, and you'll know why. ^_^

Tools:
Frying pan or wok
Spatula

Ingredients:
Chicken breast - 1 pc
Carrot - 1 pc
Lettuce - 1/2 pc
chopped/cliced Shallot - 3 clove
chopped/sliced Garlic - 3 Clove
Salt & pepper
Cooking Oil - 2 tsp
Chopped coriander - optional (* daun sup)
fried shallot - optional (* bawang goreng)
water

Steps:

1. Cut All vegetables and chicken into desirable size.
2. Heat oil, saute garlic and shallot until change color to light yellow.
3. Put chicken and stir until cooked, add 1 pinch of salt and stir again.
4. Put carrot and stir until it change color into lighter yellow. Remember, smaller carrot size means lesser time to cook.
5. Put water as many as you want and cook until it boil. Do not over flooding your pan, sice the water need space to boil as well.
6. Mix Lettuce together with the earlier mixture until it slightly soft.
7. Add salt and pepper according to your taste. You need to taste the saltiness of spiciness of the soup to know.
8. Put last ingredients: coriander leaf or fried shallot.

Note:

1. Chicken breast might be replace by other part of chicken. But you have to take note, chicken breast is healthier than other. I prefer chicken breast because it has more meat and less bones and skin (yes, i dont like skin).
2. The purpose of sauteing meat with garlic and shallot is to enhance the soup aroma and create a firmer outer side texture of meat.
3. Actually the easiest way to make soup is to throw all ingredients inside the boiled water, but i prefer to do this way because of the better aroma of soup and the whole cooking experience =)

Please share with me, what type of soup you normally cook?
do you saute the ingredients first or you do the steam boat type of soup? which one do you prefer?