Shab's Chicken Fry Masala

 

Two years ago, the concept of a food blog was alien to me. Apart from the usual Allrecipes, Epicurious or Martha Stewart, the only recipes that I swear by are those taught by my mom or my aunt. The only curry I knew how to make during my student days were thanks to Patak's paste that came in variety ( albeit taste all the same!), and of course the Pakistani joint that sells amazing chicken pakora and biryani saved the day whenever some spicy craving was in order.

Then I chanced upon this blog, which brought Malabar cuisine to a new height, and fell in love with the Chicken Fry Masala that was so simple, yet tasted out of the world. Two years on, we still have this tasty curry for special occassion with ghee rice, or on a lazy work day when a curry is needed in twenty minutes.

It was also thanks to this blogger that my food blog was born.

Steamed Chicken Char Sui Bao

What an irony.

This recipe has been siting in my draft for such a long time, waiting for its 'release', until the Daring Cooks' December challenge was announced...its Steamed Bao, or Pao as I knew it, so I thought it's time to make this blog alive again with this post:-)

This month's Daring Cook challenge is Char Sui Bao, courtesy of Sara from Belly Rumbles. I am well amazed that she challenged us to try this traditional Oriental delight that I could nowadays get on daily basis at workplace. I grew up with paos that my mom makes regularly at home, and it remains one of my favourite dim sum menu. Given the halal diet that we strictly adhere to, and the obvious lack of halal meat in pao filling, I am so used to homemade pao and chicken char sui which conforms to our diet restrictions. Lately I have been following the dough recipe from SmokyWok, one of the well-known Malaysian bloggers. This time round, I thought I shall use the recipe provided by Sara, and I am happy to report that both recipes gave wonderful outcomes:-). Having said that, I am a creature of habit, so I always resort to Hong Kong flour instead of plain flour for the dough.

It has been raining cats and dogs lately here, and these wonderful fresh-from-the steam buns are perfect for the lazy afternoon with sips of herbal tea. Over the last few years of making my own homemade pao, I learnt that more important than the dough is the filling, if you get the filling right, the buns would taste divine. There is an array of fillings that can be tried apart from char sui, use any meat you like. Sweet filling like red bean paste. Savoury curry flavoured chicken. Stir-fry tofu with black pepper. The choice is ultimately yours.

One thing though.

Make enough buns, with at least 2 buns for each of you as one is definitely not enough.

Steamed Chicken Char Sui Bao


Sara's dough recipe:

2½ teaspoons (8 gm/1 satchel) of dried yeast
¼ cup (55 gm/2 oz) sugar
½ cup warm water
2 cups (280 gm/10 oz) plain flour
1 egg (medium size - slightly beaten)
3 tablespoons oil
½ teaspoon (3 gm) salt
Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with a dash of water
(1 cup=240 ml, 1 tablespoon=15 ml, 1 teaspoon=5 ml)

For the filling:

100g minced or ground chicken, marinated in 1 tsp corn flour for about 10 minutes (to tenderise)

1 stalk green onion, sliced

1 cluster bok choy, sliced thinly

2 tbsps grated fresh ginger, together with the juice

Seasoning:

1 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tsps light soy sauce

1 tbsp black pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

2 tsps cornstarch/ cornflour mixed with 2 tbsps chicken stock

Method:

1.  Combine the yeast, 2 tbsps of warm water, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp bao flour in a bowl.  Cover with a damp kitchen towel and set aside for 15 minutes.  The mixture should turn frothy, if it does not it means that the yeast you used is 'dead' or no longer active, you will have to repeat this step if so.  Just FYI, the sugar feeds the yeast so don't skip it.

2.  Sift the bao flour and self-rising flour into a large bowl.  Add sugar, the melted butter, the rest of the warm water and the yeast mixture from above.

3.  With a wooden spoon, start mixing everything together until a soft dough begins to form.

4.  Set the wooden spoon aside.  Get ready a bowl of additional pao/ bao flour for dusting as it is now time for kneading.  I sometimes like to knead my dough in the large metal bowl I regularly use but if you like prepare a floured counter and turn the dough out to knead.

5.  Knead the dough with your hands for about 3-5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.  As you can see, I kneaded this by hand and it is not hard at all as the dough is not too wet so you don't have to pull out the mixer.

6.  Lightly oil a bowl.  Place the kneaded dough into the bowl and cover dough with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rise for about 1 hour in a warm place.   Note that humidity makes a difference so if you're in a cold and dry climate, it may take longer to double in size.

7.  While the dough is proofing, it's time to make the filling.  Add about 3 tbsps cooking oil to a hot pan or wok and add in the bok choy and green onions.  Add in grated ginger and juice.  Turn heat to medium.  Once aromatic, add in the chicken.  Turn heat up.  Add seasoning (except for corn starch) and stir around until chicken is cooked, taste a little bit of the chicken and add more seasoning if required.  If the mixture looks dry, add 1 or 2 tsps of water at a time.  Dish out into a shallow bowl and allow to cool.

8.  Check the dough after an hour, the dough should have roughly doubled and it should feel airy and quite porous.

9.  Prepare a lightly floured surface and turn the dough out onto it.  Lightly punch the air bubbles out and knead again, dusting with additional bao flour as needed.

10.  Roll the dough out into a cylindrical shape and divides into balls. Flatten the 'ball' with your hands, turning it around in your palm as you flatten to form a flattened round.  There is no need to use a rolling pin for this.  My guests and I like to have bao with thicker skins hence you can see that the ratio of filling to skin is almost 1:1 for us but do adjust according to your preferences.

13.  Spoon about 1 heaped tsp of filling onto the center of the flattened dough.

14.  Start wrapping up the filling in the dough with your right hand while cupping the bao lightly with your left hand. 

15.  Place the bun on the prepared baking paper squares.

16. Repeat steps above until all the dough is finished up.  Anytime the dough seems too sticky, dust with a little bit of bao flour and knead lightly again if needed.

All ready to be steamed for about 12-15 minutes. Serve hot!

The Ever Versatile Kerala Chicken Roast

I don't know whether it's the enticingly unique description of 'roast' or the mouthwatering pictures that did it, but the moment I saw Nashi of Plateful's recent post on 'Kerala style Chicken Roast'; a roast that does not involve oven, I knew then that this dish is a definite bookmark for the weekend. She really knows how to describe her curry well, I tell you, as I was on trance for the whole week and could not wait for the weekend to try out the curry. I agree with her that most Indian curries which are popular especially in the West tend to veer towards North Indian Mughlai dishes, leaving the South Indian counterpart a bit neglected. Roast is a term used in Kerala dishes where the gravy is semi-dry.  In our household, we tend to have an easy quick of chicken fry masala which is almost like this curry sans coconut milk. I thought it was time for me to try a creamier version of chicken roast, and voila, the result was just outstanding.

 When you get two thumbs up from your Kerala-born father who esteemed this curry as 'the best remembrance of his childhood days in Kerala and the best he has tasted so far', I thought I shall post it here too for the benefits of all, although if you are after fabulous clicks and stunning photography, I suggests you head off to Nashi's space where the justice to the curry is definitely done.

We had ours a good few hours ago with hot, steaming fragrant rice, and the taste is still lingering in my palate. Next time I shall make some Roomali roti to go with it, this is a definite keeper, and gives all the Mughlai dishes a good run for their money.

The Ever-Versatile Kerala Chicken Roast

recipe adapted from here, originally from Vanitha magazine

1 whole chicken-skinned and cut into small pieces

Marinade:

1.2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp chilli powder

juice from 1 lemon

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp coconut oil

2 medium sized onions-sliced

2 tomatoes-diced

4 cloves garlic- minced

2 inch ginger-grated

1 tbsp chilli powder

2 tbsp coriander powder

1/2 tbsp fennel powder

1/2 tbsp garam masala

few sprigs curry leaves

lemon wedges

1 cinnamon stick

salt to taste

2 cloves

1 can thick coconut milk

Method

1.Marinade the chicken pieces with the marinade ingredients and keep for at least 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, dry roast the spices: fennel powder, coriander and chilli powder. Keep aside.

3. Heat the coconut oil in a wok and shallow fry the chicken in batches until almost cooked and golden brown. Keep aside.

4. Using the same oil, fry the curry leaves, cinnamon stick and cloves until fragrant. Add the onions and minced ginger-garlic. 

5. Once the onion is almost translucent, add the dry roasted spices. Let the mix be well blended and add the tomatoes followed by the fried chicken.

6. Coat the chicken well with the spices and add the garam masala.

7. Pour the coconut milk, season with salt and tiny bit of lemon juice.

8. Reduce the heat and let the curry simmer until the gravy changes to darker colour and becomes semi-dry.

9. Serve warm with rice, rotis, baguette, the choice is yours.

Guest Post for Jabeen's Corner: Chicken Kabsa

I am all excited for my first guest post ever, and even more honoured to be featured in Jabeen's fabulous blog, Jabeen's Corner. I came across her blog through her Iftar events and have been hooked since as Jabeen puts a lot of effort in posting tasty recipes as well as bringing a lot of bloggers together through her event. We got talking and the idea of guest posts was brought up. Jabeen wanted to do something different, something unique for her guest posts series by including a 'mini interview' of the guest blogger too. Even though I know Jabeen loves agar-agar, I thought I would cook something  more exotic and special for her first guest post in her Bonjour series, hence the Chicken Kabsa.

As Jabeen is probably more of a specialist on Indian food than me, I thought I would cook something Middle Eastern instead, my signature dish that has found its way in our ancestral home for all the special occasions, birthdays and family gatherings. Jabeen has also requested me to do some little snippets about myself,  so to find that out and the Chicken Kabsa recipe, please visit her site here.

Hope you enjoy your visit to Jabeen's Corner and please try out my Chicken Kabsa recipe for that special occasion, or just because..:-)