Peanut Cookies with Sesame Seeds

I had plans to baked some Chinese New Year goodies this year. But as usual, things never turn up as planned. I didn't get to baked any CNY goodies. :(  I did, however managed to fry a bottle of Arrowhead Chips for myself. :P

Just a couple of days before CNY, the kids asked why there isn't any Peanut Cookies which happened to be their favourite. Hence, I burned some mid-night oil to bake a few bottles of it. Of course, I got nagged for 'wasting time'. *roll eyes* Some people men just don't understand. :P

{ Dinner: Grilled Chicken with Herbs }

One of those days that the kids didn't want rice. They prefer chicken than pork hence you see me cooking more of chicken.

Serving this with Mushroom Soup and Baked Cauliflower Mash.

This is one of my favourite grilled chicken recipe, which I have shared in 2007. I'm re-posting this recipe again as the picture on the older post has gone missing.

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Drumstick

Marinade:

• 1/2 teaspoon Dried Thyme
• 2 teaspoon Dried Rosemary
• 1/2 (of a whole) Lemon Rind
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

How to do it:

1. Mix marinade.
2. Add chicken to marinade and set aside for at least 1/2 hour.
3. Heat grill pan with a little oil.
4. Grill chicken skin down first, till brown.
5. Turn over and continue to grill the other side of the chicken.
6. Serve.

Chicken Soup with Shark's Cartilage 鲨鱼软骨鸡汤

I hesitate for a long time before deciding to share this recipe.  Why?  Because it involve Sharks. Yes, sharks.  I realised anyone sharing anything about eating sharks (fins) gets lots of flaming.

I'm not trying to go against environmentalists out there who are against eating Shark's Fin and promote eating it here. Like I mentioned before in some of my posts, I will not encourage eating it but will not reject it if it's served to me. It will be a waste of food, whether or not if it's Shark's Fin. 

Just a thought here.  Maybe if we all start eating Shark's meat like what we used to do, the fishermen will not just harvest the fins and throw the remains back into the sea.  Shark's meat was my father's favourite. I remembered eating it very often when I was a child. My father often cooked it with Black Fermented Bean.  Even the Lor Mee I had when I was a child was loaded with the soft and sweet Shark's meat. I do not know when the wet markets stopped having Shark's meat for sale. Finding shark's meat is even harder than Shark's Fin now. :P

Anyway, if you are still thinking of flaming me or send me hate mails for this post, please do the same for those who are sharing about Foie Gras too.  It is cruel how the geese are raised and fed, all for its liver.  No?  BUT, Foie Gras remains a delicacy and is much loved by many.  Not much petitions to stop eating Foie Gras around leh.  Well, not as much as Shark's Fin.  Everybody is still happily eating it. :P  Not very fair to the geese, you know.  Likewise for any other animals which are raised in harsh environment so that the farmers can get the most of them. :P  They, the farmers, are the ones who needed the 'education'.  ;)

For me, I just want to share a collagen rich recipe here. Not to start a food war or anything. If you don't like what you see, you can just leave.  And don't waste time sending me hate mails or comments. I get lots of those before.  Doesn't affect me much nowadays.  Just go spend your time usefully somewhere else.  Thank you.  ;)

Please note that this soup is for those who are very patient.  You need at least 4 hours of simmering to to turn the cartilage into gelatinous/jelly like and the soup milky.  The cartilage shown in the pictures here had only be simmered for 2 hours (just so you can see how it's going to be like half way into cooking).  You can see part of it turning jelly like.  You won't be seeing much of the cartilage or rather the shape of it after 4 hours.

Ingredients:

• 1 large Shark's Cartilage
• 1 Chicken Carcass
• 10 Chicken Feet
• 2 Chicken Drumstick
• a handful Wolfberries
• a slice of Ginger
• 3 litres Water

How to do it:

1. Blanch shark's cartilage, chicken carcass, feet and drumstick.
2. Add all the above, except drumsticks, and ginger into a pot of water.
3. Bring to a boil before reducing to a simmer.
4. Simmer for 3 hours before adding the chicken drumsticks.
5. Continue to simmer till the shark's cartilage turn gelatinous/jelly.
6. Add in the wolfberries and cook for another minute.
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Serve.

Note:

• I add chicken drumstick at a later time as I'll serving it with the soup. If you just wish to serve the soup without any meat, you can omit it.
• You may use other parts of chicken instead of drums if you wish.
• Please eat whatever gelatinous cartilage that has not all melted into the soup and not just drink the soup only. It's packed with collagen

Arrowhead Chips

It's the time of the year for those super additive chips that looks like potato chips but better! Yup! I'm talking about Arrowhead Chips. You only get them once a year and can easily cost you $15 for a bottle of it.

Well, if you don't mind hard work, which is worth every bit of it, make it yourself! To make it crispy, you have to slice it thin and dry it before frying.

Okay, enough said. Please excuse me while I go enjoy my Arrowhead Chips. Crunch ... crunch ... crunch ....

{ Breakfast: Pan-Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Burger }

This is one of the many back-dated posts that I mentioned earlier which I meant to share in January but didn't get to do it. So while I have time to update, I'll try to do as much back-dated posts as I can.

For those who are subscribing to my feed, my apologies for the flooding.

I made this for breakfast during one of the weekends, many weeks ago :P. The bun was sliced half. I buttered it a little and pan grilled them. You can catch a glimpse of the grill lines on the underside of the top bun on the picture below. :P I served it with homemade chips here.

Ingredients:

• 4 Chicken Breast, deboned

Marinade:

• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder or 3 Fresh Garlic, grated
• 1 tablespoon Sake
• 1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Sugar

Teriyaki Sauce:

• 4 tablespoon Sake
• 1 tablespoon Mirin
• 5 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Maltose or Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Ginger; done by squeezing grated ginger

How to do it:

1. Pat dry chicken and add into marinade.
2. Marinate for an hour.
3. Heat pan with a little oil.
4. Drain the chicken meat and pan grill with skin side down.
5. Flip over when it's beginning to brown.
6. Pan grill till chicken is almost cooked
7. Meanwhile, combine ingredients for the sauce and simmer.
8. The sauce should slower starts to thicken a little.
9. Pour the hot sauce into the grill pan where the chicken is grilling.
10. Bring the sauce to a boil if it's not so.
11. Coat the chicken well with the sauce while the sauce is thickening.
12. Remove once the chicken is well coated with the sauce.
13. Serve with rice or as a burger like what I have done here.

Note:

• I'm trying to cut time by cooking the sauce while grilling the chicken. If you are doing so, please make sure you control the timing well. The sauce should not be too thick before adding the chicken. Reduce heat or add a little water if it get too thicken.
• You don't have to follow my lazy way. You can just finish grilling the chicken then prepare the sauce. After that  then add the chicken to the sauce to coat it. ;)
• You can use ready made teriyaki sauce if you like too.