Herbal Drunken Prawns

Recipe for  Herbal Drunken Prawns

Ingredients:

• 2 pieces 玉竹 (Solomon's Seal Rhizome), cut into smaller pieces
• 5 pieces 川芎 (Szechwan Lovage Rhizome)
• 4-5 pieces 当归 (Angelica Sinensis)
• 1 small handful 枸杞子 (Wolfberries)
• 2 slices Ginger
• 10 medium prawns, antenna, feelers and legs (etc) trimmed

Marinade for Prawns:

• 1 tablespoon Sake or Chinese Cooking Wine
• a pinch of salt

Seasonings:

• 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 2-3 tablespoon Sake or Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1/2 teaspoon Chicken Granules
• 1/2 teaspoon Fish Sauce
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Soak all Chinese herbs except Wolfberries with 100ml hot water for about 3 hours or till they are fully hydrated and set aside.
2. Slit the back of the prawns.
3. Clean and dab dry.
4. Marinate prawns with sake and salt for 20 mins.
5. In a pot, add 400 -500ml water (depending how much soup you would like to have).
6. Add in the hydrated herbs, ginger and wolf berries and bring to a boil for a minute.
7. Add in the seasonings except for salt.
8. Add prawns into the soup and like it cook for about a minute or till all prawns are just done.
9. Add salt to taste.
10. Drizzle sesame oil and serve immediately.

Note:
If you want a stronger wine taste, you can add the cooking wine just before you season with salt.

as seen in https://instagram.com/p/7ILRywgdDL

Steamed Chicken with Chicken Essence

Recipe for Steamed Chicken with Chicken Essence

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Drumstick, cleaned and dabbed dry
• 1 tablespoon Cooking Wine
• a pinch of Salt
• 4 pieces Yu Zhu 玉竹 (Solomon's Seal Rhizome), cut half
• 6 Hong Zao 红枣 (Red Dates), sliced into 3 each
• a small handful Gou Qi Zi 枸杞子 (Wolfberries)
• 1 to 2 bottles Chicken Essence, depending on how much sauce you like
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Rub chicken with salt and cooking wine.
2. You can let the chicken marinate for half an hour if you like.
3. Add chicken in a deep dish.
4. Add in the rest of the ingredients.
5. Cover with foil.
6. Steam for 2 to 3 hours.
7. Remove foil and bast chicken with the sauce.
8. Drizzle with some sesame oil and serve immediately.

Note:

• I'm using Sake as cooking wine. If you use Hua Tiow (Chinese Cooking Wine), there will be the Hua Tiow Wine taste.
• I'm using (2 bottles of) New Moon Chicken Essence. If you are using Brand's, please add 1/4 teaspoon of sugar as Brand's Chicken Essence is slightly bitter.
• You can also use Chicken Essence with Cordyceps instead for added flavours.

as seen in https://instagram.com/p/2BBtx6gdEL/

Drunken Chicken with Herbs 当归醉鸡

This dish was inspired by a lady's cooking I saw on Instagram. I went ahead to tweak on some recipes I did before to do this.

I'm not someone who enjoys having a dish that is infused with wine (I get drunk :P). I just didn't quite like the strong wine taste. Hence, I cut down the used in wine. However, my husband finds it lack of wine. It wouldn't be called Drunken Chicken if didn't have enough wine in it. This chicken is still sober, he said. =_=|||

So, if you want a truly drunken chicken, do add more wine. :P

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Drumstick, deboned

Marinade:

• 4 stalk Spring Onion, only the white part, bruised
• 2 slice Ginger
• 1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine (like 绍兴花雕酒)
• 11/3 teaspoon Salt

Seasoning:

• 300ml Chicken Stock
• 200ml Water
• 2 slice or 7g Angelica Sinensis Gui 当归, use as it is or grind into powder
• 6 Red Dates 红枣 
• 10g Wolfberries 枸杞子
• 100ml - 300ml Chinese Cooking Wine 绍兴花雕酒, add according to your preference
• Salt and Sugar to taste

How to do it:

1. Bring all except wine, salt and sugar, in seasonings to boil.
2. Reduce to a simmer and continue to simmer for 20mins.
3. Add salt and sugar to taste.
4. Add wine after the simmered seasoning has cooled.
5. Chill the seasoning for later use.
6. Meanwhile, flatten and tenderize the chicken using a mallet or the back of the knife.
7. Pat dry with paper towel before adding the marinade.
8. Marinate for at least 30mins.
9. Prepare a sheet of foil with baking paper for each piece of chicken.
10. Roll the chicken as tightly as possible.
11. Wrap with foil with baking paper inside.
12. Steam chicken roll for 25mins or till completely cooked.
13. Remove foil and baking paper.
14. Plunge steamed chicken rolls together with the sauce into the chilled seasoning prepared earlier.
15. Let it sit in the seasoning till completely cooled.
16. Refrigerate till chill or over night for better results.
17. Sliced and serve chill.

Note:

• If you would like to remove more alcohol in the wine (step 4), add wine together with the other ingredients when preparing the seasoning (step 1).
• Omit the Angelica Sinensis Gui 当归, Red Dates 红枣 and Wolfberries 枸杞子, if you want a non-herbal version of the drunken chicken. (I used it to help reduce the strong taste the wine has and to bring fragrance.)

Steamed Snapper with Cordyceps Militaris 虫草花清蒸白鲷鱼

This is the second time I experiment on  this dish and this time it turned out good.

On the first time, I used Tilapia. We just didn't like the taste of that fish, even with the sweetness of the Chinese Herbs used, it just didn't taste right. Love it with snapper though.

I bought the snapper from the wet market. You can always use Cream Snapper Fillet, which can be easily found in supermarket.

Ingredients:

• 1 thick slice Snapper Fillet, cleaned and pat dry
• 3-4 slice Ginger
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 6 Seedless Red Dates, sliced
• 7g Cordyceps Militaris
• 2 tablespoon Stock (I'm using Chicken Stock
• 1/3 teaspoon Salt

How to do it:

1. Rub snapper with salt and set aside.
2. Place red dates and Cordyceps Militaris in stock. 
3. Seal with cling wrap or foil and steam for 10 minutes.
4. Place ginger slices in a deep dish.
5. Place snapper over the ginger.
6. Pour stock with red dates and Cordyceps Militaris and Chinese Cooking Wine over snapper.
7. Steam for 10 to 15 minutes or till snapper is completely cooked.
8. Spoon the sauce from the dish and pour over snapper generously.
9. Drizzle with sesame oil if you like and serve immediately.

Steamed Winglets with Herbs 药材蒸鸡翼

Another dish done using the Happy Call Pan. I have all steamed dishes for tonight's dinner. I had 2 dishes in the steamer and wanted the 3rd dish to be done at the same time too. Hence I decided to try using the HCP.

I did the same dish twice, once for the kids and me and the 2nd time for my husband when he return late from work. I used slightly different methods to steam the dish. Both turned out great. If you don't own a HCP, you can still steam using the normal way.

Ingredients:

• 6 Chicken Winglets or other parts
• 10g Condonopsis 党参 Dang Shen, steamed for 10 mins
• 15g Wolfberries 枸杞子 Gou Qi Zi
• 2 slices Ginger, shredded
• a pinch Salt 
• a dash Pepper

Seasonings:

• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese Rose Wine 玫瑰露酒 or Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar

How to do it:

1. Marinate winglets with salt and pepper for at least half an hour.
2. Place the marinated winglets with the rest of the ingredients and seasonings in a piece of foil.
3. Add 6 tablespoon of water.
4. Seal the foil and place in HCP with water filled about 3/4 of the lower pan.
5. Close pan and steam at medium low fire for 30 minutes.
6. Check in-between to make sure there is still water in the pan. Mine is just enough for the whole process.
7. Remove and serve.

Note:

• If you have a shallow dish, you can use that instead of using the foil. However, do not add water (in step 3) to the ingredients as the steaming will add water into the dish.
• If you don't have Chinese Rose Wine 玫瑰露酒, you can use any other Chinese Cooking Wine, like 绍兴花雕酒 Shao Xing Hua Diao Jiu. The difference other than the alcohol level is that Chinese Rose Wine adds a much pleasant aroma to the dish.  However, both helps to bring out the flavours of the dish.
• To better bring out the flavours of the herbs, you may want to steam it for 15-20 mins, seal with foil.

Roast Herbal Emperor Chicken 烘烤药材皇帝鸡

I really love chicken cooked with herbs dishes. They just taste and smell so nice not to mentioned good for general health.

This is one of the herbal dish I cook rather often. I used to steam it before I have an oven. This time I did it a little different. I roast it! I used the way I did the Roast Chicken with Garlic to make this. It's still taste the same except now we have crispy skin. Okay, it's a bit burned here. :P



This chicken meat is soft, moist and filled with the sweetness of herbs! If I were to do the the conventional way which is steaming, I won't get this result just in 1 to 1 1/2 hours. That's why previously, when I do this, it's at least 3 hours in low fire.



And don't forget the soup! That's the best part! Drink it up! There isn't much to go around so you might have to fight to even get a mouthful! LOL



Ingredients:

• 1 Chicken, cleaned
• 500ml Water
• Salt to taste

Assorted Herbs in approximate weight:

• 24g Huai Shan 淮山 (Radix Dioscoreae Oppositae)
• 18g Dang Shen 党参 (Codonopsis Pilosulae)
• 16g Yu Zhu 玉竹 (Solomon's Seal Rhizome)
• 22g Long Yan Gan 龙眼干 (Dried Longan)
• 10g Gou Qi Zi 枸杞子 (Wolfberries)
• 6 Hong Zao 红枣 (Red Dates)
• 3g Chuan Gong 川芎 (Szechwan Lovage Rhizome)
• 5g Tang Gui 当归 (Angelica Sinensis)
• 15g Bei Qi 北芪 (Astragalus Membranaceus)

How to do it:

1. Place herbs in a oven-proof casserole and add water.
2. Place chicken, breast side down, on top
3. Place casserole on a stove and bring to a boil over medium-high fire.
4. Remove from stove, cover with lid for 5 to 10 minutes so the herbs can softened.
5. Carefully remove the chicken and stuff some herbs in the cavity.
6. Return the chicken to the casserole and cover the lid.
   
7. Roast in the oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours at180C
   
8. Check for doneness; juices would run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with a metal skewer.
9. Remove the lid, season with salt.
10. Baste the chicken with the soup sauce and continue to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes to brown the skin.
11. Carve chicken or serve as whole.

Alternative Steaming Method:

1. Steam all herbs with water for 5 minutes.
2. Place chicken on a aluminum foil.
3. Stuff some herbs in chicken and scatter the rest around the chicken.
4. Pour the water used together with the herbs for steaming inside.
5. Wrap and seal the foil.
6. Place on a dish and steam for at least 2 hours.
7. Add salt to taste and serve.

Note:

• Remember to keep checking the water level if you are using the steaming method.
• Keep a kettle of hot water ready; to add in if the water level is low.
• DO NOT add cold water.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe.

Herbs from top left
(click to enlarge)

玉竹 Solomon's Seal Rhizome, 党参 Codonopsis Pilosulae, 淮山 Radix Dioscoreae Oppositae
龙眼干 Dried Longan, 枸杞子 Wolfberries, 红枣 Red Dates
川芎 Szechwan Lovage Rhizome, 当归 Angelica Sinensis, 北芪 Astragalus Membranaceus