Roasted Chicken With Brown Rice And Chestnut Stuffing

  Today is Christmas and as a Christian we do value this special and meaning day in December Calender. For the past two years, our church has planned outdoor Christmas Party in the neighbourhood area so that more residents can join us to celebrate this special occasion at the eve of Christmas. So since today is a rest day for family gathering, I decided to try my hand on preparing my very 1st Christmas Lunch.

To be honest, I seldom prepared western dishes because I do not own many of those spices or herbs which we hardly used in our daily Asian cooking. And this Roasted Chicken Lunch that I prepared is also not a fully western dishes too. As when you read the rest of the post, you would notice that I replaced the usual herbs stuffing with brown rice and etc.

Here are some collage photos to show the ingredients and steps on preparing the Brown Rice Stuffing which is quite similar to what I did a few years back on the Baked Pumpkin with Rice Stuffing (link HERE).

Ingredients: (for 1 quantity)

1 Cup of Uncooked Brown Rice Mixture
2 Tablespoons of Frozen Green Peas
6 - 8 Whole Ready to Eat Roasted Chestnuts
1 Tablespoon of Mixed Fried Fruit/Golden Raisin
1 Teaspoon of Minced Garlic
1/2 Teaspoon of Minced Ginger
1/2 Tablespoon of Oil
Seasonings:
Dash of Pepper and Sesame Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Light Soya Sauce

Method:

1. Rinse the rice mixture two to three time then soak in water for about 30 minutes before cooking.(soaking the brown rice prior cooking can decrease the cooking time)
2. Cook the brown rice in rice cooker with the usual method and once it is cooked through stand it rice cooker for another 10 minutes.
3. Next scoop the cooked rice to a place and let it cool off to room temperature while preparing the ingredients for the fried rice and get ready the chicken.
4. When done, preheat a non-stick pan with 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil, saute the minced garlic and ginger till fragrant then drop in green peas and give it a quick stir before adding the cooked brown rice.
5. Use the back of the spatula, loosen all the lumps of the cooked rice till grains are formed.
6. Stir-fry the rest of the ingredients such as chestnut and mixed dried fruits then follow by the seasoning till well mixed.
7. Transfer the rice mixture to a plate while handling the chicken.

Note:-

~ Mix 1/2 cup each of Brown Rice with normal Long Grain Jasmin Rice. (I do encourage you to try brown rice as it will give this dish a very nutty fragrant and taste)

This is the final Brown Rice Stuffing with Chestnut, green peas and dried mixed fruit mixture which is ready to be used. Since this is used as a Christmas theme stuffing you could realise that the colour that I used seems t be circling with green, red, golden and etc. I am sure this would be something new to you as to add dried mixed fruits into rice stuffing.

Here is another set of collage photos showing the ingredients of the roasted vegetables and steps on stuffing the chicken.

Ingredients For Roasted Vegetables: (Serves 4)

1 Medium Carrot, cut into 2cm thick chunks
2 Medium Potato, removed skin and cut into 6 chunks each
300g of Pumpkin, removed skin and cut into chunks
1 Fresh Sweetcorn, cut into 2cm thick ring, halves
Seasonings:
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Peppercorns
1/2 Teaspoon of Dried Chilli Flakes
1/2 Tablespoon roughly chopped Coriander

Method:

1. Mixed all the vegetables together with the seasonings in a bowl and set aside while preparing the chicken.


Since I still have some Seah's Spices available from their complimentary gift (link HERE) set, I decided to use one of this "Seah's Salt-Roasted Chicken Spices" for our Christmas Roast Chicken Lunch. There are two small 20g sachets of spices in each packet where you can roast up to 2 chicken of 600g each.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

1 20g Sachet of Spices(Seah's Salt-Roasted Chicken Spices)
1 Sakura Chicken, around 1kg size
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1 Quantity of Prepared Brown Rice Stuffing
Prepared Vegetables Chunks for roasting

Method:

1. Before stuffing the chicken, trim the extra fats, emptied and cleaned the cavity, removed the head, neck and feet. Rinse and pat dry using kitchen paper towel.
2.Next brush the olive oil evenly around the chicken before rubbing the powder spices all over the chicken include the cavity of the chicken and under the skin layers.
3. Scoop the rice stuffing into the cavity and pressed tightly using the back of the spoon until all all or most of the stuffing are used up.
4. Place the stuffed chicken in a baking dish, secure the chicken thighs and wings to its body by using some kitchen string.
5. Arrange the prepared vegetables chunks around the sides of the baking dish and roast in a pre-heat 220 degree roast for about 20 minutes.
6. Remove the baking dish from the oven, quickly brush over another layer of olive oil all around the chicken and also give the veggies a quick toss before putting back to the oven to roast for another 20 minutes.
7. To get that nice and crispy outer skin, you can switch the oven function to fan-force mode on the last 7 - 10 minutes of cooking time.



In about 1 hour time, we could enjoy a hearty Christmas Roasted Chicken Lunch with rice stuffing and mixed veggies at our comfort home without need to eat in rush and wait for the festive season queues in the eateries. You can also re-heat some ready served chicken gravy pack or festive cranberry sauce from the supermarket to go with the roasted chicken.

This photo shows the inner cut of the roasted chicken where you can see the colourful brown rice stuffing in the cavity. The rice is so yummy and fragrant by the spices and juice from the roasted chicken too.

Roasted Chicken will be great to serve with Caesar Salad that consists of the crispy romaine lettuce and croutons which dressed with Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil and etc.You can easily prepared this by getting some fresh romaine lettuce and ready salad dressing pack from local supermarket such as Cold Storage.

This is the 1 person serving portion of our Christmas Lunch. Everyone enjoys this simple and wonderful meal with accompany of white wine and sparking drinks.

Although this year Christmas has almost come to an end in another few hours time but I would still like to wish everyone of my blog readers a wonder and blessed Christmas. Hope you have enjoy this festive season with your loved to ones and Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

And also I am submitting this post to "Aspiring Bakers #2: Christmas! (Dec 2010)", hosted by Passionate About Baking at this link HERE.

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[Recipe] Decorated Festive Chocolate Cookies Together With Early Christmas Party

Last Saturday we have a small Christmas potluck gathering at my place with some of my old friends as well as the new friends from Twitter. Everyone has a wonderful time despite on the chaotic happening in the kitchen while some of us are busying with the food preparations.

And in order to make this a memorable gathering with Christmas atmosphere, Rey and I have decided to prepare some "door-gifts" for the guests which includes some of these mini decorated festive cookies in it. Can you spot Pooh, Minni and Tigger among these cookies?

  We made these Chocolate cookies instead of the usual one that is infused with spices because we are afraid that some of the guests might not prefer the aroma of the spice. So Chocolate flavor will be best for everyoe. These are some collage photos on the ingredients and steps on making the cookie dough.

Ingredients: (makes roughly 2 dozen)

90g Unsalted Butter
100g Caster Sugar
1 Egg
180g Self-raising Flour
2 Tablespoons Dutch Cocoa Powder
¼ Teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon orange liquor, optional


My boy and I are busy with the cookie cutout and get them ready for baking and icing decoration.

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy, add egg and orange liquor then beat till combined.
2. Fold in flour mixture (sifted flour, cocoa powder and salt together) in the egg till it forms a dough.
3. Turn dough on lightly floured surface and knead gently until soft dough is formed.
4. Divide the dough into two portions, flatten each portion on between sheet of baking paper and place in fridge for 30 minutes.
5. On floured surface, roll dough out to half a cm thick, cut into shapes using festive shaped cookies cutters.
6. Re-rolled leftover dough and cut again.
7. Baked in preheat 180 degree oven for about 8 – 12 minutes depending on the size of the cookies.
8. They will be soft when come out of the oven but will set as they cool.


After the cookies cool off and decorated with colourful icing, we packed them into individual packet and get them ready into the goodies baga together with some chocolate for the guests as "door-gifts".

Ingredients For Royal Icing:

65g Icing Sugar
1/2 Egg White
1/4 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
Assorted Food Colourings
Assorted Christmas Theme Sprinkles, optional

Method:

1. Sift the icing sugar and set aside.
2. Beat the egg white till foamy then add in lemon juice and icing sugar in a few batches till smooth. (about 5 - 8 minutes, it must be a spreadable consistency)
3. Divide the icing into a few portion then mixed with your desire colours.
4. Spoon icing into disposal piping bag, snip the tip off and pipe decorative outlines and design on each biscuit.

PREVIEW OF OUR CHRISTMAS POTLUCK GATHERING

Christmas Turkey prepared by Misstamchiak(Maureen) and Kai. Everyone is looking high and low for the roasted vegetables and sauce :p

Cheesy Ham Roll prepared by Yancai, Maureen and Rae. This is another way to present the sliced Turkey and it taste very yummy for us to snatch with just these limited rolls on the plate.

Stir-fried Fish Fillet with Thai Basil Leaves by me (Cuisine Paradise). This is something similar to the Chicken version recipe that I have posted HERE.

Spicy Egg and Cucumber Kerabu prepared by Rae(Shan). This cold appetiser consists of a lot of ingredients such as prawns, egg, cucumber, pineapple, belacan, dried prawns and etc.

Here is another main dish which is the "STAR" and highlight of the day too. Cioppino or fish stew that is prepared by Alvin and Lobs(Lobsterpaints) As you can see, there are big fresh prawn, mussels, clams and different type of fish that are stew together using tomato paste, red wine and many other herbs and seasonings. Very delicious pot :)

The whole table of food that are ready to be served. Yummy Chicken Curry by Susan, Grilled Chicken Drumlets by Joyce(ahpoohbear), stir-fried broccoli with mushroom, logcake, fruitcake and etc.

Thanks everyone for the hard work on preparing the food and travel all the way to my place in order to make our 1st potluck party a successful one. Thanks a lot pals.

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Christmas Potluck Dishes

Festive seasons are always full of parties and gatherings. With Christmas just a few days around the corner I am sure most of you are busying with the festive feast preparation too. As usual every year our church cell group would organize Christmas potluck party a week before Christmas where each family would bring along some food/goodies to share with each other during the gathering.

This year with my NEW Tupperware Tapau set we could easily prepared and brings the food without being afraid that the gravy from the food might leak out half way through the journey or having trouble to pack food in multi sizes containers. Below are some of the food we prepared and packed for our last week Christmas potluck gathering using my Eco-friendly Tapau containers.

Using one of the 1-Litre size Crystalwave Dish to pack some homemade pizza , gingerbread man and tart as finger food.

For starter we packed some freshly prepared salad using red and green coral lettuce, rocket leaves, mixed dried fruits and etc with some Italian dressing in another similar Crystalwave Dish.

As for the big Crystalware bowl mum used it to pack some curry chicken to go with the freshly baked baguette which most of us love to use it for dipping the curry gravy (in order to prevent the bread from contact with the curry gravy you can place a layer of aluminum foil/baking baker on the holder before placing the bread).

Before reheating the curry chicken in the microwave, open the cover and remove the noodle holder with bread then secure the cover back on the Crystalwave bowl leaving only the vent cap open. Reheat the curry chicken for about 2  - 3 minutes high (depending on the microwave voltage) and serve warm with bread.

These collage photos shows the ingredients and steps on preparing the chicken curry.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

1 Medium Size Chicken, about 1 - 1.2kg
1 Packet Hai's Instant Curry Chicken Paste
3 Medium Potato
150ml Coconut Milk
600ml Hot Water
1 Medium Tomato, optional

Method:
1. Trim, clean and chop the chicken into bite-size chunks and set aside.
2. Peel the skin of the potato, cut into cubes.
3. Preheat a medium pot and sauté the Hai’s instant curry paste on medium low heat for about 1 minute or so till fragrant.
4. Stir in the chicken pieces and potato cubes, give it a quick stir till combined.
5. Slowly pour in hot water till the chicken mixture is almost covered with water.
6. Add in tomato wedges and when the mixture comes to boil again simmer it on medium how heat for about 15 minutes or till the chicken and potato are cooked through.
7. Lower the heat, slowly stir in the coconut milk and simmer for another 5 minutes till done.
8. Serve warm with white rice or baguette.

Note:
~ If you prefer thick and creamy curry gravy, you can use 250ml coconut milk/cream with 500ml hot water as stated from the instructions from the back of the packaging.


This is the new packing of Hai's Instant Curry Chicken Paste that I have used for this recipe.

If you have read through the 2 previous Tupperware posts (refer to links below) that I have shared I am sure you would agreed with me that this Tupperware set is indeed a great gift for Christmas season. You could use it not only as a TaPau container but as well as for packing homecook food or snacks too. I believed there are still many ways of using this wonder products which some of you are practicing so do share with us your valuable tips if you do own a set.

Related Tupperware Tapau Set Links
1. Go Green with Tupperware TaPau Set
2. Comfort Food At Ease


This Tupperware Tapau Set retails at S$49.00 which comes with  2 Crystalwave Dishes in 1-Litre capacity,  1 Crystalwave Bowl in 2-Litres capacity, 1 Noodle Holder and a Grip-n-Go Cariolier. And if you are interested to know more about this product do take look at their website here ”http://www.tupperware.com.sg/” or contact any one of the nearest Tupperware outlets shown below:

Note:-

This post is sponsored by Tupperware Singapore but the opinions expressed are 100% mine. No photos or text may be reproduced without seeking prior permission.

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Stir-fried Chicken Fillet with Thai Basil Leaves

Not long ago, I have tried a similar version of this recipe using minced pork which you can refer to the recipe HERE. But for this recipe here I have replaced the minced pork with chicken fillet strips which brings up another flavour and texture of this unique Thai street food. With this version of "Stir-fried Chicken Fillet with Thai Basil Leaves" I am sure it would be a popular choice for those who don't eat pork or prefer something light and healthy such as chicken breast meat which low in fat content.

For a chance if you don't wish to serve it with rice, this dish can also be transformed into a great party food too. All you need to do is to serve it in smaller portion inside a small lettuce cups that is easier for the guests to pair it with cold beers or any other side dishes. Perhaps a glass of red wine would be great to accompany this dish during festive season too.

These are the ingredients and steps on preparing the chicken fillets with basil leaves:-

Ingredients: (serves 2)
300g Chicken Breast Fillet, cut thick strips
1 Cup Thai Sweet Basil Leaves, include the flower
4 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
2 - 3 shallots, finely slices
2- 4 Small Chili, roughly chopped
2 Tablespoon Cooking Oil
2 Tablespoon Thai Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
2 - 3 Tablespoon Water
Lettuce Cups for serving, optional

Method:
1. Pick the clean leaves from the basil stalks and discard the hard stems, rinse and set aside.
2. Heat up the wok with oil till hot, throw in chopped garlic, shallot and chillies and stir-fry for a few second till light brown.
3. Stir in chicken fillets and stir-fry until the chicken changes colour, drizzle in dark soy sauce and fish sauce; continue to stir and mix well to allow the chicken to absord the seasoning.
4. Next add basil leaves and give it a quick stir for a few seconds to mix well with the chicken before add in the water and continue to stir-fry for a few seconds or until the leaves are wilted.
5. Remove the wok from heat, dish up the chicken mixture and serve it on prepared lettuce cups on the side of the steam white rice and a fried egg.


With this quick and easy recipe here you could easily prepared two or many different versions of this stir-fried dishes using Thai basil leaves to impress your family or guest in less than 30 minutes. Or if you prefer something more Oriental, you could also use the Thai Basil leave to cook the well-known Taiwanese poultry dish known as “Three Cup Chicken - 三杯鸡 “ which I would shared the recipe with you in the future post.

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[Guest Post] Baked Zucchini and Mix Vegetables

Hi everyone I am back from Holiday!!!!! This year was indeed a fruitful year for us; in April we went to Taiwan(read more here), June we went for a short getaway to Carmon Highland(read more here) and in early December we indulge ourselves at the freezing winter in Seoul, Korea.

After the fun filled and tiring holidays, now we are back to the upcoming Christmas posts again. If you have being following the blogposts over here, you would have read about the Guest Post by Lobsterpaints on “Roasted Salmon with Dill”. Below is another guest post by her on Baked Zucchini and Mix Vegetables.

But before we head over to her blog and read more about this post, let's take a look at the ingredients for this dish which you might want to try it out during this coming festive season.

Ingredients:

(makes an approx. 25cm length x 23cm width x 2.5cm depth tray size.)

1 Zucchini (aprrox. 300g)
8-10 mini potatoes (approx. 750g)
10-15 baby carrots (approx. 125g)
5-7 Shitake mushrooms (approx. 125g)
1 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp oil
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp black peppercorn
1 tbsp salt
3 tbsp rosemary and oregano mix (or to taste)


For more details, click here for the full post @ http://lobsterpaints.blogspot.com/2010/12/recipe-baked-zucchini-with-mix.html

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Oven Baked Fried Chicken Bento

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Do you like fried chicken? I am sure most of you would rise up your hands and say yes. Recent years there so many fast food outlets such as "KFC", "Wendy", "Popeye Chicken" and etc selling fried chicken. And there are also frozen Fried Chicken that is available in the local supermarkets too. In this post, I would like to share with you some tips and ideas on how I made use of some CP Fried Chicken (Original Flavour) to prepare this cute little "Chicky Bento".

Fried Chicken is one of my boy's favourite deep-fried finger food that I would always prepared from scratch using chicken wings, seasoning, flour batter and etc. But with this CP Fried Chicken that can be easily grab from any supermarket it actually shorten my time on preparing these deep-fried stuffs for the family.

  The CP Fried Chicken (Original Flavour) are coated in a specially light and crispy batter that stays crispy on the outer skin even after 30 minutes or more. I choose the oven baked method to prepare these chicken as I find it more healthier than deep-fried with oil. To assemble the bento, here are the ingredients and steps:-

Ingredients:

1 Bowl of Cooked Rice
2 - 3 Pieces of CP Fried Chicken
1/4 Japanese Cucumber, cut into long sticks
1/4 Carrot, peeled outer skin cut into long sticks
Some Lettuce Leaves, optional
Some Fresh Fruit of Your Choice

Method:

1. Place the fried chicken in the oven toaster and toast it for about 15 – 20 minutes, turn occasionally to prevent it from getting burnt.
2. While waiting for the chicken to be done, cut the Japanese cucumber and carrot into long veggie sticks as side for the bento.
3. Assemble the bento accordingly; you can place the fried chicken (if too big pieces for the kid, you could cut it into bite size) together with the veggie sticks in a container.
4. Drizzle some roasted black sesame seeds on the rice if you preferred.
5. Serve the bento set with cut fruits immediately or packed it for your outing.


Do you want to have a piece of these "Mickey" face cutout dragon fruit for after meal dessert? I am sure most of the Disney fan kids would love this special treat which would change their mindset on eating fruits.To make this cute cutout from the dragon fruit you would need to have the mickey ring cutter shown HERE.(1st photo of the post)

Don't worry if you don't possess any of these bento items, you could always start off by using some simple tools that are available at Daiso (S$2 shop) or even some online bento site such as New Stylish Tokyo (http://www.nst.my/), Bento Craft (http://bentocraft.com/) and etc.

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CP Food's Latest "Chicky" Products

Recently I have shared post on how to use some CP Thai Shrimp Cake to prepare 4 quick and easy finger food and one dish meal recipes. If you are interested to read more about this releated post, you can the link HERE. As for this post I would once again loves to share with you some simple ways of preparing different type of CP Chicken Products in less than 30 minutes.

These are the colleage photos of the ingredients and steps to prepare the "Claypot Chicken Rice".

Ingredients: (Serves 2)

6 - 8 Pieces of CP Charcoal-Grilled Chicken
160g (1 Rice Cooker Cup) Uncook Rice
320ml Water
Some Baby Bok Choy
1 Egg, optional
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
Dried Shallot and Chopped Spring Onion for Garnishing

Method:

1.Rinse the uncooked rice with tap water for a few rounds, drained well and add in suitable amount of water to cook the rice.
2. Place the claypot with rice over the stove, bring it to boil and low the heat to simmer the mixture till the water is half way dried off.
3. Next place the frozen CP Charcoal-Grilled Chicken starts from the middle and some baby bok choy along  the side.
4. Use can use two leaves from the bok choy to act as a base to support the egg before cracking it onto the rice.
5. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of sesame oil over the top of the vegetable and egg then cover and let it continue to simmer on very low heat for about 5 - 7 minutes till the chicken is heat through and egg is half way cooked.
6. Serve warm with dried shallot, chopped spring onion and drizzle of dark soy sauce according to your preference.

Note:-

~ You can also cook this dish using rice cooker. Just cook the rice as per usual then place the ingredient on top of the half-way cooked through mixture and let it cook and keep warm the the chicken is warm through.

This soft and tender CP Charcoal-Grilled Chicken is marinated in a distinctive Japanese-style sauce and slowly grilled over real charcoal fire. These pieces of charcoal grilled chicken is made using quality chicken leg meat that contins 0 Trans Fat and most important fact it contain no preservatives which most parents like us concern of.

This is one of our quick and easy one-dish meal for lunch busy busy weekends where my kid needs to rush for enrichment classes or when I am too lazy to cook 2 - 3 courses meal. So with a pack of these delicious and charcoal-grilled chicken you can either use it for making claypot rice like me or, microwave it till done and served with blanched noodles will be a great deal too.

This small bite-size CP Chicken Cake makes a great finger food for parties or gatherings which is easier for the guest to pick up and go. The ingredients of these chicken cakes consists of minced chicken meat and corn bits as well as some stands of vermicelli for extra crunch. You can either deep-fried, oven toast or microwave it but for me I prefer pan-fried which used lesser oil but it would give it a nice golden coating.

To have something refreshing to go with the Chicken Cake I came out with some "Century Egg Salad" which goes pretty well with it.

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
1 Century Egg, cut into small cubes
2 Small Shallot, thinly sliced
1 Small Red Chilli, roughly chopped
1 Medium Tomato, cut into small cubes
1/4 Japanese Cucumber, cut into small cubes
1/2 Tablespoon Frozen/Fresh Corn Kernels, optional
1 Teaspoon of Oil

Method:

1. Preheat a small saucepan with 1 teaspoon of oil and sauté the sliced shallot and chopped chilli till fragrant.
2. Toss in all the rest of the ingredients and give it a quick stir to heat them through.
3. Remove from heat and serve warm together with the Chicken Cakes.


Do you like fried chicken? I am sure most of you would rise up your hands and say yes. There are so many fried chicken fast food outlets around such as "KFC", "Wendy", "Popeye Chicken" and etc. But what about those frozen Fried Chicken that available in the local supermarkets, have you ever tried them before? Here, I have use the CP Fried Chicken (Original Flavour) to prepare this cute little "Chicky Bento" which I personally think that these fried chicken pieces taste just as good as those selling in the fast food outlets. For more details about this Chicky Bento, do check back for the upcoming recipe soon.

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