Lei Cha is my mother’s favourite Hakka dish. But one that she makes the least due to the amount of work involved. If you’d like to take the challenge to make this from scratch, watch the video to understand the entire process and shortcuts that you can take. If you wouldn’t cook it, I’ll tell you where to get the best Lei Cha in Kuala Lumpur.

1. THAI BASIL In Malaysian supermarkets, Thai Basil is not as common as herbs like mint. That is perhaps because that it’s one of the least used herbs in Malaysian dishes. But this flavour makes the dish.
2. SAWTOOTH CORIANDER The shape of this coriander is very different from that that we get at the supermarket. The leaf is long, flat, and with edges like the teeth of the saw blade. My Mom favour this as the taste is more intense. It’s also because it’s growing wild in our garden!
3. MUGWORT This is another herb that isn’t available at the market.
4. FU YIP SUM/ KU YE XIN (苦力心) Acanthopanax trifoliatus. This is perhaps the rarest of all herbs. We’ve made the recipe without this many times. I believe this is also not used in most restaurants as it’s not widely available for sale.

TOOLS

• Wok + spatula
• Chopping board + knife
• Blender
• Oven (optional)

RECIPE CARD

KITCHEN HACKS

1. Use a spice blender to crush the peanuts and sesame seeds. I am using the Panasonic blender with two attachments – one for blending smoothie/paste, and another for blending things like nuts. The finer it is, the better.
2. Toast peanuts in the oven Traditionally, my mother roast peanuts on the wok. I prefer to use an oven instead to leave it there and cook the many other dishes instead.
3. Freeze blended soup ingredients We like making extra soup paste to freeze. On busy days, we just defrost then put the paste and water into a pot to boil.

Although it’s a lot of work, I love making this with my Mom and keeping the tradition alive. 

The post Hakka Lei Cha Recipe (Tea Rice/ ‘Thunder’ Tea/ 擂茶) appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

WHY IS IT AUSPICIOUS

When someone overcame a hurdle, there’s a popular saying “slaughter chicken to thank the Gods” (劏雞還神). Chickens are always significant for the Chinese. I remember my late father told me that, in the 40’s, when he was a child, having chicken on the table is very precious.

A whole chicken (including its head and feet) symbolises the togetherness of the family. However, we are not so strict nowadays. We’ll normally have chicken for Chinese New Year, but without the head and the feet.

WHY IS IT EASY

You only need to salt and steam the whole chicken. Even if you’re not good at cooking, this is something that is hard to screw up.

The hardest part is chopping the chicken. Which if you’re not particular, you can just serve it whole and cut it with a knife which I did when I cooked the entire Chinese New Year feast on my own. Afterall, serving it whole is auspicious!

We’ll also be making a simple sauce with only 3 ingredients and simple frying in the pan. This is also hard to mess up.

HEALTHY DIPPING SAUCE

In this recipe, I’ll be making ginger and coriander sauce to dip with the chicken. It’s what my late grandaunt likes to cook at every reunion dinner.

• Ginger
• Shallots
• Coriander

Each of the ingredients is incredibly good for the health. To make it even healthier, I like using coconut oil.

It’s so easy to make that I make it often for regular dinner as well, not just during Chinese New Year.

TOOLS

• Wok + steaming rack + lid / Food Steamer to steam chicken
• Scissors/ Knife/ Cleaver to chop chicken
• Knife + chopping board to mince ingredients
• Small pan to fry ingredients for making sauce

RECIPE CARD

Steamed Chicken with Ginger-Coriander Sauce

24th January 2021

Servings: 4-6

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 30 min

Total: 40 min

Difficulty: Easy

Print This

And easy and auspicious dish for Chinese New Year

By: Sara Khong

Ingredients

• CHICKEN:
• Free-range chicken x 1 (about 1.6 kg)
• Salt x 1 tsp
• Shaoxing rice wine x 1/2 tbsp (OPTIONAL)
• SAUCE:
• Cooking oil x 1/2 cup
• Ginger - 135 g
• Shallots x 70 g
• Coriander leaves x 12 gram
• Salt x 1 teaspoon
• Sugar x 1/2 teaspoon

Directions

• Step 1 1. PREP: Scrub chicken. Mince all ginger, shallots, and coriander.
• Step 2 2. MARINADE & STEAM CHICKEN: Marinade chicken with salt and wine. Steam chicken for 25 – 30 minutes.
• Step 3 3. COOK SAUCE: Fry ginger and shallots in oil until golden brown.Add coriander, salt, and sugar. Mix well

SHORT RECIPE

Rub chicken with salt. Ribse, Steam for 30 minutes, or until cooked. Fry 1/4 cup minced shallots + 1/4 cup minced ginger in 1/4 cup of oil until golden. Add 1/4 cup of coriande and salt. Mix well.

COOKING TIPS

1. Use free-range chicken The least ingredients they are, the better quality the ingredients must be. This dish is prized for the quality of the chicken. My family likes getting free-range chicken with special feed including corn. It’s more flavourful and the skin is more yellow as well.
2. Where to buy good quality chicken It’s normally available at wet market in Malaysia. At the market that I go to, it’s slaughtered on the same day. Supermarkets usually do not have these chickens. But I know I’ve seen it at Village Grocer (though it’s rare)
3. Type of oil My grandaunt normally use regular vegetable oil like canola. But when I make this (without my Mom), I prefer to use coconut oil. Although I have not tried it, I think olive oil will be okay as well as the strong taste of ginger and coriander mask most of the taste of certain oil. It’s up to you.
4. Halal Order halal kampung chicken and omit the cooking wine. It’s still going to taste yum!
5. Any type of coriander, roots or leaves, will do My grandaunt which inspires this recipe uses coriander roots. However, my family uses sawtooth coriander leaves as we have a lot of them in the garden.

If you really think you can’t…

Buy the chicken from a chicken rice stall near you I know this is a cooking blog, and I do encourage that you try to cook. However, if it’s really tough on you, there is no shame to buy the whole chicken for Chinese New Year reunion dinner.

Having said that, this is REALLY easy to make. Check out my video for more detailed steps and tips to clean the chicken.

Good luck!

The post Easy Steamed Chicken with Ginger-Coriander Sauce (30 Minutes + 6 Ingredients) [Chinese New Year] appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

Malaysian Spiced Fried Chicken,  or Ayam Goreng Berempah in Malay, is something I make very often. I teach the recipe along with nasi lemak at my cooking class. The result? Sometimes, I eat it almost every day!

So I came up with a healthier version of it. This is one of my proudest inventions. I even shared this recipe with Nicol David in our Cook Off Challenge. Check out my Youtube video tutorial to see how I do it!

HOW IS IT HEALTHY?

1. BAKED Insted of deep-frying it in oil, I bake it
2. COATED WITH SEEDS To get the crispy texture, instead of coating it in breadcrumbs, I coat it in seeds
3. SPICES I use a lot of powdered spices including turmeric
4. NO OIL I don’t use any oil. Sometimes I like to good oil e.g 1  tbsp of coconut oil

TOOLS

• AirFryer/ Oven
• Blender
• Knife + chopping board

RECIPE CARD

SHORT RECIPE

With a bit of tweaks, it’s possible to make our favourite food healthier.

Do try it and let me know how you like it!

The post Healthy Malaysian ‘Fried’ Chicken | Ayam Goreng Berempah – No Oil, No Breadcrumbs, Keto-friendly appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

So when Nigel suggests that we make Hainanese Chicken Rice together while making our Chinese Roast Pork Siu Yuk recipe – I immediately said yes. Now, I have in hand two Hainanese Chicken Rice variations. An authentic Chicken Rice where we use kampung chicken (free-range chicken), traditional Chinese condiments, and a cleaver to chop; and Nigel’s fusion Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe.

NIGEL’S ANCESTOR EASY HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE

Nigel’s recipe is different in a few ways. It’s easier one for home cooks. A few things that he did differently:

• Dashi base for soy gravy and chili
• Cutting the chicken with a scissors
• Soup with pandan leaves

Nigel is quite a chill cook. I would normally not make this dish without a corn-fed kampung chicken, but he thinks it’s just fine.

TOOLS

• Large 6L stockpot – to poach the chicken and make soup
• Large bowl/pot – to soak the chicken
• Scissors +knife – too carve the chicken
• Blender + grater  – to make chili sauce
• Rice Cooker –
• Wok/pan + spatula – to fry rice

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

POACHED CHICKEN
2 kg chicken 
4 litres water
4 cups of chicken stock from the soup

CHICKEN SOUP
2 kg chicken 
4 chicken feet
4 litres water
1/4 cup (10g) dried anchovies 
1 bulb of garlic
2 pieces of pandan leaves 
60 g of ginger 
1 gizzard

DASHI STOCK
palm-size kombu
1/2 cup bonito flakes 
2 cups of water 

SOY GRAVY
1/2 cup of dashi stock
1/2 cup of soy sauce 
1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil

RICE
2 cups of long-grained jasmine rice
1/2 cups of glutinous rice 
4 cups of chicken stock from the soup or dashi stock
3 tbsp chicken fat/ pork fat
2 pieces of pandan leaves 

CHILI SAUCE
400 – 450 g fresh red chili
4 bird’s eye chili (cili padi)
3 inches (40 g) ginger 
2 shallots
8 cloves of garlic 
1 persian/ key lime 
1 cup of dashi 
1/4 tsp salt 

GARNISH
Coriander leaves
Spring onions

INSTRUCTIONS

POACHED CHICKEN & SOUP 

1. Blanch chicken and feet in 4L of water for about 5 minutes. Pour away the water along with the scumb.
2. Add another 4L of water in the stockpot along with chicken feet, gizzard, anchovies, garlic, pandan leaves and ginger.
3. Place the chicken in and let it cook until the internal temperature records about 70°C. It should take about 40 minutes.
4. In the meantime, cook the rice and condiments.

DASHI STOCK

1. Steep kombu and bonito flakes in 2 cups of water for 15 – 30 minutes
2. Drain with a sieve

SOY GRAVY

1. 1/2 cup of soy sauce  and 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil, into 1/2 cup of dashi stock.

RICE

1. Combined 2 cups of jasmine rice with 1/2 cup of glutinous rice. Rinse until clear
2. Fry rice in 3 tbsp of chicken/pork fat along with pandan leaves
3. Put the rice, pandan leaves, and 4 cups of water into the rice cooker. Cook until rice is fluffy

CHILI SAUCE

1. Chop chili, ginger, shallots, and garlic into small pieces.
2. Zest lime and squeeze lime juice
3. Blend everything together with dashi stock
4. Then season with salt.

I love that Nigel uses the dashi base for the sauces. Not only it gives a different dimension to the usual flavour, it also faster to make than slow-boiled chicken soup.

I grew up with poached or steamed chicken that is chopped perfectly into bite-size pieces with a cleaver. So I never thought to do it differently. Nigel’s method of cutting the chicken is much easier – only with scissors and a knife; and he happily eats the drumstick whole!

If you’ll like Hainanese Chicken Rice with less work, try this!

The post Nigel’s Easy Fusion Hainanese Chicken Rice appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

While slow-cooked soup (or bone broth) is typical in my family’s everyday dinner, this particular soup is not. Double-boiled black chicken soup is seen more as medicinal dish than everyday food.

I haven’t had this for a while until two weeks ago; my brother’s girlfriend just recovered from dengue and we made this nutritious chicken soup for her. “Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food”, a quote commonly attributed to Hippocrates, is what my family practices.

TOOLS

• Slow-cooker
• Food carrier pot or ceramic pot for double boiling
• Pot/Pan/Wok (to blanch chicken)

RECIPE CARD

SHORT RECIPE

Blanch 500 g chicken in hot water. Place cleaned chicken + 30 g of American ginseng + 12 g of solomon’s seal + 12 g of wolfberries + 3 cups of water into a pot with lid. Put the pot into a slow-cooker. Fill the slow-cooker with water until it covers half the pot. Cook on ‘HIGH’ for 4 hours.

TIPS

1. Instapot, electric steamer, or stove. If you don’t have a slow-cooker, you can do it in an Instapot or an electric steamer too.
2. Use a ceramic inner pot, or any pot that you have with a lid that can be fit into a bigger pot Traditionally, a ceramic inner pot is used to make this soup. Although we have that also, we prefer to use our stainless steel Zebra pot; it’s much more convenient. Even if you can’t finish the soup, you can keep in the fridge and immediately heat it on an induction cooker/stove directly.

Despite this being a ‘medicinal’ soup, it tastes delicious! After learning all about its benefits and realising how easy it is to make it,  I’m thinking of making this monthly since I’ve been overworking recently and need a boost of energy.

If you or a loved one need something delicious to strengthen the body, try this recipe!

The post Black Chicken Herbal Soup with American Ginseng appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

My mother uses her homemade chinese rice wine in this dish and fresh ginger from our garden. She also uses another alcohol (which I didn’t realise before): whisky!

Traditionally, eggs are not used. But my Mom likes to put it in for extra protein.

TOOLS

• Wok/Pan + Lid + Stove
• Knife + Chopping board

RECIPE CARD

SHORT RECIPE

COOKING TIPS

1. Rice Wine You can also use the regular yellow rice wine, or even Shaoxing Rice Wine
2. Soak it for better flavour My Mom likes to make it a few hours before eating. Soaking the chicken, eggs, and fungus in the rice wine makes is so much more delicious!

The post Sara’s Mom Chicken Rice Wine appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.