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 family had enough vegetables and meat stocked for weeks (we’re like that even on normal days because we cook and eat a lot 😂 ). After a week or so, most of our leafy vegetables are gone. But what we are left with are some of the healthiest vegetables.

HEALTHY & LASTING

This dish is probably one of the healthiest that you can find in the planet as it contains

• cruciferous vegetables i.e broccoli & cauliflower
• garlic
• mushroom seasonings (instead of chicken stock/ MSG)

These vegetables are also much more long lasting. Cauliflower and broccoli can be kept in the fridge for about 2 weeks. It’s possible to keep carrots for a month!

PERFECT FOR BENTO LUNCHBOX

This dish is perfect to packed in lunchboxes. It doesn’t spoil/wilt as quickly. On top of its health benefit, it’s our choice of vegetables for our #NourishMYmedics project where we cook some healthy food for medical staff that we know to keep them healthy and fight coronavirus.

TOOLS

• Knife + chopping board
• Wok + spatula

RECIPE CARD

SHORT RECIPE

STEP-BY-STEP

1. CHOP: Chop cauliflower and broccoli into florets. Chop carrot into half, slice lengthwise, then cut into half moons. Peel garlic and mince.

2. BLANCH: Pour water into a pot and bring to a boil. Put in carrots to blanch for 1 minute. Then put cauliflower to blanch for another 1 minute. Lastly put broccoli and blanch for 30 seconds.

3. REMOVE VEGETABLES: Take out the vegetables into a separate plate. Pour away the water in the wok. Turn on the fire so that water will evaporate entirely before cooking.

4. FRY GARLIC: When the wok is dry, pour in oil and garlic into a wok. On medium heat, fry garlic until golden brown.

KITCHEN HACKS

1. Use mushroom seasonings for restaurant-like flavour Restaurant food is extra tasty because of MSG. If you want to achieve the same result but want to use a healthier replacement, consider using mushroom seasonings.
2. Put a tablespoon of salt into the boiling water to retain the nutrient and colour of vegetables This will ensure that the vegetables nutrient remain inside as the high-mineral water due to the salt will go into the vegetables by osmosis. Without salt, the vegetable will have higher mineral content and nutrient will leak into the water instead.
3. Steam the vegetables instead of blanching You can also steam the vegetables instead.

If you can’t get fresh vegetables often, this is a great dish as the vegetables keep well in the fridge for a long time.

Eat a rainbow…even if you can’t go to the supermarket often!

The post Stir-fry Mixed Vegetables – 5 Ingredients appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

How do we protect ourselves and our family from this Coronavirus pandemic? How do we do our best to avoid spreading of the virus? How can we help our medical staff? That's what I've been wondering and working on. Two things that we can do:

1. Practice social distancing by staying at home I do not go out unless to the supermarket. I've found a few smaller businesses that deliver vegetables to my house (Read: 4 Independent Vegetable Delivery To Get You Through This Quarantine). If you really have to go out to buy groceries, go alone.
2. Cook nutritious food I cook using much more herbs and spices that is high in antioxidants e.g goji berries and turmeric than usual. It goes without saying that vegetables and fruits are good for us. But at this time, it may be difficult to get.

 

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Keep yourself healthy for yourself, your family, and frontliners (doctors, nurses, cleaning staff)

I have some close friends working as doctors and nurses who are under tremendous stress. They are not complaining about being tired, but about how people are ignoring orders and making work very tough for them.

When I asked a doctor from a major hospital in KL about what I can do to help medical staff who are combating this pandemic, he said

"Don't get sick - coronavirus or other illness. If you're admitted to the hospital, my attention will be halved. Avoid hospitals/clinics" (rephrased)

A nurse from a major hospital in Selangor said, that on top of following orders from the government to stay at home, we can

"Eat healthy and keep clean.... I've seen a lot of ppl sharing information that is totally wrong. Eg Taking high doses of vitamin c >1 gm a day helps prevent infection n boost immune system. It is totally false. Those so called interview with Prof from God knows where are probably being paid by pharmaceutical companies to give reviews. Everything in moderation is sufficient" (verbatim)

My conclusion is: stay at home and cook. That to me, is not only easy to do but also pleasurable. Let's take this rare opportunity to pick up a skill like cooking and spending time with family!

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Cook simple yet nutritious food...and use the leftovers for another meal

My family has always been cooking at home and eating healthy. But recently, we upped our game by including more herbs and spices into our diet. We've been consuming more turmeric, Chinese herbs, herbal teas.

We are also doing our best to make sure all the groceries that we have at home are used effectively. We made an inventory of food that we have and we don't throw away leftovers anymore; traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) believes that leftover food is not good for health so we normally cook just enough for the day.

So yesterday, we made herbal chicken for dinner and used the leftover to make congee for lunch. It's super easy to do; even if you've never cooked before, I'm sure you can do it. Let's try!

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TOOLS

For steamed herbal chicken

• Wok + lid
• Knife + chopping board
• Plate/bowl

For herbal chicken congee

• rice cooker
• Knife + chopping board

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DINNER: Easy Steamed Herbal Chicken

Easy Steamed Herbal Chicken - 5 Ingredients

21st March 2020

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 20 min

Total: 30 min

Difficulty: Easy

Print This

Easy steamed chicken made with three potent Chinese herbs

By: Sara Khong

Ingredients

• 1/2 chicken + 1 chicken breast - 800 g
• Goji berries (kei chi) - 1 tablespoon or 15 pieces
• Solomon seal (yuk chuk) - 1/4 cup or 10 pieces
• Angelica roots (dang gwai) - 4 slices
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Salt to taste (~ 1/2 tablespoon)
• Chinese Rice wine - 1 tablespoon (optional)

Directions

• Step 1 WASH CHICKEN: Clean chicken thoroughly and place the entire chicken onto a high rimmed plate.
• Step 2 BOIL HERBS: Place solomon seal (yuk chuk), angelica roots (dang gwai), goji berries (kei chi), and water in a wok. Boil for 5 minutes to extract flavour from it. Add salt and mix. Then pour the herbs and water into the plate of chicken.
• Step 3 STEAM CHICKEN: Put a steaming rack and two bowls of water into the wok. Turn on the heat. When water boils, put the plate of chicken in. Cover and steam on medium fire for 15 - 20 minutes until chicken is cooked. Add 2 tablespoon of chinese rice wine (optional)
• Step 4 CHOP CHICKEN: Chop the chicken into bite-size pieces.

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SHORT RECIPE

Clean the chicken. Boil 10 solomon seal + 4 angelica roots + 15 goji berries + 1/2 cup of water for 5 min. Add 1/2 salt. Mix well. Pour into chicken. Steam for 15 - 20 minutes.  Pour in 1 tablespoon of rice wine. Chop chicken into bite size pieces.

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STEP-BY-STEP

Check out some steps in video form at my Instagram.

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COOKING HACKS & TIPS

1. It's easier to chop the chicken before steamingTo make it even easier, chop the chicken into smaller pieces before steaming. Then you don't have to chop after that. But my family is very particular about the juiciness and texture of the chicken. Steaming half of the chicken first before chopping means it's less likely to be dry or chewy.
2. Use free-range/ kampung chicken if you can This chicken feeds on better feed such as corn. Hence it has beautiful yellow skin, in contrast to the pale skin of regular farmed chickens. But during this time, any chicken will do!
3. Learn more about common Chinese herbs If you are not familiar with the herbs I mentioned. Checkout my article: 25 Chinese herbs in English and Chinese. It's common herbs found in a typical kitchen (like mine). 
4. Order herbs online Try to order it online at herbal shops like Chai Huat Hin to avoid going out (Let me know if you know of other herbal shops doing delivery)

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NEXT DAY'S LUNCH: Herbal Chicken Congee (using leftovers)

Herbal Chicken Congee

21st March 2020

Prep: 5 min

Cook: 1 hr

Difficulty: Easy

Print This

Easy herbal chicken congee using leftover from yesterday's meal

By: Sara Khong

Ingredients

• 1 cup of rice (160 ml cup/ 125 g)
• Leftover chicken (about 2 cups)
• Carrot - 1 piece
• Water - 10 cups (1600 ml)

Directions

• Step 1 WASH RICE & CHOP CARROTS: Wash rice until water is clear. Peel and chop carrots.
• Step 2 COOK CONGEE: Put washed rice, carrot, leftover chicken, and water into the rice cooker. 
• Step 3 COOK IN A RICE COOKER: Let the rice cooker do its job. It should be ready in an hour. Serve with fried garlic, spring onions, and soy sauce if you have.

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SHORT RECIPE

Wash 1 cup of rice until water is clear. Peel and chop 1 carrot. Put washed rice + carrots + leftover chicken + 9 rice cups of water into the rice cooker.

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STEP-BY-STEP

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COOKING TIPS

1. Place the chicken in 15 minutes before you’re ready to eat for juicier chicken The above recipe is simplified. I would normally dump everything in. In reality, my Mom is very particular about her chicken and refused to let me put it in earlier with the rice as carrot as she doesn't want to overcook the chicken.
2. Remove the solomon seal. We normally remove the solomon seal before putting into the rice cooker. It has a chewy texture that not many people like. But its good for health and at times like this, I convinced my Mom to just eat it.
3. Eat it together with some fried garlic We are trying to eat as much superfoods as we can. Garlic is one of them. You can make garlic oil and pour it over. Make it in a microwave in just 5 minutes! I like to do it in a small egg pan (Don't let is turn brown like this. I was busy taking the shot and quickly poured it out to stop it from turning black and bitter)

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LET'S COOK & STAY IN!

The least we can do now to help the medical staff by not being a burden. My friend, SC Shekar, a photographer whose art work I admire said this:

Let's see it positively. Now is the time to pick up cooking skill and spend time with family. Be creative about food that you can make with the groceries you have at home. Let's get out of this pandemic together being healthier and smarter.

Stay home, keep clean, and eat healthy!

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The post Easy Steamed Herbal Chicken (5 Ingredients) + Chicken Congee Using Leftover appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

My sister is getting married soon and she's been eating healthy and other beauty food to prepare for her big day. Since we were little, our mother make for us Chinese beauty food supposedly makes us beautiful. A few of them are bird nest soup, hasma soup, Eight Treasure Tonic, Red Dates Tonic, and other herbal soups.

This time, when my sister requested for a collagen-rich dessert, she made a simple but delicious dessert with peach gum or known as 'tou gau/桃胶' in Cantonese. I like that this is not overly sweet.

 

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BENEFITS OF PEACH GUM

For someone who like chewy jelly-like texture like konnyaku jelly, I love eating peach gum which is believed to be a source of collagen. I have yet to do a detail research on the gum, but a quick google search shows that:

Peach gum is the resin from peach and Chinese wild peach trees, already solidified when it is found. As detailed in classical Chinese medical literature, its curative qualities include solving urinal infections, thirst-quenching and relieving stress.

Not only used frequently by doctors of Traditional Chinese Medicine, peach gum is also a natural and healthy food rich in amino acid, which allows collagen to be quickly absorbed into the human body. (Source: Michelin Guide)

Peach gum is believe to have beauty benefits like bird nest...but much more affordable. While I don't know how much of this truly helps (as in I can't find scientific explanations yet), I know from experience that a lot of my Mom's wisdom passed on from our ancestors did help me.

Besides what can I lose from eating something natural and plant-base (not bird's saliva) like peach gum? So yes, I am going to continue enjoying this dessert and hopefully reap its purported beauty benefits.

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3 MAIN INGREDIENTS

While I do like to cook, sometimes difficult recipes with a long list of ingredients overwhelms even a cooking instructor/food consultant like me. So I came up with a list of recipes using 5 ingredients and less. This is one of them.

You will only need three ingredients:

• Peach Gum
• Honey Dates
• Red Dates

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TOOLS

• Pot/ slow-cooker
• Mixing bowl (to soak the peach resin)

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RECIPE CARD

Peach Gum & Dates Soup Dessert (3 Ingredients)

6th November 2019

Servings: 6

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 8 hr

Difficulty: Easy

Print This

By: Sara Khong

Ingredients

• Peach Resin - 50 g (about 1/2 cup)
• Red dates - 60 g (about 20 medium-sized pieces)
• Honey dates - 120 g (about 6 pieces)
• Water - 1.5 L

Directions

• Step 1 Soak peach gum in water overnight or until they expand and soften
• Step 2 Remove the hard black bits from the peach resin (those are barks)
• Step 3 Put honey dates, red dates, and water in a slow cooker. Boil on LOW for 8 hours, or HIGH for 4 hours.
• Step 4 Remove dates from the cooker
• Step 5 Then add in peach resin. Let it cook for another 25 minutes.

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SHORT RECIPE

Soak 1/2 cup of peach gum in water. When soften, remove the hard black bits from it. Put in a slow cooker: 20 pcs red dates + 6 pieces honey dates + 1.5 L of water. Boil on LOW for 8 hours/ HIGH for 4 hours. Remove dates, add in peach resin. Cook for another 25 minutes.

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STEP-BY-STEP

1. Soak peach gum in water overnight or until they expand and soften

2. Remove the hard black bits from the peach resin (those are barks)

3. Put honey dates, red dates, and water in a slow cooker. Boil on LOW for 8 hours, or HIGH for 4 hours.

4. Remove dates from the cooker

5. Then add in peach resin. Let it cook for another 15 minutes.

6. Serve hot or chilled

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COOKING NOTES

1. Cook in a slow-cooker overnightI  like making this in the slow-cooker right before going to bed. So by morning, the dates would have been slow-boiled for 8 hours.
2. Use a steam oven If you have a steam oven (I have a Panasonic one),  you can also steam it for 3 hours. Head over to this video to see how I did it
3. If cooking in a pot, bring 2 litres of water and dates to boil then simmer for 1 hour with lid closed (or longer depending on how concentrated you want it to be)
4. Add more red dates and honey dates to make it sweeter My family doesn't like food to be too sweet. If it's not sweet enough for you, you can add more red dates, honey dates, or even rock sugar.
5. Buy peach gum at Chinese medicinal shop. I found it online too at Lazada/ Shopee by the name of  Tao Jiao, Peach Resin, and Peach Gum. 

This is one of the easiest and most delicious beauty food that I enjoy drinking. Try it!

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Every month, I send write a personalised e-mail with my favourite recipes, food tips, and recent food adventures. Keep in touch with me by signing-up for my newsletter👇 OR follow me at my personal Instagram.

Subscribe

* indicates required

Email Address *

Name *

Where do you live?

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The post Peach Gum Dates Dessert Soup (3 Ingredients)- For Beautiful Skin appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

Clam Soup with Ginger is absolute favourite dish. Whenever I visit a Chinese seafood restaurant, I must order lala soup and make sure that they use enough ginger and wine.

I’m glad that this dish is something that is easily replicated at home. The most important thing is to get fresh clams (preferably those that are still moving). The other important ingredients that you need are ginger, garlic, cili padi (bird’s eye chili), and Shaoxing wine.

If you really want to make this dish superb – use ikan bilis (dried anchovies) stock. Water and ikan bilis stock, in my opinion, cannot compare.

TOOLS

• Wok/pan/pot with lid + spatula
• Knife + chopping board
• Stove

RECIPE CARD

SHORT RECIPE

Soak 600 g clams in 1 L water + 2 tbsp salt, soak for a few hours and rinse. Fry 20 g julienned ginger and 3 cili padi. Add clams + 1.5 cups of ikan bilis stock (OR water with 1/2 tsp anchovies seasoning powder). Cover and bring to a boil. Season with white pepper + sea salt + 1 – 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine.

STEP-BY-STEP

1. CLEAN CLAMS: Place clams in a large mixing bowl. Pour in 4 cups (1 L) of water and 2 tbsp of salt. Place in the refrigerator and soak for a few hours. During this time, clams will spit out sand. Pour out sandy water, rinse clams in a fresh pot of water, and drain. Repeat a few times until the water is clear.

2. PREP: Peel and slice ginger into long, thin strips. Deseed cili padi and slice.

3. FRY AROMATICS: Heat oil on medium fire. Stir-fry ginger and chili until aromatic (1 minute).

4. COOK CLAMS: Add clams and two cups of water. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Once water boils, turn off the heat.

5. SEASON: Season with white pepper, fine sea salt, and Chinese Shaoxing rice wine. Serve hot.

COOKING TIPS

1. Choose fresh clams. To cook seafood, the most important thing is to get them fresh. Find out how to choose clams
2. Make anchovies stock If you can, use anchovies stock instead of water. Boil 50 g of ikan bilis in 1 L of water. If you use water, you will need to add ikan bilis powder to make it taste as good as those in restaurants. If you can, make your own using this recipe DIY ikan bilis stock powder.  If you are really not willing to make the extra effort, you can add a handful or about 3 tbsp of ikan bilis to fry with ginger and cili padi at step 3.
3. Do not overcook clams Once the water boils, the clams should be just cooked. If you keep simmering the soup, the clams will overcook and tastes too rubbery.
4. Omit Shaoxing wine to make it halal. For those who would like to keep this dish halal, you need not use Shaoxing wine. However, the taste is significantly different without it. I like mine with a lot of it

Note that this recipe is the easy/’lazy’ way.  When we want to make a GREAT clam soup, we will cook the clams first (saved the stock), then put into the soup at the very end. We would also make our own achovies stock and boil the soup for much longer to extra more flavour off the aromatics

If you think you can’t make restaurant-standard dishes at home (or better), try this one!

The post Easy Clam Lala Soup With Ginger & Cili Padi appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

Read: Dried Shrimp Powder

As I’m not a person who naturally love vegetables, I always make an extra effort to make them taste better by enhancing them with natural flavouring like herbs and dried seafood. Umami-rich dried shrimps and distinctly fragrant Thai basil imparts delicious flavour to slightly caramelised sweet pumpkin.

Pumpkin provides carotene which helps improve immunity; lutein which may help protect against cataracts and related macular degeneration; and potassium which supports healthy blood pressure level.

What I love about this dish is that it is not only healthy and delicious, it’s also incredibly easy to cook. You only need 3 main ingredients: pumpkin, dried shrimps, and Thai basil. All these ingredients can be kept for quite a long time in the fridge. Even if I haven’t had the time to do grocery shopping, it’s something that I can whip up easily.

TOOLS

• Wok with lid + spatula
• Knife + chopping board
• Bowl (to soak dried shrimps)
• Stove

RECIPE CARD

SHORT RECIPE

Heat 1 tbsp oil a in wok over medium heat. Stir-fry 2 tbsp dried shrimps. Then stir-fry 500 g of sliced pumpkin. Pour in 1/2 cup of water + salt. Cover with lid and cook until pumpkin softens (10 min). Add 30 pcs of Thai basil, stir, and serve hot.

STEP-BY-STEP

1. PREP: Rinse dried shrimps and soak them in 1/2 cup of water for 5 minutes (do not discard the water). Chop off the skin of pumpkin and remove its seeds using a knife. Chop into pumpkin into wedges, then into 2 cm thick slices

2 STIR-FRY DRIED SHRIMPS: Heat oil a in wok over medium heat. When oil is sufficiently heated, add in dried shrimps. Stir-fry until dried shrimp is turns slightly darker and fragrant (about 1 minute).

3. STIR-FRY PUMPKIN: Add in pumpkin and stir-fry until slightly golden (about 1 minute).

4. SEASON & BRAISE: Pour in water used for soaking dried shrimps and season with salt. Cover with a lid. Simmer until water evaporated and pumpkin softens (about 5 – 10 min)

5. FLAVOUR WITH BASIL: Add in Thai basil leaves and give it a few stir. Dish out and serve hot.

COOKING TIPS

1. Soak dried shrimps and retain its water. When soaking umami-rich produce like dried shrimps and dried Chinese mushrooms, retain the water and use it in your cooking. The water contains umami flavour which will make your food taste better. (Note: some cook will not do that if they think the produce is not organic/ clean)
2. Use a sharp cleaver. My least favourite part of making this dish is chopping the pumpkin. To make my task easier, I use a sharp cleaver/ Chinese knife to chop pumpkin and its tough skin. It’s much easier!
3. Scrap off the fibre. While removing the pumpkin seeds with a spoon, scrap off the fibre too. This is to prevent the pumpkin from turning too mushy when cooked.

If you want to inject some colour into your diet, eat more plants, and love flavourful dishes, give this dish a go!

The post Pumpkin Stir-fried With Dried Shrimps and Thai Basil – 3 Ingredients appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.