Braised Chicken with Capsicum Sprinkled with Sesame Seeds

When we run out of ideas on what to cook, just see what meats, seafood and vegetables are in the refrigerator and try to mix and match them to create a new dish. Or, just surf the World Wide Web to look for ideas. We need not copy ingredient for ingredient nor method for method when we do that as cooking is an art. We can add our ideas to whatever recipes that we have seen and create another new dish. For this dish - Braised Chicken with Capsicum Sprinkled with Sesame Seeds, I have seen a video (just the method without the weight of ingredients) on the World Wide Web. I have just estimated the ingredients and went ahead with cooking it.

Ingredients:

• 300 g chicken meat
• 1 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6-8 g white sesame seeds
• 100 g capsicum, various colours
• 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup water

Method:

• Wash and cut the chicken into bite sizes.

• Marinate them with dark and light soy sauces, pepper, salt and sesame oil for at least an hour.

• Toast the white sesame seeds till golden brown and fragrant. Set aside.

• Wash and cut the capsicum into little squares.

• Heat up wok or pan with sesame oil.

• Saute the garlic till fragrant.

• Add the marinated chicken and fry them.

• Add some water to braise the chicken till they are cooked.

• Add the capsicum and give them a quick stir (as I like to maintain their crunchiness).

• Scoop them onto a serving plate.

• Sprinkle the sesame seeds onto the chicken.

• Serve

Kuih Tepung Bungkus

 

Kuih tepung bungkus is my all-time favourite traditional kuih. It is good for breakfast or tea time.  It is not easy to find them in the area where I am staying. Thus, I have to make them myself. There are many processes involved in making them - from preparing the banana leaves, the fillings, the batter to finally, steaming the. But the delicious kuih makes the whole process worth it.

Ingredients:

• 12-15 pcs banana leaves 
• Batter:
• 400 g water
• 500 g coconut milk
• 250 g rice flour
• 10 g all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• Fillings:
• 150 g fresh coconut flakes
• 100 g gula Melaka
• 50 g dark brown
• 2 - 3 pandan leaves
• 80 g water
• 10 g corn flour + 2 tbsp water to form a solution

Method:

• Preparing the banana leaves:

• Cut the banana leaves into 6 inches x 10 inches size.
• Wash them.
• Run each piece over the fire to soften them or you may blanch them in hot water
  
  

• For the fillings:

• Add the gula Melaka, dark brown sugar, pandan leaves and water into a saucepan.
• Boil the water till the gula Melaka and dark brown sugar melt and the syrup is aromatic.
• Sieve the syrup into a non-stick pan.
• Let it cool down a bit before adding the corn flour solution to it. Stir so that they are mixed together.
• Add the fresh coconut flakes to the syrup.
• Stir the coconut flakes till they absorb the syrup and slowly cook them till they are dry and can be formed into balls.
• Let the coconut flakes cool down.
• Then form them into balls or cylinders, depending on how you want to shape your kuih; some shape it into cone while others shape it into a long rectangle. (Each may weigh 16 - 20 g.)

• For the batter:

• Add water, coconut milk, rice flour, all-purpose flour and salt to a sauce pan. Stir till all are well combined.
• Turn on the fire and keep on stirring the mixture till it thickens and of dropping consistency.

• Assembly:

• Take one piece of banana leaf and place it on a weighing scale.
• Spoon some of the batter onto the leaf.
• Place a piece of coconut ball or cylinder on the batter.
• Cover it with some batter. (The total weight of my batter and coconut flakes is 100 g.)
• Fold the banana leaf from bottom to cover the batter and from the top to cover it. Fold the ends under the body.

• Prepare the steamer:
• When the water in the steamer is boiling, transfer the uncooked kuih to the steamer.
• Steam them for about 15 minutes. (Remember the battar and coconut flakes are already cooked.
• Remove the kuih from the steamer once they are done.

• Serve.