Stirfried Chicken with Lemon

Lemons have many uses; we can make lemonade from them, bake with them, cook with them and decorate with them. Adding lemon to any dish makes it tangy. The tangy taste can really whet one's appetite and makes one want to eat more during a meal.  I have made Tangy Roast Chicken before. However, this is the first time I have stirfry chicken with lemon. Usually, I will cook chicken curry, braise chicken, stew chicken, bake/airfry/roast chicken and cook chicken soup. Adding lemon to my stirfried chicken dish was to create a new dish for the family. 

 Ingredients:

• 400 g chicken breast
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper powder
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 lemon
• slice 1/2 of the lemon (keep a few pieces for decoration)
• squeeze out 2 tbsp juice of the other half
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 5 tbsp water
• 1 stalk of green onion (cut the green part into small pieces for garnishing the dish)

Method:

• Cube the chicken breast.

• Marinate chicken breast with light and dark soy sauces, oyster sauce, salt, pepper powder and cornflour for at least half an hour. (I marinated the chicken for 2 hours.)

• Heat up the wok with cooking oil.

• Add the chopped garlic and sauté it till it is fragrant.

• Add the marinated chicken.

• Stir fry the chicken till it is almost cooked, adding water in the process to keep the chicken moist.

• Add the lemon slices and continue to stir fry until the chicken is cooked.

• Add lemon juice and give the chicken a quick stir.

• Dish out the chicken onto a serving plate.

• Decorate the dish with some lemon slices and sprinkle cut green onion on top.

Lemon Carrot Cake

I usually have bread and coffee for my breakfast. However, it can be quite boring eating bread day in and day out. So, I took to baking cakes and muffins for a change. I have been baking lots of carrot cake; usually plain ones or those with added walnuts because they are delicious and easy to bake. I have also baked Pineapple Carrot Cake which turned out to be very yummy. My latest was adding lemon juice and lemon zest to my batter to come up with Lemon Carrot Cake. It was tangy, soft and very moist. It was so delicious that it was loved by every member of my family.

This is an easy recipe. You can vary the ingredients according to your taste to make it lighter, more tangy or more aromatic. 

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 150 g sugar
• 115 g butter
• 80 ml milk
• 240 g all-purpose flour
• 3 g baking powder
• 1 g baking soda
• 80 g to 130 g carrot (130 g for a denser cake.)
• 50 ml to 60 ml lemon juice (60 ml for a more tangy cake.)
• Zest of 1 or 2 lemons (the latter for a more aromatic cake.)

Method:

• Preparation:
• Preheat oven to 175 deg C.
• Grease and line 8 inch x 4 inch x 4 inch pan.
• Melt butter. Set aside.
• Sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
• Grate carrot. Set aside.
• Zest and juice the lemons. Set aside.

• Beat eggs and sugar till sugar dissolves.

• Add the melted butter and milk and continue to mix.

• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Use a spatula to mix till all is well combined.

• Add the carrots and lemon zest. Mix.

• Finally, add the lemon juice. Mix till all the ingredients are evenly mixed.

• Pour batter into prepared pan.

• Bake at 175 deg C for 45 minutes or when a skewer comes out clean when inserted at various parts of the cake.

• When baked, remove the cake from the pan and let it cool down on a metal rack. Slice it after it had cooled down.

• Enjoy.