Thursday 17 October 2013

Chicken With Soya Bean Paste (Taucheow Chicken)


This is another dish that makes its regular rounds on my mum's menu. We call this "Kay Chu Taucheow". It is a dish that is full of robust flavors that come from the salty and pungent soya bean paste (taucheow). Salty and slightly sweet, this is a dish that makes us ask for more rice.


The ingredients used are ginger, garlic, onions and taucheow. The chillies are optional but I love having them for that extra oomph. It is quite nostalgic replicating my mum's dishes as it brings me back to those days when I would look forwards to mealtimes. Yeah, my favorite time of the day was lunch and dinner :)


When the taucheow is being sauteed with garlic and ginger, you cannot help but pay attention. The smell is truly heavenly! You would know immediately that a very good meal is coming your way. I love to add big onions in two stages. First is to saute with the taucheow, garlic and ginger and when the chicken is almost cooked, I will throw in another batch which I will cook until the onions are just wilted. I love lots of onions in this dish . They add sweetness and lots of flavour.


When you take a piece of chicken, be sure to scoop up the onions together with the thick gravy. Mix them into your rice and you'll understand what I am talking about. The taste is simply delicious. Enough said!


But no, I won't stop talking just yet. Be sure to julienne the ginger finely because you don't want to get a big jolt of ginger that might spoil your experience if you are not a big fan of ginger. I am generally a ginger lover, so big bites of ginger is fine for me. Also, make sure you use enough oil to saute the ingredients or else the result won't be satisfactory. OK, I shall now leave you in peace with the recipe :)











Chicken with Soya Bean Paste (Taucheow Chicken)
Recipe source : Phong Hong

Ingredients :
- 1/2 chicken, cut into bit size pieces (about 600g)
- 1 knob ginger measuring about 1"x1", finely julienned
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 big onions, cut into wedges - reserve one onion for later
- 2 red chillies, sliced (optional)
- 1 heaped tablespoon taucheow (soya bean paste)

Seasoning :
- 1 tablespoon light soya sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soya sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar

To thicken gravy :
- 1 teaspoon of cornflour mixed with 1.5 tablespoon of water.

- spring onions to garnish

Method :
1. In a small bowl, mix light soya sauce, dark soya sauce and sugar. Set aside
2. Heat oil in a wok and saute ginger and garlic until aromatic.
3. Add taucheow and saute until aromatic and add onions wedges (from 1 onion)
4. When the onions are soft, add chicken and seasoning. Stir to mix everything together.
5. Add a bit of water and cover the wok. Simmer, stirring every now and then.
6. When the chicken is almost cooked, add the second big onion. Stir and continue to simmer until the onions are slightly wilted.
7. To thicken gravy, add cornflour mixture and bring to a boil. Continue to stir to coat chicken with the gravy.
8. Dish out and garnish with spring onions.


Photobucket

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake.

50 comments:

  1. Hi PH, I like tauchew sauce..... goes so well with all types of meat!

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    Replies
    1. Yen, it also goes well with fish. If I have time, I want to cook the fish version.

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  2. This should taste something like ayam pong teh? They use tau cheo too.

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    1. Arthur, though quiet similar in ingredients, pongteh is different in the sense that shallots (lots of it!), garlic and taucheow are pounded/blended together and then sauteed till fragrant. Then there's gula melaka and all these make it taste quite different from my dish.

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  3. You always have wholesome dishes in your blog, I was giving your banana carrot cake a second look when this jumped in:D Looks delicious and not as fattening as the cake lol!

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    Replies
    1. Jeannie, this dish is typical home style cooking and I grew up loving it and still do!

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  4. Hi Phong Hong, taucheo is very versatile in cooking any savoury dishes. This looks yummy and goes well with porridge or rice.

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    1. Kimmy, I love taucheow! It is very aromatic and so appetizing.

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  5. Hi Phong Hong, your first picture already makes me drool. Tentu sedap!

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  6. I can eat 2 bowls of rice with this dish, it is yummy!

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  7. Hi Phong Hong,

    I reckon cooking with Taucheow is like cooking salted fish or balachan.... always a love or hate situation. Me? Being typical Singaporean, I'm loving my taucheow, salted fish and balachan. Wish that I have 3 bowls of rice to enjoy your yummy dish... 1 more bowl than Jozelyn :p - LOL!

    Zoe

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    Replies
    1. Zoe, you are right! We find salted fish, belacan and taucheow so aromatic and these ingredients makes us hungry. And yes, it calls for many bowls of rice!

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  8. Wow dear Phong Hong, these photos are already making me drool here, the way you describe them, I'm imagining it to taste really good. I've never cooked with Taucheow,will definitely try it out sometime soon. Thanks for sharing :)

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    1. Hi Jennifer! Yes, taucheow makes dishes very tasty. I hope you will try this dish soon :)

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  9. your pics have already convinced me :)

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  10. Wooooo....This dish make me hungry, I got to go for lunch now :)

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    Replies
    1. Esther, you must eat taucheow chicken!

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  11. This looks delicious Phong Hong. A very new kind of recipe to me. will try soon

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  12. I love this dish, makes me want to grab it from the screen!

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    1. Hah! Hah! Me too wish I can grab stuff of the screen :D

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  13. I have never tried this paste, looks delicious!

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  14. Sedap. Mom used to cook this with fish

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  15. Kids in old days were so simple & easy to be satisfied compare to these days. Glad to see a dish with optional choice of adding chilli, hahaha! There is a particular brand of the fermented bean paste that I like from Malaysia & every time when I went back to Malaysia, I must ask mum to buy a few bottles for me. It is less salty compares to what I can get from here. But I don't know the name as my last bottle had finished months ago. Need to buy more in my next trip! I love how simple this dish is yet can produce such a great dish!

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    Replies
    1. Jessie, kids these days have so many choices that they see on TV. Pizza, burger and most fast foods are more appealing to them. I must find out from you what brand is that. Then I can also try!

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  16. Hi PH...yum! Can imagine the taste! I'm going to try it tomorrow but I need to buy light soy sauce first! ;P

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    Replies
    1. That's great! You will love this dish, I have seen similar recipes in Malay cookbooks. Sedap!

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  17. Hi Phong Hong,
    Wow, the rice cooker must be filled with more rice when this dish is on the menu! Looks delicious and I love tau cheow used in meat and chicken dishes. I'm with you when it comes to onions and ginger, the more the better, yum!

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    Replies
    1. Joyce, I love the oil and the ginger and onions in this dish! So yummy with lots of rice :)

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  18. Hi Phong Hong, this is very yummy and appetizing. I can have this one dish alone! Have a great day and do take care :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ivy! That's what my mum does. She cooks just one meat dish for each meal with one vegetable and we can really focus on it. Hah! Hah!

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  19. it looks great! i used to cook chicken in this way too, so yummy~~
    i change my blog to here ;)
    caterpillar

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    1. Hello Caterpillar! You have been missing :) OK, I come visit your new blog!

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  20. I can have this dish only with a bowl of steamed rice, sound so homey and yummy!

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    Replies
    1. Sonia, you will sure tambah one more bowl hee..heee...

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  21. This is the kind of flavorful dishes that speaks to me! I adore the taucheow sauce as I have been using the sichuanese spicy bean paste for as long as I have been cooking. I am drooling just looking at it. Thanks for sharing it!

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    1. Hi Yi! I love the sichuanese spicy bean paste! These bean pastes do a lot to enhance the flavour of the food.

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  22. Soya bean paste is such a versatile ingredient/condiment for our chinese cooking. I lost count of the many flavourful dishes that my grandma cooked using it! Love your taucheow chicken!!!

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    1. Alvin, we can also cook vegetables with taucheow like brinjals and pumpkins and if I have time, I'll do just that! You must be missing your grandma's cooking. Perhaps you could share it sometime :)

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  23. Hi Phong Hong, I love this. Very inviting and mouthwatering. I love anything dish with bean paste and need extra rice. :))

    Best regards.

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    1. Amelia, beanpaste is so versatile and makes dishes so tasty. I will be sure to keep stock and cook more often with it.

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  24. i always have a jar of tauchoo in my fridge..for fish and meat and even i cook ham choi i also tend to put a little bit of tauchoo in it..

    very appetising indeed..how not to put on weight like that?

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    1. Lena, I must try ham choi with taucheow. It sounds strange right now hah! hah! but never try never know. Very difficult to diet lah with all these events hee..hee..

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