Sometimes when I run out of ideas of what to cook, I just conjure something of my own, no recipe required. I was actually channeling my mum's chicken stew, a dish we used to love but did not get to eat very often.
There are dishes that my mum cooked which I thought were very delicious which she did not cook often. One example is her fried fish with assam topping.
I remembered she mentioned my dad did not like that dish. That must be the reason why some dishes don't make their appearance often or at all - dad did not like those dishes hah..hah... (or maybe some dishes were too troublesome).
So I marinated some chicken legs with garlic, light soy sauce and pepper. After a few hours, I decided to brown the meat for extra flavor.
I think it makes a difference.
Then I sauteed some sliced onions, carrots and celery in the same oil that I browned the chicken (if I remember correctly, the terminology is to sweat the vegetables).
Once the onions are sort of soft and translucent, I returned the chicken to the pot and added some seasoning and water to simmer the stew.
The seasoning was a mix of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce and tomato ketchup. I left the stew to simmer until the chicken was tender and the gravy was reduced. Then I added some Wattie's Garden Peas, my favorite and only frozen green peas that I use.
I made sure to taste and added loads of pepper. No, actually I added less pepper than what I would have liked because my partner can't tolerate too much pepper.
There was one time he jokingly asked me "You put the whole bottle of pepper is it?" when he ate a dish that had my usual amount of pepper hah..hah...
The chicken stew turned out quite nice and the next time I cook it again, I will take note of the amount of ingredients I used so that I can write a recipe.
This is Girl kepoh-kepoh when I was harvesting henna leaves.
Can you spot someone hiding in this photo?
Belle Belle likes to take refuge under the stool.
It looks like Girl spotted her.
Belle Belle is playing hide and seek with Girl? What do you use the henna leaves for? I see your red dutch oven, looks so pretty and useful too. Good buy! My spouse would like this chicken stew with your amount of pepper cos he likes to simbah white pepper powder in all his food.
ReplyDelete"simbah" white pepper hahahaha!!! The henna leaves are used to make hair dye.
Deleteyour campak campak stew also looks quite tasty...yummzzz! i'm curious on what's the henna leaves for? i think ah girl also curious too....she got that 'face impression' as if she is asking u 'ma, what's the leaves for??'
ReplyDeletehah..hah...I use the henna leaves to make hair dye.
DeleteMy missus does that too, campak campak anything and everything left in the fridge.
ReplyDeleteI wish we could get Wattie's garden peas here - we only get those in packets mixed with carrots, corn - hard as stones no matter how long we cook them (the peas). That is why we use canned ones now, not so nice but no choice.
I only like Wattie's because like you said, the others are so hard. I used to use the canned ones too. The color is not as nice.
DeleteI am look for your blog entry more for the CAT story then the good food and recipe, not my fault but it how you hidden the focus point within the main story.
ReplyDeleteYour focus point is CAT I see. LOL!
DeleteYour stew looked good. Maybe not too much pepper next round. Haha.
ReplyDeleteI also the same as you. When no idea of what to cook, I simply clear whatever in fridge and freezer and turn into a dish. Sometime it is a disaster. Lol. Most of the time, it turned out edible.
hah..hah.. most of the time we can make something tasty from odds and ends in the fridge or freezer.
DeleteWhen I saw your campak campak chicken stew, I immediately thought the sauce would be oyster sauce based but then remembered that your partner doesn't eat oyster sauce. So I reckon you must have used vegetarian oyster sauce instead. I was at the supermarket this morning and bought a small bottle to try after remembering that you used this one. I was surprised to find out that's even cheaper than my usual Lee Kum Kee (Panda) brand of oyster sauce. The small bottle of vegetarian oyster sauce (yes, I bought LKK as well) was only about RM6 compared to RM8 (for the same small bottle). Let me cook with it to see if I like the flavour. ^_~
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree...browning the chicken will add more flavour and yes also to the terminology of "sweating the vegetables" used by the west. And my husband would be the opposite of your partner, he would say "You didn't put the whole bottle of pepper in it?" LOL.
The reason why Belle likes to take refuge 'inside' the stool coz it's made in such a way that she's surrounded and she feels safe in it...much like the carton box she loves to crawl into.
I hope you like the flavor of vegetarian oyster sauce though it is a little on the sweet side. Belle Belle likes to hide from me because she dislikes having her ears cleaned. LOL!
DeleteI'm the one who always cook with agak agak recipes, free style, LOL
ReplyDeleteThat's the best way and it turns out nice some more LOL!
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