KennethT

It's amazing how somethings are exactly the same, and yet others are very different from 15 years ago...

In Thailand, it's prik nam pla (nam pla = fish sauce, prik = chilli)

Ending our weekend in Singapore (at home)... ayam buah keluak - without the keluak.... the whole apartment now smells like shrimp paste!!!

Lunch today continued the weekend in Singapore theme... Bak kut teh noodle soup with wild caught pink shrimp - really good on a day when it's 16 degrees F outside!

I don't usually make the chicken itself in the traditional way. Traditionally, you'd use a whole chicken, give it a complete salt scrub makeover, rinse, stuff the cavity with ginger/green onion, then poach gently in a big pot of water, then shock in a big pot of ice water when it done - that sets the gelatin in the skin. Personally, my wife and I aren't huge fans of the skin for chicken rice (sacrilege!!!) so I'll usually use thighs and cook them SV in a bag of my master stock with the skin in the bag to get more gelatin out of it, but it's then discarded. Or, since we had an appetizer last night, I took some tenderloins and just traditionally poached them in my master stock that I keep refreshing with garlic/ginger/green onion each time its taken out of the freezer. To us, the most important things in a good chicken rice is the rice texture, chilli sauce, then chicken. There's also a debate among Singaporeans as to the best way to eat it. If you look at my singapore blogs, you'll see how it comes when you go to my favorite place, Wee Nam Kee. The chicken arrives room temp, covered in what seems like a mixture of stock/soy sauce and sesame oil. The plate of rice comes separately. The chilli sauce is in a container on the table - take however much you want. Also on the table are containers of grated ginger to add to the sauce (I like my sauce really gingery) and sweet soy sauce. I like to add the sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) to the chilli sauce and mix thoroughly - then scoop a bit of combined sauce with each bite of rice and chicken. Other people like to drizzle the sweet soy sauce over the rice, and some will even drizzle the chilli sauce in the same way. To each his own. Sometimes you get a friendly local at the table next to you, and if they think you've never been there before, they will insist on telling you how they like to eat it and why everyone else is wrong.

What did you think of Joe's sauce? I think it's pretty different from most NY places. To me, it seems like their sauce is just tomatoes and maybe salt. No oregano, no garlic powder, etc...

😵 Ay yay yay.... I'll try... making the chicken itself and the stock doesn't really have many ingredients but it's quite a few steps if you do it the traditional way. Making the rice requires the stock! However, if you already have a decent chicken stock, you can get 95% of the way there by simmering some ginger, garlic and green onion for like a half hour until it's really fragrant. Then remove the solids and discard. Soak however much jasmine rice you want to make in cold water for about 20 minutes. Then wash the rice thoroughly with 4-5 changes of water until the water is clear. Drain the rice well. Traditionally, the next step is done using rendered chicken fat, but in the name of my cardiologist, I use a few Tablespoons of rice bran oil and saute about an inch of ginger (small dice) and 4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped - not to browning, but fragrant. Add the drained rice and toss to coat evenly. Then add to your rice cooker along with a fresh pandan leaf (I keep them in my freezer) that you can tie in a knot so it fits in the rice cooker easily. Depending on how gelatinous your chicken stock is, add your fragrantized stock to the rice cooker using the same amount as you would water, or in my case, since my stock is really gelatinous, I make it half stock, half water. Once the rice is cooked and the machine turns to the keep warm mode, let it sit undisturbed for like double the time that it was cooked - this is an important step in getting good rice texture. Edit - add pandan leaf to the rice cooker

Love it!!! It's amazing seeing huge bags of such fresh looking galangal...

All of those look great! I'm curious about the mix of chipotle and madeira... an interesting combo. She actually really liked the wings I made last night - she definitely prefers the drumette to the flat - which is good for me since I prefer the flat! I think one problem she has with wings in general is that a lot of them are too goopy with the sauce, or the skin's not properly done. Mine were a little sticky, but definitely not goopy so that wasn't an issue.

The chilli sauce I made last night for Singaporean Hainanese chicken rice was the best I've done so far, so I figured I'd put it here so I can find it again. 4 spur chillies (prik chee faa) - deveined/deseeded 1" or so ginger 4-5 cloves garlic 1/2 t salt 1-1/2 t sugar juice of half of a lime 1/3C chicken rice master stock (chicken stock refreshed with garlic/ginger/green onion) 1 t sambal oelek (if needed) dash toasted sesame oil

there's fish sauce in the marinade for the wings.... but chicken rice's origins are probably Chinese, so no fish sauce there.

First, find the rubbery-est seafood you can find. Second, grind or chop it into small chunks and mix with a thick batter... sorry, kidding... I couldn't resist. Seriously - I think you could make a good version with shrimp. Dipping sauce is usually mayo based. You could also use like a tartar sauce.

Yes! And btw, can you FedEx me some conch fritters????

I miss Motorino - Yes, they're only a few blocks away, and yes, technically I could get delivery, but their pies just aren't the same when delivered...

The spicy dipping sauce comes with the wings when you get them at the hawker center. Looking around at recipes online, it occurred to me that just about every sauce recipe I saw was very similar to my chicken rice sauce... that's convenient!

Last night was Sinagpore in NYC. Thanks to the wing cook off, we started with an appetizer of hawker style chicken wings and considering I had to do the work to make the dipping sauce (which is the same as my chicken rice sauce), I'd make chicken rice as well. Since we were having an appetizer, I made the chicken rice with tenderloins since I could defrost them individually. I keep a chicken rice master stock in my freezer - it started as a stock made with a silky, and an Asian style Bobo farms chicken, along with ginger, garlic and green onion. I add a bit of water each time I use it to poach more chicken for chicken rice since I also use some of the stock as cooking liquid for the rice. Last night's rice was definitely the best I've ever made, probably because I washed it really well, drained really well, and let it sit in the sealed rice cooker for long after it was ready to go (we were having our appetizers).

This was the plan - I think I came reasonably close - they were really tasty and even my wife enjoyed them! Enough so that she would be happy if I made them from time to time! I first baked them in the CSO on convection bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Then turned up the heat to 425 turning every 5 minutes - it probably took another 20-25 minutes or so. By that time, they had really good color, but I wanted them a little darker, so I changed the oven to broil at 500 leaving the door open a crack for a few more minutes each side. Next time, I think I'd start the initial cook a little higher - maybe 400. I think I want them a little darker next time. The sauce is basically my chicken rice sauce - I blended 4 fresh spur chillies (prik chee faa) with about an inch of ginger, 4 cloves of garlic, the juice of about a half of a lime (that was nice and juicy), about a half teaspoon salt and a little more sugar, plus maybe a teaspoon of sambal oelek and finally, maybe a half cup of my chicken rice master stock - which I refreshed that afternoon with a bunch of ginger, garlic and green onion.

It would almost easier for me to get calamansi than it would to get tangerine or kumquat!!!

There are tons of variations like this all over Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. I've currently got some wings marinating trying to replicate what I've had in Singapore - a hawker favorite... so I'm starting with a rempah of garlic/ginger/shallot/sesame oil, mixed with light soy, sweet soy, oyster sauce, fish sauce, white pepper and some honey. Smells really good so far... I'm looking to get something resembling this: Unfortunately, I have to calamansi available - so I'll have to make due with standard US limes.

what was your opinion of it?

Typo? Salmon at internal of 215F would be a block of wood... I think 115F, right?

I wouldn't brine scallops - dry packed scallops are valued because they are dry packed - bringing them will just make them weep liquid during searing, and you won't be able to get a really good sear

When you steam fish in the CSO, what temp do you use? I've been using 210, but I wonder if 200 might be better

I often find that restaurant versions of street dishes are much better in the street.

@liuzhou light.. ha! Everything looks great. How does the fancy luosifen compare against the street version? Are those baozi the ones called "doorknobs" or something like that? We had them in Beijing and while I burned the crap out of my mouth on one, I loved it.