AIR FRYER CRISPY CHICKEN

Ran out of ideas what to cook for family. So I attempted to use air fryer to "fry" one whole chicken. Hey, it turned out well-received, cooked perfectly and still moist. My kids kept asking for more.

 

Ingredients

800g whole young chick

2 tbsp low-sodium salt

1 tbsp five-spice powder

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 cup approx of finely grounded bread crumbs

Method

1. Clean the bird well, remove all organs. Drain off excess water. 

2. Massage and rub the whole bird with salt, five-spice powder, followed by oyster sauce. Do not forget to rub the cavity too. Set aside for 1 hour.

3. Slit the bird half-way up at the breast. 

4. Pour the bread crumbs onto a plate. Place the bird into the plate and coat all over, cavity too. Tuck in the wings.

5. Place the bird with breast side up in air-fryer. Bake or "fry" at 180C for 35 min. Do not over bake or the meat will be dry. I turned the bird the other way after 30 min. 

6. Serve while a little warm.

Note: The bird should be at room temperature upon baking for better results.

this is the young bird i used

DIY bread crumbs

DIY Bread Crumbs

Cut old bread into small cubes and bake at 200C for 12 min. When it is cooled, blend till fine. Seal tightly and place in fridge for future use.

CONDENSED MILK BUTTER BREAD

I came across this beautiful bread through a friend's recommendation via FaceBook. It is the type of bread that I used to love, but somehow I have forgotten about it. The current craze has its outlook improved to look more sophisticated, but a look at the recipe tells me it is the bread I have loved as a child.

Thanks to this recipe from http://kkoko0620.blogspot.sg/2014/04/blog-post_22.html I have increased the ingredients by  half as I only have a 8" chiffon pan. If you do not have a bread making machine, fret not. I hand kneaded the dough too.

Condensed Milk Butter Bread

Ingredients (for 8" chiffon pan)

300g bread flour

30g sugar

4g salt

38g condensed milk

195g fresh milk

4g instant yeast

30g unsalted butter, softened

Filling

30g condensed milk

30g unsalted butter, softened

Topping (Optional)

1/2 tsp Icing Sugar

Some almond bits

Some fresh blueberries

Method

1. Mix all ingredients for bread except for butter in a mixing bowl. Stir and knead to form a dough.

2. Drop the dough onto the counter top. Add in butter and knead using the fleshy part under the thumb. Knead and turn the dough in one direction. Be patient, the butter will fully incorporate into the dough.

3. Continue kneading until the dough is elastic, smooth and shiny. You can test it by poking the dough with your finger. If it bounces back immediately, it is ready. Or you can check using the window pane test. (I did both tests)

4. Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a cling wrap. Let it proof for one hour or when it doubles it size.

before proofing

after proofing

5. On a lightly floured surface, drop dough and punch out air. Roll the dough into a rectangle.

6. Mix the filling and spread evenly on dough surface.

7. Cut 3 lines across lengthwise, stack and cut into squares. (I halved again lengthwise as I felt the cubes were too big.)

8. Grease the chiffon pan. Arrange the cubes into the pan.

9. Cover with cling wrap and let it proof till double in size. 

(You may sprinkle some almond bits and blueberries after it is risen, but it is optional)

10. Preheat the oven at 200C. When the pan is placed inside, reduce to 170C and bake for about 25-30 min or until the bread turns golden.

11. Remove from pan and place bread on a rack to cool completely.

12. Sift some icing sugar on top of bread and serve.

VERDICT
Easy to make, dough is pliable. Ultimate softness will depend on how well the bread is kneaded, but from the look at how fast it is disappearing from my dining table, I think it is pretty good => I love the light, sweet fragrance of condensed milk and butter, and even though I sifted the icing sugar on top which my mother in law disapproved at first, it is not as sweet as she first thought. I gave her a small piece and I think I passed the test. Will definitely make again!

RAINBOW SURPRISE CAKE

It's my second son's 11th birthday! I am making a cake for him, and like this idea from http://www.fox.com.au/scoopla/trebuttong-now/blog/2014/6/amazing-rainbow-tie-dye-number-surprise-cake/ 

 (extracted picture from above blog link)

Instead of using pre-mix cake, I am making my own sponge. A friend has joined me too, and we each made our own. There are two cakes involved and it takes some time to complete. So, plan your time well :)

 Cake Sponge 1

Ingredients

4 eggs, separated

1/2 tbsp melted butter

1 cup cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup full cream milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Food Colour Dyes

Method

1. Grease loaf tin and preheat oven at 160C.

2. In a clean and dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites and add caster sugar In 3 batches. Beat till stiff.

3. In another mixing bowl, beat egg yolks till very thick and creamy. Add in milk.

4. Mix cake flour and baking powder thoroughly. Sift into yolk mixture and fold gently.

5. Scoop 1/3 meringue into yellow batter and fold in gently.

6. Pour into remaining meringue and fold in gently until there is no more white streaks. Gently fold in melted butter and extract.

7. Divide the batter among a few bowls and mix in a different colour in every bowl. 

8. You may pour individual coloured batter into piping bags, but I am using a spoon to do the drizzling.

9. Tap a few times to release potential air bubbles.

10. Bake for about 30 - 40 mins or until skewer comes out clean when poked in the centre. Do not overbake.

11. Remove cake from loaf tin to cool completely.

12. Once the cake is completely cooled, slice it. Freeze for about 30 min. (This enables nice cuts)

13. Use a cutter to cut out shape. Freeze again till hard (probably at least 4hr or overnight).

Tip:

"Glue" the cut out shape by gently brushing with melted butter on the touching surfaces and align the cakes into a row. The butter will hold the pieces in place.

Note: 
Frozen Cake 1 helps to keep the slices in place during second bake, otherwise the shapes may float and not align well.

Cake Sponge 2

Ingredients

4 eggs, separated

1 tbsp  melted butter

1 cup cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup full cream milk

1 tsp vanilla extract
Some dried cranberries, lightly coated with some flour (optional)

Method

1. Grease loaf tin and preheat oven at 160C.

2. In a clean and dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites and add caster sugar In 3 batches. Beat till stiff.

3. In another mixing bowl, beat egg yolks till very thick and creamy. Add in milk.

4. Mix cake flour and baking powder thoroughly. Sift into yolk mixture and fold gently.

5. Scoop 1/3 meringue into yellow batter and fold in gently.

6. Pour into remaining meringue and fold in gently until there is no more white streaks. Gently fold in melted butter and extract.

7. Scoop a layer of batter at bottom of loaf tin. Put the rest of batter into a piping bag.

8. Arrange the frozen colourful cake into the tin.

9. Pipe out the batter to gently cover the colourful cake completely . (I added some dried cranberries here and there as I went along)
10. Give a few light taps and bake for about 30 - 40 mins. Do not over bake or the colour cakes will be dry.

11. Remove cake from loaf tin to cool completely.

Soft and fluffy cake! I was very satisfied =)

12. Trim cake and decorate as you like. 

decorated with caramel pop corns, jelly beans and sprinkles

 I used vanilla buttercream to coat the cake.

I am not a fan of buttercream, but this buttercream turns out so smooth and delicious! Better yet, I use milk instead of cream. Chilling the extra buttercream to make cake pops with the colourful cake crumbs. Yummy!

Basic Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients
200g soft salted butter (not too soft, but still allows spatula to cut through)

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

1-2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. At medium speed, cream butter for about one minute.

2. Add 1 1/2 cup of icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

3. Mix well, add milk and mix well.

4. If the consistency is too soft, add more icing sugar by a tbsp. If it is too hard, add 1 tsp milk. Adjust until you get the required consistency.

extra batter was made into 2 cupcakes, and piped in some vanilla buttercream and chilled before serving.

VERDICT
I was a bit skeptical that the cake would be fine, especially I was not sure if Cake 1 would float and if it would turn out too dry. But I was very satisfied as the whole thing turned out to be very soft and moist! Due to the tidbits used for decoration, it was quite sweet but hey, it was meant for a young boy! The buttercream enhanced the flavour and mummy ate quite a fair share ^o^

CHICKEN PIE WITH SOUR CREAM PASTRY

The other day I watched Masterchef Australia S3 and saw Ellie made a beautiful chicken pie using suet as the combining agent. I had never used suet before and was not sure where to get it in my neigbourhood. But I was very certain that I would be churning out a chicken pie soon!

Please feel free to make your own version of chicken pie filling. It could be sweet, savoury or spicy. Um... I decided mine to be savoury. I thought it would take a long time for the filling to cool, so I made the filling first. As it turned out, the pastry took a long time to chill . Next time, I will make the pastry dough first.

I made an error of using 250g butter instead of 200g. No wonder it took so long to chill and was difficult to roll out nicely. But the error was beautiful (LOL!) as the sour cream pastry turned out very buttery. Yummz!

Sour Cream Pastry (adapted from Maggie Beer)

Ingredients (I made double portions)

200g cold butter, cubed

250g plain flour

125ml sour cream (I used light sour cream)

Methods

1. If you have a food processor, great! It will save you lots of time. Just pulse butter and flour to resemble bread crumbs and add sour cream to pulse to form dough.

(I do not have a food processor, so I used 2 forks to help me cut the butter into flour. As I am making double portion, I needed a longer time. Do not overwork the dough after adding the sour cream)

2. Cling wrap pastry dough and chill till hard enough to be rolled out, about 20 minutes. (Somehow I needed to chill much longer than 30 min)

Chicken Pie Filling

in the end, I omitted cream, Worcestershire sauce  and garlic

Ingredients (please feel free to use your own versions)

1kg boneless chicken leg, washed and cubed into 1.5 inch pieces

1 broccoli, washed and cut into florets

1/4 pumpkin, cubed

2 sticks carrots, cubed

300g mushroom, stem removed, washed and pat dry

1 medium onion

1 can green peas

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 tbsp dried thyme

1 tbsp dried rosemary

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 cube Knorr chicken stock cube

1/2 cup red wine

1/4 cup Shaoxing wine

50g butter

2 tbsp plain flour

3/4 cup water

Oil for stir frying

Pepper and salt to taste

Egg wash: One egg mixed with 2 tbsp milk

Methods

1.  Marinade cubed chicken leg with some salt, pepper and shaoxing wine for 20 minutes.

2. In a hot wok, pour some oil and stir fry chicken till browned. Remove meat and juice separately, set aside.

3. Melt butter in hot wok. Add mushrooms and fry for a few minutes. (Make sure wok is hot before adding mushroom so that the mushroom will not lose its liquid)

4. Sprinkle flour on the mushroom and keep stirring for a minute. Add in the juice from step 2. As the juice starts to thicken, slowly add water, wines, and oyster sauce. (You may wish to add some cream to thicken the sauce, which I intended but omit)

5. Add carrots, pumpkin, meat, broccoli, dried herbs, onion and stock cube and cook until carrots are soft and meat is tender. Stir in canned peas.

6. Add pepper and salt to taste.

7. Keep cooking until the liquid has reduced to become sauce.

8. Leave to cool completely.

still cooking to reduce liquid to sauce

Assembly

1. Roll chilled pastry out into 3mm thick. Cut and line into greased pie pan or spingform pan, leaving a "lip" over the edge. (Make sure there is no hole and patch up thin areas)

2. Fill with filling to the full.

3. Cover the pie with pastry lid and seal the edges. Chill for 20 minutes.

4. Score the top lid to make a cross. Egg wash the lid. Place pan on a baking tray (thankful that I heed the advice because the pastry is very buttery) and bake at 220C until pastry turns golden brown. 

5.Serve while warm.

served with homemade mashed potatoes with sauce, cherry tomatoes and lettuce

VERDICT

The sour cream pastry compliments the savoury dish very well. It is a very filling dish, so next time I will use a s.maller pan