In the first part of our simple (but delicious) recipes for you to try during the lockdown, we broke down our presentation to the three main meals of the day: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
This time, we’re going to keep things simple and curate complete meals you can cook in 1 pot.
Chicken porridge
Rice porridge, congee or ‘jook’ in Cantonese is the go-to comfort food for many in Malaysia when they’re feeling under the weather and prefer something not that heavy, easy to digest but filling at the same time.
There is something magical about a good bowl of soft yummy porridge that lifts the mood.
And the best thing is, it is easy to prepare the ingredients and everything is cooked in one pot!
Ingredients:
-> 1 cup of white rice
-> 200g chicken meat boneless and skin off (breast or tenderloin)
-> 8 cups water
-> Thinly sliced spring onions and ginger
Chicken Marinade:
-> 2 tsp cornstarch
-> 1 tbsp oyster sauce
-> 2 tbsp water
-> 1 tsp granulated chicken bouillon or a quarter of a Knorr chicken cube
-> 1 tbsp cooking oil
Seasoning:
-> 1 tsp granulated chicken bouillon or a quarter of a Knorr chicken cube
-> Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Wash the rice, drain, and keep aside for now
2. Cut chicken into thin slices and marinade in a bowl with oyster sauce, chicken stock, cornstarch and water. Mix well then add the cooking oil and mix for 30 seconds. The oil will keep the chicken from sticking together during cooking.
3. Put 8 cups of water in a cooking pot and bring to a boil with high heat.
4. Once the water is boiling, add rice.
5. Turn the heat down to medium and stir for 15 seconds.
6. Partially cover the pot with the lid (leave a little gap) and cook for 25 minutes.
7. At the 25-minute mark if rice grains are still fairly solid, add a little bit more water and continue to cook between 5 to 10 minutes extra. (Note: Cooking time depends on your stove)
8. Next, Stir/Whisk the rice with a cooking whisk or ladle for 3-5 minutes to break down the rice into a smooth consistency. Don’t hesitate to add a little bit more water to reach the consistency you like.
9. Set the stove to high heat, and slowly add the marinated chicken into the pot, keep stirring so the chicken do not clump together.
10. Once everything is in, keep stirring and let the chicken cook for another 3 minutes under medium heat. You’re almost done!
11. Mix in ginger strips, spring onions and granulated chicken bouillon and continue to stir for another minute.
12. Taste and add seasoning as needed.
Chicken Stew
Delicious, nourishing and flavourful, this chicken stew is the ideal comfort food when you’re feeling down and just need a big warm hug. It is also the perfect dish to help you clear out any remaining vegetables and bread you have in the house before grocery shopping.
Key Ingredients:
-> 1kg of boneless skinless chicken thigh or breast
-> 1 can Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup
-> 1 can button mushrooms halved
Vegetables:
-> 500g potatoes peeled and halved
-> 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
-> 1 medium white onion, cubed
-> 3 sticks celery diced
-> 2 large tomatoes halved
Additional ingredients and spices:
-> 4 tbsp olive oil or cooking oil
-> 4 cloves garlic minced
-> 3 tsp granulated chicken bouillon or half of a Knorr chicken cube
-> 8 whole bay leaves
-> 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
-> Salt to taste
-> Finely chopped parsley for garnish
Directions:
1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add chicken meat and sear each side about 3 minutes until brown. Remove and set aside.
2. Turn the heat down to medium, add a little bit more oil into the pot if needed and sautee the onions, garlic and mushrooms for 3 minutes until the onions are soft and fragrant.
3. Add celery and carrots and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Adjust the heat as needed to avoid burning your garlic.
4. Turn off the heat and pour in the cream of mushroom soup.
5. Fill the empty can with water and add to pot. Stir and dilute the cream.
6. Repeat step 5.
7. Add chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, pepper and bay leaves into the pot and mix well.
8. At this point you should add just enough water to cover the top of the ingredients.
9. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let everything simmer for 20 minutes until the chicken and potatoes are fully cooked and the liquid has thickened.
Tip: To adjust the consistency of the stew to your liking, you can dilute 2 tbs of cornstarch with 4 tbs of water in a bowl then slowly adjust the thickness of the stew by adding 1 tbs of the mixture into the pot every 3 mins until you get the thickness you like.
10. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Homemade garlic bread is perfect to go with this recipe. All you need is mix:
-> 4 cloves of finely chopped garlic
-> 4 tbsp butter at room temperature
-> Some freshly chopped parsley
-> A pinch salt
Directions:
1. If you have an oven, add the garlic butter spread on your bread and bake at 180°C for 4-5 minutes or until bread is toasted.
2. If you just have a toaster at home, toast your bread then add the garlic butter spread before toasting the bread spread-side down on a cooking pan for 2 mins under low-medium heat.
Claypot chicken rice
Claypot chicken rice is easily one of Malaysia’s favourite rice dishes. While not every household will have the signature claypot, we can easily adapt the recipe to using the humble rice pot and the best thing is, you probably have most of the ingredients you need at home already!
Ingredients:
-> 2 cups white rice
-> 500g boneless chicken thigh, chopped into bite-sized pieces
-> 1 piece salted fish
-> 5 dried shiitake mushrooms
-> 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic
-> 3 tbsp cooking oil
-> Spring onions to garnish
-> Salt and pepper to season
Marinade:
-> 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
-> 2 tbsp oyster sauce
-> 5 tbsp light soy sauce
-> 1 tbsp sesame oil
-> 3 inches of young ginger with skin removed
Directions:
1. First you’ll need to grate or blend the ginger into a fine paste. Then add 3 tbsp of water to the paste and set aside.
2. Put the chicken into a large bowl and add in all the marinade ingredients and ginger paste.
3. Seal the bowl with cling film or just cover it with a large plate.
4. Let the chicken marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes, remove and let it sit until room temperature.
5. Thinly slice mushrooms and let them hydrate in a bowl of water for 15 minutes then drain.
6. In a cooking pan or wok, heat the oil under medium heat and stir fry the garlic until fragrant.
7. Add the mushrooms and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
8. Add the marinated chicken and stir until chicken is fully cooked.
9. Add about 6 tbsp of water to the chicken to get some gravy.
10. If the chicken is too dry or there is not enough gravy, you can add a little bit more water and 1 tbsp of oyster sauce.
11. Turn off heat.
12. Wash and cook rice in your rice cooker as normal.
13. After about 15-20 minutes when rice is half cooked and solidifying, add the chicken and gravy on top of the rice and mix everything together.
14. Close the rice cooker lid and continue cooking for at least another 15 to 20 minutes. Once the rice is cooked, let it remain in the “keep warm” mode for about 10 minutes at most in order to ensure all the aroma from the marinade is infused into the rice.
Salted Fish Garnish
1. Wash and pat dry the salted fish with kitchen towels.
2. Thinly slice it.
3. Heat up a pan to medium heat with some oil.
4. Fry till crispy before serving with the rice.
Serve this dish while hot – and enjoy!
This article first appeared in theSun Buzz edition. Find out more recipes to try and get all your meals of the day sorted.
