Vietnamese Chicken Congee

Congee is a rice porridge and comfort food (usually eaten for breakfast) is commonly eaten in Asian countries such as China, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Burma and India just to name a few. It is also called Poor Man's Food or Sick Man's Food is because you only require about 6 parts water and 1 part of rice and may be eaten when one is sick since it is easy on the digestive system.

Each Asian country has its own variations when cooking rice porridge. Congee made in different countries use different type of rice with different amounts of water resulting in a thicker or looser type of congee consistency. Popular flavourings consist of salt and pepper, garlic or ginger, fish sauce and pickled stuff. In Vietnam, rice porridge is simply called cháo cooked with sometimes pandan leaves, garlic and sometimes ginger. The popular kind of cháo in Vietnamese culture is when they add pig or duck's vital organs such as heart and liver. I just prefer cháo cooked just cooked chicken. In China, they like their congee with salted duck egg, one century duck egg, tofu and other fermented foods.

My mum and dad used to make chicken congee when I was sick and it did make me feel a lot better and recovered. And if it was the main meal of the day mum would add special types of food into it like the chicken/pork organs and to give it more of a bulk and colour mum would add in mung beans.

Today I will be showing you how to make my version of Chicken Congee or Chicken Rice Porridge

Vietnamese Chicken Congee

Ingredients:

For the broth/stock

• 2 to 3L water (i added 4 because i like my congee loose)
  
• 1/2 kg of chicken pieces (thighs/drum sticks etc)
  
• 1 piece of ginger peeled and cut into thin strips
  
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped
  

For the Congee

• 1 cup of jasmine rice (rinse and drain well)
  
• fish sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes (optional)

• shallots
• fried onion
• fish sauce or soy sauce
• pickled stuff
  
• mint, thai basil leaves (any herbs)
  

Directions

Firstly in a big stock pot, put the garlic and ginger in a 4 litres of cold water and boil and them let simmer. Add the chicken to cook for about 20 minutes or under cooked through. Check it but taking one chicken out and cut through with a knife. When it's cooked remove the chicken. I like to put cold water over the chicken to stop the cooking process because you do not want to chicken to dry. Leave to cool and shred meat and off the bones and leave aside. Put the stock onto medium high.

The next step is to rinse and drain the rice. Then add the rice into the stock and cook until rice is broken. This will take 2 hours to cook. Add 3 to 4 squirts of fish sauce (depending on you), salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle the congee into soup bowls and top with the shredded chicken, herbs, shallots, pickled stuff and the fried onions. You can add an additional squirt of fish sauce if you like :).

That's my version of congee. Hope you enjoy! Maybe next time I will make century duck egg with congee :).

Sticky Rice Balls in Ginger Syrup

I looked through my old photos and came across my food photos of a particular dessert which is popular throughout Vietnam. It's called Sticky Rice Balls in Ginger Syrup or in Vietnamese - Chè Trôi Nước. It can be unfilled coated with coconut or can be filled which can vary. It can be either red bean paste, mung beans, taro, rock sugar, or black sesame filling. The ones I made a couple of years ago contained an easy peanut butter sesame filling. Yes, it was a strong peanut butter taste, it's quite sweet but I love it!! These dumplings can be served hot or warm. When eaten warm, it's chewy and it bursts out with the filling in your mouth and the warm ginger caramelly syrup just tops off the flavour. It can be topped with sprinkles of toasted sesame and some coconut milk. Very delicious.

sticky rice balls in ginger syrup

Get someone to help you since it is quite hard work if you are making a lot! I used my little sister to help me and in return she had some of my dessert lol. This is going to take you about an hour or so because of the steps --- the rolling of peanut butter filling balls, the making of the glutinous rice flour and coconut milk dough and filling the balls with the filling. And then cooking it. Sounds long but worth it at the end. Oh yeah, you can easily buy glutinous rice balls in ginger syrup (usually with mung bean paste) at Inala or Darra on Saturday morning for about $2 or so. But you only get like 3 big balls with mung bean paste and the rest are small unfilled balls. It's worth the value because think of what the person has to go through making the end product for only $2? :)

Peanut Butter filled Sticky Rice Balls in Ginger Syrup
Makes about 20 balls serves about 4 people depending how much they eat :PThis is my version I have alternated to suit me :) and I have made more than 20 balls. You can buy all the ingredients at your local Asian supermarket. You can also find these ingredients in you Coles or Woolworths Asian aisle.
You will need:

Glutinous Rice Balls

• 4 tbs of crunchy peanut butter
• 3 tbs of icing sugar
• 5 tbs of roasted sesame seads
• 1 pkt/ 400grams of glutinous rice flour
• 1 can of coconut milk

Syrup

• 1 piece of julienne ginger (cut in match sticks)
• 100 - 150g of brown sugar
• 1 orange or lemon peel (optional)
• 4 cups water

Directions:

steps 1, 2, 3

1. In a bowl mix up peanut butter and icing sugar. Roll in small ball pieces. Use water so the peanut butter won't stick to your hands. After rolling into small balls you then roll it into the toasted sesame until well coated and then chill til firm. This will make it easier for you to handle and won't be sticky. This is the filling for your sticky ball.

2. The next step is to mix the flour with the coconut milk to form a soft dough. Now I never measure the quantities so the consistent should be of play dough. Slowly mix about a 1/3 of the coconut milk gradually into the flour and mix until you get a play dough like consistency. If the dough is not pulling together slightly add more coconut milk until you get a soft dough.

3. Now with the dough, take a little in your hand and roll it into a ball double the size of the peanut filling. Indent it with your thumb. Now place the peanut filling in the centre and pinch to enclose the filling. Then gently roll the ball between your hands until it forms into a ball making sure the filling is enclosed. Repeat with all of the ingredients. If you find that you have a lot dough left over just make it into smaller balls with no filling.

steps 4, 5, 6, 7

4. The next step is to cook the rice calls into boiling water . Drop each on carefully...they will sink to the bottom but then after about 5 minutes the balls should rise and float to the surface. You know this is ready.

5. To prepare the syrup, you just need to boil the ginger, brown sugar and mandarin orange peel together until the sugar is dissolved. Boil it on 4 cups of water.

6. For the syrup, in a pot dissolve water, sugar, ginger and peel until it goes all syrupy.

7. Finally, ladle balls into small bowls with the syrup and serve with toasted sesame seeds and drizzle with coconut milk

Note: to best store is to leave it out never in the fridge because what you would find is that even though you will get a nice cold syrup the balls will harden and it will not taste really good! Store them in an air tight container and consume them in 1 to 2 days.

Marco Polo Dining Cellar Martini Bar @ Brisbane

I spent my Sunday night at Conrad Treasury Casino not for the gambling lol but for the exquisite food and since my grandma is a platinum member of Conrad, I simply became her guest. This allowed me to access all the white gold suites and lounges in the casino that non-members couldn't. Boy was in for a fun ride :). Drinks and food on the house! Hanging around with my grandma was so fun!

At 6pm we headed to Marco Polo (international cuisine) which is claimed to be Brisbane's best five star restaurant. Evidently the sign pretty much said it all. It achieved Best Restaurant in Australia Accomodation Division for Excellence. The entrance boasted a huge wine cellar with over 300 wines on the menu behind an enormous glass window. I took a step back. Of course I didn't order since I do not drink wine. While grandma was having a quick chat with one of the friendly well groomed waiters I peeped inside the area and admired how beautiful and contemporary the restaurant felt - quiet chatter among guests, warm dim lights, contemporary decor, creamy, red and chocolate colours, and the pretty moss green fabric chairs and matching wall backing.

We were seated down by an exceptional and skilled waiter, had a quick chat and took our orders. I had a look at the dining menu and the food was basically Asian and European. The Asian food I can pretty much whip it up by myself at home however looking at the price at the Peking duck (with pancakes and shallots) was $130 between two people. Did I have a heart attack or what? Probably because I can buy a whole Peking duck at Sunnybank for $25. That food is for the high rollers! lol. Well I have to try this Peking duck next time when I am earning a 6 figure income to see if it's worth the price :) or maybe when I have a big win? lol

Flipping through the menu there were traditional food that you would find at other award winning restaurants. The first food on the list that caught my eye for my main course was the Sesame King Prawns with chili and honey glaze for $32. For the dessert I ordered Marinated Lychees in Iced Jasmine Tea with Mint Sorbet for $14 since I wanted something fresh, cold and sweet. Now I didn't order an entree since I knew I would be so full that I couldn't eat my dessert!

The food came about 15 minutes later after having a complimentary warm bread and garlic butter. Pretty efficient service!

Sesame King Prawns with chili and honey glaze for $32.

The Sesame King Prawns with chili and honey glaze was enormous! Plated was 4 crispy battered king prawns, with a side of salad and slices of mango covered with a tangy sweet kind of dressing. I ate the the whole lot well besides the heads and tails lol. It was pretty good although I would like to see more dressing from the glaze a bit more and maybe add one more prawn to live up to the price :).

Next was the dessert Marinated Lychees in Iced Jasmine Tea with Mint Sorbet. Oh now I was excited! I initially thought the whole dish was going to be in one big bowl with lychees and sorbet but it was presented on a long plate and each piece of dessert was placed beautifully on it's own. Now I didn't expect a creamy coconut jelly thing (left in photo below) but my goodness it tasted just perfect - not too too creamy and not overly sweet. The mint sorbet was nice and refreshing! The downside of this dish was the lychees.....it tasted like it was from a can of lychees that I would buy from the local Asian markets for $2.50 a can or from a lychee tea drink. Overall the dessert was good mixed with the creamy coconut milk jelly and the tang of the passion fruit sauce.

Overall the experience at Marco Polo was a good one. Next time when I come back I will try their Seafood range and maybe order and side or two? :)

Overall rating:

Affordability: Okay if you were on my wage - I would be going once a month. But if you are a high roller :)..you can devour this kind of food every week. It's pretty expensive.

Food: 8
Ambience: 8
Service: 8
Value: 5

Open: 6pm-late, seven days.
Menu costs: Entree $21-$27; mains $22-$41; and dessert $15-$19.

Address:
Level 2, Treasury Casino
Queen Street
Brisbane QLD 4000

Contact:
Tel : +61 7 3306 8744

Fax : +61 7 3306 8687

Website: Marco Polo Dining Cellar Martini Bar

French Sweet Bread

After having sweet bread last week made by the local Vietnamese bakery at Darra (Brisbane) I was craving for some more. I wanted to make a normal type of sweet bread that's wasn't too hard to make. So where do I find such a recipe? On google of course......derr lol.

I googled "sweet bread" and Blue Barn Bulletin came up as the most popular searches for sweet bread. It was french sweet bread. I thought okay then let's try it. I had all the ingredients in my pantry read to mix up! I didn't have a bread mixer I just kneaded the dough manually by hand and like her, I doubled the ingredients up to make more. I like to use all the space in my oven when it's on. It's such a waste of energy to leave empty spaces in the oven while just cooking one thing! I let it rise for about an hour and then about half an hour again when the dough was in it's plats. I baked it at 170C and for about 25 - 30 minutes. It was browning early. I guess it was probably my oven.

When it came out it smelt delicious even though it looked like it was too too brown lol. I only had it in for 20 minutes. But that's okay, next time I have to keep watch! I didn't tell you that I did add sultanas and coconut just to be creative! I left 2 breads plain. It was good but I think I will put more another 1/2 cup of sugar and some vanilla essence in next time because I am such a sweet tooth! I guess this bread is not suppose to be too too sweet hey?


French Sweet Bread
adapted from Blue Barn Bulletin

Makes TWO loaves(?) / plats. DOUBLE INGREDIENTS TO MAKE FOUR like me :)

• 1 package dry yeast
• 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt (I omit the salt unless using unsalted butter, then use 1/4-1/2 teaspoon)
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 4 cups flour (4 to 4 1/2 cups total)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Dissolve yeast in water. Heat milk to lukewarm. In a different bowl, combine egg, sugar, cinnamon and salt, if using.
2. Add yeast, milk and 4 Tablespoons butter and mix again. Add flour gradually till it can be gathered into a soft ball. Blend in remaining flour with fingers.

3. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Use remaining butter to keep fingers from sticking. Don't use any more flour.
4. Place in lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled. Punch down and knead a few times. Divide in half, then divide each half into 3 pieces and roll each piece between hands into a long rope.

5. Braid ropes from middle, pinching ends together. Form into ring if desired, place on oiled baking sheet.
6. Cover and let double. Bake at 350º F for 30-45 minutes.

ooppss a bit brown!! but still tasted good! doesn't taste burnt thank goodness! hehe......it smelt divine! It was so yummy with butter and jam :).

Thanks to Blue Barn Bulletin for sharing this wonderful recipe :)