Chicken with Ginger & Scallions

~ Posted on Friday, August 15, 2014 at 6:53 AM ~

For this post, I am sharing my next food recipe, Chicken with Ginger & Scallions (in Cantonese, we called this 'Keung Choong Kai'). We normally order this when we have family gathering in restaurants but hey, this is my 2nd attempt at cooking this. Without further ado, here is the recipe for Chicken with Ginger & Scallions:


Ingredients:
* Chicken meat (quantity up to you - I normally use thighs, wings and some chicken breasts parts)
 * Garlic (quantity up to you, the more the better flavor - cut into small slices)
 * Scallions (quantity up to you, the more the better flavor - cut into small pieces about 1cm in length)
* Ginger
(quantity up to you, the more the better flavor - cut into thin slices about 2-3mm wide)
* A pinch of baking soda to marinate the chicken meat
* Half tsp of salt (leave some to marinate the chicken meat)
* Half cup of water (to make the gravy/sauce)
* Oil - for frying the chicken meat (quantity up to you)

Methods: 
 
* Wash the chicken meat, make sure they are as dry as possible (use paper towel to absorb)
* Marinate with baking soda and salt for about 30 minutes.
* Heat up oil in pan.
* Fry the chicken until half cooked (I normally fry until a bit brown)
* Add ginger and continue frying for about 2-3 minutes
* Add garlic and scallions followed by water, cover the frying pan and continue frying for another 10-15 minutes
* Ready to serve

 

Outcome:

Chicken with Ginger & Scallions

 

If you prefer your chicken to look a bit darker in color, you may add a dash of dark soy sauce (caramel dark soy sauce). Picture below is my 1st attempt of this dish.

Chicken with Ginger & Scallions

Picture below was cooked on 5th May 2015.

Chicken with Ginger & Scallions

 

I was told by hubby and my MIL that the chicken dish is delicious, that the meat is bouncy and springy (thanks to marinating with baking soda) It is very easy to make this dish, little ingredients, easy to follow steps. This recipe is definitely for keeps!

To view my other recipes, feel free to hop over to my Recipe Library page for more info!

A Look Back Into My Homecooked Journey So Far...

~ Posted on Monday, August 11, 2014 at 7:31 AM ~

Looking back on some pictures of the dishes I cooked since this year and came to these few conclusions...

1. I'm really proud of myself for buckling up and cooking for the family since this year (prior to 2014, my mum-in law cooked for us mostly)

2. I'm grateful for hubby in pushing me on to cook and start me off with few recipes (ABC soup, lotus root soup, steam salted chicken)

3. I'm not a chef so some of the dishes might not look presentable but I'm proud to attempt cooking those dishes.

4. I'm a Chinese so there are dishes I cooked which are more geared towards Asian style with lots of braising and stir-frying methods.

5. I'm from Malaysia so there are dishes I cooked which are a mixture from other cultures here (spicy dishes normally)

6. I'd be lying if I tell you I don't feel hurt reading comments like 'The food looks gross' or 'Yuck!' or 'Ewww' or etc, but at the end of the day, when I see the dishes are all eaten cleaned (rarely any leftovers unless I cooked too much) that is more important.

7. I am happy knowing my family and kiddos are eating home-cooked foods that I cooked and did my very best.

For those wanting to see more pics, you can view them at my album on my Facebook page.

 

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

Buying Books Online via NoQ Store

~ Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2014 at 8:19 AM ~

One of the perks for being a blogger is getting vouchers to redeem for books! Yay! You see, earlier this month, I was offered a voucher for me to redeem books in exchange for a short review on my blog. Without further ado, check out my review below...

I'm a full-time mummy

About the company:

"Founded in 2011 as the online bookstore of Times Publishing Group, NoQ store offers a brand new shopping experience for books lovers and literature aficionados, making it convenient to purchase books and other related items, without the hassle of lining up and queuing, hence the name “NoQ.” As Asia’s online bookstore, NoQ store also fronts as the digital counterpart for Times Publishing Group’s sister companies: Times The Book Shop Malaysia and Times The Book Shop Singapore. "
 I'm a full-time mummy

You have no idea how difficult it is for me to narrow down my choices of book in order to not exceed the book voucher amount, what more with my passion for reading books and my OCD-ness of getting more educational and fun books that I can let our kiddos use with. So here they are:

  • Disney Princess Special Celebrations Storybook and Playset (ISBN:9780794423209)

  • The Cultural Revolution Cookbook: Simple Recipes from China's Countryside (ISBN:9789881998460)

  • The Magic School Bus inside the Human Body (ISBN:9780590414272)

  • Time & Money Flash Cards (ISBN:9780769667508)

  • Frozen (ISBN:9780736430517)

I don't know what is so special with 'The Magic School Bus' book but I see the reviews are pretty good on Amazon (I always rely on Amazon for customer feedbacks) but it got our 5.5 years old boy hooked and glued into me reading it for him right after he got home from his preK.

As for our almost 3 years old girl, she just loves her 'Disney Princess' book and immediately tried to take out the stickers and playset in it. I'm actually very pleased with this book despite there is no review available on NoQ and Amazon website. I took out the stand-up board pieces for her to play with, it came with a foldable hardcover piece which can be used both sides (one side is a dance hall for princesses and prince while the other side is a picnic table for you to play mealtime and stuff)

'The Cultural Revolution Cookbook: Simple Recipes from China's Countryside' is one of my favorite books so far! I am very very proud that I found this book and despite my brother-in law asking me whether I have become a communist (NO! I am most definitely not!) after seeing the title, I really love the simplicity of the recipes found in this book, as most of the recipes can be cooked with simple ingredients found in the kitchen. I mean these are dishes made during cold hard war time, those eras where food supplies are scarce and ingredients are plain and simple yet delicious. I have roughly gone through some sections in the book and just can't wait to try them out!

 

What I love about NoQ Store?

  • The prices are significantly much cheaper than other websites I frequently use to buy from.

  • There are more than 14 million titles, spanning across genres like Children's, Educational, Parenting, Fiction, Cookbooks and many, many more.

  • Various ways to make payment securely such as through your credit cards and PayPal.

  • Free shipping for orders above RM50 (for West Malaysia) or above RM120 (for East Malaysia).

  • Online assistance via the chat widget.
  • I like that there is a mini window popping out with the summarised version of the book as you hover over the titles, I can quickly glanced through the books.

  • The books you ordered will be delivered within 7 - 14 working days after order is placed.

 

My personal recommendations on the website:

  • To also use customer reviews from Amazon (currently the customer reviews are from Goodreads.com)

  • To include more data for city in the drop-down list as my city was not listed in the selection field. Luckily I am able to get immediate assistance from the online chat widget and got my issues solved promptly.

 

This website will definitely be one of my favorite online stores now!

I'm a full-time mummy

You can find out more from http://www.noqstore.asia/

FYI, NoQ Store has graciously offered my blog readers an exclusive 15% discount on all purchases when they use code FTMUMMY upon checkout.
Please take note that the discount code is valid from now until 30 November 2014.

I'm a full-time mummy

Do note that I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the voucher to redeem books of my choice in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.