The Hainanese chicken

It started with a little conversation with my Mom about how to make it. I had some dark sweet soy at home and a student was kind enough to give me jar of Hainanese chicken rice chili. After having tried Wee Nam Kee, then Hainanese Chicken Rice at the Mall of Indonesia in Kelapa Gading in Jakarta, and then at Changi restaurant on Vito Cruz, it's about time so here goes.

1/2 chicken
1 liter of water
large onion
bunch of onion leeks
2 thumb size pcs of ginger
4 cloves garlic
salt
Pinch of turmeric powder
sesame oil for the garlic ginger oil
dark sweet soy or plain soy
sambal or chopped long chili mixed with some water and salt, if none, chili oil will do
2 cups of your favorite medium grain rice
big bowl of iced water.

Trim the back bone and neck, set aside the skin, and put the carcass in a large stock pot. Add half the large onion and smash one thumb size piece of ginger then a liter of water into the pot. Start the flame and as it starts to boil set to low flame and throw in a tbsp of salt. There should be enough stock to completely submerge the chicken

This is what you will cook the chicken in for at least 20 minutes. Trim the excess fats and skin from your chicken carcass, you will need this for the rice later. You should have about a handful of skin and fats from the ass, the back and neck, excess skin from the edge of the breast.Immerse the chicken gently then set the flame to its lowest. after 20 mins, remove the chicken and allow to cool and drip dry.

Chop the garlic, onions and ginger to a very fine dice. I smashed the garlic and ginger with my cleaver before proceeding to mince fine. The remaining half onion should be fine.

Take your onion leeks and slice the root ends off then the remaining white to light green parts cut into 1 inch lengths. The dark green parts chop fine you will need this for the ginger garlic oil later.

In a separate rice pot, put the fat and skin over a low flame and let the simmer and melt into chicken chicharon, you can eat this with your beer. As this melts, slowly place your chicken into the stockpot. let it poach uncovered.

after about 10 minutes remove the melted skins and sautee the onion, and half the ginger and garlic. As it gets fragrant add your rice and make sure all the grains come into contact with the oil. Add your pinch of turmeric and mix it in fully. set flame to low and ladle 4 cups of stock into the rice pot a cup at a time. Turn heat on high and when the rice boils, throw in your inch long cuts of onion leeks and set flame to the lowest possible setting and cover. Don't touch it for 15 minutes, dont even look at it.

You can start cleaning up, and after about 10 minutes, your chicken should be done. Carefully take the chicken out so as not to tear the skin and submerge in the bowl of previously prepared ice cold water.

The rice should be done now after 15 minutes of cooking and will be ready to serve 5 minutes after you shut the flame off. Meantime prepare your cucumber, peel, cut in half lengthwise and slice thin and arrange layered on a serving plate. Prepare 3 small bowls for your dips. Into one place a tablespoonful of sambal, into another a teaspoon of sweet dark soy and a teaspoon of plain dark soy. Take a fresh pan over a high heat and put 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Place the remainder of the garlic and ginger and half a tsp of salt. As it gets fragrant add the chopped onion leeks and immediately remove from the fire and into a bowl. To this add half a tsp of
sesame oil.

Ready to serve! Take your chicken and with your hands separate the bone from the breast, then slice the breasts gently so you have nice little coins of white meat, the leg and thigh should be cut and sliced for easy cutting and eating later.

Layer them on the plate full of cucumber and paint some soy over them with a paint brush.

Winner!!! syempre Tiger Beer!

Osso Bucco

I had these beef shanks in my freezer over the holidays and had wanted to make Osso Bucco, a dish I hadn't done in a while. When I last made this and brought it to the birthday party of one of our professors in DLSU, they said nakakalimutan na daw nila ang pangalan nila.

My mom had one thing to say when I told her I was making it, " . .don't forget the grimolatta. . . " Grimolatta?!? what the hell was that? Thanks to the internet it was found. Here is what I did tonight and my son and I barely spoke to each other during dinner.

2 beef shanks (choose the ones with smaller center bones)
500 gms. Australian beef stew cuts (from SM)
one small onion chopped fine
one long stalk celery chopped fine
two small carrots chopped fine
a cup of diced tomatoes (as red as you can get them)
a chicken cube
1.5 liters of water
one sprig of fresh rosemary (eh, kung wala eh di half a tsp of dry)
half a tsp of dry basil
2 large bay leaves
1 tbsp salt
dash of pepper
olive oil
1 tsp of flour
a cup of wine (Shiraz was all i had, but if you cant drink it, dont use it)
1/2 cup of chopped parsley, and
the zest of one lemon - use a cheese grater careful just to get the yellow parts

to start, thaw the meats completely and pat dry.
to this add a tbsp of salt, dash of pepper and the flour, coat evenly.

Heat a large deep dutch oven, to this add the olive oil and brown the meats, as in brown them. After 8-10 mins take them out (there should be some nice caramelization on the meats and on the bottom of the pan. In the same pan sautee the onions, carrots, celery until translucent (yep a classic mirepoix) then add the tomatoes
as the tomatoes wilt throw in one chicken cube and crush it, then add the wine. Use your cooking spoon to scrape away the goodies stuck to the bottom of the pan, and as the liquid simmers, add about a liter of your water.
Now place the meats back into the liquid and lower the flame to its lowest setting. This should sit in the mixture, slowly simmering for 1.5 hours.

Sit back relax and get a beer, in fact get a whole bunch of beers. Don't allow the stew to dry out, add a bit of water every 10-15 mins if the liquid reduces below the level where the meats are no longer submerged.

When the meat is soft enough (use a fork), start chopping your parsley and grating your lemon. This is the grimolatta!!

Let the Osso Bucco sit in the pot for 10 mins and the sauce will thicken slightly by itself. Ladle the stew onto a bowl and sprinkle a generous amount of your grimolatta onto the top before serving. I served this with some potatoes I had quartered and fried.

With plain rice or crusty bread and a warm Cabernet Sauvignon, panalo.

The Crispy Liempo is Ready Your Honor!

If there were one cold cut in a decent Chinese Tea House that I always crave for, it has to be the Crispy Roast Pork. Call it by any other name, Lechon Macau, Roast Suckling Pig, whatever .. nothing beats the sensation of biting into a sliver of pork belly, layered alternatively with fat, meat and topped with a crispy brown skin. A quick dip in HoiSin sauce and it's heaven!!

On TLC one day they showed how a whole pig was roasted and this inspired me to offer up a baked pork belly for our New Year's eve family party. It is just so simple that it once again proves that the best food is the simplest.

You take a whole piece of liempo (pork belly) preferrably the rear end, where there are no more ribs to have to deal with. Wash it in running water until it flows clear, pat dry with a towel then again with paper towel. The piece i got was 2.7 kilos. Now take a sharp pointed knife and stab the skin portion of the pig with the sharp end just enough to prick the skin. I did probably over two hundred jabs at that skin in endless patterns, up and down, left and right, criss and cross, and round and round.

Now get a handful of salt, preferably rock salt and rub this against the piece of pork until all exposed areas have had their share of salt. Leave the salt on until most of it gets absorbed by the pork. This will take about an hour sitting out in the open.

On to your oven. The heat has to be turned up to high at the beginning to start the popping process of the skin in earnest. I set my convection oven to 220 C. and kept it there for 30 minutes. Lay the pork on a baking rack and place a pan underneath to catch the drippings. You should see the skin start to form what first appear like warts, then you realize the skin is popping. After 20 mins at this temp the entire surface of the skin should be popped all over, and you can turn the temp down to 180 C.

30 minutes more and you're all set. Take out the roasted pork, which by now should be studded with crunchy skin and allow to rest and drip. Place the rack over a plate that can catch the liquid that drips out. If the liquid is red, get your pork back in the oven for 10 minutes more at 180 C - otherwise if the drippings run clear, that's good!!

After 2 hours, the pork should be totally cool and you can slice it. Try and run a sharp knife over the skin, hear it crackle and as you slice through, you can see the heavenly goodness of layers of skin, fat and meat. Dip in some hoisin sauce. Get the Lee Kum Kee brand (it's the only one) or if the people at North Park are willing, ask for a cup of their Hoisin.

Beer, White wine, Brandy or even Coca Cola will go well with this, either as an appetizer or a main meal.