Hainanese Chicken Rice

Whenever I am visiting Uncle Ronnie and Auntie Margaret in Singapore, I will never have to guess for long what they going to bring me out to eat for the very first meal upon arriving there. I remember I brought a friend to Singapore and I told him, I already knew what we going to have for lunch later while waiting for them to pick us up from a mall and yes, I was right - for their infamous Hainanese-style Singapore chicken rice. 


So the other day I craved for soft, tender and juicy steamed chicken. Normally the steamed chicken rice in KK will cost about RM4.50-5.50 and not much restaurants in KK are serve their chicken being tender and juicy, but normally taste quite bland, dry and they are not generous in giving portions as well for what we paid. When I started to cook, I just realised how much money could be saved and actually I am beginning to enjoy cooking at a beginner stage. So as I am normally eating alone, I bought half a chicken that cost me only RM3.88 ! See how much can I save and I can eat for the next one or two meals again sigh! So here is my version of Hainanese Chicken Rice.


Ingredients:


A. For the chicken


     1.  Half kampong chicken (normal bigger chicken if serving more)
     2.  1 bulb of garlic ( separate to their cloves and cut or bruise them to release more flavour)
     3.  1/4 of big onion ( cut into half and separate from the layers)
     4.  Slices of ginger ( about the same amount as big onion)
     5.  Salt to rub on chicken




B. For the rice

1.      2 cups rice

2.      Chicken broth from steaming the chicken (Do not throw away the leftover ginger, garlic and onion)

3.      3 slices of ginger

4.      4 cloves of garlic chopped into tiny pieces

5.      Half tablespoon of butter

(PS: I am making garlic rice instead because I don’t have pandan leaf which you cook together with the other ingredients in the rice cooker and you’re done! You don’t need garlic and butter if you’re cooking the normal pandan chicken rice)

Method:

A.Steaming the chicken

1.      Rub salt all over the chicken.

2.      Stuff the half of the garlic, ginger and onion inside the cavity. (For my case of using half chicken I just stuff underneath the half cavity facing the steaming plate).

3.      Put the remaining half garlic, ginger and onion at the bottom steaming plate and top of the chicken. (Make sure your steaming plate is deep enough to collect chicken broth)

4.      Cover and steam the chicken over high heat for 50 minutes.

 5.      Cut the chicken when it has cooled down. Do not throw away the collected chicken broth which can be used to make your chicken rice.

B. Chicken Rice

1.      Cook rice in the rice cooker using the chicken broth and the ginger. (If you do not have enough chicken broth just add more water; or you can add more of your own chicken broth with the chicken cubes)

2.      When the rice is cooked, melt the butter on the heated wok then fry the garlic until turn golden brown.

3.      Pour in the rice and stir well in the wok for 1-2 minutes and it’s done!

Pumpkin Soup

When I was in my final year of Undergraduate studies, I remember cooking this nutritious pumpkin soup and toasting some slices of French loaf with garlic spread to go with it. The first time I served it to my housemates they immediately fell in love with it and then they craved for it ever since then, asking when could I cook this soup again all the time. This is one of the easiest recipes for soup where you can also get all the nutritional values and goodness from the types of vegetables added in. I altered this recipe a bit by adding in potatoes (you can also add in carrot or celery ) along with the main ingredient pumpkin. So here it goes and I hope you like it just like my friends and I do.

Ingredients:
1. 500g pumpkin (peeled and cut into small pieces) – Alternatively if the pumpkin is too hard to cut for you, you can soften it by steaming it and then scooping them out into a bowl.


2. 2 medium-sized potatoes (peeled and cut into small pieces) - optional


3. ½ chopped big onion (into small pieces)


4. 1 tablespoon of butter


5. 500 ml of chicken stock – Alternatively you can cook your own chicken stock by boiling chicken thigh and chicken bones with a bit of ginger or else just use Maggi chicken cubes


6. 1 cup of milk


7. Salt and pepper to taste




Method:

1. Steam the pieces of pumpkins (optional- and potatoes) until soft for about 15-20 minutes and then mashed them. Do not worry if you can’t mash all of them until smooth as the bit of chunks goes quite delicious in the soup too. If you want a very smooth puree texture, alternatively you can blend them in the blender.


2. In a medium sized pot, fry the onion in the butter until soft.


3. Mix in the mashed (or puree) of pumpkin and also the potatoes, stirring them well.


4. Add in the chicken stock, cover and let it simmer for 10 minutes.


5. Add in the cup of milk and simmer it for another 5 minutes.


6. Add salt and pepper to your own preference.

Arriving in Rome



This was what we were seeing most of the time of the duration of the journey of 2 hours and 38 minutes from East Midlands to Rome. I guess we were flying over the scenic view of the Alps. It was overwhelming when all the while I could only be watching these from National Geographic shows. To the very next destination, I would very much want to experience ski however neither do I know the basic skill in order to learn ski easier like skating or roller blading. So don't laugh at me.

And then towards 2.5 hours, we began to sight some of the suburbs area of Rome.

We were greeted by a sleeping cat at the bus stand outside the Ciampino Airport. It reminded so much of my cat called Dusty back at home.

We took the 40 minutes bus from the airport which dropped us somewhere in the city centre and to be exact at Termini Station. You can check for more information at http://www.terravision.eu/rome_ciampino.html . At Termini Station, we bought our unlimited 3-days pass which was 11 euros as we only staying in Rome for 3 nights. Metro in Rome is relatively cheap as per metro ride would be only 1 euro or you can also opt for daily ticket of unlimited stops for 4 euros. 1 week pass costs at 16 euros only. You can also use the pass for buses and trams within Rome. Attached below is the metro map and other connecting lines.

We followed the directions to the booked hostel  (booked a month ago) and got out to a stop as written and this was what we were seeing. So we were expecting a bus to pick hostel guests up every 30 minutes.This place was quite in a suburb area, extremely quiet and just opposite there was a short row of shops which consist of two coffee shops, an internet cafe and a laundry as far as I can remember.



We waited for almost 40 minutes but the bus was yet to be sighted. We decided to go into the internet cafe and try to make a call to the hostel but the hostel receptionist seemed to be only speaking Italian and hung on us. We tried few times but still the receptionist was speaking Italian. We had to ask someone working in the internet cafe who could speak English to help us to pass the message that we needed a bus to pick us up.



To our suprise we found out that the hostel would be only officially opening back the next day after closing for a season of winter break.
We were puzzled, what had just gone wrong?



Itinerary seemed right, yeah we were going to stay for 3 nights. So we went back to check back our online hostel booking itinerary; 3 nights - checked !
Later we realised we actually had missed out the stay for today.
And then we realise we were supposingly to stay Rome for 4 nights.
Great, we booked our flight an extra day earlier without accommodation!



We began to search through some hostel booking engines again, to find a place to stay for today. Most of the prices seemed higher for last minute booking. We had no choice but to choose staying in campsite, which was very cheap around 13 euro if I can remember correctly. Never mind, just a night stay anyway. But we were too thrifty to spend above 18 euros for a night.



So we booked the hostel called Tiber Village Camping Hostel. No choice but to drag our luggages to another hostel location again and worst of all we need to drag our luggages to this same location again the next day. We need to travel back to Termini station and then interchange to Flaminio Station and then align at Prima Porta Station. And then we need to wait for some public bus ( no shuttle bus at that time! I just checked their website) to get the hostel.



And so from arriving to the first hostel at late morning till realising our carelessness, booked new hostel, travelling to new hostel, waiting buses etc and eventually we arrived at our new hostel around 3 pm! We were freaking tired already with some frustration of how could we be so funnily careless!

So this is Tiber Village Hostel. Not that bad looking from the entrance. But travelling to/from was quite a pain in the ass. We thought as long as we can commute with metro and buses then everything would be good enough but we were wrong, we wasted a lot of time waiting and travelling inside the bus and then interchanging in metro again. Anyways lessons learnt for the next summer trip always stay in the middle of city centre. However we had to bear with all the choices of hostels for the entire of 3 weeks of Easter break since we had booked all cheap hostel in advance through online.

Anyways Tiber Village hostel in Rome overall was not that bad. We kinda enjoyed the beautiful and quiet surrounding. Perfect for a camping outing with friends but not for us who were looking forward to explore the city as it was no where close to the city.

Just like most other hostels around Rome, they were in the process of reopening back their hostel business after a season of winter break. The swimming pool was not cleaned since the closing and there were all type of greenish algae growing all over. I guess we were like among the less than 10 guests in the campsite.

Indeed it was quite a pleasant and relaxing walk around the campsite. And the weather just PERFECT. Spring is definitely one of my favourite season with flowers starting to bloom in the middle of march.Though it was sunny but it was comfortable enough not to be hiding under an umbrella just like back in Malaysia.



This was the little camping hut we were staying. It has a double decker and 1 single bed. And a toilet without shower. Since it was already quite late in the afternoon to travel all the way to city, we decided explore a little bit around the campsite area and would be going out a bit later to catch the bus around 5pm plus for dinner and to a church building nearby.

 Nice campsite

And the we saw larger hut compare to ours. So we decided to sneak into the nicest hut and because it has unlocked door.

So it has an almost well-equipped kitchen even with knives.

It has a master bedroom and also another room with two single beds.

And then we realised the toilet for the master bedroom had a damp towel hanging. Okay we were unsure if there was any occupant.

Feeling not really satisfied with our own hut, we "took" some stuffs to decorate ours. 

Okay, just a hanger:P

Three hangers; one hanger for each of us :P

Public toilet/showers.

  

Across the bridge

And we spotted a lake at the other side. And there were some personal caravans camping over there overlooking the lake. 

Then we spotted a giant storage of beer.

But too early for an alcohol drink. Later we catch a bus to metro station to see San Paolo Cathedral and look for dinner.


I wanted to fit in all my first day experience in this post however I am worried my dear readers are falling asleep. Do wait for my next post! xoxo!

Easy Chinese Chicken Soup

This soup is very easy to prepare, not only a healthy choice of soup but also low in calories for those who are looking after their diet. I remember my mum always cook this soup for supper whenever we were close to exam period during the school days. 

Ingredients:

1. 1 kampong chicken (you can also use mixed breed or ordinary chicken but its better you have their fatty skins removed)
2. 1/2 tsp of salt
3. Dried chinese mushroom (soaked and soften)
4. Chopped gingers
5. Red dates (Fung Zhao)
6. Wolfberries (Kee Tzu)
7. Water (Enough to cover chicken)

Method:

1. After cleaning the chicken, chop it to bite sizes and place the chicken meats in a bowl. Evenly rub the chicken with salt.
2. Sprinkle ginger on top of it. Add in the red dates, wolfberries and dried mushroom.
3. Bring some water (enough to cover chicken) to boil.
4. Carefully transfer bowl with chicken to the pot and cover tightly.
5. Boil at low fire for 1 - 2 hours depending on how soft you want the chicken to be and flavourful the soup to be. Normally people boil up to two hours if they are adding Yok Choy or chinese herbs which is optional for this recipe.
6. If you want a quicker one, you can also steam it for 30 minutes.

Before in Rome.

The ancient beautiful Rome

Rome, before seeing with my own eyes, I would say “ancient ruins, lots of churches and a city that is so rich with incredible arts and historical facts”. I remember watching a HK TVB drama called “Triumph in the skies” and I could only daydream to myself going there only when I start earning my money in another 20 years.

So despite didn’t excel in my studies anymore right after high school, didn't achieve my childhood ambition I am very grateful to be blessed with the opportunity to spend even just one short one semester in UK through a mobility programme under my university and this is definitely one of the best experience ever happened to me in life. It was short but I had the blast of my lifetime discovering and doing many things I never did before in life and somehow turn me into whom I am today.

Jye , the only friend came for this same programme also agreed on picking Italy to be the first country explored. We had Crystal from Canada and together we formed the travel buddies. Just three very inexperienced girls! We had few ups and downs during our three weeks of travelling but I totally missed every moments and I am very glad we did this together before and hope we will have the chance to travel again together. Anyways I am going to travel to South Korea with Jye very soon in June. And Crystal I hope we will meet in the States very soon too!

 Three of us together in Rome - Jye and Crystal.

Our choices of cities were easy, we just picked based on what we want to see – so never missed  the one of the most religious and historical site of all time; the capital city of Italy – Rome and Vatican City; the leaning Tower – Pisa and also Florence where most of the famous artists hailed from like Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo and many more! Probably the best place for Crystal to learn and appreciate great arts as she herself has very deep passion and a very talented in creating her own arts. Booking cheap budget airlines tickets and had our accommodation booked were done in one month in advance. And the rest and itineraries we left it to planning only when we arrived in Rome itself by buying some pocket map of Rome with places of interests being indicated.

I remember even the night before our departure; we had no time to anticipate for our trip at all. We were so into finishing our Chemical and Phase Equilibria coursework and looked for a classmate staying nearby to help passing up our works. We started to pack our luggage only after we were able to finish our work past midnight, and to be honest the feeling wasn't that excited at all .We were tired and I think our flight was very early in the morning of before 7am. We were too looking forward in getting enough sleep as it would be another long day for us in Rome since we would be arriving in the morning.

After few hours of sleep, I remember my alarm was set to only allow me to have 5 minutes to wear my socks, my boots, wearing another layer of sweater and a trench coat. I didnt even accommodate extra time to clean myself in the morning.  Okay I admit I was lazy and it is always freaking cold especially early in the morning. So we boarded the taxi to the airport still in our sleeping mode.

The scanning, immigration procedures oh my gosh, we had never expected the line could be so long at this early freaking hour. We had like approximately 35 minutes left before boarding and it took us like 20 minutes to clear! So phew 15minutes which sound sufficient to get on board but then we realised we were so screwed up as our boarding gate was like at the other end! Furthermore we had never taken any flight from that airport and there were like some stairs to take, seemed like neverending turning to right or to the left and then just walk straight and straight but it seemed like we never reach the gate ! At one point we were so panicked we didnt even care if people gonna look at us running with our quite huge handcarry when we left like more or less of 7 minutes. The thoughts like heading back to my room spending the whole easter break studying instead already start playing in my head. No more Italy and Greece in the spring!

When we finally arrived at our gate my heart almost fell out when the waiting hall was already emptied and quiet. There was a lady in uniform on the doorway though. We ran to her and asked her if we had missed the flight. She told us the plane was about to take off like anytime and then she opened the door to check out and we were so lucky as some traffic men waved us signal to hurry up on the plane.

We were like the final passengers and the door shut immediately after that.  We felt so lucky we were able to make it at last! We flew in just less than 3 minutes sitting down; feeling more excited to be fallen asleep anymore and finally we were able to get our head to start anticipating what to do the moment we arrived.

Stay tuned for the next post.More troubles coming when Mek conquered Rome. xoxo