Uji's Special Soto Ayam

During my latest trip back home to Malaysia, my sister-in-law was raving about the Soto Ayam prepared by Uji, her domestic help from Indonesia. Uji was kind enough to show me how she made this dish and let me photograph her. She tells me unlike the Soto Ayam that was commonly served in Malaysia, in Indonesia, the Soto Ayam soup is served over plain white rice or clear noodles. In Malaysia, Soto Ayam soup is served over compressed rice cakes called nasi impit or ketupat, or with yellow noodles. She had no exact quantities for the ingredients and I was fine with that. I wanted to capture the spirit of the dish. I will refine it recipe along the way and quantity the ingredients. For now, I just want to have a record of the cooking session.

Be warned, this is a lengthy post as I included almost all the pictures I took of the cooking session. A picture is worth a thousand words and I need them to recreate this wonderful dish

Rosemary Grilled Chicken with Mint-Parsley Sauce

This recipe is for my sister in-law R. who just spent a few days here with us in San Diego. Dear R is high up there in the skies even as I am posting this on the blog, flying back to New York. She was just here to tour her new house to be aka my weekend and vacation getaway :) Thank you R!!! Anyway, you seem to enjoy this dinner and asked for the recipe.

• 5-6 boned in chicken breast (6lbs)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoon chopped rosemary
• 1 tablespoon chopped marjoram
• 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• salt and pepper

Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and herbs in a large baking dish or container. Add the chickens and turn to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 day.Turn chicken once or twice while marinating.

Preheat the grill to medium. Remove the chickens from the marinade, blot off excess oil, and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Place the chickens on the grill, skin-side down. Grill the chicken for 8 to 10 minutes, then turn over. Close the cover and continue cooking for 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked through. Check occasionally for flare up and turn chicken for even golden browning on both side. Test that chicken has reached internal temperature of 165F. Let rest for 10 minutes.Serve with lemon wedges and/or Parsley Mint sauce.

A good accompaniment is Whole Wheat Couscous with Roasted Garlic and Asparagus. Grilled corn completes the meal.

Parsley-Mint Sauce

• 1 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh mint
• 3/4 cup tightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley
  
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 cup olive oil
• water to thin down mixture
• salt and pepper to taste

Place the mint, parsley, garlic and olive oil in a food processor and process until herbs are coarsely chopped. Add honey and mustard and process until emulsified. Transfer mixture to a bowl and whisk in a few tablespoons of cold water to thin to a sauce-like consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.


Whole Wheat Couscous with Roasted Garlic and Asparagus

• 2 cups of whole wheat couscous (used Trader Joe brand)
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 2 tablespoon of butter
  
• 1 cup blanched asparagus, cut into 1 inch lengths
• 1/2 cup roasted peppers ( from the jar or freshly roasted)
  
• 1 whole bulb of roasted garlic ( top sliced off to expose bulb, drizzle with olive oil and wrap in foil. Roast on grill when grilling corn)
  
• 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted.
• 1 lemon zested and juiced.
  
• 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
• salt and pepper

Dry toast the pine nuts over medium heat until golden, remove and cool. Squeeze out the roasted garlic from bulb and coarsely chop them. Set aside.

Bring the chicken stock to boil in a stock pot, together with the butter and grated zest of one lemon. Stir in couscous, roasted garlic, blanched asparagus and roasted peppers. Cover and remove from heat. Let couscous stand for 5 minutes. Fluff couscous with fork. Stir in parsley.Taste, then season with salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. Add more butter if desired.

Just before serving, toss in pine nuts, stir to combine.

Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup

Husband was away. The dishwasher broke down. It just refused to drain. Finally after cleaning the filter and running the dishwasher for 3 cycles, I gave up and called the repairman. No appointment until Tuesday, after Labor Day!. Decided on a Wednesday appointment as Tuesday being the first day of school can be trying. Who knows what will happen that day.

To top it all, I suddenly develop a hacking cough. My throat is irritated. Sucked on cough drops. No relief. Took Robitussin, still coughing. Now, I am up at nights as I keep coughing when I am lying down. Have to sit up to sleep. Totally exhausted. Cannot wait for husband to come home so I can collapse without guilt.

What do I eat? Listless, i just want something soupy. I am thinking of my favorite dish at Korean Restaurant- Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup. So I retrieve 2 cornish hens from the freezer and thaw them. Rummage through my now sadly depleted fridge because I have not been grocery shopping. Find some garlic and ginger I need. No scallions but who cares! The pantry does not produce any glutinous rice but I do have some sushi rice. That will have to do. I find some sliced ginseng and also capsules of ground ginseng that I can use. Of course, I do not have the red dates needed. But visions of slupping the hot ginseng chicken soup pushes me on. How hard can this be? I have eaten this soup so many times. At worst it will be a good chicken soup.

I cleaned and washed the Cornish hens. Mixed the sushi rice with some of the powdered ginseng. Spoon in some of the sushi rice,sliced ginseng, ginger and garlic into the cavity. Seal it up with a pin (saved from bacon wrapped Fillet Mignon). You can use skewer or toothpicks.Put the prepared Cornish Hens into my pressure cooker. Put in enough water to cover chicken. Bring the pressure cooker to high pressure. Once pressure is reached, lower flame, maintain pressure and cook for 30 minutes. Voila, Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup or at least a fair version with my limited pantry. It saved me!!!

I know, Ah Khor will probably say it is too "heaty" with my sore throat. Sadly, I am the most ignorant of all my siblings when it comes to Chinese remedies or medicine. Always been hearty so was never feed chinese remedies as far as I can remember. Did not have the influence of my mother in law or older generations as I have lived abroad for almost 20 years now. So I muddle along as I please. At that moment, I needed my Ginseng Chicken fix. Besides, my son loves the soup too! One for each of us, how perfect!

NB
Husband is home and suggest I take Sudafed PE nasal decongestant. But I tell him I do not have a runny nose and I am not congested. He tells me that it happened to him before and the doctor told him that it was a nasal drip causing the irritation. So I take it. Fitful sleeping up to about 3 am coughing every now and then finally sleep. Wake up and I am a lot better. Looks like Dr.Quack may know a thing or two. Feeling a lot better today. Dear husband just drove me to get the night version of Sudafed PE so that I can sleep tonight. I guess I slept last night from pure exhaustion.