Thursday, April 3, 2008

Honey-Lemon Chicken

Before I forget what I did, I’d better quickly recall how I cooked this dish before it is lost to people like me. This creation has been highly rated by people who are usually highly critical of my cooking - my husband and son. What prompted me to think of this recipe was really that I did not want to be using light and dark soya sauce and oyster sauce to cook chicken with. I think things should be done or consumed in moderation. Other than rice, most things are best not taken in large quantities daily.

I have no time to list the ingredients so this recipe will be written not in the conventional way. Here goes:

Defrost 5 pieces of chicken wings each chopped into two parts. I chose not to remove the skin but you can if you want to live a little more healthily. Next I marinated the chicken wings with two tablespoons of honey and some soya sauce. I made sure that the each piece of chicken wing was well-coated with the honey and sauce before putting it back into the fridge. Afte about 4 hours or so, I was ready to cook. Before that I went to the garden to pluck about 6 basil leaves from my scrawy basil plant that is now almost ‘botak’(bald), rummaged in the fridge for some cilanto (Chinese parsley, yim sai), washed them and chopped them into smaller portions.

Next I put a general sprinkling of black pepper onto the chicken and put in some sliced ginger thowing in lemon juice squeezed from half a lemon. I crushed two cloves of garlic (skin removed) and then I was ready for the fire. First, I heated some oil in the saucepan (non-stick) and put in the garlic together with the cilanto and the garlic. When they were sizzling I put in the chicken together with the sauce. I let the chicken fry for a short while till the skin turns slightly brown. Then I added some stock from the herbal soup I was brewing and stirred the contents well ensuring that the chicken is cooked evenly. I put on the lid and let the chicken cook on a small fire for about 10 minutes.

Turned out to the a success! Cooking is like art, really. Other than technique you need to have ‘feel’ and the right kind of mood to come up with something unique.

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