Baked Honey & Vegemite Chicken

Just gotten back from our little holiday in Australia and decided to make some tummy vegemite dish to introduce to my LO so what's easier than baked chicken !

Ingredients
500g chicken pieces
1 tbsp vegemite
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp honey
2 clove of garlic (chopped)

Method
Marinate the chicken in vegemite , sesame oil, garlic and honey and leave it in the fridge for at least 3 hours.  Overnight is best but I did not have the time .

Bake the chicken for 15-20 min at 200 degrees until it is nice and brown. 

Rosemary & Thyme Chicken in Pumpkin & Apple Sauce

Came home late from an outing and had to whip up a quick dinner for the hungry tot and to my dismay, I ran out of homemade tomato sauce so this is my quick fix ! No additional seasoning needed.

Rosemary & Thyme Chicken in Pumpkin Apple Sauce

Ingredients
2 chicken drumsticks
1 cup of pumpkin puree
1/2 cup of water
3 tbsp tomato puree
1 cherry apple (chopped)
1/8 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
Olive oil

Method
Stir fry the chopped garlic and bay leaves in olive oil till it is fragrant  , add in the chicken drumstick and let it cook for a while.

Add in pumpkin puree, tomato puree, apples,  water , thyme and rosemary and let it simmer at medium heat for 30 min or until the chicken is nice and tender.

Serve it with rice for a quick and sweet dinner.

You can choose to add some sea salt and black pepper but I omitted both as my little one has a slightly sweet tooth and pumpkin apple sauce is YUMMY!!☺

Simple Chicken Stew

Simple Chicken Apple Stew for the Family.

Ingredient
1 clove of garlic (chopped)
Some yellow onion (chopped)
5 slices of ginger
8 pcs of chicken
2 cherry apples
2 cups of water
1 carrot
1 potato (optional and I omitted it)
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Method
Stir fry some chopped garlic, onion and ginger till it is fragrant , add in chicken and let it cook for a while .

Add in apples, carrot , potatoes,  water and leave it to simmer on medium for at least 30 min for the chicken to soften and absorb the sweetness of the apples. Add salt and pepper to taste . 

Crunchy Cornflake & Oat Chicken

Crunchy Cornflake & Oat Chicken

Marinate 3 chicken tender/chunks with blended mixture ( 1 clove garlic, some yellow onion, some ginger and 1 bunch of coriander leaf) with 5 crushed grapes and set aside in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Add salt & Pepper if desire . I chose to omit it .

Remove the chicken and coat in plain flour , followed by 1/2 egg ( lightly beaten) ,  cornflake mix (blend 1cup Cornflake , 1/3 cup oat &  1/4 cup pumpkin seeds).

Drizzle some olive oil and bake at 180 degrees for 25-30 min depending on thickness of chicken tender.

This will taste great with yoghurt dip or homemade tomato sauce too ☺

* If you have left over flour,egg and cornflake mix, just mix the a little flour, egg and cornflake mix into a batter and roll into balls and bake it too. No wastage ☺

Cream of Chicken Soup

I have made some vegetable stock in the afternoon and was contemplating what to cook for dinner and decided on a simple cream of chicken soup to go with rice.
This is no Campbell quality but it is salt free, sugar free and yummy enough for my LO.

I made this m.  ore soupy so that it is easier for my LO to drink. For a thicker consistency,  just increase the flour.

Cream of Chicken Soup 

Ingredients
1 bay leave 

1 cup of vegetable/chicken stock 

1/2 cup fresh milk 

2 tbsp plain flour (for thickening)

Method

Bring the vegetable stock , bay leave and half the milk to a low boil.

In another bowl,whisk the remaining milk and flour into a mixture. If you prefer a thicker consistency,  you can add 1-2 more tbsp of flour.

Pour the mixture into the saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring continuously.

Continue to simmer and stir until the mixture is smooth and thick.

Add in shredded chicken and vegetable as desired. I gave her the carrot from my earlier stock so there was no wastage of my veg.

Oh,and the mushroom was used our stir fried veg for the grown up.

Fruity Chicken Curry

Fruity Chicken Curry

Ingredients 

120g chicken fillet 

100g pumpkin 

1/2 tomato

1 small carrot

3-4 grapes 

1 Apple (royal gala)

1 clove of garlic (diced)

1/2 small onion (diced)

2 slices of ginger 

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder 

2/3 cup of water 

Olive oil

Method 

Cut the chicken fillet into small pieces and marinate it with the crushed grapes for at least 30 min-1 hour.

Pan fry garlic,onion and ginger in olive oil until it turns fragrant. Add in the chicken, grapes , turmeric and cumin powder and mix well. 

Add in the chopped pumpkin, apples, carrots ,tomato, water and simmer for 20-30 min until carrot softens.

While simmering, you can mash the pumpkin and apples to incorporate it well into the sweet gravy.

Taste really yummy with rice. You can choose to add Greek yoghurt for a more creamy gravy.

Homemade Chicken Stock Powder

Several mummies have been sharing their recipe on homemade stock powder so I decided to give it a go . This is definitely not a recipe for one who is in a rush for time as the entire process took approximately 3 hours.

Homemade Chicken Stock Powder

Ingredients 

250g chicken breast

1 carrot

1 leek 

1 corn
2 sprig of parsley

1/2 yellow onion

3 cloves of garlic 

1/8 cup grape juice 

Oil

Method 

Place all ingredients into the food processor and blend until finely minced.

Heat up 1-2 tbsp of oil and stir fry the minced ingredients for about 40 min.

Pour the mixture on a baking tray and bake at 120 degrees for about 2 hours or until it is completely dried. Stir occasionally to enjoy even drying.

Pour mixture back into food processor and blend into fine powder.

Keep in air tight container if not used immediately.

 Decided to use some for a stir fry Chye Sim for lunch.

 

Approval given! Lil sunshine finished everything in record time! Either she was famished waiting or it is indeed yummy hehehe

Steamed Chicken with Pear & Wolfberries

Here's another simple fruit marinate that sweetens the chicken and makes a healthy dish for lil sunshine. 

Picture of crystal Pear for info

  Steamed Chicken with Pear & Wolfberries

Ingredients

1 Chicken drumstick 

1/2 Crystal Pear 

Handful of wolfberries

Dash of sesame oil

Method 

Cut the crystal pears into chunks and mix it with the chicken drumstick and keep it refrigerated for 1-1.5 hours for the malic acid to work on the chicken.

Once the chicken is well marinated, add in wolfberries and sesame oil and steam for 25 minutes. The steaming time is dependent on how much chicken you use so do adjust accordingly .

Serve immediately after steaming.

Meal started and she Ate with so Much enthusiasm

   Gone in a jiffy and bowl totally cleaned out  

 So mummy gave the remaining drumstick for her to nibble while the family continues with dinner

nom nom nom

And yes,this LO is still toothless!

Grape Marinated Chicken with Steam Vegetables

This has to be one of the easiest dinner I have prepared and the chicken
 is so tender and juicy from the grape marinate that my LO finished it all.
 No seasoning needed!

Grape Marinated Chicken

Ingredients

Chicken breast 

Grapes (about 10)

Unsalted butter

Method

Peel the skin off the grapes and mashed them. Marinate the chicken breast in the mixture for 30 min or longer if you desire.

Heat unsalted butter over medium heat and pan fry the chicken till it is brown.

Serve with steam vegetables.

Yes, she is happy!

Chicken Rice Balls

Today being National Day, we will be going to my grandma's place for dinner and chicken rice is a must at all family gathering.  True blue Hainanese family Hahahaha!

So not wanting lil sunshine to miss out, I prepared her baby version of Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls.  Yup, like a good Hainanese, it must be eaten in a ball. =P

Chicken Rice Balls

Ingredients 

1/4 cup rice (I use japonica rice)

1 cup homemade stock (see notes below)

1 chicken drumstick 

1 small piece of panda leaf (approx 5~6cm)

1 small piece of ginger

Method 

Add pandan leaf, ginger and drumstick to the chicken stock and cook drumstick well. Discard ginger and pandan leaf. Tear chicken into shreds or diced it and set aside.

Rinse the rice well and add to the remaining stock (approximately 1/2 cup) and steam for 20 min or till desired consistency.  I like the rice to be slightly mushy as that is more suitable for my baby.

Mix chopped chicken and rice and form into balls using cling wrap.

Serve with any vegetable LO likes.

Does it resemble the authentic Hainanese Chicken Rice?  Not really though the rice ball was equally flavourful and a big hit with baby. The use of chicken fats and lots of ginger and pandan leaves are essential in Hainanee Chicken Rice but a big no no for now. But it was nice letting her join in the family gathering eating something closely resembling what we were having.  : )

Note:  The success of the recipe lies in the  flavorful stock.

For my chicken stock,  I added carrot, corn, celery, onion, apple , red dates and bok choy and slow cook for 3~4hours.

Chicken Oatmeal Patties

Some mummies were asking me if they can pan fry raw oats instead of baking so I decided to give it a try. I love the texture of oats along with the crunch of water chestnut. 

Chicken Oatmeal Patties

Ingredients (makes 6)

1 egg

1/2 cup baby oats

1 piece of water chestnut (diced)

1 Chicken drumstick (cooked and minced)

1 tbsp shredded carrot

Handful of garden peas

Method 

Mix in all ingredients, form into patties and pan fry at medium heat until both sides are cooked.Cool and serve.

Since my 11 mth old baby is still toothless, i tend to smash my peas before mixing so that is really optional. Akso, she loves greek yoghurt so that will be her fun dip for the patties.