Chicken and Prawn Sambal Fried Rice

I love spicy food! And when my friend offered to give me some sambal which he made, I'm more than eager to accept it! The sambal is really fantastic for bbq stingray. Wa now I'm salivating as I think about it.

But I haven't really put his sambal to good use since I ended my maternity leave. Coming back fr work everyday, I just wish to cook dishes that doesn't require me lots of cleaning up after cooking. So my menu has been made up of largely steamed or baked food. And finally I was craving for some sambal fried rice that day, so his sambal has the chance to present itself on the dinner table! :p

This sambal that I'm using is very very spicy but shiok, and no seasoning has been added to it. So I added some sugar and salt while frying this dish. My mum has always taught me that whenever you cook sambal, it is important to add some sugar to it to add some "层次" (hmm I'm not sure whether it should be translated as depth) to the taste. If not, the taste will be plain spicy and not as exciting.

As this is also cooked on a weekday, I prepared some Hong Kong kailan to be added to it as well, to make it a balanced one dish meal :)

Marinate:
1tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp Hua Tiao wine
White pepper

Ingredients:
200g chicken fillet, cut into cubes
8-10 prawns, shells and veins removed
Hong Kong kailan, the waxy skin on the stalks removed, washed and cut into cubes
1 tbsp oil
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium size onion, chopped
3 tbsp sambal
2 tsp white sugar
1 cup cooked rice, preferably kept overnight in the fridge

Method:
1) Add all the ingredients under Marinate to the chicken fillet cubes and leave to marinate for abt 15min.

2) Heat up the oil in the wok. Stir fry the minced garlic until fragrant. Add in the chopped onion and stir fry until fragrant too.

3) Add in sambal to stir fry until it is fragrant. Add sugar and mix well.

4) Pour rice in and mix well with the sambal mixture. Using a pressing motion and ensuring there's no lumps of rice, and the rice grains are well coated with sambal.

5) Add in the marinated chicken fillet cubes and stir fry on medium high heat until the chicken fillet cubes are almost cooked through.

6) Add in prawns and kailan and stir fry until prawns are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Huai Shan Chicken Soup

Huai Shan 淮山, also know as Shan Yao 山药 or Chinese Yam, is a commonly used Chinese herb in cooking, mainly because it is quite neutral and is good for the Qi. Before cooking, the light brown skin needs to be removed. Usually I'll give it a quick wash after removing the skin to get rid of the "slimy" feel before cutting them up. But after awhile the "slimy" feel will return again.. haha its just me, I don't like the "slimy" feel on my hands.

The lack of distinctive taste in Huai Shan makes it great for making soups, as the soups usually end up light and yummy..

Oh, and being a working mum, I love to use my thermal pot to cook soup the night before or before leaving for work. Easy, fast and energy saving!

Ingredients:
3 chicken drumsticks
300g fresh Huai Shan
20g dry scallops
800ml water
10 deseeded red dates
Wolfberries
Salt to taste

Method:

1) Add the chicken drumsticks and dried scallops to boiling water. Allow to boil for 15min.

2) Add in the prepared fresh Huai Shan, red dates and wolfberries. Continue to boil for another 5min.

3) Remove from heat source and transfer the inner pot to the outer pot. I left it inside until its dinner time, and season with salt just before serving.