Instant Pot Sanbeiji 三杯雞 (Three Cups Chicken)

Well, not exactly 3 cups as I've changed the proportions of rice wine, sesame oil, and soy sauce. And because we used the Instant Pot, it's more a stew and not the Maillard reaction-browned version you'd get from a claypot or a wok. 

Ingredients

1 kilo chicken (wings and drumettes)

1 garlic, peeled but not chopped

3-5 slices of ginger

1/2 cup Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing) 

1/4 cup sesame oil

1/4 cup dark soy sauce

1/2 cup water

salt and pepper

1. On Saute mode (high), sauté the garlic and ginger in sesame oil until the garlic starts to blister. 

2. Add in the chicken and fry a bit-- no need to brown at this stage, just to get the temperature up again. Add in the rice wine, sesame oil, and dark soy sauce and let it simmer for a minute or so. Press Cancel to turn off Saute mode. 

3. Place the pressure cooker lid on the instant pot and set Pressure Cook (or Poultry) for 25 minutes (high pressure). After pressure cooking, leave it on natural release for about 10 minutes then do a quick release to stop cooking. 

4. Go back on Saute mode to evaporate all the liquid until you are left with a thick sauce (this could  take a while on the Instant Pot; alternatively, transfer contents to a separate pan/wok and reduce sauce over a stove). Sauté/reduce until desired thickness. 

Serve with rice and some stir-fried greens. Pickled greens would be good too. 

Instant Pot 40(ish)-clove garlic chicken

Got the recipe from here, with some embellishments. Items in parentheses are what I actually used. 

Ingredients

1.2 kg chicken (wings and drumettes) 

2 whole garlic bulbs, peeled

1 stick of butter (Paysan Breton demi-sel)

200 mL chicken broth (1/3 bouillon cube dissolved in hot water)

100 mL white wine (Ruffino Orvieto Classico)

bay leaves

herbs: thyme and rosemary

spices: paprika, garlic powder, black pepper 

salt

1. Season chicken wings with salt and spices. Set aside. 

2. Turn Instant Pot to sauté and brown chicken in butter. Set aside. 

3. Add butter if needed and sauté the garlic until they're a bit browned and/or blistered. Add back the browned chicken. Add bay leaves, herbs, wine, and broth and bring the temperature back up. 

4. Turn Instant Pot to poultry and pressure cook on high, set for 22 minutes. When done, do a natural release. 

Garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with rice or toast and white wine. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIfs8zkHa4c/

Next in the Galley: Cemita Poblana

I want to make this sandwich for the Boy. Ok, for myself, but the Boy will surely like it too. Recipe is from here, but modified for my circumstances.

Ingredients

beef, pork, or chicken cutlets (e.g., Taiwanese chicken chop or German Schnitzel)
avocados, halved, pitted, and sliced
cemita buns, sesame-seed buns, or brioche buns, halved
string cheese, divided
raw onion rings (about 1/4 inch thick)
chioptle chiles or pickled jalapeños
fresh cilantro leaves
extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

1. Spread avocado slices on bottom bun halves. Top with fried cutlets. Mound half of the cheese on the cutlets.

2. Arrange onion rings on top of cheese. If using chipotles, tear into pieces and arrange on onion rings; alternatively, arrange pickled jalapeños on top of onion rings. Top with cilantro and mound the remaining cheese on top. Drizzle with olive oil.

3. Close sandwiches and serve right away.

Had to make do with what I could find at the neighbourhood FairPrice. No sesame seed buns or brioche buns, so used whole wheat burger buns instead. Replaced with Oaxaca cheese with Bega Stringers and the nopales with cilantro. The Boy loved it: https://www.instagram.com/p/BrZ6qC6BdnL/

Red Buffalo Wings & Pizza

Let me begin with the bottomline: Red Buffalo Wings & Pizza is one of our go-to places for weekend lunch-- child-friendly, relaxed, consistent food, and my son seems to like their stuff (i.e., the fries and spaghetti). I was initially sceptical about the place. I have often been disappointed by American food in this city. But this place didn't disappoint us. After trying the place for the first time we went there for about four straight weekends. We liked it that much.

The restaurant has a New York casual theme-- think Yellow Cab but with a red rather than yellow motif. There's a TV hung up there with its volume thankfully turned down, although I guess it would be turned up if there's a sports event. It is clean and fairly spacious, making it one of the more toddler-friendly places out there. The atmosphere is relaxed and service is impeccable-- very friendly and efficient. Food are served on disposable containers and utensils are of the plastic kind There's also free wifi (password is printed on your receipt), if you need to take food pictures with instagram and post them in real time because the world needs to see what you're eating right now but don't want to pay data charges.

As for the food, it's one of our favourties for two reasons: good quality/serving size and good price. Their iced tea (P55) is made from actual brewed tea rather than that despicable powder, and comes in a big tumbler. The fries (P85) are kinda like those you get at NY Fries and Dip with nice texture and with some skin on, but much more generous. The spaghetti with meatballs is pretty generous-- a good deal at P215-- with a pretty good Italian-style sauce (i.e., on the sour side); better than marinaras in some Italian restaurants, I should say. The mac-and-cheese side (P65) is not so bad too, although I think I can make it at home if I tried.There's a mandatory garden salad (P135) which is similar to those supermarket salads; ok, the vegetables are crisper. They also sell dips that supposedly go with the chicken but they're pretty expensive even at P25 because serving sizes are infinitesimal and they are nothing special, so I say skip them-- there are free Heinz ketchup, French's mustard, and Tabasco hot sauce anyway. And you really don't need dips for the chicken.

Ah the chicken, the glorious chicken. I'm not much of a chicken wings guy, but this managed to convert me. Five pieces of wings-- a piece is defined as either the "drumstick" part with the humerus or the "wing" part with the radius/ulna up to the phalanges-- costs P165; 10 pieces is P320; 20 pieces is 620. Flavours include the original buffalo wings (hot, x-hot, and suicidal), teriyaki, sweet heat BBQ, honey bourbon, and garlic parmesan. The American-style buffalo wings are pretty good and remind me of typical buffalo wings in the US with the spicy and tangy flavour profile. Quite similar to the Hooter's wings, actually (the chicken wings at Hooter's are actually pretty good, and not just because of the, um, ambience). But what we really like are the garlic parmesan wings-- the flavourings don't overpower the chicken, but you still get that good dose of garlic and parmesan cheese, which is partially melted on the chicken because it was sprinkled (tossed?) on just as the chicken left the fryer.

But beyond the flavourings what really sets Red Buffalo apart from other chicken places I've tried is the consistency of their frying. The wings are always juicy and flavourful and almost perfectly fried. Wings are pretty difficult to fry well because the drumstick part can dry out while the wing part can become rubber. But so far the wings here are always done well on each of our many visits.

[I'm dispensing with the scores since they need to be adjusted for inflation and my changing marginal propensity to eat at restaurants. And I'm too lazy to do it now.]

A Delicious Russian Dish

The recipe is for Russian-style plov (плов) made with chicken, onions, and carrots. Plov, also known as pilaf, is a rice dish of Persian origin which reached Russia and Eastern Europe through Central Asia.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast
1.5 cups rice
1 tbs tomato paste
3 cups chicken stock...

Better yet, just watch the dish's recipe:

Deep Fried Everything and Azeri Cuisine

For my birthday my Dear gave me a deep fryer. I usually avoid deep-frying stuff to show some concern for my health, but I do like fried foods like everyone else so this was a welcome gift. I'd feel too guilty to buy myself a deep fryer, even if it would make a good addition to my galley gear. It requires at least 750mL of oil to start cooking-- not exactly frugal, but it does go a long way.


So two weeks ago I finally used the deep fryer, frying everything I can put my hands on. I began with a lunch of deep fried sausages and eggplant. For dinner, I fried potato wedges, Vienna sausages, and some canned salmon. The following day, I fried some Thai-style chicken wrapped in pandan leaves bought from SM. After which I had to reluctantly throw away the oil-- I don't usually consume 750mL of canola oil for just three meals.


This week I tried my hand at making saciçi, that afritada-like Azeri chicken dish I had in Baku. I departed from the original recipe though-- I used olive oil and butter instead of pure butter, I added a lot of garlic, and I cooked it with orange juice and slices. Also, I used bigger cuts of chicken and vegetables in my saciçi so I had to use more water while cooking; thus, the ensuing dish had a lot more sauce. It's quite greasy due to the copius amount of oil and butter, but the orange cuts through it a little bit. It was quite close to the saciçi I had in Baku, though I wish I used less water so the chicken and vegetables could've fried more. Next time I'll use smaller cuts of chicken.

Finally, just saw a video on Azeri cuisine:



Now I'm officially looking for a good Azeri (i.e., Turkish) restaurant in Manila.

Singapore Food Trip

Took a lot of pics, so I'm posting on my multiply. I have two posts:

Hainanese Chicken Rice, Char Kway Teow, etc.

Sha Tin Kitchen- restaurant review

Not Quite Chicken Adobo

I tried this dish, a variation on the chicken adobo, two days ago. The idea to use this method actually came from a Cretan chicken dish, but since I did not have red wine I used Filipino vinegar instead.

Ingredients:

chicken thighs
whole garlic cloves, crushed
vinegar (coconut or cane)
laurel leaves
black peppercorns
salt
cooking oil

1. Lightly season the chicken with some salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Set aside.

2. In a pan or wok, heat the oil and quickly fry the laurel leaves and peppercorns until you smell their aroma, then saute the garlic until lightly brown.

3. Add chicken and fry just until they start to brown but are not yet cooked through.

4. Pour in enough vinegar to submerge (or mostly submerge) the chicken and bring to a boil. If you don't have enough vinegar you may add some water, but this will lessen the flavour.

5. Lower the heat to a simmer and continue cooking, turning from time to time, until all the vinegar has evaporated and you're again left with chicken frying in oil.

6. Continue frying until the chicken attains your desired level of brownness.

Serve with steamed rice. As my Dear said, "Tastes like chicken adobo, but not quite."

The Cretan dish was mostly the same, but replace vinegar with red wine and include cinnamon bark in (2) and kalamata olives in (4).

Recipes (not a recipe)

A current favourite of my Dear is Recipes. No, she hasn't suddenly discovered cooking as a hobby; Recipes is the name of a restaurant chain here in Manila, serving dishes from various Asian cuisines (Filipino, Thai, Korean, Chinese). We've eaten at Recipes before, but we rediscovered it last Saturday.

First time I ate at Recipes was in Alabang Town Center back in 2004, courtesy of a friend's girlfriend (now ex) who threw him a surprise party. As with most parties where you try not to look like the resident glutton, I didn't get to eat much so I wasn't particularly impressed. Also, the concept of a resto offering dishes from various cuisines isn't very inviting to me-- those types tend to be jacks of all cuisines but masters of none.

Recipes, however, is not bad at all. I wouldn't go there if I wanted authentic Thai or Chinese food, but their signature dishes are superb. Our favourite dish, bar none, is called General's Chicken (P200)-- crunchy fried chicken cubes (with skin) and eggplants in a thick sweet and spicy sauce. This dish is best described as just right-- not too sweet, not to spicy; the crispy chicken complements the soft eggplant. This dish is always ordered when my Dear and I visit. Goes very well with rice (P35/cup), which itself is quite good and has a very good texture-- I would guess they serve dinorado rice cooked with pandan.

Another good pick, this time clearly Chinese-inspired, is the Spicy Squid (P165). Their squid has the customary light breading, fried with garlic and chilies, but is sliced relatively thin (comapred to other restos), almost like straightened squid rings. But unlike squid rings, their squid is completely cooked yet soft-- not an easy feat when cooking squid.

Not so high on my list is the Lechon Kawali with Kangkong (P200). You'd expect the pork to be hot and crispy in this dish, but when we ordered it last night the pork came out rubbery and cold, as if it's been lying around for some time. The kangkong, though, was freshly-cooked and similar to the kangkong dish in Thai restaurants. I've had this dish before and I remember the pork being freshly cooked and perfectly crispy, which is to be expected. I'm thinking the pork last night was a fluke, a temporary lapse of quality, but it's still a disappointment.

Another signature Recipes dish is the Crispy Tilapia, but we haven't tried it yet because my Dear is still recovering from successive days of eating tilapia at home. At one time we tried the Laing-- the quintessential Bicolano dish of gabi leaves, chilies, shrimp paste, and coconut milk-- I remember it as being ok but not spectacular (serving size was huge, though).

Ambience-wise, Recipes has a modern minimalist look-- practically no decor and no visual clues as to what to expect. You'll really have to look at the menu to see what they have to offer. Service is friendly and efficient. Expect to pay around P300 per person in this restaurant.

Recipes is not exactly authentic gourmet food; don't go here if you're looking for haute cuisine. Its forte is in preparing simple comfort food, something your aunt might cook on a Sunday lunch when she's trying to impress the family.

Chicken and Pork Adobo ala Drip

Ingredients:
pork, cubed, preferrably with a some fat
chicken, chopped
soy sauce...

Better yet, just watch the vid:

Nice dish. And the adobo's good too. ;)

Credit to dr.sbdink for suggesting this post.

Saciçi (sa-ji-chee)

I had this dish during my trip to Baku. It tastes like the Filipino aftritada and is a good introduction to Azeri cuisine. It's easy to prepare and all ingredients are available in the Philippines. Saciçi literally means "in the sac". The sac is the paelleri-looking dish in the picture.

Ingredients:
butter
water
chicken
potatoes
onions
tomatoes
bell peppers (preferrably green)
eggplants/aubergines
oranges
salt

1. Heat the sac; in the absence of a sac you may use a wok or any other shallow pan. Place butter and water in the sac. Keep in mind to keep the butter-to-water ratio at 2:1 or 3:2; i.e., more butter than water. The water is there to keep the butter from burning as you cook the chicken. Bring to a boil.

2. Place chicken (slightly salted) in the sac. The chicken would be of the same size as in afritada. Cook the chicken in the butter-and-water mixture.

3. When the chicken is almost cooked, add the onions, potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, and eggplants-- again same size as if you're making afritada. Cover the sac and cook until the vegetables are done.

4. While it's hot, garnish with sliced oranges then serve.

Azeris usually serve this with greens on the side and pita bread, but I'm sure this will go well with rice.