Stewed Chicken Wings

I got the idea from Chinese stewed duck ‘Lor Ark’ posted by pablopabla in his blog Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food. I made the stewed duck before and it turned out delicious, so I did it with chicken wings this time. I also added some chili powder for a little kick in flavor. Overall this dish turned out delicious too, and with the leftover sauce and some tofu and hard boiled eggs, I got another yummy simple dish– stewed eggs and tofu.

Stewed Chicken Wings

Stewed Chicken Wings Recipe

Ingredients:
15-20 chicken wings (mid joints)
1 inch ginger
1/2 inch galangal
4 cloves of garlic
8 shallots
1 tsp five-spice powder
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
salt to taste
chili powder (optional)
4-5 cups hot water

Methods:

1. Clean chicken wings and season with five spice powder for 30 minutes.
2. Blend ginger, galangal, garlic and shallots in a blender, adding just enough water to facilitate blending.
3. Heat up a wok and add some oil. Fry the blended paste until fragrant, add dark soy sauce and sugar, stir well.
4. Add chicken wings and stir until the skin is cooked and shrink slightly. Add hot water and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to medium and cook until the wings are done and sauce thicken slightly. Turning occasionally so the wings won’t stick to the bottom. Add salt and chili powder to taste. (if the wings are done and the sauce is still watery, remove the wings and continue cooking the sauce, until it thicken slightly).

Note:

I didn’t have fresh shallots this time so I used fried shallots in my pantry, just added it after I added the chicken wings to the wok.

Tarte aux Noix

Tarte aux Noix

I searched tarte aux noix online but couldn’t find out much about it because a lot of search results show the websites are not written in English. All I know is that it is a French tart. A lot of pictures online shows the tart is made with walnuts, but the recipe I followed uses almonds. Maybe there are several versions of tarte aux noix??…

Anyway, this recipe is from one of my cookbook titled “Oishiixtu!! Yakikashi” by Ikuko Omori (mine is Chinese version). When I was making the tart shell, I made a boo boo: I thought all tart pans are pretty much standard size, it’s only until I rolled out the dough that I realized my tart pan is quite larger than the suggested 18cm diameter by the recipe. Since the dough could barely cover the bottom of my large tart pan, I opted to use 2 small personal size tart pans instead. Next time when I make it again, I will increase the original recipe portion by 1.5. One thing worth mentioning: the tart shell recipe is very easy and doesn’t require chilling at all, and yet it is crispy and full of almond flavor even the next day. I think I might keep it as my default tart shell recipe.

Tarte aux Noix

Tarte aux Noix Recipe (makes 1 tart of 18cm diameter, or 2 small personal tarts)

Ingredients:

Tart shell:
2/3 cup cake flour
3 tbsp ground almond (with skin)– toasted
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp unsalted butter (room temp.)
1 tbsp beaten egg

Almond cream:
1 tbsp cake flour
2/3 cup ground almond(with skin)– toasted
1/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter (room temp.)
1 beaten egg

2 tbsp raisin– soaked in rum, drained
2 tbsp chopped walnuts– toasted
1 tbsp rum
extra almond flakes to sprinkle on top

apricot jam for glazing (I didn’t have apricot jam, so I brushed the tart with remaining beaten egg from tart shell before baking)

Method:

Make tart shell:

1. Combine cake flour and ground almond then set aside. Using a whisk, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Slowly add beaten egg, whisk to combine.
2. Sift in 1/3 of flour mixture. Using a spatula gently mix the flour on the top, then press down the flour to the bottom of the bowl to combine. Repeat with the remaining flour in 2 batches. When all mixture starts to form a dough, take it out and shape it to a ball with both hands (avoid kneading the dough!).
3. Put the round dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap, roll it out large enough to fit tart pan. Remove plastic wrap and transfer the dough to tart pan and fold inwards any extra dough so all sides have same thickness.
4. Brush the edge with egg wash, prick the bottom and side of tart and blind bake at preheated 350°F oven for 10-12 minutes. Cool the tart in the tart pan.

Make Tarte aux Noix:

1. Cream butter and brown sugar with a whisk until fluffy. Slowly add beaten egg and whisk to combine.
2. Add ground almond. Using a spatula, mix until all incorporated. Sift in cake flour and mix gently until just combined.
3. Add raisin, walnuts and rum and mix gently.
4. Pour filling into baked tart shell. Smooth the surface and sprinkle almond flakes on the top. (I brushed the top with remaining egg wash before baking since I don’t have apricot jam for glazing)
5. Bake at preheated 350°F oven for 15-20 minutes until almond cream is nicely browned. Cool in the pan on the rack. When completely cool, glaze tart with apricot jam.

Steamed Chives Dumplings

Steamed Chives Dumplings

I made soon kueh and had some leftover soon kueh skin dough, and I happened to have all ingredients needed to make chives pocket… so this was what I did:

Soon kueh skin dough + Chives filling = Steamed Chives Dumplings

I found the dumplings are not as soft the next day after heating up in microwave, maybe I should use a steamer instead… but I think I’d prefer pan-frying so the skin gets crunchy.