Saturday, March 30, 2013

Baked Chicken

Created this recipe about last weekend. Sources included asking my Mom, and incessantly Googling "baked chicken".

Note: Any measurements are approximations, or could be totally erroneous, since I'm recalling this from memory...

Ingredients (for the chicken):


  • 1/2 lbs. boneless chicken breast (sliced into 3 separate, palm-sized pieces, in my case)
  • 2 Tbsp chili paste (I use a Chinese brand that comes in a green-lidded plastic jar)
  • 1 Tbsp mustard paste
  • 1 Tbsp soya sauce
  • 1 Tbsp barbeque sauce
  • 1/2 Tbsp black pepper
  • 1/2 Tbsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning (a mix of oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, etc.)
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

(possible addition: Worcestershire Sauce)

Method:
  1. Mix the chili paste, mustard, the sauces, salt, pepper, butter, garlic and seasoning to form a marinade.
  2. With a knife, slightly mark the surface of the chicken pieces with lines (don't cut too deep!); I am told this improves the absorption of the marinade.
  3. Marinate the chicken pieces, ensuring that both sides are properly covered.
  4. Place in glass bowl, covered with plastic. Place it in the refrigerator. (The first two pieces were taken out after 4 hours, the last piece was left marinated for about a day and a half.)
  5. Preheat the oven to 375 °F.
  6. Place chicken pieces in a baking tray and bake until chicken is cooked*. Turn the chicken pieces to ensure evenly baked pieces.
* I baked the first two pieces for about 30 minutes on the central grill in the oven (15 minutes for each side of chicken piece) and then for 10 minutes on the upper grill - result was pretty dry. The last piece was baked for 20 minutes on the central grill (10 minutes for each side) and on the upper grill for about 5-7 minutes - result was comparatively juicier.

Optional: Serve with potato wedges, cucumber and vegies.

Baked Chicken with Potato Wedges, Cucumber Slices and Other Vegies

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Friday, March 29, 2013

A New Section - Cooking!

Since I started university, at times I have found joy in cooking. As a student, I am the sole subject of my culinary experiments, so I can be rather liberal with my experimentation

Most of my recipes are combinations of recipes found on the Internet, along with additions/subtractions of my own. I thought it might be a good idea to document some of them, so amateur cooks like myself can get an insight into the wonderful world of cooking. Hence, I'm starting a new section in my blog, titled "Culinary Experiments".

Cheers!

Disclaimer: Follow recipes at your own risk. There is a lot of hand waving involved, since most (read: all) of the time, I'm not very precise with my measurements.
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