Chicken Wings in Soy Sauce

Chicken Wings in Soy Sauce

Hello Whimsical Readers,

F~ This week will be a simple and totally yummy chicken dish with soy sauce. My mom makes this all the time at home because my siblings like it very much and just last week a friend of mine decided to make this for dinner at my place so yes I think I'd like to share this recipe with you.

A little bit about this dish other than my siblings liking it is that it is to my knowledge an international chinese dish because my friend who reminded me of this dish was from Hong Kong, another lovely country filled with many good food to try and of course the shopping!

This is also a dish that goes amazing with plain white rice, I should know, I remember having an additional half a bowl of rice just to go with the sauce..haha. Ok, I'm starting to drool so I better start with the recipe before you drool all over your keyboard.

Ingredients: Serves 4
650 grams Chicken Wings
1 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
3-5 Tbsp Cooking Oil
2 Tsp Sesame Oil
1 1/2 Tbsp Honey
1-2 Tbsp Flour
200 ml Water
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Method:
1. In a heated pot, add the Cooking Oil then the Chicken Wings and cook them until they're half way done on high flames.
2. Lower the flames to medium and add Light and Dark Soy Sauce, Honey and Water.
3. Mix a little Water with the Flour to avoid Flour "clots" in your sauce mix and for better mixing. Stir well.
4. Let the Chicken Wings simmer with the lid on for approximately 8-15 minutes. The longer you simmer, the softer they become.
5. Add Salt, Pepper and Sesame Oil to your liking and if needed more Light Soy Sauce. By now, your sauce should be of a thicker liquid.
6. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies

Thai-style Stir Fried Convolvulus Vege (Optional Spicy)

Thai-Styled Kang Kung

Hello Whimsical Readers,

F~ This week's dish is actually from a good friend of mine, it is a Thai styled Convolvulus vege. What a mouthful that name is, to be honest I didn't know the English name until recently because back home we use called it "Kang Kung" If you are still unsure which vegetable it is, I'll save you the trouble Googling and show you what it looks like before is it washed, cut, cooked and served on a plate.

I know quite a number of ways you can cook this vegetable but for now it will be the Thai styled. However just to satisfy your curiosity, "Kang Kung" can be made into clear vegetable soup or stir fried with a Southeast Asian shrimp paste called "Belacan". I'd love to explain more but that's for next time, now its Thai style, so on with the recipe.

Ingredients: Serves 2-3
1 Bundle Convolvulus/ Kang Kung
100 gram Beef (minced and marinated with 1 Tbsp Fish Sauce prior to cooking)
1 Tsp Garlic (minced)
2-3 small Dried Chili (thinly cut)
4-5 Tbsp Fish Sauce
2 Tsp Sugar
2-3 Tbsp Cooking Oil
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Convolvulus/ Kang Kung/ Water Spinach

Method:
1. Heat up your Cooking Oil in the pan/ wok, then add Garlic and Beef.
2. Once cooked, remove the Beef and put it aside.
3. Reheat the same pan/wok and add Convolvulus/ Kang Kung neatly. Add some water and let it cook on medium high with the lid on for about 6-8 minutes.
4. When vegetable is soft, add fish sauce and sugar. Stir well.
5. Add Beef with vegetable and drop in the Dried Chili and let it cook for 1-2 minutes.
6. Serve hot.

Enjoy!


Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies

Korean Potato Side Dish 감자 조림 (Optional Spicy)

감자 조림 "GamJa-JoRim"

Hello Whimsical Readers,

Its time to start cooking and this being our first recipe, I, F~ have decided to make a Korean side dish (감자 조림) its pronounced as "GamJa-JoRim".

(감자 조림) "GamJa-JoRim" is a super easy dish to make which takes around 25 minutes to prepare, cook and serve. It is a slightly sweet dish because of the corn syrup and an optional spicy dish, for those who like some spice in their food.

I got this dish off the internet when I was looking for some Korean recipes and found this. Personally, it is also fitting for a first post because J~ loves potato, anything and everything potato. Haha. So I would like to dedicate this dish to my bestie, J~. Luv ya!

So down to the recipe, you don't have to be totally accurate on it unless its something like baking, then I would advise you to follow to the dot. I remember screwing up a cake but that's for another time. ;)

Ingredients: Serves 4
6 Potatoes (cut into cubes)
3 Tbsp Cooking Oil
2 Tsp Sesame Oil
1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
200 ml Water
5 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tsp Salt
4 Tbsp Corn Syrup
1 Tsp Sesame Seeds

1-1 1/2 Tbsp Korean Red Pepper Paste 고추장 "Go-Chu-Jang" (optional)

Method:
1. Heat up the pan/ wok and add the Cooking Oil.
2. Add the Potatoes and stir-fry for 5 minutes on a medium flame.
3. Add the Garlic and stir-fry for 1 minutes.
4. Add the Water, Soy Sauce, Corn Syrup and Red Pepper Paste (optional) then let the potatoes continue cooking for 5 minutes on high flame.
5. Add the Salt according to your taste and let it cook for 5 minutes. By this time, the liquid mixture should be like a paste.
6. Turn the flame back to medium and cook the Potatoes for another 5 minutes.
7. Add the Sesame Seeds and Sesame Oil for smell and flavouring. Mix it well.
8. Serve dish hot or cold. Enjoy!

Notes:
Tbsp - Tablespoon
Tsp - Teaspoon
1 Cup - 200 ml - 2 dl

Hope you like it!


Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies

Food for Thought

Welcome back whimsical readers, so did you stick around to see whether we got kicked out of the kitchen by mummy or you like us? Hehe. Either way, you’re here so welcome and thanks for reading.

Back to business, so we will be trying all sorts of cuisine from East to West and everywhere in between. So yes, expect some hot Asian spice to refine European herbs.

Not sure if you notice but the current eating trend is that Healthiness is IN or at least that’s what they told us. So we will try to reduce the mouthful of "regrets" or more commonly known as the malicious Calorie, the seductive Sugar and the devious Fat. No worries, tasteless is not in our food vocabulary, unless it’s suppose to be like that then sorry mate, it can’t be helped.

The next important thing is that your food should not only taste good but also look good. Remember you swallow with your mouth but your eyes eat too, visually of course. We highly doubt you would even think about eating something no matter how delicious it is if it looked like sh*t. Hence watch out for our food presentation pointers. We’re still trying to get the hang of it so excuse us if some information isn’t totally right.

To impress that someone special or just family and friends whom you want to enjoy some food with, there will be something about themed table setting too.

There is no particular order in which our recipes are chosen, usually its just what we feel like eating on that day unless it was requested or a special occasion coming up. So feel free to drop us a suggestion for our next recipe and we will do our best to get your "order" on the table. ; )


Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies

Testing the Water

If you are wondering who we are, who unwittingly decided to step into the World of Blogging after watching a cooking/blogging movie "Julie & Julia" or at least for one of us. Well this is us, just another person who wanted to give Blogging a go hence the name Testing the Water.

Along the way, you will get to know us more as would anyone when meeting a person so a proper introduction is not really needed except that, one of us is J~ and the other is F~. And we hail from Malaysia. The country that has two "pieces" and the one on the left looks like a sweet potato says F~’s art teacher.

As you read on, you will figure out who is who. The best of friends since a decade ago and still going strong, the ironic part is that we don’t meet up as often as we do with our other friends, yet we are like twins when we do. One of us is the louder and wackier of us and the other one although timid but in actually the sneakier one.

Coincidentally we are not write-in-your-diary-every-night type people (what a combination to start a blog). We do however admire how some can rewrite their daily lives again, whether they decide to sugar-coat it or curse their day in writing or these days on a blog.

So what the heck, we’ll give it a go with what better way than combining our passion of FOOD!! Yes, among the many things we love but FOOD has a big percentage of our love. Where we come from, our culture pretty much revolves around food.

Naturally we will be doing a Food Blog with bits of food photography. Throughout our cooking adventures, we will probably wreak some havoc in the kitchen which will surely drive out mothers up the wall (weee, fun!) Nevertheless, all fun will be safe fun because we cannot afford to any fingers or an eye.

We must warn you that unfortunately like any normal human being we feel anger and frustration so yes there will be explicit language on our Blog. Being friends is easy but being friends who are working together is a whole new ball game so do excuse us if some words came flying out the kitchen.

We will try to sugar-coat it with mouth watering pictures of food but that is easier said than done so do excuse us if you see a sad garnish here and there.
You have been warned.

Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies