Friday, June 4, 2010

Roast Chicken


The Abu household is currently keeping carbo-laden rice at bay. This drastic menu change is actually long overdue; we had been talking about eating healthy for a long while, but had never followed through.

The trouble with Malay cooking is that it is incredibly rich, especially because santan (coconut milk) is used extensively. Curries and masak lemak demand santan and santan helped pile on the pounds. Using dairy milk as a substitute somehow didn't cut it for us.

Matters were made worse with my sweet tooth, from my East Coast heritage no doubt, where even curries get a pinch of sugar thrown in. It didn't help that traditional sweetmeats were mostly sugar-laden.

Still, I could never seem to get enough of them, especially the ones originating from Kelantan and Terengganu like akok, cek mek molek, butir nangka, jala mas, nekbat, lompat tikam...

Of course, when you sin you pay and sinners, almost always, pay dearly. In my case, my middle is paying the price. I decided some time back it was time we stopped paying this modern-day ufti to our waistline.

Out goes nasi lemak and fried rice for breakfast (haven't had them for a long while now). In its place is bread and oats and the occasional roti canai. Sometimes I make cucur udang/ikan bilis (prawn/anchovy fritters).

Hot drinks is sans sugar. Condensed milk is a complete no-no; in its place is the creamer. Mamak's teh tarik is like a bad dream; we don't 'do' them anymore. Also consigned to the heap of history is supper, once our favourite pastime.

Yesterday Nawwar, a devotee of Astro's Asian Food Channel, prepared roast chicken for dinner based on an AFC recipe. Here's this no-frills, easy-to-make recipe. Do give it a try; it's simply delicious.

Roast Chicken
Marinate 4 quarter-chicken pieces with light soya sauce, a dash of sesame oil and sunflower oil, garlic and ginger (grated), salt and black pepper (pounded), for three hours. Roast at 400*F for 90 minutes.

Baked Potatoes
Pound one teaspoon of black pepper together with 2 cloves of garlic. Add a knob of butter to the paste. Clean 4 potatoes. Cut each potato into three or four slices and smear them evenly with the pounded paste.

Arrange the potatoes in tinfoil (do not enclose the potatoes completely but keep the tinfoil open at the top) and bake for 90 minutes at 400*F together with the chicken pieces.

Baked Tomatoes
Slice the top off 4 medium-sized tomatoes. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper and bake for 30 minutes. if you want, you can add a dash of oregano or mixed herbs.

Vegetables
Cut baby carrots, cauliflower and french beans accordingly and blanch in hot water. Alternatively, steam them for no more than 15 minutes. You can vary the vegetables with asparagus and broccoli.

This recipe serves four. Happy trying!

20 comments:

mamasita said...

My..already started with refusing to pay 'ufti' to the waist..gosh, I pun nak ikutlah!
This 'mongkut' at my waist is getting more stubborn than ever!

rohaizahabas said...

tapi kak...kita melayu ni payah nak berpisah ngan cik nasi ni,,,hidang lah apa bende pun...pastu ada suara yang tanya,,,nasi tak de ker.....hehehe

pandai nya anak dara you masak...I ni hari2 mengadap AFC ni..tengok jer, buat nya tak...hahaha

Anonymous said...

Adoi Kama, abih jahanang belaka kalu dok gadok dengang nasi dagang,nasi berlauk,tupak nasi,tupak pulut daun palah dang lain2 yang sedak2 belaka.

Essssh dok jadi nok ikut munglah.
Selamat bertahang selera. Pada ambe makang pung mati dok makang pung mati.

Heeheeehee jangang maroh. Sebenornye ambe nok sedak hati sendiri.

Kama At-Tarawis said...

hahahaha, anon! isy, ni yg dok tahang ni.. lapor slalu!

Kama At-Tarawis said...

mamasita- do you know that in thai, buah manggis is called 'mongkut'..

ezza - betul tu ezza, susah nak pisahkan kita dengan nasi kan?

ninotaziz said...

Dear Kak Kama,

The Roast Chicken looks reeaallly lovely. Compliments to the chef.

Most likely will try out this recipe for Rudi and the girls soon.

Cheers!

tireless mom said...

Hmmmmm... Yummy! Betul tak?

NanaDJ said...

Puteri,
Wonder how long this phase of not eating rice will last. But if you are determine you can do it by slowly reducing your intake of rice to half a teacup, or try and substitute white rice with brown rice. But, Puteri, what the heck, you only live once. Just eat in moderation and you'll be ok.
Wow, roast chicken Awa ada standard, kalah Lake Club.

ninot on Israel said...

Dear Kak Kama,

Inspired by your Roast Chicken, today I grilled some lamb ...

Lamb - marinated for 20 minutes with garlic, lime juice and pepper

Vege- Blanched cauliflower and carrots, Sauteed onions and 'bunga lengkuas' fr the garden

Tak sempat ambik gambar, by the time, I got to the table, hubby had finished 1/2 of his lunch!

It was good...

3yearshousewife said...

Kak,
Saya try tak makan nasi selalu, dalam seminggu 2-3 je makan nasi. tu pun portion dlm sesenduk , tak tambah.turun 2 kg dalam 1 bulan. tapi waistline kurang 1/2 inci je.
tapi tu la nak menahan godaan perut rindukan nasi tu mmg mencabar betul.
Rakan sekerja saya, umur awal 50'an, body dia mengancam, kalah saya. Pakai baju apa pun nampak cun je.
Tips dia, makan nasi tetap tapi sama ada pagi atau tengahari je. Malam makan lightweight seblm 8pm. Air minum kena cukup kuota 8 gelas.

Kama At-Tarawis said...

ninot - I am a lamb person. my fav meat, that. my problem is i love to eat the fat as well..

TM - memang yummylicious!

NanaDJ - rest assured this no-rice rule wont last long! tak lama semua clamouring for nasi again, sure punya!

3YH - mengancam? my body lagi mengancam.. it can ancam ppl with bad intentions.. one look at the hefty middle, teruih depa ca alip but..LOL.. seriously though, your friend probably has it pat.. makan sikit and no snacking and no makan after 8pm AND lots of water.. i, on the other hand, did the exact opposite.. (sighh)

Unknown said...

..yes, ma'am, sinners do pay for their sins..especially those lompat and tikam kind..:) cheers..and hehhehe..all the best with your diet...used to have a hard time myself.. resisting all those cek mek molek...

Tommy Yewfigure said...

Haiya Puteri, don’t lose all those love-handles of yours…kekeke.

You know variety is the spice of life, mix & change your meals everyday so long as u know your own limitation of your intake, u’ll be fine. Think ‘live to eat’ & not ‘Eat to live’, that way chances is u don’t stuff yourself silly.

Cheers,
Tommy

P/S – I’m a red meat man too. But as for chicken I like the grilled Nando’s style with the peri-peri chilli sauce.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kama,aku ni pulok. Aku macam syaitang nok uji keimanang mung,tengok boleh tahang dok dengang diet mung.wakakaka. Gi jengok kat Bkt Setiawangsa....SOKMO THE CAFE.

Ada macam2. Ada bekang kuah lemok,kuah manis. Ada sarok ikang kembung,pias ikang tenggiri,pulut cawang dgn ikang,tupak daung palah,rojok betik, kepok lekor dan banyok lagi. Yang sedak nasi dagang.

jangan maroh

ninot on Israel said...

Let's diet diet together gether. I have to lose 13 kgs at least. I figure that would take 13 months.

I pledge not to eat rice, fried stuff and sugar for the next month and will renounce Coke but not Mirinda Strawberry.

I will let you know the results on 6th July...Kalau ada results...I will continue...Kalau tak, abandon ship la....

Kama At-Tarawis said...

pakmat - good one, pakmat..double entrende.. nakal ekk

tommy - pak abu's a chickenman, tommy. he too loves nando-style, the hotter the better.

anon - nok kena gi terai sokmo cafe ni, bunyi macang sedaaak jer..!

ninot - i think in13 months time i'll satill look like this..LOL

zaitgha said...

Kak Puteri,

the dishes like potatoes and tomatoes tuh if you have a microwave, it wont take much time to cook ....bake potatoes tuh u wet kitchen tissue lightly and wrap the potatoes pastu letak on high abt less than 5 minutes....

Kama At-Tarawis said...

zai - i hv a confession to make. the microwave oven kat kitchen tu hanya dipakai untuk warming up food and thawing frozen meats. under-utilised sungguh. i know it sounds silly tapi i taktau nak pakai... :(

Wan Sharif said...

Salam Puteri,
Maaf terlambat kerana kembali ke kampong halaman tengok bonda tersayang..tak sempat nok cari internet di nung..

Molek jugok dok panda paka microwave oven tu..
saya dengar cerita kata the microwave alter the chemistry of matters..
apa pun selamat berjaya dalam misi mengurangkan berat badan..
Semuga di tabahkan hati

Kama At-Tarawis said...

wan- bagusla balik tengok mak. i pun dok terkenang kat dungun nih..