My Indonesian helper, Yulfah, always has a look of horror on her face, each time I tell her I feel like cooking! She is such a patient lady but knows that she has to clean up the mess after I finish experimenting in the kitchen. I must admit I do find cooking quite therapeutic. I am not the kind of person who likes to measure things accurately. I often use my instinct to add ingredients, which can of course, go horribly wrong.
I like to focus on quick, tasty and simple dishes as hanging around in the kitchen is not for me! My latest dish to date is Honey Chicken! It is truly delicious, easy to prepare and very flavourful. I only use fresh and Halal chicken breasts, from a Malay stall I have been buying from for as long as I can remember, at Tekka Market. I try to impress the owner with my odd 'rojak' mixture of Malay and English but he has found out that I am not at all 'pandai' so he goes gentle with me!
Here is my humble recipe of my Honey Chicken:
Cut the chicken breasts in a criss cross way, but DO NOT cut through them. This leaves you with a squared pattern on the chicken breasts which will be able to absorb the tasty sauce we will prepare later on
Sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste and rub in well
Coat the chicken breast on both sides with plain flour
Melt 3 slices of butter (about 3 tablespoons) in a pan or wok
Add the chicken breasts to the pan and let it brown on both sides. Be sure not to have the heat up too high, or it will burn the flour and the chicken will NOT be cooked properly, more like 'simmer' in the butter.
Then, add a little more butter with 3-4 cloves of diced garlic
For 3 chicken breasts, I would add 6 tablespoons of honey (2 tablespoons per chicken breast)
Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of vinegar.
Allow to simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes, turning the chicken breasts over from time to time, to infuse them with the sauce.
Finally, you can add chopped parsley to garnish.
Remove the chicken breasts from the pan and plate.
Pour some of the delicious sauce over the chicken breasts and it is ready to be served!
And this is when I call Yulfah and say
“Tuan has finished in the kitchen, time for rubber gloves and clean up! :D”
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