Mid Autumn Festival

The clear night with a shining full moon, or at least that is supposed to be the case.  Looking out the window, the sky is covered by clouds, not even a star in the sky, so I suppose it is a typical autumnal night in England.  Anyhow, we must still celebrate this traditional festival to bring in the autumn.

What does Mid Autumn Festival mean to me? It means eating, eating and eating some more!  Traditionally this day brings the whole family together to share a table full of glorious food, light some lanterns, exchange moon cakes and admiring the bright full moon in a clear sky.  Only this year is different, my parents are in Hong Kong which leaves only us at home to fend for ourselves.  Instead of the traditional meal my mother cooks every year followed by a dessert of pomelo, we decided to eat out in the local Chinese restaurant.

We started the day with moon cake washed down with Chinese tea.  Moon cake is a very expensive delicacy, bought only for the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, according to the Chinese calendar.  Moon cake is typically made of a salted duck egg yolk, wrapped with lotus seed paste and finally surrounded by a thin layer of pastry.  I haven't got a very sweet tooth, so a small segment is enough to satisfy me.  However my B can easily devour a whole moon cake in one sitting.  Moon cake can be very sweet and oily so the Chinese tea helps to balance it out.  

In the evening we met up with my brother and cousin for our mini get-together at the restaurant.  At 7.30pm the whole restaurant was already full up of Chinese students celebrating the festival.  It is nice to think even they, with their family back home in China can still celebrate such a heart-warming festival with fellow comrades.

My B, brother, cousin and I decided to go all-out tonight; even though our parents were all abroad, we were determined to follow our family tradition of seeing the Autumn in with food.

A typical Chinese festival would not be the same without chicken.  We ordered a half salted chicken with ginger sauce.

I had to order my favourite dish of deep fried ribs in sweet and sour sauce Hong Kong style.  

To spice things up, we ordered a portion of deep-fried crispy squid with salt, chilli and pepper.

A festival cannot be a festival without a roast of some sort.  Instead of a roast duck we opted for crispy roasted pork belly.  The crunch of the crackling makes it all the more appetising.  Following our Hakka family's tradition the dish is also accompanied with a small dish of granulated sugar to dip the meat in.  Trust me, try it and you will not regret it.  The sweet taste of the sugar compliments the saltiness of the meat.  

We needed a saucy dish to balance out the other dishes.  The stir fried three-treasures is always a sure winner.  The treasures comprises of aubergine, tofu and green bell peppers stuffed with minced prawns cooked in a black bean sauce.  

My cousin had to order her favourite dish of braised duck feet with Chinese mushrooms.  Duck feet is very similar to chicken feet, except the toes are webbed and is less gelatinous in consistency.  I have to say it is an acquired taste, only she devoured the whole pot by herself.  

Finally, we realised we did not order one vegetarian dish.  Our family is known for our love of meat and eating capacity, but even we felt a bit piggish, so we thought we'd be good and order a portion of stir fried Chinese broccoli and ginger sauce.  Our parents would be very proud of us!

Seven dishes is considered very inauspicious, but we figured rice can be counted as the eighth dish.  We really could not stomach another extra dish.

We tried our best in devouring every morsel but we did not succeed.  Even so, it was a very satisfying night spent with great company and celebrating the Hakka way, with FOOD.

I wish everyone a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and may all the loved ones be re-united to gaze upon the bright moon together!!

Let the challenge begin

Food is the way to a man's heart, I am told.  I also believe food is the only way to my heart.  Every night I have to scour the internet for food blogs and recipes to give me inspiration.  Many a times my B has caught me starring at my Iphone looking through the many beautiful photos of food on Foodgawker (what a wonderful app).  He regularly jokes that food is like porn to me, it is my secret guilty pleasure.  I will admit I am definitely addicted to food, I love to look at food, think about food, dream about food.  I am consumed with thoughts of food 24 hours a day, I plan my dinner before I've even finished breakfast.  However, even though I have this unhealthy obsession with food, I realise I have a very limited variety of food I actually cook on a regular basis.  Of course I have my trusty favourites, like my roasted honey garlic chicken thighs and my stir fried pork belly with aubergines in black bean sauce (recipes for laters); but even I can get tired of eating the same dishes day in day out.

Back in July my B proposed to me after 5 years together, and from that day I decided to keep my man happy with food.  After all, food is the way to a man's heart, right?! All the recipes I've ripped out from magazines and the ones I've saved from the internet will finally come in handy; instead of gawking at the beautiful pictures of food, why not finally make it reality and taste the food as well.

So I will become the ultimate housewife, I will be a super housewife.  I will work 5 days a week (at the moment 3 days a week), I will clean the house till it's sparkling (well, tidy at the very least) and I will feed my B and my future BBs home cooked nutritious yummy meals.   My challenge has begun, after weeks of procrastinating (yes, starring at pictures of food again) I decided to trial my first dish today.

I scoured my collection of recipes and finally kicked off my challenge with an unusual dish: slow cooked chicken feet in coca cola (Chinese style).  I am after all Chinese, so I thought I may as well return to my roots.  Chicken feet are not my favourite ingredient to use or eat but it is always the dish we order when we "yam cha" (lunch of dim sum).  We usually order it steamed in black bean sauce that is very aromatic and gelatinous to eat.  The traditional method usually deep fries the chicken feet first to give it some bite (it is mostly fat and skin), but I didn't fancy deep frying in my small kitchen.  So I decided to skip that stage, besides if the feet aren't deep fried it will make the dish more healthy (i think...).

But what sauce should I cook it in?  My favourite of course... Hong Kong Swiss sauce.  It is sweet and savoury that sticks to the meat.  Traditionally it is cooked using chicken wings, but chicken feet will do.

To save washing, why not use my trusty slow cooker? Plus I won't need to keep my eye on the stove every 5 minutes, so I can carry on watching the Food Network without any interruptions (except for my B shouting from his study about whether the food if ready yet).

I bought a pack of frozen chicken feet from my local oriental supermarket. I love shopping in the oriental shops, I always uncover some new ingredient to experience and the boss is always helpful about how it should be cooked.

The only thing I hate about cooking chicken feet is the preparation.  The defrosted chicken feet have to be pedicured.  The claws or "nails" as I call them have to be clipped to make it more appetising.  They can be easily clipped using kitchen scissors; I try not to think too much about it because it always grosses my out with the thought of it, but it has to be done.

The pedicured feet are then placed in the slow cooker ready to be bathed in the sweet sticky Swiss sauce.  The sauce is made up of the usual foundations of Chinese cooking: ginger, garlic, soy sauce and star anise.  To make the sauce sweet and sticky, a can of coca cola and more sugar is added.  I also added some fresh chillies and Thai chilli sauce to give it some kick.  When the cola is cooked down the consistency makes it very moorish and addictive.

Heat up all the ingredients for the sauce and then pour over the chicken feet.  Turn the slow cooker on to high and leave to cook for 3-4 hours.  After this time, the chicken feet will be soft and a beautiful browned colour.  The aroma whilst it is cooking will make your tummy rumble and salivary glands flowing (well, mine did!) Fish the feet out and pile up in a dish.  Heat up the sauce from the slow cooker in a saucepan until the sauce thickens up to a syrupy consistency.  Finally pour over the feet and garnish for presentation, or like me, dig straight in!! I think for my first challenge, it turned out very successful.  My B loved it and even finished off the sauce by mixing it into his bowl of jasmine rice, definitely addictive!!  (Unfortunately my pictures do not do it justice, will need to improve on my photography skills, in keeping with my obsession).

Chicken Feet in Hong Kong Swiss Sauce (will feed 4-6 people)

• approximately 1kg chicken feet
• 1 can of coca cola
• 1tbsp brown sugar
• 1tbsp light soy sauce
• 1tbsp chilli sauce
• 1/2 chilli
• 2 slices ginger root
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 star anise (broken up)
• cornstarch

Wash the chicken feet and remove the claws using kitchen scissors.

Place prepared chicken feet in a slow cooker and turn the slow cooker to high.

Meanwhile place the cola, sugar, soy sauce, chilli sauce, sliced chillies, ginger garlic and star anise in a saucepan.  Heat up the sauce until it bubbles and all the ingredients are incorporated. 

Pour sauce over the chicken feet.  Put lid on the slow cooker and leave to cook on high for 3-4 hours.  

When ready, remove chicken feet from sauce and leave aside ready for assemble. 

Pour sauce back into saucepan and heat up to reduce.  The sauce should thicken to a syrupy consistency.  If needed, the sauce can be thickened up with cornstarch.  Mix a tbsp of cornstarch with 4 tbsp cold water.  Mix well until combined and add to the sauce to thicken.  

When sauce reaches the desired consistency, pour over the chicken feet and garnish with spring onions, coriander or more fresh chillies.  Serve immediately.  Enjoy with jasmine rice or as a snack with beer.