Monday, October 14, 2013

fried chicken with belacan and red fermented bean curd

The first time I saw this recipe, I was intrigued.

There was such a mish-mash of ingredients that I was not even sure if it was going to work. But since I had all the ingredients the recipe called for, I decide to give it a shot because I was sure that if the recipe worked, this would be one tasty chicken dish.

And I was right to follow my instinct.


The chicken was simply delicious.

But then again, I am pretty sure anything cooked with belacan will end up tasting oh-so-good. :P


As with all my recipes containing belacan, I started by toasting the belacan. Outside. If you do not have an outside kitchen, well, open ALL the doors and windows in the house before you start toasting. How can something that tastes so good smell so foul before toasting??

I always toast the belacan over a small fire to prevent it from burning. Once the belacan has broken down into small pieces, and no longer smells foul, it is ready.


I transferred the belacan into a bowl, and added sugar and minced garlic.


I also added potato starch, rice flour, salt and chilli powder.


Finally, I added the eggs and red fermented beancurd (紅腐乳).


And mixed.


I added the chicken, ensuring that all the pieces were well-coated, and covered the bowl with a piece of cling wrap. This was placed in the fridge for about 3 hours.


When I fry chicken, I like to roast the chicken in the oven beforehand so that I can shorten the frying time. I like my fried chicken piping hot and freshly fried, but I do not have a lot of time to fry the chicken, so this is a great cooking method for me.


If you have the time, you can always deep-fry the raw chicken, or if you are not keen on frying the chicken, roasting it in the oven for a slightly longer time works well too.

Once the chicken had been roasted, I set it aside until about 20 minutes before I wanted to serve dinner.

Then, I fried the chicken until the skin became crispy and nicely browned.


If you like belacan, you really must try cooking this one day! :)


RECIPE
Fried Chicken with Belacan and Red Fermented Beancurd (Serves 4-6)
Adapted from "The Taste of Nostalgia" by William Soh

Ingredients:
1kg chicken, cut into smaller pieces - I used chicken thighs
20g belacan
20 g sugar
200g egg - I used 3 large eggs
20g minced garlic
40g potato starch
100g rice flour
4 pieces red fermented beancurd
10g chilli powder, or more if you prefer your chicken to be more spicy
10g salt

Method:
1. Toast belacan.
2. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken, coat well. Cover with cling film and marinate chicken in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours, or overnight preferably.

3. Arrange chicken on a roasting tray and roast chicken for 30 mins at 180C.
4. Fry chicken until skin is crispy and browned.
OR

3. Fry raw chicken in hot oil until cooked through and brown.

OR

3. Roast chicken at 180C for 40 minutes, or until cooked through, turning the chicken once half way.

I am submitting this recipe for Little Thumbs Up hosted by Mich from Piece of Cake, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Doreen from my little favourite DIY.




And I am sharing this post with Cook Your Books hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours.


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10 comments:

  1. This chicken with bean paste looks good!

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  2. Hi Diana,
    Your fried chicken looks so temptingly delicious! I love belacan and nam yue, but have never paired them together! Yummilicious!
    Thanks for linking with CYB!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Joyce, it was a strange combo and strangely, they worked well together :)

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  3. Diana, two pungent ingredients but such a delicious outcome! I am going to try your method of roasting and then frying. It makes a lot of sense!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Phong Hong, I was also very surprised at how good this turned out!! My hb used to own restaurants and the chefs always pre-cook the chicken and fry before serving. Saves so much time!!

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  4. Hi Diana,

    Like you said, I love eating food with belacan but cooking with belacan can make the whole house smell like belacan too!!! Nevermind the smell... just enjoy the delicious chicken first :p

    Zoe

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    Replies
    1. Hey Zoe, in the case of belacan, it is really suffer before you can enjoy deliciousness! haha.

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