No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

  This is a quickie yet super tasty dish to serve on your dining table.  The chicken will release its juice into the steaming dish and paired with lap cheong, the taste is incredibly delicious.  The cornstarch gives the chicken a silky and smooth texture and with the all the seasoning infused together, I bet you'll need to cook extra rice for the family. Steamed chicken with Chinese sausages aka Lap Cheong ~  腊肠蒸鸡 Ingredients 350 gm deboned drumstick, cut into bite size 1/4 tsp seasalt 2 tsp oyster sauce 2 tsp sesame oil 2 Tbsp cooking wine (divided) 1 tsp light soy sauce 2 to 3 Tbsp water 2 tsp cornflour 1 Chinese sausage (lap cheong), sliced Spring onion to garnish Method Season the chicken with seasalt, oyster sauce, sesame oil, 1 Tbsp cooking wine, light soy sauce and cornflour for about 2 to 3 hours. Place the sliced  lap cheong on top of the chicken.  Add in water. Steam on high heat for about 15 mins. till chicken is done. Drizzle another tablespoon of cooking wine. Garnish

  Natural Wild Tragacanth Gum 'Snow Swallow' or Xue Yan is a gum derived from different varieties of sterculia trees.  It's actually a sap drained from the root of the plant and  the gum dries as it exudes and is then collected.  Once rehydrated will increase to about ten times in size and their white stringy, jelly like strands texture resembles that of the much prized and highly valued bird's nest.  One thing to take note when cooking this dessert is that the gum is highly soluble in water and cannot be boiled too long. Since it is 'cooling' for our internal organs, the elderlies should take this in moderation and not recommended for nursing mums for the breast milk may cause the baby to purge. Snow Swallow Dessert  ~   天然野生雪燕 Ingredients 8 gm Snow Swallow gums 10 gm red dates 10 gm goji berries 20 gm dried longan Rock or piece sugar to taste 1 litre water Pandan leaves (optional) Method Soak the Snow Swallow gums in plenty of water for at least 8 hours or ove