Orchard Chicken Salad Sandwich

I believe in this special notion about making sandwiches…from a single-filling sandwich (strawberry jam sandwich) to a multi-filling sandwich (the anything-goes-in sandwich!), anyone is capable of creating their own signature sandwich.

I know many eateries have taken sandwiches to a whole new level but the fact is, it cannot get simpler than it already is…choice of ingredients for filling stuffed (overloaded, mostly!) between two parts of bread! Some people prefer to focus on the type of bread that holds together all that filling and others fancy focusing on the inside :) Whatever the choices, once put together, a sandwich can be as satisfying as you wish it to be.

This time around for me, I wanted my sandwich filling to be something refreshingly satisfying. So I first made the Orchard Chicken Salad, inspired by a salad dish I had ordered in a restaurant some time back. I mix some cut pieces of fresh grapes, green apples and pears with coarsely chopped chunks of roasted chicken breast. I then add some low fat Miracle Whip, mustard cream, ground pepper and a drizzle of fresh lemon juice to the chicken and fruits mix and gently stir to get all the ingredients fully incorporated.

That’s the salad…light meal on its own or here, the filling for my dinner sandwich. Taking a bite off my Orchard Chicken Salad sandwich - generously spread filling on lightly toasted Oatnut bread (bread with oats and crunchy hazelnuts), made me a very happy girl :)

As a filling breakfast, a hearty lunch, a light dinner or a simple supper, sandwiches are my all-time favorite meal!

'The No Claypot' Claypot Chicken Rice

Thanks to technology advancement, I not only got to browse the web for the recipe to make my version of the famous claypot chicken rice dish, I also got tips and shortcuts to help me make this dish in my kitchen :) If I were living in Malaysia, I doubt I’d ever consider making this special Chinese dish at home, especially when it is easily available at my favorite hawker’s center!

As the name suggests, the claypot chicken rice is cooked and served in a claypot in restaurants. I still remember the wonderful whiff that hits your face and fogs your spectacles as you open the cover of the pot!

After searching for sometime, I decided to stick with this recipe I got from a fellow blogger. Although easier and faster than the original version, the reason why I liked this recipe is because the blogger kind of shares my kitchen viewpoint: even though I like quick and simple cooking, “I never sacrifice taste or authenticity when it comes to my cooking.”

No claypot, no problem…the rice cooker or the pressure cooker (that steam-cooks the rice in a jiff), like in my case, works just fine. With rice, mushrooms, chicken being the main ingredients, I happily gathered the rest of the sauces and spices needed for the dish and adjusted some details like no pork sausage and fried dried prawns instead of salted fish for garnish and voila, a contented cook, happy hubby and baby (yes, he loved it too!).

I also prepared a must-have condiment: chopped garlic and bird’s eye chilis soaked in light soy sauce for that added kick!

Yet another satisfying one-pot dish!

Chicken Rasam - Indian-spiced Chicken Soup

A bowl of soup may take up so many other names – broth, gumbo, stew, chowder, consommé, bouillabaisse, potage, bouillon – according to its texture, ingredients and also the cuisine it belongs to. Nevertheless, a bowl of soup by another name would be as comforting :)

There is this particular soup which is a famous fare in Malaysia, popularized by its mamak community – the Tamil Muslim community. This dish is so popular that it was even featured in Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservation (episode Malaysia). It is basically beef, chicken or mutton soup cooked with a variety of spices and then served alongside cubed bread pieces (the croutons’ counterpart!).

In Melaka, there’s this food court in Jalan Bendahara (between City Bayview and Orkid Hotel) that includes a mamak stall serving this well-spiced beef/mutton/chicken soup. I remember my dad used to take us there for supper and hmmm I can still remember how the aroma of the spices excited my sense of smell even before my tongue got in-synced!

Besides that, the only other times I used to enjoy this kind of spiced soup is at home when my mom made chicken rasam. Rasam is a spicy South Indian soup compulsory in most Indian vegetarian cuisine. But for her chicken rasam, mom uses the same spices used in the regular rasam – cumin seeds, fennel seeds, black/white peppercorns, mustard seeds – minus the tamarind essence and hing. These spices are pounded with ginger, garlic and onions, fried in a little oil before adding the boney chicken pieces (the meatier part gets into the chicken gravy!) which are then simmered in water on low flame till the chicken flavor is well infused in the soup.

I did the same here for my chicken rasam. The taste was pretty good and the comforting effect of having a bowl of hot soup was there, except that whenever I feel like having a bowl of hearty soup like this, I wish I could have it from the mamak stall in Jalan Bendahara :)

Spinach-Chicken Tortilla Wraps

Hubby used to call me the ‘sandwich girl’ during our courtship :) That’s because my typical answer to his “what did you have for lunch/dinner today?” question was more often than not – sandwich! I was living on my own in KL, away from my family in Melaka, working 9-6 and managing a really long-distance relationship (which included phone calls and being online at odd hours !). At that time, the last thing I’d want to do was spend precious time preparing a three-course meal and then spend time cleaning the dishes.

Although my Cheras apartment was surrounded by eateries, eating out became a little too mundane. So I used to stock-up my fridge with various ingredients so that I’d have the option of creating a sandwich whenever I wanted.

What’s there not to like about sandwiches? It’s easy to prepare and so it’s time-saving and can be made as healthy as you would like it to be. It’s kind of a convenient comfort food. Plus if you whip up a sandwich meal at home, there won’t be too many dishes to do afterwards :) But seriously, sandwiches are the quickest and fastest way to have an all-in-all meal or a hearty snack.

These days, there is always a stock of rolled, uncooked tortillas in my refrigerator. Warm ‘em up a couple of minutes on a hot griddle and they are good to go as an alternative to bread in sandwiches. It makes it easy for ‘the sandwich girl’ to pack hubby a sandwich or two during the days of the week when he has to rush and commute from his office to the school campus for his MBAPM classes.

These Mexican flatbreads (almost similar to chapathis) are so versatile and especially wonderful for making warm sandwich wraps and the possibilities are simply endless. For the wrap featured here, first I cooked up some baby spinach leaves with garlic, pepper and some canned chicken meat and a few roasted almonds.

Then I pulse them a couple of times in the food processor with a little fat-free ranch sauce for the tanginess and creaminess.

Spread, wrap and chomp!

Cumin-Peppercorn Chicken

The one thing I have realized since I started cooking regularly is that simplicity in cooking always brings out great taste. This is of course not applicable for those special dishes (especially traditional dishes) that require a long list of specific ingredients and detailed preparation. Most often than not, one would need to stick to the original recipe to create the exact traditional flavor. Otherwise, I find simple steps and fewer ingredients usually help in enhancing the taste of a dish.


This delicious chicken entrée is one such dish that can be prepared almost effortlessly. Pepper chicken is something that I have tasted regularly at my home in Malaysia but I have recreated it in my kitchen by making cumin the star ingredient alongside its counterpart, ground black peppercorns.


Chicken pieces (coated with needed amount of cumin powder and ground peppercorns) are cooked to perfection with a generous amount of diced up shallots, ginger and garlic. A fulfilling lunch/dinner entrée indeed!

Ayam Masak Merah: Red Chili Gravy Chicken

This dish is so popular in Malaysia that I have never failed to find it being served at all the Malay weddings I have attended.

Having tasted the dish served by Malay chefs (at homes or restaurants), I realized that the Malay version of this is sometimes sweet as well as spicy. My mom, the expert chef when it comes to making ayam masak merah at home, usually makes the version that she has mentioned to me as my grandma’s version (her mother-in-law).

Cut chicken pieces are marinated in a spicy paste made of dried red chili paste (boiled to soften and then blended), onions, ginger and garlic. I think the best part of the marinade is the roughly chopped tomatoes that are just squished in to bring out the juices. This really adds a little zing to the dish and just a hint of sweetness from the tomatoes are infused into the dish. To the marinade also, a little turmeric for bringing out the bright color and some crushed black pepper is added for more kick. After about 30 minutes or so, the marinated chicken is cooked in oil infused with cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom and curry leaves for a wonderful aroma.

'Maggi' Goreng: Fried Instant Ramen Noodles

‘Maggi’ is actually the brand name of instant noodles that is popular in Malaysia. In the U.S, one may find ‘Maggi’ brand instant noodles only in Indian stores. In regular American grocery stores, ‘Maruchan’ or 'Nissin' are the more popular instant noodles’ brand. Although now we have cut back a lot on the consumption of instant noodles, 'Maggi' instant noodles were a staple food during our varsity years.

'Maggi' goreng has got to be one of the famous fares of a Malaysian mamak stall (sidewalk food vendors)– it was mine for sure! It is basically taking the regular packets of instant noodles to a different level by frying it with eggs and chicken and sauces other than the one included in the original packets themselves.

What I have done here with my instant ramen noodles packets is to take it to a more gourmet level. I wanted to have a simple yet complete dinner and so I cooked my instant noodles in boiling water, tossed them out of the water and then fried the noodles with some onions, boneless chicken pieces, mushrooms, mixed vegetables and added a couple of dashes of oyster sauce, mushroom sauce on top of the provided sauce packets (for every two packets of instant noodles, I usually just use one of the provided sauce packets) and some chili powder for extra spice.

Tomato Rice + Chicken Kurma

Tomato rice is usually savored in my home during Diwali (of course, prepared by my mom, a wonderful chef). Started making them after coming here with my mom's guidance and now it's a regular in my kitchen especially since my little hero is a huge fan.

Chicken kurma -chicken cooked in kurma spice from Malaysia (Adabi - my favorite brand for kurma) potatoes and coconut milk.

Side dish - Raita (cucumber+yogurt relish)

Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

Hubby is my recipe guide for this dish. He has been making me biryanis (vegetable, lamb, chicken) very so regularly since the time we got married. These days he has been busy with work and business school and so I have taken over (temporarily) the biryani making business in our home :) This is actually an authentic dish from hubby's homeland. The chicken is marinated in a special Hyderabadi biryani spice mix with creamy yogurt before it is cooked with the fragrant Basmati rice.

In the background: left - sherva (tomato masala gravy), a special gravy usually served alongside biryanis; right - raita (cucumber+yogurt relish).

Ginger Chicken-Shiitake

Another dish I started making in my kitchen trying to recreate my mom's famous ginger chicken. Since hubby and I also like shiitake mushrooms, I added them to the usual ginger chicken dish and realised that the chicken-mushroom combination was so good. Shiitake is kind of meaty and does not have the woodsy flavor that some mushrooms have. This is a dish where chicken and shiitake mushrooms are cooked in fresh ginger-infused gravy made of oyster sauce, tamari and mushroom flavored sauce.

Kung Pao Chicken

This is a variation of a dish more popularly known in Malaysia as sweet-and-sour chicken. In India, this dish would probably be tagged as Manchurian Chicken because of the combination of two major flavors: spicy and sweet.

I first tried this dish in U.S in an Asian diner as Kung Pao chicken. It is basically boneless chicken stir fried with vegetables (bell peppers+celery), along with peanuts in a special sauce that is a mixture of peppercorns, sweet chili sauce, oyster sauce, tamari (soy sauce - dark and light) and rice wine vinegar.