Ok I confess! I made these with ready-cooked frozen chicken katsu/cutlet:) I got mine from Song Fish. They have this brand called Tasty Farm (it’s their exclusive) and I think it tastes better than the Bibik brand. You can of course make your own with chicken thigh or breast, flour, egg and panko. Recipe below! This is how the frozen chicken katsu looks like:

Always wondered what goes into the subtly sweet and moist egg mixture of chicken katsu don? It’s a combination of onions, dashi (Japanese broth usually made of dried seaweed and bonito fish flakes – plus other dried ingredients sometimes), mirin, sake (I omitted), soy sauce and sugar. Of course I didn’t cook it from scratch. I used this brand of dashi powder which you can get from Japanese supermarkets or the Japanese section of supermarkets such as Fairprice Finest or Extra:

Just mix the powder with water for instant dashi stock which can be used as a base for many types of Japanese cooking. I add dashi powder to my one-pot mushroom rice too.

The chicken can be made from scratch with either chicken thigh or breast. I don’t do deep frying at home so the steps below are for the airfried version. Of course, if you buy ready-made katsu don like I have, simply airfry for 15-18 minutes at 180C, or deepfry according to package instructions. Have a bowl of soft fluffy rice ready and dinner is on the table!

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I’ve been wanting to make these crispy cheesy chicken roll-ups since forever. I’m finally getting to it!

What’s better than slicing into hot, crispy chicken to reveal a savoury, cheesy, melty filling? I decided to stuff these gems with baby spinach and Perfect Italiano’s Mozzarella and Parmesan Grated Cheese for that awesome stretchy texture and yummy cheesy taste. I added green chili padi to it for extra oomph – they’re not really spicy. If I could find Jalapenos, I would use them!

To make these, all you need to do is: sauté baby spinach till wilted then combine with sour cream, garlic powder, dill, salt, Perfect Italiano Mozzarella and Parmesan Grated Cheese, then spread the mixture on chicken breast. Roll up and dip in egg, flour and breadcrumbs. Fry till golden. Savour!

These were done in 30 minutes from start to finish. I’m a fan of simple, no-frills recipe which calls for minimal ingredients. It’s a bonus that Perfect Italiano’s cheeses pack so much punch that very little seasoning is needed to flavour your dish.

I like to combine both their Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese into a dish because they complement each other so well. Perfect Italiano’s Mozzarella Grated Cheese is mild flavoured and has a stretchy nature. It melts wonderfully to create the savoury texture my family loves. The Parmesan Grated Cheese has a sharp and savoury taste which balances the Mozzarella perfectly. I usually do a 1:3 Parmesan to Mozzarella ratio in my recipes.

Perfect Italiano cooking cheese is available in leading supermarkets. Whether you try this recipe or come up with your own creation, remember to share it with me by hashtagging #perfectitalianosg. If you need more recipe inspirations, go on over to the Perfect Italiano’s website to browse their amazing recipe library. They have a great collection of easy-to-follow recipes to inspire you all-year round.

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I first learnt of this Mongolian Chicken many years ago from my aunt although I have no idea how it is “Mongolian”. I don’t believe it came from Mongolia just like how Singapore Noodles didn’t originate from Singapore and German Cookies didn’t come from Germany. The husband said when he was a university student more than ten years ago, an uncle in his school canteen used to sell this at $3.50 a plate with rice. You might also have eaten “Mongolian Pork Ribs” at zichar stalls before. I know of a few places selling variations of this with a similar sauce, many with dark soy sauce added for colour and a lot more black pepper.

You’d be surprised at the ingredients because I was. Isn’t this something like butter prawns without butter and prawns? Or salted egg chicken without salted egg? It’s no surprise because all these dishes have similar base ingredients: garlic, chilli padi, curry leaves and evaporated milk, giving it that fragrance and creaminess distinct of many popular zichar dishes.

What “Mongolian” chicken has also is the addition of sliced yellow onions, grated ginger and a little bit of curry powder. You can substitute chilli padi for regular big red chilli like I have in this recipe.. because the aunt has a gastric problem and can’t take heat. But I think the spicy kick in chilli padi really makes a difference in this dish. This sauce will also be good for pork ribs or even sliced lean pork, better if deep fried beforehand. Have fun with this recipe! I had two bowls of rice today :)

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I wasn’t thinking of posting this “recipe”– that explains the makeshift photos– but I’m quite intrigued by it.

This was tonight’s dinner. I was in a lazy mood with no plans to cook anything but the husband needed to eat. He “ordered” a #friedchickenparty from his personal chef (me) and I, being the very challenging wife wife who’s always up for a challenge, gladly took it up.

I had some marinated mid-joint wings that I was going to cook for tomorrow’s dinner, maybe simply airfried without batter or coating, but I decided that this chicken was going to come to good use tonight. I coated the wings with some self-raising flour, potato starch, five-spice powder and salt, and airfried it til super crispy. And to make it a fried chicken platter, I airfried some frozen tom yum pop corn chicken I had in the fridge.

All this while I had NO IDEA this was going to turn out the way it did.. all I knew was that I had to dress it up. How to serve anyone plain brown chicken? I opened the chiller and saw cheddar cheese– I was going to melt it– and then I saw my new squeezable bottle of Heinz mayonnaise, and I was going to use it. And of course there was Lee Kum Kee’s cutesy squeezable ketchup and loads of spring onions. This was it.. cheese fries chicken!

The hubby went, “WAH!” when he saw the creation.. but he had three words for my “cheese sauce”. “Play cheat one!” he said. Ingrate!!

Haha! I hope you enjoy making this and that your husband was as amused as mine was! p/s- you could use frozen pre-cooked chicken all the way instead of marinating it and cooking it fresh.

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Most of you know about my affair with fried chicken. Friendships come and go, but my relationship with fried chicken has spanned 30 years and is still going strong, especially ever since Jason bought me my Philips Airfryer as an anniversary gift two years ago!

But let’s not kid ourselves, as much as I am an advocate of the airfryer, nothing tastes better than crispy chicken freshly fried in hot oil. The crunchiness, crispiness, and juiciness of DEEP FRIED anything is incomparable, but life is all about choices. I choose 90% gratification over clogged arteries anytime.

I may not be able to eat deep fried chicken all the time but I can do airfry! And the other day, I decided to airfry some prawn paste chicken. Prawn paste chicken is a popular zi-char (quick fry) hawker dish in Singapore. For readers not too familiar with prawn paste, it is made from fermented ground prawns mixed with salt, and gives off a pungent aroma hard to associate with delicious cooking. :)

I’ve been wanting to try my hands at it, but the thought of preparing the dish from scratch is demotivating. Luckily for me, Dancing Chef was kind enough to sponsor me some of their sauces, and “Stir Fried Shrimp Paste” was among them! I’ve always loved their famous Suki Dipping Sauce for steamboat and was looking forward to trying more of their sauces and pastes, so Thank You Dancing Chef!

I airfried the first batch and found that it wasn’t salty enough, so I added some salt to the rest of the marinade. I’d recommend adding some ginger juice to the mixture as well. I didn’t add it and the taste was still good, but could have been better. Give this a try, I’d say this is 85% close to the real thing as it is, without any extra seasonings!

How good were these? We made 15 wings for 4 of us.. Jason and I ate 4-5 a person and it was really finger-licking good. The best part was, I didn’t use any oil for this. There was minimal clean up apart from soaking the airfryer basket in soapy water. I didn’t have to mop the floor, and I didn’t waste any oil (or calories!) for deep frying. Looks like I gotta do this more often. Looking forward to try the Butter Chicken paste soon. Look out for the recipe soon!

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