Return to Basics – Simple Utensils, Simple Ingredients

After writing my last post, I always thought about the old days.  Comparing my kitchen with my mom’s, it is way too luxurious to the point of wasteful.  It goes with a lot of things nowadays if we compare us to people living in the 18th or 19th centuries.

For example, I have a whole walk-in closet all to myself.  I have clothes enough to see me to my dying days!  I have over 100 pairs of shoes (this is a rough estimate, I dare not count and don’t tell anyone!), I think.  What else?  Simply too much stuff every where, sigh.

I remember my mom just had two gas stove tops, a big pot for soup, a wok and may be another smaller pot for cooking.  Her seasoning: salt, sugar, soya sauce, vinegar and corn starch, and may be some cooking wine.  And best of all, she always cooked with her long chopsticks!  She would cook her whole chicken in the wok, marinated with soya sauce and sugar – lots of ginger and garlic.  Yes, if you want to try, that’s all you need.  By the way, she was one of those women who could start from scratch – I mean really from the killing to the de-feathering to the gutting out the you-know-what and to the cooking.  I witnessed that many times!

Compared to her, I am very “chicken” (meaning not brave at all).  I would not even chop up a whole chicken.  Yes, do you know the Chinese people will chop up a whole chicken with the bones and all?  They don’t do carving, they do chopping – we are a violent and savage kind of people.  We chew the bones and eat chicken feet; by the way, that is one of my favorites!

Here is a dish I tried the other day reminiscing my mom’s technique.  It is called Potato Chicken Stew 薯仔燜雞.  Look how I just used a pair of long chopsticks to do my cooking.

The Chinese people see potato as a vegetable more than a staple, and we use potatoes quite a bit in our dishes – and then we serve them with rice – yes, a lot of carbs!  This is never a health food blog and I will never claim to be a health nut.  I can never abandon my traditions.

Simple ingredients: marinate some chicken wings with cooking wine, soya sauce, crated garlic and ginger; cut up one or two small onions and 6-8 medium potatoes.

Heat the wok with some cooking oil and stir fry the chicken wings till both sides are browned, add some water and put in the remaining of the ingredients.  If you use the long chopsticks to cook, you are as good as me; if not, just use any regular turner or a wooden spoon.  Cover it whilst you prepare the sauce: soya sauce, sugar and corn starch stirred in cold water.  Corn starch is always the medium to make the brown sauce; the brown color comes from the soya sauce.

As to the proportions, you really have to play with it.  Let’s say start with 2 tbsp of soya sauce to half tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of corn starch.  This is a really rough suggestion as I never measure when I cook.  Tips: start smaller, it is easier to add water if it is too thick. If you start out with too much water, you have to keep adding on the corn starch to make the sauce thick.

Pour in the sauce, let’s cook it for about 5 minutes on medium and check the consistency of the sauce.  If you like it, cover and cook the whole thing for another 15-20 minutes.  Make adjustments if necessary by either adding more water or more corn starch.  Taste the sauce too, and see if it is to your liking, otherwise add more soya sauce or more sugar.  This is a savory dish, so the sugar is just to balance the taste, not to overpower the savory soya sauce taste.

So here you are - a very filling and comforting dish, serve it with lots of white rice.  I remember when we were young; our six siblings would fight to lick the dish.  Try it, it is really fun!