Ayam (Chicken) Pong Teh

I don’t know what Pong Teh means, but Ayam Pong Teh is basically Chicken, Potatoes and Mushroom braised in Soybean Paste. This is a delicious and easy to make dish of Nonya/Peranakan origin. You can also use pork ribs in this dish. This will then change the name of the dish to Babi (Pig/Pork) Pong Teh, of course!

I’ve never heard of this dish prior to this and came across the dish from my own collection of recipe books. This recipe is by Celine Carnegie gathered during her trip to South East Asia and can be found in her book; “Authentic Tastes Of Southeast Asia”. The dish is slightly sweet, slightly salty and easy to make! Here’s the recipe for the Ayam Pong Teh:

AYAM (CHICKEN) PONG TEH RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp Oil
• 4 Tbsp Shallots, Finely Minced
• 2 Tbsp Garlic, Finely Minced
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Soybean Paste 
• 1 Lb Chicken (Bone In), Cut Into 2 Inch Pieces
• 1-1/2 Cup Water
• 2 Medium Potatoes, Peeled and Cut Into Wedges
• 6 (Canned) Button Mushrooms, Halved
• 1 Tsp Sweet Soy Sauce
• 3 Tsp Sugar

Method:

Heat pan over medium high heat and add oil. Fry shallots and garlic for 2-3 minutes, stinging constantly until dry and lightly browned. Add soybean paste and continue frying for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add chicken and stir to coat with the paste. Gradually add water and then potatoes.

Bring to boil and cook for 3 minutes over medium high heat. Then, stir in mushroom, soy sauce and sugar. Lower heat to medium low and continue cooking for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until chicken and potatoes are cooked/tender. If you prefer a thinner sauce, add about 1/2 cup of water and let the chicken simmer for about 5 minutes. Transfer onto a serving platter, garnish with some green onions/scallions and serve this with some white rice.

Enjoy!

June’s Notes : If you can’t get Soybean Paste, Fermented Soy Beans will work just fine. You just need to mash it into a paste. You can do so in a bowl with the back of a spoon or fork. Depending on the brand and the saltiness of the beans, you may need to use more than stated in the recipe. I used about 3 Tbsp of (self-mashed) Fermented Soy Beans in my dish. For this recipe, I would recommend using dark meat. Chicken Legs (Thighs and Drumsticks) are the yummiest! As for the mushrooms, Chinese/Shitake Mushrooms are a good substitute.

If you don’t have sweet soy sauce in the pantry, it’s ok to use dark soy sauce and add another 1 Tsp of sugar to the dish.

Of Brady & Pinky and Their Play Date?

We brought Brady to Paul & Janet’s house over the weekend for a little play date with Pinky, their new Mini Schnauzer (one of my favorite breed). The puppy is about 2-3 months old and have grown since the last time we met.

It’s so wonderful to see that Brady is very patient with this puppy even though she tried to bite his tail and annoy/tease him. Pinky is indeed one cute pup! The way she hopped around the room reminded me of a bunny! She’s just an adorable little thing! But she does like to chew on things (toys, cables, harness)…. something unavoidable with puppies…. I guess..

 

Can’t wait to see her again! It’s nice to be able to play with someone else’s puppy without the headaches of owning one yourself! Hehe!

Impressing The In-Laws?

I told hubby that with my in-laws here, all of a sudden I have a mental block of what to cook! With only hubby and I at home, I had no trouble whipping stuff up. Simple or complicated, good or bad… it’s just for hubby and I!

With my in-laws with me, I’m having trouble cooking! Well, it’s more like I’ve gotten quite nervous and stressed up when I cook! Especially since they are also a constant reader of my blog, I want to make sure that my food taste as good as it looks on the blog!! Anyway, here are the first 2 meals, I made for them……. I think they turned out ok!

For lunch, I made a simple stir-fried yellow noodles with mushroom, Bok Choy, carrots and pork. And for dinner that night…. it was Black Bean Bitter Gourd Chicken, Stir Fried Bok Choy and Assam (Tamarind) Prawn. I would need to do more reading and googling to get more inspirations for our dinner menu for the next 5 weeks! =)

Cleaning…Cleaned….CLEAN!!

The few days leading to the arrival of my in-laws, hubby and I have been cleaning the house inside out. Scrubbing every tile, cleaning every nooks and crannies and making sure everything is proper! It took us about 3-4 days to slowly clean each part of the house and make sure everything is in immaculate condition! =)

The pristine condition did not last too long………in no time, Brady’s hair was everywhere again..! Oh well, at least we did out best!

Nectarine Upside Down Cake

I couldn’t resist and ended up buying 4 luscious looking nectarines from the local farm a few days ago. Don’t they look simply irresistible?? I somehow didn’t feel like eating them fresh and wanted to make something out of them. Pie or cake, anything to incorporate some of these lovely nectarines I got from the farm.

I found a few recipes online and decided to try an upside down cake recipe by David Lebovitz. Upside down cake usually has chopped / sliced fruits (i.e. pineapples, pears, peaches, cherries, etc) which are placed at the bottom of the pan before the batter is poured in. This will create a decorative topping once the cake is inverted and eaten upside down!

The cake turned out delicious and I was able to taste 3 distinctive flavors. The first was the tartness of the nectarine, followed by the gooey sweetness from the caramel then the buttery flavor of the cake. It is best to have the same fruit to cake height ratio. Instead of using nectarines, David also suggest using plums, cherries, cranberries, apricots, etc.

Here’s the upside down cake by David Lebovitz.

NECTARINE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE RECIPE

Fruit Layer Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp Butter
• 3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
• 3-4 Nectarines, Thickly Sliced

Cake Layer Ingredients:

• 8 Tbsp Butter
• 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Large Eggs @ Room Temperature
• 1-1/2 Cups Flour
• 1-1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Cup Whole Milk @ Room Temperature

Method:

Melt the 3 tbsp of butter in a 10” cast iron skillet, or cake pan. Add the brown sugar and cook while stirring, until the sugar is melted and begins to bubble. Remove from heat and let cool. Once cool, arrange the fruit in a pinwheel design, add berries (to fill gaps) if desired. Set aside.Preheat oven to 350F. Beat the 8 tbsp of butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla, then eggs, one at a time and beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in half of the flour mixture, then the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients. Do not overmix; just stir until the flour is barely incorporated into the batter.

Spread the batter over the fruit, then bake for 45 minutes to one hour (depending on the size of the pan, and the thickness of the batter.) The cake is ready when it begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and the center feels just set.

Remove from oven, let cool about 20 minutes, then place a cake plate on top, and wearing oven mitts, flip the cake out on to the plate, taking care, as there may be some hot caramel that might escape.

Serve this cake warm, perhaps with a scoop of vanilla ice cream? =)

June’s Notes: I cut my nectarines to slightly over 1/2 inch thick and used only about 2 nectarines (they were quite large). However, I think using 3 nectarines would have been better since the fruits will shrink after baking. I would also suggest using firm nectarines (or other fruits) as the fruit and cake will hold up better. You will not get over mushy fruit on the top!

I made a mini upside down cake in a small ramekin I have. It turned out a little dry (coz the cake was a lil’ sky high?), and lacked of nectarines. I wonder if I overbaked it either, since it was a just a small dish and I had it baking for about 40 minutes. Never the less, it looked beautiful and perfect for individual servings!

 

My actual nectarine upside down cake on the other hand turned out perfect. I made my upside down cake in a glass pie dish (9.5” x 1.5”) as I do not have a cast iron skillet and did not want to use my baking pan. I made the caramel sauce in a saucepan, then poured it in my glass baking dish and followed the rest of the recipe accordingly. I baked the cake for about 55-60 minutes

Please also note that the cake batter is a little on the thick side. That is ok, as you do have a layer of liquid and fruits on the layer of the pan. Once the cake is inverted, juices/liquid will flow into the cake!