Hainam Chicken Rice for Sunday's Lunch

My husband comes home from out of town work on the Weekends. Instead of eating out, I decided to cook him his favourite Hainam Chicken Rice. This dish is very famous back home in Malaysia. You can find a lot of stores and restaurants selling Hainam Chicken Rice, especially in K.L and Ipoh. In fact I have a cousin who runs a small store at Chow Yong Restaurant , at SS 2, Petaling Jaya. They had the store for more than 25 years, and I think they had the best Hainam Chicken Rice.
This dish is very easy to make. First I defrost the chicken, (In U.S.A you can only buy frozen chicken) ,I used two chicken legs and one breast. Then I boil a big pot of water , seasoned with salt and pepper. When the water boils, drop the chicken in , usually I use the knife to cut a few slits of the chicken, cook faster. Cover the pot and let it boil for 15 minutes, turn down the heat. Cover for another 5 minutes, check chicken with a chopstick, poke and make sure no flesh blood oozes out. Then you pick the chicken out ,run with cold water. This make the meat tender, not soft.
Then I wash some rice, cooked on the pot with a little butter, and season with salt and sesame oil. Then use the chicken broth earlier, put a few scoops ,cover the rice, when star boiling, turn heat down. When all water evaporates, turn to very low and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Cut chicken into bites size, sprinkle wit green onion, topped with a little soy sauce and sesame oil. And of course serve with hot chili oil.Use the leftover broth, to make some soup,season, add some green onions/chives on it,put a dash of seseme oil.
Wow, very Delicious, come join me for lunch.Very delicious home cooked dish in a foreign land. Next year I will be going back to taste some real delicious Hainamese Chicken Rice.

T-Bone Steak for Dinner

Last Thursday, some guys knock on my door, and they were from A Meat Wholesaler from Albany, selling boxes of Steak ,Chicken and Shrimp. The price per box of six was like $360.00 but who is going to pay so much.
He offered me a box of consisting of 2 small boxes of 6 T.bone Steaks each, two ribeye, and two New York Strips. You can Mix and match or exchange for chicken or shrimp. Of course being Thrifty , I have to Bargain.I offered him $100.00 for the five boxes of Steak, 2 T-bones, 1 New York Strip,1 Ribeye and 1 case of Shrimp. But, he will not take the offer, and we agreed on $140.00, that comes up to about $4.00 per steak. Not bad.
So we decided to cook at home the whole week instead of eating out. We cooked some T-bones and it was delicious, The meat is very tender and juicy. Just defrost the steak, seasoned it with salt and peppered and some McCormick Original SeasonAll Salt .Grill for 10-15 minutes , depend on how you want it, rare, medium or well done.
Served with some potato salad ,mashed potatoes, toasted bread or steam vegetables, topped with A1 Sauce or Bar-b-que sauce.
You have a very delicious and economy steak dinner, why spend $20 to eat out at high-end restaurant.

Little Malaysia-Atlanta,Georgia

Saturday, my son was having a party at his new apartment and my job was to cook for him. We left Columbus around 10 am, pickup a few friends and reached his place at Liberty Park Townhouse at about 12.noon.
He had already purchased on the groceries and I supposed to cook him some Sesame Chicken,Broccoli Beef, Curry Chicken, Rice,and Pop corn Shrimp and he fired up the grill to grill some chicken wings and drumsticks.
Most of the guest came about 2.30 pm .My Sister in law and niece came and they invited one Malaysian family. I finished cooking about 3.30 and we started eating and chatting and having a really good time, talking about old days in Malaysia and cooking recipes.While most of the kids, the college kids were playing video games and some well swimming in the crowded tiny pool.
More people came later, and the food almost gone.
We left about 7 and decided to go to China Town on Buford Highway to pick up some groceries. Since some of us still hungry, we decided to go eat at The Little Malaysia
restaurant, located at the corner of Asian Square. The sign is so small ,you hardly see it.
But this restaurant cooked good authentic Malaysian food from Hainam Chicken Rice,
Hokkien Mee, Nasi Lemak, Curry Chicken and Rendang.Also find some Roti Chanai and Ice Kacang. Cannot believe , you still can enjoy such delicious Malaysian food even though we are so far away from home.
We ordered the Hainanese Chicken Rice, - steamed fresh chicken, cut up, with green onions and ginger and soy sauce and served with real Hainanese yellow rice, so fragrant. Also ordered the Beef Rendang, tendered pieces of beef stewed in curry and spices- very delicious, and not too spicy. We also had some roti chanai dipped in curry sauce. But I like to put sugar on mine.
At the end, we had Ice Kacang- like a snowcone on a bowl, filled with red bean, peanuts, agar-agar, lychee and top with red syrup and evaporated milk- this really brings back memories of the young days in Malaysian, where we go to the market to enjoy some real good ice kacang,.
Very satisfied dinner. Do visit The Little Malaysia next time you visit Atlanta. I really recommend it, if you love Malaysian food.

Birthday Party at Golden Corral

Monday was Memorial Day , a holiday and my husband birthday was on Tuesday. Since it was a holiday we decided to celebrate on Monday. Our family and a few invited Family friends had lunch at the Golden Corral.
Golden Corral, is a large family restaurant serving an American Supper Buffet. It has been opened for more that 15 years ,offering a varieties of Hot Food and Cold Salad Bar,and Dessert Bar. There are more than 150 items ranging from Rotisserie Chicken,Hot Wings, Meat Loaf, Fresh Grilled Pork Chop, Mashed Potatoes, Collard Greens,Fried Catfish,Soup and different vegetables. A great salad bar, you can mix and match your own. Also has some Mexican items, like Tacos. On the dessert bar, there are a varieties of Home make cakes, Double Chocolate Cakes, Strawberry Shortcakes, Cheesecake and Brownies. I love their Roll, very fresh.
Lunch per person is $7.39 plus $2.19 for Soft drinks. Since I had a coupon we only pay $4.99 per person , but you have to buy a drink each. Still we save about $15 for 7 adults and 2 children.
We really enjoyed our Lunch as we dine and chat. At the end , a group of waitress came over to sing their birthday rhyming song to my husband.
It was a perfect party.
If you come to Columbus, you need to eat at the Golden Corral, located at Manchester Expressway, across from McDonald.You will enjoy it. Try look out for Mail In Coupons, by American Town Marketing. You will save a lot, with everything going up nowadays.