When i was working with a Government Board in Malaysia, I have many friends who were of Javanese descent and they have introduced me to their favorite Mee Soto Ayam. Although they called it Mee, it was actually Chicken soup with glass noodles(suon) and i have been served the alternative to glass noodle(suon) which was with rice cake(nasi impit). The soup is very fragrant from the spices used and tumeric is responsible for the beautiful yellow hue of the chicken soup. Besides remembering the fragrant chicken soup, the begedil served together was to die for, my friends will always repeat this like a broken record - no begedil, no mee soto ayam.
In Cantonese culinary, 鲍参翅肚 (abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, and fish stomach) are considered the top four gourmet items from the sea. The fish stomach referenced here is the fish maw. For those who don’t know, fish maw is the air bladder (also called swim bladder) that is found in all fish except sharks and rays. The maws served in restaurants are usually from the conger pikes. The cleaned maw is dried and then deep fried to make it puffy. In this state it will keep indefinitely. . The maw in itself is a texture ingredient only, it has no fishy taste, and is usually cooked with other strongly flavoured ingredients.it takes on the flavor of surrounding ingredients it is cooked with like a sponge. Like a lot of ingredients in Chinese culinary traditions, the fish maw is an excellent source of collagen and is regarded as a nourishing tonic that helps blood circulation and beneficial to the general health. Now we know what they are, how can we prepare them for cooking? Fish maws are sold dried in two forms – deep fried or non-deep fried. Deep fried fish maws are puffy, light and look like a yellow sponge or pork rind. Whereas the other type is in stiff, cream-colored sheet. For the deep fried ones, all you have to do is to soak them in cold water or simmer to reconstitute to rid of some of the oil. For the non-deep fried ones, deep fry them in moderately hot oil until it puffs up and become white. Then soak it until pliable and also to remove some of the oil. Repeat the soaking if necessary. The fish maw is now ready and good to go, just cut them into slices of desired size.
As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received Tyson Grilled And Ready Chicken and Uncle Ben’s(R) Whole Grain White Rice and they arrived so timely TOGETHER which made me SO HAPPY cos i had to feed 2 hungry grandkids who looked like they were going to be knocked out if food was not ready in a JIFFY. These 2 products helped me to keep up with my repertoire of cooking IN A JIFFY. Looking at the whole grain white rice, i know my picky grandkids will not eat it, but ???? they love Hainanese Chicken Rice, so i cooked this rice the Hainanese way - thank you 'Paydey Ben' (Paydey is Uncle in Hainanese, i hope i got it right). Tyson Grilled and Ready saved the day too. When the rice was ready, the Tyson Chicken slices were already ready as stated. The grandkids were ready to eat and everyone, Rice, Chicken and grandkids were all SO HAPPY TOGETHER
Although this chicken might be cooked In A Jiffy, it is just as 'wat' and tender and is not second to the mccoy way of cooking the 'Chicken' for Hainanese Chicken Rice. To get the 'wat' texture for the chicken, I used the microwave to cook the chicken and to acquire this task, you would have to use 1/2 the power of your microwave oven's wattage. You would have to know your microwave oven's wattage and most microwave ovens come in various wattage, as high as 1500 to as low as 600. I am having a 900 watts microwave oven and there is a selection of power levels from 1 - 10. I used 1/2 the power which is power level 5, therefore it would be 450 wattage. If your microwave have no selection of power level, i would suppose that there are only 2 levels, high and defrost. So, in this case, use defrost but you might have to cook the chicken longer to get it totally cooked. Do not attempt to use HIGH.
As microwave will be attracted to liquid, the liquid that has oozed out has to be removed so that the microwave will cook the meat and not be attracted to the liquid, thus cooking the chicken faster.
A saucer is used to raise the chicken so that the chicken will not be cooking in the liquid that has been oozed out.
