Grilled Chicken. Fun. Laughter = This week

WOW. It has been a crazy week! An enjoyable one since the weekends have started - does that even make sense? It doesn't. Don't even bother. 

This week I COOKED. AGAIN.
(No, it's not pasta but I am going to attempt to make ravioli from scratch...one day!)

I made Sweet Sticky and Spicy chicken inspired by the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-sticky-and-spicy-chicken/

I was disciplined and stuck to the recipe...SOMETIMES.

oooh....a close up shot of the ingredients. *yawn*

In the above picture, I did not use the Tabasco hot sauce. It smelled funky and god knows how long it has been in my fridge. Instead, I used Nando's Extra Extra Hot Peri Peri Sauce. If you want this to be spicy, I would recommend you add another tablespoon of hot sauce. The chicken turned out more sweet than spicy but it was flavourful and juicy.

Looks like puke - YUM! 

According to the recipe, you mix the chicken with all the ingredients then grill it right after. However, I decided to do it as a 24 hour marinade. Also, I added a pinch of flour to the marinade. I recommend you coat the chicken with flour FIRST then add the ingredients. This, according to some of the reviews in All Recipes, is to make the chicken more sticky and crisp. I must say the marinade smelled a bit funky but trust me-it's just the overwhelming smells of soya sauce, hot sauce and honey...but it's worth it!

The next day was hilarious. At least I laughed.

You would think, a box of marinated chicken should be in the fridge so the juices will penetrate into the chicken but brilliant me...O SO BRILLIANT me, left it in the freezer. I was panicking  because I had to make dinner quick since my sister and dad were reaching home soon. I was running between the microwave oven to defrost the block of marinated chicken and making the stir fried French beans!

oooh Beans. Bet you have never seen them before. So I took a photo.  I HAVE A LIFE. 

First, I "blanch"-ed the beans. Wow. Fancy. "Blanch". Basically I boiled the beans in a pot of salted water for 3-5 minutes although I should have left it in a bit longer (this is up to your discretion). When you think the beans is ready, switch off the stove and immediately submerge the French beans into ice cold water. Did you read that? ICE COLD water. This is so that the beans will stop cooking. Basically at the end of this blanching process, you want crunchy cooked green beans. It should be eat-able. Oh wait. They have a word for that, "edible ".*Insert epic face palm *

Cool Beans - get it? hahaha. Fine. I don't have a life. 

Stir Fried Beans!

 At this point, you can eat the beans by itself or add flavour to it. I added about 1 tbsp of olive oil to a heated pot (I just used the same one I boiled the beans in). Then, add crushed garlic about 4-5 cloves. Please make sure the oil isn't too hot so when you add the garlic, it turns too brown and becomes bitter. No one likes a bitter garlic. Yuck. Then add about 1 tbsp dark soya sauce or whatever amount you prefer. ( More sauce does not equal (!=)  to tasty - there are LIMITS!). Don't leave it too long for the beans to cook because you still want to maintain that crunchy texture you painfully obtained from the fancy "blanch"-ing process. I would say leave the beans in about 2 minutes tops.

After I made this dish and prayed for the chicken to defrost, it was time to get the chicken on the skillet!
(Part of me felt I was on MasterChef, you know that show? With the amazing Gordon Ramsey? Sigh. I can never do that. I will go into a nervous breakdown first. Then, lose. Depression. Death. Wow - let's get back to that chicken!)

They see me grillin' They hatin' ... 

 This was my first time using a skillet. To be honest, when I flipped the chicken, I got super excited when I saw the lines on the chicken breast like those burger patties at Burger King. I was fighting the tears of happiness. Haha. Just kidding. Ahem.

I kept flipping the chicken breasts because I was afraid they would stick to the skillet and some did. Oh and make sure the pan is not too hot. You don't want the chicken to look cooked when the inside is still pink because that means the meat is uncooked. Duh. So just keep flipping and flipping for about 7-9 minutes? To check, I took a piece and cut a bit in the middle - if it's white, it's alright :) (<--So many racist jokes. I shall refrain)

Unlike the recipe, I did not pour the sauce over the chicken and cover the skillet but I did brush the sauce over the chicken. This is so that 1. It moist the chicken 2. I don't waste the sauce.


Here are some pictures:

Seriously - Instagram just makes food look good. I mean wow.
Am I glorifying myself? Maybe.

My precious...

Please wipe that drool on your laptop. Please. I do not want to be the cause for some spoiled laptop.
I won't be able to forgive myself! Too dramatic? Perhaps.

I should have cleaned up the plate and plate it more nicely but it's the best I can do! And that was store brought garlic bread. I can do it home made but how much can I do from scratch! Perhaps one day I shall write a long ranting post about garlic bread. 

This has been quite an interesting week so far. Meet ups with some random friends did good for my mental health. It didn't improve of course. I mean, I am still nuts but I am sure you guys knew that from my posts. I make it sound like I have a mini fan club and maybe I do in my own little world :) I am going to be making Thosai and Coconut Chutney tomorrow. Wish me luck. Seriously. Gawwd.

Good Night.