Culinary Adventures: Kung Po Chicken and Shrimp Pasta

I'm not a big fan of fusion food but one dish that's got me fascinated many years ago is the Kung Po Spaghetti from California Pizza Kitchen. I mean, it's not like rocket science, combining one of China's greatest Szechuan dishes with a western noodle(which technically originated from China anyway) but there's something about this robustly flavored slippery noodle combined with the crunchy nuts and tender chicken cubes soaked in a hot tangy sauce that's really best eaten fresh from the wok.

So here's today's adaptation after referring to a few websites for the recipe. With some trial and error, I've added a few seasoning ingredients of my own so I guess this ranks as an original!

(Btw, there are prepared versions of Kung Po sauces out there by certain brands but to be honest, some are rather dodgy in taste. So like the true culinary professional that I am *roll eyes*, I've decided to make mine from scratch instead.)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

150g chicken, sliced into cubes

8 medium prawns (or 5 large prawns, sliced into 2)

About 1/2-2/3 a packet of spaghetti (any other kind of pasta like fusilli or macaroni would probably work as well but quantities may vary)

Garlic (sliced into thin pieces)

Ginger (sliced into thin pieces)

Dried chilli pieces (comes in a packet, soak about 5 chilis in hot water, deseed and cut into 1 cm pieces)

2 tbsp of peanuts

Marinade:

1 tsp cornflour

1 tbsp soya sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp rice wine

Sauce:

1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 1/2 tbsp dark caramel sauce

1 1/2 tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 1/2 tbsp vinegar

1 tsp honey (optional)

2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp rice wine

2/3 cup water

and 1 tsp cornflour(with about 1 tbsp of water to thicken)

Boil the spaghetti in a pot of water with 1 tsp of salt for about 10 minutes or till al dente. Remove and wash in tap water. 

Marinade the chicken for about 30 minutes. Heat up about 2 tbsp of oil in the wok, stir fry the chicken till it still looks slightly pink (about 70% cooked) and remove from wok. Heat up another 2 tbsp of oil, fry the garlic and ginger for under a minute, then add in the dried chili pieces. Fry for another minute then add in the chicken. Stir-fry a bit, add in the prawns, then add in the seasoning. Add in the thickened cornflour and let simmer for about 1 minute. 

Add in the peanuts and coat with sauce. Then add the prepared spaghetti into the sauce and using a pair of large chopsticks(or BBQ tongs), stir the noodles around till it gets evenly coated. Add more soya sauce/vinegar to taste if necessary. 

So the dish doesn't taste exactly like CPK's but the sauce actually tastes closer to the real Szechuan dish than that one does. And according to the folks and the helper who said it was "VERY NAAICE!", I suppose it's a pass. :P

Culinary Adventures: Creamed Crab & Corn Croquettes

When the going gets tough, the tough gets cookin'.

So it's been a long hiatus since the last entry, but to my tiny audience out there(if you're still around), it's been a crazy year with me balancing work on top of my piano practices and lessons(yes I am a geriatric music student). Anyway, I've been getting down to some serious cooking the last couple of days (made 4 dishes in total..Bibimbap, Japanese Carbonara Pasta, Gyoza and the abovementioned) and I'm not surprised if I've already put on a few pounds from these experiments.

Sigh, the sacrifices I have to make in pursuit of culinary excellence.

I kind of adapted this recipe from another blog and runnyrunny999's video (look for him on Youtube, his cooking videos are awesome).

Makes 4-5 Croquettes

Ingredients:
6 crabsticks, finely chopped
1/4 can corn kernels
3 tbsp flour
40 g butter
~150ml milk
salt and pepper to taste

1 egg, beaten
1 cup breadcrumbs
3 tbsp flour

First, make the bechamel sauce. Over low heat, melt the butter. Add the flour in 3-4 batches, stirring till it becomes an even paste each time. Add the milk in 3-4 batches, stirring in each time. Do not let it overburn! The sauce is ready when it looks like thick batter. Add some salt and pepper to taste.

Mix in the chopped crabsticks and corn kernels. Stir the mixture. On a flat pan, spread out the mixture and place in the freezer for at least 1 hour.

Take out from freezer, cut out from the tray in equal portions using a knife. Take each crab portion, roll into a ball, coat in flour, then eggwash, and then breadcrumbs. Then deepfry over low heat for about 5 minutes, till it becomes golden brown.

And there you have it, creamy crab and corn croquettes! This snack can be found in many places in Japan, and one of my favourite restaurants CocoIchiban serves it with curry rice. Yummy!

Culinary Adventures: Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Icing

Wow, didn't realise it's been a 6 month hiatus since I last posted! I've been experimenting with cupcakes in between and I think I finally hit jackpot with this one....though my frosting skills still somewhat leaves much to be desired. :P I guess there are no overnight brilliant bakers...everything comes with practice!

Here are the cupcakes I made today...dark chocolate cupcakes with raspberry icing. Raspberry has always been one of my favourite fruits and it ranks up there together with peanut butter as a great chocolate cake accompaniment anytime.

Culinary Adventures: Awfully Chocolate Cupcakes

I made these using the Awfully Chocolate cake recipe I found online but alas they didn't turn out that great as cupcakes. But here are the pictures anyway.

Culinary Adventures: Potato Korokke

Wow, can't believe it's almost the end of October already! Time really flies. Christmas is just about 2 months away.

I made potato croquettes today for the family dinner. These little gems are really easy to make yet are a definite crowd-pleaser. I originally intended to make them using minced pork and beef but realised I didn't have any in the fridge. I decided to improvise a bit using luncheon meat instead. Corned beef would be another possible substitute.

Here's the recipe for it.

Ingredients:
About 500g of potatoes
Half a can of luncheon meat/corned beef (chopped into smaller pieces)
...1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 large white onion (chopped)
A small piece of butter(about the amount you would use for spreading on a piece of bread)
About 1 litre of boiled water

For the coating:
About 4 tbsp plain flour
2 eggs
Breadcrumbs

Cooking and preparation time: About 45 mins to 1 hr

How to cook:
Peel the skin off the potatoes. Put them in a pot and then pour the boiling water over. Let it boil for about 15 minutes till the potatoes are soft. Drain all the hot water off and leave the potatoes in the pot. Using a fork(or a masher if you have one), mash the potatoes up.

Prepare a pan to fry the other stuff. Add about a spoonful of oil. Add the chopped onions and fry for about 5 minutes. Then add the luncheon meat or corned beef and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Add pepper to taste. Remove and stir into mashed potato. Mash the ingredients together again. Add salt, pepper and paprika to taste. Taste the mixture first before rolling them into balls in case you need to add more seasoning.

Crack the egg and beat into eggwash. Roll the potato mix into balls or oval shapes if you like. Coat in flour, then dip in eggwash and finally in the breadcrumbs.


Heat up a wok of oil enough to cover up to at least halfway of the croquettes when they fry. When the oil is hot enough, slowly slide the croquettes into the wok to prevent them from splashing.


Using a spider frying ladle, slowly turn the balls over only when they are about medium brown in colour.

When they are evenly golden brown, scoop them up and allow the excess oil to drip off on paper towels. Ta-dah!