Old Cucumber Soup 老黄瓜汤

The weather in Singapore is so crazily hot and I guess to brew a pot of soup to cool the body heat. 

It's a brownish colour wrinkled cucumber. It is known to help regulate the inner body temperature. And some believe it has anti-aging agent! 

So let's brew Old Cucumber Soup 老黄瓜汤. 

Note: Most people add dried cuttlefish or dried oyster to sweeten the soup but I didn't add them mainly because I was unable to get it. So I increase the amount of pork bones, dried scallops and hours of simmer, the soup is still very flavourful.

For those who likes some vegetables, you may add in chopped carrots or sweet corns.

Serves 4

Cook time at least 2 hours

Ingredients

- 1 old cucumber

- 2 litre of water

- 8 red dates

- 10 conpoy/dried scallops

- 500g pork soft bones

- 3 skinless chicken thighs

- salt to taste

Directions 

- Scrub the skin of the old cucumber clean and cut it in half. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and wash it clean. Cut it into wedges.

- In a small pot, parboil them. Rinse and set aside. 

- Remove the skin and excess fats of the chicken thighs. Rinse and set aside.

- Place the old cucumber wedges, red dates, conpoy, blanched pork soft bones in a 2 litre pot of water. 

- Bring it to a boil, lower the heat and add in the skinless chicken thighs. 

- Simmer the soup over low heat for 2 hours.

- Season it with salt to taste, if necessary.

- Serve hot.

Improvised Oven Roast Crispy Chicken

I have been wanting to make my very own crispy on the outside, succulent in the inside chicken. And I think I have created one just the way I want it!

When I first serve the dish to my hubby (Mr W), he turned and looked at me, asked, "What did you use to season? It tastes good." Aww...the green light that I needed. 

It's easy to make this crispy chicken thighs. 

Ingredients 

8 pieces of chicken thighs skin on

Kosher salt

Olive oil

Spices

Ground black pepper

Garlic powder 

Cayenne pepper

Cinnamon powder

Direction

1. Wash the chicken and trim away excess fats.

2. Pat dry the chicken pieces. Sprinkle and run the kosher salt and black pepper on all sides of the chicken. Let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes to take the chill off.

3. In a small bowl, mix all the spices. Set aside.

4. After 15 minutes, pat dry the chicken again. Sprinkle and pat the mixed spices on both sides of the chicken. 
5. Preheat the oven to 205°C. Drizzle olive oil on the baking pan. Arrange the chicken pieces skin side up. Remember not to crowd the pan, allow room between the chicken pieces.
6. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes at 205°c. This will brown the chicken. Then lower the heat to 170°c and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until the juices run clear.
7. Remove from the oven and transfer the chicken pieces to a serving dish. Use an aluminium foil to tent the chicken and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Note:
i) For those using a whole chicken, arrange the largest pieces (usually the breast) of the chicken at the centre of the pan.
ii) For those who has no intention of eating the chicken skin, leave the skin on for baking. This will help to keep the chicken pieces from drying out while they bake.

Give it a try! It's the simplest recipe so far for chicken. :) But be warned, the oven tends to get pretty oily afterwards.