MCO - Day 56

12 May 2020     Day 56 of Movement Control Order

        My love affair with screwpine leaves aka pandan leaves continues. Although it’s widely used in Southeast Asian kitchens, I’d never used them until I made Nasi Lemak recently. And yesterday’s Pandan Agar-agar with Coconut Milk garnered big thumbs up from my two VIPs. Emboldened by the success reaped from those two episodes, I took the plunge and made Thai Pandan Chicken ( 泰式香兰鸡). It wasn’t the marinade or even the deep frying that had me worried; anyone who knows me well will be aware that I am not dexterous. I don’t fold, cut or mend things well.  So I was fretting whether I would manage to make nice neat parcels of meat or would everything fall out. The memory of a school event five years back was still fresh. In an attempt to get into the Malaysia Book of Records for the largest participation in making zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings), my previous school held practice sessions for teachers and students on how to wrap the little treasures. I tried my best but even on the actual day, my little parcels were still oddly-shaped. 

Fragrant Thai Pandan 🐓 

Stir-fried lady’s fingers

        For some reason or other, I managed to get things right today. My well-marinated chicken stayed cozy in their pandan nests and were aesthetically presentable even after frying. Hooray! Now does that mean I can progress to making my own zongzi, especially since I have glutinous rice in my pantry and the Dragonboat Festival is just a month or so away?

Not easy to wrap these beauties up 

Chicken in their screwpine nests

        All in all, it was quite an arduous dinner preparation. The washing and drying of the screwpine leaves, the weaving of the little nests, the inserting of the chicken pieces and the tricky securing of the parcels...it took me an hour! And the deep frying involved a vigilant battle to avoid being splattered with hot oil, followed by lots of cleaning and mopping. But the labour was worth it. As these babies were sizzling away in the hot oil, the aroma of the pandan filled the air. And as we unwrapped the goodies and sank our teeth into the meat, we were intoxicated. Hubby loved every mouthful!