Growing up in Penang, I got to savour this lovely dish very often. Since moving down South to Kuala Lumpur, my chances of cooking this has disappeared pretty much overnight. Food I used to enjoy while growing up has dearly been missed and forgotten. This is not because I don’t eat it anymore but it is pretty difficult to get really fresh shellfish (la la) to cook this dish, most of them sold in the local markets here are pretty much half dead and very unappealing. I managed to whip up this mainly because I miss it so much and knowing it would not taste as good as the ones sold in the Penang markets, I didn’t want to compare, I just did it.

Ingredients

1 kg local shellfish (la la)

3 cloves garlic (minced)

1 thumb-size old ginger (skin removed, julienne)

3 red bird-eye chili (seeds removed)

olive oil

1 stalk spring onions (cut into 2 cm length)

2 Tbsp dried chili flakes

3 glasses Shao Hsing fragrant rice wine

sea salt

1. My method here is very different from the TV cook shows. Mostly the shellfish I get locally contains a lot of mud and sand sediments. I place the shellfish into a large metal bowl, fill it up with tap water and put in a small paring knife. Let it soak for 1/2 hour. This is one way of making the shellfish open up, thus enabling some mud to be washed out.
2. Then, I manually open and rinse every shell under some trickling of tap water to remove the rest of the mud and sediments. Place them into a colander to let the water drip off.
3. Heat up a wok. In goes some olive oil and ginger, garlic, bird-eye chili followed by the drained shellfish. Close the wok with a lid for about 3 minutes and in goes the spring onions, chili flakes and the fragrant rice wine. Bring to a quick boil and season with sea salt.

Daily cooking is very different from planned luncheon and dinners. Most of the time, I dig into my fridge to see what I have and what can I cook out of this and that. Sometimes, I recycle leftovers and they turn out pretty well too. It’s all about cooking with what you have in hand for the family, for the day. I have this terrible weakness when I go to the market, I tend to over buy at times. I have half a chicken, chopped into small pieces in the freezer and a whole bunch of organic Chinese Parsley which I bought because I liked the look of it displaying itself on the grocery shelf. How lame can I get.

I noticed many people cannot stand the smell of Chinese Parsley but I think fresh Coriander leaves has a sharper scent. Anyway, for those of you who think you may not like Chinese Parsley, this dish will prove otherwise. When the flavours combine, Chinese Parsley actually enhances this wonderful dish without giving you the shudders.

Ingredients

1/2 a large free-range chicken (chopped into small pieces)

a bunch of fresh Chinese Parsley

1 Tbsp light Japanese miso

3 cloves of garlic (minced)

6 thin slices of old ginger

1 Tbsp dark soy sauce

2 Tbsp light soy sauce

a dash of crushed white peppercorns

olive oil

1. Rinse the fresh Chinese Parsley clean of dirt and cut off at the roots. Make sure the roots are rid thoroughly of unwanted soil. Cut the parsley into 2 inches long from stems all the way up to the leaves. Do not discard the roots.
2. Heat up a stir fry pan and drizzle some olive oil into the pan. Add in the chopped garlic, ginger and miso, stir and put in all the chicken pieces. Stir them evenly until the skin is slightly golden in color.
3. Throw in the parsley roots. Add a teacup of hot water and bring the chicken to simmer, covered with a lid.
4. When chicken is almost cooked through (approx.10 minutes), add in the parsley , both the soy sauces and crushed peppercorns. This dish should have enough flavor without needing to add any more sea salt, cos the saltiness comes from the soy sauces and the miso. It actually tastes pretty refreshing and appetising.