I’ve been home for a few days now back in Sydney and been cooking a few meals – mainly dinner. But they have been simple. I’m all for simple! I even had enough to take a couple of meals to work as a packed lunch. When someone suggests lunch, I just go with them as the lunch will keep in the fridge for ‘next’ time! So of my two lunches I still have one waiting for me- most likely I’ll have it on Thursday!
My simple ketogenic meals have been usually veges and some protein (which has some inherent fat to them). And I’ve also taken advantage of the convenience of being in Hurstville and bought roast duck and pig intestine (yeah I know it may sound gross but that’s why this blog is for Asians. Or those who have Asian leanings and can cope… it will only get worse over time). But definitely Chinese roast duck, roast pork and the offal is very keto!
On Tuesday I made Cantonese-style white cut chicken (白切鷄) and ate it all by myself. It wasn’t a whole chicken but just a single piece of thigh – something that you can get at Woolworths. It includes the skin and bones. Which is perfect for a keto meal!
I love white cut chicken or 白切鷄 and the ginger and shallot mix. The silky texture of the chicken cooked “just” enough is great. I had a few thigh pieces in the freezer which were individually packed from before I left for China so I took one out to defrost – in the fridge – on the weekend. I cooked it on Tuesday night for dinner.
It’s fairly straight forward to make… but I couldn’t exactly remember the timing so I guessed it!
- Using a medium size saucepan I filled it about 3/4 full of cold (room temperature) filtered water.
- I sprinkled sea salt onto the chicken thigh and rubbed both sides of the thigh so that the salt would add flavour to the chicken.
- I then added the chicken thigh (1 x)
- With the lid on, I turned on the gas / heat on “high” (as much so that the flames would be under the saucepan as I was using the wok burner and the saucepan is probably a bit small for that flame diameter).
- Once it boiled I left it maybe 30 seconds in a boiling state – I knew because it started boiling over and sizzling the flames…
- And then turned off the flame but didn’t touch the lid. I then looked at the clock and fed and did a quick walk with the dogs (just so they can go downstairs and pee!)
- Back at the apartment once 20 minutes have passed I prepped an ice water bowl. Basically got a medium mixing bowl that would allow the thigh to be submerged and added room temperature water and some ice cubes to the water.
- Using chopsticks I transferred the thigh to the water bowl.
Once cold (maybe another 10 -15 minutes), I took the chicken thigh out and discarded the water bowl water. The thigh then just got chopped up using a chopper!
I already had the ginger shallot sauce which is easy enough to make or you can do what I do and wait till your mum makes an extra jar full and get it from her! (It’s just a mix of grated ginger, salt, oil – olive oil in keto case! – and then shallots)
One day when this blog gets more sophisticated I’ll transfer this to a proper recipe with photos etc but whilst it’s just for me it’s good enough to know what my timings were! If you are squeamish you won’t like this chicken. The bones are often still red and it’s preferred that way. The chicken could be a bit underdone if you don’t wait long enough in the boiled water. Somehow I fluked the timing but next time I think I’ll leave it 25 minutes just in case.
I cooked some Chinese broccoli on Monday and had enough for two days worth of veges so I just reheated the veges and had it with my white cut chicken!
I consider one bunch of Chinese broccoli enough for one day for one person. But I usually have the same again for lunch in terms of quantity of veges.
Before it cooks down there looks to be a lot more. My wok isn’t huge but this is the comparison in the middle of cooking and when I consider it finished.
And when it cooks down:
I used olive oil and sea salt to cook the veges. And some minced garlic. It’s my standard recipe for all stir fried Chinese veges! Again I’ll do a dedicated post one day on how I do this! Maybe even a video!
The way I cook veges has been taught by mum, so separate the stalks from the leaves so that we have more as the leaves will wilt down too quickly if cooked for the length of time the stalks need. That’s why in that first vege pic you will see only leaves. I had already cooked the stalks for a while to have them cook through before adding the leaves.
So voila! Simple meal. Veges were two meal portions. Chicken was a one person meal portion. Could you do more? Yes but it would require a bigger pot of water to ensure there was enough heat in the boiled water to cook chicken through.
