If you liked this post, subscribe to my feed in an RSS reader or via email for more mouth-watering updates. If you've tried this recipe or restaurant, drop us your comment or feedback.

Chicken Fingers are a perennial favorite in our household. When all else fails, chicken fingers to the rescue! I’m really not much of a stickler for recipes. I generally just make up the recipes as I go along depending on what I can find in my pantry or my fridge.

I created this version here when my oven refused to work.

It’s really simple and crunchy. You just need some chicken breasts cut into long strips and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. Leave to marinate for an hour or so. Heat up a good amount of cooking oil in a wok or deep skillet.

Beat up an egg (or two, depending on amount of chicken breasts you’re using). In a plate, combine 1 cup of flour and 2 cups of bread crumbs. Dip the chicken strips in the beaten egg. Dredge them through the flour and breadcrumb mixture to coat evenly. Deep fry till golden brown. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

You may also like to check out another recipe I posted earlier for Finger-Lickin’ Good Chicken Fingers. These are oven-baked and probably won’t have you running out to look for the most effective fat burners because they’re less fattening.

If you’re getting bored with eating white rice and would like to spruce it up a little, Mediterranean rice is an ingenious way to add a splash of color to your everyday plain white rice.

Mediterranean rice is so easy to make and not only looks but also tastes very good. Simply soak a couple of handfuls of frozen veggie mix, i.e. carrots, corn and peas, in water till defrosted.

Wash and strain your usual measurement of rice grains. Set aside.

In a wok on medium heat, add 2-3 blobs of butter. Throw in the veggie mix, add the rice grains and stir to mix well.

Scoop/pour into your rice cooker. Add your usual amount of water and turn it on. In 20 minutes, you will have beautiful Mediterranean rice to serve. Goes great with practically anything and because you’ll tend to eat more rice since it’s so pretty, you might just need the best diet supplement afterwards, hehehe!

Stirfried Kailan (or kale) is a very common everyday dish for us. If I’m cooking this for a special occasion, I will upgrade it, funky it up a little with scallop bits. So here we go…

Stirfried Kailan with Crispy Scallop Bits

The ingredients are:

• a pack of kailan (cut stems diagonally into slices, leaves in 2-3 inch lengths)
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3-5 dried scallops, torn into shreds

In a wok with a glug of vegetable oil, I first fry the dried scallops till crispy. Remove the scallops to a plate. Then add a couple more glugs of oil into the wok and saute the chopped garlic till fragrant (not burnt).

Then I add the kailan stems and fry for 3 minutes before adding the leaves followed by a splash of water. Cover the wok for 2 minutes. Season with a splash of soy sauce and/or salt and pepper. And that’s pretty much it, you’re ready to serve. Did I mention how easy this is? And the combination of textures is a joy to chew on. You gotta try this .

Guess what I had for lunch (and dinner) last weekend? I can’t believe it myself because it’s been ages since I’ve even thought to cook my favorite loh shee fun, or rat’s tail noodles.

The name sounds horrifying, I know. I’m not only a Chili Queen, I’m also a Drama Queen ! I translated and spiced up this name for special effects and if all goes well, I might even copyright the name and make a movie about it, heh!

Loh shee fun is not really rat’s tails, of course, they just look like rat’s tails . You can either eat it in a soup, just like any other kind of noodle. But I prefer it dry as in sans soup. Very simple to whip this up at home. You ready?

I cooked 1kg of loh shee fun and 1kg of kuay teow, or flat rice noodles to feed my troops, but you can use any amount depending on the number of people you’re feeding. Place the noodles in a colander and run it through your Grohe faucet to rinse if you like. Then bring a pot of water to boil and use it for blanching the rat’s tail noodle and choy sum, or mustard green.

I’m not going to list actual measurements for the sauce since that depends on how much noodle you’re cooking. Just adjust the sauce ingredients to your own taste. For the sauce, you need:

• dark, thick soy sauce
• oil
• sesame oil
• oyster sauce
• soy sauce (in place of salt) and white pepper to taste

Have all of these ingredients in a large bowl. I also stir-fried some minced pork with some oil and chopped garlic which I added into the bowl. Lastly, add the blanched loh shee fun, or rat’s tail noodle, to this and mix well.

Garnish with chopped spring onions and cilantro (I didn’t have any handy). Serve piping hot with shredded fresh chillies. I prefer bird’s eye chillies for that added oomph! Simple, ya, just a one-dish meal and so so delish. And less of a choking hazard for younger kids than the regular mile-long noodles.

Whenever we eat out, the kids always seem to order Sesame Chicken, if it’s on the menu, that is. As is usually the case, when we order one plate, it’s not enough for my Sesame Chicken lovers. If we order two plates, I’ll start thinking how many plates of it I can cook at home for the same price !

So the next best thing is to cook this at home where I can make a big enough portion without worrying about the bill. I mean, this is so simple and inexpensive to make at home.

I usually use boneless chicken fillet or deboned drumsticks for this, just like the restaurant. The pieces should be cut fairly large, then drenched in a mixture of flour, pepper and salt.

There’s two steps to cooking this. First I deepfry the chicken pieces on high heat till lightly brown. I know what you’re thinking. That we probably have to jump on our ellipticals and peddle like crazy afterwards to work off the weight gain .

Remove chicken and pour away the oil from the wok. I add some hoisin, or sweet and sour plum sauce and a little water and let it come to a boil. Then return the chicken to the wok and mix to coat with the sauce. Just before serving, sprinkle sesame seeds on top and garnish with fresh cilantro. And you’re ready to dig in.

My Sesame Chicken is a bit saucy because the kids like to spoon it over their rice. It’s the perfect wholesome and yummy dish if you have young kids because the chicken is boneless and the sauce is sweet with a light tang and kids are fascinated by the speckled look of the sesame seeds. Try it !