Sesame Grilled Chicken with Veggie Rice - the Benefits of Cooking at Home

Some friends who did not understand my new found passion for experimenting in my kitchen (Yes, experiments. More failures than successes. :p) and writing about them in a blog always wonder why the heck I carry my camera at all times and take pictures of everything I eat like a scoop hungry paparazzi (the difference is, things I am after can't be considered a scoop)...and most of all, they were wondering why the heck I bother cooking at home??!!! Isn't that such a waste of my super valuable time??!! I live in HONG KONG, for freak's sake! Heaven of convenience as well as cheap and tasty food! The home of HK$10/bowl wonton noodles, served faster than I could finish saying "one wonton noodles, please" as well as 100001 other choices of yummy treats, local and international.

I asked myself the very question, and I concluded that
Cooking at home....
- is cost saving. I generally spend HK$40-50 to prepare 4 meals (HK$12.5/meal = US$1.6/meal) compared to HK$30-40/meal dining out. I don't count my man hour as I enjoy doing it hehe
- at least allows you to say "I cook" (add barely, badly or well as desired/required) with pride
- impresses your in-laws (or in-laws to be). Who doesn't like a homely girl who cooks? They don't really need to know that this girl/boy might party like an animal outside LOL...and the result of the "cooking" might be inedible most of the time LOL
- keeps your sous chef happy. It shows you care. Plus, outside, he/she can proudly say "my girl/man does this wayyyy better!". Yep, home cooking keep them home ^_*
- is the perfect activity for you and your sous chef. You guys can brain storm, throw ideas, annoy/seduce each other in the kitchen (handle with care, please. We don't wanna see any kitchen appliances related "accidents"), gaze into each others eyes admiringly at dinner table, sing sweet praises about each other's skills (or at least efforts), fight about who's the top chef in the house, use the results of "cooking" in other places such as bedroom, etc etc etc (I had to stop here before it goes beyond R-rated :p). Doesn't it sound like FUN? ^_*

Don't get me started on the benefits of food blogging...hehehe...

Anyways, here's my...
Sesame Grilled Chicken

Recipe
(serves 4)
- 3 chicken leg fillets, cut each fillet into 2, trim excess fat, keep skin on
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 3 cloves of shallot, finely chopped
- honey
- sesame paste
- white sesame seeds, toasted
- salt, pepper
- butter, olive oil

Boil chicken with some salt and pepper until just cooked, keep the stock. Preheat oven to 250C. Lay chicken pieces on an oven tray, add butter, olive oil, garlic and shallot pieces, salt and pepper, sesame paste, honey, mix and rub until all the chicken pieces are well covered, sprinkle sesame seeds, grill until chicken skin is golden brown and crisp. I cut each fillet into bite sized chunks (optional). To avoid cooking a separate veggie dish, serve it with...

Veggie Rice

Recipe
(serves 4)
- 1 head of Chinese lettuce, finely chopped
- 1.5 cups of rice
- a sprig of spring onions, finely chopped
- a bit of olive oil
- salt, pepper
- chicken stock (optional)
- fried garlic/shallot to garnish

Pour rice, add chicken stock according to the rice cooker (if you don't have a rice cooker, the liquid should be up to 1 cm above the rice - I like my rice a bit mushy, you can add less liquid for harder texture), add water if you don't have enough chicken stock (alternatively, you can use just water, without chicken stock). Add chopped spring onion, veggie, some olive oil, salt and pepper, mix well. Turn on your rice cooker, sprinkle fried garlic or shallots to garnish.

This meal is sooo going to score me major brownie points from my sous chef...pssst, I want a pressure cooker!