Pandan Chicken

There were two kinds of "wrapped chicken" recipes I learned in my secondary school Home Economics Club (weekend CCA) .... paper wrapped chicken and pandan chicken.

The paper wrapped chicken ... I remembered those were not paper ! The material looked clear glossy plastic ... cellophane paper. The first thought I had then was "meat fried with plastic bag can be eaten ? Cool!". Ha haa! I remembered too it was one of the dim sum served in some restaurants many many years ago.  Ha.. ha ... not sure if I still could find cellophane paper now.

As for the pandan wrap chicken ... it was obviously using pandan leaves. The whole leaf is used to wrap the chicken before they are grilled, baked or deep fried.

Anyway, I have not made these pandan wrapped chicken for ages. Glad that I could still roughly figure out how to wrap the meat with pandan leaves ^-^!

Pandan Chicken
Ingredients:
210g Boneless chicken breast (or chicken thigh fillet if you prefer)
For seasoning :
1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon clear honey (you may substitude with white sugar)
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
Dash of ground pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)

Pandan (screwpine) leaves - wash clean and wipe dry.

Method:
1) Wash clean the chicken and cut into bite-size pieces. Season the chicken with seasoning and marinate for as least 1 hour. (or leave the marinated meat overnight in the frigde)

2) Wash pandan leaves, leave them to dry or wipe dry with clean cloth.

3) Once remove the marinated chicken from the fridge, leave them in room temperature for about 5 - 10 mins.

4) Wrap the chicken with the whole pandan leaf individually.

5) Pre-heat oven at 180ºC.

Trim off the excess leaves

6) Arrange them in baking tray. Drizzle a little vegetable cooking oil (about 1 tablespoon) to reduce the brittleness.
Bake the pandan chicken for about 25 mins or until the leaves turned slightly golden brown.

Freshly baked !

If you do not wish to bake them, deep fry the pandan wrapped chicken. Drain the oil, put it on the kitchen towel to absorb the oil before serving.

Here's sharing some pictorials on how to wrap the meat with pandan leaves. It's not too difficult if you have ever tried wrapping dumplings (粽子) with bamboo leaves.

1) Make a V shape and overlap with the tip (pointed end) of the leaf longer than the 'stalk'. Then flip the tip over down to the bottom and insert up through.

2) Adjust a little to shape like "pocket" by pulling the tip and holding the stalk. 

3) Place/insert the meat into the pocket.

4) Front view. Flip down the tip of the leaf to the back.

5) Back view. Slip through from the bottom and pull upwards. Hold and pull to adjust to shape.

6) Front view. The meat should be wrapped and secured in the pandan leaf.

Ta-da ! These moist savoury bite-sized chicken are infused with the nice aroma of pandan ^-^! Serve them as appetizer or a main dish with a bowl of steamed fragrant rice. Enjoy !

Here's wishing everyone a happy Good Friday holiday ! Enjoy your long weekends !

Submitting this post to the event : Little Thumbs Up - April 2015 Theme Chicken organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe