Sweet, Sweet Pandan!
So for lunch today we decided to try a little something different. My sisters and I prepared some Chicken Pandan. Pandan leaves, as Wikipedia defines it, would be:
"Pandan (P. amaryllifolius) leaves are used in Southeast Asian cooking to add a distinct aroma to rice and curry dishes such as nasi lemak, kaya ('jam') preserves, and desserts such as pandan cake. Pandan leaf can be used as a complement to chocolate in many dishes, such as ice cream. They are known as daun pandan in Indonesian and Malay; and 斑蘭 (bān lán) in Mandarin. Fresh leaves are typically torn into strips, tied in a knot to facilitate removal, placed in the cooking liquid, then removed at the end of cooking. Dried leaves and bottled extract may be bought in some places."
Here we see the marinated chicken breasts wrapped in pandan leaves and cooked in oil.
They took quite some time to cook as you would want the chicken to be throughly cooked and the juices and flavors of the pandan leaves to really seep into the chicken meat.
The Pandan leaves are held together by toothpicks.
Here are some of the cooked pandan. You would recognize the readiness of the dish when the leaves themselves turn brown.
the sous chef for the day!
Well, we were thinking what a good dessert would follow a good hearty pandan meal. We decided to go all natural and have some healthy fruits. Our suki fruit vendor was just outside the house. So off we went to buy some mangoes.
Mangoes galore. Whether Ripe Mangoes or Green Mangoes they were all available.
The Chicken was cooked just right. The Pandan flavor of the leaves dissipated within the meat leaving the even most dry part of the chicken (breasts) succulent and juicy. With the first bite one can clearly define the sweetness that pandan flavor brings to one's palette. The chicken was both juicy and tender, and obviously we did a great job with this meal! And that's what is important. It doesn't matter who prepared the meal, how it was prepared, the quality of the ingredients, etc. What is important is that the people who ate the meal were satisfied. Maybe that is how simple life can be. No need to worry about money, riches, power, etc. Maybe in life, all we need is a satisfyingly good meal. Maybe in life all we need is to be content and satisfied. Enjoy what we have with every bite.
Cheers & Happy Eating!