My First Entry

Chicken breast!

One of my favourite meat, they are a good source of protein, low fat, incredible versatile and absolutely delicious. You can bake them in the oven or pan fry them on your pan. In case you are organizing a BBQ with your friends, throw out the hotdogs and grill some chicken breasts!

Chicken breasts go well many types of spices and marinates. You can toss them with any seasoning you find in your mom's arsenal of seasoning (e.g. white pepper, light soya sauce, rice wine, cajun, five spices powder or really anything!). If your mom doesn't cook much, there should be at least salt and pepper in your kitchen. That's enough!

Best of all, they cook fast! What you have to do is to use the 'butterfly' method to make them thinner. Put it simply, to cut them at the side to achieve another piece of breast that is approximately the same size, but thinner. Marinate and freeze them up. Being thin, they thaw in minutes under the sun or beside the stove and cook in seconds!

A picture of a piece of chicken breast, cut into two and marinated.

You can either cook both, or a piece, keep the other one in a clear plastic bag and store them in the fridge or freezer (depending on when you want to cook it again). So the next time you are hungry in the middle of a night, open your freezer and start cookin'!

My easy chicken breast recipe:

- 1 packet of chicken breast from NTUC/ Cold Storage ~$2.00 to $3.00

- 1 lemon ~$0.40

- A pinch of salt and crushed black peppers ~From your home kitchen

1. Grate the lemon whole, to get lemon zest.

2. Rub the lemon zest, salt and crushed black pepper onto the chicken breast.

3. Apply oil directly onto the marinated chicken breast (this helps in a more even marinate).

4. Rub again after the addition of the oil (if you want).

5. Heat up a pan, let it get real hot.

6. Introduce the marinated chicken breast straight into the hot pan (no need to add oil again).

To see if the breast is cooked:

The best and simplest way is to use a pair of tongs or a fork, break open the thickest part of the chicken breast to see if the meat is cooked! Since you are eating at home, looks doesn't matter much. 

But if you want the whole piece of breast to be intact (maybe cos you looking to impress your boyfriend or girlfriend by preparing dinner), poke a METALLIC fork into the thickest part of the breast, wait for 5 seconds. Remove the fork and touch your lips with it. What you want to know is the internal temperature of the breast. The metallic fork conducts heat from breast. If the fork burns your lips and makes you jump, the chicken is done. If the fork is cold/ warm/ lukewarm it means you need to let the chicken cook for a while more. Don't overcook or the breast will be dry and sad.

Cook up some carbohydrates like rice/ baked potato/ mashed potato to make up a meal!

Hope this recipe fires up your interest in chicken breast!

Start cooking, and experimenting! Good luck!