Three Cups Chicken, Ginger Duck & Assam Pedas Pomfret

It was a nice spring day. One can finally feels the warmth from the sun. I had the opportunity to meet up with my good friend, Matt, upon receiving some good news. Matt had requested that I make Three Cups Chicken, a dish that we would order everytime we go to Evergreen, a Taiwanese restaurant in town. Three Cups Chicken is also a dish that I have tried making a few times over the past year, but mine just doesn't compare to that from Evergreen. Though I thought it was a little too dry this time, Matt commented that the taste had came closest to Evergreen's. That's improvement :)

I also threw in Ginger Duck and Assam Pedas Pomfret to the menu. Well, I sort of commanded Matt to cook the Ginger Duck, which he did an awesome job because we couldn't stop eating the duck while the Three Cups Chicken was still cooking! As for the Assam Pedas Pomfret, I was quite happy with it though I wished it had been spicier and sourer.

Nonetheless, I'm elated once again to be spreading some Malaysian love!

Three Cups Chicken

Ginger Duck

Assam Pedas Pomfret

Three Cups Chicken
1 lb of chicken, chopped into bite sizes
6 slices of ginger
6 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 tbsp of dark sesame oil
1 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp of Xiaoshing cooking wine
1 1/2 tbsp of dark sweet soy sauce (kicap manis)
A big bunch of Thai basil leaves

Heat up wok on high heat and add dark sesame oil.
Add garlic and ginger and stir fry until aromatic.
Add in chicken and do a few quick stirs.
Add soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, and Xiaoshing cooking wine, and continue to stir fry the chicken.
Cover the chicken and lower the heat, simmer for 5 minutes.
Add basil leaves and stir well with the chicken.
Dish out and serve.


Ginger Duck
1.5 lbs of duck, chopped into bite sizes
100 g of young ginger, sliced
300 g of leek, cut into 5 cm lengths diagonally
2 tbsp of fermented bean paste (tau cheong)
2 pcs of fermented red bean paste (nam yue)
2 tsp of ginger juice, from pounded ginger
4 tbsp of Xiaoshing cooking wine
5 cloves of garlic, smashed
1/2 cup of chicken stock
salt and sugar to taste

Marinate duck with Xiaoshing cooking wine, ginger juice, 1/2 tsp of salt, and 2 tsp of sugar for 20 minutes.
Mashed the fermented bean pastes together until fine.
Heat wok with 1 1/2 tbsp of oil. Fry garlic and slices of ginger for 2 minutes.
Add bean paste mixture and fry for a minute.
Add leeks and stir fry on high heat, before adding duck pieces.
Fry for another 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of chicken stock and simmer duck pieces gently for another 15 minutes or until tender.
If more gravy is desired, add more stock. Add salt and sugar to taste.
When duck is tender, serve in a lettuce lined casserole dish.


Assam Pedas Pomfret
1 pomfret (1 lb)
10 small okras
1 tomato, cut into wedges
1 tsp of fish curry powder
2 sprigs of Vietnamese mint/coriander
5 tbsp of cooking oil
1 tbsp of palm sugar/sugar
salt to taste

Spice paste:
1 clove of garlic
1 stalk of lemongrass (white part only)
4 shallots
8 - 10 dried chillies
1/2 tbsp of belacan (prawn paste)

Tamarind juice:
1 1/4 cup of water
Tamarind pulp (size of a small ping pong ball)

Grind the spice paste ingredients in a food processor. Set aside.
Soak the tamaring pulp in warm water for 15 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind pulp constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.
Heat oil and fry the spice paste for 2 minutes or until fragrant.
Add the tamarind juice, fish curry powder, and bring to boil.
Add the tomato wedges and okras, and bring to boil.
Add the fish, salt, and palm sugar/sugar.
Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes or until the fish is cooked.
Serve.