Todd's Wanderings

This post is by: Kay (my lovely wife and founder of K’s Kitchen!)

Is it only kids who love fried chicken? Nope! I still love fried chicken and this ‘Yu Lin Chi’ is even more special for adults because it goes well with chilled beer!! This dish is popular among EVERYONE-drinkers and non-drinkers, adults and children.

The ‘Yu Lin Chi’ recipe is also from my mom which I learned more than 13 years ago. Having lived outside Japan for 10 years, I’ve been absent from my mom’s cooking class (yes, she teaches cooking), but I still get her recipes from time to time and try out new dishes. It is not always easy to cook some dishes without the right ingredients but I’ve learned how to substitute some ingredients with other items by now! The beauty of this ‘Yu Lin Chi’ is that you can cook with generally available ingredients. OK. Here we go!

Ingredients (for 2 people)

Chicken thigh: 400g

Leak: 1/3 of a long leak (finely chopped)

Yummy, yummy Yu Lin Chi Special Chicken Sauce!

Ginger: 1/2 Tablespoon (finely chopped)

Lettuce 5-6 leaves

(a) Marinade for chicken

Salt:1/3 teaspoon

Soy sauce: 2 teaspoons

Sake: 1Tablespoon

Pepper to taste

(b) Special Sauce

Soy sauce: 3 Tablespoons

Vinegar: 2 Tablespoons

Sugar: 2.5 Tablespoons

Sesame oil: 1 teaspoon

Chicken broth (or clear soup with the stock): 1Tablespoon

How to cook (preparation time: 15 min; cooking time: 20 min)

(1) Cut the chicken to open it up and keep the thickness even.

(2) Marinade the meat with (a) for 5-10 minutes, just long enough to give it a nice coating.

(3) Finely chop the leak and ginger, and tear the lettuce into pieces.

(4) Put the ingredients for sauce together in a small bowl.

(5) Heat oil, enough to cover the chicken, up to 160 C (315 F) and throw in the chicken (well don’t throw or you’ll get burned by the oil!). Keep the flame of the stove in the middle range until the center of the chicken is cooked fully.

(6) Turn up the heat for a minute to make the chicken crispy.

(7) Put the chicken on top of a bed of lettuce on the plate. Pour on the sauce. That’s all!

If you like to eat with rice, please check how to cook rice in the recipe for Nishoku Gohan.

Was that easy? Delicious? Tell us how tasty it was, or how it all went horribly, horribly wrong

Interesting characters are usually the center piece of my travels. They help make a place memorable either by their actions, personalities and generosity. However, there is another group of actors that deserves attention, our fury and feathered friends in the animal world. They participate in festivals, live monastic lives in temples, sneak into our rooms at night, and play hide and seek while we tramp through their neighborhoods in 4-wheel drive vehicles. They have made many of my trips extraordinary and unforgettable. Here are a few faces and characters that have stayed with me long after my flight home touched down.

Peacocks can’t fly well but they can at least get to the top of houses. In southern Sri Lanka this is a common sight…everyone likes a view after all.

It can get really hot in Sri Lanka and everyone likes to cool down. Notice the chains around the neck. He is a “domesticated” elephant who will perform in the festival Pera Hera later in the night.

A hundred elephants are dressed in electric outfits and marched through the hill country city of Kandy in Sri Lanka’s largest Pera Hera festival.

And then there are things you just can’t forget for different reasons…

These cute guys (grey langur) are actually quite large. Their beards and black faces really give them a special character. Watch them run and you laugh at their swinging arms.

In Ubud, Bali’s Monkey Temple they are pampered a bit more. Watch your belongings as these cute guys will distract you while their family robs you blind.