All About Life Without Maids

[Toomuchlaundry]

I've been trying to find Nando's Mango & Lime marinade for my chicken leg/thighs in Singapore but to no avail. I love this flavour. I don't really like their Peri Peri marinade, but am borderline fine with their Coconut & Lemon, Lemon & Herb options.

star89: The easiest & most foolproof is the Grandma Oriental style - dark/light soy sauce, oyster/hoisin sauce, garlic, honey (& butter / EVO optional). Won't go wrong.

If you want the type with super crispy skin, then you must pat dry the skin and dry marinate with spices, herbs, kosher salt (butter/EVO optional) overnight. Thyme/rosemary/garlic/cilantro/Italian spices are all ok. I sometimes add a drop of liquid smoke to give it some char tar aroma, but I heard it's not very healthy.

There's also the Five Spices Grilled Chicken which I also make. It's so easy. I love my chicken to be infused with star anise.

Tried Cumin+paprika+Szechuan peppercorn+kosher salt before. Xinjiang smoky cumin flavour, but is an acquired taste. If you add greek yoghurt, it becomes Turkish grilled chicken kebab.

I will grill Tandoori or Chicken Tikka sometimes. But only during the sch hols, as I need to marinate the chicken with Indian plain yoghurt overnight.

Another hot favourite of mine is Fish Sauce+Lemongrass Grilled Chicken or Gà nướng sả (Vietnamese style) which you can find in So Pho in the form of wings/drumlets. But without a maid, you need to grind a lot of stuffs yourself.

Thai Gai Yang ไก่ย่าง Grilled Chicken is quite similar to the Vietnamese Fish Sauce grilled chicken. But the Thais add cilantro roots + black peppercorn + palm sugar instead of brown sugar. The Thais also use tamarind paste to make its devilish dipping sauce.

If you're too free, you can grill Ayam Bakar using kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), coconut oil, tamarind juice, candlenut, turmeric and galangal, etc. Or just go to a foodcourt to tapao from Riverside!

If you don't have much time, try Japanese Teriyaki chicken, Miso chicken, Korean Gochujang chicken, or Cantonese Char-siew and Plum-Glazed chicken. These are much easier to prepare with readymade marinades. Make sure u marinate your chicken thighs with the sticky teriyaki or yakitori sauce.

When you want to venture to something more exotic, try the Peruvian Pollo a la Brasa (sour cream is added), Mexican grilled chicken (pineapple & orange juice is added).

Goodness zeit, your encyclopedic knowledge is not only of Europe trips also extends to chicken marinades! I know this is an old post, but I'm going to pin it so I can refer to it when clueless in the kitchen. There is a bottle of kecap manis given to me that I have not used. Will attempt the ayam Bakar, but without tamarind juice. Is a tamarind fruit, vegetable or animal?

Also Korean gochujang chicken, does that give off the sweet spicy taste associated with Korean fried chicken? I prefer soy garlic, with tteokkboki, an uncommon combi, I know.

[janet88]

Tingkat is pretty expensive... works out to almost $20 per meal with delivery. I tried it for a couple of weeks, and decided it is cheaper to go out to eat than wait for tingkat. Food is more varied and tastier too.

I’ve just stopped Select. The food is often repeated. Dishes like braised tau kee can be repeated like every week. Then there is pathetic bean sprouts and ngoh hiang also repeating.
Only order for 2 persons and then add on other dishes.

[ChiefKiasu]

I’ve just stopped Select. The food is often repeated. Dishes like braised tau kee can be repeated like every week. Then there is pathetic bean sprouts and ngoh hiang also repeating.
Only order for 2 persons and then add on other dishes.

Going tingkat is like always going to the same store to buy your food. You may like it at first, but it'd get boring after a while. We don't always eat our food home-cooked, do we?

[sushi88]

Going tingkat is like always going to the same store to buy your food. You may like it at first, but it'd get boring after a while. We don't always eat our food home-cooked, do we?

We have no helper since 15 years ago?
We are all for home-cooked food for daily unless it is exotic food, difficult to cook at home.
Seriously, nothing beats home-cooked meals for us albeit it is much simpler eating.
Recently, we tried a new vegan place, we were very sure we would not return again cos our home-cooked meals tasted way better....there was literally no culinary skills in the vegan dishes, it's just full of salty taste.

[Toomuchlaundry]

We have no helper since 15 years ago?
We are all for home-cooked food for daily unless it is exotic food, difficult to cook at home.
Seriously, nothing beats home-cooked meals for us albeit it is much simpler eating.
Recently, we tried a new vegan place, we were very sure we would not return again cos our home-cooked meals tasted way better....there was literally no culinary skills in the vegan dishes, it's just full of salty taste.

I like home cooked as well, only the deglazing and scrubbing and washing up... geesh. It's so hard finding good vegan places. Where is the one you mentioned?

[star89]

It has been 2 years without helper. I cook 3 days a week in between ‘da bao’ and order delivery. I am contemplating to instal dish washer. Anybody has dishwasher? Is it consume too much electricity and water?

[Funz]

Been without live in help for 3yrs already, I think. I have a PT helper coming in 2 times a week though for general cleaning and ironing.

I have 3 dishwashers. In the form of DHDDDS.

DH did ask me if we should install a dishwasher but I told him no. It will be 1 more appliance to maintain. No need to wash dishes but will end up having to wash the dishwasher.

To cut down on washing, I cook and serve in the pots and I cook 1 pot meals more often these days.

[Toomuchlaundry]

It has been 2 years without helper. I cook 3 days a week in between ‘da bao’ and order delivery. I am contemplating to instal dish washer. Anybody has dishwasher? Is it consume too much electricity and water?

Hard to top @Funz's "dishwashers" but i have a machine one. Bosch standing dishwasher, next to the washing machine. I wash my breakfast, lunch and dinner plates all at one go in the evening. Kids load the dishwasher after meals. Saves water, as you dont use a running tap. However, all that bending over the dishwasher to load and unload dishes is hard on my back!

[janet88]

Going tingkat is like always going to the same store to buy your food. You may like it at first, but it'd get boring after a while. We don't always eat our food home-cooked, do we?

true Chief...very true.
select tingkat was ok when we first started years ago and stopped for quite a while...bcos it was such a headache thinking of what to eat, so we ordered tinkgkat again. back then, the food was hardly repeated. but now, there are a few dishes which can be repeated weekly

[Liew Nga Wing]

true Chief...very true.
select tingkat was ok when we first started years ago and stopped for quite a while...bcos it was such a headache thinking of what to eat, so we ordered tinkgkat again. back then, the food was hardly repeated. but now, there are a few dishes which can be repeated weekly

It maybe a good choice for me who are working full-time from Monday to Friday as I don't have much time for cooking dinner.