Pandan

The pandan is a very versatile plant even though only the leaves are useable. It's fragrant is really pleasant and is used in cooking and baking. Just as vanilla is to the Europeans, pandan is to the Asians. Yes I have it in my mini farm and it is one of the first residence.

Before planting the pandan, it was always a big challenge to get it whenever Home Minister need it for a certain dish that calls for pandan as part of its recipe. First there is the reconnaissance mission so that proper tools can be brought along for the infiltrate, retrieve and run mission ..... hehe!! In impromptu cases it is normally snatch, hide and look Innocent ........ this is only possible when the plant is by the road side.... hehe!!

Pandan is a must have for 'nasi lemak' or else it is just not 'nasi lemak'. When cooking rice just add a leaf of pandan and you will extra fragrance rice. A leaf of pandan in a kettle of boiling water for drinking will give the plain drinking water a wonderful aroma too. 'Kaya' without pandan is nonsense.

One of my favourite cake is pandan chiffon, not any store bought pandan chiffon but only home made by Home Minister herself is the best. To make pandan chiffon guest who have to extract the juice from the pandan leaves, yes yours truly...... me!Extracting the juice is no easy task, it takes about two hours and the leaves from two pandan plants to get about a quarter cup of juice concentrate. The effort is really well worth it because the juice is natural and organic while the pandan chiffon is really yummy!!

Having not eaten pandan leaf chicken for a long time, together with Princess we decided to make it ourself. She did the seasoning and baking while I did the wrapping. She had a great idea of her own to weave a basket of pandan leaves and bake the chicken in it. I preferred the traditional way of wrapping bite size pieces of chicken meat with the leaves because of the close contact of the leaves with the meat.

Pandan leaf chicken is actually a Thai dish and we had the cooking process modified to make it healthier. Instead of frying it we baked it and the aroma was fantastic. The end result was a real yummy dinner.