Buddha Jumps Over The Wall

An interesting name, isn’t it? It is a Chinese soup, a famous Cantonese cuisine. Unlike the western nutrition standard, Chinese believe that soups cooked under small fire for long hours are the best for our bodies. So my brother bought this for our birthday dinner.In fact, my two brothers and I were all born in the 4th week of June. Therefore we usually have joint birthday dinner. This year, it was my brother’s treat. The restaurant had a very special dinner trio - lobster with noodle, steam fish and one whole deep fried chicken - Only HK$318 ($298 on weekdays). We were all happy to enjoy our favourite foods at a good price. The lobster balls were really al dente. My brother ordered the Buddha soup which was very delicious. A very important Cantonese culinary culture is not only to drink the soup, but eat the ingredients as well. As we believe those are the essences of nutrition.
The soup had many ingredients and had an original meaning of fortune, longevity and wealth. People usually serve this for their important guests. Since it is so delicious, it tastes good and smells so great that the Buddha next door would want to jump over the wall and join the dinner. Hence the name.

Of course there are classes in almost anything in life. If you buy a car, there are Rolls Royce, Mercedes and Toyoto. Likewise, when you order the Buddha soup, the money you pay will determine the ingredients in it, or vice versa. The one we had cost HK$188. I believe it is a Toyoto. I didn’t find expensive items such as abalone, shark fin or scallops. Instead, I found sea cucumber, fish maw, ham, pork tendon, mushroom, chicken feet, chicken thigh and pork. Some recipes suggest adding wine, but I didn’t realize it. Even so, we are all happy with the very yummy and delicious Buddha soup. Unfortunately there wasn’t a Buddha eating next door, or we may witnessed “Buddha Jumps Over The Wall”!

One Whole Deep Fried Chicken - very crispy. We all love it!

Lobster with Noodle and Truffle Sauce - The Lobster Balls are really al dente! Yummy yummy!

Restaurant: Cuisine Royale
Address: 7/F Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Telephone: 852 2804 1300

Hong Kong Food Blog - Buddha Jumps Over The Wall

How to cook Ayam Masak Lemak Cili Padi

Ayam Masak Lemak Cili Padi or Chicken in Coconut Cream with Birds Eye Chili in English, is a spicy rich yellow coconut gravy that is cooked with chilli padi. While this recipe uses chicken, it can be substituted with prawns, flower crabs or fishead. Depending on your tastebuds, you can add more or less chillies if you wish. Recipe for 4 pax. Other similar recipe - Ayam Kurma (Korma Chicken), Opor Ayam (Braised Chicken with white Sauce) .

Ingredients for Ayam Masak Lemak Cili Padi:

• 1 chicken, cut into 8 pcs, washed and drained
• 1 litre coconut milk
• 3 tomatoes, cut into 4
• 1 stalk lemongrass, lightly bruised
• 3 kaffir lime leaves, lightly bruised
• 1 turmeric leaf, torn to 2
• Salt to meet the taste
• Vegetable oil
• ½ cup water

Rempah to blend:

• 10 red bird's eyes chillies
• 10 green bird's eyes chillies
• 3 large red onions
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 inch old ginger, peeled
• 1 inch of fresh turmeric, peeled
• 5 candlenuts

Chicken marinate:

• 1 tbsp turmeric powder, 1 tbsp grated ginger, salt to taste

Method:

1. Marinate chicken pieces with ginger, turmeric powder and salt for at least 30 minutes. Fry chicken until ¾ cooked and put aside.

2. Finely blend rempah ingredients into paste.

3. Using the same oil in pot, pour in the ground ingredients, torn tumeric leaf, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and fry till oil appear, fragrant (Medium heat - Do not burn).

4. Add the fried chicken, coconute milk and water. At this stage, keep it to a simmer for the rempah to adsorb to chicken and until the gravy thickens.

5. Add tomatoes and salt to taste.

6. Once chicken is cooked, serve with steamed white rice.