Time Out Cook Out: Darren Chin from DC Restaurant

Time Out Cook Out is where you can take inspiration from some of KL’s top chefs as they transform ordinary store bought ingredients (from Jaya Grocer) into imaginative dishes, with recipes you can easily replicate at home. They each can only use the ingredients from the box, with the exception of kitchen staples such as oil, sugar, flour, eggs, butter, soy sauce, salt and pepper. 

Chef Darren Chin has been cooking professionally for 14 years including two years of training in France, where he incorporates classic French techniques with modern-day cuisine. Today, he is the proprietor and Chef de Cuisine at his namesake restaurant, DC restaurant. 

Here are the ingredients in Chef Darren’s mystery basket:
- Chicken
- Chilli
- Guava
- Chinese red dates
- Feta cheese
- Chickpeas (canned)
- Chives
- Calamansi limes

Photo: Hizwan Hamid

Traditional roast chicken stuffed with red dates and chilli compote with a side of feta cheese and chickpeas salad with charred chives
Serves 6 

Red dates and chilli compote stuffing
4 red chillies
4 green chillies
1 packet of chives
4 calamansi limes
A handful of chickpeas
Chinese red dates 

Method
1. Reconstitute Chinese red dates in boiling hot water for ten minutes.
2. Remove seeds from both red and green chillies but keep the skin on. Tip: Red chillies alone will also work.
3. Slice chillies into small pieces.
4. Chop half a packet of chives into small bits. Remove all tips.
5. Drain the dates from hot water after ten minutes. Remove pits from dates and chop to small pieces. About ten dates are enough.
6. Cook red and green chilli over fire in 200ml of water. Add salt and brown sugar (optional as dates are already sweet on their own). Tip: Instead of using a lid, cut baking paper into the shape of the pan and cover the compote. It’ll intensify the flavours of the chillies.
7. Add soya sauce and Chinese red dates.
8. Squeeze juice from four calamansi limes and stir. Use a sieve to ensure that there are no seeds.
10. Add in chopped chives and a handful of chickpeas.
11. Cook compote down for three minutes until it becomes sticky with a jam-like consistency.
12. Add calamansi zest from one fruit.
13. Season with salt and pepper.
14. Allow compote stuffing to cool down for five minutes.

Photo: Hizwan Hamid

Traditional roasted chicken
1 whole chicken
1 calamansi lime
Salt and pepper
150g butter
1 teaspoon brown sugar 

Method
1. Remove wing, neck, excess fat and wish bone from chicken.
2. Use back of spoon to loosen up the chicken skin.
3. Melt 150g of butter over fire. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Season the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper.
5. Grate calamansi zest into melted butter and transfer it to a piping bag.
6. Pipe butter under the chicken skin. Make sure it’s spread evenly. This is to ensure the chicken breast does not dry after roasting.
7. Stuff compote into chicken cavity.
8. Truss the chicken with string so that it won’t open up and the stuffing won’t spill out when roasting. For a step-by-step guide, click here.
9. Drizzle olive oil and salt all over chicken to create a crust.
10. Sear both sides of chicken with 100g of clarified butter to give it colour.
11. Sear and baste the chicken all the way through for colour.
12. Roast in oven (breast up) at 185C for 30 minutes.
13. Once it reaches a core temperature of 65C, the chicken is fully roasted. You can do this by sticking a thermometer into the chicken.
14. Allow resting time for 15-20 minutes on a rack.

Additional tip: You can also stuff herbs into the chicken like tarragon, thyme and rosemary. 

Feta cheese and chickpeas salad with charred chives
1 packet of feta cheese
1 can of chickpeas
2 red chillies
1 calamansi lime
Chives
Salt and pepper

Method
1. For the dressing, add salt, olive oil and calamansi juice into a mortar and pestle, and mix.
Use a peeler to remove the skins of the chilli. Tip: Removing the skin reduces heat.
2. Remove the seeds and finely dice the chilli.
3. Pour chilli into dressing.
4. Dice feta cheese into cubes and crumble the cheese into a bowl of chickpeas.
5. Pour dressing over feta cheese and chickpeas.
6. Grill chives for one to two minutes over the stove until nicely charred. This adds smokiness to the salad.
7. Add olive oil and sprinkle salt.
8. Chop up the chives and mix together into salad.

Additional tip: A fresh salad like watercress leaves will also work well with the calamansi limes and chilli dressing.