Weekend Cooking I - Minced meat & baked bean with rice

I love to cook on weekends but usually are simple dishes that can be whipped up within 30 mins. Saw this simple dish over at Nasi Lemak Lover, I knew it's going to be good and I'm right!

Minced meat & baked bean, luncheon meat, sunny side up & fresh sliced cucumber served with steamed rice! The combination is amazing, complimented each other so well! Definitely is a simple and delicious comfort meal that I will cook again and again...!  

Abalone Chicken Congee

Recipe requestd by Tan & Lay... enjoy! Happy Cooking!

Ingredients:
1 cup Rice (Thai rice)
1/2 cup Calrose/Jap rice (Rinse till water is clear)
700ml Chicken stock***
1 can Abalone (Slice thinly, keep the broth for cooking congee)
1 whole Chicken (1.2kg)
50g Dried scallops
1 clove garlic
Garnishing - Spring onion, Chinese Parsley & Fried Onion Oil

Seasoning:
Salt approx 1 tsp (to taste)
Sugar 1/2 tsp

***Preparation of Chicken Stock
1. Boil 1 whole chicken & garlic in 1L water till chicken just cooked.
2. Take out chicken, debone and shred the meat. Seasoned the shredded chicken meat with soya sauce and sesame oil. Set aside as porridge topping.
3. Place all the chicken bones back to the pot of water to get chicken stock.

Method:
1. Wash the rice and add in chicken stock, abalone broth & dried scallop. Start cooking at high fire reduce to low/medium fire once it's start boiling. Check the congee consistency by stirring occasionally to prevent it from burning.
2. Add boiling water when necessary. Simmer till it becomes congee.
3. Add seasoning to taste.
4. Served congee with sliced abalone, shredded chicken & garnishing.

Simple homecooking on New Year Day

I was so busy the last few days that really can't find time to update my blog daily. Attended company D&D, groomed 7 dogs and baked 2 batches of CNY cookies over the weekend. Totally drained out and still have so many things on hand to complete...? Anyway let me continue to update my backlogs...

1st Jan 2011

After all the feasting during the season, I decided to stay home for some simple homecooked meals instead on the 1st day of the Year 2011. I cooked lunch and dinner which was quite unusual with my aunt around as cooking is mostly done by her. I wanted to give her a break. So nice of me right...lol! Anyway when I cooked usually are simple fares that required less than an hour to churn up a meal.

For lunch, we had CP Charcoal Grilled Chicken Rice. I got this idea from Cuisine Paradise but cooked it liked a claypot rice using rice cooker method. This was so simple and yet so delicious!

CP Charcoal Grilled Chicken Rice

Ingredients: (Serve 4-5)
1 pack (350g) of CP Charcoal grilled chicken
3 cups Uncooked Rice
560ml Chicken stock (same amount of water for cooking rice)
1 no Chinese sausage (sliced)
2 stalks Spring onions (cut lengthwise)
1 tbsp Fried chopped salted fish

Sauce for mixing the rice before serving:
2 tbsp premium dark sauce
1/2 tbsp light sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
60 ml stock
cornflour for thickening
*Mix all the above and heat through.

Fried shallot oil



Method:1. Wash rice and add in the chicken stock to cook in a rice cooker.
2. 5 mins before the rice going to cook, place the CP charcoal grilled chicken and chinese sausage on top of the rice. Covered and cooked till the rice is cooked.
3. Add in the spring onions and fried salted fish. Keep warm for 1-2 mins and is done.
4. Serve the rice with fried shallot oil and black sauce.

Complimented the rice with a simple soup - Tomato and lettuce egg soup

For dinner, we had porridge with some side dishes. Canned pork ribs with green vegetables, Chai poh omelette, Fried minced luncheon meat and Deep fried silver fish.

Aunt liked the way I cooked the luncheon meat. Compliment from her was quite rare though as her palate is rather particular. I chopped the luncheon meat to small little cubes and stir fried it with lots of chopped shallots and fresh red chilli till crisp. This is especially good with porridge.

Savoury Glutinous Rice 糯米饭

21st Feb 2010

One of my favourite food for breakfast is Glutinous rice, the hokkien style. I like it dark in colour with lots of mushroom & pork but those that sell at the stalls are usually with only bits of mushroom & pork. So I like to make it myself and used to cook this quite often before I started this blog. During CNY, my Aunt Peggy asked me to cook some for her guests. I have not cooked this for ages and glad that it turn out as good as before. So I took this opportunity to record the recipe down and share it on my blog.

Ingredients:
Glutinous Rice - 600g (Soak for 2hrs & drain)
Pork - 350g (Cut into strips) Season: 1tbsp oyster sauce/1tbsp soya sauce/1tbsp dark sauce/1tbsp sesame oil)
Dried Mushroom - 70g (Soften & cut into strips)
Dried Scallop or Shrimp - 50g (Washed & drain, reserved the water if using dried scallop)
Shallots - 180g (Chop finely)
Garlic - 2 cloves (Chop finely)
Stock - 500ml (if using water, add concentrated chicken stock)

Seasoning: (mix all into the reserved scallop/mushroom water)
2tbsp Dark sauce (or slightly more if preferred darker rice)
1tbsp Light sauce
1tbsp Shaoxin wine
1tsp Salt
1tsp fish sauce
1/2-1tsp sugar
Pepper

Garnish: (optional)
Chinese Sausage - 1 no (Cut into small cubes & pan-fried till fragrant)
Peanut
Fried Shallots
Chopped Spring Onion
Sliced Red Chilli

Method:
1. Heat 2 tbsp oil on a non-stick wok to stir fry chopped shallots & garlic till golden.
2. Add in dried shallot/shrimp to fry till fragrant.
3. Add seasoned pork & mushroom, stir fry for 2-3 mins till pork turn pale in colour.
4. Stir in glutinous rice and seasoning, stir thoroughly.
5. Add stock/water and fry till water dry up.
6. Transfer the rice into an oiled steaming tray and steam for approx. 15min or till cooked.
7. Serve with garnishing.

Steamed Glutinuous Rice w/Chicken

Steamed Glutinous Rice w/Chicken or "Lor Mai Kai", one of my favorite dim sum and usually I like to have it for breakfast. It's been awhile since I made this delicious delight and I made quite a good one as I hava a very good recipe from my aunt. My version is quite special as I added pacific clam. Simply delicious!

Today, I like to share this recipe with the readers of my blog. I provide a very detailed step by step guide illustrating the whole cooking process. Enjoy and do try this recipe. It's really really very yummy.

Step by step recipe:
Lor Mai Kai (made 20 portions) 
Ingredients:
1.2kg Glutinous rice (wash & soak 5-6hrs)
500g Skinless boneless chicken leg (slice)
6pcs Dried mushroom (Soaked in water till soften & sliced)
2pcs Chinese sausage (remove skin & slice)
1can Pacific clam (drain away the water)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
650ml Water (to be added later during steaming of rice)

Glutinuous Rice Seasoning:
4tsp Salt
2tsp Concentrated chicken stock (Woh Hup)
4tsp Sugar
1tbsp Oyster sauce
1/2tbsp Light sauce
1/2tsp Dark sauce
3tsp Sesame oil
Pepper
4tbsp Cooked olive oil (Heat up the oil in the microwave for 2min and pour into the mixture)

Method for cooking glutinuous rice:
1. After soaking the glutinuous rice for 5 hrs, drain & transfer to a mixing bowl.
2. Get ready the rice seasoning.
3. Add rice seasoning into the rice and mix well.
4. Transfer to a deep steaming dish and steam for 20mins.
5. Prepare the water (650ml) for adding into the rice after 1st round of 20min steaming.
6. After 20mins, add water into the rice.
7. Stir well with chopstick.
8. Continue to steam for another 20-25mins till cook.
9. Set aside to cool and divide into 20 portions.





Chicken & Mushroom Seasoning:
1tsp Salt
1 1/2tsp Sugar
1/2tbsp Light sauce
1tsp Dark sauce
1/2tbsp Oyster sauce
3tsp Sesame oil
1tbsp Oil
2tbsp Water
1 1/2tbsp Cornflour
Pepper
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2tsp Ginger juice

Method:
1. Add seasoning except ginger juice into the chicken, season for 15mins.
2. After 15mins, add in mushroom and mix well.
3. Lastly, stir in ginger juice.
4. Get ready the mould, either metal or disposal bowl will do.
5. Place the sausage, pacific clam and seasoned ingredients into the bowls.
6. Top each bowl with cooked glutinous rice and press hard.
7. Depend on the size of your steamer & wok, mine can only take in 7 bowls each time.
8. Steam for 30 mins.
9. Unmould and serve warm with any preferred chilli sauce.

Cuttlefish & Dried Shrimp Pork Congee

Aunt cooked my favorite congee for me last evening. As I just did an teeth extraction so can only eat soft food. This congee was so sweet & full of flavors. I like to top with lots of spring onion, fried shallots & pepper. Simpy delicious!

Ingredients A:
Rice 1cup (washed)
Calrose rice 1/2cup (washed)
Stock 600ml
Chicken powder 1tsp
Salt 2tsp
Sugar 1/2tsp
Dried shredded cuttlefish 30g

Ingredients B:
Dried shrimp 160g - wash & deep fried till crispy (Note:80g for boiling & 80g for garnishng)
Dried cuttlefish 1pc (15g)
Water 1.5L

Ingredients C (Mix well):
Minced pork 300g
Sugar 1/2tsp
Salted egg white 1 no
Light sauce 1/2tsp
Sesame oil 1tsp
Wine 1tsp
Pepper

Method:
1. Bring (Ingredients B) to boil, simmer 45 mins then strain to obtain broth, discard the residue.
2. Add (Ingredient A) into the strained broth to boil. Simmer till it becomes congee. Check the congee consistency constantly.
3. If too thick or dry, add boiling water when necessary.
4. Add minced pork (or spoon into it) when the congee is ready. Stir well till pork is cooked.
5. Garnish w/fried shrimp, spring onion, fried onion & pepper. Serve.

Asian Home Gourmet - Pineapple Rice

There are many types of ready paste available in today's market that make restaurant style dishes easy to prepare at home. One of my all time favourite is the spice paste for Thai Pineapple Rice from Asian Home Gourmet. I cooked this for lunch and my aunt even commented it's taste as good as those serve in Thai restaurant.

There's recipe on the package but I altered it to my liking. This is my version:
Ingredients (Serve 4-5):
1pkt Thai pineapple rice spice paste
3 rice bowl cooked rice
2tbsp sunflower oil
3-4nos shallots (thinly sliced)
2 eggs (beaten)
8nos shelled prawn (cut into cubes)-season w/pepper & sesame oil
2nos medium squid (sliced)-season w/pepper & sesame oil
200g Fresh pineapple (cut into bite size)
3tbsp Frozen green peas

For Garnishing: Coriander leaves, Cashew nuts, Pork floss & Slice red chillies

Method:
1. Heat oil in a non-stick pan to fry shallots till fragrant.
2. Add in beaten eggs and scramble it.
3. Add in seafood & stir fry for 2 mins.
4. Add in cooked rice, green peas & paste, mix well.
5. Add in pineapple and stir fry till hot.
6. Garnish & serve.

Claypot Chicken Rice (Rice Cooker Method)

My dinner tonight was Claypot Chicken Rice but was cooked by rice cooker instead of using claypot...Yummy!

Here's my aunt recipe:(serve 2-3)
Ingredients:
450g Chicken (cut into bite size)
100g Salted fish (cut into small pcs & fried till crispy)
1 no Chinese sausage (sliced)
2 cup Uncooked rice
400ml Stock (refer to recipe: stock or used canned type)
1/2 tbsp ginger juice (use 25g ginger to extract juice)
10 nos Shallots (sliced & fried, set aside for garnishing)

Chicken seasoning:
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp light sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 1/4 tbsp rice wine

Sauce for mixing the rice before serving:
2 tbsp premium dark sauce
1/2 tbsp light sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
60 ml stock
cornflour for thickening


Method:
1. Add ginger juice into seasoned chicken and microwave it for 3 mins till half cooked & drain juice to add into the rice. Notes: reduce stock amt accordingly if adding the chicken juice to the rice.
2. Warm up the sauce to melt the sugar, set aside.
3. Put rice & stock into the rice cooker to cook.
4. When the rice is almost half cooked, add in chinese sausage, salted fish & chicken.
5. Cover till the rice cooker indicates that it's cooked.
6. Serve it with the sauce & fried shallot oil.