Three-Colour Rice Bowl

Another recipe from the cookbook Quick & Easy Japanese Recipes.

The recipe is titled "Sweet Soy Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl". However, the ingredients used are very similar to the Bento recipe for "Three-Colour Rice Bento". So I added some greens to the recipe, and turned from it from two colours to three, and titled it "Three-Colour Rice Bowl" instead.

This is one good recipe for bentos!

Adapted from Quick & Easy Japanese Recipes

(Periplus Mini Cookbooks)

Serves 4

Preparation Time : 5 mins

Cooking Time : 20 mins

250g Minced Chicken Meat

3 Eggs

2 cups Uncooked Japanese Rice

4 tsp Sesame Oil

For the minced chicken meat

3 tbsp Soy Sauce

4 tsp Sake

2 tsp Sugar

2 tsp Mirin

For the scrambled eggs

4 tsp Mirin

• Cooked the 2 cups of rice accordingly.
• Combine the ingredients for the minced chicken meat in a small bowl. Set aside this soy sauce mixture for later use.
• Heat 2 teaspoons of the sesame oil in a medium frying pan or work over medium heat and fry minced chicken.
• Use a fork to break up the meat. Cook 2-3 minutes or until chicken is just cooked.
• Season with soy sauce mixture and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes or until all the cooking liquid has evaporated. Remove to a medium bowl and set aside.
• Lightly beat eggs with 4 teaspoons of mirin until just combined. Set aside.
• Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons of sesame oil in frying pan over medium heat. Add egg mixture and stir continuously, with 2 to 3 pairs of chopsticks, until firm and the consistency of scrambled eggs.
• Filled two deep bowls with rice.
• Place the blanched broccoli, scrambled eggs and chicken mixture on top of the rice.
• Serve immediately topped with thinly sliced spring onions.

I cut the broccoli into tiny florets. You can microwave the broccoli or blanch them in boiling water. No salt is necessary as we enjoy the crunchiness and natural taste of broccoli.

Honey Chicken

I dislike deep frying meat.

It's messy, not to mention unhealthy.

After deep frying, the whole house smells oily, especially in Winter, when I have to keep the windows closed throughout the day. But hey, it's summer now, and there is no excuse for not wanting to prepare this dish! I can open the windows to air the house. Unhealthy? Yes, but I rarely do deep frying. Maybe once in every two months ... sometimes even longer. There is no reason to give this dish a miss!

Adapted from Chicken Favourites

(Periplus Mini Cookbooks)

Serves 4

Preparation Time : 10 minutes + 10 minutes standing

Cooking Time : 20 minutes

1 kg Boned chicken breasts, skin on (I replaced with Chicken Thighs)

2.5 tbsp Cornflour

125g Self Raising Flour

1 Egg, lightly beaten

1 tbsp Soy Sauce

3x2cm Fresh Ginger, finely chopped

4 tbsp Honey

2 Spring Onions, thinly sliced, to garnish

• Cut the chicken into small, bite-sized pieces.
• Put them in a bowl with 1.5 tablespoons of the cornflour. Shake to coat well, then leave for 10 minutes.
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour and egg with 1.25 cups cold water until you get a loose batter.
• Fill a wok with enough oil to deep-fry the chicken pieces, then heat until a cube of bread dropped into the oil browns in 10 seconds.
• Dip the chicken pieces in the batter, allowing the excess batter to drip off. Fry the chicken pieces in batches until crisp and golden. Drain on paper towels.
• Mix the soy sauce and remaining cornflour in a small bowl.
• Drain the oil fro the wok and wipe the wok clean.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of oil.
• Add the ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute.
• Add the honey and when it is heated through, add the chicken pieces and coat well.
• Stir in the soy and cornflour mixture and cook for 1 more minute.
• Pile into a bowl and garnish with the spring onion.

The kids love anything deep-fried. So they welcomed this dish with a broad smile. But I'm sorry to disappoint you boys ... Mama will not be cooking this dish in the next month or so ... Too much work, too messy, to much cleaning up, and not very healthy.

Steamed Salmon Rice with Mushrooms

You know how sometimes, you turned brain-dead from too much cooking?

You buy the usual meat ... chicken, turkey, seafood.

You buy the usual vegetables.

You open the freezer/fridge, stare very hard, and don't know what to cook!

I am thankful for the cookbooks I have at home.

This is yet another dish from the stack of cookbooks I bring back from Singapore ... Steamed Salmon Rice with mushrooms. An easy meal to prepare, especially when I am in a hurry. It frees me to do other chores and there is minimum cleaning up!

Adapted from Quick & Easy Japanese Recipes

(Periplus Mini Cookbooks)

Serves 4

Preparation Time : 15 mins

Cooking Time : 25 mins

6 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms

2 cups Uncooked Japanese Rice

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

3 tbsp Sake (I used Shaoxin Wine)

3 tsp Rice Vinegar

1/2 tsp Salt

70g Thinly sliced leek, soaked in water (I omit this)

200g Salmon fillets, cleaned and skin removed

4 tsp Mirin

2 Shiso or basil leaves, shredded (I omit this)

To garnish

Nori Lightly toasted and cut in thin strips

Sesame Seeds Roasted

• Place shiitake mushrooms into a bowl, cover with 500ml boiling water and soak for 10 minutes. Drain, squeezing gently to remove any excess liquid, remove tough stalks and slice thinly. Reserve soaking liquid to be added to the rice.
• Wash the rice and place in a rice cooker with soy sauce, sake, rice vinegar, salt and reserved shiitake liquid. Add enough water for cooking the rice. Stir to combine.
• Place leek, salmon, and reserved shiitake mushrooms on top of the rice.
• Start the rice cooker.
• When the rice is cooked, sprinkle with mirin and gently flake salmon with a fork. Add shiso and stir lightly to combine.
• Serve topped with nori and sesame seeds.

I microwaved the carrots till soft and added it to the rice as a side dish. No seasoning is required for the carrots as the natural sweetness is enough to balance the seasoning from the rice =)

Five-Spice Chicken with Garlic and Spring Onions

I must admit, after three weeks of holiday in Food Paradise, I am in no mood to cook!

We went back to Singapore for a three-week holiday. There was so much to eat, and such easy access to food, that I was hardly hungry! Reality sunk in when I finally returned to the woods. The first few meals were take-out, or fast-food. I was really busy with unpacking, washing, and cleaning the house. A trip to the supermarket was necessary. But what should I buy? What should I cook? Thinking about it gave me a headache, not to mention having to cope with jetlag.

We brought back to the woods, from Singapore, lots of books ... both textbooks and cookbooks. A quick browse through the stack of cookbooks, and I decided on this dish for our dinner ... Five-spice Chicken with Garlic and Spring Onions.

I am not a fan of spring onions. I will not buy them when I'm at the supermarket. So why this dish? Our kind neighbour came by and brought us a huge bunch of spring onions, and chives! Just the right ingredient for the dish. To my surprise, the dish turned out to our liking =)

Adapted from Homestyle Chinese Cooking

(Periplus Mini Cookbooks)

Serves 4

Preparation Time : 20 mins

Cooking Time : 6 mins

350g (12 oz) Chicken Breast, cubed (I used Chicken Thigh Fillets)

3 tbsp Sesame Oil

5-6 cloves Garlic, minced

2 Spring Onions, cut into sections

Marinade

2 tbsp Rice Wine

1 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tsp Sesame Oil

1 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp Salt

2 tsp 5-spice Powder

1 tsp Cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tbsp water

• Place the chicken in a bowl with the Marinade, stirring to coat the chicken well. Set aside for 15- 20 minutes.
• Drain the Marinade, reserving all the liquid.
• Heat the sesame oil over high heat, and when hot, add the garlic and chicken.
• Stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes, then add the reserved Marinade and spring onions, and cook for another 2 minutes.
• Transfer to a serving dish.

From the cookbook ... You can also add 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen green peas after stir-frying the chicken for a minute or two. A sprinkling of minced fresh coriander leaves on the finished dish goes well with these flavors.

My coriander plant died when I returned from Singapore, so I skipped this ingredient for the dish. Since my boys were not fans of green peas, I replaced the peas with cauliflower. I microwaved the cauliflower to soften them.

Just top your bowl of warm rice with a big spoonful of chicken and cauliflower and viola, you are ready to eat!

Food Paradise, Here We Come!

We were excited, very excited, at the thought of having ... Roti Prata, Fishball Noodles, Chicken Rice, Bean Curd, Butterfly in 30 hours' time! Yes, we are flying back to Singapore for a three week holiday!

The boys were briefed on how we were getting back to Singapore :

3-hour Coach to Chicago, 17-hour flight to Narita Airport, Japan, and another 8-hour flight from Japan to Singapore! There was no complaint from the boys when I woke them up at 1.30am. They would be missing out 9 days of school, and were looking forward to meeting their grandparents. They were all excited the moment they woke up!

We were blessed with good weather ... there was no rain!

I couldn't imagine standing at the unsheltered bus stop, in the rain with two kids and two suitcases at 2am, waiting for the coach with the wild wind blowing *Teeth Chattering*!

The ride to Chicago was smooth and we arrived safely at Chicago O'Hare Airport Terminal 1. We didn't alight at the International Flight Terminal. ANA's International Flight check-in was done at the domestic airport ... very strange indeed. I was glad to have done my homework beforehand, or we would have to pull our suitcases and travel from Terminal 5 to Terminal 1. We might have lots of time to spare at the airport before checking in, but it was always unpleasant, at the start of a trip, to find that you had arrived at the wrong terminal!

I thought all went well, until boarding time.

Police security started random questioning and all passengers had their passport checked twice! Some passengers were picked to have their hand-carry checked, just outside the plane entrance! This sudden checking caused a flight delay, and it didn't help that there was a thunderstorm. Our flight was further delayed. We were hungry, and sleepy. I was glad I had some museli bars with me, to feed the hungry boys!

It was a smooth flight from Chicago to Japan. We arrived in Japan in the afternoon, and saw the sun setting on the way from Japan to Singapore! The sun looked a huge egg yolk, dropping down behind the clouds faster than I thought! It was beautiful! The last time I saw something as beautiful, was 12 years ago. I was on the flight to Nepal, and my jaws dropped when I saw Mount Everest "hanging" in the air .. you must be sitting on the "correct" side of the plane to enjoy this awesome view.

Well, it was 11.35pm, June 1 when we arrived in Singapore!

We enjoyed the food on board ANA, the inflight entertainment, and the friendliness of the service staff. But we didn't quite enjoy the tight space. On the whole, it was a better flight experience when compared to our flight to the States two years ago =)

My dear pal, Jean, was at the airport to welcome us. Not only did she send us home, she brought along a Pandan Cake and some "ZhongZi"! Yum! Thanks a million, Jean!

It felt good to be HOME!

We went to bed at 2am, tired but happy!

... Sweet dreams ....

无花果梨子瘦肉汤

The weather in the woods has been crazy.

When we thought that Lady Spring had finally arrived, we went out in our short sleeve T-shirt and a light jacket, only to find ourselves grabbing for a thick coat the next day, as Old Man Winter turned around to say HI!

As we moved from one week of long sleeve shirts to another, we suddenly found ourselves baking under the hot scorching sun, perspiring as I sat in front of my laptop surfing the internet, with the thermometer reading went up to 32degC. Short sleeve tees, shorts and sandals is the way to go.

After baking in the heat for the last few days, I decided we needed some cooling soup, as darling son KW had started coughing slightly from the ever changing weather. I must be crazy, to be cooking soup and baking in the heat, that's everyone says to me =)

The recipe was adapted from 小小米桶的写食厨房. This soup is definitely a keeper! The subtle sweetness from the pears, topped with the sweetness from the dried figs ... wooooo ... It is plus that it uses only three ingredients! It's suppose to be "rehydrate the body", especially when the weather is dry and hot 。。。 清热润燥 。。。YUMMY!

2 Pears

12 Dried Figs

2pcs Southern Style Spareribs

1 litre Water

1. Blanch the spareribs and rinse them under cold water.

2. Wash the dried figs and pears.

3. Fill a pot with one litre of water.

4. Cut and remove the core of the pears. Do not remove the skin.

5. Put all the ingredients into the pot of water.

6. Bring the water to a boil.

7. Lower heat and simmer for another 1.5 - 2hours.

I only added a litre of water, as the pears were very juicy. The soup was very sweet, due to the sweetness of the pears, as well as the dried figs added. Mmmmm .... I want more!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I love cream cheese, and I love eating cakes!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake ... to the rescue!

The recipe is adapted from Little Corner of Mine. Thanks for sharing the recipe! The recipe is definitely a keeper! Subtle taste of cream cheese, soft and cottony .... hmmm ....

1/2 cup (1 stick or 113g) Butter, Softened

3/4 cup Sugar

1/2 pkg (4 oz) Cream Cheese

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

3 Eggs (Large)

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 tbsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Grease and flour a 8 1/2" x 3 1/2" loaf pan.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter till soft.

4. Add sugar and continue beating till light and fluffy.

5. Add cream cheese and continue beating, about 1 min.

6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

7. Add vanilla extract, mix well.

8. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well.

9. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.

10. Beat until well blended.

11. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.

12. Bake for about 40 minutes or till done.

13. Let stand in the loaf pan for 5-10 minutes on a cooling rack.

14. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

15. Cut and store in an air-tight container.

This cake will be a regular on my table .... love that I just need to put everything into the mixing bowl and let the mixer do the work =)