SMILE =)

A big smiley to chase the Monday blues away!

I was at the Asian Mart yesterday, doing my weekly grocery shopping when I found myself staring at this huge bottle of ABC Kecap Manis. All possible dishes using this sauce came to mind. I don't want to buy a big bottle of sauce which I don't use often. However, the bottle I was staring at was too big! It was a deal when I spotted another smaller bottle down the aisle.

With some rice left over from last night's dinner, I decided to do a non-spicy version of Nasi Goreng, using Kecap Manis! The recipe was adapted from The Perfect Pantry. Thank you, Lydia, for sharing all the wonderful recipes at your blog!

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 clove Garlic, minced

1.5 cup Lettuce Trio

1.5 cup Cold Cooked Rice

1 cup Chicken Thigh Fillets, cubed

1 Egg, lightly beaten

1 tbsp Kecap Manis

1/4tsp Sesame Oil

• Heat up wok and add oil.
• Add minced garlic and fry till fragrant.
• Add uncooked chicken cubes.
• Fry till cooked and lightly browned.
• Add shredded lettuce trio and fry for 1min.
• Push the chicken and lettuce to one side.
• Add beaten egg, cook till just set.
• Add rice, stirring egg and rice together.
• Add kecap manis and sesame oil.
• Stir to mix all the ingredients in the wok.

I omitted the shrimps and chilli, since Darling son KW would not eat shrimps, and both boys could not take spicy food. The lettuce shrunk so much after frying, I could hardly see any vegetables in the plate of fried rice! I felt uncomfortable not seeing any greens in the rice. So I blanched some broccoli florets and mixed them into the plate of fried rice =)

The fried rice was sweet, and tasted as good when cold (I tried the little leftover in their lunchbox after school). Instead of telling me how they liked the fried rice, they ended up telling me how the rice covered the smile. I was not surprised, since their lunch bags were swinging violently on their bike handle as they biked their way to school this morning =)

Cooker-Claypot Rice

I was feeling lazy. The idea of using the rice cooker to do all the cooking was very appealing. Hence, I did a "cheater's" version of the claypot rice, without the cured meat.

3 tbsp Vegetarian Oyster Sauce

1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Sesame Oil

8 pcs Dried Chinese Mushrooms

4 pcs Chicken thigh fillet (Deboned, skin removed, cubed)

2 cups Uncooked Rice

4-5 cloves Garlic

• Debone and remove the skin from the chicken thigh fillet if necessary.
• Wash and pat dry. Cut the fillet into bite size pieces.
• Reconstitute the dried chinese mushrooms in warm, about 20 minutes.
• Cut the softened chinese mushrooms into strips.
• Put the mushrooms and cubed chicken pieces in a bowl.
• Marinate the mushrooms and chicken pieces for at least 30 minutes.
• Wash the rice, and add water accordingly.
• Add the chicken and mushroom to the rice, together with the marinade.
• Remove the skin from the garlic cloves.
• Press the garlic with the back of the knife to "flatten" it.
• Add the garlic to the rice, chicken and mushroom.
• Set the rice cooker and cook.
• When the rice is cooked, break up the garlic, fluff the rice and mix well. Serve the rice warm, along side with some vegetables.

You can set the rice cooker, go out for your grocery shopping, or bring the kids for their morning swim class, and come home with lunch awaiting for you! A simple meal on a busy weekend!

Rice Balls and More!

There are days when I feel lazy, and want something that is easy to prepare and to eat for either lunch or dinner. Something light, something that can be eaten in a short time.

Since I had a pack of smoked salmon sitting in the fridge, why not use it for rice balls? These little rice balls, topped with small thin slices of smoked salmon, would make a lovely lunch item. And they are not difficult to make at all!

First, seasoned your rice with some sushi rice vinegar.

Cut the smoked salmon into slices.

Place the slice of smoked salmon onto a big sheet of cling wrap.

Top the salmon with some rice.

Pull the ends of the wrap together and twist!

Shape the rice, remove the wrap and done!

I had a really small pack of smoked salmon, and managed to make only 9 rice balls. Only 8 in the photograph? I ate one before taking the photograph ... food tasting =p

That's definitely not enough for everyone. And what about the vegetables?

I stir fried a packet of shitake mushrooms with some olive oil, garlic and vegetarian oyster sauce (less salty than the actual oyster sauce). Using my triangular rice mould, I made four onigiri. I didn't do a good job, as some of the fillings were falling out, and the wrong way too! The rice should wrapped the fillings, so I should not see the fillings =p Will not make the same mistake twice!

In order to use up the leftover SPAM from another meal, I decided to make Musubi! And to complete the meal, a bowl of miso soup with some silken tofu thrown in!

We each had two rice balls, an onigiri, a musubi and a bowl of soup! I was stuffed that afternoon =)

Spinach and Ground Meat Fried Rice

"Meat, vegetables, and rice, all in a single bite!"

Yes, this is the opening line for this dish, in the book "Bento Love" and I totally agree! The boiled spinach can prepared ahead. No marinating is required for the meat. Leftover rice from the previous day can be used.

Not a spinach lover? You can still give this dish a try, as even though plenty of spinach is used, the taste is not too empowering. Instead, the browned ground meat and fried garlic give this dish its fragrance. The taste of the fried rice can be adjusted to your taste. More soy sauce and salt if you prefer a saltier dish, or less if you like.

The ingredients listed below serves 2 adults and 2 kids, slightly different from that listed in the book.

4 servings of rice for 2 adults and 2 kids

1 bunch of spinach

200g Ground Meat (I prefer Ground Turkey)

1 tbsp Minced Garlic

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

1 tbsp Butter

Dash of pepper and salt

• If rice is still warm, spread in a shallow dish, or freezer, to cool.
• Blanch spinach in boiling salted water.
• Rinse under cold water.
• Drain and squeeze out excess water well.
• Chop finely. I use a pair of scissors to cut up the spinach.
• Heat up a frying pan.
• Add oil to the well heated pan.
• Add butter.
• Saute garlic until fragrant and add meat.
• Stir-fry over medium heat.
• When the meat is browned, add rice. Mix well.
• Add spinach, stir-fry well, breaking up any clumps.
• Season with soy sauce. Adjust according to your taste.
• Season with salt and pepper.

In fact, I forgot to add salt when blanching the spinach. The spinach was prepared in the morning, to be used in the evening. Half an hour before dinner, I started frying the meat. After mixing the meat and spinach with rice, I seasoned the dish with soy sauce first. I tasted it, and then added the salt. Add the seasoning gradually, adjusting according to your taste. The dash of pepper was a nice touch to the fried rice .... the boys didn't complain about the fried rice being "spicy"! They finished their bowl of fried rice, accompanied by a bowl of miso soup!

This new dish is going to be a regular on my table!

Popeye will be proud of me!

Rainbow Fried Rice

Don't you think the fried rice is very colourful?

There's the green from broccoli, red from chinese sausages, black from chinese mushrooms, yellow from egg, and orange from carrots. And there's a whole lot of vegetables in the rice! I call this dish ... Rainbow Fried Rice!

Hubby dear wanted to cook dinner, since it's a long Thanksgiving weekend. I got get some rest too, since he would be cooking. However, he had only a vague idea of what to put in for the fried rice, so I helped in preparing the ingredients. As it was his first time frying chinese sausages, he was not too sure when he should add the rice. So the rice and sausages were added into the pan the same time. I tried to put the rice aside while frying the sausages. Chinese sausages have a high percentage of fats in them, so when frying, no oil is needed. There will be some oil left the pan, after the sausages are fried. The rice can be fried in this little sausage oil then.

Ingredients

2 Chinese Sausages, diced

12-14 Dried Chinese Mushrooms, reconstitue in water and sliced

1 Carrot, peeled and cut into thin sticks

1 Small Yellow Onion, diced

2 cups Cooked Rice

1 tbsp Oyster

1 tbsp Oil

2 Eggs

1.5 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Sugar

• Cook rice, and let cool. Alternatively, you can cook extra rice the day before, and keep in the fridge. The rice has to be cold before frying.
• Reconstitue the dried chinese mushrooms in water. Squeezed the water out from the mushrooms, and sliced.
• Marinate the sliced mushrooms in : 1 tbsp Soy Sauce + 1 tbsp Sugar.
• Set aside for at least 15 minutes.
• Add 1 tbsp of oil into a heated pan.
• Add onions. Fry the onions till and fragrant.
• Add seasoned sliced mushrooms. Fry for a while.
• Add carrots and broccoli.
• Add some water, cover the pan.
• Let cook till the carrots and broccoli have softened.
• Alternatively, microwave the vegetables first before adding them.
• The vegetable stir fry should not be too watery. Add some oyster sauce to taste if you like it more salty. We are ok with nothing added, as the mushrooms gave the mix some taste.
• In another heated pan, fry the chinese sausages. No oil is needed for frying.
• When the sausages are done, remove, and set aside.
• Add rice into the heated pan. There should be some oil from frying the sausages.
• Loosen up the rice, and add 1 tbsp of oyster sauce. Mix well.
• Add eggs, and mix well with the rice.
• Add the cooked sausages and mix well.
• Add the cooked vegetables. Scoop the vegetables from its pan and drain, if the pan of vegetables is more watery than what you desired.
• Stir well and serve warm.

There's lots of vegetables in this dish. You can add whatever vegetables you have in hand. The seasoned mushrooms and the chinese sausages add a nice sweet chewy touch to the pan of fried rice.

As a side dish, I oven-baked some chicken wings. The nice thing about baking wings is that you can flavor the wings with whatever you have in the pantry or fridge. Some alternatives to marinating the wings:

a) Lemon Juice, and add a dash of Italian herbs to cornflour.

b) Lemon Juice, and add a dash of grated Parmesan Cheese to cornflour.

b) Shaoxing Wine and a dash of salt

c) Shaoxing Wine and some grated ginger

d) Salt

e) Soy Sauce

f) Oyster Sauce

• Coat the marinated wings in corn flour. Shake off excess flour.
• Arrange wings on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
• Bake at 425F for 20 minutes.
• Turn the wings over and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
• Switch to Broil function and broil for another few minutes to get a crispy skin.
• Keep warm in the oven till ready to serve.

I'm glad I omitted the butter this time. The wings were crispy, and there was no oil in the tray when I took the wings out. It was a very simple, but tasty dinner on Thanksgiving Day! The kids gave their Papa ... Two thumbs UP for the Rainbow Fried Rice ... YUMMY .. they said! The next dish by hubby dear? ABC Soup, he said ... I'm looking forward that!

We miss you ... Nasi Lemak!

Dear Nasi Lemak (Rice in Coconut Cream),

I have been waiting for your arrival since Wednesday. We are happy to receive an email from the Malaysian Student Association, informing us that they will be selling Nasi Lemak to raise funds for their association. Being neighbours to Malaysia, we are more than happy to support the fundraising project. We miss you so much, we have to place order for three packets to be delivered to our house, instead of two!

A neck-breaking wait ... and finally, it's Saturday!

It was a beautiful morning, though a little chilly. We brought the kids out for an early lunch at McDonalds ... ok, Mom was too excited thinking about Nasi Lemak to be able to cook properly for the kids. Mom and Dad would be having Nasi Lemak for lunch! Delivery would be between 1 - 2 pm ... Couldn't wait for the packets to be delivered!

1pm came and went.

2pm came and went.

3pm came and went.

4pm came and went.

Nasi Lemak, did you lose your way?

Knock, knock ... 4.30pm. Finally arrived!

Three packets of Nasi Lemak ... back in Singapore, I would rate the rice and chicken delivered, a star out of five ... however, when you are in a faraway land, any home food is delicious and comforting! And the sambal chilli ... uhhhhh ..... love it!

I'm going to bed tonight, dreaming of .... Nasi Briyani, Curry Chicken, Chicken Rice, Fishball Noodles, and many many more .... Drool ....

Beef Fried Rice

Darling sons just recovered from their high fever and both were coughing. So I tried to go light on oil and food. Had been serving seafood, pork and beef for the last couple of days. A simple meal for dinner, since both the boys had not much appetite.

200g Thinly sliced beef (I sliced those thinly cut beef steaks)

2 eggs Lightly beaten

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 Yellow Onion, finely diced

4 tsp Light, Low Sodium Soy Sauce

2 tsp Sake (I replace with Shaoxin Wine)

1. Cut beef into very thin strips.
   
2. Saute the beef and onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
   
3. Season with salt and pepper and remove from pan when done.
   
4. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to thepan and scramble the eggs.
   
5. Add the rice to the pan and stir fry, breaking up the eggs.
   
6. Stir in the meat mixture.
   
7. Add the soy sauce and sake.
   
8. Top with nori, and serve with blanched spinach.
   

You don't see the spinach in the photograph?

It's hidden under the pile of rice =)

Cook and Cooker?

My little boy said to me one day : Mama, you cook for us, so you must be a cooker!

Hmm, yes, I cook. But definitely not a cooker. A rice-cooker especially, since the rice-cooker is always switched on.

The men, big and little, in the house, love eating rice. They will have rice for lunch, and dinner. They are ... errh ... rice buckets? They feel hungry, if they have other carbohydrates for a meal. Macaroni and noodles make their guest appearance once in a long while.

So when asked, "What would you like for lunch/dinner?", the answer will always be "RICE!".

I love cooking one pot rice.

Claypot rice, baked rice, fried rice. Chicken rice too, if I have the chicken rice sauce.

Minimum washing and cooking. All in a pot .. your meat, vegetables and carbohydrates.

I am sure there are many more ways to 'dress up' the rice. I am still exploring and learning.

But for now, the men love the way their rice is 'dressed up', and are not complaining.

So the cooker cooks, while the cook rest.