Cheesy Baked Rice With Ham, Mushroom & Corns

It's been a while since the last time I made baked rice. Suddenly the crave set in :P
Saw one recipe at Ju's blog, The Little Teochew, looked so yummy!
And yes, it was, indeed!

 

I didn't use carrots but added sweet corns since my kids love it. I used frozen corns

Also I added fresh button mushroom, sliced

 

What you need:

(for two portions)

 

7 tbsp chicken stock

2 tbsp cream

1 tsp corn flour, diluted with a little water

2 rice bowls overnight cooked rice

breakfast ham, sliced

200g sliced button mushrooms

a few handful of frozen corns

a knob of butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

grated cheddar and mozzarella

grated parmesan

 

Method:

1. In a saucepan, bring chicken stock and cream to a boil. Add corn starch liquid. Stir till the mixture thickens. Set aside
2. In a wok, melt some butter. Fry the garlic till fragrant. Add ham, followed by corns and mushrooms. Add rice. Break up all lumps. Mix well
3. Pour butter fried rice into a casserole dish. Pour chicken stock mixture over. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese
4. Top with lots of grated cheddar and mozzarella
5. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 10mins (it's for small casserole, for bigger size, please adjust the timing accordingly) at 200 degrees C or until the cheese browns to a golden crust. Serve piping hot

I'm submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up April - Corn, organised by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and hosted by Esther from Copycake Kitchen.

Spam Fried Rice With Corn

Yeah, spam is not healthy... But everyone would agree that it's really yummy LOL
I guess it's forgivable to enjoy it once a while :)
I balanced up with scrambled eggs and corns to make me feel less guilty and also my kids love corns so much
I also chose light spam which claims to have 25% less sodium *grin*

Inspiration is from Rasa Malaysia

What you need:

3 cups overnight steamed rice

2 1/2 tbsp oil

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 cloves of garlic, minced (I used 3)

6oz  spam, cut into small cubes (I used 2/3 can)

1 cup frozen vegetables, defrost (I used 1 1/2 cup frozen corns)

Salt, to taste

Seasonings:
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (I used 2 tbsp)

1/2 tbsp fish sauce

1/4 tsp sesame oil (I used 1 tsp)

1 tsp garlic oil (I added)
1 tsp dark sweet soya sauce (I added)
3 dashes white pepper

Method:

1. Break up the lumpy overnight rice with the back of the spoon or fork
2. Mix all the ingredients for the seasonings in a small bowl
3. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a wok over high heat and cook the eggs first. Use the spatula to break the eggs into small pieces. Set aside
4. Reheat the wok with the remaining 2 tbsp oil and stir-fry the garlic until aromatic
5. Add the spam pieces and stir-fry until light brown before adding the corns. Stir to combine well
6. Add the rice into the wok and use the spatula to stir-fry continuously until the all the ingredients are well blended
7. Add the seasonings into the wok, blending it well with the rice and ingredients
8. Return the cooked eggs into the wok and combine with the rice. Dish out and serve immediately

I'm submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up April - Corn, organised by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and hosted by Esther from Copycake Kitchen.
 

Coconut Rice (Nasi Lemak)

I've cooked coconut rice three times for the past few months with three different recipes

The first one I made, pic below, I used packet instant seasoning, just mixed with the rinsed rice and water, put in the rice cooker. Served with fried fish, stir fry kangkong with dried shrimp, stir fry prawns and petai using instant sambal seasoning with dried shrimp, fried ikan bilis and store bought nasi lemak sambal chilli
My kind of cooking when hit by lazy bug LOL

Second time I made was more original, pic below, everything made from the scratch including the sambal chilli
I served with pan fry seabass, fried silver fish, scrambled eggs and prawn sambal belimbing

 

 

Recipe for the nasi lemak is from recipe book: All About Rice & Noodles

 

What you need:

 

For the rice:

 

uncooked rice (amount as needed)

half part water and half part coconut milk to cook the rice

salt

4 pandan leaves

1. Rinse rice and combine well with coconut milk, salt and water. Set aside for 20 minutes then add pandan leaves
2. Cook in rice cooker

 

For the sambal chilli:

 

Blend well:

1 small piece lemon grass

1 clove of garlic

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

20g dried shrimps (soaked til softened)

1 small piece of prawn paste (belachan)

140g shallots (chopped)

100g onion (chopped)

30g red chillies (chopped)

 

3 tbsps sugar

1 tbsp light soya sauce

salt and pepper

1. Heat oil and fry the paste til oil seeps out, add sugar, light soya sauce, salt and pepper
 

Third time I cooked nasi lemak, pic below, I used recipe from Ellena's site and now I know, this is the recipe I'm going to use in the future

My whole family loves this nasi lemak, so tasty and fragrant, too

I served with fried noodle, prawn crackers, fried silver fish and fried chicken with crumbs

 

 

 

 

A unique recipe using F & N ice cream soda, yields a very satisfying kind of coconut rice

Do give this a try, you won't regret!

Recipe can be viewed HERE

 

The sambal chilli I used the recipe I shared above, nice sambal I must say, even though the preparation is not so friendly to my eyes -> chopping 240g of shallots and onion, teary eyes I got at the end of everything, but it's worth it - really! :P

 

Even from the pictures, you will know which one going to be your favorite, isn't it? :)

 

 

Malacca Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls

I've been to Malacca once, long time ago, and this dish is one of the most memorable dish I enjoyed during my stay there
It's basically the usual chicken rice easily found in Singapore, but rice shaped in balls
But somehow the shape affects the texture of the rice and the overall taste
Nice! :)

Recipe is from Kuali via yummylittlecooks

What you need:
(with slight modification and I didn't make the ginger juice which we don't really fancy)

For the chicken:
1 chicken (about 1 kg)
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
2cm fresh ginger, crushed
1 stalk spring onion
1 tsp salt
1 cube chicken bouillon

For the rice:
2 cups long grain rice, washed and drained
2 tbsp oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp salt and 1 tsp light soya sauce
2 pandan leaves, knotted
2 1/2 cups (600ml) reserved chicken stock

Garlic chilli sauce:
5 red chillis
2 red bird's eye chillis
15g fresh young ginger
3 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp chicken stock
juice of 2 limes

1. To prepare chicken: Rub chicken inside out with salt, stuff with ginger, garlic and spring onion. Boil water in a deep pot and put in the chicken. Make sure the water covers the whole chicken
2. Lower the heat and simmer the chicken for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and soak chicken for 45 minutes in the stock. Remove chicken and set aside to cool. Reserve the stock for the rice
3. To prepare the rice: Heat oil and saute garlic til fragrant. Stir in rice and fry for around 3 minutes. Place rice in rice cooker. Add in stock, salt and pandan leaves. When rice is cooked and fluffy, scoop out with a ladle and roll into balls while rice is still hot. Set aside
4. To make garlic chilli sauce: Pound chillis, ginger, garlic. Mix with salt, chicken stock and lime juice
5. To serve chicken: Cut chicken into serving pieces and drizzle with sesame oil and light soya sauce. Serve with chicken rice balls and garlic chilli sauce and dark soya sauce. Some slices of cucumber will be nice too

I'm submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest, Melaka month hosted by Cindy of yummylittlecooks

 

Indonesian Style Chicken Rice In Coconut Sauce (Nasi Ayam Semarang)

Indonesia is so big that even chicken rice has many different types
One of them which is I'm familiar with is the one originated from Semarang, the capital city of Central Java province
The city where I was born, hence my enthusiasm in practising to cook this dish :)

It's mainly coconut rice accompanied by a few dishes which are also cooked in coconut milk
Yum yum yum... Yeah, Indonesians love to cook dishes with coconut milk
God knows how the cholesterol level in this dish LOL
Such a big frustration to know yummy stuff is usually not recommended by dietitians wew....

What I cooked was the coconut rice accompanied by stir fry chayote in spicy coconut sauce, chicken and also eggs & tofu cooked in coconut sauce
Only 3 dishes to accompany the rice but it's pretty tedious to prepare even though it's worth the trouble since it cant be found anywhere in Singapore :)

Here's the recipe - it's from my mum...

For the coconut rice:

300g uncooked rice
100ml coconut milk (I mixed 60ml Kara coconut cream and 40ml water)
1 tsp salt
320ml water
3 pandan leaves

1. Rinse rice and combine well with coconut milk, salt and water
2. Set aside for 10-20 minutes, then add pandan leaves and cook in rice cooker

For the chicken dish:

1 chicken, cut

Blend together:
*1/2 tbsp coriander seeds, mix with a little water and grind
*5 shallots, chopped
*4 cloves of garlic, crushed
*a thumb size of turmeric, peeled and chopped
*a pinch of belachan (fried prawn paste)
*6 candlenuts - grated

2 bay leaves
water
salt, sugar
5 tbsp Kara coconut cream

1. Boil chicken with blended ingredients and bay leaves, water, salt and sugar
2. When the chicken half cooked, add in coconut cream and bring to boil
3. Lower down the heat, and simmer til thick coconut layer surfaced
4. Scoop the thick layer and transfer to a small pot, set aside
5. Bring the chicken to boil and off heat

For the tofu and eggs dish:

the thick coconut layer from the chicken
water
1 bay leaf
3 blocks of firm tofu - cut and fried til golden brown

5 eggs
2 cloves of garlic - crushed
palm sugar
tamarind paste mixed with water, mix well and strain
salt
dark sweet soya sauce (kecap manis)

1. First, cook the eggs first: Boil eggs for 15 minutes approx, drain and peel. In a small pot, boil the peeled eggs together with garlic, water, palm sugar, a little tamarind juice, salt, and dark sweet soya sauce. Bring to boil and simmer for 15minutes, til eggs browned - off heat and drain eggs
2. Mix thick coconut layer with water, add in bay leaf, fried tofu and the cooked eggs 
3. Bring to boil and simmer til thickened

For the stir fry chayote dish:

 

2 chayotes, peel and julienned, mix with salt and squeeze by hand - rinse well, set aside

4 shallots, sliced

1 clove of garlic, crushed

a pinch of belachan (fried prawn paste)

1 tbsp blended red chillis (smooth)

water

2 tbsp coconut milk

salt, sugar, oil

1. Heat oil in a pan, stir fry shallots, garlic, belachan til fragrant
2. Add in chillis and add water
3. Add in coconut milk, followed by salt, sugar and bring to boil
4. Adjust the taste
5. Add in shayote, stir well briefly and off heat

Scoop coconut rice in a serving plate, together with chicken, tofu, egg and chayote

Serve immediately

Just to share, back there in the origin city, people serve this rice dish on a plate made of banana leaf and eat with spoon made of banana leaf. Somehow, eating this way makes the dish taste even more yummy but it needs skill and practice to master eating with the spoon, not so easy :)

I googled to let you see how the spoon looks like... here it is:

You see the long slim rectangle thing on your right side? That's the spoon :)

I guess this is another great dish to fill you up for those fasting..

I submit this post to LBT Ramadhan dishes August 2012

Omu Rice (Japanese Omelette Rice)

I always love this dish, one of mostly chosen everytime I visited now closed down Shokudo in Raffles City, I'm one of the disappointed regular customer :(

Decided to give it a try after found the recipe that looks worth trying, it's indeed yummy, but I gotta train myself more to shape it more nicely, mine looked too skinny and flat, it should have been more 'rounder' LOL

Recipe is from Gourmet Traveller with some adjustment I made to suit my family preference

What you need:

(serves 1)

1 cup cooked cold rice

2 eggs, beaten
2-3 slices ham, chopped
4 button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 small carrot (about 2 tbsp), small dice
1/2 onion (about 2 tbsp), chopped

corn kernels from 1 corn

2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato ketchup (plus more to serve)

1/2 tsp chicken stock powder

salt, pepper, canola oil, garlic oil

1. Heat a mixture of canola oil and garlic oil in a wok or large frying pan over a medium heat
2. Throw in the onion and garlic and sauté til fragrant
3. Add in ham, mushrooms and carrots and stir-fry until slightly coloured and fragrant
4. Add in corn kernels, stir well
5. Season with a little salt and pepper, also chicken stock powder, then add in the cold rice
6. Drizzle over the soy sauce and cook for a further couple of minutes, stirring well to combine
7. Add ketchup and stir again making sure the rice is heated through.
8. If it's too dry, drizzle abit more garlic oil. Keep warm
9. In a separate medium frying pan heat the remaining oil on a high heat
10. Pour in the beaten eggs and coat the entire pan to make a large thin egg crêpe
11. When the egg in the middle is almost set, spoon the fried rice into the center and fold both sides of the crêpe over to form an omelette (this part I need more practice wew...)
12. Carefully invert the omelette onto a plate (this part too LOL)
13. Serve immediately with more ketchup on the side, and bottled chilli sauce for my case :)

The next time I make this very tasty dish again, a slab of chicken katsu would be nice :)

Grilled Stuffed Rice In Banana Leaves (Nasi Bakar) (Happy Call)

Very well loved by Indonesians
This authentic Indonesian dish is basically rice cooked in coconut milk wrapped in banana leaves with some fillings at the centre, and then grilled. Many different variations in terms of the filling
Mine used shredded chicken and silver fish, both cooked separately before being put in the rice. And I used my Happy Call pan to do the grilling :)
The fragrant from banana leaves makes the already yummy rice tasted even better, adding with the yummy filling, this dish doesn't need anything else, perhaps some spicy chilli paste :)

The picture below is the two fillings...

Recipe is from my mum...

What you need:

For the rice:
2 cups rice
3 bay leaves, rinsed
a stalk of lemongrass
coconut milk (I used 100ml Kara coconut milk)
salt, water

I cooked the rice in my rice cooker, mix all ingredients in it til cooked
(adjust the quantity of water according to your preference, not too soft, the best is the consistency of fried rice)

For the shredded chicken:
400g chicken breasts

5 cloves of garlic. minced

3 shallots, sliced thinly

1 thumb size  kaemferia galanga (in Indonesian: kencur)

2 bay leaves

75ml coconut milk (Kara)

1/2 tsp ground coriander

salt, pepper, sugar, sweet dark soya sauce (kecap manis)

a little oil

1. Boil a pot of water with the chicken, bring to boil, discard the residue, simmer approximately 1 hour til chicken softened, after that scoop out the chicken from the stock and let cool
2. After cooled, shred the chicken
3. Chop garlic, shallots and kencur and then blend til forms smooth paste
4. Add in shredded chicken, add in a little stock (approx 3 tbsp)
5. Add in salt, pepper, sugar, coriander and kecap manis, mix well
6. If it's too dry, you may add a little oil and keep stirring

For the silver fish:
100g silver fish, fry til crispy
3 shallots, sliced thinly
2 large red chillies, sliced thinly
sweet dark soya sauce (kecap manis), salt, sugar, water, a little oil

1. Sautee shallots and chillies with oil on hot frying pan, add in kecap manis, salt, sugar, water and bring to boil, let simmer in medium fire til the mixture thickened
2. Add in fried silver fish, stir til well combined

Topping:
Mix coconut milk, water and salt in a pot, bring to boil, stir continuously til the mixture slightly thickened

To assemble: 
Cut banana leaves according to the preferred size (rectangle shape)
Spread rice on the leaf (the centre part), top it up with both fillings, top up with more rice, covering the filling
Pour 1-2 tbsp of topping and wrap the leaf
Secure each end with toothpick

Arrange the wrapped rice on Happy Call pan and grill til the leaves turned brown both sides

Pretty complicated and time consuming procedure but it's really worth the effort! :)

Campbell Soup Easy Baked Cheesy & Creamy Rice

Ppppffff.....FINALLY I can update my almost rusty blog! Can't believe my last posting was almost one month ago!

Busy with packing and unpacking, added with busy taking care of my boy which had high fever up to 39.5degC for 4 days and bad phlegmy cough, and when he's better, it's me - 1 week of getting super duper teribble throat infection with high fever up to 39.5degC - up and down for 4 days, severe throat infection which made me grimace everytime I swallow even my own saliva, followed by recuperating period with taking care of my daughter - also high fever for 4 days (hers reached 40.1degC at one point), but for her case, it's not sore throat but very bad phlegmy cough - just like her brother *faint*

Yeah, 3 of us taking turn, luckily DH's immunity is really strong! 
Even now, I still have a little sore throat, and my kids still have occassional phlegmy cough and 3 of us still on medication - WEW!!!

As for unpacking thing, not too bad, around 10% left *phew....

Well, set aside the virus talk - I guess it's real active lately islandwide...

Ok, this is what I made before I fell sick...

Easy and yummy - recipe is from Rita's site

What you need:

(modified by me)

1 can Campbell mushroom soup (I used roasted garlic mushroom soup)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 onion - chopped

7 pieces of breakfast ham - sliced

1/2 packet (approx 2 fistful) shitake mushroom - cut

1 cup of mixed cubed veggies (corn, carrot and green peas)

enough shredded cheddar & mozzarella cheese
1.5 cups of cooked rice
salt, black pepper, dried oregano, dried parsley, worchestershire sauce, olive oil

Saute garlic and onion in olive oil, add mushrooms, let cook, add ham, drizzle a bit of worcestershire sauce, let cook and brown a bit, add cubed veggie, season with salt, black pepper, mixed herbs and worchestershire sauce, let everything cook. In a separate sauce pot, heat up the canned soup, add water using the can (1can), use the same seasonings to spice up the mixture, mix well, pour the cream sauce mixture to the ham, mushrooms and veggie mix, let everything combine and cook through

Preheat oven to 250C, prepare an oven proof dish, place some rice on the bottom, pour the creamy mixture on top of rice, top off with cheddar then mozzarella cheese, generously, and bake until the cheese is golden brown

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Great pre-mixed set for a lazy mummy on a lazy weekend :P

The good thing is it doesn't forget the chicken, it comes with the seasonings and sauces for both chicken and rice, so I didn't have to do anything else at all, just get ready with the chicken and the rice, the spring onion, chilli sauce, dark sauce and blended ginger, and cucumber - that's all :)

I didn't have dark sauce, ginger and cucumber so I just skipped them without any regret :P

Boil a pot of water and add in 1 whole chicken (I cut into parts) - make sure it submerged, add in the chicken seasonings and simmer for 30mins

Pour the sauce over the cooked chicken just before eating

Really yummy tender chicken!

To prepare the rice, use the water from the chicken and add in the seasonings - put all into rice cooker and let cook - that's it



Use the remaining chicken stock as the soup - you may adjust the taste accordingly by adding a liitle salt and pepper - enjoy! :)

Simple Egg Fried Rice & Stir Fry Carrot+Cabbage

More of simple dishes that loved by my family :)

What you need:

3 portions of cooked rice
3 eggs - beaten with 2 pinch of salt
cabbage - chopped & blanched (I used beijing cabbage which is not so thick)
oil, garlic oil, salt, pepper, chicken stock powder, fish sauce
chopped spring onion for garnish

Heat oil, fry eggs into scrambled - set aside
In the same pan, heat garlic oil, add in rice, stir well
Add in cabbage, salt, pepper, chicken stock powder and fish sauce - mix well
Adjust taste as preferred
Mix in scrambled eggs til well - off heat
Trasnfer in serving plate, garnish with spring onion
Serve hot

Veggie side dish to accompany the rice:

What you need:

3 cloves of garlic - crushed
carrots - julienned
cabbage - I used beijing cabbage, leftover from the one used for fried rice above - julienned
2 eggs - beaten with a pinch of salt
oil, water, salt, pepper, chicken stock powder, fish sauce, light soya sauce, a little sugar

Heat oil fry eggs into scrambled - set aside
In the same pan, heat oil, stir fry garlic til fragrant
Add carrots, stir well, add water (I don't use much), bring to boil
Add in cabbage, stir well, foloowed by the seasonings - salt, pepper, chicken stock powder, fish sauce, light soya sauce, sugar
Adjust taste, you may add water if necessary
Stir well for around 2 minutes - you dont want the veggies to turn too soft
Mix in scrambled egg - stir well, off heat

Indonesian Style Steamed Chicken Rice (Nasi Tim Ayam)

So many Indonesian restaurants nowadays in Singapore, but none sells this dish
Yummy and loved by my family :)

What you need:

For the chicken:

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 large onion, chopped

600gr chicken breast, diced

1 can button mushroom, cut

butter, sesame oil, light soya sauce, kicap manis, oyster sauce, a little sugar, pepper

For the rice:

3 cups rice

5 cloves of garlic - crushed

butter, sesame oil, light soya sauce

For the soup:

1 chicken breast bone

1 big pot water

How to make....

Chicken:

Heat butter and sesame oil. Fry onion and garlic til fragrant

Add chicken, stir til change colour

Add soya sauce, kicap manis, oyster sauce, pepper, sugar and button mushroom. Stir well

 

 

Rice:

Heat butter and sesame oil. Fry garlic til fragrant, mix with rice

Cook rice in rice cooker using the chicken stock as required

 

 

Soup:

Bring to boil chicken bone and water 

 

 

Prepare melamine bowls (heat proof)

Put chicken at the bottom of each melamine bowl

Add rice on top of the chicken til almost full

Put bowls in the steamer, steam for 30’

Take out from the steamer

Put the bowls upside down on the plate

 

 

Serve with soup on the side, chopped spring onions and fried sliced garlic