Claypot chicken rice

Yohoo! It's been a long long time since I update the blog. Have been busy with the son's CA, then snake fighting and going Penang for a short trip. 

Decided today to whip a good meal for the love ones, that is Claypot Rice.  Glad to see them cleaning up their plates! :)

Ingredients:

- rice (your normal rice washed, and water, both portions separated out)

- chicken meat chopped into small pieces (marinate for 20mins using below marinade)

- Chinese sausage sliced

- salted fish (chopped into small slices)

- bacon (optional. Used for the oil + flavor)

Marinade for Chicken

- 1 tbsp sesame oil 

- 1.5 tbsp light soy sauce

- 1 tbsp thick dark sauce 

- 1 tsp salt 

- pinch of white pepper powder

- few slices of ginger 

Sauce for cooking (separate bowl, mixed well)

- 2 tbsp thick dark sauce

- 2 tbsp light soy sauce

- 1 tbsp sesame oil 

Steps:

1. Pour a little oil into the Claypot, and using a kitchen paper towel, soak a little of the oil and coat around the wall of the Claypot. 

2. When the oil is slightly hot, throw in the salted fish and pan fry till the fish meat turns white or 80% cooked. Dish and set aside. 

3.  If you have raw bacon at home, throw in 2 slices and pan fry too. The oil released from the bacon will be smoky more flavorful. Dish up when bacon's almost cooked. 

4. Leaving the remaining oil, add in the washed rice.  Do not add in water yet. Using a spatula, give the rice a good stir to coat the grains with the oil. That will give your rice grains a nice taste. When done, add in the water. Cover the lid. 

5. Check the rice after 10 mins. The rice should be 80% cooked, water pretty dried up and you can see and hear the bubbling.  Stir in the pre-cooked salted fish. Using this chance, u can also check if the rice is about to be cooked. Put back the lid. 

6. After 5 mins, add in the marinated chicken, spread across the surface evenly to ensure even cooking. Using a spoon, drench the sauce over the chicken and the rice. Put back the lid. 

7. 2 mins later, place in the Chinese sausages and put back the lid.  

8. Remove cover. Add in the vegetables, place the bacon slice on top of the vegs and add the spring onions over the bacon. 

At this point, you may ask why can't we throw everything into the almost cooked rice and wait for it to be cooked?  

Well, this is to bring out the various taste in the different food items. For example, if u add in the chicken and vegetables together, the vegs will turn out to be overlooked as the meat needs more time for cooking. Also, placing the bacon slices over the vegetable, gives the vegetables a nice salty- baconish taste. 

9. To serve, drench the cooked rice with thick dark sauce to get that nice black cooked rice taste. 

Happy cooking!

Happy mum

Mee Hoon Kueh

The kids especially the 5yo daughter loves mee hoon kueh. So love that she will always ask for MHK every day after school dismissal.  But of cos, we will always tell her "next time ok?" since lunch is usually home cooked. 

I have done MKH before and since she's constantly craving for it, I told her to expect a Home cooked version this weekend, and to get her grandparents and uncle/auntie to sample too.   

This is also a great dish to get the kids involved, like rolling the dough, tearing the dough to drop into the soup base etc...

Ingredients:

For soup base:

- ikan bilis

For dough 

- 250g plain flour 

- 100ml water

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 tbsp oil

- 1 egg

Others:

- 200g minced meat (marinate with 1 tbsp of sesame oil, 1 tbsp of light soya sauce)

- 4 mushrooms (soaked, then slice)

- some chopped vegetatables (I used choy sum but the best and most authentic would be mani-cai)

- some prawns or crabsticks or seafood toufu (basically your choice)

- chopped garlic

Preparation of dough:

1. Add the salt, oil and egg into the water and mix well. Set aside.  

2. Create a well in the flour and add half the egg mixture into the flour and mix. When the flour mixture becomes too dry, add in the remaining egg mixture.

3. Knead the dough well for 10mins. This is the more time consuming and tiring part. 

4. When the dough is done (should be less still sticky than before), make a ball out of it and place in a plate, using a damp cloth or cling wrap to cover over. Let it stand for 1 hr. 

Steps:

1. While dough is being set aside to rest, prepare the soup base. Fried ikan bilis till crispy, set aside some for garnishing and the remaining, toss into a pot of boiling water. Cook for 10mins. 

2. Heat some oil in the frying pan, and fry the chopped garlic until aromatic. Add in the sliced mushrooms and give a quick stir. Add in 2 tbsp of stock. Dish and set aside. 

3. Heat another 2 tbsp of oil and when oil is hot, add in the minced meat and fry them. As above, add in some stocks to cook the meat. Add in some dark soy sauce when it's always ready. Dish and set aside. 

3. After 1 hr, check the dough. Gently press down with a finger. If it bounced back and is not sticky, the dough is ready to be cooked. 

4. Transfer the soup into another deep pan or pot, and keep it on low heat. 

5. Spread some flour on your working area, and using a roller pin, roll to flatten the dough. U may want to dust the roller pin and your hands with the flour to prevent sticking. 

6. Tear the dough into bite size pieces, and throw them into the new pan with the stock. Let it boil. 

7. When the soup comes to a boil, as in your other ingredients, like the chopped vegatables, prawns, seafood toufu or Kani sticks etc. when the soup begins to boil, you may add in an egg and let it cook for another 1 min before dishing out. 

8. Dish into a bowl. You can now add in your other pre-cooked ingredients like the ikan bilis and minced meat. 

There you go, the kids' preferred type of Mee Hoon Kueh with the seafood toufu and crabsticks, and the adults' ones have the fresh prawns. 

Happy dough-ing!

Happy mum

Stir-fried Lean Meat

This evening, we tabao-ed outside food for the kids since they have been having home-cooked food for almost a week long.  But yea, told hubby not to get mine as I had wanna "escape" into the kitchen tonight. Lol. 

So, I had earlier this week, got a slab of pork loin, 290g, at $8++. Good enough to divide into 3 portions. Hence, decided to do up a 姜葱瘦肉 to go together with my plain porridge. 

Ingredients:

- pork loin (100g), thinly sliced

- spring onions (separate the white and green portions)

- chopped garlic

- sliced ginger

- five spice powder

- ground pepper

- dark soy sauce

- sesame oil

- dash of salt

- Shaoxing wine (optional)

Steps:

1. Marinate the sliced pork with 2 tsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, a dash of pepper and five spice powder , and leave to stand for 30mins

2. Heat the wok with 1 tbsp of oil.  Toss the sliced ginger first and fry till aromatic. Next goes in the chopped white spring onions and again, fry till aromatic. Finally throw in the chopped garlic.  Chopped garlic should not be the first item as they get burnt easily. Give a good stir. 

3. When fragrant, add in the pork slices and give a quick stir. 

4. Wok should be a little dry by now. Add in 2 tbsp of hot water and give a quick fry. Throw in the remaining green spring onions. Stir fry again and add a pinch of salt before adding 1/4 a cup of hot water. 

5. If you like, you may add in a little Shaoxing wine now and then dish to serve. 

There you go, a quick dish for the plain porridge. :)

Happy mum 

Steamed crabby toufu with eggs

It's always nice to have simple dishes made a little "complicated", just for the sake of "new dish exploration".  Hahaha, turned out the kids and husband like this dish. And the happy thing is that this dish is nutritional and easy on the pocket!

Ingredients:

- egg toufu

- 3 pcs Kanimi crab sticks (chopped)

- 1 egg

- chopped spring onions

- sauce (2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp water)

Steps:

1. Cut egg toufu into slices.  Each about 1cm thick. Lay them on a plate (to be sent to the steamer later)

2. Chop the kanimi crabsticks into very small cubes.   Pinch some crabsticks and place on the surface of every toufu. 

3. Heat up the steamer. While water is being boiled, prepare the egg mixture. 

4. Use the 1 whole egg white and half an egg yolk, add 1.5 egg shell of water and mix well. 

5. Pour the mixture into a sieve, into another bowl. This is to rid the mucusy part of the egg white. Once done, pour the egg mixture onto the plate that contains the toufu. Take care not to spill onto the toufu. The egg mixture should cover the base of the plate. 

6. Add in any leftover crabsticks (finely minced them) and chopped spring onions into the mix.  Place the plate into the steamer and steam for 8mins. 

7. After 8 mins, remove the lid and using a teaspoon, drench the side and the top of the toufu. 

8. You are ready to serve this delightful dish. :)

You can also replace the Kani with other ingredients like minced pork/chicken (take care to ensure thorough cooking), or chopped prawns, or perhaps come chopped carrots, or broccoli bits?  The possibilities are endless. Have fun with your food exploration!

Happy mum