Shrimp Fried Rice

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Rice

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Stumbled upon this great site 2 weeks ago - http://steamykitchen.com/blog/. Great photos, wide range of recipes and I truly enjoy the writing style of the site owner. I haven't really had the time to fully explore the site for past recipes but did managed to pick up this one and decided to attempt it today.

Perhaps this is not the first time I am making fried rice (with my mum's recipe though) so I was daring enough not to follow the recipe as closely as I usually would for any maiden attempt, especially where the seasoning is concerned. And instead of frozen peas and carrots, I added in fresh carrots and canned corn kernels.


Ingredients:

• 400 gm small uncooked shrimp (shelled and de-veined) 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• Freshly ground black pepper 
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch 
• 4 eggs (beaten and seasoned with a bit of light soy sauce) 
• 2 stalks scallion or green onion (minced) 
• 2 cups price (cooked the day before and refrigerated overnight) 
• 1 carrot (diced) 
• 1 small can of corn kernel 
• Light soy sauce 
• Sesame oil 
• 4 garlic cloves (minced) 

Preparation:

• Marinate shrimp with the salt, pepper and cornstarch for at least 10 minutes at room temperature. 
• Heat a wok or large sauté pan on high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and swirl to coat pan. 
• Add the shrimp and spread out around the pan so that they are not overlapping. Let the shrimp fry, untouched for 30 seconds. Flip over and let the other side fry for 30 seconds, or until about 80% cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the pan onto a plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible. 
• Turn the heat to medium and let the pan heat up again. Pour in the eggs, stirring in a quick motion to break up and scramble the eggs. When the eggs are almost cooked through (they should still be slightly runny in the middle), dish out of the frying pan onto the same plate as the cooked shrimp. 
• Use a paper towel to wipe the same wok or sauté pan clean and return to high heat with 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, swirling to coat. When the oil is very hot, add in garlic and green onions and stir fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds. 
• Add in carrot and corn and continue to stir-fry. 
• Add in the rice and stir well to mix . Spread the rice all around the wok surface area and let the rice heat up, untouched until you hear the bottoms of the grains sizzle, about 1-2 minutes. Use the spatula to toss the rice, again spreading the rice out over the surface of wok or pan
• Drizzle the soy sauce all around the rice and toss. 
• Return the cooked eggs and shrimp back to the wok and add in sesame oil, tossing to mix the rice evenly with all of the ingredients. Let everything heat back up again. 
• Taste and add an additional soy sauce if needed. 

Number of Servings: 4

Chicken Sate

Posted by Vivian in Chicken

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I got this recipe through Cathy which belongs to her mum... and like all "mum's recipe" this is a definite keeper.  The chicken turned out really flavourful.

Almost ended up with a botched job today because I attempted to grill the chicken instead of baking it (which is what I usually do).  Somehow I just don't have luck with the oven when it comes to grilling.  The oven's heat distribution is pretty poor and I had parts of it browning too quickly.  Had to switch to convection setting halfway through.  That was a very close call.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken 
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil 
• 2 tablespoon light soy sauce 
• 1/4 teaspoon five spice powder 
• 2 tablespoon tomato sauce 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 small crushed clove of garlic 

Preparation:

• Mix all ingredients together to coat chicken and leave overnight in fridge. 
• Either barbecue, grill or bake the chicken. 

Number of Servings: 6

Chicken Claypot Rice

Posted by Vivian in Chicken, Chinese, Rice

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Updated on 19 April 2009:

The claypot rice that we just had for lunch this Saturday is definitely the most successful thus far. Have tweaked the cooking time slightly and seems to work better, at least I don't need to add in stock to prevent the rice from over-burning. I have also added the mushroom during marination and they tasted much better.

Updated the photo as well because the previous photo looked really crappy!

The most difficult part of this dish needless to say is controlling of the fire and the amount of stock that goes into it. Until today after many attempts, I am unable to say with confidence that I got the hang of it. I usually will have a pot of stock by the side so that I can add more in before the rice gets badly burnt. Need to play cheat a little here.

I know that the other way to cook this dish is to use the rice cooker. When the rice is half done, the chicken mixture and mushroom goes on top. Will probably try this out one day just to taste the difference.

One pot requires around 45 minutes of cooking time. It is a long wait but definitely worth it.


Ingredients:

• 3 Chinese sausages 
• 4 chicken thighs 
• 2 tablespoon oyster sauce 
• Sesame oil 
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce 
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce 
• 2 fat garlic cloves (crushed) 
• 5 spring onions(chopped) 
• 1 teaspoon cornflour 
• ½ glass rice wine 
• 1 inch ginger (julienned) 
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar 
• 5 dried shitake mushrooms (pre-soaked) 
• 2 cups rice 
• 3 cups stock 

Preparation:

• Mix the chicken and sausages in a bowl with all the ingredients except the rice, and stock. Leave to marinate for at least half an hour. 
• Put the rice and chicken stock in the cold claypot and place it over a medium heat for about 15 minutes with the lid on. 
• The rice should be nearly cooked, with little holes on the flat surface. Reduce heat to low immediately. 
• Spread the chicken mixture all over the top of the rice, and put the lid back on. 
• Continue to steam over a low heat for another 20 to 25 minutes, until the chicken is white and cooked through. 

Number of Servings: 4

Omu Rice (Omuraisu)

Posted by Vivian in Japanese, Rice

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I had this recipe sitting in my "list of dishes to try" for a while and almost forgot about it.  Maki of Just Hungry wrote an interesting article on Omu Rice and in her words "Omu rice, or rice omelette, is an example of yohshoku, Japanese food that originated in the west but was changed around to suit the Japanese palette".

I recall that the first and last time I had Omu Rice was a long long time ago at this Japanese restaurant located in Raffles City, which had closed down few years back.  Haven't seen this appearing in the menu of other Japanese restaurant.  I wonder why.

The most tedious part of making this dish is the need to make omelette after omelette just to meet the required quantity in order to feed the whole family.  Practice does make perfect though.  By the time I got to the 5th omelette, I was able to get it at the right consistency and in a bright yellow without a hint of browning.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of cooked white rice 
• 1 onion (finely chopped) 
• 2 large cloves of garlic (finely chopped) 
• 3 chicken thigh (de-boned and cut into small pieces) 
• 1 can of button mushroom (sliced) 
• 4 tablespoons of tomato ketchup 
• 8 eggs (beaten and seasoned with salt) 
• 100 ml of cooking wine 
• Salt and pepper 

Preparation:

• Season chicken with some salt (or light soy sauce) and pepper. 
• Heat butter or cooking oil in frying pan. 
• Saute garlic until fragrant. Add in onion and fry until translucent. 
• Add in chicken and stir-fry until almost done. 
• Add button mushroom to pan and continue to allow the chicken and mushroom to thoroughly cook. 
• Pour wine into mixture and let the alcohol completely evaporate. 
• Add in tomato ketchup and rice, and stir to mix well. 
• Remove from heat and divide rice mixture into 4 portions. 
• Coat skillet with oil. 
• Make an omelette with 2 beaten eggs over medium to low heat. The omelette is only cooked on the underside, and the top should be slightly runny in the middle. 
• Once done, turn off the heat and top 1 portion of the rice mixture on one side of the omelette. 
• Using the help of a frying slice, fold the longer side over the rice. 
• Lift and tilt the skillet and carefully roll the Omu Rice onto serving plate. 
• Top with some ketchup and serve with vegetables on the side. 
• Repeat the steps for omelette 3 times. 

Number of Servings: 4

Hor Fun

Posted by Vivian in Local, Noodles

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Hor Fun... one of my favourite local delight.  Unfortunately, everyone in the family enjoyed this dish very much except for Matty.  In other words, it will be a long long while before I whip this up again.

The quantity of certain ingredients is a little ambiguous.  I tried comparing between the 2 recipes I found online and it was the case for both.  So it was down to "guess-timation" on my part.  I am therefore unable to jot down clearly how much sauce had gone into it.

If I am can, I would have added pork instead of chicken because some things just taste better with pork but which means my poor maid will not get to taste it.  If I ever attempt this again, there will definitely be squid as one of the ingredient... just to get it as close as possible to the original dish.

Ingredients:

• 1kg of fresh noodles (kueh teow / hor fun) 
• 3 chicken thigh (sliced) 
• Fish cake (sliced) 
• 10 medium-sized prawn 
• 1 bunch of spinach 
• 4 cloves of garlic (diced) 
• 6 cups of chicken stock 
• Oyster sauce 
• Light soy sauce 
• Dark soy sauce 
• 2 eggs (lightly beaten) 
• Cornstarch 

Preparation:

• Marinate chicken with 1 teaspoon of corn flour and light soy sauce. 
• Heat up 2 tablespoon of oil and stir-fry noodle with light soy sauce and dark soy sauce until it is warm and slightly browned. Remove and set aside. 
• Add more oil to the frying pan and stir-fry garlic. 
• Add chicken to pan and stir-fry for a minute. 
• Add in chicken stock, 3 tablespoon of oyster sauce and 3 tablespoon of light soy sauce. Bring to boil. 
• Add in spinach, prawns and fish cake. Allow ingredients to cook. 
• Check seasoning. 
• Lower heat and add in cornstarch (4 tablespoon of corn flour mixed with 100ml of water) and bring to boil. 
• Turn off heat and stir in beaten egg. Gently stir to cook the egg. 
• Dish gravy over fried noodles. 

Number of Servings: 4