Yam Rice

One of my favourite food is now available as a convenience food (Brand: YAMIE). Although it is simple to make, the taste can't be compared to the ones we find outside, but it does satisfy my cravings for yam rice (with some additional ingredients here and there).

The additional ingredients I add for 2 packets of Yamie Yam Rice are:

1. 1 small yam (diced into small cubes)
2. 3 small red onions (peeled and sliced very thinly crosswise)
   
3. 5 large dried mushrooms (soaked in hot water & diced) *Retain the water for soaking the mushroom as it adds more flavour to the rice*
   
4. 1 chicken breast
5. 2 tbsp of dark soya sauce
6. 2 tbsp of fried shallot oil (Use olive oil for frying)
7. 
   

Method:

1. Heat up 5 tbsp of oil and add shallots to flavour the oil. *It is okay to use more oil here as the shallot oil can be kept for other times*
   
2. Fry the shallots until it is slightly browned and remove it from the oil.
   
3. Leave some of the shallot oil in the pan and shallow fry the yam cubes until it is slightly browned and add the shallots back to fry them together.
4. Heat up 1 tbsp of shallot oil, add in mushroom and stir fry for 2 mins before adding chicken breast to fry for a minute or two till it is almost cooked.
5. Remove Yamie yam rice from packaging and pour into a rice cooker.
6. Add all the pre-cooked yam, mushroom and chicken into the rice, together with 2 tbsp of fried shallot oil, 2 tbsp of dark soya sauce and .
7. Add 620ml of water and 100ml of mushroom water to the rice and you can start cooking your yam rice.
8. Depending on your rice cooker, your rice will be ready in around 12 minutes or so.
9. To serve, sprinkle with spring onion and fried shallots.

Curry Omu Rice

Another of my favourite Japanese dish...Omelette rice with Japanese curry. The mild spiciness & sweetness of the curry is what makes Japanese curry unique. However, I have not found out how to make the egg omelette as soft as what Ma Maison does. But this is sufficient to curb my cravings =)

Curry Omu Rice

































Ingredients:

1. Japanese curry mix with vegetables (Available at supermarkets)
2. Japanese rice
3. 2 Eggs
4. Additional meats/vegetables (I used meatballs & hotdog)

Maki Sushi from leftovers

I have been busy lately, stressing about what I haven't studied and how far I'm lagging behind my friends...This is really affecting me ALOT! But I still think that I should squeeze in a little time for this short post which has been on the hold for some time.

As mentioned in the title, I made my maki sushi out of all the leftovers from the previous night's dinner. It was light, delicious and rather healthy (Brown rice was used instead). Most importantly, I had fun rolling my own sushi (although my Maki Sushi wasn't of the right shape, but I couldn't care less)

I don't have a recipe for this as this is rather easy and you can be creative and try it with your favourite ingredients!

Rice: Chicken and peanut congee with conpoy

Marky and I were having congee cravings the other day so I invited him over my house yesterday for a congee dinner. It was not just any normal congee because of the additional conpoy. (Yum yum) Conpoy is great with congee as it add a tinge of sweetness to the congee.

As Marky is a self-proclaimed carnivore, I had to add in generous servings of meat to satisfy him. Chicken thigh meat was choosen as that's my favourite part of the chicken too =)

As my mum was at home, she can't resist not helping me with the preparations and cooking (Typical mum - Can't leave her usual tasks to others. Must get her hands on everything.) And so, both of us prepared dinner together. (With lots of nagging here and there.) However, it was good that she helped out as there was quite a bit of preparatory work to be done.

A tip from my mum
Adding some oil and salt into your rice when cooking will ensure that your congee will have a good consistency.

The end results ----> Thick, sweet and tasty congee which blends well with the ingredients. Great for days when you feel like having something light. CCC

Chicken and peanut congee (Serves 5-6)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of rice
Chicken stock (Instructions below)
2 chicken thighs, shredded
1 can of braised peanuts
A small handful of dried bee hoon, deep fried
1 stalk of spring onion, chopped
Dough fritters (you tiao)
Egg (1 per person)

Method:
1) Season the chicken thighs and bones with salt and leave them for around 1/2 hr before washing off the salt.

2) Cook the chicken stock by boiling chicken bones, chicken thighs, conpoy, 1 carrot and 1/2 a chicken stock cube together.

3) Boil for at least 1 1/2 hrs.

4) Take the chicken thighs out and season with sesame oil (Sprinkle light soy sauce if the meat is still bland.)

5) Place washed rice in a pot and pour chicken stock to cover the rice. Add in the conpoy and some carrots to increase the sweetness of the congee.

6) Cook the rice over small fire and stir occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking.

7) When the congee reached the last stage of cooking (3rd picture), stir continuously to make the rice grains break up further to give a thick consistency.

8) Ensure that the congee is boiling before pouring into a bowl and crack an egg directly into the congee.

9) Add the ingredients and garnishing.

From far left (clockwise): Dough fritter, deep fried bee hoon, shredded chicken thigh meat, braised peanuts, spring onions, egg

Rice :Bibimbap

As I've said before that I love rice, I'm gonna post my fav food - Bibimbap. I think it literally means mixed rice in Korean.
Another reason why I love bibimbap is because I can put all my favourite ingredients in it and mixed them all up to eat. I kinda like mixing everything to eat and that's why Marky is always saying that I eat rubbish...lol
Anw, here's the recipe for bibimbap lovers.

Bibimbap

*This is my 2nd attempt while the below pics are my 1st. Pardon my pics below as they were taken with my hp*

Ingredients:
- 100g Chopped beef (I prefer to use chicken)
- 50g of bean sprouts
- 3 shitake mushrooms
- 1/3 carrot, julienned
- 1/2 bell pepper, julienned
- Corn bits (Amount depends on preference)
- 1 japanese cucumber, julienned
- Turnip (Amount depends on preference), julienned
- 1 egg
- Cooked rice (Amount depends on preference)

Sauce
- 4 tbsp Kochujang (I bought mine from *Shine Korean supermarket*)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds

Marinate for beef
- A pinch of salt
- 1/2 tbsp Sesame oil
- A sprinkle of pepper
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar

**Marinate beef beforehand for 2hr or overnight**

Method:
1. Stir fry beef until lightly cooked

2. Drain and squeeze out all excess water from all vegetables and sprinkle salt on them

3. Add 1 tsp of sesame oil and stir-fry all vegetables individually (Adding another tsp of sesame oil after each vegetable)

4. Place rice in a deep bowl and add the prepared ingredients on the top of the rice
**For stone bowls, place the bowl on your stove to heat it up, adding 2 tsp of sesame oil to coat the bowl
before adding rice to it**


5. Fry a sunny side up egg and place it on top of the dish
**For stone bowls, you may place the raw egg on the side of the bowl to cook it slightly**


6. To make the sauce, mix the kochujang, sugar, sesame seeds and sesame oil together

7. Lastly, add the sauce to taste and mix everything together before eating


___________________________________________________________________

*Shine Korean supermarket* (This is where I bought my kochujang and my black bowl. )
Address: 175, Bencoolen Street, #01-10/11, Burlington Square, Telephone:62388897

You can also try the places below for Korean products:

- Koreana Trading Pte Ltd (Address: 163, Tras Street, #01-01, Lian Huat Building, Telephone: 63245016)

- Sin Korea Supermarket (511 Guillemard Road, #01-30, Telephone: 6844372)

Rice: Our staple food - RICE

I loveeeeeee eating rice!
I guess I'm a 饭桶 (Rice Bucket?) - It basically refers to people who eats alot of rice. But I am quite fussy when it comes to eating rice as I hate hard rice. I only like it when my rice is soft and fluffy.
There are many types of rice, short grain, long grain etc. Different types to suit different taste buds. We used to eat normal white rice at home, but now there's a gradual change to brown rice.

Why gradual?
Because brown rice doesn't taste as good as white rice and it is alot harder (which doesn't appeal to me). However, it does have higher nutritional values.

How do you change gradually?
My mum mixes white rice with brown rice. She usually has 1 portion of white rice to 2 portions of brown rice.
But, as I still prefer softer rice, I changed that to 2 portions of white rice to 1 portion of brown rice. Here's my first attempt at cooking the mixed rice. **Note that you can add a tiny bit of cooking oil when cooking for better textured rice**