Lor Mai Gai

This is my first time making this dish. Prior to this, I didn't realize that it was so easy to do. This came about during a conversation at the bff's house. Her cousin was in town last week and they were planning to make some. So this missy wrote down all the ingredients and method on how to make this delicious dim sum dish. The good thing about making it at home is that you can control the amount of oil that goes into your cooking. As I was busy making tarts yesterday, I thought today would be a perfect day to do this, thus I soaked some rice in the late afternoon yesterday, and by 10pm, I was able to season the rice. I left it till this morning before I steamed them and took some along on my breakfast date with the swimming mums. Unfortunately, it being my first time, I wasn't sure on how much water to use, if any at all, thus I didn't put in enough water. It resulted in a pretty dry dish as can be seen by photo, the sides are not moist enough. The mums thought the meat was well-seasoned so that was the saving grace. Upon my return home, I added water to the remainder rice and fried them again. This time the dish turned out much better. It was missing something. I suspect it's a lovely fragrant five spice powder as the one I bought from NTUC wasn't fragrant at all. I am definitely going to make this dish again sometime soon.

Ingredients - (I will try to give exact measurements wherever I can)

3 cups glutinous rice
5 deboned chicken thighs, cut into small bite-sized pieces
garlic minced
shallots (I didn't add it this time)
dried mushrooms (soaked till soft and sliced thin)

Seasoning for chicken - (this was all done by estimation)

light soya sauce
oyster sauce
sesame oil
white pepper
5 spice powder approx 1tsp
a drop of dark soya sauce
I seasoned the above overnight

Seasoning for rice - (basically the same seasoning ingredients as the chicken)

light soya sauce
white pepper
Chinese wine (I used hua tiao but found it a bit too strong)
5 spice powder approx 1tbsp
a drop of dark soya sauce
Also seasoned overnight

Method -

1. Wash then soak the glutinous rice in water for minumum 4hrs. (I started this at 5.30pm)

2. Meanwhile, season chicken and leave in fridge overnight.

3. 4hrs later (9.30pm), rinse out and drain rice. Season with the ingredients mentioned above and leave it overnight. I did mine at 10pm and steamed it at 8am.

4. In the morning, fry shallots, garlic & mushroom strips till fragrant. Add rice and then water. I don't have the exact measurement of water I used as it was my first time making this dish, thus it was a trial and error thing. I suggest that if you are not sure, just add water gradually, starting with a half cup full first. Do not steam the entire portion but rather leave the rest of the rice and test waters with one portion of lor mai gai before going ahead and steaming everything.

5. Into individual portions, place some chicken pieces on the bottom of each bowl. (You may like to make one big portion but smaller portions are better for storing but be warned, they might all disappear within the day :P). Top up with rice right to the top of bowl if you like as the rice will not expand.

6. Steam for approx 20-30 and test the rice to see if it cooked before removing from steamer.

I can't wait to try it out again soon as it was pretty successful the first time. Do let me know if you try making this and how yours turned out. Happy cooking!

Nasi Lemak

How coincidentally that on the day I made this meal, my friend little corner of mine had the same thoughts in her mind. Our versions are both very different, except for the hard-boiled eggs. Check hers out. I think her's looks more beautiful with the green rice. :) My version had store-bought otah, sambal oelek prawns, halfway fried then baked drumlets (these were most tender), hard-boiled eggs & cucumber slices. The sambal on top of the eggs was bought from the same otah stall.

For Otah & Sambal -
Lee Wee Brothers
51 Old Airport Road
#01-79
Tel : 6348 9122

For the kid's version, no sambal (chilli paste) was present as you can see. There was an omelette, non-spicy otah (which is really just fishcake), ikan bilis (anchovies), a drumlet & cucumbers. She only ate some rice and some ikan bilis, and lots of cucumber. In fact, half of her dinner was left intact. Omelette not touched, and neither was chicken. She did however eat all the fishcakes.

I don't do nasi lemak quite a lot, in fact I've only done it a couple of times. Reason being I can't consume lots of coconut or any 'cooling' or what the Chinese would say 'yin' food. Recently, my girl has been on the catered food programme in her school and she tells me about her liking for nasi lemak, so I thought I'd try cooking it at home. Thank goodness I didn't suffer much the morning after the meal. When affected, the joints get all painful.

I had some remainder lemongrass which prompted me to boil them and make it into a drink to accompany the dinner. This drink is commonly found on the menus of Thai restaurants. From what I know, this drink helps to get rid of 'wind' in the body. I thought it would be the best accompaniment to counter the effects of the coconut. Maybe it did work after all.

This is very easy to do. Just boil approximately 5-6 stalks of lemongrass (after cutting off the top part & bruising them a little) with enough water for 4 glasses. Add sugar to taste.

Rice cooker 'claypot' chicken rice

I'm not really sure if I've shared this recipe before on my blog... but this is my version of claypot chicken rice, cooked in a rice cooker. I've not done it in a very long time, since I changed to my current rice cooker. Very glad that princess ate it all up, even though when she saw it, she said, I don't like claypot rice. And hubby had a big plate and asked for seconds, and wiped the entire pot out. :D He said it was his favourite dish, gosh I didn't even know that. Hahaha. Now I do.

Ingredients -

1. Chicken Thighs or wings would be nice, but whole chicken also can, depending on how many people you're feeding.

2. Lap cheong ( I usually prefer chicken from Bee Cheng Hiang) - sliced thinly

3. Salted fish (sliced)

4. Dried shittake mushroom (soaked in water then sliced up - keep water for later).

5. Xiao bai chye or any green leafy veg like chye sim

6. A few slices of ginger for chicken


Seasoning (for chicken) -

Dark soy sauce
Oyster sauce
white pepper
sesame oil


Method -

1. Season chicken for a couple of hours.

2. Fry lap cheong & remove. Do the same for mushroom & salted fish. Set aside.

3. Fry garlic till fragrant and add chicken. Stir fry for a while till chicken slightly cooked. Add mushroom water and enough water to cook rice in. ** Let chicken cook almost through. While chicken is cooking, I like to add in veg just for a few seconds before removing to set aside. It will absorb the flavours from the sauce.

4. Measure & wash rice before pouring in sauce from chicken. Set chicken aside for later.

5. This one is tricky... I used to have a rice cooker which took ages to cook rice so I could time it such that I knew which ingredients could go in first etc, but my current rice cooker cooks in 20mins! So, the minute the water starts bubbling, I have to open it to add the wings & drumlets before allow it to continue cooking. The minute the rice is cooked, I add in the rest of the chicken fillet, lap cheong, salted fish and mushroom. Last will be the veg prior to serving.

Happy cooking!

** For 2 cups of rice for 2 adults & 1 child, I used approximately 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 cups water.

Nasi Lemak

This is one food item which I am very careful not to eat too often. In fact I hardly do. I know I will suffer when I wake up the next morning and have to put up with all the pains in my joints. Coconut is a great ingredient in dishes and I do so miss being able to savour it. But between that and the pain, the latter wins. I am naughty at times, like oh what the hell, just suffer for one day. I will do it on a day or week when I feel good and am not having an attack of the joints. The same goes with tofu, which I do so love, but can now only pinch a little here and there.

For this meal, all I did was cook the coconut rice, fried an omelette and sliced up some cucumbers. The rest of the accompaniments were bought. Fried shrimp paste chicken wings from Crystal Jade Kitchen; otah from Lee Wee Brothers (I usually go for the Mackeral Otah at Joo Chiat but I didn't bother to do so today); and ready ikan bilis sambal by Woh Hup. I served them on banana leaves which I was given months back and had them in the freezer.

The portion below was for princess. In place of spicy otah, I got her the non-spicy kids' version.

This was the sambal which I tried. It wasn't too bad.

Fried Rice & Fishy Luncheon

What is a Chinese take out without Fried Rice? I'm sure everyone will agree with me that a dish of fried rice is a must-have at most Chinese take-outs. I am, thus, submitting my fried rice for Mochachocolata Rita's Chinese Take-Out Party.

While browsing in the supermarket one day, I discovered this new product - Ayam Brand Fish Luncheon. How interesting. So, since I was picking up some ingredients for dinner last evening, I decided to try it out. Fish is healthier than meats anyway, so no harm in that. It also ensures that little princess consumes her fish. What could be better than that. ;) I love a camouflage any day. The verdict is that there is no fishy taste, or maybe since it is cooked with so many other ingredients, I hardly even tasted it on its own.

Recipe for fried rice -

Rice - enough for 3 to 4 people (I used 1-1/2cup uncooked rice)

Half an onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
2 cups finely shredded cabbage (one of the items I needed to rid my fridge of)
1/2 cup spring onion, sliced thinly
1/3 cup sweet corn kernels
5 sticks of crabsticks, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup of corned beef (leftovers from another time)
1/4 cup of fish luncheon, sliced thinly
1 egg
10 - 12 prawns (also needed to clear these off)
light soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper for seasoning

Method -

1. Saute onions till transparent, add garlic & fry till fragrant. Stir in prawns and remove. Set aside.

2. Fry cabbage next and when a little soft, add in corn, fish luncheon, corned beef & fry till well-mixed.

3. Add in the egg and rice over it. Season to taste. Add in prawns in the end together with spring onions and mix well. Ready to be served.

Enjoy!

Mui Fan

A simple all-in-one dish that can be whipped up real fast if you prepare the ingredients in advance. The ingredients are versatile and you can use anything you fancy really - chicken, prawns, squid. For me today, I used sliced fish, crabsticks, salmon flavoured fishballs, and xiao bai chye.

I first seasoned the fish with light soya sauce, sesame oil, white pepper and a little cornstarch.

I didn't realize that I had run out of ginger so I made do without it.

For the sauce, it was just oyster sauce and enough water for 2-1/2 portions.

I stir fried the fish, removed, then did the vegetables and other ingredients. After adding water, I let it simmer till almost cooked. Return the fish back to the wok. Beat in one egg and then thicken with corn starch.

Spoon over white rice and serve