Steam Savoury Glutinous Rice - Thai style

If you like your glutinous rice whole and grainy whether for savoury recipes with chilli prawns or as a desert with mango slices or durian, the Thai method is probably the most sure proof way of achieving this. You do not need to soak the rice ahead of time.

Thai straw conical basket sits on top of a larger Thai aluminium pot with an extended rim.
Place rice on top of the bamboo net. Cover with a lid. Bring the water in the pot to the boil.

                                                               Soft but not mushy

For added fragrance, line the rice with bamboo leaves or banana leaves.
However, this means that the rice will take a longer time to cook with an added layer for the heat to reach the food.

Fried Rice - Cantonese Style

Cantonese fried rice uses Chinese sausage (or BBQ pork leftovers) and green vegetables and spring onions.
I have added rice wine and chilli slices for more complex flavours. The test of good fried rice is the grains must still retain its integrity and not too wet and marshy. A tip is to use less water when boiling the plain steamed rice or use "older" rice.

In the famous Yangzhou (yongchou chow fun) shrimp and mushroom are important ingredients, with carrot and peas added for colour and fresh taste. That's the main difference.

Chicken Bryani - Indian Spice Rice

Bryani (or spelled Biryani) is a one dish meal by itself. It is the main attraction at the buffet table.

Good bryani are hard to come by nowadays. There used to be a few good eating places that serves a good hearty bryani but the taste is often watered down when business thrives. 

It's high time we try to whip up a good meal. Handy tips from true blue Indian friends and a good cookbook that is out of print come in useful.  

Preparation : Dice 4 pieces of chicken fillet and marinate with a dash of pepper.

Use equivalent amount of basmati rice with water using a measuring cup. 2 cups serve 4 persons.

Spices (whole) : 3 green cardamon seeds, 3 cloves, 2  short cinnamon quills

Spices (ground) : cumin, coriander seed, black pepper, chilli powder

* Tip : dry fry spices on a moderately hot pan till the first aroma drifts through the air - whole spices first, then powered (separately). 

Fresh herbs : 2 onions sliced finely, 2 garlic cloves chopped, 1 knob of ginger grated finely, coriander,

Vegetables : tomatoes (sliced thinly)

Liquid : Yoghurt, Saffron threads soaked in warm milk, Lemon juice (from 1/2 a fruit), vegetable oil

1. Boil rice and whole spices with salt (start with 1 tsp and add gradually according to taste) and water. Keep warm.

2. Stir fry onions in heated oil in a heavy frying pan or kwali till golden taking care as they turn brown easily.

3.  Increase heat a little. Add chicken pieces, garlic, ginger and ground spices. Mix well. Do not overcook.

4.  Mix chicken meat and tomatoes with the boiled rice (discard the whole spices).

5. Bake in preheated oven at 150 C for  5 - 7 minutes. Drizzle all the liquids (lemon juice, saffron milk, yoghurt)

6. Garnish with coriander leaves.

7. Add raisin and almond flakes or cashew nut topping.

8. Serve with pappadam.

Olive Rice - Chaozhou and Shanghai styles

There are many versions of Chinese olive fried rice.

In the southernmost Chinese provinces, especially in Chaozhou (Shantou), the popular olive rice dish is fried with pork mince and olives and pickled vegetables. Sometimes, an egg is added when the dish is almost ready to be served. But that is optional.  Note that Chinese olives are salty and dry, unlike moist Mediterranean style olives that are pickled in acid and brine.

The Techiu people brought along their traditional recipes when they migrated to Thailand. Hence, olive rice has become a staple, popularised by the ethnic Chinese cooks.

http://www.thaitable.com/thai/recipe/chinese-olive-fried-rice

Sometimes, olive vegetables are added for saltier flavours.

For the Shanghai folks, olive vegetable preserved and soaked in oil is the preferred seasoning.  Unlike dried olive, the bottled olive vegetable comprise mainly vegetables and only a little bit of olive. Do not add more oil and seasoning before tasting because the olive vegetables is oily and salty.

After frying the rice, it is steamed and topped with fried dried scallop and spring onion.

Sticky rice with chicken, mushroom, sausage (claypot or fried/steamed) - Chinese risotto

Sometimes we wonder if the Chinese learned to cook claypot rice and sticky fried / steamed rice from Marco Polo or did the globetrotter(s) bring the idea back to Italy and thus risotto was born.

This is a delicious one-dish meal. It is usually listed on the menu of Asian restaurants as "raw fried glutinous rice". Though simple, it gives out a complexity of aromas from meat, vegetable, seafood and sausages.

No need to pre-soak glutinous rice. The result is soft fluffy but not water logged soggy rice.
A balanced meal, though not extremely "healthy", it is absolutely delicious. 

INGREDIENTS

Glutinous rice - 3 cup

Long grain rice - 1 cup

Chicken stock - 3 cups

Water - 4 TBS

Dried shitake mushrooms - 4 pieces (washed and soaked and sliced into quarters)

Chicken fillet - 200 g (sliced thinly and marinate in soy sauce)

Dried scallop (soak in hot water 3 times for at least 3 hours, discard first round of water)

or dried shrimp (washed and bashed)

Chinese sausages - about 2 sliced diagonally into 6 each (similar to using chorizo for paella)

Garlic (chopped)

Indian small shallot onion (sliced thinly)
Vegetable oil 3 TBS

Seasoning

Soy sauce (2 dark and 1 light)

Pepper to taste

Sesame oil (optional)

Garnish

spring onion slices and fresh coriander
fried garlic and shallot crisp

METHOD

1. Prepare fragrant oil and garlic/shallot crisps but frying gradually heating up garlic and shallot in cold oil. Be careful not to burn the crisp and turn off heat once the colour changes to golden yellow before turning brown as they continue cooking continues in the oil. Remove crisps and put on small serving dish.

2. Fry mushroom, chicken and dried shrimp (if using) till 80 % cooked. Dish up.

3. Add a little more oil to fry glutinous rice (if not using non-stick pot). Add a little water if required. Then add long-grain rice and continue frying till all the grains turn slightly translucent.

4. Add chicken stock to the rice. Mix in prefried mushroom, chicken and dried shrimp.

5. Place sausage slices on top. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes under medium-low heat.

6. Stir the rice mixture. Cover the lid back and cook for another 5 minutes with very low heat.

Acknowledgement : the above recipe is owed to the good advice from my homecook friend Sher who learnt it from her network of masterchefs, followed by lots of experimentation and practice. 

The same principle applies to cooking Asian claypot rice. In this variation, cook as you would boiled rice with additional savoury ingredients. The slightly burnt rice crust at the bottom is fragrant and delicious when mixed with the rest of the rice. Hot water can be added to remove the rice crust and drank as a soup so that nothing is wasted.

XO Seafood Fried Rice

We all had third helpings. That's how yummy this spicy seafood fried rice was.

Ingredients :

- Seafood : yabbies (or prawn) deshelled.
I added leftover oyster omelette to add flavour to the stir fry.

For recipe, please refer to : http://homecooksecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/oyster-egg-pancake-chaozhou-style.html

- Vegetables : asparagus spears, carrot, mushroom.

- Egg, diced onion (optional)

- Seasoning : soy sauce, salt, pepper, oyster sauce and XO sauce (preferably Lee Kum Kee as it is more concentrated and packed with dried scallops and shrimp with no fishy after taste). Sambal chilli and roast chilli paste can be added for a more spicy version.

- Garnishing : spring onion, cucumber, garlic and onion crisps.

To Cook :

1. Heat oil and fry garlic and shallots. Remove and drain. Do not burn.

2. Fry prawn and asparagus. Add XO sauce and mix well.

3. Mix warmed rice with salt.

4. Fry omelette separately and set aside. Add to the rice when ready.

5. Dish up and serve with garnishing.

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Spicy Tropical Fried Rice - Sambal Nasi Goreng

Ten Secret steps to frying grainy and tasty rice, a cut above the rest :

1. Cook rice with less water so that the grains do not stick together or becomes mushy when you fluff or fry the rice later.

2. Cook rice at least 2 hours in advance or overnight and store in the fridge using a non-metallic bowl (not the frying pan).

3. Marinate rice with some salt and pepper about 10 minutes before frying.

4. Ensure that the frying pan is sufficient deep so that the contents do not spill over.

5. The pan must be well oiled, not too oily to make the rice soggy but enough to prevent the rice from sticking together and to the bottom.

6. Frying chopped onion and garlic before putting in thinly sliced meat ingredients, diced carrot, mushroom slices, medium prawns (shelled and deveined) and rice will enhance the fragrance of the dish.

7. Maintain a medium temperature. Too low a heat will render the meat ingredients undercooked and the rice too soft. Overheating will cause the rice to stick on the pan and gives out a burning smell. Burnt rice look unappetizing. A little fiery taste is nice but it should not be excessive.

8. Put in beaten egg last after the rice has been well fried and coated with oil. Make a well in the centre, slow cook the egg till slightly opaque and mix it gradually and evenly with the rest of the rice combo.

9. Blanched baby peas should be added and stirred quickly just before serving.

10. Top with sliced fresh spring onion and fried shallot.

Spicy rice mix (a more flavoursome alternative to soy sauce and oyster sauce) :

- Use a good brand of nasi goreng sauce such as "Kokita" if you don't want to make your own sauce by grinding dried and fresh chillies, onion, lemongrass, galangal, ginger and shrimp paste.

- Bonus : add in spicy or prior fried anchovy for the superb and extraordinary taste.

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References : Paella, Spanish seafood rice http://homecooksecrets.blogspot.com/2009/01/spanish-paella-seafood-rice.html

Fried rice noodles : http://homecooksecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/stir-fried-rice-noodle-intact-char-been.html

Chee Cheong Fun sauce - rice rolls with spicy XO sauce

The best way to eat chee cheong fun is with homemade XO sauce and combining the various traditions to get the best of different worlds.

There are various types of sauces for Chee Cheong Fun. Using dark soy sauce, sesame oil, hoi sin sauce, oyster sauce, fried onion crisp, cut shallot, dried shrimp and scallop XO sauce, fresh shrimp, minced meat, mushroom, sesame seed, peanut.

Fry the onion, garlic, dried shrimp, soaked scallop, ground dried and fresh chilli to make the XO sauce.

To prepare sweet sauce, mix the soy sauce, hoi sin in a saucepan. Mix corn starch and water and pour over the sauces before it starts to boil. Lower heat till liquid is reduced.

Add pickled green chillies and garlic red chilli sauce for more flavour and garlic crisp, shallot crisp, sesame seeds, fresh spring onion, coriander leaves as garnishing and toppings.

Types of common chee cheong fun sauces :

- Hongkong sweet sauce

- Penang prawn paste chilli sauce

- Ipoh Style sweet, hot and sour meat sauce

- Vietnamese black fungus meat and shallot sauce

* Permission to publish on this blog.

Stir fried rice noodle intact

How to fry rice stick noodles (rice vermicelli) without breaking? Have there been occasions when your noodles became too soggy or broken that they look more like fried rice than noodles?

If you can't find a brand that promises tough noodles, then try this method.

Soak dried rice vermicelli in warm (not hot) water for 10 minutes. One piece is enough to feed two to four persons depending on their appetite. In winter, you may need to soak the noodle in lukewarm water but ensure that the noodle remains firm and retains its integrity. If they are already soften before you start frying, there is a good chance of it being broken into pieces as you fry.

The ingredients are entirely up to you. If you like, they could be purely vegetarian : sliced carrots, mushrooms, cabbage, onion, sliced firm tofu, sweet soy skin, mustard green (choy sum), bean sprouts, etc. You may need to add more seasoning such as soy sauce, salt, pepper to perk up the taste of vegetarian noodle.

If your diet preference or observation permit, add meat : sliced chicken, pork, duck, prawn or combination. Season with oyster sauce.
Braised meat is tastier.


Be Patient!


Fry in batches even if you have a large wok.

Start off with frying the garlic and onions in cooking oil till fragrant.
Then the harder to cook vegetables such as carrot, cabbage, mushrooms.
Dish up and set aside.

Add some cooking oil to fry the meat, seafood, egg omelette separately and remove from heat.

Drain the soaked rice noodle and fry in hot cooking oil under medium heat to reduce sticking. Stir the noodle using chopsticks instead of a spatula for greater flexibility and to prevent the noodles from breaking up. Toss all the previously fried meat and vegetables and mix into the noodles evenly. Fry for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add more seasoning sauces if necessary. Turn off the heat and ready to serve. Add fresh and fried shallot according to taste.


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