Rice without the Rice-cooker

Ah, this might sound almost blasphemous... How is it likely to cook rice without the rice-cooker? I mean... Its the classic rice-cooker that every Asian family would probably own. (i mean the middle class ones, at least). Well, sometimes you just want to have rice for yourself and maybe, one other person? You can't possibly activate the entire rice-cooker... It doesn't make sense! So what can you do?

Just use the gas-cooker method. (actually it works perfectly with any other fires too. been there, done that)

Measuring the rice:
This is important. Don't want to start off on the wrong foot. Usually if you are cooking for 2, use a small measuring cup and measure ONE level cup of rice into your cooking pot (must come with cover)

Wash the rice with clean water. TWICE.

Fill the cooking pot with cleaned rice with water. How much? Now this is the tricky part. Use your pinkie. The first joint of the pinkie to measure out the level of water from the level of the rice.

Turn on the gas stove. Put cooking pot with lid on the fire. Stir ocassionally.

Lower flame to simmer once the water boils. Keep stirring ocassionally.

Once the rice is soft, check water level. By now it should be close to zero and just enough to steam. Turn off the fire. Give the rice a good stir. Replace lid. Keep lid on for at least 20 minutes to allow the rice to steam in the heated pot.

Rice. Oh, glorious rice. Got leftovers? Cook fried rice. What's fried rice without leftover rice?

we're on a break!

sorry not to have posted for a week. we'd be back with more great recipes soon!

More things to do with... THE LEMON!

1) Lemons can be used to make your fridge smell good. Fish rotting inside? Dunk the fish in the bin. Give the fridge a wash. Still stinky, I bet! So just slice up some lemons and let it sit in your fridge for a couple of days... Fridge smells good as new! How do I know? Cos been there and done that!

2) Rusty knives? Use lemons to get rid of the rust. Citrus acid has this property where it cleans rust off easily - simply leave it onto the rusted portion and wipe in a few minutes time before coating with oil for protecting the metal part.

3) Microwave stinking? Simply slice some lemons and put into a microwavable container. Heat on aut0-reheat for once. Leave the lemon in the microwave for five minutes after. Remove lemons and air microwave. Works wonders!

The Way of the Lemon

When life gives you lemons, you:

1) Make lemonade.
Duh

2) Disinfect surfaces (yeah!)
Halve a lemon and rub the cut side on surfaces such as knives and chopping boards. Not only disinfectes but also deodourises

3) Clean your electric kettle.
Having a headache as to how to get rid of the scum building around the heating element at the bottom of your electric kettle? Here's how. Drop a few slices into you kettle that is about 3/4 filled with water. Boil as per normal. Wait a few minutes before boiling again. Scum begone!!!

4) Flavour your water
There's a name for this type of water byt I can't for the life of me remember the term. If anyone knows, please put me out of my misery. Drop a few slices of lemon into a jug of water and you will have water with a refreshing zing! Even better, get a nice jug and do the same when you have guests over for dinner. Impress them! Whet their appetites!!

Bruschetta

Pronounced broo-shet-ta, not broo-scat-ta or any other way, this one's easy peasy and makes a great side served on thick toasted slices of crusty bread, as prepared in the previous post.

What you need:
tomatoes
fresh basil (or dried if you can't get'em fresh)
black kalamatta olives
baby bocconcini (bok-on-chee-nee, yes, will explain what this is soon)
olive oil
salt
pepper
squeeze of lemon juice


Ok. First off, baby bocconcini is NOT a baby animal of ANY kind. It's a type of cheese. Soft and chewy, does not melt well like mozarella does. Light in flavour, not pungent like parmesan. Comes in round snowman looking like balls (really...not joking), can be found in the dairy section. Also, fresh herbs (basil, thyme etc) are more flavourful and gives a bigger hit when eaten compared to the dried version, hence just a bit will suffice. Feel free to use more if using the dried version.

Method of destruction:
1) Dice your tomatoes. Make sure they are not too ripe such that they are too soft. I usually scoop the seeds out so that the final mixture is not too wet and mushy.

2) Chop up your olives. Olives have a pungent, salty flavour. Might take some getting used to so you might want to just use a little to try out in the beginning.

3) You can either rip you basil leaves (use leaves only, not stems) or roll a bunch of leaves together and slice with a sharp knife. Depends on how much flavour you want in one bite and how you want the dish to look.

4) Mix these three ingredients in a bowl and drizzle generously with olive oil and add a squeeze of lemon juice. You'd be glad to know that lemon juice concentrate can be bought in little bottles (at least in Perth and Singapore) so you don't have to waste one whole lemon. Then again, you can make lemonade with the remaining juice. Or clean your kettle.

5) Add salt and pepper to taste

6) Spoon generous amounts of the tomato mix on top of the toasted bread

7) Top with slices of baby bocconcini.

Dig in!!

Making Bread Interesting

Here's a tip:

To jazz up dull slices of bread (be it french bread, foccacia, ciabatta, regular sliced bread etc) grill/toast lightly on both sides. Even better if you can achieve light grill marks on the bread. Cut a clove of garlic into half and rub the cut end lightly onto one side. This will give the bread a slight garlic flavour. Great if used in a bruschetta (recipe coming soon!) or with dips and salsa. Have fun!

Marinated BBQ Chicken Wings

This has a lot more marinate ingredients going in than oyster sauce in Oceanna's basic version. I won't say its a lot more work. This is excellent for frozen chicken which is a lot cheaper than fresh ones that you buy from the supermarket. And even better for barbeques. Haven't attended a barbeque, where people don't love this version of chicken wings.

Marinate:
Ginger juice (mince it and squeeze for at least 2 spoons)
Minced garlic (1 ENTIRE clove)
Dark soya sauce (1 spoon... for colour)
Light soya sauce (2 spoons)
Oyster sauce (2 spoons)
5 spice powder (1 tea spoon)
Pepper (lots of it)
Honey (3 spoons... to balance saltiness)
Shaoxing wine/red wine

So this is the rough proportion.

Mix the marinate ingredients in a bowl first. Smell the marinate, savour its taste. In fact, dip your pinkie into it and have a taste. Too salty? Add more honey. Too sweet? More oyster sauce. Want more kick in it? Add more ginger juice.

De-frost the chicken wings with water. When the wings are thawed, break the joints so that it will be easy to skewer later. Don't worry, the wings won't hurt because you are breaking the joints. (Haha.) Pat dry the wings with paper towels.

Dunk wings and marinate into a deep bowl. Mix everything evenly. Marinating should take place for 2 hours minimum. And if possible, make sure you flip the wings to even the marinating process every half an hour.

Keep the marinate for brushing onto the wings as you are cooking it over the BBQ pit.

Tip: Cannot find a brush for barbequing with? Use lemon grass or pandan leaves instead. Tie the leafy ends of the plant. Pound the ends of it to make into a brush-like brush. This adds flavour to the meats!

Home-made Ngoh Hiang (Marinated Meats wrapped in Beancurd)

Ngoh-hiang is one of those Asian wonders that everyone loves at any parties. Good finger food for appetisers. I've started making my own since most of the ones sold in stores are very factory manufactured. What better way to make it than by your own hands?

What you need:
Chicken/pork minced
Fish paste (buy the no chilli version)
Beancurd skin (sheets of it)
A tea-spoon of 5 Spice Powder (ready made usually)
Light soya sauce (2 spoons)
Pepper (as you like it)

1) Mince the meat again. Double mincing makes it a bit better somehow.
2) Mix meat with 1 packet of fish paste.
3) Marinate with light soya sauce, pepper and 5 spice powder.
4) Wipe beancurd skin with a clean wet cloth. This is because its usually more salted than needed!
5) Wrap marinated meat into beancurd skin. Use water or egg white to seal. Wrapping can be a bit of a chore. Cos if its not well wrapped, it will just look ugly. Still tasty, but doesn't look good. Haha.
6) Fry the wrapped meat!

For Caucasians, this dish may sound extremely foreign. But simply put, its a sausage of sorts put into beancurd skin.

Chicken Stew

Now this stew is an acquired taste, since it uses things like star anise and cinnamon. I like it because it tastes very rich to me.

What you need:
Chicken (Half will do. Or 4 fresh drumsticks)
2 sticks of cinnamon
2 star anises (whole)
Cut Potatoes (2 or 3. Depends on size)
Cut Carrots (2 will do. Unless you like carrots)
Shred Onions (2 medium sized ones)
Salt and pepper to taste

1) Boil 3/4 pot of water. I like to use this quantity, because by the time the soup is done, its prolly 1/2 level already.

2) Marinate chicken with a bit of light soya sauce and pepper.

3) Fry shredded onions till fragrant. Add chicken, cut potatos and onions. Give it a good stir fry. Toss everything in wok into the boiling water.

4) Cover the pot of boiling water. Lower flame to simmer. Add cinnamon and star anise (if you have a herb bag to use, better still... since you won't be eating any of them). Boil for at least 1 hour for the goodness of the soup to come out.

Recommendation: Serve with rice. Its a nice one dish kinda thing. Don't have to just drink the soup. Eat the meat, potatoes, carrots.

Tofu in Ham with Mushroom Carrot Sauce

Cannot go wrong with such a simple dish as this. Very healthy since its ingredients are tofu, ham (which is the only unhealthy bit), shitake mushrooms, carrots and cabbage. The only thing is preparation is a killer. Thereafter very easy. And you'd prolly need a mini-chopper machine to mince every darn bit of the stuff. The sauce is award winning.

What you need:
Egg tofu (cut into 1/8s)
Ham
Shitake mushrooms (minced and shredded)
Carrots (minced) and mixed in fish paste
Cabbage (shredded)
Garlic (minced)

Instructions:
1) Wrap egg tofu, carrots in fish paste, shredded mushrooms and cabbage in ham. Use toothpick to hold the gumbo of food. Place on top of steaming plate (use porcelain or metal. No plastic!)

2) Make the sauce... Fry garlic till fragrant. Toss in minced mushrooms and carrots. Fry till fragrant. Add in chicken stock about 1/2 cup. Let it boil. And simmer for 10 minutes after boiling.

3) Pour sauce over the wrapped ham. Steam for 5 minutes. (most ingredients are edible already so no worries).

How to STEAM! (very impt)
Put a bit of water - 2 ricebowls as a guideline, into a wok. Put a steaming rack on top of water after it boils. No steaming rack? Use chopsticks to make a rack. Line it like a tic-tac-toe formation. Place the plate/bowl on top of the rack after the water boils. Make sure whatever you are cooking is timed properly. Timing for steamed food is very important. Especially for fish, you don't want to overcook things.

Deep Fried Spare Ribs (Sweet N Sour version)

Oily oily time! Fat fat time! And its a hit with the kids. The marinate that I use is rather standard for my meat dishes, depending on the target audience yeah?A great marinade makes good any meats, as I always say. Marinate for at least 2 hours and the longer you marinate, the better the result. Oh, always take a whiff at the marinate sauce. That way you can tell how your meat is going to come out, salty or sweet or peppery. The greatest skill anyone can have at cooking is an ultra sensitive nose to "taste" uncooked food.

Marinate:
Oyster sauce (3 spoons)
Light soya sauce (1 spoon)
Honey (1 spoon)
Shaoxing Wine/White wine (2 spoons)
Pepper (lots of it)

Make more marinate than needed using the above proportions. That way your meats are very well marinated.

Meat: Pork prime spare ribs

Now magical moment... Coating the marinated spare ribs with frying flour. Don't use tempura flour, it will spoil the moment. Don't use self-raising either. Go with cornstarch for a crunchy feel.

Pour flour into a deep bowl. Hunt for a plate big enough to cover bowl. Dunk your spare ribs into the bowl (without marinate!) Cover bowl with plate and give it a good shake - up down left right and centre! Let it settle for a bit.

Heat the oil in your wok. Make sure you put enough oil to fry. Fry till the pork ribs are done. Take it out. Place on paper towels to soak up the oil before placing it on your serving dish.

For sweet and sour version, here's the sauce.

Sauce ingredients:
Oyster Sauce
Tomato Sauce
Garlic (minced)

Fry minced garlic with olive oil. Pour oyster sauce and tomato sauce into wok. Proportion works in a 1:1 for the 2 sauces. Or if you prefer it more salty or sour.

Personally, I use the sweet and sour sauce as a dip. That way the pork ribs remain crispy too.

Garlic Bread

Oh my god. This is so easy that you'd prolly kick yourself and ask... Why do I pay so much for such things at the local cafe/restaurant/baker's?

What you need:
Garlic (lots of it - the more the merrier)
Butter
Bread

1) Mince the garlic.
2) Mix minced garlic with butter
3) Spread garlic butter on bread
4) Put garlic bread into oven/oven toaster/grill/whatever works. Bake for 2-3 minutes or before it chars. (haha)

Eat garlic bread with soups. Best part, if you like bruschetta... Eat with tomato salsa sauce recommended earlier.

Salmongo Mushroom

More magical dishes created by the oven-toaster. See, you don't have a good reason not to get one. I'd shoot photos of how it looks like later. Haha... Anyone wants to give us an endorsement for it yet?

Ingredients:
Salmon (1 piece)
Shitake Mushrooms (1 packet)
Mango (1 whole)
Olive Oil
Oyster Sauce
Honey
A pinch of minced garlic

1) Wash the fish. Pat dry with kitchen towels. Place fish on top of aluminium foil (on the shiny side). Pepper mildly and rub a bit of salt on fish.

2) Mince up 6 pieces of mushrooms. Keep it aside for sauce.

3) Slice thick pieces of mango and lay on top of fish flesh. Keep seed and small chunks of mango for the sauce later.

4) Top the fish and mango with some mushrooms to cover. Drizzle with olive oil.

5) Now the sauce. Fry minced garlic with olive oil. Dunk in the minced mushrooms. Fry till fragrant. Add 3 spoons of oyster sauce and a spoon of honey. (or add till it suits your tastebuds). Add water, if desired to dilute sauce.

6) Add sauce on top of the mushroom-mango-salmon. Cover the foil totally. Grill in oven-toaster for 20 minutes.

Oh yeah... Its that simple. What you get is restaurant-quality food at a fraction of price. I love to use this dish to host my dinner parties. Enjoy!

Kitchen tips and tricks - Fresh meat

HEADACHE:
Huge, family-sized portions of meat (eg mince, chicken wings). Need only enough to cook for ONE.

Solution:
When buying fresh meat and you cannot find smaller portions, go ahead and buy the bigger portions. When you get home, divide the meat into individual-sized portions and put each portion into Ziploc bags or wrap tightly with cling film. This allows you to use what you need and freeze the rest for later use. Thus you won't spoil the meat by constantly thawing and re-freezing the unused portions.

Even better solution:
If you have the time, marinate the some meat and freeze the marinated meat in the bags. This allows the marinate to fully enhance the flavour of the meat. Also saves you on cooking time when you need it!!

Ultimate solution:
Use all the meat for the dish. Divide up the cooked dish into individual containers and freeze when cooled. Voila! Your very own instant meals when you are too lazy to cook! Just put into microwave and heat!