Fried Glutinous Rice

Glutinous rice is also known as sticky rice or sweet rice. It is commonly used in asian dishes such as fried glutinous rice as featured here, steam glutinous rice (also known as 'lor mai kai' commonly found in places where different kinds of buns or 'bao' are sold), chinese dumplings, glutinous rice balls, and Thai mango sticky rice. Unlike regular jasmine white rice, its grains are slightly shorter and rounder and of opaque color. It is sticky when cooked, hence the name sticky rice. You cannot eat too much of it at one go as it fills up your stomach pretty quickly. So go easy on it even though it is tasty. You do not want to end up with a bloated stomach.

Japanese Beef Rice Bowl

 

I've run out of ideas of what to cook for lunch and dinner. I want something simple to prepare and cook and yet delicious and appetising at the same time. I was at the library and chanced upon Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking cookbook. I looked through the recipes and they appealed to me. I have to try out some of the recipes in it and so I borrowed it. I have her other book - Everyday Harumi. The recipes in her cookbook are easy to follow and prepare and I've tried out a few recipes from this cookbook. Most important of all, they all turn out beautiful and scrumptious. Also, it has lots of cooking tips and ingredient substituition. What a great find!

Yam Fried Rice

Yam is a root vegetable. There are so many ways to use yam in our cooking. Teochew yam paste (or-nee), yam mooncake, chinese yam cake, baked yam cake, fried yam batter, ........ Last but not all, yam fried rice. This is a very simple and delicious one-pot dish, good for bringing to potluck party. I found this recipe from Kitchen Snippets and modified it a little to suit my taste. I added dried shrimp, chinese sausage and a portion of the fried shallots to bring out more frangrance from the rice. My family loves mushroom and I added more too. Make sure you get very fresh yam too, one that is fluffy and melts in your mouth when you eat it. Serve the rice with a sprinkling of the fried shallots, spring onion and parsley. It's yummylicious.

Recipe

2 cups rice, washed and drained

250g yam, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

8 pcs dried mushrooms - soaked and diced into cubes (reserve water)
1 Chinese sausage, sliced thinly
2 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked in water (reserve water)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
5 shallots, sliced thinly
3 spring onions, cut small

Seasoning:
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil or shallot oil
½ tsp sugar or to taste
3 cups chicken stock/water from soaking dried mushroom and dried shrimp
1 tsp of black soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat about 1/4 cup of oil and fry shallots till golden and fragrant. Remove shallot crisps and set aside. Using the same oil, fry the yam cubes until lightly brown. Remove and set aside.

2. Sauté garlic and dried shrimps until fragrant and lightly brown. Add in the mushrooms and chinese sausage, and stir-fry for a minute. Add rice and seasoning. Stir-fry well.

3. Dish rice mixture into an electric rice cooker. Add water chicken stock/water and yam and cook rice as usual. Stand rice in cooker for 10 to 15 minutes before dishing out to serve.

4. Serve rice with a sprinkling of shallot crisps, parsley and spring onion.

端五节 Chinese Dumpling Festival

Time really flies. It's the Chinese Dumpling Festival again. But the festive mood is not like what I used to experience when I was a child. During that time, we only get to eat 'bak zhang' when the festival is round the corner and my mum would start making them. As a child, my sister and I would watch my mum make them. Unlike now, you can eat 'bak zhang' any time and the festival has lost its touch and meaning.