Mango Chicken and Spiced Pilaf

Mangos are in season again. Alas, I didn't use fresh mango in this dish. I used mango chutney! I'm on a mission to clear out some of my jars of sauces in the fridge. You see, I get bored with my meals easily, hence I like a lot of variety. Most weeks, we have 1 rice dish, 1 or 2 salads, sometimes wraps, soup noodles, different ways of using vietnamese rice paper or even a pastry dish. The more variety the better!

Which means I can get over zealous, forgetting that I have only used a 1/4 of a particular sauce or chutney in the fridge before getting another one. So for the past week or so, I have been doing a clear out to make sure that I don't waste any more sauces.

So with a jar of mango chutney at hand, I decided to marinate some chicken breast with it and some curry powder. Simple but effective. Who would have thought, 3 ingredients what it took to make a simple pan fried chicken breast more special? And since I was looking for a shortcut, I sauté some vegetables in my rice cooker, added in rice and water and tadah, a savoury rice dish was cooked.

I made this in 20 minutes which was pretty good I think. Good for our "it has finally hit us summer weather"

Mango Chicken and Spiced Pilaf (serves 4)
2 chicken breast- sliced horizontally to make 4 pieces
1/2 cup of mango chutney
2 tablespoon of curry powder
dash of cumin powder

Spiced Pilaf
2 cups of basmatic rice
1 small onion chopped
2 bay leaves
1 cup of peas
1 large capsicum chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp of turmeric
dash of cumin

Marinate chicken with chutney, cumin and curry powder for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute onions, all spices, capsicum, carrot and peas in rice cooker. Then add rice and water. Cook till rice cooker says done!

In between, heat grill pan till hot. Oil pan and pan fried chicken till done. Serve with rice and more veges.

Pork and Century Egg Rice Porridge- A bowl of comfort

It has been years since I have the care of my granny when I am unwell. The terrible heat got into me recently and I was down with bad headaches, cool, sore throat..etc. Granny knowing that I didn't feel like eating, offered to make me some rice porridge.

It's a dish that you can find in most dim sum restaurants. I grew up eating lots of rice porridge as my family was not well to do. That was what granny could feed me for lunch on most days when I was in primary and secondary school (on a good day, we have fish fingers AND rice porridge!). When I was in my late teens/early twenties, I couldn't stomach any more rice porridge since I had it so often!

Century egg is probably regarded as bizarre food for some. I suppose it is a version of preserved egg. And since we have so many types of preserve food-surely it makes sense to preserve duck eggs too? LOL I suppose it does have a strong smell, but the taste of it goes very well with plain rice congee/porridge or even on tofu!

Granny cooked the rice porridge slowly and for more than 2 hours. This gives the porridge a nice silky texture. True Cantonese style, she added in some lean pork mince, only adding in the eggs in the last 5 minutes of the cooking process. I love how she added some spring onions as well.

Each spoonful tastes of love.

Pork and Century Egg Rice Porridge (Serves 3-4)
1 cup of rice
6 cups of water (or more!)

200 grams pork mince marinated with soya, pepper and corn flour.
1 century egg diced
spring onion

Simmer rice and water for 1.5 hrs. Around 1 hour mark, add in pork mince balls. Cook for another 30 minutes, adding the egg and spring onion in the last 5 mins. Serve.

One Pot Delight- Fragrant Rice

Often, I marinate meat and throw it into the rice cooker for a quick and easy meal. Nothing fancy, just plain old simple good food. A colleague of mine brought in her version and I was hooked straight away. She told me that her mother often cooks this with half jasmine and half glutinous rice. The secret it seems, is to add shrimps. Since attempting it her way, I have never looked back.


I tend to make this in big batches and fridge/freeze it. I was abit worried about freezing glutinous rice but it turned out as delicious after reheating.


The only thing is that our near 6 years cheap old rice cooker died soon after! Well, no fear, we picked up a nicer one for AU$89. A bargain since it was down from AU $120.

What is your version of a one pot delight?

One Pot Delight-Fragrant Rice (serves 6-8)
2cups of  jasmine or basmatic rice
2 cups of glutinous rice soaked overnight

Marinate
300 grams chicken thigh meat sliced
1 tablespoon of dark soya
2 tablespoon of light soya
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1/4 cup of hua tiao jiu


2 chinese sausages sliced
1 cup of dried shrimps washed and toasted.


Marinate meat for around 30 mins or so. If you are tight of time, you can skip this step (but not as tasty!). Cook rice per normal instructions. When rice is nearly ready, pour chicken mixture + chinese sausages + dried shrimps into rice cooker. Toss through. Close lid and let it cook till done. Serve with veges.

Garlic Chorizo Prawn Paella

While I'm not too sure if this is true paella (Since i didnt use the correct rice or pan!), this one pan dish was made with absorption method. Chorizo and prawns are such a great fit together, then the flavours seem to be absorbed so easily by the rice. I heated up stock before hand and just pour it into the pan when the rice is ready to be cooked.


Nonetheless, it was a easy meal to make, without fuss but with hot flavours.

Garlic Chorizo Prawn Paella (Serves 4)
2 cups of rice 
3 cups of chicken stock heated up
1 tablespoon of garlic
1 chorizo sliced thinly
around 150 grams of shelled prawns
2 cups of frozen peas
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
2 tsp of smoked paprika
1 tsp of mixed spice
1/2 tsp of chili powder
seasoning

Saute garlic and chorizo till chorizo is cooked. Add prawns and fry to slightly pink. Toss in rice, coating it with the essence in the pan. Ladle stock into pan and cook rice till fluffy. Toss in peas, mushrooms and all the spices. Simmer for another 5-10 mins. Taste and season accordingly.

Thai Style Pineapple Fried Rice

What I like about Thai food is the flavour. It's strong but not overpowering. I like how they incorporate the use of fruits and nuts in simple dishes like fried rice- making it ultra special.

I adapted this Thai style fried rice by asking my Thai friend, tasting the fried rice we had at a restaurant recently and reading some recipes online. By no means it is authentic but it certainly adds a bit of Thai flair to normal every day cooking.

I served this with a Green Chicken Curry.


Thai Style Pineapple Fried Rice
2 cups of cooled cooked rice
around 150 gram of pineapple chunks
1 cup of small prawns
1 tsp of garlic and ginger
2 bird egg chili chopped
2-3 tsp of tumeric
3-4 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of white sugar
1 cup of frozen peas
1/4 cup of sultanas/rasins
1/2 cup of cashews
2 eggs lightly beaten
seasoning

Saute chili garlic and ginger. Add prawns in. When done, remove prawns and set aside. Cook rice till very hot, adding pepper. Adding seasoning and frozen peas after around 5 minutes. Dont forget the prawns! When rice is done, add beaten eggs into the pan, only tossing it when the egg is nearly set. Then toss pineapples, sultanas and cashews through. Taste before adding salt. Serve hot.

Star Anise Stewed Pork with Soya Egg

Memories can be in the form of images, smells, emotions, thoughts... the list is endless. For me though, a favourite childhood memory is when Grandma stewed a good stab of pork shoulder, cooled it down and chopped it into small pieces. If I'm lucky, I will catch her in the right moment-just when she puts the chopper into the meat, cutting them into the right bite size pieces before pouring the lovely juices over it. Being a little kid, I can't reach the plate, but she would save me the best pieces. Then we would giggle as I asked for more and she said "enough!" It's like a little secret between us.

I hesitated making this dish. Perhaps because I know how much it means to me. How perhaps if I screw it up, I will be distorting the memory. And of course, to conquer my fear of tackling a huge chunk of meat.

Grandma will probably not put star anise in her sauce. She would have preferred it slightly saltier.  But I'm not there to re-create what she does best. That's her star dish and it will always be. For us, it is just sufficient to savour the taste of home. Cutting the pieces of meat into the right bite sizes. Then it hit me-I smiled. She taught me how to cook this without teaching me. That's my grandmother for you.

Star Anise Stewed Pork with Soya Egg

1 kg of pork shoulder-trimmed with fats removed
1/4 cup of oyster sauce
1 generous tsp of castor sugar
1/4 cup of soya sauce 
1/2 cup of hua tiao jiu
1/4 cup of water
1 tablespoon of garlic
3-4 star anise 
2 boiled eggs-well done 

Heat a deep pot with some oil. Seal the pork shoulder. Rub it with garlic. Rest pork while all the sauces with star anise are placed in the pork and simmered. Place pork into the pot. Braise it for around 1.5 to 2 hours. Turning it over every 30 minutes or so. Cut each egg into half, place it in the pot for it to absorb the sauces. Serve with rice.

Sambal Egg Prawns

I would have never thought that sambal sauce from a can, tastes good. As the Ayam brand Sambal sauce was on special,  I thought I would give it a go.

Frying some onions and then prawns... pouring the sambal sauce over it...letting the egg set over it.. The creamy eggy yet spicy taste goes very well together. One thing though, this sambal is hardly what I know.. it's on the sweet side. Still, it tastes good.

Sambal Egg Prawns
1 can of Ayam brand Malaysian Sambal Sauce
300 grams of shelled prawns
1 red onion sliced
4 eggs beaten lightly.

Sauté onion. cook prawns till nearly done. Add sauce and wait for the aroma to hit u. When it does, pour beaten eggs over it. Let it set for around 5 minutes. Serve with rice.

Chicken Oyakodon

So sometimes, I get into the habit of experimenting with dishes in the kitchen that we have tried in various places. You would have think that there will be a stopping point, but noooo, I don't think there ever will be. So much to learn, so much to see.

Chicken Oyakodon is pretty much chicken and egg in a bowl of rice. I learned that the Japanese added flavour to the egg mixture by using dashi stock. Of course, there are the usual things like Mirin and Soya Sauce but it is really the dashi that makes this work.

I was also surprised to know that this isn't a very difficult dish. I guess I shouldn't be because the Jap are known for making simple great. And this is what it is- a simple rice bowl that tastes great.

Chicken Oyakodon  

500 grams chicken thigh fillets
around 1 cup of water boiled with dashi powder, mirin and soya added to it.
1 onion chopped- I used red onion
1/4 cup of mirin
2-3 tablespoon of soya sauce
5 eggs


Cook onion till soft. Remove and set aside. Saute chicken till done. Add onions, and stock mixture. Add beaten eggs to the mixture. Cook till it sets lightly and turn off heat. Serve with rice and veges.

Indian Spiced Rice with Toasted Cashews

Reading ABC Delicious Magazine and this caught my eye! It resembles a briyani or pilaf and certainly fits into the one pot dinner idea.

What I enjoyed about this dish is biting into juicy tender chicken. I bought these cutlets on the bone as they were cheaper, but the flavour that the provided to the rice was totally worth it.

Indian Spiced Rice with Toasted Cashews

1 kg of chicken thigns (I used bone in)
200 grams of  Tandoori paste
marinate overnight.


2 cups of basmati rice
1 carrot peeled and chopped
1 cauliflower chopped

Garlic
1-2 tsp of cumin 
4-5 tsp of curry powder
1 tsp of garam masala powder

Cashew nuts to serve with.

Pre heat oven to 200 C. Quickly Pan fry chicken till it turns brown. In a deep pan, heat up some oil and saute garlic, cumin, curry powder and garam masala powder till it smells soooo good. Then add rice. Add around 2-3 cups of water till it absorbs partially. Toss in the veges. Spoon rice onto over proof dish, top it up with chicken and bake it for around 25 mins.


Serve with toasted cashew nuts. 

Chicken Tika Masala

You read about my rave on Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food cook book here. It sounds weird, taking curry advice from a Brit-but seems that it is what one orders when one is in Britain (is it true?).

Armed with the recipe from Jamie Oliver, I made Chicken Tika and it was delicious! Never thought it can be that easy to make Indian curries at home. No more expensive and oily take aways!

I adapted his recipe by adding more veges and reduced the amount of chicken to make it a one pot dish. Add some microwave papadums and the crunch factor is the bonus.

Chicken Tika Masala (serves 4) 

2 chicken breasts  diced
1 onion sliced
1 red chili diced
some minced ginger
1 pataks tika masala sauce
1 tin of chopped tomatoes

Added:
1 carrot diced
2 cups of beans sliced
2 fresh tomato diced
2 cups of mushrooms sliced. 

omitted- tin of coconut milk and natural yogurt

Cumin spiced papadums microwaved for 20 seconds.

Heat a deep pan with oil. Sizzle garlic, chili and ginger and onion. Add curry paste and cook till it smells oh so good! Brown chicken in the same pan. Add all veges and tin of tomato. Add a little water if needed (as i didnt use coconut milk). Bring it to boil. Simmer for around 15-20 mins. Do a taste test and adjust accordingly. I do not usually add salt as the paste contains some.

If you have some sliced almonds, toast and serve curry with almonds and yogurt and papadums.

Salmon Tandoori Stir Fry

I used to think that Tandoori paste is used for marinating chicken in. Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food  changed my thinking forever. It has so many quick and do-able recipes that even the hubby could use (hint!). I was also happy to know that one of my favourite brand of curry paste- Pataks is also recommended as a short cut (And apparently it was not an advert for them, Jamie did try it and thought it was as good as it can get for a store bought jar version).

So happily I used the jar-I welcome short cuts in the kitchen. This made an awesome quick stir fry dish with both fish and vegetables- how healthy can it get right? (oh no wait... sorry, tandoori paste has oil...). Still, it was a good change from my normal stir fry dishes.

 Salmon Tandoori Stir Fry 

1 piece of salmon diced
1 tsp of chopped garlic
1 fresh chili chopped
1 knob of ginger mince 
1-2 tablespoon of Pataks Tandoori curry paste
1/2 can of coconut milk (obmited)
handful of bean sprouts
big handful of snow peas
 peanuts to serve

lemon or lime wedges 

Cook garlic, chili and ginger and curry paste. Add salmon and toss it through. Add some water if too dry (or coconut milk). add the veges.

Dish it out on hot rice. Serve with lemon or lime wedges. 

Grilled Honey Soy Chicken

So I am a big fan of oven roasted dishes. Seriously, what can be easier than marinating and putting into the oven and then come back to lovely dinner?

Well,  the only problem was that I ran out of time! So after marinating the chicken overnight with the purpose of chucking into the oven, circumstances happened and I didn't managed to oven baked it in time. The next best thing is of course, grilling it.

I didn't regret it one bit. The result was crisp chicken, but tender on the inside. I served it with rice and veges and it was a lovely comforting meal.

Grilled Honey Soy Chicken (Serves 4)
6 drumsticks
1/2 cup of honey
1/4 cup of soya sauce
1 tablespoon of garlic
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/4 cup of chinese wine

All marinated over night or for at least 20 minutes. Baked in oven for 40 minutes or grilled it for around 15 mins. Serve with a squeeze of lemon.

Chorizo Seafood Pilaf

What sunny weather we are having in Perth currently. A top of 37C on Saturday and another sunny day to follow today. If this is Spring October, I shudder to know what the heat is going to be like in Summer!!!!!

October has always hold a very special place in my heart. Somehow, spring does wonders to one's outlook doesn't it?

A couple of things are going to change to this blog pretty soon- I hope to bring a prettier blog look and hopefully that will be more easy on the eye. It's time for a change soon don't you think? =)


I wrote about my find about chorizo recently-and the added special touch to the sauce base of pasta. What I did further was to simmer the sauce but added rice and stock to make a pilaf. A easy one pot dish (just remember to serve veges on the side) for sure.

Now, let's just hope it's not going to get warmer than what we already have during the weekend or else it's going to be more salads and salads soon! LOL


Chorizo Seafood Pilaf
1 can of garlic and oregano diced tomato
1/2 chorizo
1 chilli chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 tsp of chopped garlic
2 cups of rice
300 grams of seafood marinara
1 tsp of mixed herbs
1 cup of stock/water. (U can also use 1/2 cup of red wine + stock for a stronger flavour)

Fry chorizo and garlic . Add all tomatoes and chilli. Simmer for around 2-3 minutes adding a dash of vege stock or water along the way.

Add rice and stir well. Add stock and simmer for around 15 minutes till the rice is nearly cooked. Place marinara on top of rice, sprinkle mixed herbs and simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve with grilled veges.

Spicy Lamb Pilaf

My love for one pot dish continues. Spicy Lamb Pilaf is a quick and easy way to have your meat, rice and veges in one pot. I took this recipe out from ABC delicious (another of my love) and totally enjoyed it. I also froze an extra batch and we had it for dinner one weeknight-the flavours actually intensifies which is a yummy way to enjoy leftovers.

Spicy Lamb Pilaf (Serves 6)
3 cups of basmatic rice
cinnimon sticks
5 bruised cadamon pods
2tsp of tumeric powder
3-4 tsp of cumin powder
1tsp of chilli powder
2 tsp of garam masala
2 cups of peas

200 grams of diced lamb.
a pinch of salt and pepper. (marinate for around 5-10 mins)



Fry marinated lamb quickly. Send aside.

Place 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan. Cook all spices in it. Add rice and stir spices through. Add around 2.5 cups of water. Simmer till rice is almost done. Put peas on top. Add lamb in another 5 minutes or when peas are nearly done.

Served with yogurt and mango chutney.

Yam Rice

Yam is probably one of my favorite root vegetables. It can be used as a dessert, snack and even in a main dish like this one. Yam chopped up add into "claypot rice" adds a texture to it.

I spotted Little inbox having an awesome recipe for Yam Rice as well (SOO love her presentation too!).

Yam Rice (Serves 4-5)
2 cups of rice (I use basmatic)

1 tsp of garlic minced
300 grams of Yam chopped
500 grams of chicken thigh meat diced
10 dried shitake mushrooms hydrated and diced

Seasoning
2-3 tablespoon of oyster sauce
2 tablespoon of soya sauce
2-3 tablespoon of Hua Tiao Wine
dashes of pepper

1) Marinate chicken with seasoning. Set aside for around 15-20 mins.

2) Heat pan with oil. Cook garlic. Sizzle chicken and add yam and mushrooms. Add a few tablespoons of water and cover.

3) Meanwhile cook rice.

4) After around 10 mins, add chicken into the rice pot. Cook till rice is done.

Serve with veges! =)

Indian Spiced Baked Prawn Pilaf

Woah! What wild weather we are experiencing in Perth at the moment. Driving home with nearly zero visibility last night plus very scary sounding wind and hail! The wild winter weather is perfect for warm hearty food though..and I recalled making this very easy dish inspired by ABC delicious again.

The only thing is that I estimated the amount of spices I used, so judge it at your own peril! =)

Indian Spiced Baked Prawn Pilaf (Serves 4)
2 cups of basmatic rice
1.5 cups of hot/warm stock

2 cinnamon sticks
5-6 cardamon pods
3 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of chili powder
2-3 tsp of tumeric powder
2 tsp of garam masala

1 red onion chopped
garlic

1 cup of peas
200 grams of shelled prawns.

Preheat Oven to 200C. If you have a casserole dish, fry spices with onion and garlic with oil till fragrant. Add rice and stir till well coated with spices. Add hot stock and season accordingly. When the stock boil, put the dish into the oven covered with aluminum foil. (If you dont have a dish, I used a deep pan, coat rice with spices and scooped in into an oven proof dish, pouring hot stock over it). Bake for around15 minutes. Rice should be nearly done. Stir in peas and place pawns on top of it. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or so.

Serve hot with mango chutney and veges.

Spiced Meat Patties with Dhal and Savory Rice

I finally figured out that if I do grocery shopping after 5 pm on a weekday, there is a huge discount on mince. Turns out that grocery stores are not allowed to keep mince for next day sale and they would have to chunk out what they couldn't sell that night!!! How wasteful! Therefore, they try to put a 50% discount on what is left in the fridge.

Since budgeting is "in" right now (hehehe, given that we have been surviving on student wages + first job wage for some time means we are soo used to budgeting anyway!), there are heaps of mince recipes in newspapers and magazines. I can't quite remember where I recieved inspiration for this recipe for exactly.. Think it was ABC delicious mag.


The result was tender lightly spiced meat patties that has a slight crisp to the outside. Dahl was cooked in the magic cooker that mum bought me for Christmas.



Spiced Meat Patties with Dhal and Savory Rice (Serves 4)

Spiced Meat Patties
300 grams lean beef mince
1 tsp of garlic
1 tsp of olive oil
1 heap tsp of corn flour
1 egg
2 tsp fo tumeric
1 tsp of chilli
2 tsp of cumin
2 tsp of mixed spiced
1 chopped chilli

Dhal
150 grams of mixed lentils (soaked overnight)
2 carrots
1 red onion chopped
3 tsp of tumeric
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp of chilli powder
4 cups of stock

Savory Rice
2 cups of rice
1 red onion chopped
1 tablespoons of garlic
1 tablespoon of spread


1) Heat oil in magic cooker around 6 hours before dinner time. Cook onion and garlic. Add all spices and cook till you can smell it. Place lentils and stock in. Bring it to boil. Place the whole pot in magic cooker. (If u r using slow cooker, just put everything in there and boil for 4-5 hrs, if using pot, allocate around 2 hrs).

2) Spiced Meat patties- Marinate all ingredients together for around 30 minutes. Shaped and fridge for another 15-20 minutes. Heat Grill till very hot and grill patties both sides for around 5-6 minutes.

3) Mean while, rinse rice and place it rice cooker. Melt spread and saute onions and garlic till done. Just before the rice cooks, place mixture into cooker.

4) Serve Spiced Meat patties with mango chutney!

Wedding thoughts

Nearly 1 month to the wedding now and all excitment is on board. RSVPS hv nearly all come through for the Perth side of the celebrations and I'm going to be doing sitting arrangements very soon! Not to mention, after saving $ for sooo long, we have started purchasing gifts, finalizing items, booking stuff, making sure ppl have accomodation and activities..etc It's all in the details right?

The best thing I have learned so far is to trust the people who you have allocate the jobs to. I remembered feeling a little flustered-needing to arrange make up/hair for the other girls when one of my best friends just took over and said she will handle it. Then we have an issue with the invites printing, which another best friend then raised her hands and managed to take the initiative to solve the problem and got all invites on time as well. It's those little moments that count more than the whole event-because u feel really loved. really really loved.

32 days to the wedding

Thai Red Seafood Curry

Every year at around this time, I reflect on how blessed I am. It's not just about the food, career or the roof over my head. I have the basics (and perhaps even more sometimes). It's about the relationships that have been built over the years. Because out of so many people in the whole wide world, these people cared enough to pop me an email/sms/facebook/phonecall/blog just to wish me happy birthday.



This year, I also reflect on how God has blessed me back my health in time for chocolate cake. If there is once slice of cake that I can eat without guilt, it would have to be the slice on THE birthday isnt it? With each bite, I counted my blessings. And then I ran out of bites...

Maybe I should have gone for second helpings.

Thank you to my lovely friends and family. You guys are amazing.



While I get my act together and start posting some photos for our prewedding photoshoot (Also done on my birthday! See! Killing 2 birds with 1 stone, photos for my birthday and wedding-handy huh? LOL), please do enjoy this curry, I loved it! And I know u will as well.




Thai Red Seafood Curry (serves 4)
300 grams of seafood (fish, squid, prawns)
100 grams of baby corn
100 grams of snow peas
1 cup of green peas
100 grams of spinach leaves
2 carrots chopped

2.5 tablespoon of thai red curry
1 can of lite coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons of flour
1 egg

1) Slice seafood into equal portions. Pat dry with paper towels. Coat seafood with egg than flour.

2) Heat work with oil. Fry battered seafood till golden brown. Set aside.

3) Heat red curry paste till fragrant. Add all vegetables and cook till soft. Add can of coconut milk. Simmer for around 2-3 minuites. Add seafood. Cook for around 5 minutes. Serve with warm rice.

Teriyaki Chicken Rice

I can't believe how quickly the week is flying by! Worst-I haven't blogged since Monday.

I hope I don't get into the habit of having less than 3 posts a week... I wouldn't like that.

Work is going well and I have great colleagues which makes the experience more enjoyable. Certainly work is demanding but I'm liking it. I'm finding myself feeling more tired than usual (possibly due to getting over the flu virus + starting new job + returning home late) and becoming lazier to cook! A mental note to myself is to start collecting recipes and food ideas that are freezer friendly so that I do not feel tempted to eat out often.

This is one recipe that was inspired by Mochachocorita. I didn't realize how handy teriyaki sauce can be. It's not for marinate but it makes a pretty good fried rice too. I wonder if this is freezer friendly though?

Teriyaki Chicken Rice (serves 4)
2 cups of rice cooked and cool overnight.
300 grams of chicken thigh/breast sliced across the grain
5 tablespoon of teriyaki sauce
pepper
3 cups of mixed chopped vegetables (I used a combination of cabbage, capsicum and beans).
sliced fresh chilli
3 eggs beaten

1) Marinate chicken with 2 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce and pepper for 15-20 minutes.

2) Heat wok till very hot. Cook chicken on high heat quickly. Dish it up.

3) Add rice and fry it till it's jumping off the wok. Add vegetables and teriyaki sauce. Keep stir frying. Add chicken. Do a taste test at this point. Add seasoning if needed (I like to add more pepper). Make a well and add eggs. Cook till the eggs are nearly set. Toss egg through rice.

4) Serve rice with chilli.

Dried shrimps, scallops and cabbage rice

First day of work-AR asked if I was nervous or excited this morning. Funny enough, I did not feel anxious or nervous and went on to prepare for the morning as I would have normally. Probably being a trainee for the past 3 years helped-I suppose essentially, the first days are the same except this time round, I dropped the title of the trainee! Woohoo!! Oh, and get paid of course.

What I will expect the change over time though, is the energy and time require to prepare meals. I need to be more time wise now and prepare quick meals that are nutritious and freezer friendly.

Darn, I think I need a bigger fridge!!

In the mean time, I found this in my folder which I believe will come in handy for us. It's another one pot dish that utilizes the rice cooker. Easy!! A little luxurious as well as I used dried scallops.



Dried Shrimps, Scallops and Cabbage Rice (Serves 4)
1/2 cup of dried shrimps rinsed and soaked for 15 minutes. Drain
1/2 cup of dried scallops soaked in hot water for a few minutes, drain.
1/2 a shredded cabbage
handful of dehydrated mushrooms chopped
1 clove of garlic
2 cups of rice

3 eggs lightly beaten

1) Heat a wok and add oil. Add beaten eggs and swirl-lightly roll eggs up and dish it up. Set aside.

2) Wash and cook rice in rice cooker.

3) Reheat wok and oil. Add garlic, cabbage, mushrooms, dried shrimps and scallops. Add pepper. Cook till done and dish into the rice cooker. Cook for another 10 minutes. Serve with the rolled eggs.