Teriyaki salmon baked rice

I cooked this rather unthinkable dish: teriyaki salmon baked rice.

I bought the usual-sized slab of salmon (costs me about $8-9 at the wet market) the other day and being lazy to whip up a typical Chinese rice-with-dishes-meal on Saturday, I decided to be adventurous and try a 1-dish meal with it.

Well, it turned out ok and hubby gave the green light to cook this again next time. :P

Not marvellous. But it's still quite nice.

What I like about it? It's easy to prepare! :) So if you catch yourself feeling lazy, and not too particular about the food, you can always try this! lol.


Teriyaki salmon baked rice

Ingredients:

• 1 slab of salmon, about 400g (slice thinly and remove skin)
• 2-3 handfuls of frozen mixed veggies
• 1 cup rice grains (the cup comes with the rice cooker - not the usual 'cup' per se)

Teriyaki sauce:

• 2T cooking sake
• 1.5T light soy sauce
• 2T sugar
• 4T mirin

Method:

1. Marinate sliced salmon in the teriyaki sauce. 
2. Cook rice as per normal.
3. Once rice is cooked, add the mixed veggies into the rice cooker and mix evenly.
4. Dish out the rice into a baking dish.
5. Place salmon slices on top of the rice and drizzle the remaining teriyaki sauce evenly over the dish (see pic below)
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180degC for 10min (the salmon was just cooked and still tender! The rice was still moist, but not soggy and tasted of the teriyaki sauce - phew!)
7. Remove from oven and serve.

That's what I call a quick meal! :)

Minced pork fried rice

Cooked this for Saturday's dinner... these days I try as much as possible to cook dishes that Alicia will eat as well so that I don't need to make extra effort to cook something else for her.

This is a simple dish that's sooo yummy! Try it!

Minced pork fried rice

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cup of rice grains (the cup I used to measure the rice came together with the rice cooker, hence it's not your usual cup)
• about 3 handfuls of minced pork (about $3)
• 2 handfuls dried Japanese whitebait
• 6 cloves shallots (sliced thinly)
• 4 cloves garlic (minced)
• 2 handfuls frozen mixed vegetables
• scallions (for garnishing - optional)
• Oil
• Oyster sauce

Marinate minced pork with:

• hua diao jiu
• 2-3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• sesame oil
• ground white pepper

Method:

1. Cook rice as per usual. You may prefer to use overnight rice.
2. Rinse the Japanese whitebait and leave to dry on kitchen towel.
3. Heat some oil in a wok (be more generous than usual with the oil as we will need to pour this oil over the rice eventually).
4. Add whitebait to the wok and fry till golden brown. Strain and set aside.
5. Add the garlic and fry till light brown. Strain and set aside.
6. Add the shallots and fry till golden brown. Strain and set aside.
7. Dish out the extremely fragrant oil and set aside for later use, leaving a little behind to fry the minced pork.
8. Add the minced pork and fry quickly to prevent lumps.
9. When the pork is almost cooked, add the mixed veggies.
10. Add the cooked rice and mix well.
11. Add oyster sauce to taste.
12. Dish and top with the whitebait, garlic and shallots (and scallions).
13. Drizzle the fragrant oil made earlier over the rice.
14. Serve.

For toddler's consumption:

• If particular about seasoning, remove toddler's portion before adding the oyster sauce.
• Drizzle the fragrant oil over the rice and serve the crispy whitebait separately (skip the garlic and shallots if your toddler isn't fond of them.

Toddler egg fried rice

This was Alicia's dinner on Saturday. I was at a loss about what to cook for her and decided to try fried rice again but of a different sort.

It was whipped up on the spur of the moment and I've kept seasoning to a minimum since she doesn't really take to food with a lot of seasoning. You may want to add more seasoning if your child is accustomed to it.

Alicia took quite long to eat this too but she still finished about 2/3 of the portion given to her... she kept picking out the peas and shallots to eat at first before agreeing to eat the rest of the fried rice... sigh.

Egg fried rice

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup rice (I used the 'cup' that came with the rice cooker, not the regular cup)
• 1 egg (beaten)
• a handful frozen peas
• 2T carrots (chopped)
• 2 baby corn (chopped)
• 1 shallot (sliced thinly)

Seasoning (according to your child's tastes):

• light soy sauce
• ground white pepper

Method:

1. Cook rice as per normal.
2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the shallots till golden brown. Remove the shallots, leaving the oil behind.
3. Fry the peas, carrots and corn in the shallot oil till they are cooked through.
4. Add the rice and mix evenly.
5. Pour in the beaten egg bit by bit and stir-fry quickly.
6. Add seasoning.
7. Dish and serve with fried shallots.

Roast duck fried rice

I cooked this for last night's dinner. I'd meant to go to the market in the morning but Alicia was sleepy and slept in so I couldn't make it to the market to buy groceries - hence this dish. I was thinking about what to cook given the circumstances and the available items in my kitchen when I suddenly had a craving for this fried rice. Besides, it gives me every excuse to buy the roast duck from the coffeeshop downstairs which sells really delish roast duck. :D

I would have added some other ingredients into the fried rice if not for the fact that they weren't present in my kitchen and the afternoon shower at my area meant that I really had to just learn to work with what I have. And so, here's my roast duck fried rice...

Incidentally, Alicia liked this dish... it's the first time she's agreed to eat fried rice!


Roast duck fried rice (serves 2 adults + 1 toddler)


Ingredients:

• Roast duck breast meat ($8)
• 3 slices ginger
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 shallots
• 1/2can canned pineapple (use fresh if you have/ prefer)
• 1/2can straw mushrooms
• 1/2 carrot
• light soy sauce to taste

Method:

1. Shred/ chop duck meat into smaller pieces.
2. Mince the garlic.
3. Slice the shallots thinly.
4. Peel the carrot and cut into fine strips.
5. Cut the mushrooms and pineapple into cubes.
6. Cook rice as you normally would. Use overnight rice if you have.
7. Heat oil in a wok and add in the ginger first. Fry till fragrant.
8. Add the shallots and garlic.
9. Add the carrot, fry for awhile before adding the duck meat.
10. Toss in the pineapple cubes and straw mushrooms.
11. Add the rice and mix all the ingredients thoroughly, making sure that there are no lumps of rice.
12. Add light soy sauce to taste.
13. For a richer taste in the rice, you may want to add some of the syrup from the canned pineapple. (optional)
14. Top with more cubed pineapple and a handful of wolfberries (optional) 
15. Dish and serve.

Simple fried rice

It's been very hectic for me lately, with Alicia suddenly falling ill on Tuesday - stuffed and runny nose and a slight cough. Fortunately, she's showing signs of recovery and there's hardly a cough and the mucus is drying up now *cross fingers* And because she's spending more time awake recently so I've had very little time to call my own... but I really enjoy every moment spent with her! She's so responsive and picking up things so quickly now that I'm trying my best to capture every teaching moment.

Anyway, I digress.

This was supposed to be a post about my fried rice. I scheduled to cook it yesterday as I knew I didn't have much time to whip up a 'proper' meal (had arranged an appointment with the insurance agent to come over). I pair this, together with a soup, when I'm very busy and don't have much time to spend in the kitchen.

And so, here it is:

Simple Fried Rice (serves 2 greedy adults)

Ingredients:

• 1.25 cup rice grains (I used the cup that comes with the rice cooker)
• 2-3 handfuls of mixed vegetables
• 2 chicken sausages (sometimes I substitute this with chicken fillet chunks)
• 4-6 crabsticks (depending on your preference)
• 2 pieces of fishcake
• 2-3 shallots (sliced thinly)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1 small yellow onion (chopped)
• fish sauce

Method:

1. Cook rice in the rice cooker.
2. Cut the chicken sausages, crabsticks and fishcake into small pieces.
3. Heat oil in a wok and fry the shallots till almost golden brown then add in the garlic and fry till fragrant (be careful not to burn the shallots/garlic) - by then the shallots should be golden brown.
4. Fry the chicken sausages, crabsticks and fishcake pieces in the shallot and garlic oil.
5. Remove from wok.
6. Add oil and fry chopped yellow onion till limp. Return the previously cooked chicken sausages, crabsticks and fischcake pieces to the wok.
7. Add the cooked rice and mix the ingredients well.
8. Add fish sauce to taste.

I like the combi of the sausages, crabsticks and fishcake as these three items have very different textures!

Note: Suitable for toddlers above 24months due to processed foods.

Baked Rice

This is a simple dish that I cook when I don't have much in my pantry and when I don't feel like spending too much time preparing dinner. It's fast, convenient and most importantly, nutritious so you don't feel that you're shortchanging yourself in any way. I highly recommend this dish to full-time working moms who don't have too much time to spend in the kitchen on weekdays! :)

Baked Rice (serves 2 greedy adults + 1 toddler)

Ingredients:

• $2 worth of chicken fillet
• 1 can of Campbell's Cream of Celery
• Mozarella cheese
• 2-3 handfuls of frozen mixed vegetables
• Rice grains
• butter

Seasoning (for the chicken):

• chicken marinade
• ground black pepper
• unsalted all-purpose herbs
• hua diao jiu

Method:

1. Marinate chicken with seasoning. You can do this the night before cooking.
2. Cook rice as you normally do in the rice cooker.
3. When the rice is cooked, mix the butter in evenly with the rice. Add a suitable amount of butter for the amount of rice you have cooked.
4. Mix in the chicken fillet and mixed vegetables till the ingredients and rice are well-mixed.
5. Scoop half the portion of the mixture into a casserole dish.
6. Spread half the can of cream of celery evenly on the surface of the mixture.
7. Place a layer of mozarella cheese on the cream of celery if you want the baked rice to be extra cheesy. Otherwise, skip this step.
8. Scoop the other half of the rice mixture into the casserole dish.
9. Again, spread the cream of celery evenly on the rice mixture.
10. Top with mozarella cheese evenly.
11. Pre-heat oven to 180degC.
12. Place the dish into the oven and bake at 180degC for 20min.
13. Serve hot!
    
    

Well, Alicia ate only some of the baked rice, and without the cheese for that matter. She's just not a "cheesy" gal, I guess. I had to top up her dinner with a mini banana muffin and her usual pan-fried cod... Oh well... I guess she needs time to accept new tastes and new food!

Claypot Rice

Claypot rice served in the tingkat!

I haven't cooked claypot rice in almost two years according to my hubby's recollection. It really doesn't seem that long to me though, but I really can't remember if I've cooked it anytime recently so I just have to go with his memory.

Ok, claypot rice is really quite difficult to grasp - it's always the texture of the rice that's the problem - and I don't always get it right either. Oh well, failure is part of the learning process, isn't it? Anyway, yesterday was one of those days that my claypot rice kinda failed me and I was pretty upset about it because I promised to bring my mum and aunt their portions before bringing them out to the Night Safari.



Nevertheless, after thinking through the cooking process and troubleshooting, I think if I had added less water to the rice it would be better. I'd find out the next time I cook it! Would it be another two years later? :D

Anyway, this is the recipe:





Claypot Rice (serves 2)

Ingredients:
3 chicken thighs (deboned and skill removed)
salted fish (amt according to your preference) - dice
2-3 cloves shallots (slice finely)
6-8 mushrooms
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups rice grains

Seasoning (for the chicken):
1 tablespoon hua diao jiu
(about) 1 tablespoon ginger juice
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
chicken marinade (or 1/2teaspoon salt AND 1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce)
sesame oil
Tiger's dark soy sauce
ground white pepper
xiao bai cai

Preparation:
Soak mushrooms in water (with 1T sugar) for at least an hour.
Remove and marinate together with chicken.
Marinate chicken with the seasoning for at least half a day.

Method:
Cook rice on medium heat in a claypot with lid open. (The ratio of rice grains to water I used was 1:1 but it was too wet, so cut down on the amount of water)
Meanwhile, deep-fry shallots (fry this first as oil won't be so hot as to burn it immediately). Remove and place on kitchen towel.
Using the same oil, deep fry the salted fish.
Keep the oil for drizzling over the rice later.
Once the water in the claypot boils, stir the rice. Cook on low heat for 5-8min with lid on.
Put in the chicken and mushrooms. Cook on medium heat for about 12 min (or until chicken's cooked) with lid on.
Meanwhile, parboil the veggies.
After the chicken is cooked, pour in oil, put in the salted fish. Cook on low heat for 2 min with lid on.
Drizzle the oil and add fried shallots, dark sauce and pepper to taste.




Tip for getting really crisp shallots:
Soak finely sliced shallots in salt water for awhile. Drain the shallots and leave on kitchen towel to dry fully before deep frying.

Toddler's chicken rice balls

Recently Alicia doesn't seem to like to eat her rice on its own as she used to do in the past. So I decided to mix in a bit of her baked chicken fillet (which she loves) and shape the mixture of rice and chicken into balls. I guess this is the first step towards being less of a purist. :)


I usually marinate the whole batch of chicken fillet when I buy it from the market before storing them in smaller packs to be frozen.


Handling the Chicken Fillet:
Prepare:

• $2 worth of chicken fillet meat: clean and remove any tendons

Marinate the whole batch of chicken fillet with:

• a dash of sesame oil
• a bit of oyster/ abalone sauce or teriyaki marinade
• a bit of chicken marinade
  

Pack into 1 tablespoon portions to be stored in the freezer.

Baking the chicken fillet:

• Place the defrosted chicken fillet on a small piece of aluminium foil.
• Bake at 180degC for 7min.

The chicken fillet will be nice and tender.

Sometimes my Alicia picks up the baked chicken and just munches on it till she finishes the whole piece of chicken, as if it's meant to be eaten that way! :)

Toddler's Chicken Rice Balls

Have with you:

• a piece or two of baked chicken fillet
• a bowl of cooked rice

Lightly mince the baked chicken fillet (fillet's the softest part of the chicken so it mashes really easily between your fingers).

Take a small amount of rice, add in the chicken and shape into a ball or any other shape. I do this for every ball so as to ensure that there's chicken in every rice ball - that's coz I have a picky eater. If you find it too tedious, just mix all the chicken fillet with the rice and shape the rice balls from there. For me, I find it ok because I just take the time after she's just popped a rice ball into her mouth to shape the next ball! :)