A promise made... LONG TIME AGO...

Yes.. Finally brought a promise into actuality.. I made a promise to B 1.5 yrs ago that I'll cook for him a bake rice..


Baked Rice.. His ultimate favourite food! I tried to imitate those restaurant to create a set lunch specials.. So here's my set lunch menu:


1. Main Course- Seafood baked rice


2. Sides- Grilled chicken and Capsicums on stick


3. Drinks- Homemade Icy Lemon Tea


4. Desserts- Ice cream... Serve in a special way

He has an "Ang Moh Soul" trapped in an asian body.. Haha! He will choose western food over any chinese-style food.. And since today's theme is western food, I guess he'll enjoy the food as much as I do.. Keke!




The seafood baked rice, before baking.. I top the dish with lots and lots and lots of cheese.. whole packet actually.. =p


After baking.. I did not wait for the cheese (in the middle) to brown.. Simply because my dad and B was waiting at the dining room, and my dad was rushing me to be quick.. Guess he was really hungry.. Nevertheless, the taste is still great!

I use sotong, fish, prawns, ham and potato for the baked rice..

Meanwhile, I use the other oven to grill this chicken.. That's the good side when you've a 2nd oven (even tho it's smaller).. You can use it to bake multiple things at the same time.

This is how I serve the chicken.. Actually I wanted to do some decoration to the food before serving, but like I've said, I was running out of time.. *Need a better time management*

The Ice Lemon Tea, made by yours truly..

Dessert of the day.. Crispy Biscuit base top with Ben and Jerry's Ice-cream + milk chocolate coated strawberries..

So... the verdict from the "food tasters" is that the baked rice is good! YEah, B gave me 10/10!! I was really over the moon when I heard that! *Maybe he was just being kind??* Hehe!

2nd attempt.. cooking my comfort foodie..

Did this lovely dish for dinner again.. Only difference is that I replaced the lean pork with roast meat, uses long beans & egg plant for the vege.



The pearl-y white uncooked rice grains.. I did dry fry them after washing.. I feel that it'll make the rice more fragrant..





Yum Yum.. I love the taste of dried shrimps (Hae Bee in hokkien).. They taste excellent when cook in curry.. And they've a very nice fragrance! But do remember to soak them in water, else they'll be very salty..





Long Beans (Cai Dao in hokkien).. My dad commented that I should fry them longer before adding them to the rice to cook.. Cos he don't like them to be crunchy.. He likes it soft and mushy..



And this applies to the egg plant too..









The roast pork are my dad's favourite.. I dry fry the roast pork first.. And it secretes some "roast pork oil" which I use it to cook the vegetables..





I fry the pumpkin and yam together, towards the last 10minutes of frying, I add in the roast pork cubes.. And the flavor of the pork kind of like magically fused into the yam and pumpkin..



Last of all, in the wok, combine all of the above ingredients to fry together for 2 - 3minutes before transferring to the rice cooker to cook till done.

Kiam Peng (Hokkien food- "salty rice")

Ingredients

600g yam, cut into cubes

400g pumpkin, cut into cubes

2.5 cups rice (I use rice cup to measure)

9 stalks of long beans, cut to 4cm long

5 egg plant (short and slender type), sliced

150g roast pork, cut to slices
60g dried shrimps, soak in water for 20mins

6 shallots, chopped

2 - 3 garlic, chopped

8 - 10 dried scallops (Gan Bei, in chinese)

Oil

Seasonings

3 tbsp abalone sauce

1 tsp Sesame oil

1 tsp dark soy sauce

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp chicken stock granules

Some salt

0.5 tsp Hua Diao Jiu (chinese cooking wine)

Methods

1. Soak dried scallops in hot water for at least a hour (it will swell up in size), reserve the water and shredded the swelled up scallops.


2. Heat up 1 tsp sesame oil and fry the washed rice for 1 mins. Remove the rice and set aside.


3. Heat up wok till hot, dry fry the sliced roast pork till hot and fragrant.


4. Remove the pork from the wok and set aside. DO NOT WASH the wok, heat up 50ml oil and deep fry the yam and pumpkin cubes till crispy. Towards the last 5mins, add in the roast pork and fry together.


5. Heat up 1 tbsp sesame oil in wok and fry shallots and garlic till fragrant, before it browns, add in the soaked dried shrimps and fry till fragrant.


6. Add in the long beans and egg plants to fry for 3mins. Add in the shredded scallops to fry for 1min.


7. Pour in the scallop water and give it a stir. Cover wok and continue cooking for 1min.


8. Add in yam, pumpkin, roast pork, rice and seasonings to the wok, cooking it for 1mins. Transfer the contents into the rice cooker and add in suitable amount of water to cook till done.


9. Lastly, dish up rice and serve hot! ENJOY!

I'm so sorry that I did not take any pictures of the end products.. I was busy as a bee serving the food to the "Food critics", my family members actually..

I also pack 2 box of this for my paternal grandparents to try.. Happy that they enjoyed the food!

My Comfort Food..

If you ask me what's my comfort food, it has got to be Kiam Peng (direct translation from hokkien is 'salty rice')


Actually wanna cook yam rice, but in the end, I add in lots of other stuffss.. So my dad corrected me that what I've cooked today is not yam rice, it's KIAM PENG + YAM. *Faints*


As some of you might have already know, I really hate eating plain rice, but eating this kiam peng and fried rice is ok for me.. In fact, I ate 2 serving of kiam peng! Really Yummy!


Went out early in the morning (7.30am) to the market to get some yam, lean pork and cabbage.. Bought a really nice big yam, something my dad loves to eat!


Afterwhich, came home and start to prepare the ingredients and cook the kiam peng, so just nice its ready for lunch. Heee, and this dish is my own concortion.. Geez


Look at my mix-and-match rice... I know it's really messy..

In it goes into the pot with sufficient water to cook..

End result.. Really nice and super fragrant... Exactly the same taste as my grandma's! But I find that it's not salty enough, and because of this my dad jokingly said that my kiam peng is not the authentic one.. Haha

But something that really made me hopping mad is that after I dump the content into the rice cooker, I happily leash my dog out for a walk.. And when I reach home, guess what my helper told me? "No electricity!" The 2nd shock falls in.. I walk to the kitchen, I saw my sis adding a big cup of water into the wok.. and yeah, my rice sort of like "transform" itself into loh mai kai texture.. But still taste good!

I used lean pork in this kiam peng, but what I suggest is to use roast pork, it definitely makes a whole lot of difference to this dish.