◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 7

When we talk about the good food in Malaysia, you don’t want to miss the famous Claypot Chicken Rice (瓦煲雞飯).  I remember when I lived in Malaysia with my family, we loved to go to the hawker stall near my house in Klang for the claypot chicken rice.  Essentially, the claypot is filled with rice, topped with chicken and other ingredients such as chinese sausages, mushroom and especially salted fish pieces that gave an extra taste. Then the claypot chicken rice is cooked using the most traditional way on top of charcoal fire which makes it so fragrant and delicious.

To cook a perfect claypot chicken rice, the most important thing is to know how to control the charcoal fire. You practically have to stand there to fan the charcoal in order to control for high or low heat, and not to burn the rice.  One of the best parts of the claypot chicken rice is the crispy rice bits (not burnt rice) that are stuck on the side and the bottom of the claypot that makes it so unique tasty.

For those who are at home and craving for claypot chicken rice, you don’t really need to cook it over charcoal fire. No one wants to do that, that is so time consuming and troublesome. You can either prepare on a stove top, or be like me, use the rice cooker which is the easiest way. Usually what I do is cook the rice with seasoning in the rice cooker, at the same time stir fry the ingredients and then put everything into the rice cooker. Let the rice cooker do the magic. Done. That’s easy right?

Ingredients:

3 cups rice
1 chicken leg quarter (cut into pieces)
1  skinless chicken breast (cut into small pieces)
2 Chinese sausages (sliced)
6-8 mushrooms (soak in hot water until soft, cut into stripes, keep the mushroom water for cooking)
2 pieces boneless salted fish (cut into small pieces)
6 inches ginger (cut into fine stripes)
4 garlic cloves (minced)
4 shallots (cut into fine rings and fry till golden brown) – optional

Rice seasoning:
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 pinch salt
1/2 portion fried ginger stripes, garlic and shallots with frying oil

Chicken seasoning:
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp cooking wine
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp corn starch
1 tsp sesame oil
Mushroom water
Salt & pepper to taste

Serve size:  4-5 people

Cooking method:

1. Heat 3 tbsp of cooking oil, stir fry shallots till golden, do not burn. Set fried shallots aside in small bowl with half of the frying oil.
2. In the same pan, stir fry ginger and garlic with remaining oil till golden, do not burn. Save half of the fried ginger and garlic aside  for rice seasoning.
3. Continue to add in chicken and stir fry with ginger and garlic until half cook.
4. Add in mushroom and sausages into chicken, quickly stir fry. Add in the seasoning mixture for chicken and cook until sauce thickens and slightly dry. Add salt & pepper for taste. Dish out and set aside.
5. Wash the rice and add water into rice cooker, add in all rice seasoning. Add in half portion of the fried ginger and garlic, and add some shallots with the frying oil. Mix well and start cooking rice.
6. Mean while, fry the salted fish pieces and set aside for later toppings.
7. After about 20 minutes, check when the rice is about to dry, add in the stir fried chicken into the rice. Continue to cook until the rice is completely cooked.
8. When the rice is cooked, leave the rice cooker at “Warm”  for 15 minutes before serving.
9. Dish up rice into individual claypot or bowl, top with fried salted fish and fried shallots, garnish with chopped scallion. If preferred, serve with hot chili sauce.

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 4

Hey guys, party was over and it is time to get ready for accommodating the new year of 2010.  Unfortunately, I had a minor problem so called “Party Aftermath” - leftover rice. How to deal with it? Porridge or fried rice? It has been a while since we made the Indonesian Fried Rice, so I decided to go for fried rice. This time I’ve prepare the Nasi Goreng Pattaya.

Nasi goreng pattaya, or simply nasi pattaya, is one of the common dishes around Malaysia which usually can be found at Malay hawker stalls. In Malay, nasi means rice and goreng means fry. So, you can name it Rice Pattaya as well.  The name comes from Pattaya, Thailand. It is actually a chicken fried rice wrapped with fried egg and usually served with chili sauce and cucumber.

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked rice (prefer cold overnight rice)
1 pcs of chicken breast (cut into bite size)
1/4 cup green peas
1 carrot (diced)
1 small chili (minced)
1 shallot (minced)
1 cloves garlic
1 scallion (chopped)
1 parsley
3 tbsp cooking oil
2 tbsp tomatoes ketchup
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
Chili sauce (preference)
1/4 cucumber (sliced)
1/4 tomato (sliced) – optional
2 eggs (mixed with soy sauce, pepper and bitten)
Salt and pepper for taste

Cooking Method:

1. Pan heat the oil. Wait for few seconds, then fry the garlic and shallot until there turn brown color.
2. Add in the chicken, green peas, carrot, small chili and stir for 2 minutes.
3. Add in the rice following by fish sauce, soy sauce, tomatoes ketchup, salt and pepper.
4. Cook until all mixed and rice turn yellow brown.
5. Meanwhile, fried the mixed egg with another pan to make a thin and large omellete.
6. When the omellete is ready, place a bowl of the fried rice at the middle of it, wrap up the 4 edges and flip it over a serving plate.
7. Add chili sauce, scallion and parsley on top of the omellete and served sliced cucumber and tomato as sides.

Serves hot.

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 5

Every Thanksgiving we will prepare a lot of food and it is always impossible to finish all of them. There are always leftover food for the next couple of days, we will be eating the same thing over and over again, especially the big roasted turkey. So what will you do with the leftover turkey?

Instead of eating the same roasted turkey for the next day, you can actually prepare a new dish with the turkey meat. You can make a soup with the leftover turkey, adding some preferred vegetables as well as noodles. This will make a perfect noodle soup as all the turkey essence is preserved in the soup.  Another way that we usually prepare is to make the turkey porridge, or congee.  Having a hot bowl of porridge in the cold weather will definitely warm you up.

Ingredients:
2 cups of rice
4 quarts of water
Leftover turkey meat and bones
1 cup Leftover Turkey Stock or Juices or chicken stock
2 carrots (sliced)
3″ ginger (sliced)
2 tbsp Chinese rice wine
Salt and white pepper to taste

For toppings:
Leftover turkey breast meat (shredded)
Chopped scallions
Soy sauce
Sesame oil

Note: You can always substitute turkey meat with other meats such as chicken, pork, beef or fish, which will make a different flavored porridge.

Cooking Method:

1. Boil the water in a 5-quart pot, add in rice, turkey meats, turkey or chicken stock and other ingredients such as carrots, ginger, rice wine. Bring to boil and cook for 15 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to medium low, covered and simmer for about 1 1/4 hour. Stirring frequently the last half hour to prevent burned.
3. Cook till the porridge thickens, you can add water if preferred a thinner consistency.
4. The turkey meats will break up in the porridge after cooking, or use a laddle or fork to break up meats in the porridge. Discard the bones. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve a bowl of porridge with toppings of shredded turkey breasts, scallions and seasoning of soy sauce and sesame oil.

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 4

What’s the best thing to do if you have too much leftover rice? Fried Rice of course. In Indonesia or Malay, it is called “Nasi Goreng”. Nasi means Rice; Goreng means Fried. One main thing to remember when preparing fried rice is best to use cooked rice that has been cooled down ahead of time or refrigerated overnight, so the fried rice will not be soggy. You can combine a variety of ingredients of meat and vegetable to make the fried rice.  This time I was cooking the Indonesian Fried Rice that includes chicken and shrimp with red chili that gives you the extra spicy kick on it as well as a fried egg on the side.

Ingredients:
2 cups of leftover rice
3 tbsp oil
2 garlic cloves (minced)
3 shallots ( thinly sliced)
1 red chili ( thinly sliced, seeded)
1/2  tsp Sambal Belacan
1/2 cup skinless boneless chicken breast (cut into small pieces)
7-8 pcs medium shrimps (peeled and deveined)
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp thick sweet soy sauce or kecap manis 1
1/4 tsp salt
1 scallion (chopped, for garnish)

For the sides
fried egg
cucumber (thinly sliced or shredded)
carrot (thinly sliced or shredded)
shrimp crackers or keropok (optional)

Serve size: 2 people

Cooking Method:

1. Heat oil over medium high and stir fry the shallots till golden brown. Set aside 1 tsp of fried shallots for garnish later.
2. Add the garlic, chili and belacan, cook till fragrant.
3. Add the chicken and shrimp, stir fry until cooked.
4. Break up the cold rice so it does not clump together. Now add the rice into the wok and stir fry frequently, make sure it doesn’t get burned.
5. Add the soy sauce, sugar and salt to rice and stir fry till the rice is well blended with seasoning.
6. Place the fried rice in a plate and top with fried shallots and scallions. Serve with prepared egg and other side dishes such as sliced cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes based on your preference.  Some Indonesian fried rice are served with shrimp cracker as a side too (optional).