Rice

Congee (Xi fan)

Posted by admin on Sep 4, 2011 in Breakfast, Meat, Rice | 0 comments

Congee, growing up meant traditionally a family breakfast meal or whenever someone fell ill. My mother always used to say it would cleanse our bodies and make us feel a lot better. To me, its a great winter warmer and so simple to make, I encourage every household to give it a go!

Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups of white rice
• 20 cups of water
• 1 tablet chicken stock
• ¼ ginger

Garnishes

• Pork floss (rou song)
• Chilli bamboo shoots
• Gluten
• Preserved cucumber
• Century egg (not for the faint hearted!)
• Fried egg
• Yo tiao (Chinese cruller)

Directions

1. Wash the rice until the water goes clear. Peel & slice ginger into small strips.
2. Using a cast-iron pot (I use le creuset pot which is a staple in my kitchen as it conducts heat evenly), add the water and bring to the boil on high heat.
3. Add the rice and bring again to the boil. Turn the heat down to low.
4. Add the ginger and chicken stock. Ensure stock is evenly dissolved.
5. Stir on a regular basis to avoid the rice sticking to the pot.
6. Serve hot with the garnishes separate on the table to allow everyone to choose and mix themselves.

Tip: For even softer congee, use day old steamed rice instead of cooking rice from scratch.

Stir Fried Pork, Onion & Egg

Posted by admin on Aug 14, 2011 in Meat, Rice | 2 comments

Stir Fried Pork,Onion & Egg is a typical dish found in many lunchtime takeaways in Taiwan where you will find rows and rows of food and accompaniments to choose from and fill in your lunchbox. The problem I had was that my eyes are bigger than my stomach and I wanted to try everything! This dish was one of my favourites, best served on rice.

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 30mins

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 300 grams pork chop
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoon rice wine (mi chiu)
• 3 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 30 gram cornflour
• 1 large onion sliced
• 2 garlic cloves diced
• 2 eggs

Directions

1. Slice the pork chop into strips and place into a bowl.

2. Add the soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1 tablespoon rice wine, half the chopped garlic and 2 teaspoons sugar in the bowl and mix well. Marinate for 20 minutes.

3. In a heated pan, add the onion and remaining garlic. Add a dash of water to soften and steam the onion.

4. Add 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1 tablespoon rice wine, 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon salt and stir well.

5. In a bowl, lightly whisk the eggs and add to the pan with the onion. Let the eggs fry for a few minutes before stirring.

6. Once the eggs have lightly cooked, remove all egg and onion from heat.

7. Remove the pork from marinate and in a separate bowl, add the cornflour and mix with pork well.

8. Add the pork to a lightly oiled and heated pan and brown the sides.

9. Return the egg and onion and stir for 5 minutes.

10. Serve immediately with rice.

Breakfast Rice Roll (Fan Tuan)

Posted by admin on Jul 3, 2011 in Breakfast, Favourites, Rice, Small eats | 0 comments

This is a common dish for breakfast in Taiwan, traditionally served with hot/cold soy bean milk and other dishes such as spring onion pancake, shao bing sandwich or dan bin. They’re great to take to a picnic or a lunch on the go as they’re very quick and easy to make.

Preparation time: 2.5 hours
Cooking time: 15 mins
Serves 6

Ingredients

• 3 cups sticky rice
• 300 gram pork or fish floss
• 50 gram dried chilli radish
• 1 chinese cruller (yo tiao)

Directions
1. Soak the rice for 2 hours (or overnight if possible)
2. Drain the rice and put into a steamer.
3. Once the rice is cooked (it should be almost clear), remove and set aside to cool.
4. Cut the chinese cruller into 6 pieces, one cut through the middle to separate the two joined sticks and then into thirds for each stick.
5. Cut a square piece of cling wrap (roughly 20cm by 20cm) and lay on top of a bamboo sushi roller.

6. Once the rice is cooled, using a rice spoon, flatten some rice in roughly 10cm x 10cm square shape on top of the cling wrap.
7. Place one cruller along the bottom third of the rice.
8. Sprinkle pork floss along one side of the cruller and some radish along the other side.
9. Slowly roll the rice and sheet away from you to completely cover the stick with the rice. Make sure to keep the cling wrap outside of the roll.
10. Slowly close both sides of the stick with the rice.

Sticky Rice (Rou mi fan)

Posted by admin on Jun 18, 2011 in All recipes, Favourites, Rice | 0 comments

Sticky rice (Rou mi fan) is a classic Taiwanese dish eaten during festivals but also in family meals. Its great for parties as it is easy to make in volumes and quickly. It can be adapted also to include many ingredients which makes it a very versatile dish.

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups glutinous rice
• ½ cup dried shitake mushrooms
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• Dash sesame oil
• Fried shallots
• 2 tablespoons dried shrimp
• 250gram chicken
• Ginger

Directions

1. Soak the rice and mushrooms separately overnight (or 2 hours if in a hurry).

2. Drain the mushrooms and slice up the mushrooms and ginger into strips.

3. Chop the chicken into fine strips.

4. In a heated pan, add a dash of vegetable oil and the ginger. Stir for a minute.

5. Add the chicken and 1 tablespoon soy sauce and sautee for 5 minutes.

6. Add the mushrooms and dried shrimp and stir.

7. Drain the rice and add to the pan. Add 3 tablespoons soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar. Stir until well combined.

8. Add the sesame oil and fried shallots and roughly stir.

9. Transfer to a steamer and steam for 10 minutes.

10. Remove and serve immediately.

Tips:

1. Replace chicken with pork if preferred.