Beef wrapped Enokitake

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Everytime when i shop at Carrefour Supermarket, i will go crazy over buying food. Because of the varieties of food available there, it is like a food heaven for a food lover like me. Because i stay in the outskirt, supermarkets here only sell the basic things, you can't really find something fancy. So yesterday when i was at Carrefour, i bought so much that i overstock my .fridge (because these are really extras) again. I bought beef for sukiyaki , enokitake (金針菇), baby asparagus, arugula (again? Yes, because i really love it), cheese, pepperoni, etc etc... Yes, i am gonna make pizza again this weekend.

Actually i wanted to make beef wrapped enoki and asparagus for dinner. However after i finished wrapping the enoki, i thought it was too much. So i did not continue with the beef wrapped asparagus. But in the end, my DH like it so much that it was not enough. I should have wrapped the asparagus too.

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Beef wrapped enokitake

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- Approx 300g-400g of Beef for sukiyaki* (because i didn't weigh them)

- 2 small packs of Enokitake

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Marinate

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- 1 1/2 tbs teriyake sauce

- 1/2 tbs worchestire sauce

- 2 tbs mirin

- 1 tsp sugar

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Method

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1) Marinate the beef for about 30min than use it to wrap the enoki (about 2cm per bunch).

2) Pan fry each side for about 2-3min or until brown on medium-high heat.

3) Sprinkle toasted sesame seed (optional). Ready to serve.

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** If you want additional dish, you can fry asparagus with the same pan (without washing), using the leftover oil and juice. This produce very aromatic asparagus as side dish.

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* You can also use bacon to wrap enoki, just omit the marinate will do.

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I saved some of the beef and asparagus to make a simple lunch for myself today.

Simple Stir Fry Cellophane Noodle with beef and asparagus

Just marinate the beef with teriyaki sauce, light soy sauce, sesame oil for 15min. Fry some garlic, add in the beef, stir fry for about 30 seconds, add in asparagus. Toss every few second. When the beef is almost cooked, add in 2-3 tbs of water and the cellophane noodle (冬粉), plus one tbs light soy sauce. Cook till water being absorbed and cellophane turns transparent in colour. Add toasted sesame seed and enjoy!

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Fried Rice Vermicelli with Braised Soy Sauce

Still remember the braised soy sauce pot that i cooked the other day? This is one of the meal that you can prepare using the left over sauce. Simple and nice.

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Fried Rice Vermicelli with Braised Soy Sauce

- serves 2

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Ingredients

- 200g Dried rice vermicelli (soaked in hot water until softened)

- 3-4 cups of Braised soy sauce

- 1 tbs light soy sauce

-1 pair of chinese waxed meat (or any type of meat you like)

- 6-10 dried chinese mushrooms (soaked in water till soften), thinly sliced

- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

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Method

1) In a frying pan/wok, add one tbs of oil and stir fry the waxed meat till cooked, than dish up and set aside.

2) Add another tbs of oil into the pan/wok, add in the garlic and lightly brown them.

3) Add in the chinese muchrooms, stir fry till slightly fragrant than add in the softened rice vermicelli. Give it a few toss than add in the braised soy sauce and light soy sauce. Turn the flame to medium and cook until the sauce are being absorded.

4) Return the cooked waxed meat into the pan and stir to mix. Serve with lettuce and tomatoes for a square meal.

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Bon Appetite!

Claypot Cabbage Rice

Purple Rice

Just wanted to share this beautiful purple rice. I have some leftover uncooked purple cabbage, too little for frying a dish, so i dumped them into the rice cooker to cook together with the rice. It turn out to be a pot of beautiful purplish rice. (due to the lighting, the actual colour was more intense and nicer than this photo)

Lotus Leaf Rice - 荷叶饭

I had never seen dried lotus leaf for sale before. Therefore when i first saw it at the grocery store, i told myself that i have to buy it. Lotus leaf rice is one of my favourite, so naturally my first cooking with the lotus leaf will have to be the Lotus Leaf Rice. And why i titled this blog as "Part 1"? Because i still have lots of lotus leaves left after preparing two packs lotus leaf rice. So the Part 2 will be my Lotus Leaf Chicken.

Actually it's quite simple too. I just need to wash and soak the lotus leaf with hot water overnight than i can use it for wrapping the next day. Just prepare the glutinous rice as usual and add in whatever ingredients you like. For my version of lotus leaf rice:

Lotus Leaf Rice

Ingredients:

- 1.5 cup of chicken stock + 3/4 tsp salt
- 150g glutinous rice (soak overnight)
- 75g normal rice
- 5 chinese dried mushrooms (soak in water till soft)
- one chinese sausage (sliced)
- half a cup of dried shrimps
- half a chicken breast (use de-bone chicken thigh or drumstick will taste even better)
- 2 shallots (sliced)

Marinate for the chicken meat (overnight)

- half tsp chinese 5 spice
- 2 tsp light soya sauce
- 2 tsp dark soya sauce
- 1 tbs shao xing wine
- 2 tsp of sesame oil
- 2 tsp of oyster sauce
- dash of pepper
- 1/2 tsp of cornflour

Method

1) Fried the chicken till half cooked, set aside.

2) Fried shallot, dried shrimp, chinese mushrooms and chinese sauage till fragrant, add in both rice and chicken stock, just enough to cover the rice and cook till stock being absorbed. Dish up and wrap them in lotus leaves. To seal in the fragrant, i clingwrap the lotus leaf parcel and finish with aluminium foil (but this is not neccessary, as i have not prepare lotus leaf rice before, so i just wrap additional for security purposes).

3) Steam for about 2 hours.

Claypot Chicken Rice 2 - 砂煲鸡饭

This claypot chicken rice is simply delicious and very easy to prepare.

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Claypot Chicken Rice - using rice cooker

Serves 2

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Ingredients:

2 Whole Chicken Drumsticks - score the drumstick, so that the meat can be cooked faster.

2 Chicken wings

1 pair of chinese sausages (lup cheong) - cut into small pieces

6 chinese mushrooms

2 shallots

1 clove of garlic

some scallions for garnish (optional)

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Marinate for chicken:

1 tbs light soya sauce

1 tbs dark soya sauce

1 tbs oyster sauce

1 tbs sesame oil

dash of pepper

sprinkle some sugar

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Method:

1) Marinate the chicken for 4hrs or overnight.

2) Cook rice in rice cooker as usual (about 1.5 cups of rice), but with slightly lesser water.

3) Fried the shallots till brown, set aside together with the oil.

4) Fried the garlic than add in the mushrooms, than the chicken parts (and the marinate) and cooked the chicken till 90% cooked, set aside.

5) While the rice is still cooking, but almost dry up, add in the chicken parts in no.(4) (with the sauce) and the chinese sausage.

6) Chicken rice should be ready about 10 minutes after the "rice cooked" sign on. Remove the chicken (you may want to check if the chicken is cooked, if not leave inside for further 10min. Because individual rice cooker may give different results) and other ingredients. Add dark soya sauce (any amount, to your own liking), the fried shallot and oil. Stir thoroughly.

7) Serve with stir fried vegetables.

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Fried KL Noodle - Da Lok Mien

Hubby was craving for KL noodle, so i search for recipe and try to cook it. It turned out not too bad, but could improve further. But partly due to i did not follow the recipe entirely, because recipe called for using of lard, which i didn't want to add in. Not because i don't eat lard, but rather because i do not want to buy a pack of lard just for the noodle.

Lazy dinner - Baked rice

After cooking lunch, too lazy to cook dinner. So just chop and throw everything into a baking dish and made this baked rice. Consist of minced pork, eggplant and my favourite cheese.

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Claypot Chicken Rice - the rice cooker way

Craving for claypot chicken rice, so i decided to make it for dinner. But we don't have a claypot at home, so i made it using rice cooker instead. Outcome, the chicken rice was really very very delicious, except that it doesn't have the aromatic claypot smell. But that was good enough for us.