Yam (Taro) Rice

To be honest, I didn't have much confidence when starting out on this recipe. Yam (or taro, as known in other parts of the world) is a completely new ingredient for me. But luckily, NTUC is selling vacuumed packs of yam that had already been skinned. So it saves some time and effort on my part to have to deal with the unfamiliar yam. 

After cooking this dish, I realised that it was not as complicated as it looks. But I would advise to use a larger rice-cooker if you are planning to cook the amount as stated in the recipe. For me, the cooked rice almost filled the brim of our tiny rice-cooker, and so the top layer was slightly uncooked. So, we stirred around a bit to bring the top layer down to the middle and let it steamed for a few more minutes.

Note : I followed the selected recipe very closely, except for the seasoning part. The recipe below will be my version. If you want to see the original recipe. Click here.

Yam Rice

Ingredients :

- 500g yam/taro (cut into cubes) (Remember to wear disposable gloves when handling yam)
- 3 1/2 cup rice
- 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 2 shallots (finely chopped)
- 2 1/2 tablespoons dried shrimp (soaked in warm water, drained and roughly chopped)
- 250g ground pork or chicken meat (minced)
- 3 3/4 cups water (to be used separately) (use the same cup as the one to measure the rice)
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked in warm water, drained and cut into thin slices)
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil
- Fried shallot crisps (for garnishing)
- 1 scallion (cut into small rounds, for garnishing)

Seasonings :

- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 3 dashes white pepper powder
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions :

1) Wash and rinse the rice. Set aside to drain.

2) Heat up a wok and add a little oil. Stir-fry the yam pieces for about 3 minutes. Dish out and set aside.

3) In the same wok, add some more cooking oil. Stir-fry the shallots and garlic until aromatic. Add pork (or chicken), mushrooms and dried shrimp and stir-fry until the meat changes color. Use the spatula to break the ground pork or chicken so they form into small lumps. Add 2 cups of water into the wok and follow by the yam pieces. Add all seasonings and bring it to boil. Add rice into the wok and do a few quick stirs. 

4) Transfer everything into the rice cooker, adding the remaining 1 3/4 cups of water, and then cook it like you are cooking steamed rice.

5) When the rice is cooked, use the rice scoop to stir the yam rice and loosen it up. Serve immediately with some fried shallot crisps and chopped scallions.

Claypot Chicken Rice

I was actually not very pleased with how this dish turned out. The overall taste was good, but the rice turned out to be too soggy. I always have a problem when it comes to estimation, and I had to admit that it's quite difficult to judge the amount of water when it comes to cooking rice without using a rice cooker. And I also thought to just half the recipe and follow the amount, but apparently, something was wrong somewhere. So, the next time, I'm going to follow what my mother suggested: 1 cup rice = 1 cup liquid.

Claypot Chicken Rice (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 1 Chinese sausage

- 4 chicken thighs – cut to bite size pieces
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy
- 2 tbsp light soy
- 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 2 tbsp of rice wine
- 1 inch ginger (julienned)
- 1 tsp of salt
- ½ tsp of pepper
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 spring onions (chopped finely)
- 5 dried shitake mushrooms, (soaked in warm water for 20 minutes)
- 2 cups rice
- 3 cups chicken stock

Directions:

1. Mix the chicken with all the ingredients except the rice, mushrooms, spring onions and stock. Leave to marinade for at least half an hour.

2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok and stir-fry marinated chicken meat for 1 minutes. Add mushroom slices, sliced chinese sausage. Dish out and put aside

3. Put the rice and chicken stock in the cold claypot and place it over a medium heat with the lid on. Bring to the boil and immediately reduce the heat to a low simmer, then leave the rice to steam for 15 minutes. The rice should be nearly cooked, with little holes in the flat surface.

4. Spread the chicken mixture all over the top of the rice, and put the lid back on. Continue to steam over a low heat for another 15 minutes, until the chicken is white and cooked through. Give it a few stir and sprinkle the spring onions over the top and serve piping hot.

Shrimp Fried Rice

As the few previous fried rice meals we had were with luncheon meat and eggs, I thought it a change of ingredients this time might be good. So I bought some shrimps and a small cabbage as an alternative to the usual luncheon meat, and they were sort of a healthier choice too.

Anyway, I didn't really follow any recipe for this dish, so the following is just a rough guideline, especially for the amount of cooking oil and salt to use, is all up to the individual.

Shrimp Fried Rice

Ingredients :

- Cooked leftover rice, for 2

- 10 medium-sized shrimps, shelled and deveined

- 2 eggs (I used 3 coz I like my fried rice to be more "eggy")

- about half of a small cabbage, cut into strips

- garlic, chopped

- black pepper (optional)

- salt to taste

- cooking oil

Directions :

1) Heat some oil in a frying pan and toss in the cabbage. Stir-fry the cabbage for about 2 minutes, add in about 2 tablespoons of water, then put on the cover for the vegetable to cook.

2) When the cabbage has softened, add in a dash of salt, stir a bit and remove from the pan. (I try not to keep too much of the liquid left behind by the cabbage.)

3) Cook the shrimps. (Optional : you can sprinkle some black pepper over them as they cook.) When the shrimps just about turn pink, remove from the pan. Do not overcook the shrimps here as they will be cooked again when added to the rice later.

4) Again, heat some oil in the frying pan and toss in the garlic. Stir-fry till fragrant and slightly browned, then add in the eggs. Stir the eggs so that they look scrambled, and when the yolk is firm but slightly runny, add in the rice. Try to ensure that the eggs are evenly spread out over the rice.

5) Leave the rice to cook for a while until you can see the some of the rice "dancing", then toss again for a few times before adding in the cabbage and the shrimps. Add salt to taste.

You can refer to here for more detailed instructions for the fried rice, as well as some tips to make your fried rice taste better.

Mushroom Rice

Decided to cook something simple since it's just the husband and me spending this Saturday evening. So I referred to the Mushroom Rice recipe from this blog, which seems like a healthy and really easy dish to cook.

However, the final product was a little too salty for our taste. Maybe the amount of mushrooms was too little to "soak" up the sauce, or maybe it was due to the lack of the chinese rice wine, which I couldn't seem to find in my neighbourhood NTUC, so I really do not know if it was the reason behind the over saltiness, or that the amount of light soy sauce should be reduced. I'm really quite upset about it, and I was contemplating whether to just throw all away and had instant noodles for dinner instead. Proper cooking seems to elude me these days. Sigh.

But anyway, here is the original recipe.

Mushroom Rice

2 servings

Ingredients :
- Cooked rice for two
- 350g of assorted mushrooms (enoki, shittake, brown button mushrooms etc), diced
- 20g butter
- 1 tablespoons sugar
- 5 cloves garlic, diced
- Coriander, chopped

Seasonings :
- 5 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 5 tablespoons mirin
- 5 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
- Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions :
1. Heat up butter in a wok. Put in chopped garlic when the butter is half melted. Stir-fry the garlic until fragrant.

2. Add in assorted mushrooms and sugar, saute until the mushrooms are fully coated with butter. Add in seasonings, cook until the gravy has thickened.

3. Stir in chopped coriander, turn off heat. Add in cooked rice, stir until combined with mushrooms, serve.

Some tips to storing unused mushrooms :

- Keep mushrooms in a brown paper bag instead of resealable plastic bags, or even normal plastic bags. It is because mushrooms will "sweat" when kept in the fridge, and it may cause them to become soggy and mushy.

- Do not wash the mushrooms and then keep them in the fridge. Only wash when you are ready to cook them.