Long Bean Pumpkin Rice (菜豆金瓜饭)

The hub is a Hokkien and his mum used to cook them long bean rice or otherwise known as Cai Dao Peng. She has not done so for quite a while and my sister-in-law is always asking when she can cook this childhood dish again.

I had some long beans left after I fried some long bean with minced pork the other day (my childhood dish!) as requested by the hub. So decided to let the hub reminisce his childhood dish, with a twist of course! I also wanted my children to try more of our childhood dishes so that the dishes will not be forgotten and can be pass down to their children in future.

Simple rice dish with long beans, I added sliced Taiwan sausages, pumpkin and chicken to make it more flavourful. In the end, the hub says the smell reminds him of Lotus Leaf Rice....sigh... but he did say he like it and he took double portions that meal!

Here's the recipe...

Long Bean Pumpkin Rice (Serves 5 - 6)

180g pumpkin, diced
25g dried shrimp, washed and soaked
5g dried baby scallops, washed, soaked and tear into small pieces
5 strands of long beans, washed and cut into small pieces
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 shallots, sliced
1 toe-sized ginger, peeled and minced
1 boneless chicken thigh, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups of rice, washed
1 - 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp Hua Diao wine
1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
A few dashes of pepper
water

Spring onion for garnishing (Optional)


Directions

In a heated oiled wok, add in 1/3 of the garlic and fry until fragrant. Add in the long beans and stir-fry for a min. No need to fry the long beans until cooked. Dish out and set aside.

Add a little oil and fry the taiwan sauages until fragrant and slightly browned.

Shift it to one side and add in the ginger, garlic and shallot and fry until fragrant.

Add in the dried shrimp and dried scallops and fry for a min for it to be fragrant. Mix with the Taiwan sausages.

Add in the pumpkin, rice and chicken. Stir to combine.

Add the dark and light soy sauce, pepper and wine and mix to combine well.

Dish up into a rice pot and add water to just cover the rice. do not add too much water or the rice will be very wet when done. (I did mine slightly too wet, would be even nicer if it was a little drier) Put the rice cooker to cook the rice.

When the rice is almost done (At this time, steam has begin to come out of the rice cooker), add in the long beans and continue to let the rice cook.

When done, dish out and garnish with spring onion. (optional)

Enjoy!


Hope you will like this dish as much as my family. And if you are a Hokkien, hope it reminds you of the wonderful childhood dishes that your mother or grandmother had cooked for you.

Cola Braised Korean Chicken

When Betty J Woo of Singapore Home Cooks Facebook Group recommended this recipe on Facebook in May and I was amazed that cola could be an ingredient to braise chicken! I immediately put in on my to-do list and promised myself I had to try it as soon as possible. But, I was soon plagued with sickness and with the then June holidays came. It slipped out of my mind.

So when Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids invited me to join the Little Thumbs Up event (Potato), I was quite stumped on what should I submit as this is my first time participating in this type of events. I looked through my recipes and I suddenly remembered this dish. And I decided....this shall be my dish!

It was actually cooked on a very tight schedule, as I had classes after sending my kids to the in-laws in the late afternoon. So I definitely had to cook this before I left home. This Cola Braised Korean Chicken by Beyond Kimchee was so easy to prepare that I was able to complete the dish before I had to bring the kids over. I had made some minor adjustment to the ingredients of the recipe by adding black fungus and changing the rice wine for hua diao wine. I also changed a little of the process of cooking. The original recipe calls for blanching of the chicken before braising but I prefer browning my chickens to have that rustic taste. I also add the vegetables into the braising sauce before the chicken as I used chicken wings this round and that requires lesser cooking time.

Verdict at dinner time was fantastic. My elder son, who is not so into braised chicken, had 6 - 7 chicken wings and was still begging for more. Everyone loves the dish! Both the black fungus and the sweet potato noodles soak up all the flavors of the sauce and they just taste so heavenly. The slurping of the flavorful noodles is something you would not want to miss.

Adding of the dried chilli definitely brings up the oomph in this dish. For me, I just added 2 for the benefit of my younger kid. If you are the type that likes a little extra spiciness, feel free to add more dried chilli.


Here's the recipe...


Cola Braised Korean Chicken (Serves 4 - 6)
Original recipe from Beyond Kimchee

1 kg chicken thighs, bone-in and cleaned. (I used chicken wings this round)
100g Korean sweet potato noodles
450g small whole potato (you can use large potato if you like. Cut into large chunks)
2 carrots, cut into 1 1/2" chunks
1 large onion, halved and quartered then separate the pieces
5g dried black fungus, washed and soaked. (you can also use fresh fungus as well)
4 - 7 dried chillies or fresh chillies without the stem
500ml cola ( I used slightly more, around 700ml)
2 tbsp soy sauce (I used good and thick dark soy sauce)
2 tbsp rice wine (I used Shaoxing wine)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp fresh minced ginger


Directions

Soak the Korean noodles in warm water to soften it. Set aside to be used later.

In a medium-sized pan, brown the chicken wings on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside.

In a braising pot, combine the coke, soy sauce, garlic and ginger together.

Add the potatoes, carrots and black fungus. Bring to boil.

When come to boil, return the chicken wings to the pot. Add onions and stir to coat evenly.

Cover with a lid and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 mins. By this time, the vegetables should already be soft.

Raise heat to medium or medium-high, add the noodles and continue to simmer for another 5 - 7 mins, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking to the pot.

 When sauce is reduced by half and vegetables become tender, turn off heat and allow the stew to rest for a few mins before serving.

A pretty easy and fool-proof recipe that warms the body especially on a chilly day. Though it is good on its own as a one-pot dish as it has the sweet potato noodles (known as dangmyeon) inside, pairing it up with rice is equally nice.

Hope you like it, I definitely did! :)

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Jasline from Foodie Baker at this post.

Potato Oatmeal Tuna Balls

I think I mentioned this before, I LOVE looking at recipes. However, with so many recipes available, both online and in print, it's hard to try all due to my hectic schedule. So I prioritize which to try first. Most of the time the easier ones, with ingredients readily available.

Saw this recipe in a recipe book at Popular bookstore and immediately decided to try this dish because it is just so easy! I also have some oatmeal cereals at home and it's just the perfect dish to help use up the oatmeal.

Here's the recipe...

Potato Oatmeal Tuna Balls (Makes 20 balls)

300g potatoes
1/2 can tuna chunks (about 92g)
1/4 cup corn
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 cup oatmeal
1 tbsp mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
Oatmeal (for coating)

For the dipping sauce (Mix well):

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp honey
sugar and salt to taste


Directions

Boil potatoes in boiling water for 20 mins. Coarsely mash potatoes with a fork.

Pre-heat oven to 200 degree Celsius.

Mix remaining ingredients (except the oatmeal for coating) with the mashed potato and shape mixture into balls.

Coat the balls evenly with oatmeal.

Bake the potato balls for 15 mins or until golden brown.

Serve with dipping sauce.

Note: I did not credit the author of the recipe because I did not purchase the book but did the dish based on my memory of the recipe. I shall re-visit the bookshop soon and shall note down the author's name and book title for credits. Thanks!

Caramelized Onions

Caramelizing onions brings out their amazing natural flavor. The process is very simple and they are fantastic on sandwiches, burgers, pizzas, over pastas, in soup, on meat, fish and egg dishes. Best to be used to adorn appetizers platters as well. Many a times, they simply becomes an important part of a dish that just gives that oomph! feeling.

You can caramelize any types of onions. Some just caramelize more quickly than others.

Here's how to do it...

Caramelized Onions

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 medium onion

3 tbsp cooking oil or butter

a pinch of salt

a pinch of black pepper (Optional)

a pinch of sugar (Optional)

Directions

Slice the top off of your onion. Cut into half and peel it.

Slice the onion into half-rings. The thickness of the slices is not important although the thinner slices will cook faster. If you prefer something rustic look and feel, make the slices very thick.

Heat a large saucepan or frying pan with the oil or butter until medium-high temperature. Note that butter burns more easily so make sure the pan doesn't get too hot.

Add the onions to the pan and stir until the onions are coated with the oil.

Add a pinch of salt to season the onions and at the same time speeds up the caramelizing process. If you like, add the pepper and sugar at this point as well.

Continue stirring. The onions' color will start to turn darker after a minute or so and may begun to stick a little to the bottom of the pan.

If the onions are sticking to the bottom too much, add a very small amount of water, broth or wine to deglaze it.

Continue until the onions reached the color, flavor and texture you desire.