http://www.soshiok.com/article/2657
Savoury One-Pot Rice
Tan Hsueh Yun | The Sunday Times | Mon Aug 4 2008
.Recreating a savoury one-pot rice dish that my mum used to make brings back memories
A real potboiler
A lot of what I know about cooking and entertaining I learnt from my mother.
She is a good cook and I used to marvel at the piles of food she would conjure up for large groups of people that used to descend on our home during Chinese New Year.
When she discovered that I didn't cry when peeling onions, she put me to work immediately, peeling mountains of shallots for this rempah (spice paste) or that. But I used to cook stealthily in her kitchen, venturing into it when she was away on holiday or on weekend afternoons, when she wasn't pottering around in it.
Even though I have my own kitchen now and can cook anything I want, any way I want, I still stick to some of Mummy's rules.
Make as many things from scratch as possible. Never let your guests go hungry. Spending three days cooking for company is normal. Naturally, when I was in the mood for some comfort food on a rainy Monday recently, I wondered: What would Mother cook?
I thought then of her savoury one-pot rice, or kiam png in Hokkien. Most mothers have something like that in their repertoire, I think - a simple dinner made in the rice cooker that reheats well the next day, if there are leftovers.
Until I cooked it two weeks ago, I hadn't eaten it in at least 20 years. But I remembered she used cabbage, slices of roast pork, dried shrimps and mushrooms.
A friend said her mother uses pork belly, which is poached in water before slicing. The pork stock is then used to cook the rice. Long beans go into the rice instead of cabbage. She is in the mood to experiment and wants to make a version with Chinese sausage.
Another says kiam png isn't kiam png without lots of shallot oil drizzled over the rice just before eating.
I wonder what other permutations there are.
While pinging around town running errands that Monday, I began thinking about how I would recreate the dish. I had taken the day off, so there was time to cook dinner instead of slapping it together.
There was some homemade chicken stock in the fridge that I could use to cook the rice. I'd get some cabbage from the supermarket and some roast pork from a food court. I already had the mushrooms and a friend had given me some dried crayfish that would stand in for the dried shrimp.
But I couldn't remember what my mother seasoned the rice with. I was tempted to call her but decided to just go with my instincts.
I mixed equal amounts of sesame oil, oyster sauce, shaoxing wine and light soya sauce, plus a little white pepper, and added it to the rice mixture. All of it went into the rice cooker and I got on with the washing up while it cooked.
Halfway through, the smell of mushrooms, roast pork and cabbage filled the kitchen and I had to stop what I was doing. It was an aroma I remembered from all those years ago, a whiff of the past that evoked comfort and warmth.
The rice tasted a little ritzier than I remembered it to be and I couldn't wait to tell my mother about it. She got excited and cooked it for herself and my Dad a few nights later. On the weekend, we exchanged notes and I realised that my version of the dish was a little different from hers.
My mother tears the cabbage into big pieces, I prefer strips. She uses water instead of stock. She sounded appalled by the sesame oil and oyster sauce I added to my rice. She just uses salt and a little dark soya sauce for colour.
'It's more healthy this way,' she sniffed.
Well, I'm sticking with my version but she gave me something that made my rice a lot better.
It was some of her chilli sauce, made with pounded red chilli and spiked with lime juice. The piquant dip was the perfect accompaniment to the rice. Sometimes, Mother really does know best.
Make it yourself: One-Pot Rice
INGREDIENTS
8 large dried shiitake mushrooms
(photo A)
300g rice
30g dried shrimp (photo B)
300g cabbage
4-5 shallots
4-5 cloves garlic
1 Tbs sesame oil
1 Tbs oyster sauce
1 Tbs shaoxing wine
1 Tbs light soya sauce
1/2 tsp white pepper, or to taste
1 Tbs oil
150g roast pork, sliced
450-500ml warm unsalted chicken
stock or water
chopped fresh coriander for garnish
METHOD
1. Rinse mushrooms and soak in warm water for at least 20 minutes. Wash the rice under running water and leave to drain. Rinse dried shrimps, drain.
2. Core cabbage and cut into 2cmwide ribbons. Slice shallots thinly,finely chop garlic. Mix sesame oil, oyster sauce, wine, soya sauce and pepper in a small bowl, set aside.
3. Squeeze water out of mushrooms gently, cut off and discard tough stems and slice mushrooms thickly, set side.
4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium high heat. When hot, add dried shrimps and fry till fragrant. Add shallots, fry till soft, add mushrooms and garlic, stir fry for one minute or so.
5. Add cabbage, stir well to mix. When it has wilted, add the sesame oil mixture.
6. Add rice, stir to coat the grains with the seasonings. Add roast pork and mix it in well.
7. Scoop rice mixture into a rice cooker, pat down gently, add enough chicken stock or water to barely cover, and cook.
8. Leave to stand about 10 minutes after it’s cooked (photo C), then scoop onto plates. Top with chopped coriander and serve.
Serves 4 to 5
Savoury One-Pot Rice
Tan Hsueh Yun | The Sunday Times | Mon Aug 4 2008
.Recreating a savoury one-pot rice dish that my mum used to make brings back memories
A real potboiler
A lot of what I know about cooking and entertaining I learnt from my mother.
She is a good cook and I used to marvel at the piles of food she would conjure up for large groups of people that used to descend on our home during Chinese New Year.
When she discovered that I didn't cry when peeling onions, she put me to work immediately, peeling mountains of shallots for this rempah (spice paste) or that. But I used to cook stealthily in her kitchen, venturing into it when she was away on holiday or on weekend afternoons, when she wasn't pottering around in it.
Even though I have my own kitchen now and can cook anything I want, any way I want, I still stick to some of Mummy's rules.
Make as many things from scratch as possible. Never let your guests go hungry. Spending three days cooking for company is normal. Naturally, when I was in the mood for some comfort food on a rainy Monday recently, I wondered: What would Mother cook?
I thought then of her savoury one-pot rice, or kiam png in Hokkien. Most mothers have something like that in their repertoire, I think - a simple dinner made in the rice cooker that reheats well the next day, if there are leftovers.
Until I cooked it two weeks ago, I hadn't eaten it in at least 20 years. But I remembered she used cabbage, slices of roast pork, dried shrimps and mushrooms.
A friend said her mother uses pork belly, which is poached in water before slicing. The pork stock is then used to cook the rice. Long beans go into the rice instead of cabbage. She is in the mood to experiment and wants to make a version with Chinese sausage.
Another says kiam png isn't kiam png without lots of shallot oil drizzled over the rice just before eating.
I wonder what other permutations there are.
While pinging around town running errands that Monday, I began thinking about how I would recreate the dish. I had taken the day off, so there was time to cook dinner instead of slapping it together.
There was some homemade chicken stock in the fridge that I could use to cook the rice. I'd get some cabbage from the supermarket and some roast pork from a food court. I already had the mushrooms and a friend had given me some dried crayfish that would stand in for the dried shrimp.
But I couldn't remember what my mother seasoned the rice with. I was tempted to call her but decided to just go with my instincts.
I mixed equal amounts of sesame oil, oyster sauce, shaoxing wine and light soya sauce, plus a little white pepper, and added it to the rice mixture. All of it went into the rice cooker and I got on with the washing up while it cooked.
Halfway through, the smell of mushrooms, roast pork and cabbage filled the kitchen and I had to stop what I was doing. It was an aroma I remembered from all those years ago, a whiff of the past that evoked comfort and warmth.
The rice tasted a little ritzier than I remembered it to be and I couldn't wait to tell my mother about it. She got excited and cooked it for herself and my Dad a few nights later. On the weekend, we exchanged notes and I realised that my version of the dish was a little different from hers.
My mother tears the cabbage into big pieces, I prefer strips. She uses water instead of stock. She sounded appalled by the sesame oil and oyster sauce I added to my rice. She just uses salt and a little dark soya sauce for colour.
'It's more healthy this way,' she sniffed.
Well, I'm sticking with my version but she gave me something that made my rice a lot better.
It was some of her chilli sauce, made with pounded red chilli and spiked with lime juice. The piquant dip was the perfect accompaniment to the rice. Sometimes, Mother really does know best.
Make it yourself: One-Pot Rice
INGREDIENTS
8 large dried shiitake mushrooms
(photo A)
300g rice
30g dried shrimp (photo B)
300g cabbage
4-5 shallots
4-5 cloves garlic
1 Tbs sesame oil
1 Tbs oyster sauce
1 Tbs shaoxing wine
1 Tbs light soya sauce
1/2 tsp white pepper, or to taste
1 Tbs oil
150g roast pork, sliced
450-500ml warm unsalted chicken
stock or water
chopped fresh coriander for garnish
METHOD
1. Rinse mushrooms and soak in warm water for at least 20 minutes. Wash the rice under running water and leave to drain. Rinse dried shrimps, drain.
2. Core cabbage and cut into 2cmwide ribbons. Slice shallots thinly,finely chop garlic. Mix sesame oil, oyster sauce, wine, soya sauce and pepper in a small bowl, set aside.
3. Squeeze water out of mushrooms gently, cut off and discard tough stems and slice mushrooms thickly, set side.
4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium high heat. When hot, add dried shrimps and fry till fragrant. Add shallots, fry till soft, add mushrooms and garlic, stir fry for one minute or so.
5. Add cabbage, stir well to mix. When it has wilted, add the sesame oil mixture.
6. Add rice, stir to coat the grains with the seasonings. Add roast pork and mix it in well.
7. Scoop rice mixture into a rice cooker, pat down gently, add enough chicken stock or water to barely cover, and cook.
8. Leave to stand about 10 minutes after it’s cooked (photo C), then scoop onto plates. Top with chopped coriander and serve.
Serves 4 to 5
No comments:
Post a Comment