Turmeric Brown Rice (黄姜糙米饭)

If you look through the prevention and health magazines these days, you would notice that turmeric has always been a spot light as one of the super food.  Turmeric has been said to be antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, stomach-soothing (prevent indigestion), reduce blood-clot (protect against the heart), protect the liver from certain toxins, aids in treatment for arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, increase metabolism and so on.  And the active ingredient that provided turmeric with all these health benefits lies in a compound called curcumin.  Turmeric is also high in fiber, iron, potassium, manganese and small amount of folate, niacin, zinc, vitamin B6 and choline. You can read in more detail through this link here.

Turmeric has been used for thousand of years in India and China as a medicinal treatment for certain illness and also in cooking.  In India, it has also been used as dye or coloring.  Therefore, the downside of this spice to me is that it stain.  If you accidentally touch it, it can stain your fingernails, but it will come off after a few days.  If it stain your countertop, try cleaning it baking soda and water solution or bleach or wipe it with Magic Eraser sponge.  If you cook your rice like me with a rice cooker, it can stain your rice cooker as well.

I read that small amount used in cooking should have not much impact as a cure for certain diseases, but I think as a prevention it should be alright.  If you want to take it as a supplement (as with any supplement), you need to consult with your doctor first as turmeric has to be taken in caution with pregnant women, people with gallstones, stomach ulcers, bile duct obstruction, serious heart and liver conditions. 

I have a friend whose mother (who is Indonesian) drink her daily milk with a teaspoon of turmeric powder mixed in.  When I first heard it, I was like that was a great way to incorporate turmeric in your daily diet for prevention but it was not for me as I don't drink milk.  And then while researching on turmeric, I chance upon this recipe, it is a turmeric milk recipe for cough, colds and sore throat!  Wow, isn't it interesting and it is said to be an ancient remedy for treating cough, colds and sore throat. 

As for me, I finally thought of a way of adding turmeric in my daily diet, that is to add it in my brown rice.  In South East Asia, we have a common turmeric coconut rice that is served with chicken curry or rendang.  But I have limit my coconut milk intake due to its high fat content.  So, I gladly omitted the coconut milk so that I can have turmeric brown rice every weekdays.  I normally eat out on weekends.  I think my girls are pretty adaptable, they were fine when I switched to all brown rice, they were fine when I added garlic and ginger in cooking my brown rice and they are even fine with this yellow color turmeric brown rice.

Waxed Meat Rice

I wanted to try this dish ever since I saw it appeared on fellow blogger's blogs.  But I couldn't try it because I couldn't find waxed duck or waxed pork belly here.  So, most of the times I could only imagine the taste.  However, my chance came when our friend who's the restaurant owner served us a plate of mixed waxed meat that her head chef prepared in her own kitchen.  Wow, lucky us!  The head chef made a combination of waxed duck, waxed pork belly and waxed sausages.  I took some leftover of the waxed duck and sausage as I found the waxed pork belly too fattening.  Alright, alright, you can say I don't know how to appreciate the best part, I agreed, I agreed.  :-P

Traditionally to until these days, waxed meat delicacies is one of the must have items to welcome the Chinese Lunar New Year.  Usually served on CNY eve on the reunion table and throughout the CNY.  Lots of shops will be selling waxed meat products in their stores during this time.  Many buy them as gift for relatives and friends as well.

 I steamed the rice in my electric steamer and once it's almost cooked, I placed the waxed meat on top.  It was so fragrant and the juices from the waxed meat seep into the rice.  I loved it!  I also loved the waxed duck that the chef prepared, very flavorful.  My little Edda loved this rice a lot too, both of us finished the most part of it as my hubby doesn't like waxed meat at all.  Hehe...more for us.

Baked Cheese Shrimps Rice

Baked cheesy rice or cheesy baked rice has been quite popular among the bloggers few months back.  I liked the idea and wanted to try it whenever I have leftover cheese or rice.  My opportunity came when I have some leftover Mozzarella cheese from making the Alfredo Chicken.  I needed to finish the leftover cheese within 5 days and just so happen that I had some leftover brown rice.  So, this dish was created.  I did mine in a healthier way as it was less creamy.  No heavy cream, cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, etc.

I found the rice a bit dry, so you can add some fat free or 1 % fat milk into the rice when you add the cheese and stir together.  Perhaps put a layer of rice, cheese, rice and top with more cheese before baking.  Just bake until the top is slightly brown, do not brown it too much as the cheese will turn hard.  Mine was too brown so I know.

Brown Rice Fried Rice

Since I switched to brown rice, I haven't really gotten enough leftover rice for fried rice.  Or I mixed it with the take away leftover white rice for my fried rice.  Today, I finally get to try the 100% brown rice fried rice as according to one of my readers, the brown rice made good fried rice.  The brown rice that I got in the Asian store was of high quality short grain variety.  I was lucky enough to receive some BBQ pork from a friend which made my fried rice extra special.  I added minced ginger, dried shrimps and "lap cheong" (Chinese sausage) and I tell you these combination made a good fried rice.

I can tell you the brown rice makes good fried rice too.  Even though I found it on the wet side, I guess we used more water to cook the brown rice, also brown rice has more moisture compared to white rice.  It tasted different and I liked it, a bit like eating the stir-fried glutinous rice in the dim sum shop.  Why don't you give it a try too?   Don't you love my colorful creation?

Healthy Brown Rice

My mother in-law had been telling me to eat brown rice for couple of years but had been ignored. But slowly I did manage to incorporate some brown rice into our diet by mixing it with white rice. Recently I have been seeing the light on brown rice in the United States, brown rice finally got his fame and recognition after all these years of preferring refined white rice.  Brown rice was a poor people food back then because only the rich can afford to buy the refined, processed and fragrant white rice.  When people have more money, they expect a better quality and refine food.  But by doing that, they are actually eating a less healthier food because refine food means a lot of the naturally good for you thing has been taken away by further processing.  Processed food has added coloring, preservative, trans fats and terms that I don't know how to pronounce in it.  So, now we learned that the minimally processed food is still the best for you, the best is to cook the food yourself at home with fresh grocery.  Avoid refined food and go for whole wheat, brown rice, lots of different colors of vegetable, beans, nuts, extra-virgin olive oil, fruits, herbs and spices.  It is easy to eat healthy and healthy food can be delicious.  I am switching to brown rice because it is the right time to do so but I still keep some white rice for cooking my nasi lemak and porridge.  As I don't think the nasi lemak (Malaysia fragrant coconut rice) would taste like nasi lemak if brown rice is used.  The trick in cooking brown rice is you need to add more water, almost like double the white rice water amount.  For my rice cooker, for 2 cups of white rice, I used 2.5 water level.  But for cooking 2 cups of brown rice, I need to use 4.5 water level.  Then, your brown rice will be soft and more easily digested (this is for cooking short grain brown rice).  For long grain brown rice, for 2 cups of rice, I used 3.5 cups of water.

Special Rice Dish

What so special about this rice dish? Special as in the cooking method is different, it took two steps. One is stir-frying the rice first, you can add in eggs for eggs fried rice, or leave it plain, just soy sauce and garlic. I left the rice above plain because I just had eggs fried rice the day before. Then, you prepare a white sauce dish to pour it on top. The white sauce dish can be shrimps with frozen mixed vegetable, or fish with Chinese green (chai Hsin) like above, or scallops with beaten egg white, basically anything you can think of. Serve it as one dish meal. I have a similar fish recipe here if you want to take a look. 

Because of the sauce laden on the eggs fried rice, it made the rice soft and can be easily digested by elderly people or young children.

Healthy Garlic Rice

Garlic has been known to have medicinal properties and found to have antibacterial, antiviral, and anti fungal activity in test tube studies. It is claimed to prevent heart diseases such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other. Garlic has been used as both food and medicine in many cultures for thousands of years. I received an e-mail saying that someone who cooked garlic rice every night and in half a year, her high blood pressure is cured. I don't know whether it is true or just an anecdote. But I don't see a harm in eating garlic rice. Seriously, the fragrant of garlic rice when cooking is perfume to me, unless you really hate garlic, I don't see why you won't enjoy the smell of garlic or benefit from eating this. If you have slight high blood pressure or high cholesterol level and not on medication yet, why not give this natural remedy a try? If you are on medication, you can consult with your doctor first. I cook this just because I love the smell of garlic and for prevention. I also tried adding few slices of smashed ginger along with the garlic, the smell was even crazier, better than garlic alone. Ginger is also known for anti-oxidant and anti-inflammation. Who needs to pay so much more for imported fragrant rice when I can make my own with Arkansas long grain rice? :P Good tips is meant to be shared. I really wanted to share this healthy cooking tips with my readers. I have been cooking this for a month and will be continued doing so with added ginger. I don't eat the ginger, just used it to infuse the rice. Feedback to me if you try it ya! ;)

Nasi Lemak (Fragrant Coconut Rice)

Nasi Lemak or Fragrant Coconut Rice, a Malaysian favorite dish! I don't know anyone who doesn't like nasi lemak. I am a sucker for the banana leaf wrapped nasi lemak that used to sell for 50 cent a pack. Right now, I have no idea how much is it, $1? $1.50? One thing for sure, it was not that cheap anymore. The combination of coconut rice and the ikan bilis sambal (anchovies chili sauce) blended so well together, it is hard to stop at just a packet! And when it is wrapped in banana leaf, oh mine, the fragrant of the banana leaf with the coconut rice, it's explosive! So, if you are going to visit Malaysia, this is a must-try dish. Even now, when I go back to visit my parents, it's my must have breakfast.

My girl friend back in college gave me the idea of adding pandan paste into the coconut rice. She made this dish for a cooking competition and won first place. So now, for variation I also added some pandan paste into my coconut rice. I served my nasi lemak with the usual ikan bilis sambal, roated peanuts, fresh cucumber, hard boiled egg and spice chicken (recipe coming up).

For the above nasi lemak, wash the rice, instead of water, use coconut milk, add a little salt, some black peppers and pandan paste. Cook in rice cooker.

Japanese Curry Rice

I don't know about you, but this looks absolutely delicious to me. We all loved Japanese curry, especially Vermont Curry Hot brand. When my hubby was on a 3 nights business trip away from home, I cooked a big pot of this Japanese curry with chicken breasts and mixed veggie with onion and red bell pepper. It was so easy and so yummy that we could have it for days. I also served easy noodle soup for lunch for variation. But seriously, this is so good and healthy. As you can see, I did not add potatoes in mine, not quite fancy with the starch and prefer mixed vegetable instead. This mixed vegetable has Lima beans too, extra bonus eh?



Look how good that is! Even though the packet said it's Hot, but it is not hot at all. My two girls can eat a bowl of rice with lots of gravy in it with no problem as Japanese curry is on the sweet side, very different from our Malaysian curry. What I love more is no coconut milk is used so I can eat with no guilt feeling. One packet came with two packs inside so you can actually cook two big pot of Japanese curry when you buy one. Very suitable for working people who cook big portion on weekend and pack it in individual serving size in containers for weekday meal.

Rice Dumplings/ Zongzi

Zongzi is traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival which falls on the fifth day of the Fifth month of the Chinese calender. You can read more about it here. I decided to make Hokkein Bak Chang this year (Meat Dumplings) as it was easier to prepare for me. All items ready for wrapping. I added dried scallops with my dried shrimps this year. The other ingredients were Chinese dried chestnuts, Chinese dried mushrooms, 5-spices pork and for my glutinous rice I added mung beans in it.


Nicely wrapped waiting for boiling. For the rice that was soaked overnight, the boiling time was only 1.5 hours. However, I didn't prepare enough rice, so I had to use the glutinous rice that was not soaked and for that the boiling time took 3.5 hours.


Zongzi that was done and ready to be served.


The inside was packed with ingredients. I didn't make Zongzi last year and I sort of lost my touch because my Zongzi turned out not salty enough. Luckily it can be saved by sprinkle some salt on top before serving. Enjoy and Happy Duan Wu Jia!

Lazy and Easy Loh Mai Kai (Glutinous Rice Chicken)

Want to eat Loh Mai Kai (glutinous rice chicken) without all the work? Oh, that's me for sure! I'm too lazy to pack each individually in a bowl and steam it, those are extra work for me. So, have to come out with my super lazy way to satisfy my craving. It is so not authentic okay, but it satisfied my craving, that's the point. I'm living overseas, so anything convenient/easy and yet manage to produce a dish similar to what I miss at home is the key. I really don't care whether it's authentic or not. :P So, stay away from this post if you like yours authentic. But for those who just want a quick fix, come, come, read further, I will share my lazy method with you. :P

First, wash the glutinous rice as you normally would when preparing white rice. Place in the rice cooker according to the water level (same with cooking white rice). Then, add in soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shao Xing wine and a little white pepper, stir-well. Let the rice cook in the rice cooker. When cooked, stir the glutinous rice to mix well.

Second, preparing the chicken and mushroom (you can add Chinese dried sausage too). Marinate the chicken breasts with soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Shao Xing wine, oyster sauce, a little sugar and white pepper. Soak the Chinese dried mushroom until soften, marinate with the same marinade above. Slice some shallots for stir-frying as well. In a wok, add oil, fry shallots until fragrant, then add in marinated chicken and mushroom, stir-fry until chicken is cooked, add a little water and the same sauce as the marinade again. Dish out when the sauce thicken slightly.

To Serve: For presentation, put some chicken and mushroom (plus a little sauce) in a rice bowl and top with glutinous rice. Pat it down firmly and turn it over on a serving plate. Serve with your favorite chili sauce.

Without presentation, just pour the cooked chicken and mushroom along with the sauce inside the rice cooker and stir together with the glutinous rice. Serve as is. :P

Fried Rice with Asian Mustard Green (Gai Choy) and Shrimps

Once I discovered a veggie, I went crazy with it. If you are my avid reader, you should have noticed that a new veggie in my blog has surfaced. That's right, that's Asian mustard green or gai choy. I have been in love with this veggie and have been buying it and thus have been cooking it and thus the sprout of gai choy recipes in my blog. A dear reader of mine provided me with this great idea. She left in my comment that her mom used it to fry rice and the thought of fried rice with gai choy hasn't left my mind ever since. I could have tasted it in my mind how delicious it is going to be and determine to make my own.

Steamed Glutinous Rice with Mushroom & Chicken

My steamed glutinous rice with Chinese dried mushroom and chicken. I will cook this dish once in a blue moon when I miss eating some glutinous rice (sticky rice). This is like a substitute for "bak chang" (wrapped rice dumpling). They also called glutinous rice sweet rice here. You can look for sweet rice from Thailand in the Asian grocery store to make this dish.



I like mine steam instead of cook it in the rice cooker.

Use of Leftovers 2: Stir-fried Rice Cubes

Remember my leftovers from the satay dinner? I cut the compressed rice into cubes. Added 3 stalks of scallions (cut into 1.5 inch), an egg, 5 extra large shrimps, half a carrot (sliced), plus the leftover shallots and turned it into a bowl of yummy fried rice cubes with shrimps.


This bowl was for my hubby's snack after he came home from work.



This was my lunch box for the next day. This rice cubes fried rice turned out to be delicious. As for the seasonings, I used sweet dark soy sauce, black bean in chili oil, dark soy sauce, a little salt, white pepper and sugar. I got the inspiration from fried radish cake, since they look almost similar when cut into cubes.

So next time, when you have some leftover compressed rice from your satay party, you know what to do with it. To me, it tastes better this way then making more satay sauce to eat it with. Another option is to make some Rendang chicken or beef to have with the rice.

Edda's Dinner Plate

Stir-fry Chinese green with carrot, Pork Rendang (pork dry curry), and Japanese rice ball with filling (onigiri).



Got this idea from Peony and coincidently I have the pork floss and furikake and the Japanese rice mold from D. So, wait no further, I made this for my daughters. Evy didn't want hers with furikake so I omitted that for her. They loved it so much that they wanted this for lunch tomorrow as well. Thanks Peony & D! :)

Method:

Press some warm rice into the mold, add a layer of pork floss, top with more warm rice, use the cover provided by the mold to close it, press slightly. Turn it over and push the rice out from the hole. Decorate the top of the rice ball with some Furikake. Alternately, you can shape the rice ball by hands and use less filling.

Fried Rice w/ Egg Roll

I was invited by Mochachocolata-Rita to participate in her first ever virtual party to celebrate her 88th post in her blog. She wanted us to create a dish that resembles the Chinese Take-Out and we can be creative with the recipe. Since I'm leaving to Malaysia in few hours, I could only make some fried rice with a real Chinese take out egg roll. We love to order chicken fried rice and what's better way to accompany the fried rice but the Chinese egg roll. Rita, thanks for hosting this Chinese take out party!



Here's my simplified fried rice recipe using the leftover grilled chicken from Famous Dave restaurant.

Ingredients:

Leftover cold rice, about 5 cups
Grilled chicken breast, shredded
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
2 eggs, beaten

(A)
Oyster sauce
Chinese white white
Soy sauce

Method:

1. Heat wok with oil and scramble the eggs until cooked, dish out and set aside.

2. Heat wok with oil again and add in the chopped garlic. Stir-fry until slightly golden, add carrots, bell peppers and grilled chicken. Stir well and add the white rice. Stir until mix well and add (A) to taste. Stir-fry until the rice is jumping in the wok, dish out and serve.



Check out the Chinese Take-Out Party on May 12th.

Thai Pineapple Rice

I received a packet of Asian Home Gourmet's Thai Pineapple Rice ready made paste from a friend who returned from Singapore. She gave me a few other ready-made pastes too. Last week the pineapple was on-sales for $1 each, down from the usual $5 and thus I bought three of them. Thinking of just eating it fresh but then I remember I have a packet of pineapple rice paste that I needed to use, and therefore this dish was created.

This pineapple rice is selling for $9.99 at the M'sian restaurant here. Now I can just buy the paste and make it myself for less, the paste is selling for $1.69 in Denver and actually tasted very good. Furthermore, I can serve a family of four.



I wanted to present my pineapple rice in the pineapple shell because it is how it was presented in the restaurant. Little did I know, cutting out the pineapple fresh was not an easy task at all. Now I am wondering whether the restaurant charges more because of this extra work of preparing the pineapple shell for presentation?

Nasi Lemak II

Nasi lemak again but this time I wanted to try the Chan Hong sambal ikan bilis that I bought earlier. I read so much great review on this that I just got to buy one bottle and try. And the reviews never failed, this is indeed good and way too convenient. I just pour it in the microwave safe bowl and microwaved for a minute and served with my ever easy nasi lemak side dishes. I sprayed my ikan bilis with canola oil spray and microwaved for 2 minutes, learned that from Lily. I toasted my peanuts in my toasted oven for 8 minutes, cut out my English cucumber (long seedless cucumber) and boiled eggs to serve. Easy!



This is the picture of the bottle. This product is one of the best sellers at mytasteofasia.com so grab some to try. This is not a sponsor post okay, I just want to introduce or recommend a product that I have tested and loved it to my readers. I think this is best for someone who doesn't know how to cook sambal ikan bilis or doesn't have time to cook. Or someone like me who is just curious and wanted to try something new or maybe lazy too lah. :P Oh BTW, new products are in stock now. Even has belachan powder!

This sambal tasted like the Malay nasi lemak bungkus with banana leaf sambal at mamak stalls. Medium spicy.

SPAM Chilli Fried Rice

Fried rice, fried rice, everybody loves a good fried rice! On my lazy night I would fried rice, not necessary to clear my fridge but just being plain lazy. Haha... I always keep a packet of frozen mixed vegetable in my freezer just for this purpose, sometimes I used that in my porridge too. Anything for convenient. What else did you see? SPAM!! Yup! I keep a can or two of reduced sodium SPAM in my pantry for emergency or for a lazy day like this. So, whipping out some fried rice is as easy as 1-2-3. All I needed would be an egg and some chopped garlic.



I decided to add a little kick into my fried rice by adding the Delimas Crispy Prawn Chilli. Currently out of stock again but do check back at mytasteofasia.com for new arrival. A lot of people have discovered how delicious and versatile this prawn chili is and thus how fast this product is selling. You can eat it straight from the bottle as a condiment to any rice/noodle dish or use it in stir-fry, like fried rice/noodle/vegetable, etc. If you can think it, you can cook it! This chilli is spicy, sweet, crispy and fragrant with the dried shrimps. A must try! Oh in Asia, it's under the brand name Tean's Gourmet. ;)

Note: This product does contains MSG.

Char Siew Fried Rice

I made some char siew (BBQ pork) using a pork tenderloin. I used Lilian Wu recipe from the Asian Kitchen cookbook. Not too appertizing looking hor? Taste wise, just okay, not like wow.


I used half of it to make this fried rice. Hmm...can't really see my char siew isn't it? Oh well...and yes, got to have spicy chilli with my fried rice. The other half of the char siew I used to stir-fry green beans, turned out very good but sorry no picture.