salted fish and prawn fried rice

got leftover rice ? don't know what to do with it leh ? this recipe is for you .

following the aftermath of C.O.S.D.U's post-welcome mass home-cooked food fest , the leftover rice was donated to me and jon . after having aged it overnight , i set out to fry it ala chinese-y style .

what do you need ar?

i don't have a scale at home , but i measured the cooked rice and it amounted to 6 cups (250ml) .
150 grams of salted fish .
350 grams of prawns (peeled) .
4 stalks of spring onion (chopped) .
8 tablespoons oil .
2 tablespoons sesame oil .
5 eggs (beat) .

2 tablespoons chicken stock .
3 tablespoons soy sauce .
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon brown sugar .
2 tablespoons salt .
5 tablespoons white pepper .

how liao ?

heat the oil and fry the salted fish until nicely crispy golden . set the fried salted fish aside but leave the oil in the wok / pan hor (don't wanna lose all that flavour) . add the sesame oil now and cook the prawns in this oil mixture . after making sure the prawns are cooked , add the rice and stir the mix together briskly . whilst stirring , add in the chicken stock , soy sauce , sugar , salt and pepper . next , make a well in the centre of the rice / prawn mix and pour the beat eggs into it . envelope the egg well with rice for a minute . then stir everything again to let everything meet each other . add the spring onions and stir once more for a couple of minutes . switch off the fire and mix in the salted fish again . always make sure everything's properly mixed hor . garnish with some more chopped spring onion and a small red chilli .

here's what half of the amount i cooked looks like in a bowl :



this amount should last three to four normal serves (but only serves two hungry guys) .


Tags: salted fish prawn fried rice budget recipe

Veggie Dumplings

I like dumplings, the Chinese kind (guo tie), a la Shanghai dumplings when I was in Melbourne. Of course, they're oily as hell, but it's one of those party foods that a few friends could get together and share while having their meals on their own.

I was planning my packed lunches for the week when I thought about making Shanghai dumplings as part of my menu. I didn't feel like having any meat, so I made it a full vegetarian dish. Be warned though, this isn't the kind of dish that you can whip up in half and hour - you've gotta make the dough, then make the dumplings and cook them how you want it. If you want it as straight dumplings, just boil and enjoy. If you want the guo tie/potsticker style, then add a further step of pan frying after boiling. In both cases, enjoy with black vinegar and ginger.

Veggie Dumplings

The dough:
200 gm plain flour
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp oil
Warm water

The filling:
1 package frozen spinach
Equal amount of chives
1 tbsp light soy
1 tbsp chinese wine



1. Make the dough! Add small amounts of warm water to form a dough. It's as easy as that. And yes, that means you've got to get your hands dirty. We're aiming for a consistency that is not too hard to mould and too soft that it breaks apart easily. After a good amount of kneading, cover with a damp cloth and leave for a few hours in the fridge.

2. For the filling mixture, drain and squeeze dry the spinach and chop it coarsely. Add chopped chives and season with soy sauce and chinese wine.

3. The magic number to this dish's serving size is 16. So split the dough in two parts, and then split each part in two, and then split in two again. With each serve, roll out on a floured surface and make a flattened disc. Seal the edges and pinch the sides to secure it.

4. Cook the dumplings in boiling water until skin is translucent. If you want it potsticker style, pan fry the dumplings until skin is golden brown. Enjoy!

Tags: spinach chives chinese dumplings potstickers gyozabudget recipe

mum's ginger soy beef and oyster sauce broccoli

i had been craving for mum's cooking lately and having indulged in too many luxuries during the holidays , my pockets are losing their depth liao . furthermore , my housemate and i have also decided to cut the cost of eating out . so i attempted to recreate two of mum's most basic dishes that will ultimately cost only a total of six dollars . split that into two and it's only three dollars a meal . good value leh?

what you need leh ? (for ginger soy beef...serves two hungry growing guys)
500 grams of beef (stir fry cuts are readily available in makets)...i used stroganoff hor.
2.5 inch piece of ginger , peeled and cut into thin strips .
marinade : depending on how much you require , keep the dark soy sauce to oyster sauce ratio one to one . i normally use five full tablespoons of each . add the ginger slices and also white pepper to taste (a little spicy taste will make it taste better hor) .
1 tablespoon of oil (any oil will do lar)

then how liao?
wash the beef to get rid of excess blood and massage your beef . that's just an option hor haha . then let the beef mixed with marinade sit for at least an hour .



after that , it's just as simple as heating the oil and cooking the beef in the wok for a few minutes till the beef is cook lor . so simple hor? if too salty add brown sugar lor . if too sweet , add soy sauce lor . if not nice , don't eat lor haha .



for the oyster sauce broccoli leh?
a bunch that is of a nice size ( i believe mine was about 300 g) , big fat stalk chopped away and the rest split into feasible mouth sizes .
sauce : a cup (250 ml) consisting of 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce , 1 tablespoon of cornflour and the rest is water . my bottle of oyster sauce was finishing...hence , the opportunity to just mix the stuff in the bottle...heh heh :



5 cloves of garlic , chopped . most people like to mince it well , but in this case , because of the time used to cook this , i recommend the garlic to be a little coarse hor .
1 tablespoon of oil .

how to cook leh?
wash the brocolli properly and after splitting it accordingly , leave it aside hor . heat the oil in a pan / wok , and then fry the garlic until fragrant . then ar , throw in the broccoli and cover for awhile to let it cook in it's own water and also seal the garlic flavour into them . i do this so that you don't get the raw broccoli taste later too hor . after a few minutes , the broccoli should be soft without the raw taste liao . then quickly stir fry the broccoli with the prepared sauce . everything should be done within a minute hor . don't leave it too long or the broccoli becomes too soft lor . oh ya...if got money , then add chopped chinese mushrooms too .



that's it . time your rice to be done at the same time and eat everything warm ( i assume everyone know how to cook rice hor ? ) .

Tags: ginger beef broccoli soy sauce budget recipe