Simple dish: Rice cooker claypot rice

When I was young, my mum loves to cook one dish meal as she finds it a bother to think  and cook 3 dishes and 1 soup which is typical for a Chinese meal. So my sis and I grew up on mee rebus, laksa, mee sian, fried rice, chicken rice..... etc. It wasn't till my secondary school days that I realised that meals in my family were different from my friends'. They were pretty envious that my weekend meals were so exciting! If only they knew, it was due to my mum's "laziness".

I had my mum to thank for being so adventurous in food... since young, she has exposed us to the different Asian cuisines in Singapore and Asia as she loves them and loves to travel. I have known of friends who have never tasted Singaporean Indian food except Roti Prata till they were earning their own money as their mums weren't as adventurous.

Since my overseas work stint in 2009, I have also learnt the beauty of one dish meals. They are simple and easy and just nice for 1 person or maybe 2. Most importantly, less to clean up and wash up! As you can tell, that's the part I dislike most about cooking and baking.

Last Friday, I cooked a simple claypot rice in rice cooker for lunch when a friend popped by to bake. Eating lunch at my nearby hawker centre was getting a little boring.

Rice Cooker Claypot rice (Serves 2)

1 cup uncooked Thai Rice
200g Chicken fillet, cubed
3 strips Turkey Bacon
3 dried Chinese Mushrooms, soaked
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
white pepper
spring onions/coriander (garnish)

1) Marinate the chicken fillet with the sesame oil, oyster sauce, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce and pepper.
2) Slice the turkey bacon and the Chinese mushrooms
3) Wash the Thai rice
4) Add water to cook the rice following the marks on the rice cooker.
5) Add in the chicken fillet together with the marinade, turkey bacon and chinese mushrooms into the rice cooker and start the rice cooker.
6) When the claypot rice is cooked, add more dark soya sauce and seasame oil (if desired) to the rice.
7) Serve the claypot rice with chopped spring onions or coriander.

This is one of my favourite one dish meals and I make them whenever I have turkey bacon in the fridge.

I served the claypot rice with a spinach soup last Friday. I used the thermal pot to cook Ikan Bilis together with red dates for stock and added spinach and wolfberry just before serving.

Simple dish: Steamed chicken wings with black fungus

I have been very busy baking mooncakes and birthday cakes this past week. Had friends who enquired about buying the cheese mooncakes after seeing my previous post. Never expected it to be a best seller! Even my mum who doesn't take much cheese has requested for a box of these mooncakes! As I am writing this post, the smell of cheese is wafting from the oven as I am baking another batch of the mooncakes. Hope you had the chance to try making these mooncakes.

I have also baked a cute cake for my sister and bro-in-law to celebrate their wedding anniversary and his birthday. I got the inspiration as they love ducks. At their wedding, they tied their wedding bands to a soft toy duck rather than on a pillow.

I have also made a coffee cake for a combined birthday celebration at a friend's place last weekend.

With the baking of the mooncakes and designing the cakes, I was way too busy to think of what to cook for dinner for myself. I wanted something simple and fast without much cleaning up to do afterwards.

My friend B, suggested steaming chicken wings and since I had leftover fresh black fungus, I decided to add that to my dish.

Steamed Chicken Wings with black fungus

4 Chicken wings
3-4 Red dates
2 slices of Ginger, cut into thin strips
1 tsp of wolfberries
4-5 pieces of fresh black fungus (you may use the dried ones but soak them till soft before use)
salt to taste
1 tsp Huatiao wine (optional)

1) Wash and soak the red dates and wolfberries
2) Clean the chicken wings, marinate with some salt.
3) Wash the the fresh black fungus
4) Place the fresh black fungus on a plate, put the chicken wings on top and scatter the red dates, wolfberries and ginger around the plate.
5) Add the Huatiao wine
6) Steam on high heat for about 10 mins till chicken wings are cooked.

You can steam this in your rice cooker when cooking rice and you can save on washing up a wok or steamer :)