Homemade Fan Choy (饭菜) aka Steamed Rice

Fan Choy (饭菜) is a common breakfast or tea time item which can be found from those stalls selling steamed bao (包) and dim sum. It is a one dish meal which consists of rice that steamed together with char siew (barbecued meat) and hard-boiled egg or sometime with other ingredients such as stewed mushrooms.

From the photos in this post you can see that our homemade Fan Choy is loaded with lots of ingredients as compared to those selling from store bought. This makes it a plus point for homecook dishes whereby we are assured that fresh ingredients are being used as well as we can load it with more stuffing of our choice. So here is my mum's version of easy homemade Fan Choy which she had taught me. It is so easy that it can be done within 30 minutes with 3 key ingredients such as cooked rice, char siew and hard-boiled egg.

FAN CHOY
饭菜

When compare Fan Choy with Lor Mai Gai (糯米鸡）, I still prefer Fan Choy because of it's fragrant char siew sauce and hard-boiled egg. So for my very own homemade Fan Choy, I have added extra portion of char siew and egg as compared to those store bought.

(Make: 6 (4" round)   |  Preparation: 10 minutes  |  Cooking: 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Cup Uncooked Rice
3 Hardboiled Egg, shelled and halved
200g Char Siew, sliced
1/2 Cup Char Siew Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Hot Water
Some Stewed Shiitake Mushroom, optional
1/4 Cube Chicken Stock Cubes, optional
1 Knot Of Pandan Leaves, optional

Method:-

1. Rinse and cook the rice in rice cooker as per normal by adding in optional pandan leaves and chicken stock cubes for flavour and taste.

2. Mix about 2 tablespoons of hot water with the char siew sauce(obtain from the stall where you buy the char siew) and dark soy sauce to dilute it and set aside.

3. Meanwhile distribute the ingredients (char siew, egg and mushrooms [if using]) evenly in each aluminum foil cases together with 1 - 2 teaspoons of dilute char siew sauce while waiting for the rice to be cooked.

4. When the rice is done, remove the pandan leaves, fluff it with a fork and slowly drizzle in the char siew sauce, mix well according to your preference. (you might not need all the sauce)

5. Divide the rice equally among the prepared aluminum foil cases, steam it on a steamer rack for 5 - 8 minutes on medium heat and served hot/warm.

6. You can keep the fan choy(without steaming) in an air-tight container in the fridge for 2 - 3 days. To eat, just reheat it in the microwave oven or steam it for 5 minutes before eating.

NOTE:-
~ The key to make delicious "fan choy" lies on the char siew and char siew sauce used. So try to grab some decent char siew (a little fat makes it taste better) from your favourite stall and also request for some of the special char siew sauce to enhance the colour and flavour of your fan choy.

For those who have emailed me asking for the Fan Choy recipe, I hope this quick and easy version will enable you to prepare your favourite Fan Choy especially for those are staying overseas. If Char Siew is not available at your area, perhaps you can try making some from "Rasamalaysia"(recipe) or "Maameemoomoo"(recipe) and use them for making Fan Choy.

COME AND JOIN US @ #CookForFamily

Recently Daniel from Daniel’s Food Diary has started a little bloggers’ initiative called #CookForFamily. The purpose of #CookForFamily is to encourage family member(s) to get together to prepare any simple homecook dishes in the month of July to promote goodness of healthy home cook food as well as create family bonding time whereby everyone gets to eat together.

If you are keen in joining us for this #CookForFamily, you can refer to Daniel's post over at this link HERE or HERE for more details. Hope to see you onboard soon!

{With Recipe} Eat With Your Family Day!

As most of us has read from newspapers or online media(s), the Singapore government has designated last Friday, May 25, as Eat With Your Family Day. This is to urge people to strengthen family ties through the "simple act of sitting down and taking a meal together" more frequently despite of each other busy schedules.

The annual "Eat With Your Family Day", is always falls on a Friday before the start of the mid-year school break for students. And this event is not only about food and eating but it also about relationship building and enjoying relationship as 'a family that eats together stays together’. In order to show supports to this annual event, some of the participated companies also allows their employees to leave work at 5pm on the last Friday on school term in May to have dinner with their family in order to promote strong family ties.

STEAMED EGG WITH HUAI SHAN AND LOTUS ROOT

Although our family often eats together during most of the mealtime, but in order to support and promote this event, I have made a new "Steamed Egg" dish using Huai Shan And Lotus Root instead of the usual minced meat, seafood or century egg.

(Serves: 2-3        | Preparation: 5 minutes       | Cooking: 15 minutes)

Ingredients:
100g of Fresh Huai Shan, grated/jubilee
50g Fresh Lotus Roots, thinly sliced
2 Egg(55g) Each,
50ml Drinking Water
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries
Dash of Sesame Oil
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Method:-

1. Remove the outer skin of the huai shan, rinse and pat dry. Using a grater to either grate or shred it like what shown on the above picture. (squeeze off any liquid from the grated huai shan and set aside)

2. Next repeat the same procedure using a slice grater to cut thin slices off from the lotus root. (If you don't have any slice grater, you can use knife to cut thin slices from the lotus root too)

3. First arrange half the amount of huai shan in the steaming bowl, cover it with a layer of lotus root then top with the remaining huai shan before arrange the rest of the louts root on it.

4.Whisk the egg in another bowl together with dash of sesame oil and salt plus 50ml of water till combined.

5. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve gently over the prepared steaming bowl with huai shan and lotus roots.

6. Arrange the wolfberries on the lotus root, cover the dish with cling wrap or aluminum foil. Steam the egg custard over medium high heat for about 15 minutes.

7. To test if the egg mixture is cooked, insert a chopstick or skewer into the mixture, if clear liquid flows out means it is cooked. Remove and serve with steamed rice.

This is how my "Steamed Egg With Huai Shan and Lotus Root" look when scoop out from the dish. It has a combination of soft custard like egg plus a bit of crunch from the lotus root and huai shan. Perhaps if you prefer a more thicker egg like dish, you can increase the number of egg to 3 and water to 70ml to have a firm steamed egg dish.

This is one of our family favourite vegetable dish, "Stir-fry Broccoli And Cauliflower with Walnuts". As each of us have our own preference, I decided to combine both broccoli and cauliflower together so that we could pick up what we like. Adding of either walnuts of pine nuts for this dish gives it a nutty flavour and as well as enhance the texture of the dish with some crunchy bites.

Hope you would like my quick and simple homecook dishes. Remember even a simple dish makes a happy family when everyone gets to sit and eat together at least once or twice a week. If proper mealtime is impossible, try to start off with breakfast, tea-break or even supper.

[2-In-1 Dishes] Recipes Using IKEA 365+ Pot plus Stabil Steamer

Preparing meals in the kitchen can be one of the most "headache" household chores for modern working mothers/ladies. The thoughts of having to clean up the greasy kitchen top, cooking utensils, floor and etc always make it a "OFF MODE" no matter how enthusiastic or simple the meal(s) can be.

For me, even though I might love to experiment different dishes or bakes in the kitchen, still I would always go for simple and easy to prepare recipes with either steamed or oven baked method if I am not using my reliable Happy Call Pan.

IKEA always has a wide range of kitchen products such as cookwares, ovenwares, utensils, food storage and etc. And recently I have just got a set of this 365+ Pot,  boiling insert as well as steamer insert to replace my old soup pot in order to help me reduce the time in preparing quick and healthier meals within 30 minutes to an hour.

For more information and prices of the above-mentioned, please refer to the review HERE.

HUAI SHAN, LOTU ROOTS AND SWEETCORN CHICKEN SOUP

As you can see from the photo above, I have use the IKEA 365+ pot to boil soup and stack up the Stabil steamer insert half way through in order to steam the egg dish while I could continue to boil the soup at the same time. And by the end of 30 - 35 minutes,  we able to enjoy simple and yet delicious homecook food without any hassle or greasy kitchen floor. (less washing to be done too)

(Serves: 2-3             | Preparation: 10 minutes            | Cooking: 30 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Chicken Drumsticks, skin removed
150g Huai Shan, skin removed
150g Lotus Root, skin removed, sliced
1 Sweet Corn, Cut into section, halved
100g Pumpkin(optional), skin removed cut into thick wedges
6 Big Red Dates
Some Fresh Gingko Nuts, Optional

Method:-

1. Fill the IKEA 365+ pot with water to about 1.5 litre mark and bring it to boil.  At the meantime blanched chicken in another saucepan for about 2 - 3 minutes, remove and rinse well. Set aside.

2. When the water comes to boil in the soup pot, add in all ingredients except pumpkin(add only at the last 10 - 15 minutes of cooking time), put the lid(don't worry it would not overflow due to the steam vent ventilation) on and let it boil on medium heat for about 3 minutes, lower the heat and simmer the soup mixture for 30 minutes and season to taste with salt before serving.

OR

3. Simmer the soup for about 15 minutes, remove the lid, drop in the pumpkin and stack up the STABIL Steamer insert on top, place the prepared steamed egg mixture and steamed on medium low heat for 13 - 15 minutes till done.

STEAMED EGG WITH MINCED MEAT

There are quiet a few ways which you can prepared this steamed egg dish using different ingredients which you prefer. Example:- you can do a seafood steamed egg using fish fillet or flower crab(recipe), firm tofu(recipe), ginseng(recipe), salted and century egg plus many other combinations.  For this recipe, I am preparing my mum's version of  "Steamed Egg with Minced Meat and Century Egg" which she always prepared for us.

(Make: 5" x 5" Square          | Preparation: 5 minutes |           Cooking: 13 - 15 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 (55g) Egg
1 Century Egg, cut into small cubes
1.5 Tablespoon Marinated Minced Meat, optional
100ml Drinking Water
1/2 Tablespoon Of Wolfberries
Some Chopped Spring Onion, Chilli and Shallot Oil

Method:-

1. If you are using minced meat, spread the mixture evenly at the base of the steaming bowl/plate.

2. Lightly whisk/beat the eggs in a bowl, add in 100ml of drinking water and continue to beat till combined.

3. Using a strainer, strain the egg mixture into the prepared steaming bowl. Scatter wolfberries on top, using heatproof cling wrap cover the top of the bowl leaving a small gap at one of the corner to prevent water droplets during steaming.

4. Place the bowl on the steamer rack, cover the lid and steam on medium low heat together with the soup(below) for about 13 - 15(with meat) minutes.

5. Remove the steamed egg together with the steamer and garnish egg dish with some extra chopped spring onion, shallot oil and chilli. Serve together with soup and steamed rice.

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Note:-

~ If you are not using marinated minced meat, add about 1/2 teaspoon of chicken stock powder into your egg mixture at step 2 to season your dish.

STEAMED EGG CAKE

(Ji Dan Gao - 鸡蛋糕)

Steamed Egg Cake can be consider as one of the easiest and yet tricky traditional steamed cake which requires a few simple ingredients such as Eggs, Flour, Sugar and carbonated Beverage like Cream Soda or 7-Up that act as a leavening agent for the cake.

(Makes: 14 cupcake size      | Preparation: 15 minutes     | Cooking Time: 25 minutes)

Ingredients:
3 (55g) Eggs
160g Caster Sugar
170g Cake Flour Or All Purpose Plain Flour
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
60ml 7-Up or Cream Soda
1/2 - 3/4 Teaspoon of Pandan Paste, optional

Method:-

1. Please refer to my previous Steamed Egg Cake post for the step-by-step preparation method HERE.

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Tips:-
~ Adding extra pandan leaves in the boiling water will enhance the aroma and flavour of the steamed cake.

~ By adding 1/2 - 3/4 Teaspoon of Pandan Paste to the cake batter will help to enhance the colour as well as get ride of the strong "egg" smell/taste from the steamed egg cake, leaving in jade green in colour with fragrant pandan(also known as screwpine) aroma.

Lastly I hope you would find this post useful if you do own a stock pot with steamer rack so that at least you can have an idea on how to prepare more than 1 dish at the same time to maximum the usage of time and the cookware. Till then, cya on the next post.

Bibimbap ( 비빔밥)

Bibimbap(비빔밥) which means "mixed rice" is a healthy and hearty everyday dish that consists of steamed rice, vegetables and meat. And before the rice is placed in the bowl, the bottom of the bowl is coated with sesame oil making the layer of the rice forms a crispy crust at the bottom(a bit similar to our Asian Claypot Rice) while the dish is often serve with a dollop of gochujang.

BIBIMBAP

(비빔밥)

There are a few common of vegetables used in Bibimbap such as julienne cucumber or zucchini, mushrooms, soy bean sprouts, carrots, spinach and etc. And if for health reason or personal preference, beef can often be substituted with chicken or seafood too.

(Serves: 2          | Preparation: 15 minutes          | Cooking: 15 - 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Serving Portions of Cooked White Rice
4 Medium Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms, cut into thin slices
60g Bean Sprout
1 Small Carrot, julienne
1 Small Zucchini, julienne
100g Spinach, blanched
Some Cabbage Kimchi, optional
2 Eggs
3 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped

Drizzling Sauce:
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Sesame Seeds
Pinch of Salt

To Serve:
Gochujang/Bibimbap Paste
1 Teaspoon Toasted Sesame Seeds
Extra Sesame Oil

Method:-

1. Fill a medium saucepan or pot with water and bring to boil. Blanch the spinach for about 1 minute, drain, rinse with cold water and squeeze out any excess liquid.

2. Roughly cut spinach into section and add in half of the drizzling sauce and mix well. Set aside.

3. Repeat the same produce as above with the bean sprouts.

4. Add 1 teaspoon of sesame oil in a small frying pan/saucepan, saute the zucchini with some chopped garlic till zucchini soften. Remove and set aside.

5. Repeat the step with carrot and mushrooms, keeping them separate.

6. Using individual heatproof casserole dish, grease inside lightly with some sesame oil, add 1 portion of the rice and place over high heat for 3 minutes to sear the rice.

7. At the meantime, prepare the pan and fry the sunny-side up egg.

8. To serve, remove casserole from heat, place egg in the center and arrange the prepared vegetables alternatively around the egg. Sprinkle with extra sesame seeds and sesame oil, serve immediately with some gochujang paste on the side.

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NOTE:-

~ If you have time, prepared all the side vegetables ahead in the morning and keep them in the fridge so that you would be able to get the dish ready in 10 minutes during lunch or dinner.

Often a raw/fried egg together with sliced meat (usually beef) are the two commonly additions to Bibimbap but for my version, I have adapted most of the common ingredients except meat which I have left out for this recipe. To start the meal, just give the mixture a few stirs to combine the ingredients and enjoy.

Rainbow Omelette using Happy Call Pan

Thinking of what to cook for this week or even tonight? What about this quick and easy "Rainbow Omelette" which consists of Eggs, Tomato, Enoki Mushroom, Carrot and Onion. Eggs are one of the nutritional ingredient which has 11 different vitamins and minerals, high quality protein, healthy fats (including omega-3) and important antioxidants. Other than their nutritional value, eggs are tasty, convenient and versatile to be use in creating a balance and healthy dish for the family.

RAINBOW OMELETTE

(using Happy Call Pan)

My little boy loves egg and in order to create more egg dishes and add in extra ingredients to make it more nutritious, I often cook this "rainbow omelette" with similar ingredients to make it a tasty and colourful dish. For us, we simply loves this dish which is vibrant in colours as well as the layers of texture and from the soft and silky egg to chewy enoki mushrooms.

This dish is done perfectly in less than 10 minutes using my beloved Happy Call Pan which cooks my daily dishes in a hassle free and efficient way. And I specially delicate this dish to Joyce, my best friend as she is a "super" fan of Egg and Mushrooms!

(Serves: 4 | Preparation: 5 minutes | Cooking: 5 minutes)

Ingredients:
3 Eggs, 55g each
1 Small Carrot, shredded
1 - 2 Tomato, seed removed and diced
1 Small Brown Onion, thinly sliced
2 Stalks Spring Onion, thinly sliced 1 Packet of Enoki Mushroom, trim off the root portion
1 Red Chilli(optional), thinly sliced

Method:-

1. Add 1 teaspoon of cooking oil in the Happy Call Pan(HCP), saute onion for about 1 minutes till sightly soften.

2. Toss in diced tomato and shredded carrot, cover the pan and cook for another 1 minute.

3. Meantime, whisk eggs together with enkoi mushrooms and 3/4 of the chopped spring onion till well mixed.

4. Open the HCP cover, evenly pour the egg mixture onto the onion mixture, swirl the pan so that all the egg mixture goes round the pan.

5. Cover, and cook for about 2 minutes on low heat till the omelette set, flip the pan over and cook for another 1 - 2 minutes till done.

6. Flip the pan over again. Using spatula divide the omeltte into portion and garnish with remaining spring onion, sliced chilli and serve immediately.

With fresh ingredients and simple recipes I am sure everyone is able to whip up any quick and healthy dish for yourself or your family. And in order to support the project on using fresh ingredients or get to know more about this event, remember to support the "Food Revolution Day" which would be held on 19th May 2012 at The Lawn.

{Photo Friday} Our Bento Dinner

Making Bento is one of our weekly or at least twice a month mother and kid bonding activities whereby my boy and I will agreed on a theme to work together to assemble his bento.  Up till date I have featured about 30 quick and easy kid's bento in Cuisine Paradise and here I would like to share with you two sets of our Bento Dinner which we have made recently.

A bowl of simple steamed rice topped with some Winnie the Pooh shaped roasted pumpkin adds some extra flavour to the plain rice.

A little bit of here and there make up a nicely presented kid's portion of our dinner. Instead of piling all the side dishes on the plate itself, I have divided them into small portion using colourful container to make the food look more appetising.

Here is another simple Bento Dinner which consists of Chicken Nuggets and Popcorn Chickens plus Hard-boiled Egg and some fish floss and baked whitebait on steamed rice. Till then have a great weekend everyone! Cheers!