Lap Cheong and Egg Fried Rice

Lap Cheong Fried Rice

Lap Cheong is a Chinese hard sausage made from pork and pork fat that is usually smoked, sweetened and seasoned. I generally freeze the package of lap cheong since I so rarely use it. It's easy to remove the casing by soaking the sausage links in boiling water until the casings puff up. They're easy to then peel off, making it less difficult to slice. I like to season the rice for depth of flavour and mix it with eggs to give the fried rice a golden hue.

This fried rice is a one-dish meal that needs no more than a bowl of soup for company. It has all four food groups and is a complete meal unto itself.

Chicken Biryani

Chicken Biryani

Biryani is a delicious and wholesome combination of rice, layered with meat or vegetables and potatoes, cooked with aromatic spices and garnished with deep fried onions. Making a traditional biryani is a long and complicated process which was beyond my comprehension until my brother who is a wonderful cook, allowed me to watch him produce outstanding results using a very simple process. I came back home after that weekend in Toronto and tried it without the same success.

Chicken Biryani Plated

My brother cooks the chicken on the stovetop, cooks the rice in a rice cooker and pours the chicken and all its juices over the rice and sets the biryani aside until dinnertime. His biryani tastes simply awesome, but I was not able to replicate it. 

My way is to cook chicken and potatoes in a big saucepan, cover the top with Greek yogurt, top it with rice that has been soaked and strained well, add chicken broth in proportion to the rice, bring it to a boil and then cover and simmer it over low heat for 25 minutes. It sounds complicated, but is really easy to do.

Varieties of Ready-Made Birista

Birista or deep fried onions are an essential garnish for both pulaos and biryanis. They're easy to make but is a tedious and long process. Much easier to pick up a bottle or package of birista at the oriental markets.

Shan Pilau Biryani Mix

Recipe on back of package

The recipe that follows was inspired by the recipe on the back of the spice mix with a few modifications which were made to simplify the process. 

Simple Salad

Serve this biryani with a simple salad of diced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, green chilies, salt and lime juice. Or accompany the biryani with one of the following raitas.

   

Fuji Apple Raita

Tzatziki or Cucumber Raita

Shrimp Laksa Noodle Bowl

Shrimp Laksa Noodle Soup

A new discovery at the Asian market produced the most fiery and delicious shrimp Laksa noodle bowl for lunch this afternoon. Curry Laksa is a Malaysian coconut curry soup with noodles which reminded me of the Burmese Oh Noh Khao Swe which is a coconut noodle soup made with chicken. I added shrimp to this Laksa. Another variation of this soup is my Laksa Soup with Minced Chicken.

Dollee Creamy Curry Laska Noodles

The package of noodles came with the noodle cake, along with 3 small packets containing laksa sauce, coconut powder and seasoning.

Product of Malaysia

It's a Malaysian product that was as easy to prepare as any Ramen noodle soup but ten times more flavourful. Laksa sauce is available in a bottle at the Asian market, so if this noodle packet is difficult to find, you could substitute your own ingredients to mimic this flavour. Here is a great step-by-step recipe.

In the Bowl

I added already peeled and deveined shrimp, chicken broth, julienned carrots, minced shallot, Thai red chili and diced tomatoes. A couple of hours after having a bowl of this soup, my ears are still burning pleasantly. Hubby said to warn you that even though it's delicious, it's fiery hot!

Ingredients: (serves 2)

1 pkg. Dollee Creamy Curry Laksa Noodles

12 large (31-40 count) shrimp, peeled & deveined

1 cup carrots, peeled & julienned

1 medium tomato, diced

1 shallot, minced

1 Tbsp sesame oil

4 cups chicken broth

1 Thai red chili, diced (optional)

Directions:

1. Marinate the shrimp in half the laksa sauce, shallots, sesame oil and tomatoes for 10 minutes.
2. Bring remaining ingredients to a boil and cook noodles until soft for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add shrimp to noodles, stir well and simmer for another 2 minutes until shrimp turn pink.
4. Divide between 2 soup bowls and serve immediately.

Singapore Vermicelli Noodles

Singapore Vermicelli Noodles

This is one of my favourite dishes to order in a Chinese restaurant. It's usually made with very thin rice noodles (Mei Fun) but I decided to use toasted, golden-brown vermicelli (Sevai/Semiya) instead.

Toasted Vermicelli

Toasted vermicelli is available at Indian markets and I like using the toasted variety to save having to toast it at home. The untoasted variety tends to turn to mush when cooked in water.

 The main ingredient in Singapore noodles is curry powder & I prefer S&B brand because it is high in taste, flavour and aroma, but low in spicy heat. To beat the overpowering raw taste of curry powder, it's a good idea to boil it in chicken broth or water and to soak the vermicelli in this liquid. That way, the taste of the curry powder permeates throughout the pasta.

This is a one-dish meal that can be made in under 15 minutes and is a great lunch idea.

Ingredients:

1 cup toasted vermicelli

8 oz. cooked shelled shrimp, shredded chicken or tofu for vegetarians

2 cups chicken/vegetable broth or water

1 heaping tsp. curry powder

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 tsp. minced garlic

1 large onion, sliced

1 + 1 green chilies, diced

multi-coloured sweet peppers, cut in half lengthwise and sliced

1 carrot, julienned

1 beefsteak tomato, diced
1 cup mung bean sprouts, tails removed

Directions:

1. Simmer curry powder in broth for 3 minutes and remove from heat.
2. Soak vermicelli in this liquid until water is absorbed doubles in volume. 
3. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and saute garlic and 1 green chili.
4. Add onions, peppers, carrots and tomatoes.
5. Toss with salt to taste and saute for 2-3 minutes.
6. Add vermicelli, along with soaking liquid, shrimp and adjust salt to taste.
7. Turn heat down to medium, stir, cover skillet and simmer until liquid evaporates and vermicelli is cooked.
8. Add bean sprouts and toss.
9. Garnish with remaining diced chilies and serve immediately.

Quick & Easy Burmese Ohno Khauk Swe - Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup

Ohno Khauk Swe in the Bowl
Boiled Egg Noodles
Chicken in Coconut Soup
Garnishes

This Burmese meal is a popular street food that is brought to your doorstep by hawkers on foot in Yangon, Myanmar. It is a breakfast meal which we can now have any time of the day because it's prepared at home.

Ohno Khauk Swe in the Bowl

The one-pot meal comprises a bowl of noodles topped with chicken in a coconut soup and garnished with a number of fresh and deep-fried condiments. Gather friends and family together to share in this heartwarming meal that is ideal for a rainy or snowy day.

Boiled Egg Noodles

Fresh egg noodles are readily available in North America at Asian markets. These are easy to prepare by simply soaking in boiling water for less than 5 minutes. Dried egg noodles take between 10-12 minutes to cook through. Either way, the noodles should be cooked just prior to serving and should be drained and rinsed in cold water to prevent clumping.

Garnishes

2-3 limes, cut in wedges

Cilantro, chopped

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled & diced

Deep-fried garlic

1 large or 2 medium white onion, sliced

1 bunch green onions, diced

Deep-fried diced onions

2 Tbsp. chickpea flour, toasted in a dry skillet until golden brown

Chicken in Coconut Soup

This soup could be quite tedious to prepare as outlined in a previous post. I've been toying with this quick and easy method for preparing this dish which usually requires that the chicken be browned and onion made into a paste in the blender. 

The shortcuts used to make this soup included the use of a pressure cooker to cook a whole chicken in a red lentil soup base that was flavoured with diced onions, garlic, lemon grass powder and paprika. The cooked red lentils served to thicken the soup and flavour it.

An alternative method to cooking this in a pressure cooker is to use a slow cooker or crock pot. Follow steps 1 through 7 on low setting for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours. Shred the chicken as in step 7 and add back to the crock pot along with the coconut milk and cook for another half an hour.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut in 8 pieces & marinated in 1/2 salt & 1/4 tsp. turmeric.

1 cup red lentils or masoor dal, washed and drained

4 cups chicken broth or water

1 large onion, peeled & minced

8-10 cloves garlic, peeled & minced

1 tsp. Kashmiri mirch/paprika/cayenne pepper

1 tsp. lemon grass powder

1 tsp. shrimp powder

1 tsp. shrimp paste

1 (14 oz.) can coconut milk (cream settles on top of can)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients, except coconut milk, in a pressure cooker.
2. Bring to a boil and adjust salt to taste.
3. Cover, bring to full pressure and lower heat to medium.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes, remove from heat and allow pressure to dissipate.
5. Remove cover from pressure cooker and carefully take out chicken pieces.
6. Separate chicken from bones & discard skin and bones.
7. Chop chicken into bite-size pieces and return to pressure cooker.
8. Add coconut milk plus cream and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.

Allow guests to serve themselves with noodles, soup and garnishes.

Burmese Pazun Sipyan - Shrimp Curry

Pazun Sipyan
(Shrimp in Coconut Sauce)

This is a Burmese dish that was made in the microwave oven.  'Pazun' means shrimp and 'Sipyan' means 'oil returns'. So as not to skimp on fat, use a healthy oil such as extra-light olive oil when cooking Burmese food.  To get the full flavour to develop, no water was added because the oil must separate and return to the surface in the short time it takes to cook this in the microwave oven. It took exactly four minutes to get done!

Rice & Lentil Stew with Flaked Fish

This is the beginning of March with no end of winter in sight! It’s the perfect weather for this rice & lentil stew.

Khichuri, a Bengali one-pot-meal once considered comfort food for the poor, is now a delicacy served during the monsoon or rainy season when the weather turns considerably cooler. Core ingredients are rice and lentils but vegetables, eggs, poultry or meat are added according to taste. I decided to experiment by adding fish to the mix. It tastes wonderful!

Tilapia is commonly available in supermarkets around here and even though I prefer them cut into steaks, filleted tilapia generally makes it to the table because hubby prefers to eat fish without having to be bothered with the bones. Fillets are fine, except that the stomach half of a fillet is a useless waste of space in a gravy or curry. That end of the fish generally disintegrates completely because it's not firm enough to withstand simmering or stewing. So this part of the fish fillet can be blanched, flaked and used the same way packaged tuna is used. In this case, I have added it to this rice and lentil stew, which is just perfect for a winter's day.