in my studio | category

Sep
11
2013

middle eastern rice + fish

I’m married to a Lebanese, but I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t really cook Lebanese food. Maybe because its not spicy enough for me? Though, this would have to be my favourite Lebanese dish. I tried it once at tayta’s (grandmother) and I absolutely loved it. I love fish, so this goes down really well. The Lebanese eat it with yogurt, but being the malay that I am, I have it with sambal! I think you can use any fish you want really, I made this with spanish mackerel and trevally, and both are nice.

RECIPE FOR LEBANESE SAYADIEH (FISH & RICE)
Adapted from Tayta and my Mother-in-Law
Serves: 4
Cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients for sayadieh

2.5 cups uncooked long grain rice (I use basmati)
500g fish
2 tsp cummin powder
1 medium onion (diced)
2 tbsp pine nuts
Salt to taste
Yogurt (to serve)

Method for Sayadieh

1. Marinate fish with a bit of salt and turmeric and deep fry. Then de-bone and tear into into small pieces-set aside.
2. In a medium pot, saute onions in some of the leftover oil from the fish. Saute until onions are crispy and brown then add cummin powder.
3. Meanwhile, wash the rice and then add it into the pot along with the fish pieces. Cook for about 45minutes until rice is done.
4. In a small saucepan, lightly fry the pine nuts in a bit of oil until golden brown and set aside.
5. Once the rice is cooked, topped with pine nuts and serve with yogurt.

2 lovely comments
Category: fish, halal, in my kitchen, rice, seafood

Nov
15
2011

thai inspired pattaya (omelette) fried rice | nasi goreng pattaya

Nasi goreng pattaya, or simply nasi pattaya, is a Malaysian dish made by covering or wrapping fried rice, in fried egg (omelette). It is often served with chili sauce, cucumber, and/or keropok. The name comes from Pattaya, Thailand.

Source: Wikipedia

In Malaysia, nasi pattaya is just chicken fried rice wrapped in omelette. The flavours are basically the same as you would find in any nasi goreng. This dish was inspired by Secret Recipe (again! My last pasta dish was also inspired by SR) when they extended their menu and included a Thai Inspired Pattaya Fried Rice, it was so irrisistably good! This is a thumbs up from the hubby!

And because I am so in love with chilli, I made my own special batch (aside from my daughter and husband’s) for me to indulge in. If you love spicy food, it taste even better when its hot. You’ll be wiping your nose every second but its all worth it! Can you spot out those little nasty buggers in there? Don’t bite it of you can’t handle it. Hubby accidentally did and in his words ‘ I felt like a knife was slicing through my throat’. Oops!

RECIPE FOR THAI INSPIRED PATTAYA FRIED RICE/NASI GORENG PATTAYA
Inspired by Secret Recipe

Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 25 mins

Ingredients

3 cups cooked basmati rice (you can also use leftover rice)
16 prawns, shelled and deveined
1 chicken breast, cut into small bite size chunks
1 bulb garlic, sliced
Handful of basil leaves
1 chilli, cut
1 large carrot, diced
1 cup baby peas
1 large red capsicum
4 eggs, beaten (to make omelette)
1 tbsp dark soy sauce (for rice colouring)
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp basil infused olive oil (optional)
1 tsp chilli oil (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok and fry chicken pieces and prawns until cook. Remove and set aside.

2. Using the same oil, sautee the garlic until slightly brown then add the vegetables and chilli.

3. Add in the rice, dark soy sauce and basil infused olive oil and stir till evenly coated.

4. Season well with salt and pepper.

5. In a large pan, heat up a little oil and add the beaten egg (1 egg for 1 pan, covering the entire pan). Flip once and remove onto a plate. Do this for the remaining 3 eggs to make 4 serves of omelette.

6. Dish the rice from the wok into the middle of the omelette and cover the rice completely with egg. Drizzle with chilli oil and serve immediately.

2 lovely comments
Category: asian, chicken, halal, in my kitchen, rice, seafood

Oct
28
2011

claypot chicken rice

I remember when I was 11, mum used to take my sis and I to Bangsar food court because they had the yummiest claypot chicken rice. Seriously sizzling. Seriously yum. This is a popular chinese dish served commonly at hawker stalls around Malaysia. The original claypot chicken rice is cooked with chinese sausage and dried salted fish. The version I made did not have both of these, but it still tasted just as good.

The secret about a good claypot chicken rice is getting the right amount of ginger and soy sauce. Of course the hero of this dish is the smokeyness that comes from cooking it in the claypot itself that you won’t get with any ordinary cooking pot. Claypot gives you that extra flavoursome crust you find at the bottom. Kinda like a paella crust. In which you leave the best for last. My sis and I used to fight for this. Get a spoon and just go crazy scooping and digging in. That for me my friends, completes my eating experience from this small humble claypot.

So after all the fun comes the ugly part. Washing up. Who likes scrubbing out burnt rice?

RECIPE FOR CLAYPOT CHICKEN RICE
Adapted from Malaysian favourites(cookbook), with slight changes

Serves: 2
Prep time: 15mins
Cook time: 30 mins

Ingredients

2 cups rice, soaked (I used basmati)
6 medium chinese mushrooms, sliced (or normal mushrooms)
1 boneless chicken thigh, cut into cubes
8 cloves garlic, finely diced
4 small shallots, finely diced
2inch old ginger, finely diced
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
2.5 cups water (to cook rice)
1 cup chicken stock
handful of spring onions, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp oil

Method

1. Marinate the chicken and mushrooms together with all the sauces.

2. In a rice cooker, cook rice with water. Remove rice when cooked halfway.

3. In a claypot, heat up oil and sautee shallots, garlic and ginger until aromatic.

4. Add in chicken and mushroom pieces and cook for 7 minutes.

5. Add in chicken stock and half cooked rice to the mixture and combine well. Cover with claypot lid on a low – medium heat for 20 minutes.

6. Season with salt and pepper.

7. Garnish with spring onions and serve immediately.

8 lovely comments
Category: asian, chicken, halal, in my kitchen, rice

Oct
02
2011

thai pineapple fried rice

On special occasions, my family and I would dine at Sawasdee (I’ll post my reviews of the restaurant soon). Whenever we’re there, we’d never fail to order their pineapple fried rice, so much so, that I keep telling myself I’d try and replicate this dish (they used to serve it in a pineapple boat, like above, but now they just dish it in a large bowl). So anyway, as I was doing my groceries at the local market, I spotted pineapples. Cheap, whole, fresh pineapples. Yum. I grabbed one. I should’ve grabbed two *sigh*.

Here is my attempt at making a pineapple boat. If you need to know how to take the flesh out, just youtube it. That’s what I did. Try it out and let me know!

And don’t forget to serve it to your husband like this, in bed! This makes an impressive brunch on a Sunday morning noon. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.

THAI PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE RECIPE
Inspired by Sawasdee

Serves: 3
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 20 mins

Ingredients

1 small pineapple, carve flesh out into small cubes
2 cups leftover rice, medium grain
6 cloves garlic, sliced finely
1 chicken thigh fillet, remove fat and cut into small cubes
100g shelled prawns
1 carrot, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
3 tbsp pineapple juice, reserved from the fresh pineapple
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp oil
2 tsp shrimp paste
A few coriander leaves, for garnishing
A handful of spring onions, cut thinly for garnishing
A handful of cashew nuts, for garnishing
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Put your wok on a high heat and add the oil, garlic, shrimp paste, chicken and prawns. Then add the pineapple juice.

2. Put the rice and vegetables in. Stir fry for a bit more then add dark soy sauce, fish sauce and stir until the rice is evenly coated.

3. Finally, add the pineapple pieces, cashew nuts and season well with salt and pepper. Give it one last stir before garnishing it with spring onions and coriander leaves.

4. Serve in a pineapple boat* that you have carved out earlier to impress your guest!

*1 Half carved pineapple boat only serves 1.

Click ‘Read More’ below to print out the recipe and leave a comment.

1 lovely comment
Category: asian, in my kitchen, rice

Sep
13
2011

mexican inspired rice

I’m always here when I need a quick and healthy meal. This blogs owner is a friend of mine. She does healthy stuff, which I like. And easy too, double like. I saw this recipe and instantly fell in love. I have never tried Mexican apart from Doritos and Buritos, so I wanted to give it a go. I had all the ingredients too which made it even better. So do check out her blog for amazing recipes.

MEXICAN INSPIRED RICE
Adapted from My Recipe Stash with slight modifications

Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 20 mins

Ingredients

2 cups rice (I used medium grain)
1 large ripe tomato, diced
1 small green capsicum, diced
1 small red capsicum, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
2 chicken thigh fillets, fat and skin removed then cut into small cubes
3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 large onion, diced finely
1.5 tbsp corriander powder
0.5 tbsp cumin powder
3 tsp sweet paprika
1 chilli (or 0.5tsp chilli powder – both optional)
1/4 cup long beans,cut into 2cm long
1/4 cup peas
1/4 cup corn
3 cups water
salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Saute onions, capsicums, garlic and chicken in some oil until fragrant.

2. Then add spices and stir again until fragrant.

3. Add tomatoes and cook until softened. Then add rice, water and all the vegetables. Cook for 30 minutes until the rice is done.

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Tip: You can add more tomatoes or tomato paste for a more intense colour and flavour.
Click ‘read more’ below to print out this recipe and leave a comment.

2 lovely comments
Category: in my kitchen, rice

middle eastern rice + fish

thai inspired pattaya (omelette) fried rice | nasi goreng pattaya

claypot chicken rice

thai pineapple fried rice

mexican inspired rice

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