How to choose and prepare dired mushrooms

Just discovered, from watching this video, that instead of soaking dried mushrooms to soften them, I can also opt to steam them.

These are the steps if you do not have time to learn more by watching it:

Put Chai Kou 杯子糕

 I am thinking of learning to make our own Put Chai Kou.  

These are the ingredients required:

I found a simpler version for making the same at Scarlet Lunar where rock sugar is used instead of palm sugar.

Ginger Soya Sauce Chicken

In my younger days, during Chinese New Year, my grandmother would boil a whole chicken.  The cooked chicken would be placed on the altar.  The stock from boiling it would be used to cook chicken rice.  After prayers, the chicken would be cut up to be eaten with the chicken rice. Leftover chicken would be used to fry Ginger Soya Sauce Chicken for dinner. 

I discovered from this video that the Thais have the same tradition as we Chinese have.  This is a Thai version of Ginger Soy Chicken ไก่เค็ม (gai kem).

These are the ingredients required:

I do not follow this tradition during Chinese New Year but I often cook this dish.  Since I boil soup almost on a daily basis, I usually steam dishes to cook or heat leftovers over the pot of soup I am boiling. So, if I need cooked chicken to make this dish, I will place my raw cut up chicken in a bowl and steam it over, for example, my ABC Soup. After steaming, the liquid that had dripped into the bowl of chicken can be used instead of water to flavour the dish.  I can also sieved it into the ABC soup to enhance its flavour even though I have already added pork soup bone to boil it.

If I want to cook this dish on days when I will be boiling herbal or lotus root soup, I will boil water with at least three to four drumsticks, cut into 4 sections, and some pork soup bones or chicken ribs.  Once the water is boiling for about 10 to 20 minutes, I will remove the drumstick to cook this dish.  This is to prevent the herbal or lotus root soup from affecting the flavour of the chicken.  I prefer to sieve the soup stock into another pot to boil with the rest of the ingredients for the soup I am making.  In that way, there will not be any scums in the soup.  

This is my Malaysian version of Ginger Soya Chicken.

I usually cook my Ginger Soya Chicken with more sauce so I can use the it to heat up leftover rice.  Try it.  You will discover it taste like claypot rice.  As this is a dish we enjoy eating, I always try to stock in the freezer, julienned ginger soaked in garlic oil.  Storing ginger this way will keep it fresh and prevent spoilage.  You can learn how to julienne ginger by watching this video.

On days when I have forgotten to take the frozen chicken out to thaw overnight in the fridge, I will speed up the cooking process by airfrying it.  I will use the setting on my airfryer for cooking chicken and turn it over half way through the process to continue cooking.  By then the chicken would have thawed good enough.  It does not matter that the chicken is not fully cooked since I will be cooking it with the sauce.

Asam Pedas Fish

I have seen my sister cooked asam fish from scratch and it was quite a tedious effort.  First she must prepare the paste by pounding with a pestle, the following ingredients in a mortar.  That is because we did not have an electric grinder:

Garlic
The white part of lemongrass
Shallots
Dried chillies
Belacan or prawn paste (we knew what she was going to cook when we smelled that)

Then she has to prepare the following ingredients to be added to the dish:

Okras
Tomato 
Daun kesum 
Tamarind pulp

You can watch how it is cooked from scratch in this video.  This cook used more flavouring ingredients in her dish.

So, I am glad I found this Asam Pedas Ikan ready made paste from Mak Nonya.  You can learn how to use the paste from their website.  

Asam Pedas Ikan can be cooked stir fried or steamed.  So, what type of fish are suitable for steaming?  I like the suggestions shared at Mira Gas.  The fish should have less bones and do not have a strong fishy odour.  These are what they recommended:

cod fish
grouper
snapper
sea bass
tilapia
halibut
salmon

If you are steaming a whole fish, look out for fish that has clear eyes, firm flesh and red gills.  However, if you are worried about the muddy flavour or fishy odour of other type fish you use, you can remove it by coating the fish well on all sides with any of the following:

-lime juice
-vinegar
-tamarind juice

You can also remove the odour by soaking the fish in diluted saltwater or rice washing water for about 15 minutes before rinsing it with clean water.  I prefer to rub the fish all over with coarse salt and rinse it off after 15 minutes.

This is how the ingredients are prepared to be steamed:

As I did not boil soup for the day I decided cook the dish by stir frying it.  I used siakap by cutting it into three sections.  I made some changes to the standard instructions given.  I sliced my onion thinly and fry it with garlic oil before adding the paste to fry.  As I do not want to break up the flesh of the fish as I stir fry the vegetables, I added it to cook only after I have poured water into the wok.  The fish will be infused by the flavours of the paste as long as it is completely immersed in the sauce as it cooks.  

3-Ingredient Cakes

I like keeping recipes that requires three or less ingredients to make.  

Here is one for baking sponge cake. 

I can add flavouring essense to the batter if I want to.

I prefer this recipe which I found on YouTube as less sugar is used.

Sponge cake can also be steamed to cook.  The preparation method is the same except that the base of the cake pan need to be lined but not be greased.

This method is a little different as the egg york is separated from the white before it is beaten with sugar.

I would also like to try making 3-Ingredient Greek Yogurt Cake.

It can be baked in an airfryer too.

Leftover Rice

Recently, I came across the following article shared at Matha Stewart.

How to Store Cooked Rice Safely—and the Best Way to Reheat It, According to Experts

It is noted there that cooked rice should be discarded if it has been left at room temperature for more than two hours as eating it will pose a food safety hazard, especially for those with compromised immune systems.

I do not think that Asians who eat rice on a daily basis will do that. In fact, we boil enough rice for the day so that we can eat it for lunch and dinner.  When it is time to eat, we scoop the rice, right out of the rice cooker, to serve.  Any leftover for the day will be scooped into a container with cover and stored in the refrigerator.

The important thing to note is that you should not add more water than is required to cook your rice as it can spoil more quickly due to high moisture content. I (most Asians) have been taught to use my finger to make sure that I add the right amount of water.  To do that, I put my index finger right above the rice in the rice cooker.  The amount of water I poured in should reach the first knuckle of my finger.  You can read more about that at The Spruce Eats.  They even shared a video of the procedure.

All rice cookers are supplied with a measuring cup.  I find it easier to add 1 cup of water for every cup of rice I cook.  I have been buying Thai white rice and I noticed that it turns out better if I add about 3/4 cup more water to it.  If the rice is not cooked fluffy enough, I can sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of boiled water over the rice and let it cook further.  The only way you can save a soggy pot of rice is to make porridge with it. Been there, done that.

When I was young, we do not have a refrigerator at home.  We kept leftovers at room temperature in a kitchen cabinet with netted doors for ventilation.  We placed a ceremic cup under each leg of the cabinet.  The cups are specially made.  It is like a cup within a cup to hold water.  The cabinet leg is inserted into the inner cup and water is place in the outer circle of the cup.  This photo of a bed bug trap or interceptor will give you an idea what I mean.  The water placed at the "outer pitfall" noted in this photo prevented ants and insects from crawling in to contaminate our food.  The ceremic cups also prevented the legs of the cabinet from getting rotten by water being splashed on the floor when we washed the area. 

I managed to find a photo of a Chinese cabinet on Pinterest that closely resembled what we had, except that the legs were longer on ours and there is an extra compartment at the bottom for storing our crockery.

When my mom started using the rice cooker, she would leave the leftover rice in it till the following day.  There was a general rule that we must all follow.  We were not allowed to fluff up the cooked rice to loosen the grains as stiring it could make it gooey and spoil it sooner.  The next day the leftover rice will be scooped into a bowl.  After the pot from the rice cooker had been washed, rice for the day will be cooked in it.  The leftover rice will be poured in to be heated up when most of the water had evaporated and bubbles had started popping above the nearly cooked rice.  

Do Asians have stronger constitution?  My grandma lived to a ripe old age of 101 years eating leftovers that were considered not properly stored.  She taught me to pluck the molds off stale bread before eating it.  I noticed that my former Western colleagues will not eat bread after a day even though the loaf had not passed its expiration date.  They used to joke that I ate ants with my bread.  I guess there must be some ants hiding inside the bread after I removed what I could see on the outside before eating it.

Nowadays, we store leftover rice in a container with cover and put it in the refrigerator.  Unless you are making porridge, I will not suggest heating leftover rice in a pot on the stove as there will be wastage as the grains will stick to the pot.  You will also have to watch over it to prevent it from burning.  These are ways I prefer to reheat my leftover rice.  By:

-boiling it up in a pot with leftover soup or water to make porridge.
-heating it in a mini rice cooker (at my bike shop) with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or leftover soup or sauces.

-making fried rice with it.

-steaming it in a covered bowl over a pot of boiling soup (not when boiling lotus roots soup).
-microwaving it 2-3 minutes in a covered bowl with a tablespoon of water added to prevent it from drying out.  

It is true that you should reheat just the amount of cooked rice you want to eat.  Any leftover reheated rice should be kept in the fridge once it is cool but you are not to mix it with the other leftover rice already in the fridge.  Rice that has been reheated too many times can go stale easily.  If you have to reheat the same bowl of rice again, take it out of the fridge to reheat only when you are about to eat it.

Some people will consider buying mini rice cookers to cook just enough rice for the day.  The one that I have is large enough to boil 5 cups of rice.  It has been with me for more than 20 years.  Instead of boiling just enough for the day, I usually boil up to 4 cups of rice each time as I think that it is a great way for me to save time, water and energy cooking it.  That is enough plain rice cooked to feed us for 4 to 6 days.  

To make sure that it will be safe to eat after so many days, I make sure that:

-I do not add more water than is required to cook my rice.  
-the scoop I used for the rice is clean.
-the rice is not warm when I store it in the refrigerator.
-I store the rice in a container with cover.
-the leftover rice to be stored are not stained with sauces or ingredients.
-uneaten reheated rice are not be mixed with the rest of the leftover rice stored in the refrigerator.

Cooking with frozen ingredients

I usually cook frozen food, meat or fish without defrosting them. It is because I can defrost and cook the frozen ingredients at the same time by steaming it over the soup I am boiling for the day.

I can put my frozen ingredients for soup, directly into the pot of water to boil. I do that for frozen chicken feet I used to enhance the flavour of the soup.

However, I prefer to place the frozen soup bone, pork or chicken in a round metal container and steam it over the soup. You can see from this photo that while I am boiling my soup, I can also steam enough rice for the day and frozen dumplings (dimsum). From my experience, I know that some soups can affect the flavour of the dishes I am steaming up. So I do not do that if I am boiling herbal soup or Lotus root soup.

I steam the meat till it is no longer red with blood before putting it in the soup to boil till tender. I then sieve the liquid in the metal container into the pot of soup to remove the scums. This is how the meat should look like before I put it in the soup.

It is easier for me to remove the scum from the meat in the metal bowl then while it is boiling in the soup.

If I plan on using my airfryer to cook a pork or chicken dish, I will marinate the ingredients first in a round metal container before storing it in the freezer. When it is time to cook it, I will remove the cover and pop the metal container in the airfryer to cook for about 10 to 15 minutes on one side and turn the meat over to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. I then pour it into a pot, add about half a cup of water to boil it over low fire till the meat is tender enough. After tasting it, I can then decide if I need to add salt or soya sauce or oyster sauce to the dish.

My favourite dishes to cook this way are Oyster Sauce Chicken and Ayam Percik. You can see how I am supposed to cook the Ayam Percik from its packaging.

This is how I cook my Ayam Percik dish with frozen chicken.

I noticed that I am able to speed up the cooking process by not thawing the frozen ingredients I used.

Check the Diameter of Your Pots and Pans

Do you know how to measure the diameter of your pots and pans? 

You measure the size at the top, from the inside of the pot or pan, as shown from this product information from Igozo, currently, my favourite cooking utensil brand.

Here are some reasons why you need the mesaurement for the pots or pans you have on hand. 

If you know the size, the next time you buy another pot or pan, you can buy one similar in size to what you already have. That way, the covers can be interchanged and you will not be stuck with a pot or pan without a cover as it has been damaged.

However, if you have a pot that is smaller in width at its base and wider at the top, you should not have any problem using a cover from a pot of smaller diameter as long as the pot you are cooking with is deep enough and the smaller cover is large enough to sit over the food. So, based on how much food I am cooking, I do not have any problem using covers from my 28cm or 30cm pot or pan to cover this 32cm wok that I have.

So, saying, I do not store my pots and pans with the covers they came with. I store them separately on a pot lid organiser.

Do you like to use your pots for steaming food? I do. So, I am always on a look out for heat resistance bowls that I can use on my rack for steaming. It will be easier for you to find bowls in the right size if you know the diameter of your pot. These are some of my favourite glassware to use as they come with covers. I will use the glass covers if I do not want water vapours from the steam dripping into the dishes, which will dilute the sauces in them.

Recently, I bought this two tier tiffin from Igozo. I like it that it is supplied with two stainless steel containers that I can use separately.  I sometimes remove the stainless steel containers and packed food that do not contain sauces in the plastic tiffin carrier.

I discovered that the stainless steel containers fit perfectly on the steaming rack of my 1L mini multi-cooker that I have in my bike shop. So, while boiling water for my coffee in it, I can heat up my leftover home-cooked food to eat on its rack. 

The two stainless steel containers can also be used together for steaming food in the Igozo steam pot that I bought recently. 

With these containers, I can now heat up more dishes while boiling my soup. 

I am sharing all these information because I hope that one day should my children take over my kitchen ware and utensils they will know how to fully utilise them and not think about discarding them if they are still in good condition.  

For example, they may have issue using the tall cover of one of my pots if they are cooking something near a wall mounted hood. They can solve this problem by using a regular flat cover of the same diameter from another pot that I have.

Another note for my children:

Just remember not to heat dishes this way when you are boiling herbal soup or lotus root soup as they can affect the flavour of your dishes.

Love this Pot cum Steamer

I have lots of stainless steel cooking pots in my home. Some were handed down to me and some were received as gifts. I bought one last year that I have been using everyday. That is because my family loves drinking soup everyday and it can also be used as a steamer. I think that it is an energy saving idea to be able to steam dishes in the same pot that you are boiling your soup in. 

Another reason why I bought it is because I think that the supplier is very thoughtful. They supplied the pot with stainless steel bowls and a hot plate gripper that you will need when you are steaming food. Check out the gifts that came with it which makes using it as a steamer easier. And, yes. I received that stainless steel pot with handle too. We often use it to boil instant noodles.

Instead of scalding the soup bones with hot water to clean it, I prefer to place them on a bowl to steam them over the soup. This is because I usually marinate all my soup bones with salt before I freeze them for later use. So the stainless steel bowl that came with the steamer is useful. I will steam the soup bones till it is no longer red. Then I will sieve the liquid in the bowl into the pot of soup and discard the scum. 

I also like to use the bowls to steam a dish like this minced pork dish or boil eggs or heat up cooked rice or leftover dishes.

Are you curious to know why the cover for this pot is so high? Other than a steaming rack, it is also supplied with two extra trays for steaming additional dishes.  This photo will give you an idea of where the extra trays can be placed in order for you to steam additional dishes. 

You can see the slot inside the pot at Level A, where tray 1 can be placed to sit on in this photo.

Tray 1 should be placed in the pot before the water is boiling. You will find this gripper more useful once the water is boiling or when you need to make some adjustment to place the tray to sit properly on the slot. It is also easier to use it to remove the tray from the pot while it is still hot.

Tray 2 can be placed on top of the steaming rack but if you do not have extra item to steam in it, you  don't have to use it. I often place Tray 2 on top of the pot itself, if I only have two dishes to steam or heat up.  Due to its tall cover, you should not have any problem steaming anything on top of tray 2.

However, you may have issue using the tall cover if you are cooking something near a wall mounted hood, like the one I have in my kitchen. I solved this problem by using a cover of the same diameter from another pot that I have.

You can check out some of the soups I made with this pot cum steamer at the following link:

Convert Your Vegetable Dish Into A Soup

Yes, I do hope to win something from Igozo for sharing about this pot cum steamer that I bought from them last year. Wish me luck @iGOZO #igozocookandwin

Update:

Check out what I won from iGOZO for this post.

iGOZO BEAUTE STAINLESS STEEL MIXING BOWL (18/20/22/24/26/28/30CM)

CONVERT YOUR VEGETABLE DISH INTO A SOUP

If you do not like the idea of serving the leftover vegetable dish during your next meal, you can convert it into a bowl of soup. Greens that taste good as stired fried dish and as soup are:

Petola
Winter Melon
Labu Air (Long Melon)
Bayam Merah (Red Spinach)
Labu Siam
Beijing Cabbage 

You can stir fry them according to the instruction I have noted on this chart.

To convert the dish into a bowl of soup, I boil some chicken drumettes with a bowl of water.  To save time, I usually boil the broth in a 2 layer pot so that I can heat up or steam another dish in the upper steam pan layer. Recently, I bought a 28cm wide pot cum steamer with an about 10cm in height cover. Other than the regular rack with handles for steaming, it is also supplied with two extra plates for steaming additional dishes. The smaller piece can be placed inside the pot while the larger piece fits on top of it or the rack. That makes it a 3 layer pot. 

Once the drumettes are tender enough, I remove them from the broth and cook them with Kam Heong chillie paste. You can decide if you want to include the drummets in your soup. Since there are pork slices in my leftover vegetable dishes, I decided to use them to cook another dish.  

I don't have to use the whole pack to cook my drummets. For about 6-8 pieces of drummets, I use only 1 1/2 tablespoons of the Kam Heong chillie paste. After fyring the paste with garlic oil in a wok, I added: 

2 Tbsps of water
1 Tbsp of dark soya sauce
1/2 tsp of sugar
2 Tbsps of corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce before adding the drumettes. 

This is how they turned out once some of the liquid is cooked up.

To convert my leftover dish of Winter Melon into soup, I poured it into the chicken broth to boil and added salt or soya sauce and pepper to taste. It is ready once it is boiling. 

I have added glass noodles to the soup. You can check out other optional ingredients you can add to the soup by looking at this chart: