Japanese Rice Pillows

Went to Plaza Singapura for dinner with the family yesterday. After dinner, we went to Daiso and was amazed at the variety of Japanese things they carry. Bought 20 over items! All at $2 each!

What made me very excited was the mould I bought for Japanese rice. The shape was like a little pillow, or rather bolster. I thought this would be an excellent snack to prepare for the church refreshments--something which the youths would like.

After browsing through the kitchen section, I went to the food section of Daiso. Was thoroughly thrilled to find Japanese seasonings, furikake (to be sprinkled on the rice--see picture), crackers and so on. So you can imagine how much stuff I bought!

Tried out the mould and it worked very well. Just need to season the rice with the furikake--I added more black and white toasted sesame seeds. Use 1 packet of furikake for 4 cups of rice. Then put the rice on the mould, put on the cover and give it a tight squeeze. Remove the cover and push out the rice pillows. It is that simple! The kids love it and ate a lot! Maybe I shouldn't prepare this too often lest they overeat.

Glutinous Rice

As the youths in Church were having the Christmas Outreach Musical rehearsal after service, we decided to provide dinner for them. Margaret has kindly offered to cook fried rice. To supplement that, I decided to try cooking glutinous rice for the first time. Turned out to be alright.

I called my aunt to find out how to cook. She told me over the phone how to do it.

1 kg glutinous rice --soaked for half an hour
3/4 cup dried shrimps --soaked
2 cups dried mushrooms--soaked then sliced
600g belly pork
6 rice bowls of water
1 cup shallots
1/2 cup garlic

1. Season pork with sesame oil, oyster sauce, black sauce, light sauce, pepper.
2. Fry shallots until crispy. Set aside.
3. Use shallot oil to fry garlic until fragrant.
4. Add in dried shrimps, then belly pork and mushrooms.
5. Add in rice and fry together with ingredients.
6. Season with light sauce, dark sauce, pepper and a little cooking wine.
7. Put everything in a large tray to steam--about 40 minutes.

Baked Rice

Everytime we go to Swenson's, my kids would always order chicken baked rice. Usually J would order something else so that he could have his share of baked rice as well(from Js share). It's really quite pathetic that the 3 of them have to share that small portion of baked rice. I thought it shouldn't be too difficult to cook up baked rice. Tried several times and it's really well-received by the kids. Hubby would eat it, but he wouldn't lap it up like the kids do.

300g fresh sausage (chipolata is good)--sliced
250g fresh button mushrooms -- sliced
1 head of brocolli--cut to bite size
5 cloves garlic --chopped
1 onion --chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 can cream of chicken/mushroom
1 cup fresh cream
1 cup milk
shredded cheddar & mozarella cheese
4 cups of cooked rice

1. Fry garlic and onion in olive oil.
2. Add brocolli, then mushrooms, and then sausages.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add cream and milk.
5. Once the sauce is bubbly, turn off the fire.
6. Put rice on a baking dish. Top with sauce and sprinkle cheese on top.
7. Bake at 220 degrees for 15 minutes and grill for 5 minutes until cheese browns.

Sushi and more sushi

As the church is having a special Easter programme, PH requested that I make some sushi for refreshments. Made 3 trays of sushi... but my kids complained that they only had 1 piece each! They requested to have sushi again for dinner again on Easter Sunday. Mom came over for dinner and I prepared seafood soup with bee hoon..with the crab bee hoon stock we bought a day ago from Ang Mo Kio. Mmm... quite yummy. When CL comes back from HK, will certainly go back to buy more crab dishes.