Brown Basmati Apple Walnut Salad

If I remembered correctly, June shared this recipe of Brown Basmati Apple Walnut Salad.  Brown Basmati Rice is gaining popularity for it’s higher nutritional values.  It also tastes nuttier than regular white rice.  A friend told me that after a few months of changing from white rice to brown rice, she is actually losing weight.  I may try to include some brown rice in my regular rice and my family will slowly accept it.  I’m sure Ben is going to make a fuss of it as he hates grainy stuff  like whole wheat or whole grain bread.

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This Brown Basmati Apple Walnut Salad can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days, which makes it the perfect make-ahead dish for company.  You may add the apples and toasted walnuts just before serving.  In fact, this salad tastes better the next day.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup toasted walnuts
  • 4 cups cooked brown basmati rice
  • 1/2 cup dried cherries, raisins or cranberries
  • 1 apple, sliced
  • 2 stalks celery, sliced
  • 5 to 6 celery leaves, chopped
  • 4 sprigs parsley, chopped

Dressing:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • zest of 1 orange
  • 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

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You may toast the walnuts in the microwave. Microwave them on high at 45-seconds intervals, smelling for doneness. It takes between 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.

June and Frances make this healthy and nutty salad.

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Claypot Rice with Minced Pork and Salted Egg Yolk

My family likes claypot rice.  We always order claypot rice when we are in a Chinese restaurant or dim sum place like the following:

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This is my take of Claypot Rice with Minced Pork and Salted Egg Yolk.  We had this in Hot Pot One and we found that the salted egg yolk’s taste and texture complements the minced pork very well.  It’s something different from the regular combination of minced pork with salted fish.

Ingredients

  • 2 – 2 1/2 cups long grain rice (I meant measuring cup for rice)
  • 3/4 to 1 lb minced pork
  • 2 salted egg yolk, cut into half
  • bak choy

Marinate for pork:

  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
  • drizzle of sesame oil

Sauce for rice:

  • 2 tablespoons of hot water
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
  • 2 drops of sesame oil

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Yangchow Fried Rice

Fanny, Alice and Garrie contributed to this famous Yangchow Fried Rice in the South Arm Community Kitchen.  Do you know that Yangchow Fried Rice did not originate from Yangchow, China?

The characteristic of Yangchow Fried Rice is that it has shrimp and BBQ Pork.

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Ingredients

  • 2 oz peeled shrimp
  • 2 oz BBQ pork or cooked ham
  • 4 oz grren peas or corn
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 scallions, finely chopped
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
  • 1 lb cooked rice (preferably overnight)
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 inch ginger, minced

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Pat dry the shrimp with paper towels.  Cut the BBQ pork into small dice about the same size as the peas or corn.   Please ignore the bok choy as it’s for the another stir fry dish.

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Pilaf

I was pretty excited when Minoo told me that Manijeh is going to share with us how to make Pilaf in the Caring Place Community Kitchen.  This will be another addition to the many rice recipes which I had blogged about in Chowtimes.com.

Manijeh shared with us that Pilaf originates from Persian around 500 BC.  Pilaf is a rice dish with meat or grain or vegetable.  It is very popular in Central America and South Asia.  Pilaf is usually spiced up with cumins, turmeric, cinammon, saffron and lots of herbs.

Manijeh also emphasized that a Persian woman is deemed as a good cook if she can cook good rice.  The rice cooking process is much longer than the way Chinese does it because the rice is cooked with meat or grain or vegetable.  Unlike Chinese who serves plain steamed rice with a few accompanying dishes.  It is the accompanying dishes which take times to prepare.

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The Pilaf can be a meal by itself as it is rice, meat and lentils in it which are rich in carbohydrate, protein and fiber.  A side dish of vegetables will make it a complete meal.

This recipe is for 4 servings.

Ingredients

  • 250 grams ground beef (lamb or pork)
  • 2 cups long-grain or basmati rice (allocate 1/2 cup per person)
  • 1 cup lentils
  • 1/4 cup raisins or dried cranberries
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • cooking oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
  • Saffron (optional)

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How to Cook Basmati Brown Rice

Minoo served the Turkey Black Bean Chili with Brown Basmati Rice. Brown rice is more nutritious than white rice as some of the nutrients have been removed from the rice in the process of removing the bran rice. These nutrients include vitamin B1, B3, iron, magnesium, fiber and fatty acid.

Brown rice is unmilled or partly milled rice. It is considered as a kind of whole grain, i.e. it’s a natural grain that remains unbleached. Brown rice is more chewier than white rice. Brown rice also becomes rancid more quickly than white rice.

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The Brown Basmati Rice has a mild nutty flavour to it. You may garnish it with a bit of tamari and sesame seeds and can be served with steamed vegetables for a healthy meal.

This Brown Basmati Rice recipe will add another way of cooking rice which I had listed here.

Ingredients

  • Brown Basmati Rice
  • Water in the ratio of 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice

You may substitute some of the water with broth to make a more tastier rice. You may add other ingredients like peas, lemon zest, dried chilies, raisins, herbs ginger, minced sun-dried tomatoes into the rice for extra flavours.

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Spanish Rice

Rosa served the Chicken Mole with Spanish Rice. We are glad to learn another way of cooking rice. We had learned many ways of cooking rice here:

  1. how to cook basmati rice flavoured with saffron
  2. how to cook Risotto (Italian rice)
  3. how to cook Stick Rice
  4. how to cook Chicken Rice
  5. how to cook Nasi Lemak (coconut rice)
  6. how to cook Korean Seafood Rice
  7. how to cook Lubria Polo (Persian Green Bean Rice) and
  8. how to cook Casserole Sausage Rice

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The Spanish Rice is flavourful by itself. I’m sure my kids will love this rice. The only thing is I have to puree the tomatoes and onion so that they cant see the vegetables in the rice and cant pick them out.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups long grain rice, unwashed
  • 4 cups water or chicken broth
  • enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan
  • 1/2 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tomato, finely chopped
  • chicken bouillon
  • garlic powder
  • cumin powder

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Chicken Fried Rice

Sydney is new to the South Arm Cooking Club for seniors, at least to me. He volunteered to cook fried rice for the group. He did a pretty neat job and did some wok tossing which amazed us.

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The Chicken Fried Rice looks and tastes pretty good. I’m sure Arkensen and Nanzaro will love this. The chicken can be substituted with other meat like BBQ pork or shrimp.

Ingredients

  • 4 to 5 cups cooked rice, preferably overnight
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 cups frozen peas
  • 1 cup chopped green onions
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 lb to 1 lb chicken breast, diced
  • 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
  • 3/4 teaspoons sesame oil
  • dash of cornstarch
  • salt and pepper to taste

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Japanese Sushi

Frank’s Japanese Feast ended with non other than Japanese Sushi. We did a mistake by removing the sushi rice from the rice cooker too soon. According to Frank, the rice has to be hot and the sushi chef will fan the rice to cool it down a bit. Nevertheless, we still asked Frank to demonstrate to us how to roll the sushi despite his unwillingness due to the mistake we made. Frank just wanted everything to be perfect.

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I will not illustrate how to roll the sushi here as I had covered that in this blog. Frank’s maki roll is filled with a kind of bamboo (I will show you this ingredient later), pickled daikon, avocado, cucumber and artificial crab meat.

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Winnie gave Frank a helping hand while Frank demonstrated how to make sushi roll. Winnie’s daughter loves sushi and Winnie often make it for her daughter at home.

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This is the bamboo thingy I mentioned above. It came in dry form in long strands. You can find most of the Japanese ingredients which Frank used here in Izumi-Ya Japanese Market at 7971 Alderbridge Way, Richmond.

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The dry bamboo has to be soaked in warm water until soft. It is then rinsed a few times until the water runs clear. After that, it is boiled in water until it expanded and soft. Dump off most of the water, leaving just a bit, add 4 tablespoons of sugar, a few dashes of mirin and soy sauce and let simmer on low until the liquid is almost evaporated and absorbed into the bamboo. The final product is sweet and has a crunchy texture.

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Iceberg Lettuce Fish Paste Porridge

Vanessa is back from Hong Kong and she starts work in the community kitchen right away. She made an Iceberg Lettuce Fish Paste Porridge; Hong Kong style, I presumed.

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The Iceberg Lettuce Fish Paste Porridge is flavored in a rich broth made from pork bones and dried scallop. A pot a hot porridge is good for days when one does not have appetite to eat. Porridge is easy to the digestive system too.

Ingredients

  • Roast pork bone
  • Pork bone (“G gin guat” in Cantonese)
  • Dried scallop
  • Fish paste
  • Rice
  • Iceberg lettuce
  • ground pepper and salt to taste

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Click on the link below for the instructions.

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