FRiSECS: Fried Rice with Salted Egg & Choy Sam

I'm sorry for not updating this blog since a few months back. Most days I feel so tired after work that I'd sometimes commit the cardinal sin of all cooks and order take-outs instead of eating my own food.

The recipe below was conjured during a lazy weekend. I had recently discovered how tasty dishes can be when fried or added with salted eggs. Now this isn't exactly an outstanding dish, but just a simple one that's ideal to make when you're hungry and you couldn't be bothered with getting a Michelin star.

If you wish to try this dish, let me know what your experience is like. I look forward to hearing from you!

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1. Ingredients:
a. 2 pieces of garlic, chopped finely
b. 1 shallot, also chopped finely
c. Several choy sam/sawi leaves, chopped into big pieces (leave the last 2cm of the stems out though)
d. 1 tablespoon of cooking oil
e. 1 egg, beaten
f. 1 salted egg, also beaten (the yolk might be hard to mash though, so it's okay if it's a wee bit clumpy)
g. Dried anchovies

h. Cooked rice

i. Salt and pepper to taste

2. Method:
a. Heat a tablespoon of cooking oil in a wok.
b. Once the oil is hot, fry together garlic, shallot and anchovies until they're all brown.
c. Add in rice and stir for 2-3 minutes just to brown it a bit.
d. Stir the rice away from the centre of the wok, in order to create an empty circle. Pour in beaten salted egg onto the circle. Wait for a minute before you stir everything again.
e. After stirring and mixing everything up, repeat step (d), but this time with the (chicken) egg.
f. Throw in the chopped choy sam stems and stir everything for a minute before adding in the leaves.

g. Stir everything for about a minute before adding in salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately as choy sam leaves can wither quickly when hot.

3. Portion size:
a. If you're hungry, it makes two servings.

b. If you're REALLY hungry, don't share this with anyone else.

4. Cook's Notes:
a. Choy sam can be quite tricky to cook as its leaves wilt really fast when cooked. Normally with leafy vegetables, I'll only cook them for about two minutes over medium fire as I like to keep my greens fresh. With choy sam, about one minute for me is just right.

b. Choy sam also wilts rather fast in the fridge compared to other leafy vegetables. Its leaves can turn yellow even before a week has passed. Ideally you should only buy it if you plan to cook it on that day itself or the day after.

d. When cooking leafy vegetables, always cook the stems first because they take longer to cook compared to the leaves. Also make sure that you cut them in more or less the same size to allow for uniform cooking.

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P/S: I just noticed how FRiSECS sounds so much like free s*x. Sorry! :-p

Q & Q Fried Rice with Mushrooms and Red Beans

If there's one ground rule that I can have in this blog, it's that I will never post a recipe that I have not tried first.

Below is a simple recipe I came up with a few hours ago, which became my dinner. Only add red beans if you're not in a hurry to eat this, because the chewing takes a lot of time..LOL!

If you wish to try this dish, let me know what your experience is like. I look forward to hearing from you (and that includes you, He-Who-Came-Up-With-The-Idea-For-This-Blog).

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Q & Q Fried Rice with Mushrooms and Red Beans

(Q & Q = Quick & Quirky)

1. Ingredients:

a. A plate of white rice

b. Chopped onions

c. Chopped garlic

d. Anchovies (as much as you like)

e. 4 button mushrooms, sliced thinly (I used only four, but you can use more)

f. 2 chicken franks, sliced thinly (you can use more if you want to)

g. Red beans (soaked the night before and cooked till soft)

h. 1 tbsp of cooking oil

i. Salt

j. Pepper

k. 1/2 tsp of chicken stock

l. 1 tsp of soy sauce

2. Method:

a. Heat oil in a hot wok over medium fire.

b. Once oil is fragrant, add in anchovies, onions and garlic. Fry till brown.

c. Add in the sliced chicken franks and mushroom. Fry till they're brown.

d. Add in the red beans and white rice. Stir for two minutes, then add in salt, pepper, chicken stock and soy sauce.

e. Continue to stir for about two minutes before turning off the heat.

3. Portion size:

Makes two servings.

4. Cook's Notes:

a. Use as much as anchovies as you like. I had used too little (about one tablespoon) and found myself wanting more when I had eaten all of these crispy teasers on my plate.

b. I love eating red beans in desserts and bought a small pack of dried red beans to try at home. My first attempt at cooking them was to boil them for hours and yet they were still hard. I only discovered pre-cooking soaking by accident a few days ago.

c. This dish might not look so appetising because almost each ingredient used are in varying shades of brown. You can try to jazz it a bit by adding sliced tomatoes (I personally love cherry tomatoes) and sprinkling chopped spring onions. I was so hungry when I got home today, so I didn't bother with doing any presentation.