Preserved Olive Vegetables Rice

This recipe is the act of my right brain at work! When my son told me about the yummy Herbal Fried Rice offered by the Vegetarian Stall in his school.  I was not present in the HERE and NOW, upon hearing the word 'herbal', my right brain wander off to the thoughts of fried rice with olive, then it reminds me of the preserved olive vegetable and many other things that eventually lead me to this creation - adding preserved olive vegetable to cook the rice.   

This is the characteristic of a Right-Brained (often misunderstood), where they can think of one thing, say another and their brain has already moved on to another thought. 


If you are curious whether you are a right-brained or left-brained person, take the simple test @ The Right Brain vs Left Brain test. Have fun!

Preparation:     10 mins, Cooking time:  15 mins

           

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         200g rice, washed and drained

°         400ml water

°         2-3 tablespoons preserved olive vegetables

°         some freshly chopped spring onion (optional) 

Method

1.      Combine all the ingredients into an electric rice cooker, mix well and turn it on.

2.      When done leave the cooked rice to rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

3.      Garnish with chopped spring onion and serve hot.

Soy Bean Sprout Rice

This is rather similar to Korean Rice Dish - Kongnamul Bab. You can even simplify it by having two ingredients -  rice and soy bean sprout,  with simple seasoning like salt or light soy sauce with or without sesame oil.  You may even replace carrot with mushroom or other ingredients you have in your kitchen.

Never underestimated the taste of this simple dish! We are surrounded by many simple and yet delicious vegetarian dishes. So just experience the richness of vegetarian food by taking the opportunity to savor it and fully taste it, by just focusing on the sensations in the mouth and appreciate it fully.

Preparation:     15 mins  Cooking time:            15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         200g rice, washed and drained

°         400ml water

°         125-150g soy bean sprout, trimmed

°         25g carrot, peeled and shredded

°         1 tablespoon curry powder (optional)

°         salt and granulated mushroom bouillon  to taste

Garnish

°         some shredded nori and roasted sesame seeds

Method

1.      Combine all the ingredients into an electric rice cooker, mix well and turn it on.

2.      When done, leave the cooked rice to rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and garnish with shredded nori, sesame seeds and serve hot.

Nori Chazuke

I had a Nori Chazuke (Chazuke) from a Japanese Restaurant, which is rice topped with julienne seaweed and wasabi where you just need to pour in some clear broth before eating it. A simple dish and I tried to re-create it using Shojin Dashi (Vegetarian Dashi) broth.  In this recipe, I added chilli flake for garnish and just a piece of nori instead of julienne nori.  As for the mushroom and kelps from the Dashi stock, used them to make side dishes.

Preparation:     5 mins, Cooking time:  20 mins

           

Ingredients (serves 1)

°         1 bowl cooked plain white rice

°         wasabi, to taste

°         some julienne nori

°         some toasted sesame seeds

°         some matcha powder

°         some chilli flake (optional), for garnish

Vegetarian Dashi

°         10-12 kelps in knot

°         25g dried chinese mushroom

°         1 slice ginger

°         500 ml water

°         2 tablespoons light soy sauce

Method

1.      Place the mushroom and water in a bowl and leave it to soak for 2-8 hours.

2.      Place kelps, ginger, mushroom and water from soaking the mushroom (strain) in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Remove the kelps, ginger and mushroom. Season to taste with light soy sauce.  Ladle vegetarian dashi into a tea pot.

3.      Place a bowl of rice on a serving plate or bowl, top with nori, sesame seeds, wasabi, mataha powder and chilli flake and serve with the vegetarian dashi.

A Cup of Simple Crispy Shallot Rice

For Little Girl ...

For Little Boy ...

Super simple and delicious …

When I was a little gal, my late mother whipped up this Rice with Raw Egg for us. What she did was when the rice was cooked, threw in the eggs (raw), shallot oil, spring onion, crispy shallot, and season with salt, light soy sauce and then mix well.

Yesterday, I was making some shallot oil by deep-frying some freshly cut shallot in oil. It was aromatic and I decided to mix the shallot oil, crispy shallot and some chopped spring onion to the cooked white rice. Season to taste with light sauce and mix well.  Spring onion and shallot lends its unique flavour to the plain rice, making it real fragrant.

Then, to make it interesting for kid, I serve it in a round Tea Cup with cute little cartoon on it (freebie). It looks good and delicious, my boy finished up all the tasty rice very fast.

Visual impact is important to kid too! It helps to make the food look more appetizing. Try this, if you have a fussy eater at home. It does not need lots of time to churn out something simple yet delectable.

For a healthier version, use brown rice (those that are light brown in colour). Substitute shallot with ginger, spring oil with Chinese parsley if desired. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds if preferred.

Corn and Broccoli Mixed Rice

This simple recipe is created for fussy little kid or kid who does not eat much veggies, by presenting food in smaller portion and interestingly. The yellow and green veggie might not look that attractive, but feel free to experiment with other types of colourful veggies and create your very own unique mixed rice for your little prince and princess. Get them to name it or create their own rice with favorites tasty ingredients, to make the process more fun.

Is this small amount of veggie enough? Of course not, go with a glass of thirst-quenching frothy veggie/fruity beverage to make it a wholesome, health enhancing meal. Isn’t it perfect! Oh, there is no scientific evidence supporting the claim that fruit should be eaten two hours after a meal for the purpose of maximizing nutritional benefits as published in mindyourbody 10 Oct 2007 by a Nutritionist.. So, no more worries.


Preparation: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 1 bowl hot steam rice
° 25g fresh corn kennel, blanched
° 50g broccoli florets, blanched and separated
° 1-2 slices carrot (optional), blanched
° some deep-fried ginger shreds (optional), for garnish.
° some toasted black/white sesame seeds, for garnish

Method
1. Put the rice, corn and broccoli in a bowl and mix well. Garnish with ginger shred, carrot and sesame seeds.

Simple Rice Soup

This is an easy-to-prepare clear rice soup. Don’t discard the kelp, use it to make a mini side dish – Seasoned Kelp http://crystalbyblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/seaweed-salad.html.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 1 bowl cooked plain white
° 10 kelps in knot
° 5 seedless red dates (optional)
° 1 slice ginger
° 500 ml water or vegetable stock
° salt and pepper to taste
° granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste
° few drops sesame/shallot oil (optional)
° small handful freshly chopped coriander leaves or spring onion, for garnish
° 1-1½ tablespoons vegetarian meat floss
° some nori shreds
° small handful freshly chopped spring onion (optional)

Method
1. Place kelps, ginger, red dates and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the kelps, red dates and ginger. Season to taste with salt, pepper, granulated mushroom bouillon and sesame/shallot oil.
2. Place a bowl of rice on a serving plate, top with vegetarian meat floss and nori shreds. Garnish with coriander leaves or spring onion.
3. Ladle the soup on the bottom of the rice and serve immediately.