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Tuesday 29 November 2022

Rice Cooker Chicken and Mushroom Rice

Ingredients
  • 10 large dehydrated shiitake mushrooms (or as many as you like)
  • 1 kg chicken (any cut you like)
  • 5 slices ginger cut into strips
  • 2 Chinese sausages (we get them from the local Chinese supermarket)
  • 5 cloves finely chopped garlic
  • chopped spring onion
  • fried onion (optional)
Chicken Marinade
Mushroom Marinade

Directions:
  1. Soak the dehydrated mushrooms in water. You can soak them in cold water overnight or in hot water for 20 minutes.
  2. Wash the rice grains and drip dry in a colander to make sure they’re clean. Drizzle some oil over the rice and mix in well for additional flavour. Try to do this the night before to have the grains as dry as possible.
  3. When you’re ready to begin cooking, squeeze the water out of the mushrooms. Keep the mushroom liquid.
  4. Remove the stem off the mushrooms (I find scissors the easiest tool to use for this) then slice the stemless mushrooms.
  5. Cut the chicken up into pieces. You’re after the size of roughly two large grapes.
  6. Optional: remove the fat off the chicken and keep it aside to make lard for the rice. 
  7. Marinate the chicken and mushrooms separately for a minimum of 20 minutes.
  8. Heat up a wok or pan and dry roast the rice grains for a few minutes.
  9. Throw in some of the chopped garlic to further infuse with the grains.
  10. Pour the roasted rice and garlic into a rice cooker. 
  11. Add 3 cups of water and 1/2 cup mushroom water. You can substitute the water for chicken and pork stock if you have it on hand.
  12. Close the lid and let your rice cooker work its magic!
  13. In a wok, add cooking oil and brown half the ginger and garlic. Throw in the mushrooms and stir them for a few minutes. 
  14. Move the cooked mushrooms in a bowl.
  15. Pour some oil into the wok and brown the remaining garlic and ginger. Add the chicken in and cook until the outside is seared. Cook it completely if you'd prefer.
  16. Optional: make the lard by adding the chicken fat into a small pot. Turn the heat up and let it slowly cook until the oil has released and the fat has browned. 
  17. Check on the rice. When there is no liquid above the grains anymore, push the Chinese sausages into the rice.
  18. Add the fried onions and lard to the rice.
  19. Layer the mushrooms and chicken on top of the rice. Close the lid and let it continue to slowly cook for another 30 minutes.
  20. At the 15 minute mark, dig out the Chinese sausages and slice them thinly. Add them back into the rice cooker.
  21. Add the spring and fried onions as a garnish then stir to mix in evenly. Stir the rice so that the grains are evenly coated with sauce.
  22. Enjoy your meal!

Furikake Snack Mix

Ingredients

Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 250F.
  2. In two large pans, divide the Wheat (or Rice) Chex, Corn Chex, Honeycomb cereal, Bugles, Fritos, and Pretzels, evenly between the two pans. Set aside.
  3. Now make the syrup. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Once melted, add in the Karo Syrup (or honey), sugar, vegetable oil, and soy sauce. Stir to mix. 
  4. Pour the syrup over the two pans of chex mix, make sure to divide the syrup equally between the two pans. Using two big spoons/spatulas, toss the chex mix until all the pieces are evenly coated with the syrup.
  5. Then pour in the whole bottle of Nori Goma Furikake, split between the two pans. Stir until the furikake is mixed evenly.
  6. Bake at 250F for 1 hour. Take the pan out every 15 minutes to toss/mix to make sure it cooks evenly. 
  7. Remove from oven, let cool. Then divide up into bags/containers and share. Everyone loves Furikake Chex Mix! 

Notes: This is a flexible recipe. Feel free to change up the Bugles, Fritos, and Pretzels..include more/less of any or skip them entirely. Other popular ingredients people also add are peanuts, Cheetos, and Goldfish. Just make sure to keep the three "essentials" which are: 1 box each of the Wheat Chex (or Rice Chex), Corn Chex, and Honeycomb cereal.

Rocky Road Bars

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
  • ¾ cup peanut butter
  • 3 cups mini marshmallows
  • 1 cup walnuts coarsely chopped
  • ½ cups peanuts chopped
Directions:
  1. Line a 9 x 9 inch pan with foil.
  2. Melt together the chocolate chips and peanut butter over low heat until smooth.
  3. Stir in nuts and remove from heat. Allow to cool 3-4 minutes.
  4. Add marshmallows and stir to coat.
  5. Spread in pan and refrigerate until firm.

Source: https://www.spendwithpennies.com/easy-rocky-road/

*Feel free to add/remove/substitute nuts, pretzel, etc.