Baked Rice with Mushrooms, Peppers, Turkey Bacon & Cheese

When bloggers stretch their brain upside-down-inside-out trying to write a witty and entertaining opening paragraphs, I wonder if you wanna say "just cut the (not-so-funny) crap and get on with the (not-so-good) food" sometimes?
We all probably do.

Let me cut my crap and get on with the food.

In Hong Kong, we see baked rice dishes all the time, the most famous one being pork chop baked rice, from fast food places like Cafe de Coral, Fairwood, Maxim's, or local Hong Kong cafes. It's deep fried juicy (albeit tenderized) pork chops, placed on a bed of fried rice with "tomato" based MSG laden sauce, topped with cheese and baked until the cheese melted and charred. Generally, freaking delicious.

I never thought of trying to recreate the dish at home. You know we don't deep frying stuff and since there's a Cafe de Coral/Fairwood/Maxim's at almost every corner, where these babies are sold for around HK$ 30something a pop, totally delicious and no effort required apart from ordering & queueing to pick up, why bother? That was my stand....

...until I saw Noobcook's Baked Rice posts, and realised that I can do other versions of baked rice, eliminating the deep frying and all the other complicated stuff, making it perfectly suitable for me, the lazy bummie. I did mine slightly differently from Wiffy's, I started with leftover cooked rice instead of uncooked rice. Try both methods, or be inspired, discover your own way and share :)

This is how I did mine.
Ingredients
(serves 2)
- 1 cup of leftover cooked rice (mine is mixed of white and brown rice), refrigerated overnight
- 1 green bell pepper, 1 yellow bell pepper (you can use any color), remove seeds, diced
- 1 cup sliced fresh shitake mushrooms (or any other mushrooms)
- 4 sheets of turkey bacon (you can use other bacon/sausages/SPAM/etc), cut into small pieces
- 1 cup grated cheese (I used mozzarella and parmesan, you can use other cheeses)
- olive oil, salt, black pepper, worchestershire sauce, dry herb mix (oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme - optional)

Heat up fry pan with a bit of olive oil (the turkey bacon doesn't release much oil. If your bacon releases a lot of oil, omit the olive oil), add bacon until they get browned a bit (do not burn/overcrisp the bacon pieces)...

...add diced peppers and cook until they soften, add sliced mushrooms, cook for a bit until it reaches the desired doneness that you like (I like mine super done and a bit charred).

Add leftover rice, season with salt, pepper, a dash of worchestershire sauce, dry herb mix, and mix well.

Preheat oven to 200C.

Transfer the rice mix (You can sooo already eat this, but don't. At least not all) into an oven proof dish..

...top with grated cheeses...

A little or a lot... depending on how good you wanna look in that pair of skinny jeans...

For me, a lot. (I don't wear jeans, I wear giant skirts and dresses all the time :p)
I also added a dash of dry herbs...hmmm perfumetastic!


Dump it into oven and wait for the magic to happen....15 minutes later...


MAGIC.

OK, that's an exaggeration.
It's no magic, it's easy cooking.

PS. my all burnt and scratched baking sheet is so photogenic, I think I should do another one :p

Easy Tofu Puffs with Two Color Peppers in Oyster Sauce

Minimum ingredients, maximum flavors.

I am never the minimalist. When doing a "simple" stir fry, I probably dump in all the sauces I have in my kitchen into the dish...

Light soy? Yes!
Dark soy? OK, I needed some color...
Shaoxing wine? I love the fragrance!
Oyster sauce? What's not to love?
Kecap manis? Sure! I gotta remember my Indonesian heritage
Sambal ABC? Bring it on! Gotta have some heat!
Ketchup? What the heck, why not? Could always use a touch of tang...
Mayo? Damn! This jar is empty!

...something like that.

But this time, I don't know if it was the heat...or waking on the wrong side of the bed....or drank the wrong medicine...I didn't try to empty my fridge into the pan...

Tofu Puffs with Two Color Peppers in Oyster Sauce

Tofu puffs
They are my ultimate meat replacement. Whenever I needed a filling, satisfying side dish, and there should not be any more meat in the already super carnivorous menu, tofu puffs always came to my rescue. They are readily available here, super cheap (HK$5 for a HUGE bag from Yu Kee), could be served soft or crispy, wonderful things could be stuffed into them, and they absorb flavors like there's no tomorrow! Look out for these babies in your next trip to Asian grocery shops.


Recipe
- approximately 8 tofu puffs (halved, allowing the inner part to absorb flavors)
- red and yellow peppers, one of each, remove seeds and core, cut into bite sized chunks
- olive oil, oyster sauce, a bit of water

Saute peppers in hot olive oil, add tofu puffs, add oyster sauce, add a bit of water, mix well, cook through.
Serve as a side of meat dishes, or as one of your vegetarian dishes selection.

Remind me to buy a replacement for that empty jar of mayo...

Super Simple Beef & Bell Peppers Stir Fry - Color Therapy

I need a therapy. I've been having too many foodisasters. I was almost convinced that it might be better for me to convert my kitchen into a walk in closet :p...or reduced it to just a microwave + a fridge, and put all the other appliances on a clearance sale, then use the money to finance my visits to all Michelin starred establishments in Hong Kong.

Stop! Before the thought went too far, I'd better put myself under some kinda therapy. Let's see which ones I should choose...

Aromatherapy?
Normally I love perfuming my flat with cinnamon scent from baking...but due to my recent baking disaster, I am still traumatized. So I guess this option is out, or I could try sniffing my neighbour's stinky old shoes? Nope, they have a dog and it doesn't like me.

Retail therapy?
Hello?! Economic crisis? People are getting fired all over Hong Kong? Don't you ever read the news? Your job isn't too hot either. HAHA. So, no.

Cocoatherapy?
No sight of chocolates at home due to sous chef's conditions. The sight of me devouring a huge bar of rich, velvety, dark chocolate will totally cause him a serious mental distress. Again, no.

Finally I went for a color therapy. Not exactly exactly the one rooted in Ayurveda, but my own version of color therapy...which involves exposing myself to vibrant colors of ingredients to make myself happy, such as these red, yellow and green bell peppers, and cook something easy and idiot-proof, to avoid further frustration.


More than just a pretty face, they do good things to my body, they are sweet, fragrant, crunchy and they made my stupid beef dish taste brilliant!

Super Simple Beef & Bell Peppers Stir Fry

Recipe
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 3 bell peppers, core and seeds removed, diced (I used red, yellow and green. If you don't need the color therapy, it's ok to stick to just one color, whichever looks best with your apron, perhaps?)
- 0.5 lb minced beef
- salt (non iodized for low-iodine diet), black pepper, sugar, Chinese rice wine, olive oil
Saute garlic in hot oil, add beef until almost done, add bell peppers, season, serve.

Check out my other low iodine food here.

Sharing this recipe with the folks at Weekend Herb Blogging, created by Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen, managed by Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything at least Once, hosted this week by Ivy from Kopiaste


I am all happier now...high on colors...let's see how long it will last, shall we?