Tom Yum Fried Rice - Mix and Match

Just like how I love mixing and matching my clothes to create the perfect, unique, and fabulous outfit every day (at least that was what I hope to achieve, and the results...well, let's say that there were hits, and there certainly were many misses. Haha!), I love mixing and matching flavor too. I love cross-overs. I love doing savoury versions of sweet things, or Asian/Indonesianized pasta dishes, or dry versions of soupy things, (or vice versa) just like what I've done here.

Who doesn't love the wonderful flavors of Tom Yum? The fresh tang, the kicks from the heat, and super fragrant scent? It was love at first slurp. So, I've decided to use the wonderful flavors of Thai Tom Yum, on a fried rice dish. It's not rocket science difficult, as I always like easy-no-fuss-no-muss executions, and it's not exactly super creative, as I am sure everyone loves the flavors of tom yum on anything, but it surely was tasty!

Tom Yum Fried Rice

Recipe
(serves 4)
- 2 cups of rice, cooked the day before, refrigerate overnight
- 0.5 lb of shrimp, deshelled, deveined
- 0.5 lb minced meat
- a handful of straw mushrooms, halved or quartered
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 red chilli, thinly sliced
- juice of 1 lime, lime zest
- olive oil, fish sauce
- 2 packs of tomyum instant seasoning paste
- freshly chopped corriander for garnish (I didn't use it as SC is suddenly allergic to it)

Marinate shrimps and minced meat in lime juice, grated zest of 1 lime, and fish sauce, while preparing the other ingredients. Saute shrimps in hot oil until just cooked, set aside. Saute garlic, chilli, and onion in hot olive oil, add minced meat, add mushrooms, add tomyum seasoning paste, add rice (bit by bit) and mix well. Throw in shrimps, garnish with freshly chopped corriander.


I am submitting this for Masak Bareng (Cooking Together) Montly Event, the current theme is Fried Rice. Check out the site for more delicious fried rice creations.

Tom yum fried rice, fly me to carb heaven...up up up high...

Quick Indonesian Rawon and Baked Perkedel

Did I just click "Publish" before typing anything? Sorry guys, accidents happen. Oooops. (This is not the first time, and probably ain't gonna be the last time :p).

I have a situation.
- There is a Rawon event, hosted by my blogger friends
- I love Rawon (Indonesian Black Beef Soup)
- I want Rawon
- now I really really want Rawon
but
- I have no time to make Rawon from scratch
- I don't have the ingredients to make Rawon from scratch
- I am lazy to make Rawon from scratch
- Heck, I don't know how to make Rawon from scratch

What to do?
Thank God for Indofood Rawon Instant Seasoning Mix!
Background music: Handel's Hallelujah Chorus

...what else can I do to make
Indonesian Beef Rawon
more of a weekday quick dish?
- Change the beef chunks with Sukiyaki style beef for record-breakingly quick cooking time
- Remove most of the frills which aren't readily available in my pantry (beansprouts, salted eggs, prawn crackers)
- Change the chilli sauce to just freshly chopped chilli
- Try to modify the fried perkedel (potato cake) side dish to the baked version, and fail miserably


Recipes
Quick Beef Rawon
- 1 lb sukiyaki style sliced beef (if possible with nice marbling)
- 1 cm ginger, crushed
- 1-2 packs of rawon instant seasoning mix (depends on how intense you want the flavor to be)
- 200-400ml hot water (depends how soupy you want it to be)
- olive oil
- lemon
- red chilli
- fresh corriander
Saute ginger in hot oil, add beef, when the color turns (it happens really quickly), add hot water, rawon instant seasoning mix, bring to boil. Turn the heat off, squeeze some lemon juice, garnish with fresh corriander, serve with steamed rice and additional lemon slices and red chilli on the side.

Baked Perkedel (Indonesian Potato Cakes)
- 2 large potatoes
- 1/2 small clove of garlic, finely chopped/grated
- salt, pepper, sugar, nutmeg
- 1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 220C. Wash potatoes, peel skin off, dice to about 2x2 cm cubes, pat dry, microwave until soft (I did on high, for about 7 minutes), mash, add finely chopped garlic, season with salt, pepper, sugar and nutmeg, form into small shapes (they are originally in a slightly flattened disk shape, but I also did small balls and ovals, just for fun). Line baking sheet with foil, brush with olive oil, lay the perkedels, brush with egg wash, bake until golden brown (mine was about 20 minutes), remove from oven to let cool, serve.

Mine turned out much lighter and fluffier than the normally firm perkedels. They taste alright, but they are a gadzillion miles away from the authentic perkedel T_T.

My friend, Lily, suggested boiling the potatoes until soft (with skin), drain, pat dry, peel skin off, mash with a bit of milk, roll into shape, dip in egg white, roll in breadcrumbs, pan fry quickly and pop in the oven to crisp. I am sooo gonna try this method next time.

You can also add minced meat/spam/ham/bacon/shrimps/fish or just the classic fried shallot and chopped spring onion in the mashed potatoes before rolling.

Gosh. My perkedels rants kinda stole the limelight from the Rawon, didn't they? Opppps (again).

This post is for the folks at Masak Bareng (Cooking Together) Event (February 2009 Edition): my apologies for being such a lazy ass and using instant seasoning mix. Opppps (I realised that saying "oppps" too many times did not make me any cuter or more forgiven hihi)