Lor Mai Kai, Steamed Glutinous Rice with Chicken Recipe (糯米鸡)

It is my one of my favorite DimSum dish. Whenever, we were having breakfast in a DimSum restaurant, it was always my dad's strategy to order this dish first; just to make sure our little stomachs get fill and no place for other dishes. When we grown up, we always use this as a joke even though we knew the reason behind...it is not cheap to eat in a DimSum restaurant especially you have 5 kids!

To make a delicious Lor Mai Kai, it is important to make sure that you use the drumstick as the meat is tender and the oil from the drumstick will moisten the rice. This same principle applies when we make 'bak zhang'. We always need to compensate between the 'healthy' recipe with the delicious dish.

Ingredients ( 4-6 bowls)

250 g glutinous rice

200 g boneless chicken thigh meat
3 pieces of mushrooms, soak and cut into 2-3 pieces
20 g of shallots, slice into thin pieces
1/4 bowl cooking oil
1/2 bowl of water
1/2 Chinese sausage
soya sauce

Marinate for chicken
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp. Chinese wine (optional)

1. Soak rice overnight or a minimum of 4 hours. Marinate the chicken for at least an hour.

2. For the rice, pour away the water and steam it for about 40 minutes.

3. In the mean time, prepare the shallots. Fry the shallots until it is brownish. Remove the onion oil and fried shallots from the wok and set aside.

4. Using the same work, prepare the sausage. Heat up the work and add in a little of onion oil. Slightly fry the sausage until fragrant. Remove and set aside.

5. To prepare the mushroom, add in some onion oil and mushroom. Stir-fry for around 1 minute and add in some water, salt and sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the mushroom and set aside. Leave the sauce in the wok.

5. Using the same sauce, stir-fry the chicken until semi-cooked.

6. After the rice is steamed for around 40 minutes, transfer the semi-cooked rice to the sauce in the wok. Gently stir and mix the rice. Add some soya sauce, wine and fried onion. Taste and adjust accordingly.

To prepare the dish for steaming

7. For each bowl, add a slice of sausage, piece of mushroom and chicken at the bottom.

8. Scoop in the rice and press firmly with a tablespoon to flatten it. Add in some chicken gravy to moisten the rice.

9. Steam the bowls for 20 minutes or longer dependent on the bowl size that you are using.

10. Use a tablespoon to gently dislodge the rice and present it inverted. Serve the Lor Mai Kai warm.

Chocolate Chip Muffin with Crumb Topping

For the last day of this school term, my son has requested me to make some muffins for his classmates and teachers. Since these muffins are for kids, I am planning to bake chocolate muffins for them. In order to make the muffins more presentable, I have searched some books for the crunch topping recipe.

I am so surprised that the kids love the muffins a lot and the teacher has written a "Thank You' note to me. I am so glad and this has motivated me even further. I will bake more of my new recipe for them to try!

Ingredients

Crumb topping (Crunch topping)

55 g pecans

34 g oat

56 g unsalted butter

57 g all-purpose flour

45 g granulated sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp baking powder

1. Chop the pecans and oats to a coarse chop, either by hand or food processor.

2. Melt the butter and allow it to cool down. It is important to make sure that the melted butter to cool down before adding into the dry ingredient as it will melt the sugar.

3. Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix until a lumpy consistency is achieved.

4. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.

Chocolate chip muffins (6 muffins)

130 g all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

50 g granulated sugar

1/8 tsp salt

60 g unsalted butter

80 ml milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

100 g chocolate chips

Crumb topping (optional)

5. Preheat oven to 180'C and bring egg, butter and milk to room temperature.

6. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla essence.

7. In another large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. (Optional: Prepare the Crumb Topping and set aside). Stir in the chocolate chips.

8. With a spatula, fold the wet ingredients, along with the melted butter, into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are moistened and combined. (Do not over mix or you will have tough muffins).

9. Fill prepared muffin tins two-thirds full with batter. Sprinkle Crumb Topping on top if desired.

10. Bake in the convection oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean from the middle.

11. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan.