Taiwanese Minced Pork Rice

On days when I'm too lazy to cook much, but I want something comforting, I often turn to a quick rice bowl for dinner. I almost always have ground pork in the freezer for just such instances. Whenever I go to the Asian grocery store, I buy a pound of ground pork, and if I don't have any plans to cook with it immediately, just stick it in the freezer. Ground pork is a staple in my kitchen since I frequently use it for dumplings, egg rolls, stir-fries, noodles, or as a main dish like this Taiwanese Minced Pork Rice.

Though the preparation is quick and easy, the taste is similar to a braised pork dish because of the caramelized slightly sweet soy sauce flavors. I added just a touch of Chinese 5-spice powder to add some nuance. Instead of just ground pork, you could also use finely diced pork belly or shoulder.

Taiwanese minced pork rice is often serve with a hard-boiled egg and some mustard greens, but I made due with a fried egg for a quick dinner.

Com Chien Ca Man (Vietnamese / Chinese Salty Fish Fried Rice)

One day while stopping off at my youngest uncle's house to borrow some tools for my dad, his wife sent me home with several pieces of dried salted fish.

"So you can make salty fish fried rice," my aunt said.

My uncle said it wasn't the "right" kind of salted fish, but my aunt insisted I could still use it to make salty fish fried rice if I wanted to.

So I did.

Actually, it was their oldest son, cousin Q's older brother, who turned me on to salty fish fried rice from Sam Woo BBQ - Alhambra. How come his parents didn't give him any salted fish, my cousin asked. I dunno? But he could come over to my house for some if he wanted. And even though my uncle said it wasn't the "right" kind of salted fish, it tasted good to me!

I'd been on the lookout forever for the "right" kind of salted fish for fried rice and had no idea which to choose from the varied selection at the Asian grocery stores. Too many kinds of salted fish! Anyone have any idea which is the "right" kind? Perhaps I was making it too difficult and should have just taken my aunt's attitude of using any type of salted fish I like.

You don't need much salted fish for this recipe. Salted fish is salty! So I save the soy sauce for drizzling at the end if I decide the rice needs a little more, instead of stirring it into the fried rice while it's cooking. And like Sam Woo, I also paired it with some sauteed lettuce to cut the fishiness factor down a notch.

Healthier Brown Fried Rice with Broccoli and Chicken

In an effort to eat healthier, I sometimes switch to brown rice. I like the firmer texture and slight "pop" as I bite into each grain. And while replacing white rice with brown rice doesn't really need a specific recipe, I thought it'd be nice to come up with fried rice recipe that would be healthier for you. This recipe would be right at home at P.F. Chang's or any Chinese-American kitchen.

I would say it's healthy, but I'm sure someone will debate the nutritional value of rice, even if it's brown. Or chicken, even if it's breast meat. Or eggs, even if you used all whites, which I didn't.

So! Healthier fried rice if you will.

With broccoli.

Because no one will argue with me that broccoli isn't healthy?

And in the run-up to Thanksgiving, perhaps a slightly healthier meal is in order before you indulge?

Tom Yum Fried Rice with Shrimp Roe and Kaffir Lime Leaves

In the interests of clearing out old pictures, this Tom Yum Fried Rice with Shrimp Roe and Kaffir Lime Leaves dates back to November 2009. I was trying to figure out why I had so many shrimp heads and shells on hand and none of the recipes taken around that time revealed any clues. So I must have already blogged whatever it was I was cooking with all that shrimp.

I normally save the heads and shells of shrimp to use as stock in such dishes as Tom Yum Goong (Thai Hot and Sour Shrimp Soup) because they add so much flavor. That particular day though I was looking for something different, and remembering Miss.Adventure at Home's post about braising shrimp heads with rice and Blazing Hot Wok's Southeast Asian Rice Pilaf, I decided to make Tom Yum in a rice dish instead. So basically the Tom Yum ingredients -- shrimp heads, shrimp, chilies, lime juice, and kaffir lime leaves -- but stir-fried with rice.

The result was a very briny, fragrant rice. If I had to re-do this dish again though, I'd either drastically cut down on the shrimp shells, using only a few shrimp heads for the roe, or just stick with peeled shrimp. Because while the shrimp shells added so much flavor to the rice, it was a pain to pick out while eating. Of course, then you'd miss out on the gorgeous red color the shrimp roe added to the rice. It's a trade-off. The strips of kaffir lime leaves and a squeeze of fresh lime juice at the end helped offset the brininess of the shrimp.

So of course, it probably would have been easier to re-do the pictures with those recipe changes, but I just loved seeing the shrimp heads sticking out of the red rice. Haha. I know, I'm weird. Alternatively, if you want to skip using shrimp heads, just substitute with a tablespoon or two of Tom Yum paste.

Chao Ga Tay (Vietnamese Rice Porridge with Turkey)

After making enough turkey stock for Bun Mang Ga Tay (Vietnamese Rice Vermicelli Noodle Soup with Bamboo Shoots and Turkey) and Mi Ga Tay Tiem (Vietnamese Egg Noodle Soup with Turkey and Chinese 5-Spice), I boiled the turkey bones for a final round of broth to make Chao Ga Tay (Vietnamese Rice Porridge with Turkey).

Boil the turkey bones, add a few cups of jasmine rice, and you get a pot of turkey rice porridge. So simple and basic, that I can't believe it's taken me so many years to blog this. I guess I just had too many other recipes to use with the broth instead.

While the bone broth was bubbling away on the stove, I made a Chocolate Ale (Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar) Cake to bring down to San Diego for oldest nephew's birthday. The turkey rice porridge was for his childhood friend, whose favorite food is rice porridge if you remember from my Chao/Congee/Jook Thit Heo Bam Hot Vit Bac Thao (Vietnamese/Chinese Rice Porridge with Ground Pork and Preserved Duck Egg) post.

You can doctor up the porridge afterward with ginger slivers or chopped cilantro, but I think the bone broth is so delicious that it's best enjoyed plain.

Paella Valenciana (Spanish Valencian Pan Rice)

It's a thank you paella. Well, technically it's paella Valenciana, but it was made as a gesture of appreciation. Unlike seafood paella, the Valencian version is land-based so there's chicken, sausage, snails (supposedly the garden variety, but I had big sea snails on hand for Vietnamese snail noodle soup), artichokes, green beans, butter beans, and peas.

And of course, all cooked together in a pan of saffron rice.

As I was saying, I injured my foot earlier this month. I stepped on something in my kitchen, and you know how you place one foot on top of the other to dislodge it? Well, without looking to see what it was, that's what I did. All of a sudden, I felt something wet, looked down, and saw a big pool of black. I stupidly stared as it got bigger and bigger, wondering how I spilled soy sauce, when I realized that I had cut myself with a jagged piece of glass. I had recently broken a jar and apparently missed a piece in the clean-up. And in attempting to dislodge it from the the bottom of one foot, I had jabbed the glass deeply into the top of the other foot.

Luckily, I had just washed my kitchen towels so I wadded up a dishcloth to staunch the blood. It soaked up fast! So I folded up another dishcloth for padding, then rolled a third to tie into a makeshift tourniquet. That seemed to do the trick and the blood stopped gushing out.

I hobbled over to my living room and sat there with my foot elevated on the arm of the sofa. A few minutes after I sat down, my youngest aunt knocked on my door with my youngest Argentinian girl cousin. Oh, was she in town visiting, I asked? Nope. She and her husband had enough of Michigan's cold winters and decided to move to SoCal two months ago. Huh?! Sooo random!

After my aunt and cousin left, I messaged Tony of SinoSoul because freak accident + unexpected visitors = randomly weird evening. Instead, he freaked out himself, so he and the missus left the movie theater, and promptly appeared on my door step with hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic cream, and butterfly bandages.

Awww. With friends like that, obviously I needed to thank them with something special.

Chao/Congee/Jook Thit Heo Bam Hot Vit Bac Thao (Vietnamese/Chinese Rice Porridge with Ground Pork and Preserved Duck Egg)

After I got back from the Pasadena Wine Festival, oldest nephew's childhood friend was camped out in my living room, catching up online and doing laundry. Lil' sis and oldest nephew weren't coming to pick him up until the next day since we were going to Fogo de Chao - Beverly Hills for DineLA. A few hours later, jetlag finally caught up with him and the snores were so loud that I couldn't even hear the television, so I retreated to my bedroom.

I figured he'd probably wake up in the middle of the night hungry, so I decided to make rice porridge for him. I've never met anyone who likes rice porridge as much as he does. He likes bland foods he says and can happily eat rice porridge every day for every meal. In fact, I made a 5-quart pot, left a note beside his glasses telling him there was rice porridge on the stove, and went to sleep. At 1 a.m., he woke up and ate three big bowls. He then ate another bowl for breakfast. And happily took home the quart-sized container of leftovers.

I've made Chao Hot Vit Bach Thao (Vietnamese Rice Porridge with Preserved Duck Eggs) before, but it's been three years and this recipe has ground pork added. So, you know, a new post is required, right? :)

Chao Ca (Vietnamese Rice Porridge with Fish)

There's something so comforting about a bowl of rice porridge. I've blogged it plain, with chicken, with ground pork, with preserved duck eggs, with leftover turkey, and with clams. The only meats left are with beef, duck, and fish. Although, thankfully, not together.

I prefer to make a good chicken broth stock for my Chao Ca (Vietnamese Rice Porridge with Fish) so that it's not quite so fishy. While you can use any fish on hand, I prefer white fish fillets for the milder flavor, but chose to use some leftover baked salmon so you can see it more easily in pictures. There's not much to it; once you've got your stock done, add flaked or chunks of fish and simmer until done. Add some thinly sliced ginger, sprigs of cilantro, or chopped scallions if you have any on hand.

Hong Kong-Style Baked Pork Chop Rice

One of my and lil' sis' favorite dishes is the Hong Kong-Style Baked Pork Chop Rice at Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie - Alhambra. We first ordered it because it was one of the cheaper meat options on the dinner menu, but continue to order the baked pork chop rice because it's just one of those unexpected fusion dishes that make Hong Kong cuisine so great.

My college friend's mom loved Baccali's menu the first time I introduced her parents to the restaurant several years ago. So now, whenever they, and my friend, are in town at the same time, that's often where we meet up. Once, her relatives were visiting from Canada and joined us. They loved everything so much that they ordered more dishes just to try more of the menu. Her uncle proclaimed, "It's like Chinese American food, but good!" Umm, not quite. It's Hong Kong cafe food. Chinese fusion that works.

Such is the case with this pork chop rice. More deliciousness underneath each layer as you dig in. Melty cheese over tomato sauce makes you think of pasta dishes. Vegetables below that for your daily vitamins. Crispy Chinese fried pork further down. And then the rice to balance out all that meat and sauce. A complete meal in one bowl.

Claypot Rice with Chinese Sausage

As I said, the Sichuan Celery Salad is great paired with fatty meats, in this case, Chinese sausage. While I normally put Chinese sausage in fried rice, I was inspired by the claypot rice with frog legs and Chinese sausage that I once ordered at Macau Street - Monterey Park.

Since this is such a simple dish, make sure the lap xuong (Vietnamese/Chinese sausage) that you buy is good quality. My family prefers the Chinese sausage from Quang Tran, Inc. - Rosemead. It's a little pricier than what you find in the supermarket, but it's the best.

Com Chien Toi Trung (Vietnamese Garlic Fried Rice with Eggs)

One of the ways in which my cooking differs from my mother's is in how much I love garlic. The more the merrier I say. Baked Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, Lemon, and Rosemary? Braised Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic? If I wasn't so set on that magic number of 40, which equivocates to about three heads of garlic, I'd go for a even 50.

So when Christine of Kits Chow, host of last month's onion round-up of Weekend Wokking, announced GARLIC as this month's secret ingredient challenge, I wanted to make something in which garlic wasn't just an ingredient, but a starring role.

Com Chien Toi Trung (Vietnamese Garlic Fried Rice with Eggs) takes me back to my college days when fresh fruits and vegetables weren't available within walking distance. Luckily, eggs and garlic lasted much longer. On days when I didn't feel like hopping on the train or felt particularly poor, this dish was always satisfying.

Chinese Claypot Rice with Thit Suon Kho Ngu Vi (Vietnamese Braised Spare Ribs with Five-Spice)

OK, so now you know how to cook rice on the stove top. If you've done it in a claypot, you can keep the rice cooking a little bit longer if you want a nice crispy crust. But even better is if you combine it with seasoned spare ribs. Obviously, I go with the Vietnamese version, Thit Suon Kho Ngu Vi (Vietnamese Braised Spare Ribs with Five-Spice).

So good that the day before lil' sis and I left for a long drive up to Portland, when our brother said he'd take us out for lunch, I mentioned making claypot rice with spare ribs and he opted to come over instead.

How to Cook Rice on the Stove Top

After I wrote my post about "How to Cook Jasmine Rice" years ago I figured that should suffice, but I've noticed a lot of hits from people searching for how to cook rice on the stove top. Since I made a pot on the stove in order to season my claypot, I might as well blog it. I mean, in case you really need that kind of help or you don't own a rice cooker.

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage, Eggs, and Lettuce

Don't be put off by the lettuce in this fried rice recipe. The crisp, coolness of iceberg lettuce is a perfect contrast to the fatty Chinese sausage. Other than that, it's a pretty basic fried rice recipe.

Guamanian Red Rice

The Crock Pot Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup) was just the tail end of a week of furious cooking. So I'll just blog backwards.

A while back, Canine Cologne of Pink Candles at Ridgemont High had posted a recipe for Guamanian red rice. I've never eaten Guamanian food before and was intrigued by the use of annatto seed powder to color the rice, rather than tomato paste like my Com Do Ca Chua (Vietnamese Tomato Paste Rice). Her secret ingredient, that she learned from an older Guamanian woman, was the use of roasted chicken base paste. Since I couldn't find the chicken paste, I had forgotten all about the recipe until Canine Cologne mailed me a tub. So nice and so unexpected! She had earlier generously sent me gourmet chocolates and handmade earrings!

Canine Cologne used celery leaves and chicken paste in her version. I didn't have any celery on hand, but, since I knew Santos of The Scent of Green Bananas lived in Guam, I checked her blog to see if she had another version. Sauteed bacon and onions, no celery. I had that. So I combined a bit of both recipes for my version. Since the chicken paste can be hard to find, I'd say it's optional. Or you could just roast a chicken and take a spoonful of the congealed juices, which is what it seems like to me. I bet the paste would be great with rice pilaf too.

When I originally made this, I added 2 tblsps of annatto seed to water and microwaved it to get the liquid red like I did with my Crock Pot Bo Kho (Vietnamese Beef Stew). Unfortunately, the rice turned out golden, and not red. So I added 2 tblsps of annatto seed powder and cooked it again and it came out reeeed! Use less if you don't want such a vibrant color.

Fried Rice with Apples and Cubed Beef

Yes, it sounds a little weird. I thought so too when I encountered fried rice with apples and beef on the menu at Bon Marche Bistro/B Village Cuisine - Monterey Park. But I ordered it out of curiosity and it was seriously good.

Apples aren't too sweet and when charred, added a nice contrast to the beef. Hey, if pork chops and applesauce can be paired together, why not apples and beef?

Creole Red Jambalaya with Chicken and Sausage

Last summer, while waiting for my gumbo to finish cooking, I happened to catch my friend online. Since he's from New Orleans, I figured I could ask him about the differences between gumbo and jambalaya. I often confuse the two. Well, after this conversation, I've never again said the two dishes were the same thing.

*****

WC: if i scoop out some gumbo and cook the rice in the it. does that make it jambalaya? :)

Friend: far from it
Friend: they are made from different things

WC: haha. but it's all the same ingredients

Friend: no

WC: really? all the recipes online have the same ingredients

Friend: if it's the same ingredients you're doing it wrong
Friend: they are freaking crackheads

On Chao Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Rice Porridge) and Whether Food Equals Love

Toward the end of our trip to the Bay Area, lil' sis got sick. The night we got in, I doused her with Theraflu and Airborne. The next morning, she was still feeling sickly, so I made her chicken soup, the Vietnamese version of course. By late afternoon, the combination of medicine and Vietnamese chao ga did its trick and I declared her fit enough to drive to Vegas to celebrate her birthday with the girls.

I had a much more pedestrian evening, inviting a handful of friends over for dinner.

Later that night, my friend caught me online and after our usual pleasantries veered into a discussion about whether food equates to love. For me, the answer is rather obvious. For him, decidedly the opposite.

Chai Thai Noodles - Oakland

I guess it was just as well that lil' sis ate all the beef kebabs on the drive up to the Bay Area because cousin Q's older brother took us out for dinner.

Yippee!

He suggested Chai Thai Noodles in Oakland, which ended up being a great choice because I got to try two new things that I've never had before.

After being seated, we were immediately given Banh Phong Tom (Vietnamese Shrimp Chips) to munch on while we figured out what to order.

Persian Dill Rice

I had so much fun spending time with my friends and going around San Francisco during my Jamba Juice trip, that I decided I really needed a little vacation just to see everyone again and to do more things. So a few weeks later, lil' sis and went up for her birthday.

As a snack for the car, I hastily made kebabs with beef cubes marinated with Indonesian kecap manis. Lil' sis loved the simple marinade so much that despite telling the middle '87 we were bringing her some food, lil' sis ate it all. :P