Jasmine White Rice : Stove Top Method

| San

stovetoprice001 stovetoprice003 stovetoprice004stovetoprice002

If the rice cooker breaks down one day, at least I know the stove top method.  It is so easy, I hardly even take out my electric cooker to cook rice anymore.

JASMINE WHITE RICE – STOVE TOP METHOD
- 2 cups raw jasmine white rice
- 2 cups water
INSTRUCTIONS :

01. Wash rice thoroughly and drain.  I rinse it in the small saucepan that I using to cook the rice, with at least 3 changes of water. Rinse till water is almost clear.
02. Add in equal portion of water.
03. Soaking is optional, I like to soak mine for 30 minutes.  The raw rice will turn white after absorbing the water.
04. Cover the saucepan and bring it to boil over medium heat.  Turn to lower heat, and let it cook over a gentle simmer until all the water are absorbed by the rice.  My 2 cups of rice take about 8 minutes.
05. Turn off heat, and leave it to sit, pot covered and undisturbed, for at least 10 minutes.  This step is very important to achieve fluffy rice, as the rice continues to cook through steaming in the pot.
06. After 10 minutes, remove lid and fluff the rice with a fork, especially the portion at the bottom of the pot.  Serve immediately.

A Weekly Planner Printable for June 2014 School Holiday & Beyond

| San

weeklyplanner2014weeklyplanner2014002
I am a pencil and paper person, gotta write it down somewhere.  Though I keep a planner for my own schedule, I like a separate one that I can pin up on the fridge/entryway to keep tab of our family activities during this period.  You’ve got a business trip? Jot it down.  You need to go back to school for project work? Jot it down. Concert at the park?  Jot it down and go over with a highlighter please, thank you 🙂

I made a weekly planner template for June holiday last year, this time, I created a template that can be used all year round.

Now about the first few activities I am filling it up with.

The planning of the June Holiday activities has always been made easier with Children’s Season, a series of activities held at various museums across the island, which will kick off 24 May.  For some reason, there was no Children’s Season activities planned for Singapore Art Museum this year, pity as we have always enjoyed the art installations targeted at younger audiences during this period.

Other than the entire list of FREE events, it is also worthwhile to check out some venues during certain dates/weekends where special events** will be held.  I have link them up below as I jot them down on my planner.  After this, off to hunt for more June happenings from my other favourite places.

Army Museum of Singapore
ArtScience Museum
Asian Civilisation Museum
Chinese Heritage Center
iExperience
Indian Heritage Centre
Land Transport Gallery
Malay Heritage Center
Memories at Old Ford Factory  **| 14 & 15 June 2014 | Various Time Slots| A Race Against Time Workshop (Registration Required)
National Museum of Singapore  **| 20 & 21 June 2014 | 6pm – 930pm |  Outdoor Movie Screening
NUS Museum
Our Museum @ Taman Jurong
Peranakan Museum **| 8 June 2014 | 1pm – 5pm | Straits Family Sunday – Supersized!
Police Heritage Center
Science Center Singapore
Singapore City Gallery **| 24 & 28 May, 28 June 2014 | 10am – 1pm| Heritage Trail & Workshop (Registration Required)
Singapore Coins And Notes Museum
Singapore Discovery Center **| 7 & 8 June 2014 | 12pm & 3pm | Special Activities
Singapore Maritime Gallery
Singapore Philatelic Museum
Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall **| 31 May & 1 June 2014 | 10am – 5pm |  Outdoor carnival , handicraft sessions

Easy Roast Chicken Thigh

| San

Simple Roasted Chicken Thigh // mono+corosemarychicken002

Who doesn’t like minimal recipes?

Basic everyday pantry items PLUS simple cooking method, like roasting chicken thighs with just rosemary, garlic, olive oil, salt and black pepper.  Delicious, yet not time consuming.  Here’s the bonus : even lesser time spent on cleaning up after cooking.

RECIPE : EASY ROAST CHICKEN THIGH
Cooking method vaguely adapted from this Source

- 2 chicken thighs
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- Ground black pepper
- Sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS :

01. Wash chicken thighs thoroughly and pat dry with clean towel.

02. Rub seasoning (olive oil, black pepper ground and salt) over the chicken thighs.

03. Carefully separate the skin from the meat to create a pocket, place some slices of garlic and rosemary sprigs between the skin and the meat. **

04. Place chicken thighs in a french oven, covered.

05. In a preheated oven at 205C(400F),  bake the thighs for 30 minutes, with the lid on.

06. After 30 minutes, turn down the temperature to 190C (375F), remove the cover, and bake for another 25 minutes, or until the thighs are thoroughly cooked through.

07. Once it is ready, take out the pot from the oven, and transfer the thighs to a serving plate.

08.  If not serving immediately, keep the roasted chicken thighs warm in the heated french oven, covered, till ready to eat.

++ Notes To Self ++
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** to achieve the most flavorful and crispy chicken skin out of a bake/roast recipe, be sure to loosen the skin from the meat, place garlic slices and rosemary sprigs under the skin, rub seasoning all over, bake with skin side up till cooked.
///

Mushroom Bulgogi

| San

mushroom bulgogi

These oyster mushrooms make a very satisfying meatless version of Dak (Chicken) Bulgogi.  The sauce recipe is a keeper, use it to team with firm tofu, or use it to stir fry an assortment of mushrooms like shitake, enoki etc.

Unlike the chicken, the fresh king oyster mushrooms will soak up the sauce like sponges when they are still uncooked.  So I skipped the marinating step, and stir fried the mushrooms with the sauce instead.

 RECIPE : MUSHROOM BULGOGI
Adapted from HERE
INGREDIENTS :
- 1 packet of big oyster mushrooms, sliced
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon rice wine or mirin
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- dash of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
 INSTRUCTIONS :

01. Combine all the items except the mushroom together in a medium bowl, whisk till brown sugar dissolves.

02. Preheat skillet over medium heat.

03. Add a tablespoon of cooking oil, and mushrooms into the skillet.  Stir the mushrooms around the skillet to cook them till fragrant.

04. When the mushrooms are cooked, pour in the sauce in step 1, and stir quickly around to coat them with the sauce.  Add 1 -2 tablespoons of hot water if it is too dry.

05.  Garnish with more sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Diy Citronella Oil ‘Reed’ Diffuser

| San

diy reed diffuser // mono+codiy reed diffuser

This ‘Cang Mao Yew” is available at most local medical halls, and contains 20% citronella oil, making it a natural and very affordable mosquito repellent.  I have been pouring it into small saucers and placing them around the house where I want to repel mosquitoes.  It evaporates fast though, due to the presence of methol crystals, so I gotta top up the saucers almost every week.  I also drip (can’t pour, the dispenser is just a tiny hole) a lot into my oil burner, minus the flame*, for better aesthetics.

Talking about better aesthetics, I just diy-ed an existing new bottle to a ‘reed’ diffuser with origami paper and adhesive tapes from Daiso.  I flip the reed daily to refresh the diffusing process.

 

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/  *not to be used with a lighted candle, dangerous as it has a very low smoking point.

/  i used a wooden skewer with the pointed end snipped off, rattan would have been a better choice.

/  there are a few versions or brands of ‘Cang Mao Yew’, this made in Singapore brand happened to be one with the highest concentration of citronella oil on its ingredient list.  The rest of the ingredients : clove oil (25%), methol (25%), white oil (10%) and eucalyptus (20%).

Dak Bulgogi (Korean BBQ Chicken)

| San

korean bbq chicken korean bbq chicken 002 korean bbq chicken 003

Meat dishes that are on the sweet side are always a hit with the kids.   Here’s something fast and easy to make, Korean Dak Bulgogi, (BBQ chicken).

DAK BULGOGI
Source
INGREDIENTS :
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast/thigh, sliced
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon rice wine or mirin
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- dash of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds


INSTRUCTIONS :


01. Combine all the items except the chicken slices together in a medium bowl, whisk till brown sugar dissolves.


02. Add chicken slices, making sure they are well coated with the sauce, marinate for about 30 minutes.


03. When ready to cook, preheat skillet over medium heat.


04. Add chicken into the skillet, save the marinating sauce aside.


05. When the chicken meat turns white/opaque and cooks through, pour in the reserved sauce, and stir quickly around to coat the meat with the sauce.


06.  Serve immediately.

			

	


			
				


	

			
ABin5 : A Refresher
		

				

						 | San					

				

		
claypotbread // mono+co claypotbread // mono+coclaypotbread // mono+co claypotbread // mono+co


While drafting the previous pizza recipe post, where I used the ‘Artisan Bread in Five Minutes’ (ABin5) way for preparing the pizza dough, I realized that I have been making changes to this method since I adopted it two years ago.  A new edition of the book has also been released, so here’s a refresher post on baking bread this way.


First, the 3 major changes I have adopted:


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/ Earlier, I was weary of adding too much salt into the mixture for fear of, firstly, it will affect the level of rise in the dough (what if I put too much and kill the yeast?), and secondly, it will be more healthy to have lesser salt in the bread.  However, I have noticed that there is a difference in the taste when I added up to a full tablespoon of salt into my dough, depending on what salt is used.


/ I have been using ONLY the weighing method to get the amount of flour right, achieving a consistent level of hydration for the dough for every batch.  I have noticed with my earlier trials that the ABin5 master recipe is really a very forgiving recipe; no matter how wet the dough is, it still rises predictably, and the bread still come out pretty well.  Nowadays, I prefer the dough made with the weighing method, as it is a lot easier to handle, not too runny, allowing me to shape the bread better; most of the dough should go into the bread, not on my hands only to be washed away!


/  I have been using the steam trap method with a simple claypot, instead of the broiler in the oven method.  The authors of the book have also mentioned this method as a more convenient one.  I do not preheat my claypot though, as my claypot manufacturer’s instruction specifically states that the claypot should not be heated without any liquids in it.  So I proofed my bread dough in it (covered with clean, damp tea towel), and bake it in a preheated oven for 30 minutes with lid on, and then another 15-20 minutes without the lid.


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RECIPE FOR ARTISAN BREAD IN 5 MINUTES

/Source


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3 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1 tablespoon salt

2lb or 910g of plain flour


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01. Place water, salt and yeast in a plastic container that is big enough for the dough.  This container preferably with lid (if not, cover with cling wrap will do too) will also be the storage container for the dough to be placed in the fridge.  Make sure your fridge has a space for it.  A 6-quart container is recommended in the book.


02. Add in the flour all at once.  Stir with a pair of long chopsticks until the dough comes together, it should be a wet and shapeless one.  If yours can be kneaded into a ball at this stage, you have probably used too much flour.  You can still save the dough by adding water slowly, till you get the dough to its rightful consistency.


03.  Cover the container loosely, saving a gap for the gases to escape as the dough proof.


04. Allow the dough to rise to double its bulk, anything from 2 hours to 4 hours, depending on the room temperature.


05. Once the dough has risen to its max, it will start to settle down, sink a little and form a flat top.  This dough is now ready to be used, or it can be stored in the fridge when you are ready to bake a bread or pizza.  I prefer keeping it in the chiller for a few hours so that the dough is easier to handle.


06. On baking day, take out the dough from the fridge, and dust the surface with some flour, so that it won’t stick to your hands when retrieving the dough.


07. Pull out a piece of dough and cut out about the size of a grapefruit , or weigh 1lb.  Return the rest of the dough into the fridge.


08. Form the dough into a ball, gluten coated.  Sprinkle flour on surface as you go for easier handling, but take care not to incorporate the flour into the dough.  Handle the dough gently at this stage, do not knead, press or squeeze out the air that has expanded inside the dough.


09. Rest the shaped dough by placing it in a claypot (lightly dusted with flour),  from 40 minutes (according to the book’s instructions) or 90 minutes.  I let it stand longer till the dough returns to room temperature.


10.  Preheat the oven to 230C (450F).  When the oven is ready, pour some flour on the bread surface, and slash the loaf with a clean knife or scissors (I have to admit that I find the scissors easier to manage! Just make 3 to 4 decisive fast snips…) so that it does not split at the bottom during baking.


11.  Cover the claypot, and quickly place it into the oven, bake for 30 minutes.


12. After 30 minutes, continue to bake at the same temperature for 15-20 minutes, without the cover.


13. When done, remove the claypot from the oven, and let it cool on a rack.


14. Allow the loaf to cool completely on a rack to room temperature before slicing it.  Otherwise, the bread will end up with a hard crust and a gummy interior.