Ok la, ok la, this is not exactly Nasi Goreng because the sambal rice is cooked in the rice-cooker. But that’s the closest I can call it ok? Ah-mm calls it “Nasi Lemak”, even worse right? She had this “nasi lemak” for lunch anyway and said the rice was “nice leh”. I asked her, “有 sambal 味吗?” (“Any sambal taste?”) and her reply? “没有leh!” (“Don’t have leh!”) Priceless.

Ah-mm is my precious aunt who will be 79 this October. When I was a little girl, she fed me til I was obese and then sewed dresses for me to make up for it. BECAUSE CAN’T FIND MY SIZE AND THEN she and 88 (my other aunt- they’re sisters) made up stories like oh, no la, outside de dresses pattern not nice so we sew for you. I bought their story and felt so special. lololol. I love them both so very much :)

ANYWAY. Today I “made”/ assembled Sambal Rice for Ah-mm and Jason. Yamie Rice sent me two new items- Sambal Rice and Black Pepper Rice and I was interested to see how the sambal rice would taste like. Honestly the thought of buying this didn’t even cross my mind because I always cook, and something “instant” isn’t really my style. But I know how pre-packaged-easy-to-cook rice can be a God-send for people who don’t cook, like one of my good friends who lugs back boxes of the stuff to China where she is stationed.

The rice came in a box with a single pouch inside. It is easy to cook and not exactly “instant” because you still need the rice-cooker, which is a good thing because engaging the ricecooker makes it feel more like “real food”. My idea of “instant” was “mix water, stir and eat”. Sorry, I am an amateur at this. What you do is empty the pouch into your rice cooker, add water, let it cook, keep warm for 15 minutes and eat.

Being quite a health conscious person, I like to read nutritional labels. And being a huge MYOJO Char Mee 100 fan, if I gotta eat “instant” and carbs, I always reach for Char Mee. When faced with a new product, I always compare it to Char Mee to gauge whether the level of satisfaction is worth the calories. Here’s the side-by-side nutritional comparison:

Each pouch serves 2 normal people or 1 husband. Here are the cooking instructions. Pretty straight-forward:

When I first opened the package, I caught a whiff of fragrant sambal and thought, “Hey, veryy promising!” It also came with some anchovies. When the rice was cooked, it didn’t smell as nice but give chance la. This was when the uncooked rice was emptied into the ricecooker:

Naked cooked rice:

I dressed it up with airfried begadil from Sheng Siong, airfried silver fish, a sunny side up, cucumber slices and more sambal. Jason’s verdict: “Can eat if dressed up.” Ah-mm’s verdict: “Nice!”

My verdict (I snuck a teaspoon because I’m not supposed to eat carbs): Pre-packaged rice will always have that pre-packaged taste. I wouldn’t say it is not nice but I won’t go out and buy 10 boxes of it (“My Kuali” made me want to go out and buy cartons of the stuff). The sambal taste can be stronger but I think that is a fair trade off for a convenient product with no added MSG.

This is a great option for people who like or need the convenience, don’t like cooking, and who are away from Singapore! Plus, if you’re just starting to cook, dressing it up the way I did can 1) boost your confidence and 2) wow your family with minimal effort.

Will be trying the Black Pepper rice on another occasion. Thank you to the folks at Yamie Rice who sent these new items my way!

The post Nasi Goreng Sambal Special appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

I love boiled vegetables. I can eat broccoli, carrots, spinach, cauliflower, kailan, and most other vegetables simply boiled or steamed, without any other seasonings. The rest of my family think I am crazy- you know the Chinese, they gotta stir fry their vegetables, even lettuce– and insist that I am “doing this” because I am trying to lose weight, but no.. I really, really enjoy eating vegetables plain. I am super low maintenance like that.

So I was in the mood for some crunchy kailan stems the other day. Much as I would love to serve blanched kailan (because it is delicious) to the two old ladies at home, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t want to risk them worrying if I was so broke that I could only put boiled veggies on the table. I ended up doing a garlic sambal prawn and kailan stir-fry. You know, prawn= expensive= she-can-still-afford-it so they can sleep at night. They also finished up a huge bowl of rice each and kept telling me, “好吃，好吃。” (“yummy, yummy.”) I’m sure I wouldn’t have heard that if it had just been plain kailan.

This dish works better if you use medium to large-sized prawns as they match with kailan better. I didn’t have those but I had a huge packet of smaller prawns in my freezer (very handy to add to noodle dishes!) so I used those. One tip to not over spend when preparing meals is to work with what you already have in your kitchen. You can also use more sambal according to your tastebuds. I am an advocate of bottled pastes and sauces because they save me so much time. If you’re someone who’s into pounding and frying your own sambal, will you send some my way? :)

The post Chinese Stir Fry: Mild Sambal Chilli Prawn with Kailan appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

I was on the way home yesterday thinking of what to cook for dinner. I wanted to prepare something simple, one-dish, something which is not saba/ salmon (we’ve been having fish almost daily as they’re easy to prepare in the airfryer!), and something new.

I knew I wanted noodles, but what kind? What noodles have I not cooked before for the blog which is relatively easy to prepare? Prawn noodles are out of the question because I didn’t have time to prepare prawn stock.. and I’ve featured Fishball Kway Teow Soup and Bak Chor Mee before.. the next easiest dish seems to be.. Ban Mian?

p/s- You don’t have to make your own noodles la, I used store-bought noodles for this dish!

The broth was phenomenal! Subtly sweet and incredibly infused with the myriad of ingredients, I’d say this is the best ban mian I’ve had in a long time, since Qiu Lian ban mian’s standards dropped years ago. This isn’t difficult to make, why not surprise your family today? Like what Jason said, this ban mian is “sibeh 好吃啊!” LOL!

(edit: 6 Oct 2014- he is obviously very happy that I made this again yesterday!)

The post Hawker Staple: Prawn Ban Mian (Handmade Noodle Soup) appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

I ordered the Ayam Penyet that day and had a whole chicken thigh to myself. You help yourself to the bucket of crispy bits at the counter. The reviews of this stall are mixed and I never understood why. I don’t think they are over-rated.. the Ayam Penyet I’ve had elsewhere are mostly overfried and pretty dry.. so to me this is simply delicious. Where else to get my super crispy fried chicken + carbs + chilli fix at $4.50?

I sometimes also go for their Fried Chicken Tomato Sambal Rice (tomato sauce + sambal fried rice) but I didn’t think my tongue could take the heat that afternoon! Check out the potent sambal chilli:

Super spicy but incredibly shiok. They owners are also behind “The Iron Plate” (western grill stall at the same food centre), and do food catering as well. Their catering packages are crazily popular, it seems (go to their Facebook page and be overwhelmed!). I didn’t know until I was searching the net for more info about them. Time to pay them a visit soon!

Aspirasi Food Stall
https://www.facebook.com/aspirasifoodgalore
Seah Im Food Centre
2 Seah Im Road, #01-45
Singapore 099114

The post Food Review: Aspirasi Food Stall, Seah Im Food Centre- Ayam Penyet appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

If you have noticed, I have a thing for cooking hawker meals at home. Char Kway Teow, Fried Fish Bee Hoon, Bak Chor Mee, Kway Teow Soup.. it was only a matter of time that 鸡丝面– Shredded Chicken Noodle– found its way to my dining table.

My plan was to cook braised noodles that day for lunch, but it was a blessing in disguise that the Giant opposite my place ran out of Ee-Fu noodles. It was the perfect reason for me not to be lazy and cook something new. And so, shredded chicken noodle it is!

You can keep costs low by reducing the amount of mushrooms, or buy frozen chicken fillet in bulk. When making the sauce, add more cornstarch if you like it thicker, but remember never to add cornstarch directly to hot liquid. Dissolve it first in tap water using a 1:1 flour to water ratio, then gradually add it to the pot.

I hope you try this recipe out because we really enjoyed it! (They had fun eating.. I had fun cooking and plating!)

Oh, and a special mention to Woh Hup.. remember the Concentrated Chicken Stock I used for our Steamboat Day? I used it to make the chicken stock for this dish and the flavour was quite unbeatable. I don’t think I will use chicken stock cubes again.. I’m quite a convert and will be using it as a marinade too. Thank you Woh Hup!

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