X for XO for #AtoZChallenge: easy XO fried rice recipe

XO stands for eXtra Old for cognac - a variety of brandy liquor - that has been stored for a minimum of 6 years (from 2016 onward, a minimum of 10 years).

Cognac, named after the town Cognac in France, must be twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged at least two years in Limousin or Tronçais oak barrels.

Since brandy has been used for:
♥ cake & pie toppings
♥ steak sauces
♥ soups such as onion soup
♥ Christmas pudding
♥ XO fish head bee hoon (thick noodle) in Singapore 
May I recommend using XO cognac for simple home-cooked dishes like fried rice? 

Since I was using leftover rice for baby Ren - which I purposely cooked softer, my fried rice was slightly soggy.

For #AtoZChallenge on 2014 April 28 Mon, I lovingly present a recipe of XO fried rice by ServicefromHeart.

Colorful rice grains of mixed white, red, brown rice

Serving: 1
Preparation & cook time: < 15 minutes

Ingredients:
♥ 1 bowl pre-cooked rice, dried & chilled
♥ 2 tbsp olive oil
♥ 1 tbsp sesame oil
♥ 2 cloves garlic, minced
♥ 1 slice ginger, minced
♥ 1 tsp anchovies powder
♥ 1 tsp dark soy sauce (kecap manis)
♥ pepper, to taste
♥ 1 tbsp spring onions, chopped
♥ 2 tbsp XO cognac
♥ 1 egg
♥ 4 scallops (optional)
♥ 1 carrot, diced (optional)
♥ 1 stalk celery, sliced (optional)
♥ 1 tbsp peas (optional)

Directions:
1. Heat oil using high heat to stir fry garlic and ginger until fragrant.
2. Sauté vegetables (carrots, celery, peas)
3. Add scallops. After a side is cooked, turn them over.
4. Add rice, pepper, anchovies powder, dark soy sauce. Stir to mix well.
5. Coat with sesame oil and XO for a shiny look. 6. Stir thoroughly.
7. Garnish with spring onions.
Tips:

1. Use cold and dry cooked rice. You want to use firm rice grains because they are easier to separate while stir-frying them. This choice is important to prevent your fried rice turning out soggy or mushy. To remove moisture, you can either (A) air freshly-cooked rice and then refrigerate the rice for a minimum of two hours or (B) use leftover rice from the night before.

2. Use medium to long grain rice such as medium grain of jasmine rice. Choose the sturdy grains that don't clump together when fried. Avoid short grain sushi rice or glutinous rice, which is softer and tends to stick together.

3. To acquire the smoky, slight burnt flavor, use high heat: a blazing hot pan / wok if possible. Add sufficient amount of oil to prevent your fried rice ingredients from sticking to the surface of pan. While the heat to stir fry our home-cooked version of fried rice may not be as hot as restaurants' ones, we can pre-heat our pan with a lid before adding ingredients.

4. To ensure thorough mixing of flavors and aroma, cook 1 to 2 servings at a time.

5. To have a crunchy texture, include vegetables like celery or long beans as ingredients.

6. For a stronger taste, you can pre-infuse your oil with ginger and garlic overnight.

7. To prevent the fried rice from turning out mushy or soggy, I prefer to separately cook the egg into a sunny side up or an omelette that can be thinly stripped to garnish on top of the fried rice.

Check also our other #5minutemeal recipes.

With love,
ServicefromHeart
20140428

O for orange for #AtoZChallenge: orange olive recipe

Mandarin oranges (aka mandarines) are sweet, juicy and rich in Vitamin C. Often, during the period of Lunar New Year, we have given and received (exchanged sounds more appropriate here) pairs of Mandarin Oranges or tangerines. They are symbols of abundance and good fortune. 



We love simply eating the Mandarin oranges by peeling its relatively easy-to-peel skin or squeezing them into thirst-quenching 100% orange juice. Besides these options, how to make the bright enthusiastically orange-colored Mandarin oranges more appealing to our taste buds?



Black olives are pickled at full maturity. Since fresh olives are naturally very bitter and unpalatable to many people, olives are fermented with lye, brine or packed in salt to remove oleuropein.

 

My first encounter with black olives was at Pizza Hut in Jakarta. In my childhood, pizza was considered as a treat in my family because it is relatively expensive. Our Daddy and Sister* who are meat lovers, loved our pizza to be topped with more meats, while I appreciated the extra flavors that sliced olives and pineapples added to our pizza.

* She shared some interesting recipes at her Youtube Channel: LukSunshine. When I miss her, I would enjoy watching her videos.



For #AtoZChallenge on 2014 April 17 Thu, I lovingly present a recipe of orange olive, that can be served as a snack or a side dish, gently fusing the East and Mediterranean flavors.



Let our family member(s) or friend(s), who normally skip fruits, especially sour oranges, enjoy the nutritious and anti-oxidant-rich oranges.

Serving: 2
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes



Ingredients:
♥ 2 oranges / Mandarin oranges, diced
♥ 4 black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
♥ 2 stalks celery, sliced and diced
♥ 1 tbsp sesame oil
♥ 3 tbsp plain / Greek yogurt
♥ 1/4 tbsp pepper
♥ 2 tbsp nuts, finely chopped

Directions:
1. Blanch celery in salted boiling water for about 2 minutes. Refresh in cold water. Drain.
2. Mix oil, yogurt, pepper in a bowl.
3. Peel,pith and dice Mandarin oranges.
4. Toss oranges and celery in yogurt mixture bowl.
5. Garnish with olives and nuts.




We can use a type or a variety of nuts for this recipe, and I recommend pistachio for the sweet memory of pistachio gelato in Italy!

Check also our other #5minutemeal recipes.

With love,
ServicefromHeart
20140417

celery apple mandarin (CAM) juice

Sometimes, I do snack once in a while. Perhaps it is an easy access to a vending machine selling relatively inexpensive snacks.

An afternoon in this week, my choice was Made-in-Singapore Combe Snack of BBQ Chicken & Cheese flavour, because it has a Healthier Choice Symbol on its packaging.

After enjoying few bites, I read that it contains tartrazine (E102) -  a synthetic lemon yellow azo dye - which is banned in Norway and Austria.

***

In the evening, Garima and Mohan gave me a bowl of chocolate ice cream. How can we resist such a delicious treat?

***

At the end of the day, what I want next is to detox and cleanse my body. How is about a glass of refreshing celery apple mandarin (CAM) juice?



A lot of fiber... tastes refreshingly sweet salty 



Serving: 200 ml (for 1 person)
Preparation time: 3 + 2 minutes

Ingredients:
♥ 1 green Granny Smith apple (青苹果), peeled & cored
♥ 1 Mandarin Murcott (茂谷柑), peeled & deseeded
♥ 2 stalks celery (芹菜)
♥ 1 tbsp honey(蜜糖)
♥ 100 ml boiled ginger water OR 1 tsp minced ginger (姜) + water

Directions:
1. Soak celery with vinegared-salted water* for a minimum of 2. 10 minutes to remove pesticides, if any. Rinse and dry.
3. Squeeze Mandarin.
4. Blend apple, Mandarin juice, celery, ginger until smooth.
5. Stir in honey. Enjoy!

*Vinegared-salted water: 100 ml vinegar, 1 tbsp salt, 200 ml water.



Other recipes that I love:
♥ cucumber apple celery ginger juice
♥ homemade sprays for fruits and vegetables
♥ Green Apple Ice Pop with lime, sugar & cinnamon stick
♥ yogurt salad with green apple accompanied by onion, Japanese cucumber, carrot, nuts (e.g. walnut / pistachio / peanut)

Check also our other #5minutemeal recipes.

With love,
ServicefromHeart
20140328