Wednesday 21 January 2015

Mad Cooking 3 - Frozen


Frozen rice that is. How original. I don't know if anyone else freezes cooked rice. You see, I don't eat rice most of the time but my partner is a rice bin. I mean "farn thong". He can't live without rice and when I cook, inevitably there will be one portion leftover as I can't cook only one portion. My rice cooker can't handle that.



So what do I do with my stash of frozen rice? I eat them over a period of time of course. No, I don't serve my partner with the frozen rice because the idea is too radical for him. He told me that overnight rice is not edible because it contains "wind". That's a very Chinese thing, this "windy" thing. My family however is not so traditional and wind is something very remote to us. Starting from my grandma who claimed that the first thing she ate after giving birth to my mum was a big plate of fried kangkung (water convolvulus). From what I understand, women in confinement must avoid certain foods that are deemed cooling and kangkung is one of those. But grandma is hale and hearty up to this day, wind or no wind.


I had two pieces of pork chops in the freezer and I thought why not steam the meat together with the rice. So I seasoned the meat with some soya sauce, pepper and my ready made garlic and oil paste.


Actually I made this garlic paste for my salad dressing. It is made from pounding garlic and salt and then I put it into a bottle with some olive oil. When I am ready to make salad dressing, I just take a teaspoon or two of the garlic paste and mix it with vinegar and honey. That saves me the trouble of pounding garlic every time I want to make dressing. This garlic paste keeps for about 5 days and I had to finish it up before it goes funky.


By the way, I harvested some green peppers and chillies from my garden. I couldn't wait for the chillies to turn red because they will fall off and I had to pluck the green peppers before they turn bad.


I defrosted the rice, placed it in a corningware dish and topped with the seasoned meat. Then I steamed the whole lot for about, what, 30 minutes? It smelled pretty good and since there was still some more garlic paste leftover, I fried it in the wok to get garlic oil. It was so aromatic and I dumped the fried garlic onto my dish.


Then I sliced my garden fresh chillies and dumped them onto my rice. Whoa! Those chillies were hot! The rice was good. Something like claypot chicken rice. But not as good. I enjoyed the rice and meat very much. 


This might not be such a bad idea, eh? I suffered no ill effects from eating the reheated frozen rice. In fact I think this is a rather convenient way of having rice at a moment's notice. It is a totally sound and sane idea.


Nice!

34 comments:

  1. Yum yum!!! I love this...in a claypot. Sure looks easy to cook - gotta try this sometimes. Nobody selling claypot rice here... :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It sure is easy to cook, just dump seasoned meat onto cooked rice and steam away!

      Delete
  2. This is not mad cooking la, this is called efficient cooking!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey, a spin on claypot chicken rice....corningware chicken rice...LOL!! Yeah, many people say overnight rice is not good for you...but if you cook fried rice, you'd know that it has to be overnight rice coz freshly cooked rice will be mushy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kris, so far I'm alright after eating overnight or frozen rice. And it's convenient too!

      Delete
  4. hmm time for you to get the mini rice cooker that cooks for one!! then you don't have to freeze them and defrost them and then re-eat them.. but if I can cook all those nice dishes like you out of the "leftover frozen" rice, I don't actually mind at all.. just that for long term view, you aren't going to keep them frozen and always find time to consume them right?? so first thing first, cook less and get a mini rice cooker!! muahaha.. do I sound like a salesman?? hihihi :p

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SK, I already have 2 rice cookers. One big one for kenduri and another one for two persons. Enough already lah hee..hee... I don't cook rice everyday so the leftovers are quite minimal lah.

      Delete
  5. What an interesting experiment! The colour looks like claypot rice and delicious!

    I am a very open minded person but when it comes to spiritual and wind in food, I better believe!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TM, it is delicious! I respect other people's beliefs :)

      Delete
  6. Hi Phong Hong, don't worry, my family has been eating frozen rice for ages and no one complains of wind or tummy problem. I cooked it almost similar like yours. So long as the meat is good and serve with a good chilli sauce, it is yummy. Do you know that I even fry raw rice with all the ingredients, pack it in a container long before cooking it during busy days? Saves time and hassle free. I just add water before cooking it as porridge or rice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kimmy, I am so happy to hear this from you hah..hah... And I am even more excited that you actually fry the raw rice with ingredients to freeze. That is very practical and it does save a lot of time for emergency days.

      Delete
  7. Sweetie I only see your update now wor.. Anyway better late than never, hehe.. I don't freeze cooked rice.. I only freeze ABC soup.. Oooo wait, I freeze porridge though! I put them in baby cubes and freeze them separately, and when it's time to eat, I just thaw one or two cubes and then rendam in hot water.. Your rice casserole looks so delicious, frozen rice or not, if you don't tell, nobody would know..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't worry, Louiz, I am replying late hah..hah... Now that you mentioned freezing porridge, I think my cousin's wife used to do that for their baby. And if babies can eat reheated frozen porridge, then there should be no issues :)

      Delete
  8. So far i have not freeze cooked rice before...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sharon, but now you know that it can be frozen and is edible.

      Delete
  9. I have never freezed rice, but notly because I believe in this "wind" tradition:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ola, it is a good method to keep any leftovers or else it is so wasteful.

      Delete
  10. no phong hong right? the rice was thoroughly reheated!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope, all was calm and quite. No fireworks lepas makan so guarantee frozen rice is safe to eat.

      Delete
  11. Hi Phong Hong, at 1st I thought you baked frozen cake ... then thought you'd made claypot chicken rice ...
    I have never freezed cooked rice. Just never thought of it ...
    Oh ! I see you enjoyed the meat & rice with your freshly harvested chilli!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karen, now you know that it can be done and is safe to eat :)

      Delete
  12. I just keep leftover cooked rice in the fridge (not in the freezer) and eat them the next day when I used to cook. No problem with wind either. I saw your first photo and thought you cooked claypot chicken rice. So this means you had to eat rice because of your partner but wouldn't your frozen rice increase exponentially since you keep half every time you cook rice but you don't eat half everytime you eat the rice?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mun, I don't cook everyday so the leftovers are manageable. I also keep leftovers in the fridge if I am eating it the next day. It is convenient when I want some rice for myself.

      Delete
  13. ha... now that you said it..... my mum freezes cooked rice. I really do not know why she put it in the freezer. Mum is mum... she can always turn out something from the freezer and turn it into a delicious meal. I am sure you are one an amazing lady to turn into a simple ingredient into an amazing meal ....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mel, me and your mum think alike, eh? hee..hee...

      Delete
  14. Have been freezing rice for years, even coconut rice. I just defrost and warm again in the microwave. Yes, have heard abt the wind crap and there is absolutely no scientific and medical proof, just a bunch of old wives' tales. After I delivered, the fist thing I had was a cold glass of water followed by cold juice. And later that day when I felt better, I had a shower and washed my hair. By all accounts I should be dead!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Way to go, Christina! I don't believe in that stuff either. Great to know that there are other people like me. I drink cold coffee in the morning and have no issues about taking a cold bath at 5:00am :)

      Delete
  15. Frozen or not.

    Rice as nice as yours, I will not hesitate to wallop. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Lina! hee..hee..now I know what to cook if you are coming to visit LOL!

      Delete
  16. Hello PH! How are you? Everything looks good and "new" here! I'm like visiting an old friend's house after a long while and it feels good to be back! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh dear! An old friend comes visiting and all I have to offer is frozen rice! LOL! Welcome back, Alvin! It has been awhile :)

      Delete
  17. Hi Phong Hong,
    Your frozen claypot rice with pork chop looks great! I don't mind freezing my cooked rice as long as it is edible and nice and no wastage ( jangan buang , Sayang!) ;D
    mui

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's great, mui mui! It is convenient too :)

      Delete