Thursday, September 4, 2014

Cauliflower Fried Rice


My other half is not a fan of rice and I love it. There's no better accompaniment to an Asian meal than Fried Rice. So, with cauliflower rice all the rage at the moment, I gave it a try and we both loved it!

Cauliflower Fried Rice
1 small head of cauliflower, cut into large chunks -  about the size of the hole in the lid of the Thermomix
1 onion, sliced
1 egg
1 tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper
macadamia oil, for frying
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 carrot, julienned
¼ green capsicum, diced or sliced
handful of snow peas, diced (or use frozen peas)
soy and sweet chilli sauce, to taste

Place half the cauliflower in the Thermomix bowl or food processor. Chop on speed 5 for 2 seconds. Check cauliflower size, stir around with spatula and chop again if necessary. Repeat with remaining cauliflower chunks. Set aside.

Beat egg with sesame oil, salt and pepper.  Heat a small amount of macadamia oil in wok and add beaten egg. Flip over when brown on underside. When cooked, remove from pan and roll up on board. Slice when cool.
Heat more oil in wok and add slice onions and garlic. Stir fry until fragrant and starting to colour. Add carrots and continue to stir fry. Add soy and sweet chilli to taste and a little water. Add cauliflower and stir fry. Add capsicum, then snow peas and omelette. Do not overcook at this stage, cauliflower should have just a little bite to it.
Taste for seasoning and serve immediately. Sprinkle with sesame seeds to serve.



Asian Braised Chicken

This recipe comes from one of my favourite cook books, Belinda Jeffery's Collected Recipes. I took the book out of the library and then after renewing it twice, realised that I couldn't do without it, so I purchased it. You can buy it here.

This recipe is called Braised Star Anise Chicken, but I don't always put the star anise in, so I just like to call it Asian Braised Chicken. It is finger licking delicious and the stock can be frozen to use in other asian dishes. It's fabulous for pork belly.

Asian Braised Chicken

1 cup kecap manis - this is a sweet thick soy sauce. If you don't have it, just use a little more sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup chicken stock - you can use water with a teaspoon of stock powder or paste
½ cup rapadura sugar
2 star anise - or leave out as I sometimes do and use 2 teaspoons of five spice powder
½ cup sherry
2 cloves garlic, sliced
6cm piece ginger, sliced
1 x Size 20 Free Range Chicken

Pre heat the oven to 180C.
Place everything except the chicken into the Thermomix bowl and heat on 100/5 minutes/speed 2.
Place chicken into a large casserole dish and pour over the sauce. Place the lid on the dish and place in the oven.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, basting regularly. You can turn chicken over, but I prefer not to.
If you like, cook the liquid down after removing the chicken to make a thick glaze to brush over the skin before serving.

Strain the stock into jars and freeze for later use.

Serve with fried rice and stir fried asian vegetables. Or serve cold with salads.

I'm cooking this next Monday, so will take a photo then!