Roasted Congee

I don't roast a lot of things, but when I do, I keep the carcass for congee the next day. Why waste it? The carcass typically has lots of roasted flavour from the roast, so it gives the congee a nice mouth feel and TOTALLY makes it less boring. Plus when I debone the roast, I don't have to stress over leaving too much meat on the bones. It wont' matter since it'll go into the congee the next morning. >:)


Roasted Congee
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• Leftover bones from a roast (e.g., prime rib, chicken, turkey)
• Water
• 1 cup uncooked white rice
• 4-5 cups water
• 2 thick slices of ginger
• Salt & pepper, to taste 

Directions:

1. Wash rice until water runs clearish. 
2. Combine rice, water (4 cups for thicker congee and 5 cups for a looser congee), ginger and leftover bones into the instant pot pot. Press the congee button. 
3. Once the machine beeps, wait 15-20 minutes before lifting lid. Remove the bone and separate any remaining meat from the bones. Place meat into the congee. Season with salt and pepper. 
4. Serve by itself or with green onions and Chinese donut. 

Wrapless Lo Mai Gai

This is by far one of my favourite things to eat at dim sums. The only pitfall is that it's really filling so then you can't have as much of the other yummy stuff at dim sums. That being said, I usually don't order it or I'll order it and then not eat it so I can save it to go. Teehee.

You can wrap it in parchment paper (if you don't have the lotus leaves) and then steam it for 15 minutes in a steam basket to make a more traditional Lo Mai Gai. But I didn't care for any of it so I just topped the sticky rice with the filling in this "wrapless" Lo Mai Gai. ;)

Note: If using a pot to cook the rice, then soak rice in water overnight and add enough water so that it's 1 part rice and 1.5 part liquid. Add seasonings. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes, covered. Turn off heat and let stand for 10-15 minutes before stirring/serving.


Wrapless Lo Mai Gai
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 3 "cups" uncooked sweet/glutinous rice
• 4 chicken skinless boneless chicken thighs, cubed
• 5-7 Shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated & sliced/diced, steeping liquid reserved 
• 2 lap cheong (Chinese sausage), thinly sliced
• 1/2 tsp five-spice
• 1 Tbsp ginger, grated
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsps yellow wine/shaoxing wine
• 1/4 cup soy sauce, divided
• 2 tsps cornstarch, divided
• 2 Tbsps sesame oil, divided
• Water

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together five-spice, ginger, garlic, sugar, wine, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil with the chicken thighs. Marinate for 30 minutes on the counter.
2. Rinse out the rice and add the reserved mushroom steeping liquid and enough water to meet the 3 cups line. Add in a tablespoon of sesame oil and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Cook sweet rice in the Instant Pot using the rice option. 
3. In a large skillet or wok over medium high heat, toss in the lap cheong slices until they become bright red and the oil comes out. Make a large well in the middle and add the marinated chicken thighs and mushrooms. Cook until chicken is cooked through, stirring frequently.
4. Meanwhile, make a slurry out of the remaining teaspoon of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of water. Add to the wok or skillet, scraping up any brown bits. Cook until the sauce thickens. Turn off heat.
5. Scoop rice into 4 bowls and top with skillet mixture, drizzling extra sauce over the rice.
6. Serve hot with soup and steamed veggies.

Veggie Sticky Rice

Okay, so I made this a while ago. As in a month ago. I didn't get around to putting it up though since I had other stuff I wanted to put up first. HEEHEE.

That and because I like the non-vegetarian version way more. I'm a meatatarian! I try to blame it all on Hubby but it's true. I love my meats.....for some dishes anyway and this is definitely one of those dishes. But anyway, I decided to make this vegetarian cuz I had some leftover char siu and didn't want to dice it up into this dish. I rather eat the char siu whole as a side for this rice. It worked out pretty well. I think I might be able to use this as a side dish for other meat dishes in place of plain white rice. HMMM...

Note: I did use my Instant Pot to make the sticky rice, so the 1 "cup" is really 160ml, not the traditional 240ml cups. :)


Veggie Sticky Rice
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 1 "cup" sweet rice
• 2 green onions, finely diced
• 6 Shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated & finely diced
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 3 Tbsps soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp canola oil

Directions:

1. Cook sweet rice in the Instant Pot using the rice option. Move onto the next step once rice is cooked.
2. In a wok, heat up oil on high heat. Add onion and mushrooms. Cook until onions are soft. 
3. Stir in rice. Season with soy sauce. Break up rice using a spatula and mix until everything is well incorporated. Turn off heat and mix in green onion.
4. Serve as a side with a protein or by itself.

Chicken Stew

I love the Sage & Bay Salt seasoning. I have it always in stock in my cabinets ready for when I make some sort of chicken soup/roast dish. I used it for chicken stew and it tasted so yummy. I only had a few spoonfuls but they were darn good spoonfuls. :)

I suppose I could've put some potatoes in there. I probably will next time, but this time we WERE going to have some potatoes on the side, so I didn't put any in there. Meh. It'll make a hearty meal with the potatoes I think.


Chicken Stew
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsps Sage & Bay Salt
• 3 1/2 cups water, divided
• 2 Tbsps whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour)

Directions:

1. Throw everything except for 1/2 cup of water and flour into the Instant Pot. Press the "Poultry" button and wait until the stew is done cooking - about half hour.
2. In a small bowl, mix the 1/2 cup of water with flour and whisk until smooth to make the flour slurry.
3. When everything is done, whisk the flour slurry into the stew. Press the "Saute" button and simmer for 15 minutes or so until the stew thickens.
4. Serve hot. It's even better if you serve it the next day or a few hours afterwards and reheat it.

Pulled Pork

I really like pulled pork. The only thing is that I tend to make too much and Hubby and I'll be eating it for the next week or so. That's a bit too much. Luckily we have two more mouths to feed. Or rather its easy to rope in two more mouths so making dinner is a lot easier. It's always easier to make food for 4-6 people than for only 2 (K still doesn't eat enough to count as one person).

Originally I put 2 tablespoons of salt but I'm going to half it in the recipe. 2 tablespoons is way too much! It was crazy salty and hurt my tummy. Thank goodness I had food left over for K. Otherwise he wouldn't have had anything for dinner. :(


Pulled Pork
(serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lb pork shoulder
• 2 Tbsps paprika
• 2 Tbsps packed brown sugar
• 1 Tbsps salt
• 1 Tbsp ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 1 Tbsp granulated garlic
• 1/2 - 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 cup ketchup
• 2 Tbsps Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. In a large Ziploc bag, combine paprika, brown sugar, salt, ground black pepper, garlic, onion powder and cayenne powder. Place pork shoulder in bag, close and shake and massage well to get pork shoulder ever coated. Open up the bag a little and squeeze out as much air as possible while closing the bag back up. Marinade in the fridge for 8-24 hours.
2. Place pork shoulder into the Instant Pot. Cover with ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Press the Meat button and adjust to 50 minutes.
3. Sit back and relax for a little over an hour. When the meat is done, use two forks to shred. Mix with the sauce thoroughly and serve with coleslaw and/or pickles on buttered toasted buns. Or you can be weird like me and have it with noodles to make a Lo Mein out of it. :)

Paprika Beef Stew

I'm trying to empty out my freezer of meat! I tend to go on this kind of purge every once in a while. It's good for the freezer, I think. It also means that I'm going to go to Costco pretty soon to restock. Oh how I love that. I don't really care for all the prep work that goes into it, but it saves money and I can just defrost whatever I want to cook later that night in the morning. Yeah, it's bad to leave meat out in the sink to defrost so I don't recommend it. Even if that's how everyone I know does it. But as per safety guidelines, just defrost in the fridge please? >_>

This time it's another sort of beef stew. Yay. It's super easy and it's an Instant Pot recipe! :D

I probably should've added some cornstarch or flour towards the end to thicken up the sauce but I was too hungry to bother. That being said, don't mind the red liquid sloshing all over the mashed potatoes. :)

You can use any beef cut honestly. I just used sirloin tip roast cuz that's what was on sale when I got it at the store. But I like to go for the fattier cuts. They're WAY more flavourful. Yup, I'm that kind of cook - fat = flavour! :O


Paprika Beef Stew
(serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs sirloin tip roast, cubed
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 3 Tbsps paprika
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tsps garlic salt
• 2 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup water

Directions:

1. Throw everything into the Instant Pot. Mix well. Cover and press the Meat/Stew button. Press the "+" button until the screen says 50. Wait for machine to start. 
2. Read a book or watch some TV while dinner cooks. It should be done in about an hour and half. 
3. Serve with a side of creamy mashed potatoes.

Apple Pie Toddler Cereal

I just got my Instant Pot! I couldn't wait to use it. I've always wanted a pressure cooker and I needed a new rice cooker but was a little hesitant on getting the one I've been eyeing. Hesitant cuz I've been considering lowering my carbs intake. I swear it's the only way I can lose weight. Without doing any exercise anyway lol. However, after three weeks, I always lose the battle and go crazy on carbs again. Sigh.

Anyway.......after some research and an awesome Mother's Day sale, I decided to get the Instant Pot! So excited!!! As soon as K went to bed, I unpacked my new toy and got to work making some "cereal" for the kiddo. I tried unpacking it when he was still awake, but he just kept throwing his Mega Bloks into the box and trying to eat the Styrofoam packaging. /facepalm


Apple Pie Toddler Cereal
(makes 6 cups)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup brown rice
• 3 3/4 cups water
• 4 peeled and cored gala apples, finely diced
• 1 Tbsp packed brown sugar (optional)
• 1 - 2 Tbsps cinnamon

Directions:

1. Wash rice in cold water a couple of times until the water runs clearish. 
2. Combine everything in the instant pot's pot. Mix well. 
3. Turn on machine and press "congee" button. Press the "adjust" button until "more" is selected. Wait 10 seconds for the machine to start. 
4. Go read a magazine or watch tv while the cereal cooks. The machine will beep when the cereal is done cooking. Wait 10 minutes or so before opening the lid. 
5. Stir before serving. 

K ate a full cup of this stuff for breakfast the next day, so it must be good. I tasted it. So bland and icky, but he loves it and it's good for him so why not, right? I think I'll add more apples next time though. I used to make apple sauce and put that in there in place of the apples. And ground up the brown rice but now that he's older, he can handle the little chunks. Makes my life so much easier. :D