Sake Ochazuke (porridge with broiled salmon)

At a glance, a bowl of porridge with a piece of no-dressing, no-marinade salmon sounds almost sad. As in, it's-Saturday-night-I-am-home-alone-slurping-instant-ramen sad. But in fact, this dish is full of rich and nice flavors and has quickly become a staple at my house.

The key is to get the right ingredients and not under- or over-cook the salmon. Once you assemble the porridge with a hint of green tea and that dashi stock umami with the fatty crispy salmon skin and slightly salty salmon flakes, the flavor combination just doesn't get better than that. Oh wait, it does, put some roasted seaweed on top. Now you've got the texture, the taste, and the warmth all from a single bowl of pure goodness.

Ingredients
4oz Salted Salmon Belly
1/2 sheet Roasted Seaweed ( like Yamamoto nori)
2 cups Cooked Rice (use Nishiki brand rice)
1 cup Green Tea (use Japanese green tea such as genmaicha for its nuttiness)
1 cup Dashi Stock
Canola Oil
Salt

Direction

• Rub the salmon with a generous amount of salt
• Cover and let it refrigerate overnight
• Remove the salmon and rinse under cold water to remove the salt
• Dry the salmon with paper towels or a kitchen towel
• Drizzle oil over salmon and place under a broiler in low setting
• Broil for 15 minutes until a nice crust has formed; if the skin is still not brown enough, you can turn the broiler to "high" for a couple of minutes and monitor closely to make sure the salmon doesn't burn
• Break apart the salmon into flakes and set aside
• Add rice to a bowl with salmon flakes and seaweed on top
• When you are ready to serve, mix the hot green tea with the stock. You can add as much liquid as you would like, as long as you remember to use it in the ratio of one part tea one part dashi stock.

Olive Fried Rice

I was looking at the photos from my vacation to Singapore and Indonesia a few years ago and was reminded of my first Olive Fried Rice and all its briny and saltiness goodness. After Googling around the web, I noticed that almost all of the recipes use salted Chinese olives. Since I could not find it in San Francisco Chinatown, I had to use chopped black Mediterranean olives and added a mixture of soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil instead.


Ingredients:
3 garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 lb ground pork
3 Chinese sausage, sliced
1 8oz can of black olives, chopped
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
6 cups of cooked rice (preferably a day old and on the drier side)
1 16oz frozen spinach, dethawed, squeezed and drained
a small bunch of parsley, chopped
3 green onion, chopped
4 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Mix the chopped olive with the sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce and fish sauce in a bowl. Set aside.
• Make a thin omellete using the 4 eggs. After it's done, cut into thin strips. Set aside.
  
• In a large wok or pan, stir fry the garlic and onion over medium high heat with 2 tablespoon of olive oil until fragrant.
• Add in the ground pork, stir occasionally until the meat is cooked.
• Add in the sliced Chinese sausages, spinach and the olive mixture. Cook for another minute or two.
  
• Try to loosen the grains of the day-old rice before adding it into the pan. Mix the rice well with the olive mixture and cook for several minutes until the rice is heated through.
• Add in the chopped parsley and green onion.
• Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and with any of the sauces.
• Serve fried rice with thin strips of egg omelette on top.
  

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Last night, I made Hainanese Chicken Rice which is considered the national dish of Singapore using the recipe from Mark Bittman's book How to Cook Everything. It's a 'simple' dish of poached chicken and white rice cooked in chicken broth.


Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, 3 to 4 pounds, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 4 pieces
salt
3 tablespoons of grated garlic
1 big knob of ginger, grated finely
1/4 cup peanut oil or neutral foil (I used canola oil)
2 cups white (jasmine) rice
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
Ginger-Scallion sauce (recipe to follow)
Chopped fresh scallion or cilantro leaves for garnish

Directions:

• Put about 4 inches of water in a large pot over high heat
• Run the inside and outside of chicken with salt and half of the garlic and ginger
• When the water boils, put the chicken in the pot; it should just submerged (if necessary, add water)
• Return to boil, cover and reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 15 minutes
• Turn off the heat and let the bird remain in the water for 1 hour, covered
• The meat should be opaque all the way to the bones; if not, return to pot to a boil and cover again for another 5 - 10 minutes
• Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside

• Put the oil in a skillet over medium heat
• When hot, add the remaining garlic and ginger, stirrin occasionally, until the garlic begins to brown and becomes fragrant, about 2 - 3 minutes
• Add the rice and stir, then add 4 cups of the stock; bring to a boil again
• Adjust the heat to a simmer so that the mixture bubbles gently but steadily, cover
• Cook until the rice has absorbed all the liquid (~20 minutes)
• Taste and adjust the seasoning

• Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces (optional) and rub with sesame oil
• Drizzle some of the Ginger Scallion sauce over it, serve over the rice and sprinkle with scallion or cilantro
• You can also serve serve the (heated) stock with some scallion in a small bowl on the side

Ginger Scallion Sauce

Ingredients:
1/4 cup minced (or grated) fresh ginger
1/2 cup chopped scallion
1 or 2 clove garlic, grated
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanut oil or neutral oil (I used canola oil)

Directions:

• Mix the ginger, scallion, garlic and salt together in a heatproof bowl
• Put the oil in a small saucepan or skillet over high heat until smoking
• Carefully pour the hot oil over the ginger scallion mixture (Note: it will sizzle a lot)
• Mix well and serve or refrigrate for up to 3 days