By SGN | 13 April 2020
After returning from New York City and landing safely back in Singapore, Rozz was faced with the challenge of what to eat during her 14 day SHN. Living alone and cooking for one meant that she had to plan her meals ahead and master the art of portioning.
In the first week of her SHN, she came up with a strategy of using the same ingredients to produce different dishes. Using 500g of minced pork, she boiled it to cook Bak Chor Beehoon, sauteed it with shrooms to create a rice bowl, and rolled them into balls for a spinach soup. Using prawns, she made dishes such as thai pomelo salad and prawn noodle soup. Rozz even added pork ribs into the prawn noodle soup and used the rest of the meat to make some delicious Bak Kut Teh porridge!
Rozz’s ‘hack’ when it comes to living alone is to not waste food. For example, instead of throwing out her leftover rice from lunch, she transformed it into porridge by adding water, dried japanese scallops and goji berries. She then topped it off with other ingredients like leftover minced pork and mushroom stirfy for that extra deliciousness.
Another rice hack that Rozz has is to cook an estimate of 3 portions worth at one go. The first portion she would eat steaming hot with curry, while the rest goes into her fridge to make porridge or fried rice for the days after. She shared that she turns her ingredients to soups and stews so they would keep longer and can just be heated up whenever she is too lazy to cook!
Feeling inspired for your next meal? We’ve put together two of Rozz’s very own recipes that you can easily tackle in your own kitchen:
Bak Kut Teh Porridge with Steamed Greens
Ingredients:
- Leftover rice
- Pork ribs
- Greens (e.g. Bok Choy)
- Shallots
- Garlic cloves
- White peppercorns
- Dried anchovies
- Dried shrimp
- Mushrooms: dried shitake
- Scallop/Oyster Sauce
- Soy Sauce
- Two empty soup stock bags to fill ingredients in.
Instructions:
- Prepare two pork ribs by boiling in a pot of water to remove scum. For a pork alternative, use chicken thigh with bone instead.
- Cut and deep fry a fresh batch of shallots. Drain the fried shallots in a paper towel and salt immediately. Keep the shallot pan oil for later use.
- Place whole garlic cloves (with skin on) and white peppercorns on a new clean pan and toast until fragrant.
- Prepare two stock bags. Fill one of it with the toasted garlic cloves. Fill the other with dried anchovies and dried shrimp.
- With a fresh pot of water, add in dried mushrooms, white peppercorns, and the two stock bags and bring it to a boil.
- Proceed to add in the blanced meat. Boil on high heat for 15 minutes before discarding the dried seafood stock bag. Cover the pot with a lid, lower the heat and simmer for 2 hours. Taste and adjust flavours with white pepper, salt and soy sauce if needed.
- Standby cooked leftover rice in another pot. Pour some of the broth over using a ladle. Stir it into the rice and cover with a lid. Bring to boil for 5-8 mins. Once it gets to a thick starchy consistency, put lid back on and turn heat off .
- Meanwhile, steam the greens and place them on a plate once ready.
- Prepare the dressing by mixing scallop/oyster sauce with some of the steamed vegetable water and soy sauce. Drizzle it over the greens and top it with the deep fried shallots and shallot oil prepared earlier.
- Finally, assemble the porridge in a bowl and top it with the cooked meat, mushrooms and garlic. Drizzle with shallot oil and top with fresh coriander.
Bak Chor Bee hoon
Ingredients:
- Noodles: Rice vermicelli noodles (bee hoon) OR noodle of your choice!
- Bean sprouts
- Spring onions
- Mushrooms: dried shitake
- Minced Pork
- Fishballs
- Sugar
- Japanese Soy sauce
- Dark soy sauce
- Sambal
- Chinkiang Vinegar
- Sesame Oil
Instructions:
- Make braised mushrooms. Soak some dried shitake in hot water for 20mins and pour the liquid into a small pot.
- Remove the stems from soaked shrooms and slice. Add the slices to the small pot.
- Add a spoonful of any type of sugar to mix
- Dash of japanese soy sauce and dark soy sauce (to your taste).
- Braise with lid off for at least 20 mins. Taste and adjust according to preference.
- In a bowl, mix sambal, chinkiang vinegar, a dash of soy sauce and some sesame oil.
- Blanch the noodles. (Rozz made an easy 15min ikan bilis broth by boiling ikan bilis in water.)
- Add in bean sprouts and stir with noodles.
- Remove the the noodles and sprouts from the pot and place them into the sauce bowl. Add boiled fishballs. Mix the ingredients into the sauce.
- Using a sieve, blanch the minced pork in the broth and place into the noodle bowl once cooked.
- End it off by topping with the braised mushrooms and spring onions.
Whoever said staying at home had to be boring? Put on your chef hat and get cracking! Sometimes, a delicious home cooked meal may be all that you need to satisfy the stomach and keep the bordeom at bay. Looking for more food inspiration? Check out Rozz on Instagram as she whips up local delights like economical fried bee hoon and exciting new recipes like thai crab fried rice during this Circuit Breaker period! Remember, stay safe, and stay home!
(Photo credit: Rosalyn Lee, @heyrozz)
