Yang Chow Fried Rice
Topic: Rice
We always love fried rice, that's why sometimes I intended to cooked more rice so that I have something to fry for the next meal, even my 2 years old son Azhfaar became a fried rice lover also. Yang Chow Fried Rice is one Chinese Fried rice variations, basically aside from the rice, ingredients like shrimps, egg, meat, various vegetables are usually added singly or a combination of those list. The one I cooked the other day was a combination of shrimps, chicken (from the chicken barbeque leftovers), ground beef, hotdog and green peas. What I like most in this dish is it was almost like a complete meal because I used more amounts of ingredients to the 4 cups of rice only.

Ingredients:
4 cups cold cooked rice (basmati rice if possible)
2/3 cup shrimps, cut into small slices, about 1 cm
2/3 cup chicken barbeque, sliced into small cubes
1/2 cup ground beef
1 hotdog, sliced into small cubes
2 eggs
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup frozen green peas,thawed
1/3 tsp. black pepper powder
3 tbsp. cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and some of the chopped green onions.
2. Heat half of the oil in a wok, stir fry the garlic, then hotdog cubes, ground beef, shrimps and green peas for 1 minute, stir in the chicken cubes, add dark and light soy sauce and stir for another 1 minute. Sprinkle black pepper powder to the mixture. Remove fro wok and set aside.
3. Heat the remaining oil and lightly scramble the beaten eggs. Add the cooked rice and stir to make sure that each grain of rice is separated, then season with salt and pepper.
4. Stir in remaining green onions with the cooked shrimp and meat mixture. Blend well, remove from heat and serve.

See also:
Shrimp Fried Rice
Chicken Fried Rice
Tips on Cooking Fried Rice

Aroz Mofalfal (Arabian Rice)
Topic: Rice
Arab people are not fan of eating plain rice, they always cooked their rice with spices, vegetables, meat or anything as long as it is not plain. Aroz Mufalfal is made of long grain rice with short vermicelli, sometimes they also called it Roz bi Sha'reh means rice with vermicelli but in this case, the amount of rice and vermicelli to be used are almost the same. I always cooked this rice at home but I always forgot to post it here, anyway, here is it now. To cook this dish, the vermicelli is being fried first so that the color will be a little bit darker from the rice, hence it will be noticeable, other variation is cooking the rice and vermicelli simultaneously without frying the vermicelli first, but for me I always prefer the former version. Sometimes I also include some mixed vegetables (peas and carrots) to add some colors to the rice. This is usually served with fried or grilled meat or chicken on top. I served it with roast chicken last night, the recipe wil be posted later.

Ingredients:
2 cups long grain rice
cold water
1/4 cup short vermicelli
2 cups boiled water
2 tbsp. melter butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup mixed vegetables (optional)

Directions:
1. Soak rice in cold water for 10 minutes,rinse and drain.
2.Heat butter in a pot, fry the vermicelli until slightly brown.
3. Add the boiled water and salt, stir and let it boil.
4. Add the rice, let it boil,when the liquids are almost absorbed, stir in the mix vegetables. Cover.
5. Reduce the heat to low and leave to cook for 30 minutes.

Tips: Put a thin layer of tin under the pan to prevent burning. After 30 minutes, open the pot and stir the top part to see if the rice is done, if it still little hard, cover and cook longer.

See also:
Fried Chicken Biryani

Chicken Fried Rice
Topic: Rice
I've been cooking this recipe since I was married with my hubby and this was the first fried rice recipe that I cooked for him during the early years of our marriage life. What I did not able to include here when I cooked it last night was the long green pepper because we ran out of it the other day. It was not also available in the small supermarket near us. My hubby was also expert in cooking this dish, whenever he was in mood to cook, he always cooked the rice in this way. It was one of his favorites. When we had leftovers like fried chicken from KFC or Grilled chicken from some Arabic Restaurant, I always managed to flake the chicken meat and used it for fried rice. But last night, we didn't have any chicken leftovers that's why I used uncooked chicken breast for this recipe.

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked cold rice
1 small chicken breast,sliced thinly
1 chicken franks, sliced into small cubes
1 onion, sliced minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1/2 cup mixed vegetables
1/4 tsp. black pepper powder
1 long green pepper,chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 stalk green onion, chopped
3 tbsp. cooking oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat half of the oil in a wok, add the beaten egg and cook until lightly brown, take our from the wok, transfer to a board and chop. On the same wok, stir fry the chicken franks for 1 minute. Take out from the wok and set aside.
2. Add the remaining oil to the wok, fry the chicken breast until lightly brown, add garlic and onion,stir until smells aromatic, then add tomato paste, oyster sauce and fish sauce. Stir.
3. Add the mixed vegetables and green pepper, mix well.
4. Stir in rice and black pepper powder. Season with salt and pepper. Continue stirring for about 3-5 minutes. Off the heat.
5. Add the chicken franks and chopped green onions, mix well. Serve.

See also:
Tips on Cooking Fried Rice

Tuna Fried Rice
Topic: Rice
We had some cold rice again last night, so I fried it with tuna flakes. The tuna is not visible in the pic below because the flakes were very tiny.

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked cold rice
1 small can tuna flakes
1/2 cup mixed vegetables (corn,peas and carrots)
1 onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp. fish sauce
3 tbsp. melted butter
1 stalk green onions, chopped
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Heat butter in wok, saute garlic and onions, add the tuna flakes and stir.
2. Stir in the rice and mixed vegetables. Add in the fish sauce, salt and pepper. Continue stirring until done.
3. Turn off heat and garnish with the chopped green onions. Serve.

See also:
Tips on Cooking Fried Rice

Fried Chicken Biryani (Pinoy Style)
Topic: Rice
Biryani is a rice dish from the Indian Subcontinent (also adapted by the Arabs) made from a mixture of spices, basmati rice, meat and vegetables. There are many kind of biryanis and each kind has a uniqueness about it. Biryani is very popular here in Kuwait since most of the Arab dishes were originated from India. Most of the Filipinos here in Kuwait likes to eat Biryani but they hate those spicies like cardamons, cinnamons, saffron, etc. the spices that primarily contribute to the taste of original Biryani, unfortunately I am one of those who don't like these spices and this trigger me to cook a Biryani in my own way with the spices that we Filipinos can eat deliciously. I tried it and it was really Pinoy na Pinoy taste!

Ingredients:
3 cups basmati rice (long grain rice)
1 kg whole chiken, sliced into 8
1 big carrot, cubed
2 medium potatoes, cubed
2 medium onions, minced
2 medium ripe tomatoes, minced
2 tbsp. crushed ginger
1/5 head of garlic, minced
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. curry paste (I used green curry paste)
1 tsp. turmeric powder
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. salt
1 cube chicken bouillon (optional)
1 cup cooking oil

For Garnish:
hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced quarterly
lemon, sliced
1 stalked of green onions,chopped
1 medium onions, sliced
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 cup raisins

Directions:
1. Soak rice in water for 20 minutes. Drain.
2. Boil 1 liter water with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tbsp. cooking oil. Add rice and cook for 5-7 minutes. Drain. Set aside.
3. Heat the 1 cup oil and stir fry the carrots and potatoes for 2 minutes. Remove from oil, set aside.
4. Use half of the remaining oil to fry the chicken and fry until golden brown.
5. Add the onions, galic, tomato paste, soy sauce, curry paste, tomatoes, ginger, tumeric powder, chicken cube, salt and pepper. Stir to mix well. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the lime juice.
6. Stir in the carrots and potatoes. Mix and cook for 1 minute. Turn of heat.
7. In a separate pan or casserole, place the 1/3 part of the ccoked rice, then add the half of chicken mixture, then another 1/3 of the rice, add the remaining half of the chicken, then the remaining rice. Cover and cook in a very low heat for 15 minutes.
8. Transfer your new dish into a platter or large serving plate.
9. Prepare the onion-raisin mixture for garnish. Heat 1 tbsp. of oil in a skillet, fry the onions until brown, add the raisins and soy sauce and cook for 1 minute.
10. Garnish and serve with Lettuce Salad .