Search Results for: brown rice

Brown Rice Chicken Porridge in a Crockpot

October 1, 2012 by Betty

Do you have a favorite dish when you’re sick or have a cold? Growing up, chicken porridge or congee was my comfort food. In Chinese, it’s called Jook. Whenever I had the sniffles or any sign of a sore throat, I could be sure that my grandmother would lovingly serve me a bowl of porridge. Just thinking about it brings back fond memories of my grandmother’s cooking. Mmmm… I could remember the fragrant smell of ginger as the porridge simmers in the pot. To this day, I could eat rice porridge any day, and when I do make it, I usually ended up eating too big of a bowl. And thus my comfort food!

I have to warn you that this is not a low-carb food if you’re on a low-carb or the Paleo diet.

This comfort food of mine is starting to be our family favorites. Last weekend, when we came back from our church retreat, we were all exhausted and some of us were under the weather. So, I turned to my kitchen and lovingly prepared one big crockpot full of brown rice chicken porridge. Boy, did it hit the spot! Manners aside, my little girl picked up her bowl with her two hands, and poured the last drops of the porridge into her mouth. Then when dinnertime came, my big boy asked if I were serving porridge. My brown rice chicken porridge was a hit! Here are the easy and quick steps:

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice
8 quarts of homemade chicken broth or cans
shredded chicken
cilantro chopped
green onion chopped
dash of sea salt
ginger (peeled and cut into thin slivers)
ground white pepper (optional)

Instructions:

Wash brown rice and put it in an 8-quart crockpot and add chicken broth to about 1 ½ inch from the rim of the pot.
Turn crockpot on to low setting and let it cook for about 6 hours. I usually turn it on before I head to bed and when I wake up, my porridge’s ready for me.
We like our porridge thin, so I usually have to add a little more hot broth or hot water before we serve it.
While the porridge is hot, add chicken, cilantro, green onion and slivers of ginger to taste. Over here, we love cilantro and green onion so we put those in our soups generously. All my three kids also liked having the ginger in their porridge.
Lastly, add a little white pepper (optional)

Note: We like our green onion softened by the hot porridge, so I usually put the green onion in the bowl first before I add the porridge.

If you were to order porridge at a Chinese restaurant, it usually comes with Chinese deep fried bread sticks, also known as Youtiao. They are also available at your local Asian supermarkets.

pictures credit

DIY chicken broth:

I generally use one to two chicken carcass and add enough water to cover it, about 8 quarts of water. Any kind of chicken bones would be okay. Add one small onion and five medium slices of ginger. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce to a very slow simmer for about 3 hours or longer. I’ve simmered chicken for 6 hours and what I got is darker, thicker, reduced chicken broth. When chicken broth is done, use a fine metal sieve and drain the liquid into a big bowl or another pot. Toss bones and whatever’s left in the sieve. This reduced stock is perfect for freezing when you’re not using right away. When you’re ready to use this broth, thaw and add more water to dilute.

For quinoa soup, read Easy Peruvian Quinoa Chowder. For a kale soup recipe, click Zuppa Soup.

Sushi Bowl Recipe

December 11, 2012 by Betty

My family loves sushi. A couple of times out of the month I’d make California rolls and my kids just couldn’t have enough of it so I decided to change things up a little bit and convert regular sushi into a sushi bowl. This sushi bowl turns out to be a hit and now one of our favorite family meals. Here’s my version of the sushi bowl.

Ingredients:

2 cups short-grain brown rice
3 1/2 cups water
3 (4-inch) square sheets nori seaweed
6 ounces extra-firm tofu
2 avocado, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
4 green onions, chopped (optional)

Instructions:

Rinse and drain the rice two or three times. Combine the rice and water in a rice cooker or a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, cover, and simmer gently until the water is absorbed, about 45 minutes.

Toast the nori in a preheated 300F degree oven or a medium-hot skillet for a few minutes. Crumble or chop coarsely.

Drain the tofu and pat it dry. Cut the block of tofu lengthwise through the middle to make four 1/4-to 1/2-inch thick sheets of tofu. Two at a time, cook in a dry skillet or well-seasoned skillet over medium-high for a few minutes until browned on one side. Flip gently, then continue cooking for another minute or so, until the tofu is firm, golden, and bouncy. Let cool, enough to handle, then cute crosswise into matchsticks. Repeat with the remaining sheets.

When the rice is done, scoop the rice into individual bowls and top with tofu and avocado slices following with some yummy homemade Ponzo sauce (see below). Lastly, toss in toasted nori and add a sprinkling of sesame seeds. Garnish with chopped up green onion. (optional) Served immediately with Orange-Ginger Dipping Sauce or Ponzo sauce. See Easy Homemade Ponza Sauce below for recipe. Enjoy!

Makes 4-6 servings.

Notes: Other substitutes for tofu are wild salmon filets, chicken or beef. To avoid GM foods (Genetically Modified foods or biotech foods) use organic tofu.

Easy Homemade Ponzo Sauce

3 tablespoons low-sodium tamari soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar (brown or white)
3 tablespoons mirin (Japanese seasoning wine)

Makes about 1/2 cup

Ponzo sauce from The Taste for Living World Cookbook by Beth Ginsberg and Mike Milken and sushi bowl recipe adapted from 101 Cookbooks.

To get a snippet of GM foods, watch Food Inc., a documentary. Your library might carry this.

Filed Under: Main Dishes Tagged With: sushi, sushi in a bowl

Easy Peruvian Quinoa Chowder

November 14, 2012 by Betty

During the crisp, cold days of fall, one of our favorite meals is soup. We love a variety of soups like Brown Rice Porridge in a Crockpot, and here’s another one that we recently came across and have fallen in love with. My friend Donna introduced me to this Peruvian Quinoa Soup. Did you know that quinoa is a great source of protein? To learn more about quinoa, read How to Cook Quinoa, whfoods.com.

Ingredients

1 pound peeled and deveined raw shrimp, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons sea salt (divided)
2 tablespoons coconut oil or oil of your choice
1 bunch scallions (about 6), whites and green tops thinly sliced
3 cloves minced garlic
1 to 2 jalapeño chiles, seeded and minced
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano (not powdered)
2/3 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
6 cups homemade or purchased gluten-free chicken broth or water
1 cup corn kernels (defrosted if frozen)
¼ cup coconut milk creamer or half-and-half
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Lime wedges, for serving

Instructions

Put the shrimp in a colander over the sink and toss them with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Let stand until ready to use. (Use within about 30 minutes or refrigerate.)

In a large pot, heat the oil over moderate heat. Add the scallions and cook until starting to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeños and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the tomato paste, cumin and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes more.

Add the quinoa and chicken broth to the pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the quinoa is cooked, about 12 minutes. Stir in the corn, half-and-half and the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt. Simmer gently until the corn is cooked, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the shrimp and the black pepper. Cook until the shrimp just turns pink, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cilantro. Serve the soup with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Served alone or with your favorite fall salad.

Makes 6 servings.

Note: you can substitute chicken for shrimp. To make it spicier, add extra jalapeno at the end.

Adapted from the Oregonian Food Day.

For porridge recipe, click Brow Rice Chicken Porridge in a Crock Pot. For a kale soup recipe, click Zuppa Soup.