Rice

Cooking with Rice

Rice is rice, that's what she said.  Once upon a time, I went for grocery shopping in a supermarket.  I could not find the specific brand of long grain rice, so I asked the shop assistant about it, and that was the answer.  I said no, there are varieties of rice, not every rice is the same.  She said: ooh, then she smiled politely.  What I am trying to say here is that you can have so many different types of rice and their uses.

Uncooked Jasmine Rice

Javanese people only cook white rice daily meals. We love the short/middle grain or long grain, which is semi glutinous.  It is excellent for steamed rice, the base of other rice dishes.

Today I cooked rice with distinctive flavours, it is not a Javanese dish; however I choose the rice that is similar to rice that I usually cook for Javanese dishes.  So I got Jasmine rice for cooking tomato rice which is ordinary steamed rice with tomato and herbs flavours. 

Tomato Rice

These are what you need,  to cook tomato rice:
1`cup long grain rice
2 cups of water
1 tablespoon oil
1fresh red tomato, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
Method
In a heavy-based pot, sauté the chopped tomato with the oil, until softened

Add in the tomato paste, stir, add in the bay leaf and a cup of water

Bring it to simmer, and cook for 2 minutes, stir it some time.

Add the rice, salt and stir in the rest of the water.

Keep on cooking uncover, until bubbly and the liquid is almost absorbed.
Give a big stir this time, cover the pot, reduce the heat to very low, keep on cooking for 9 minutes.
When it is cooked fluff the rice, put the lid on again until serving time.
To serve
Serve the rice with meat, chicken or fish dishes.
Tomato rice is delicious and straightforward, you can have any garnish that you fancy.

Tomato Rice Served With Fish

I can enjoy tomato rice as it is or just served it with chutney, sweet and straightforward.  But you do need the salad and protein to go with the rice, to make the meal complete.

Variation for steamed rice, turmeric rice, saffron rice, lemongrass rice, fragrant rice with pandan etc.

Happy Cooking and Have Fun!



Until Next Post
Susy

Roses And Roses

Roses in our backyard are flowering beautifully, the wet weather helps them to survive better.  This coming Easter we can have cut roses for the house, and the garden will have lovely colours.

Roses are very resilient plants, easy to care for; however, a proper pruning has to be done, fertilisers and insect spray have to be applied,  to achieve healthy plants and flowers.

The End Of March, The Roses In Our Backyard

My Appreciation of Roses.
I do so much with roses, I use them for cooking, garnishes and flower arrangements. The fresh petals are excellent to add into a water bowl, to wash hands. 

Dry the petals and use them for potpourri. I dried the rose petals, mix them with fragrant oil; however, it is not common practice, but I like it. The oil keeps the dried rose petals better and gives rooms a lovely smell.

Dried Petal Of Roses -  Fragrant Oil (Musk Rose)

Now it is late Autumn in Australia, enjoy the weekend by visiting gardens or parks, smell the roses and enjoy the beauty.

Sharing today's inspiration

Everything changes.  Everyone loves what they once had.

But the ultimate question is,  "What do you do with what you have left?"

Partnership Magazine, 1987

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March 30

Until Next Post.
Susy

Salads for Autumn

Fresh salads for this season, using seasonal vegetables and herbs.  I harvested two figs so far, they are the green fig with delicate pink flesh. Fresh figs are very refreshing for salads.  The green beans from my garden are finished now, we have been enjoying them for mixed salad.

Sweet and Sour Figs Salad

I serve the fig salad with meat dishes or grilled cheeses.  I enjoyed this salad with rice and double cooked meat pork.  The flavour combination reminds me of the meal that I had in Java. I had this kind of delicious salad for lunch at the time when my first child was born. It did make me a little nostalgic.

Mixed vegetable salad with Feta cheese.
Sliced green beans, Kepler potatoes, tomatoes, cos lettuces, egg and Feta cheese, dressed with olive oil, mixed fresh herb and a dash of lime.  Straightforward salad, it has to be served on the same day

It is an excellent garnish for meat, fish or pie dishes

Mixed Vegetable Salad with Feta cheese

Autumn is the season when I can prepare fresh salads to serve with hot dishes.  Some people if they cook hot meals, the garnished has to be warm too, but I do differently, fresh salads bring out the flavour of the dish, and the taste is refreshing.

Until Next Post
Susy

Baking Day

It is good sometimes to have a baking day, that way you can be organised. Have all the cooking needs, the ingredients, the tins, and so forth ready.  I often bake for the family and for special occasions, such as birthdays, baptisms, etc.






Today is the anniversary of my blog. To celebrate, I baked cheese pie for its birthday and some delicate scones to share.  I am very eager to do so because it happens only once a year.

Cheese and Vegetable Pie, with Fresh Herbs

The Birthday Pie for The first Anniversary for My Blog

The cheese pies looked good and tasted excellent, with my very own rich water pastry. The pastry is fragile, light and yet very crispy. Savouries are my favourite food, I love them,  just as well I am good at it.

The Preparation

Susy's rich water pastry with melted butter/oil for brushing

Look up my older post for water pastry, the precious water pastry is similar to it but contains one egg, reduce the quantity of warm water by a third, now you have Susy's rich water pastry.  Have you tried the water pastry yet?, I won't' blame you if you have not, you can always by filo pastry, which is readily available in any supermarket, but you miss the fun though!

Susy's Scones filled with Jam, Cream and Dust with Icing Sugar 

The Baking and Decorating

Delicate and Delicious Full Scones

The Recipe
Susy's Scones
Ingredients
2 level cups self-raising flour
35 g butter
1 egg, beat lightly
2 teaspoons caster sugar
2/3 cup of milk
extra flour for dusting
Method
Rub the butter to flour thoroughly
Add in the caster sugar, mix
Make a well in the middle of the flour mix
Add in the egg, milk at the same time
Mix them together quickly but lightly to make a soft dough
Transfer the dough to a floured surface, knead gently
Roll into a large even thickness about one centimetre
Cut the dough with a small scone cutter
It makes 16 scones

To serve

Serve as a full scone or open scone as you like.
The full scone: cut it into two, spread with the jam, top it with whipped cream then close it with the top of the scone.  Dust with icing powder to serve.


I did my own jam, it was a plum jam.  A friend of mine- Lyn gave the fruit from her garden.

Homemade jam, home baked scones of my own recipe.  They were a delightful treat to share.



Give the recipe a go, you may enjoy the scones for your pleasant morning or afternoon tea.  Happy Baking.

Enjoy the midweek everyone, thank you all for visiting my blog.

Until Next Post

Susy

What A Mess

The Power of Leaking Pipe

The whole house is in a mess. Empty the cupboard, empty the boxes,  empty the wall unit!  Move this and that, make more rooms, and so forth.  It is a big job, first to leave and to move the furniture. 

When it is finished, all these things have to go back to the right place, like before.  Today is Friday the 23th of March.  We have done the first step.

Saturday the 24th of March is the second day to bare chests, all magazines have to go,  I suppose they are my collection, I have not done any reading of that magazine not even touching them for the past two years, maybe it's time for them to go.  Another job, to move all the crockery and saucepans, and cooking pots, just to clear the space. 

Monday the 26th, the front room is like an auction house.  All furniture is jumbled up, oh dear I wanted to make coffee I could not rich the drawers.  No tea, no drink,  no morning or afternoon tea.

Things accumulate over the years, is it necessary to keep them?

It is more comfortable having a few things.

Over the years, I did not realise collecting so much junk.

Furniture is jumbled up, everywhere

Books, magazines you name it, are all over the place

 Tuesday morning the 27th of March 2012,  laying the brand new carpet.
It looks good.

What a mess, what a mess, Mr H.

We will take our time putting everything back to the right place.  In fact, it is time to get rid of some junk.

Simple life but not merely living.   We got more important things to care about.

Until Next Post

Susy