Ethan likes helping me in the kitchen and I encourage him to assist in handling simple tasks like rolling the dough, beating the eggs, whisking the batter etc. He even has his own miniature rolling pin and apron :) I believe this is first step towards teaching him to understand instructions, better motor control & ultimately, take responsibility in house chores. Besides, it's a good bonding time too.
This is actually a simple fried rice recipe, in order to make it more interesting I thought of using spring roll skin to make a pocket instead, so Ethan can be involved and the presentation shall be pretty nice, like a blossom flower.
The "pockets" turned out well as I imagined them to be and little Ethan loved them, he ate 2 of the pockets all by himself and gave me a star sticker after meal for being a good mommy, followed by a kiss. Haha, now that's instant recognition! :)
Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did. If you do not have an oven or missing spring roll skins, just serve the fried rice as is.
Preparation Time: 30 min
Cooking Time: 25 min
Serving for: 10 Pockets
Ingredients:
For the Fried Rice (A):
1 cup cooked rice
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup sweet potatoes, diced
1/2 cup pumpkin, diced
1/2 cup french beans, diced
1/2 cup red capsicum/bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1/2 cup raisins
Some fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 6" sausage, sliced
Dash of salt & black pepper
3 table spoons of soya sauce
1 tea spoon of sesame oil
For Wrap:
4 pieces of spring roll skin(薄饼皮), cut according to your cupcake holder size
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (my cheese had turned bad so I used cheddar cheese instead)
Step-by-Step Guides:
1. Preheat oven at 180C/200C (gas/fan).
2. In a frying pan, heat up 2 big spoons of olive oil, fries the garlic till it's lightly brown and fragrance. Add in the carrots, pumpkins, beans, capsicums and sweet potatoes. Stir fry for about 3 minutes.
3. Add sliced sausages into the pan, follow by basil leaves. Season with salt and black pepper. Add a dash of ground pepper if you like.
4. Toss in the white rice, add the soya sauce, sesame oil and mix all ingredient and rice evenly. Cook for another 5 minutes then add the raisins. Turn off the heat and set aside.
5. Cut spring roll skin according to the size of your cupcake tray, form the shape of a pocket. Scoop in the fried rice until 3/4 full, add mozzarella cheese and sprinkles cashew nuts on top.
6. Bake the "pocket" or wraps in the preheat oven for 10-15 minutes until crispy.
The wraps taste best when serve hot. You may scope the rice with a spoon or just bite into it directly. Ethan loved the crispy spring roll skin, he scooped all the rice then ate the crispy skin with some ketchup. Nothing is left after lunch :)
Useful Tips!
1. You can replace any veggies above with your preferred choice, however as seen here I used veggies of different colors for balanced nutrients (same veggies I used for making baby's puree food, I just cut extra :)
2. When cooking fried rice, best to use refrigerated rice instead of freshly cook rice so the rice will not be soggy and all stick together.
3. For vegetarian version, just skip the sausages. It tastes nice nonetheless.
4. For prettier result, brush some egg yolks onto the spring roll skin before putting them into oven, I skipped this step, pure laziness.
5. If using wanton skin (云吞皮) or smaller cupcake holder size, this can be perfect bite-size food for party, just serve along side some ketchup or hot sauce.
I love the vibrant colors. Smelled great too.
The ready fried rice
Scooping in the rice is the easy part, let your little one helps.
Nothing gone to waste, the remaining spring roll skins were used for making rice rolls :)
No comments:
Post a Comment