Wednesday 5 August 2009

One-Dish Wonder

The beauty of a 1-dish meal...


easy to prepare, and super-easy to clean up!


I am blessed with non-fussy eaters at home, they eat whatever meals I lay on the dining table, except for the occasional groans whenever I serve congee or porridge for lunch. I am not shy to say that I take advantage of those forgiving taste buds. Whenever possible, I'll go for simple dinners which need minimum preparation...which also means minimum skills required. That's probably why my culinary skill never seems to improve over the years ^_^


Baked rice happens to be one of our favourite 1-dish meals. However, I try not to turn it into a regular item in our dinner menu. I believe this dish is quite fattening...with the cream and cheese that goes into it!


We had this seafood baked rice the other night. Loaded with fresh prawns, lala (clams), sotong (squids) and fish fillet. I couldn't get salmon, so I had to settle for batang (Spanish Mackerel).


This 1-dish meal did a great job of uniting the savoury flavours of the various seafood ingredients. The rice was full of flavour after soaking up all the natural sweetness from the prawns and clams. It will certainly quench any seafood lover’s appetite...and of course, I love seafood ;')


Seafood Baked Rice

Ingredients
(serves 4)

2 cups** uncooked rice
200g prawns, with shells
100g clams
1 squid, cut into thick rings
200g fish fillet, cut into thick slices
some mixed vegetables
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
1/2 cup (125ml) water
salt and pepper
some grated mozzarella cheese

Method:
  1. Wash and cook rice with rice cooker.
  2. Wash and prepare prawns, clams, squid and fish slices.
  3. Heat up a large, deep pan, with some cooking oil. Stir fry minced garlic and add in the seafood ingredients. Add in the mixed vegetables. (Do not cook the seafood till done as it will continue to cook in the oven.)
  4. Add in the cream, stir well. Add in water and bring to a boil. (Note, always add cream BEFORE water, otherwise the mixture may not be smooth.)
  5. Add in the cooked rice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and let it cook for 1 to 2 mins or until the sauce is almost fully absorbed by the rice.
  6. Place rice into a heatproof baking dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
  7. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 220 degC, till the cheese turns golden brown. Sprinkle with some dried parsley. Serve immediately.
    Note: ** refers to the rice cup that comes with the rice cooker.

    Recipe source: adapted from 懒人焗烤

60 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it possible to substitute heavy cream with Greek yogurt instead?

Kitchen Corner said...

WOW!!! Looking at this make me really hungry :P It's a very delicious meal. I like it!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Looks delicious! Might try this out, but perhaps with tomato base instead of cream...since my girls like tomato base. ;)

celine said...

i like it - looks soooo yummy (taste good, i am sure), plus quick and easy to assemble. thanks SO MUCH for sharing!

petite nyonya said...

Your baked rice looks delicious-ly packed with seafood & cheese. I am in zero mood to cook today & would be so great if I can have a plate of this rice served to me :D. Btw, do you use the normal Jasmine rice or other types?

missy said...

yumyum i couldnt complain if I have this for dinner sometimes too :)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, no it is not advisable to use Greek yogurt. However, instead of heavy cream you can use pouring cream which has less fat.

Thanks Grace!

Hi Honey Bee Sweets, tomato base will be delicious too :D

Hi Skinnymum, hope you will like this recipe!

Hi Nyonya Pendek Melaka, I use normal Jasmine rice. I totally understand what you mean when you say you have zero mood to cook, I am in that mood most of the time ;)

Blessed Homemaker said...

Coincidentally I made baked rice today too. Fish baked rice again as dd1 doesn't like fish and I have to incorporate it into our 1 dish meals.

Passionate About Baking said...

Hi HHB,
Oh wow wow! I'm not a rice person. But your baked rice really really makes me very very hungry!! Yummy yummy!!

MH said...

Your baked rice looks so delicious with all the seafood! And yes, baked rice is very fattening with all the cream and cheese! :(

Whenever I run out of idea what to prepare/cook for lunch, porridge is the answer! :D However, my kids do not fancy porridge! But, they'll enjoy more if lots of lots of pork floss are sprinkle on top! :D

Olivia said...

Hi

I've sent you a Kreativ Blogger Award. You have been nominated as you have always spiced up my culinary journey.

Please refer to my blog for the award details.

Thanks and Cheers
Olivia

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Blessed Homemaker, fish baked rice is good too! I have tried baked rice with salmon and tomato base sauce, a lot easier than this seafood version ;)

Thanks Jane!

MH, I like to cook porridge for lunch too! but my kids don't really fancy porridge, they prefer noodles. They like pork floss on their porridge too, and sometimes I will also use our heng hwa seaweed as toppings.

Thank you Olivia for passing the award to me :D

agapejen said...

wow, it looks so delicious. I told myself I have to lose some weights, kind of so determine that I bought those meal replacement packs... but I think I will start after trying out this baked rice.. hee hee

Anonymous said...

HI HHB

was at home the last 3 days and had to cook 2 meals a day plus looking after 3 kids...no joke, i must say, so really admire you, can have time to bake/cook, maintain a blog, coach your kids etc...how do you manage to find time to do all these!?
i do enjoy cooking for the family but think will bengsan if need to do it every day... anyway, purpose of this message is to say a big thank you to you for sharing the tips to make onigiri. i tried it out, it was really simple and my kids love the pork floss and mayo!
this baked rice looks yummy, one question, can i use those nestle canned cream?
thks
octopusmum

云の天空 said...

Hi Happy Homebaker,

Loves your blog...a lot of nice food which I can learn here. =)

Cuisine Paradise said...

Wow..thIs is indeed a great 1-dish-meal for busy mum like me... thanks thanks for sharing this. Can i check wif u, what kind of fish fillet do you use? I will like to try this over the weekend too :)

said...

is absolutely beautiful...

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi octopusmum, yes you can use nestle's canned cream.

Hi Ellena, for this I used batang, you can try with salmon.

Anonymous said...

i dont cook! only bake.
so this recipe is definitely a must try for me ;)
looks awesome.
reminds me of swensens!
but why have it there when you can some better ones at home right? :)

Anonymous said...

Hi HHb

thks for your prompt reply! another thing, i would like to try out the maki sushi sandwich since i have all the ingredients. would like to clarify if the rice vinegar is the normal chinese rice vinegar or must it be those japanese sushi rice vinegar?
thks
octopusmum

CY said...

Hi HHB

This looks like a great dish! Do you think I can substitute chicken for some of the seafood as I'm allergic to shellfish?

Anonymous said...

This looks absolutely perfect! I don't eat cheese, but the cheesaholic mister had always wanted to know how to cook baked rice. I'm definitely passing this recipe to him!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi octopusmum, please use Japanese Sushi rice vinegar, it is different from the chinese rice vinegar. Do note that Japanese Rice Vinegar does not have sugar added, whereas Japanese Sushi Rice Vinegar has sugar in it. So do take note which one you get. If you get the Japanese Rice Vinegar, you will need to add sugar.

Hi CY, for a chicken baked rice, you can refer to my other recipe "Chicken & Mushroom Baked Rice" under the category "Simple Dishes'. Hope this helps.

FL Mom said...

What an impressive dish! Too bad my family is so non-seafood. I don't think canned tuna and salmon counts as seafood. :)

Talita said...

This looks delicious!!
By the way, I made the bacon and cheese bread, just changed the filling. That is so yummy!! I post in my blog, I hope you don't mind! =)

Anna Chan said...

Your baked rice looks so delicious! I find the simplicity of a one dish meal so very appealing too.

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Say, HHB, did you get to work on your blueberry chiffon cake? :-).... I tried to do a peach chiffon yesterday - turned out funny, cake looks good when I unmolded it but there were big air pockets inside. Am suspecting that peaches may contain certain enzymes that destabilise the egg white, will try the recipe again but will do something to kill the enzyme.

Raquel said...

Your blog is simply delicious ... a pleasure for the senses, with permission I it add rapidly to my list of favorites.
A greeting fondly from Spain and please disculple my English;)
Raquel from TratadeCocinaR

Sylwia said...

Oh, how I love one pot meals! This looks mouth watering!!!!

Susan from Food Blogga said...

Oh, you are lucky to have easy-going eaters. Course you probably helped them become that way with your delicious cooking! This dish look absolutely delicious.

Nicole Feliciano said...

Looks great--as a busy mom I love one-dish cooking. I hope you'll stop by my recipe exchange! http://momtrends.blogspot.com/2009/08/friday-feasts-poached-salmon.html

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi kokken69, I have tried the blueberry chiffon, it didnt work out too well...there are also some air pockets too :( I hope I am able to write a post on it soon.

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

I see, interesting. I do have a blueberry chiffon recipe. Have never tried it yet. I will try to experiment with it. If it works, will pass it to you.

Anonymous said...

Hi HHB, do you think milk can replace the cream in the recipe? cream just gives everything a taste too rich for my liking. heh actually this is what i always wonder when i see cream being called for in bread puddings etc as well :P

Happy Homebaker said...

Thanks køkken69!

Hi Anonymous, I am not sure about replacing cream with milk...it may not go well...it probably also depends on the type of milk you are using. I have tried using milk to replace cream when making cream sauce for pasta, the taste was not as good.

Bergamot said...

It surely looks good and yeah not messy at all.

sherlyn said...

Looks so good.

Anonymous said...

Hi, HHB,

I was just wondering, would it be ok to use creamy white sauce (like the Dolmio's or Ragu) instead of cream, do you think? I'd like to attempt this recipe and don't always have cream on hand (I'm a lazy one, I know).

- Fai

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Fai, unless you like the taste of those creamy white sauce, otherwise I would suggest that you stick to cream. I am not sure whether you can get those Nestle cream that comes in a can? You can use that instead, it contains less fat too. It doesnt need refrigeration so I always keep a few in my cupboard to stand-by.

Missy said...

i like baked one dish item too!

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... what is the name of the canned cream, I'm wondering? Table cream? Pouring cream? Or is it like condensed milk?

- Fai

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Fai, it's from the Nestle brand.

Anonymous said...

Thks for sharing this delicious recipe! My kids were simply delighted with tonite's dinner - my son excitedly exclaimed tht ".. it looks just like the ones served in restaurants! And more importantly - it taste so good, too!" Here is a pic of wht my seafood baked rice looks like - http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/sspaks64/seafoodbakedrice-1.jpg

Susanna, Perth

Anonymous said...

Ok, I'm going to try it with what we call 'double cream' in the UK. =) I only have prawns and the mixed veggies though, and no other sea food, so I hope it'll still be nice!

- Fai

Anonymous said...

Hi...It seems quite interested..However, does it necessary to put in the heavy cream and what is the purpose? And can we make it with microwave?

Unknown said...

It is really enjoyable to read your blog. I have some question here. Can we use cheddar instead of grated mozzarella cheese ? and can we make it with microwave?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, the heavy cream is added to give it the dish a rich and creamy taste. If your microwave comes with a baking function, then you can use it to make this dish.

Hi Angerlic, thanks for your commnts. Mozzarella cheese is milder in taste and is softer, and melts easily in the oven, and has a stretchy texture. Cheddar cheese is sharper in flavour and will not melt as easily. Unless your microwave comes with the baking function, you will need an oven to make this dish. Hope this helps.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Pls tell me where i can find the heavy cream cos the NTUC outlets i went did not sell this. Does heavy cream has another name for it? thks alot :)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, you can get this heavy cream, brand name 'Bulla' thickened cream from cold storage.

Anonymous said...

Hi. A quite interesting dish. Can we use whipping cream instead of heavy cream?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, yes, you can use dairy whipping cream.

Anonymous said...

The dish looks wonderful, but the constant popping up windows all over this page is annoying enough for me to write off a revisit.

sherlyn said...

Hi Anonymous,

I hope HHB will not blame me for adding this comment. If you allow your mouse to stay away from her post (like placing the mouse pointer arrow on the scroll bar.. the windows should not pop up.

HTHs.

Happy Homebaker said...

Thanks Sherlyn for your comment :)
I don't have problem with windows popping all over, so I didn't know what was the root cause.

Anonymous said...

Hi HHB, I'm so glad I chanced upon ur recipe today. I cooked cheese baked rice in the past but could never get the rice to stick together. So was I glad that I saw your trick ie fry the rice with the cream sauce to absorb the creaminess. Just in the nick of time as I was waiting for the rice to cok while I made a last min attempt to google for 'how to make the rice stick' in baked rice. My family loved the result so thanks! Michelle

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Michelle, glad to know that the texture is what you have been looking for :):)

Anonymous said...

Can I use canned condensed tomato soup as a tomato base instead of heavy cream

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, I am sorry I am not sure about using canned tomato soup.

Unknown said...

Hi, I'm thinking of doing fish bake rice tonight but can I use those pasta sauce instead heavy cream? And since it will bake for 20 mins do i need to pan fried the fish first? Thanks in advance.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, u can use pasta sauce. It is best to pan fry the fish to ensure it is fully cooked unless u cut it into thin slices and probably need to layer the slices on top on the rice.