By now most of you would know me; love to use leftovers food, forgotten and left hidden in my pantry, fridge or freezer, some recreated from others by changing ingredients, sales food, and food that my sisters or mom doesn’t want them. Here’s my leftovers steamed-roasted cauliflower, hardboiled egg, fish and minced pork congee and to finished off the preserved olive leaves that I made it a new creation meal.
Congee is Chinese rice porridge, which can be served plain, sweet, or savoury. It is actually pretty bland in flavour. When additional ingredients such as meat, fish, and flavourings are added while preparing the congee, which is most often served as a meal on its own, especially for persons who are ill. Congee is served as breakfast, lunch and dinner in Malaysia. But even when I don’t feel sick, I still find it as satisfying meal. Well, my first time cooking congee with my mom helping me on the method. She cooks in a rice cooker.
Google: “Cauliflower as a highly modified form of cabbage in the mustard family, grown for its edible masses of partially developed flower structures and fleshy stalks. It is high in vitamins C and K, and is often served as a cooked vegetable or used raw in salads and relishes.”
“Hard-boiled or hard-cooked eggs are cooked so that the egg white and egg yolk both solidify, while soft-boiled eggs may leave the yolk, and sometimes the white, at least partially liquid and raw. Boiled eggs are a popular breakfast food around the world.”
“Chinese olive vegetable is a condiment made of olives, preserved mustard vegetables, salt, and oil. It contains a very high amount of umami flavour and is most commonly used in fried rice, stir fries, or as a condiment (it’s especially good mixed in with congee). Chinese olive vegetable is slightly salty and has a deep earthy olive flavour. It contains an abundant amount of umami-ness and is very delicious. Since they are not as salty as regular olives, they can be used in larger amounts to flavour dishes. With that being said, they also taste nothing like olives as well.”
I am grateful to have leftovers food to eat. I have written down for you the congee and cauliflower recipe below; you can use fresh cooked. Be courageous in using any leftovers, gives them a lift of flavours, vibrant colours, comforting, and delicious. Let’s bring leftovers food back to life!!!
Ingredients
Fish and minced pork congee (porridge)
2-3 c cooked rice
1 ” fresh ginger
1 1/2 Tbs minced garlic
1/2 Tbs oyster sauce
1/2 Tbs soy sauce
6-10 prawn heads, fry with 1 Tbs oil and 1 Tsp minced garlic, once turned red, smashed and cook with 4 c water, salt and pepper to make stock
2 drumsticks plus 4 c water; 1 ” ginger, salt, black peppercorns and 4 garlic cloves to make stock
200-250 g minced pork
200 g white tail snapper, fillets
2 Tsp olive oil
1/2 Tsp minced fresh ginger
1/2 Tsp minced garlic
1 Tsp Shaoxing wine
1 Tsp soy sauce
1/4 Tsp salt, and extra
1 Tsp pepper and extra
water, if necessary
Air fryer steamed-roasted whole cauliflower
Ingredients
1 whole small cauliflower
2-4 Tsp Giuliano Tartufi truffle sauce
chili flakes
salt
black pepper
oil
hot water
Hardboiled eggs
6 eggs, 80 g
water
1 large metal bowl with tap water, chilled
Method
Fish and minced pork congee (porridge)
In the rice cooker, add cooked rice, two stocks (2 c each stock first), fresh ginger, garlic, oyster sauce, soy sauce to pot and turn on rice cooker. Uncovered and stir occasionally for 45 minutes; to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom or until congee is smooth and no longer grainy and broken. Add more prawns or chicken stock and water if necessary.
In a bowl, combine minced pork, ginger, garlic, Shaoxing wine, salt, pepper, soy sauce, and oil. Mix well and set aside in the refrigerator. When congee is nearly done; has the right consistency: creamy. Add minced pork to congee, breaking down minced pork, and simmer until minced pork is cooked, for about 10 minutes.
When congee is done, change setting to ‘keep warm’. Add fish fillets to rice cooker. Stir and cover for 5 minutes or until it is cooked through. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Air fryer steamed-roasted whole cauliflower
Method
Remove the outer green leaves from the cauliflower and trim the stem slightly to enable it to stand upright. Submerge the entire cauliflower head in a basin of water and gently wriggle it to wash off dirt and maintain moisture.
Bring out the air fryer cup and place a small metal pie dish inside. Then place the metal hole rack on top of the pie dish. Pour hot water into the metal pie dish about 1/4 inch. Carefully put the air fryer cup back into the machine and set it to steam mode at 160°C. Heat the air fryer for about 3 minutes.
Line a small baking tray with double-lined foil, place the cauliflower on it, and lightly spray oil all over. Spread 2-4 tsp of Giuliano Tartufi truffle sauce over the cauliflower, then sprinkle salt, black pepper, and chili flakes on top. Allow it to sit for a while.
Be careful when removing the cup to check for water in the pie dish. Then place the baking tray with cauliflower into the cup, ensuring you can still see the pie dish in case you need to refill with hot water. Sprinkle some hot water using a pastry brush on top of cauliflower, and gently put the cup back into the machine. Steam-roast for 4 minutes first, then remove the cup to check for water in the pie dish again.
Again, sprinkle hot water on top of the cauliflower and gently place the cup back to steam-roast for another 6 minutes. After that, check the tenderness of the cauliflower by pricking it with a knife. If it’s not tender and cooked, steam for an additional 2 minutes to ensure it’s fully done.
When it’s done cooking, carefully remove the baking tray with the cauliflower using a metal food clipper. Take out the metal rack and pie dish. Be cautious as they will be hot. Let the cauliflower rest, covered with tented foil, for 5 minutes before cutting into florets and plating up.
Hardboiled eggs
Chilled the large metal bowl with tap water in fridge. Fill the large saucepan with enough water so it will cover the eggs by 1 -2 inches. Bring to a rapid boil over high heat. Using a slotted spoon, gently lower fridge-cold eggs into the water. Lower heat to prevent eggs from cracking the reason is to keep it at a gentle boil / rapid simmer. (Water should still be bubbling but not so much).
Now set the timer for 12 minutes as soon as you put all the eggs in. When the time is up, switch off the hob and leave the eggs in for a further 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, remove the eggs using a slotted spoon into the chilled large bowl with tap water to cool the eggs. Alternatively, you can transfer the eggs to a large bowl of ice water and chill for 12–14 minutes. This makes the eggs easier to peel. I have learned from most chefs about hard-boiled eggs. I remember all the notes. I am sharing their notes with you.
Note: Eggs may vary based on size, type, and freshness. Farm-fresh eggs are more difficult to peel than older eggs. Don’t crowd the eggs, they will take longer to cook! Saucepan size for number of eggs: 16cm/6″ – up to 4 eggs 18cm/7″ – 6 eggs More eggs = larger pot. Place eggs in a single layer on the bottom of a saucepan. You don’t want to pile them on top of each other. Keeping them in one layer, reduces the risk of cracking the shells when they come to a boil.
Egg size – Eggs are sold in different sizes. The cook times provided in the recipe are for large eggs (55g/2oz each in the shell), sold in cartons labelled as such. For extra-large eggs (60g/2.2oz) add 30 seconds, for jumbo eggs (65g/2.5oz) add 1 minute. Cooking time can range from 10 to 14 minutes, depending on the size of your eggs, altitude, and how firm you want them to be. If the shells are not easily peeling away from the eggs, place them back into the ice water and try again in 5 minutes.
Still got cracking issues? Thin shells are a problem (are you using free range?) and sometimes eggs already have a hairline fracture (can be invisible). Ice water – there’s no need to waste precious ice for the water though if you have an abundance of ice, feel free to go ahead as it will speed up the cooling time. Just be sure to use enough tap water to cool the eggs. Peeled or unpeeled hard boiled eggs will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Leftovers food must be kept in an airtight container in fridge up to 5 days, everyday open the lid wipe dry or cover with cling wraps and change every day; the reason is not to let water drips onto food. To save space in the freezer store leftovers in triple zip locks bags and double cling wraps to prevent leakage. Label the name of food and date made. Freezer food can last more than 1 week to 2 weeks. Do check for mold before preheating them. Leftovers food kept in jar with lids must sterilised jars. I use them for my stocks. To reheat leftovers food, thawed them first especially from freezer. If it’s a bit dry add some hot water or stock. Stir them regularly while heating in saucepan or microwave.
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