Chinese Spicy Sausage and Shrimp Rice Using Rice Cooker

Imgur, the image sharing and hosting service that I've been using for years, just decided to stop letting IPs from Taiwan to upload any more images. What a bummer. 

So all my recent posts images were either uploaded to Imgur before their "execution" date, uploaded directly through Blogger, or uploaded when I was traveling abroad. Not sure why Imgur stopped their service to Taiwan, but I highly suspect it was due to some sort of political reason. 

Oh well, if you have any good alternatives, please kindly drop a message and let me know. I'm not sure how long or how big of the files Blogger will hold.

Chinese spicy sausage and shrimp rice using rice cooker - 

Ingredients (about 4 servings)?

• 2 1/2 rice measuring cups white rice (I used basmati rice)
• 2 links Chinese spicy sausage
• 14 to 15 shrimp
• 6 medium spiced dried bean curd 五香豆乾
• 6 dried shiitake mushroom
• 1 medium bell pepper
• 120 grams lettuce salad
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce

How?

Quickly rinse the dried shiitake mushrooms and soak in room temperature water. I used filtered drinkable water. Soak till softened.

Once ready, save the water and remove the mushrooms. Destem then slice the cap.

Peel and devein the shrimps. Destem, pitted, and slice the bell pepper to strips. Cube the spiced dried bean curd. Destem then slice the lettuce to strips.

Use the Asian rice measuring cup, the smaller kind to measure the rice, not the usual measuring cups. Add to the inner pot of rice cooker, gently wash the rice like you'd usually do.

Drain out the liquid. Mix in shiitake mushrooms, bell pepper, and bean curd.

Season with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce. Place two Chinese spicy sausages on top then arrange shrimps around. Pour in 1 cup of shiitake water, the one used in soaking the mushroom. Then add enough of water until it reaches the "2 cups" indication mark on the pot.

Shut the lid and simply press that cooking button. Just wait till it's ready, can't be easier than that.

Once ready, remove the sausages. Slice then mix back to the pot. Gently fold in lettuce strips while the rice is still hot.

I used Asian spicy sausages from Hunan province. It was smoked and got that Asian style spicy note. Such sausage is like a magic ingredient, making everything with it extra delicious.

However, if you're having trouble finding such particular ingredient, I think Cajun spiced sausages will somewhat do the trick too.  

Other recipes using rice cooker:

• Pork bamboo shoot and shiitake takikomo gohan 炊き込みご飯
• Chicken and gobo takikomi gohan (鶏ごぼうの炊き込みご飯)
• Japanese hijiki no takikomi gohan ひじきの炊き込みご飯
• Mama Yu's cabbage rice 余媽媽高麗菜飯
• Aromatic magao chicken soup prepared with Tatung steam rice cooker

One Way to Utilize Leftover Lady Fingers - Coffee and Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

I made some tiramisu a while back, the non-alcoholic version. So I got a pack of lady fingers but ended up with more than half of the portion unused. That's why this ice cream cake recipe was born, just a simply way to use up all the leftover lady fingers that's been sitting in the shelf for weeks.

Coffee and chocolate ice cream cake using lady fingers - 

Ingredients?

• 18 to 22 lady fingers
• 2/3 cup coffee (black or milky kind)
• 400ml cookie and cream ice cream (just pick something you like)
• 400ml milk ice cream (just pick something you like)
• Some dark chocolate shavings
• Some cocoa powder

How? 

Brew the coffee of your liking, let it be black coffee or the milky kind, both work find. We need about 2/3 cup. Once done, pour over to a dish with some depth, a dish wide enough to soak in the entire lady finger. Set aside and let cool.

Line a meatloaf pan with cling foil. It doesn't have to be pretty, just helps pulling out the cake in the end.

Remove one of the ice cream from the freezer and wait till soften enough to scoop and reshape, but not too watery or soggy.

When ready to assemble, dip the lady finger to the coffee both sides, then arrange one single layer on the bottom of the pan.

Scoop the softened ice cream all over and try to smooth out the surface. I used cookie and cream ice cream to begin with, but my optimal choice was coconut milk, no luck finding that.

Shave some dark chocolate all over the surface.

Loosely cover the pan with cling foil and into the freezer till set. At least semi-set, that'll be a minimum of 30 minutes just to be safe. Meanwhile, remove the second ice cream choice from the freezer and wait to be softened.

Once ready, take out the pan, uncover, and add another layer of coffee-dipped lady fingers. Scoop the second ice cream flavor all over and smooth out the surface.

Loosely cover with cling foil again and into the freezer till fully set this time. I waited 2 hours, but preferably overnight.

When ready to serve, remove the pan from the freezer and invert to a cutting board. Take out the cling coil. Dust some cocoa powder all over the top. Slice and serve right away.

I took too long setting up the plate and table, so by the time I'm ready to take some pictures, the bottom ice cream nearly all melted.

Also I guess the consistency of the milk flavored ice cream I chose had something to do with it too. It was a bit softer than the cookie and cream one, making it harder to hold up the shape once removed from the fridge. 

Oh well, still not too bad in the end especially I didn't get to use my top choice coconut milk ice cream. What would you use instead? I suppose a bit exotic matcha flavored ice cream should tastes pretty good too.

Extended reading:

• No alcohol no heavy cream tiramisu (quality eggs will do)