Cooking Mama's Cooking Challenge #21: Boiled Egg

 i did this on the sly while doing another recipe so that i could have more than just 'egg' for dinner yes im a geniououeaeious thank you

Measure and add!

warder

Boil the eggs!

ah shit i was going to soft boil them but i got distracted and missed the timer going off so they are hard boiled oops

Peel the eggs!

at least these are peeling easy

Finish

**

sorry they are hard boiled i had one job but idk i like hard boiled eggs too tbh chomp chomp if you are wondering what happens to half the food like the other two eggs i was cooking they are in the fridge for tomorrows lunch im not actually as chaotic as mama who just lost 2 eggs somewhere along the way

Cooking Mama's Cooking Challenge #20: Croquette

Did this one with my family a little while back. Me n' my mum team work!! Kicks mamas ass

Boil some potatoes!

Again, normally id just peel them and chop them into smaller bits but whatever.

Peel while hot!

Mums going rogue on this one and using her own hot potato peeling technique!

Mash some potatoes!

mashy mashy

Melt the butter!

I'm trying to do these in different shapes because it keeps coming up.

Saute!

Cooking a load of pork mince with red wine, salt and pepper.

Add the ingredients!

We're actually using a higher mince-to-potato ratio than the recipe shows, seems good though.

Knead!

Smushing it all together with a spoon instead of my bare hands seems to be working anyway.

Make shape!

My mums doing the rolling I'm doing the battering. She went for kinda small tube shapes instead of the patties, but I think she might be onto something here. They'll fit well in the fry basket this way.

Coat various foods!

Here I am drying and wetting.

Roll in the coating!

Here mum is drying the wets.

Deep fry!

ohhh ddammnn

Finish

*****

dddaaaammmm!!!!!1

Cooking Mama's Cooking Challenge #19: Fried Rice

Curiously, this one actually skips the process of making the rice. This is probably because a lot of people will tell you it's good to use day-old rice that's had time to cool and dry out slightly. So i cooked some rice (long grain this time!) in advance. I'm going to make this as a side dish alongside another recipe you'll see in the future! (Grilled Mackerel)

Slice an onion!

Going to do 2 onions instead of 1 because these are sorta small and I made a decent amount of rice.

Slice!

Ah, the ol' 3 step onion method! As seen in the salisbury steak recipe.

Chop up!

I could just use my vegetable chopper but here we are.

Break an egg!

just using 2 eggs instead of 3 because that seems plenty and, i shit you not, there's an egg shortage right now.

Mix!

im breaking the rules again, i added a bit of sesame oil in with the rice at this point because i thought normally you mix oil with rice to fry it?? but mama doesnt or she skipped over it... either way i really wanted to add a bit of sesame oil it tastes so good

Melt the lard!

I don't got lard i'm using butter

Saute!

browning just the onions first before the rice goes in

Saute!

in goes the rice! you gotta keep it moving around. mama also seasons with soy sauce, salt and pepper

Finish

*****

delicious! maybe its still not quite the same to me as my local takeout's egg fried rice, mine always comes out a little more light and powdery... i dread to wonder what artery-clogging secrets come with proper chinese takeout rice... but this is the closest ive gotten and its damn tasty!

Cooking Mama's Cooking Challenge #18: Bamboo shoot Rice

Shocker! Another rice recipe! Going to use sushi (japanese short grain) rice for this again since its quite similar to the chestnuts recipe. 

Wash some rice!

(skipping the 2 "measure and add!" steps again because its just the same every time. water. rice. you get it)

Slice up!

best way to get bamboo shoots in this country is tinned!

Chop up!

they come pre-sliced...

Chop up!

can't think of a single thing easier to get round here than fresh carrots though. just mug a snowman.

Add the ingredients!

OK THIS TIME we are using "mirin" instead of just sake. Mirin is cooking sake and some other basic seasonings added in. It's all going in before steaming the rice again. Also the soy sauce bottle looks nearly empty but i had a back-up one.

Set the timer!

Cheeky reused photo again THATS SHOWBIZ BAYEBIEE. 40mins again, thats just the right amount of time for sushi rice even if its been soaked all day long!

Finish

***

Again, it's very pleasant. A very nice way to enjoy the subtle flavour and pleasing texture of bamboo shoots. But... i still.. kinda wish it had more seasoning or a strong sauce to make it feel more like a whole meal. Banger side dish in a bento or something though.

Cooking Mama's Cooking Challenge #17: Rice Cakes

OK so this doesn't specify in the localisation, but i'm pretty sure this is supposed to be mochi. However, i have neither the equipment nor the correct type of rice (glutenous mochi rice) to actually make proper mochi. And frankly i dont have the power of arsed to go and get some just to do some recipe once that ill probably never want to do again. I googled if you can make mochi with sushi rice and the internet simply said "DON'T"

Anyway today we are making mochi with sushi rice. 

Measure and add!

reused stock image of me measuring and adding

Wash some rice!

non stock image of me making today's rice

Set the timer!

I actually did set the timer for 45 mins this time. We probably want the rice to be nice and soft.

Pound the rice!

Okay so. mmh. okay. so this isn't going well. I've been pounding the rice with a rolling pin until im tired and ive managed to turn it into some glue. There's glue on the pin. Glue all over my hands. Just glue. I'm hungry and all I have is glue.

Finish

*

i've bust out the bag of corn flour and slapped it around a bit more into a cake-ish shape... and voila! This is actually starting to resemble... food I guess?? All that for a brick of plain-rice flavour rice.

But wait...

**

What if I... combined it with another quick recipe (boiled eggs - which will go up later) and added some flavouring? I poured over a mix of soy sauce, salt and sugar, and sprinkled some shichimi togarashi (japanese seasoning mix).

EFFORT REDEEMED. And you know what? though its still obviously lumpy, some of that chewy mochi texture is coming through making it feel like i actually sorta did something besides ruin a bowl of rice.

Cooking Mama's Cooking Challenge #16: Chestnut Rice

Chestnuts couldn't be more out of season over here, but tide and mama waits for no.... time.... ??... anyway I trekked over to Waitrose and they had some there! Pre-cooked and whole, no less!

Measure and add!

pretending to measure blah blah blah anyway rate my set up, mamas on a bin and im doing a load of laundry

Measure and add!

my bag of rice had a tear in it so its in a soup cup

Wash some rice!

I washed this earlier and let it soak . BTW the game didn't specify but I'm using sushi rice because that seemed like the type you'd use for something like this.

Add the ingredients!

Just dumped in the whole bag of chestnuts, some sake and soy sauce. Swished it around a bit but yeah it all just goes straight in the steamer and cooks with the rice.

Set the timer!

Mama said 40 mins! I thought that seemed a bit long so I checked on it after 30, but it did indeed need 40mins. Fair play.

Finish

***
I love sticky rice, I love chestnuts. The flavourings paired nicely together... and yet... it still felt like it was missing something. Vinegar? is it vinegar? it's vinegar isn't it. Would that be gross with chestnuts? I probably should have used mirin instead of regular sake that might have done it.