Nasi Tim Ayam Jamur - Indonesian Steamed Rice with Chicken and Mushrooms

It was just yesterday when I gushed and marvelled at how I love participating in blog events. The day hasn't ended yet, I looked at my calendar, with scribbles of food names reminding me of the blog events I was dying to join, and I realized that there are too many events, too little time. Mind you, I don't always scribble everything down, if you look at the number of events I've bookmarked under my "Food Blog Events" folder in my laptop...it is much much worse (the size of the folder is wayyyyyy bigger than the size of my work related folders all combined. LOL).

I like joining events which are doable enough for me. That rules out joining super challenging baking events. Not only because I suck at baking (big time!), but also because I do not have the energy struggling to attempt yet another baking disaster, especially on weekdays hehe.

Normally, I like doing my blog event assignments on weekends, when I can leisurely enjoy shopping for materials, taking my time whisking stuff while watching TV, surviving failures and disasters, and bending myself out of whack all around my flat to get better pictures while barking instructions at poor lil' sous chef. HAHA!

However, judging from the number of items pitifully scribbled under 31 August, and looking at the number of completed events I've posted. Plus the numbers of weekends I lost to August birthday celebration buffets, I had to sacrifice a day of exercising (ahhh...another LAME excuse to escape exercise) to accomplish this dish I've promised my good blogging pals, Ayin and Deetha.


Nasi Tim Ayam Jamur - Indonesian Steamed Rice with Chicken and Mushrooms

Of course, whenever I am under extreme time pressure, the culinary murphy's law happens upon me, totally expected and predictable! (The universe, or whoever it was, you need to do better next time! Do the exact opposite for mushroom's sake!)

I needed either fresh shiitake, button or straw mushrooms, and of course, they were nowhere to be found! HAHA! So I had to get an expensive teeny tiny bowl of other mushrooms instead, which took forever to clean! To top it off, my air con was leaking like hell (it's like I was having a mini tropical storm at my very own home!), I had to line up a bucket, a mixing bowl, and a huge colander to tackle the water!

and still, the floor was wet, and when I was super excitedly walking to the kitchen to check out my rice, I slipped, did a little dance in the air, and my right butt cheek landed flat on the floor, my left ankle hit a sharp edge of the wall, my right wrist hit the floor hard! I either scared the crap outta my sous chef or amused the heck outta him. LOL! SC asked if I'd be pissed if he took pictures, I guess I might have...but came to think of it...too bad he didn't, eh? That would've been one heck of a picture! HAHA!

Recipe
The chicken
- 2 boneless chicken thigh fillet, remove excess fat, cut into cubes, leave some skin for moisture
- 1 pack of mushrooms (whichever mushroom is available lol)
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 cm ginger, crushed
- dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, shaoxing wine, sesame oil, chinese five spice powder, corn starch, olive oil

Marinate chicken pieces with a bit of dark soy, sesame oil, sugar and 1 tbsp corn starch while preparing for other materials. Saute garlic and ginger in hot olive oil, add chicken pieces, cook for a while, add sauces bit by bit according to your taste. The dominant flavors are garlic and dark soy with a touch of sweetness, the rest of the flavors should be mild

The rice
- 2 cups of rice
- 250ml chicken stock
- water
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- a dash of sesame oil
- 1 cm ginger, crushed
- 1 clove of garlic, finely sliced

Arrange some of the cooked chicken at the bottom of rice cooker (I didn't use all the chicken pieces, I left some to be served with the rice later), add rice, add chicken stock, add water (up to the required level), add sesame oil, soy sauce, pepper, sugar, ginger, garlic, mix a bit. Cook until rice is done, add some of the separated chicken into the bottom of a small bowl, add rice, pressed, serve onto a plate, garnish with chopped spring onion, fried shallot flakes, and some sweet soy sauce.

The soup
- 250 ml chicken stock
- 1 silk squash, peeled and cut into bite size chunks (optional, you can other other vegetables)
- water
- 1 cm ginger, crushed
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar
- a bit of finely chopped spring onion and fried shallot flakes for garnish

Saute ginger and garlic in olive oil, add silk squash, add chicken stock, add water if you want more soup, bring to boil, cook until the vegetables are cooked through, season, garnish, serve.

All disasters aside, I had a lot of fun and we ended up having a fan-bloody-tastic meal. The chicken was tasty and tender, the rice was rich and fragrant, the silk squash was sweet. It was pretty close to what I had back home in Indo, if not better, HAHA!

I went through a lot doing this one, so I could sing it song of praises if I wish to. Dammit!