Stingrays are sometimes sold at the wet market and we buy it once in a blue moon. The most common method to cook stingrays are to grill them after marinating them in some spicy sauce. In fact, most hawkers selling grilled seafood will have stingrays amongst other seafood available.

We don’t grill our food at home because…we don’t have a grill in the first place. But what we do like is to cook the stingray with taucheo chilli and salted vegetable. The taucheo chilli gives the stingray a slight spicy taste whilst the salted vegetable lends an interesting salty twist to the dish. Taucheo is preserved soya beans which are bought from grocers in bottles. The salted vegetables mentioned are also known as kiam chye (in hokkien) or preserved mustard leaves.

Stingrays can have a rather “fishy” smell and that’s one of the reasons why it is cooked with chilli. By past experience, we find that the ones where the white-coloured flesh is riddled with black dots are tastier and have less “fishy” smell. If anyone can share the name of this specie or why it is riddled with black dots, that would be most appreciated.

This is my recipe for Stingray with Taucheo Chilli and Salted Vegetables.

Ingredients

• 400 grammes of stingray (wash thoroughly and cut to bite sizes)
• 3 to 4 red chillis (remove seeds and pound finely. Use more chilli if you like it spicier)
• 3 bulbs garlic (chopped finely)
• 4 slices of ginger
• 2 teaspoons taucheo (preserved soya beans)
• 3 to 4 leaves of salted vegetables julienned (kiam chye / preserved mustard leaves)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 1/2 cup water

Seasoning

• Dash of white pepper
• Sugar to taste

Method

Heat oil in wok. Add chilli, garlic and ginger and stir till fragrant or slightly brown. Add taucheo and salted vegetables (preserved mustard leaves). Stir fry for 30 seconds.

Add stingray and stir till the meat is turns colour / cooked on the outside. Add water and close lid. Cook for 2 minutes on high heat (till stingray is thoroughly cooked).

Add a dash of white pepper and sugar to taste prior to serving.

Chicken Rice cooked using Rice Cooker

The rice cooker is a very useful kitchen equipment and is present in many Asian households. Whilst it is primarily designed to cook rice, newer versions of the rice cooker has enable cooks to use it for steaming and even boiling soup.

Recently, my mum cooked Chicken Rice using the rice cooker. It is actually another version of the popular Claypot Chicken Rice. The beauty of using the rice cooker is that the rice does not get burnt at the bottom unlike the claypot. However, for those who are fond of burnt bits of rice, you may have to try this using the claypot instead.

This is the recipe for Chicken Rice using the Rice Cooker.

Ingredients

• 3 cups of rice (measure using the cup that comes supplied together with the rice cooker)
• 2 large chicken drumsticks and chicken thighs (chopped to bit sizes)
• 5 chinese dried mushrooms (pre-soaked in a bowl of water and cut to half or quarters. Do not throw away the water used for soaking)
• 2 chinese lap cheongs (chinese sausages) (sliced)
• 4 bulbs shallots (sliced thinly)
• 5 slices of ginger (more if you like a stronger ginger taste)
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• warm water

Marinade for chicken

• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoon of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of chinese cooking wine

Seasoning

• 5 teaspoons of light soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce

Method

Soak rice in water for about 1 1/2 hours. Marinade chicken for the same length of time.

Heat oil in wok and fry shallots till golden brown. Remove fried shallots.

With remaining oil in wok and at high heat, add pre-soaked chinese dried mushrooms and ginger and stir fry for about 1 minute. Add marinated chicken and stir fry for another minute.

Add pre-soaked rice and seasoning and continue frying for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle a little bit of warm water to keep the rice from drying out.

Remove rice with ingredients into the rice cooker. Place the lap cheongs over the rice. Pour water (previously used to soak dried chinese mushrooms) gently over the rice to cover the rice just like how you would usually cook white rice in a rice cooker. Add plain water if the water used to soak dried chinese mushrooms is insufficient. Turn on your rice cooker and let it cook.

Serve hot and sprinkle fried shallots over the rice prior to serving.

Note : As you learn to cook this dish, adjust the seasoning to your prefered taste. You can also sprinkle chopped spring onions over the Chicken Rice for added colour and taste.