Wui Fan 燴飯 Rice Topped With A Quick Braised Sauce - "Malaysian Monday 53"

There are many who consider noodle dishes as mere snacks and can only be satisfied with a serving or two or rice. For that reason I decided to make a popular rice dish when my friend R,  a rice lover came for a quick lunch a while back.

Most "cook to order" Cantonese food stalls in Malaysia offer wui fan together with the likes of wat dan hor, Cantonese fried yuen yong and fried rice. Often directly translated from Chinese 燴飯 (wui fan - Cantonese, Hui Fan - Mandarin) as braised rice which doesn't really make too much sense.... well let's see if I can explain it better. 燴 (wui/hui) is one of the many braising techniques used in Chinese cooking where two or more ingredients (ie meat, seafood, mushrooms, vegetables) are braised (for a short time) in a pale sauce that does not contain any strongly colour seasonings so the natural colour of the ingredients can be emphasized, therefore 燴飯 can simply be described as steamed rice topped with the for mentioned pale, "quick braised" sauce".

Not only this is a very simple dish to prepare, it is also a wonderful way of turning the bits and pieces in your fridge into something very delicious.

P.S Please check out silken tofu braised in chicken and mushroom sauce 香菇雞粒燴滑豆腐which also involved the same technique.

serves 2 as a one dish meal
you'll need;

2 garlic cloves, chopped

a small knob of ginger, chopped

4 medium size prawns, heads removed

150 g of chicken breast, sliced

2 stalks of bokchoy, cut into manageable lengths

2 spring onions, cut into manageable lengths

a handful of wood fungus, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes, torn

1 cup of chicken stock

3 tbs of oyster sauce

1 tbs of light soy

white pepper to taste

corn flour solution for thickening

1 egg, lightly beaten

hot steamed rice to serve

sliced red chilies in soy to serve

Prepare the garlic, ginger and vegetables.

Marinate chicken slices with a dash of light soy, sesame oil, white pepper and corn flour. Prepare the prawns and wood fungus.

Saute chopped garlic and ginger with a little oil then add in the chicken, prawns and wood fungus. Stir fry on high heat for 30 seconds.

Add vegetables and cook for a further 30 seconds before adding the stock and seasonings.

When it comes to a boil, push the solids to aside and thicken the sauce with the corn flour solution. Pour in the egg, turn off the heat and mix everything gently. I cooked the sauce a little more than I normally would as I was sharing the meal with a pregnant woman.

Pour the content over some pipping hot rice (or some char rice noodles and you will have a plate of equally delicious wat dan hor) and serve with some cut chillies in soy.

My friend Sharon from Test With Skewer is hosting the September event. Please send all your entries to its.sharon@gmail.com. To find out more about MMM and on how to enter, please click HERE.