Veggie rice 菜飯

[skylee]

This is not about the typical Shanghai rice with vegetables.

 

And I am well aware that what is "groundbreaking" to me is probably just what other people do everyday.

 

I bought a rice cooker last week. Together with it some rice of course. This is my first rice cooker. IIRC I got a mini one in a lucky draw but I did not use it and gave it away a year later.

 

This is the rice cooker.

 

And I sent the messages below to my friends -

 

今日煮菜飯，番茄、紅蘿蔔、杏鮑菇、半杯米。洗切用咗啲時間。

 

煮前。↓

 

煮好。個煲用咗成個鐘。↓

 

加咗甜豉油撈勻↓。我無落調味料，淨係靠豉油。其實好食，但竟然唔飽。

 

Note - the drink was Asahi Dry Zero. I have switched to alcohol-free beers due to health reasons.

[Flickserve]

從來沒用過電飯煲？平時不吃飯？

[abcdefg]

Looks good! How did you know how much water to use?

 

I sure think a rice cooker is a handy kitchen appliance. Can be used for lots of simple one-pot meals. Congratulations on taking the plunge! Welcome to the (very big) 电饭锅 club!

 

Did yours come with a steamer basket? If so, my follow up question is whether or not you like 鸡蛋羹。Easy to add some protein that way. (Individual egg custard made in a small bowl, such as a rice bowl, which is set in the basket while the other food cooks.)

[skylee]

I did cook when I was young. But since I stopped living with my family there has been no reason to cook rice. I had not used a rice cooker for decades.

 

The cooker comes with a steam basket. But I don't think I would cook eggs, for health reasons. The nutritionist has made me believe that eating anything other than green leaves is sinful. I must not have more than one bowl of rice per meal, and Starbucks muffins are made of too much sugar and therefore no good, this sort of things.

 

There are markings on the inside of the metal bowl of the cooker telling you how much water to use. My cooker is fairly intelligent with fuzzy logic and can bake cakes according to the manual.

[abcdefg]

Sounds like a very strict diet. You have my sympathy. Hope the rice cooker helps you make healthy meals.

[Alex_Hart]

On 7/22/2017 at 0:57 PM, Flickserve said:

從來沒用過電飯煲？平時不吃飯？

I actually ate tons of rice as a kid, and continued the habit in college, but never had a rice cooker until I moved to China. Bought a nice enough one once I got here and a year in, I continue to think the rice I make in a pot tastes better. Sadly, it also uses an extra pot and my Chinese stove top only has room for two.

 

Looks good, @skylee! I'm hoping to enter into you and abc's game of rice cooker meals. I first heard of these kind of meals when in college where all the Cantonese kids would put some lap cheong (sp? Chinese sausage of the Cantonese sort) on top of the rice and that would be their meal. My classmate here in China brought us all some "fish fried rice" she had made in a rice cooker this semester and it was delicious - used furikake (a Japanese mix of seaweed, salted salmon flakes and some other goodies I couldn't really place), she said it only cost around 3 kuai to make. 

[skylee]

“My classmate here in China brought us all some "fish fried rice" she had made in a rice cooker this semester and it was delicious - used furikake (a Japanese mix of seaweed, salted salmon flakes and some other goodies I couldn't really place), she said it only cost around 3 kuai to make. ”

 

I have just bought some furikake (香鬆/飯素) at SOGO (a department store). The four packs (400g in total) cost HKD300. It is quite expensive but I bought them anyway. I am not even sure if I can use up that much before the expiry dates. 

 

I think they will solve my cooking problems (no time to buy fresh food, one purchase means same ingredients for many meals as I don't eat much). But I have to be careful with the amount of salt in them.

 

From left - plum+seafood, veggie+ seafood, curry+seafood, seaweed for soup/congee.

[Flickserve]

Sounds great. I am on a diet and have cut my rice intake to half a bowl a day.

[abcdefg]

On 8/16/2017 at 0:14 AM, Flickserve said:

I am on a diet and have cut my rice intake to half a bowl a day.

 

Is steamed rice really so undesirable? Do you replace it with some other more healthy whole grain or another complex carbohydrate?

 

I'm not arguing against your diet; just curious as to how such a strategy can be sustainable. Personally I would find that very difficult. 

[Alex_Hart]

Half a bowl a day sure seems like a tiny amount. 

 

@skyleeLet me know if you like them. My only souvenir from japan was a bag full of six different tsukemono (Japanese pickles), umeboshi and furikake. I will be diving into the bag tomorrow to make some cheap rice bowls as recent weeks have seen me eat through my bank account while buying train and plane tickets.

[skylee]

"I am on a diet and have cut my rice intake to half a bowl a day."

 

I have changed my eating habits since the start of 2017, and have lost about 4kg. Not a lot of weight loss, but I was not that fat to begin with. I don't really eat less, but I eat differently.

 

I used to have a cup of creamy milk tea from a fast-food chain restaurant for breakfast. I don't any more as I can't be sure what kind of "milk" is used. Instead, I have a bowl of Quaker instant oatmeal (with hot water only) and a cup of instant black coffee every morning.

 

I eat cereal often (with skimmed milk). I have definitely cut meat and opted for veggie food as much as I can. I haven't had any burgers, steak, or even my favourite 海南雞飯 (because there is no point to eat it if I don't eat the skin) this year. Biscuits have also been cut to a minimum because of the fat in them. Same for other fatty or sweet food. Haven't had any wine and switched to non-alcoholic beers instead.

 

After about six months my cholesterol level had dropped to a normal level without taking medicine, and the doctor was genuinely interested in how I achieved it. 

 

I don't feel hungry. But I don't really enjoy changing my habits, and veggie food is not that easy to find here.

 

Some reference - https://www3.ha.org.hk/dic/gn_04_02.html

[Lu]

I often eat similar meals (rice with veggies, no meat), but I usually add some form of 漿 (often pesto), otherwise I find it too dry and bland. I like to use broccoli and recently discovered pointed cabbage (takes me half a week to eat through one though).

 

@skylee, so good that you brought down your cholesterol by eating well. Much better than medication.

[skylee]

“I like to use broccoli and recently discovered pointed cabbage (takes me half a week to eat through one though).”

 

How should we deal with the part in brackets (above)? I think the lack of variety kills the joy.

[Flickserve]

16 hours ago, skylee said:

 

I have changed my eating habits since the start of 2017, and have lost about 4kg. Not a lot of weight loss, but I was not that fat to begin with. I don't really eat less, but I eat differently

 

Well done. Same here losing about 3kg since June. I wasn't fat but on a BMI scale, I was borderline overweight. Nobody looking at me would have said I was overweight.

 

I don't eat breakfast most days (just water or perhaps a fruit) and try to do some walking/stairs to drive up my metabolism. If I do a morning training session, I will eat some muesli with milk.

 

Lunches most days are salads which can be quite a lot in quantity plus fruit. Evenings are normal meals but with less rice. This keeps the variety in my diet. I still go out for dinners with family and friends. I have also cut on noodles, alcohol and practically no soft drinks. 

 

if I get hungry, I do eat another banana or some nuts/dried fruit with water. If at night I get hungry, I will eat muesli with milk so I can fall asleep.

 

it helps to be active and doing some gym sessions and sports.

 

what has been very useful is a fitness monitor which I wear everyday. It counts steps and calorie output and links to my smartphone (Fitbit Charge 2). It works in combination with an app called MyFitnessPal where I input my food and counts calorie input even for Chinese food (can input Chinese characters). These devices and apps are very approximate in calculation so my my objective is to have an energy input lower than energy output rather than be obsessed on the actual number.

 

What is very interesting is noticing a change in my non-gym/non-Sports behaviour with the device and apps. I have increased my walking e.g. Walk from causeway bay to wanchai instead of tram, walk up stairs in MTR stations, and get off the lift at a lower floor in order to walk up. Even some colleagues have become interested and got on the same track. One very good temptation is to join a fitness class as you can build up a lot of steps in a short time - very good for HK mindset of efficiency.

 

I am aiming for another kilo weight loss and then I can be a bit less strict on what to eat.

 

If ever there was a Chinese learning app somehow related to exercise, weight loss, calorie counting, I might be able to learn Chinese really quickly! Maybe I can investigate the China made fitness devices for comparison. 

[Lu]

5 hours ago, skylee said:

How should we deal with the part in brackets (above)? I think the lack of variety kills the joy.

Invite friends over for dinner often :-) Or eat something else for a day in between (cabbage doesn't spoil that fast), or find different ways to prepare the food, or different combinations of vegetables. I think it's also okay to once in a while eat something that is not healthy but that you really enjoy (in your case, 海南雞飯), because it's easier to keep up a diet if you know you don't have to give that up for the rest of your life.

 

4 hours ago, Flickserve said:

If ever there was a Chinese learning app somehow related to exercise, weight loss, calorie counting, I might be able to learn Chinese really quickly!

You should build this. Not sure if the Chinese should be a reward for the fitness, or the fitness a reward for the Chinese, or both somehow tying in to one another, but I do know that people will want this app. Expect lots of downloads around Western New Year. And if you find a way to monetise users not keeping up, you'll be filthy rich in no time.

[Shelley]

8 hours ago, skylee said:

How should we deal with the part in brackets (above)? I think the lack of variety kills the joy.

 

Share with friends, start a sharing club. When you do your shopping meet your club members/friends and swap stuff around, half a cabbage for some broccoli, a couple of carrots for a couple of interesting mushrooms and so on.

This could also lead to saving money because you buy in bulk and share it out. So you save money, get variety and stay healthy.

[Flickserve]

@Lu

 

Going off topic. Definitely a thought to link fitness to Chinese. Perhaps not total Chinese learning per se but some sort of related Chinese content. That led me to suddenly think of youtube and whether any Mandarin language fitness videos exist. I did find one channel which I can watch later and examine. You know, for me, that seems more interesting than watching TV dramas.

[skylee]

“because it's easier to keep up a diet if you know you don't have to give that up for the rest of your life.”

 

I agree. I was really upset about having to give up drinking. But non-alcoholic beers (Japanese brands especially) has brightened me up.

[Monk]

I love this topic! I also gave up meat and became vegetarian. I do not eat meat and there are a lot of ways to feed the body. Yeah! 

[Zbigniew]

I'm not a vegetarian, but I more or less give up meat when I'm in China, the reason being that what is generally on offer there is the "wrong" kind of meat.