Cooking

Singaporean Rice – a favorite dish

This is my daughter Waliya’s favorite dish. She is a connoisseur of food. So, when I’m feeling very loving towards my child, I like to make this for her. Once, we were going through a tough period in our lives, I decided to make this for Waliya, as a surprise. So, when I went to pick her from Hunarkada, she was hungry and said, ‘what’s cooking?’ I kept quiet. That made her curious. So the moment we got home she asked Abdul Rahim, who had opened the gate for us. He responded with a straight face, ‘daal!’ (You never had to explain anything to him. He always knew how to respond to what!)
Waliya has always been smart, she dashed into the kitchen and saw her favorite dish had been cooked. She screamed with joy! – Yes, we are rather expressive. 
So, this dish is self-sufficient, you don’t make anything with it. When you cook it, you will realize. There are so many ingredients, that it is enough. So, you serve it on a platter. But if you want to be different, then you can serve each part of it separately.
Prologue:
I first saw this recipe on Chef Zakir Naik’s television program in 2009. I sat and diligently wrote as he spoke, and then the electricity went off! – right before the end. I was devastated, as I was really liking it. My cousin Shahnaz Api came over the next day, and I mentioned the ‘great tragedy’ that happened, and she said, ‘I have it.’ She said it was their favorite too. So, I got the rest from her. Then I found his recipe book with my mother. I realized, that he had given some good tips in his show which weren’t in the book. So, I’ve combined it. Also, I’ve made my own crispy top.

The recipe of Singaporean Rice:

(Serves four to five  persons)

Ingredients:

Rice: 2 cups (I’ve used 2 1/2 Cups in video.)
Boneless chicken: 200 grams. (I put 500 gms in video) (Cut in ½ inch pieces)
Knorr Noodles: 3 – 4 packets.
Capsicum: 1
Carrot: 1
Onion: 1

Zucchini : 1 (optional)
Cabbage: ½
Ginger garlic: 1 table spoon.
Garlic: 4 to 6 cloves.
Green chilies: 4 or 5
Cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon.
Salt: to taste:
Oil: as required.
Oyster sauce: 1 table spoon.
Worcester sauce: 1 teaspoon.
Black pepper: 1 teaspoon.
While pepper: ½ teaspoon.
Tomato ketchup: 1 cup
Corn flour: 1 tablespoon.
Mayonaise: 4 table spoons.
Chilli garlic sauce: 4 table spoons.
Turmeric: ½ teaspoon
Zeera: 1 teaspoon.
Oil: 2 table spoons.

Method:

1. Boil the rice in water which has 1 teaspoon zeera in it, and 1 teaspoon salt, and set aside.
2. Heat about 2 to 3 tablespoons oil in a wok or karahi, add ginger-garlic paste, cook till golden brown and add chicken. Cook the chicken in uncovered pan till golden. Then cover and simmer for a few minutes till tender.
3. While chicken is simmering, prepare vegetables by cutting carrots, capsicums in thin long slices, onions in 1 inch cubes, (separate the leaves), put cabbage at the end. Add these vegetables to the chicken.
4. Just stir fry chicken, then add: salt, white pepper, black pepper, oyster sauce, Worcestershire sauce.
5. Add tomato sauce at the end, and cover. Take off flame.
6. Boil the noodles in microwave with lessor water than instructed. Add the masala’s with it also. Then let it stay in microwave till water gets fully absorbed. Make sure the noodles aren’t overdone. They must be firm. If there is water in it, strain it.
7. Deep fry noodles, in small batches, and keep aside on paper to drain.
8. Thinly cut the garlic cloves, sideways and cut green chilies also lengthwise, then fry these in very little oil in a pan, till golden. Remove and keep aside.
9. Mix chili garlic and mayonnaise, and keep aside in a bowl.
10. Now, take the serving dish, lay out half the rice, then a layer of chicken and vegetables, then another layer of rice, (not fully covering the chicken and vegetables.) Dab with the mixture of chili-garlic sauce and mayonnaise, and then sprinkle the fried garlic and green chilies here and there. Then cover with the fried noodles, and garnish with green chilies, tomatoes or carrots.
Enjoy watching your family and guests lap it all up! 😉
Stay blessed, lovely ones. 🙂

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6 Comments

  1. Aaminah says:

    Looks yum ?

    1. Shireen Gheba Najib says:

      Yes, it is! Do try it and let me know. 🙂

  2. I will definitely try it
    ?

    1. Shireen Gheba Najib says:

      Do try it, I’m sure you and your family will love it.

  3. Thank you for the recipe! I had been looking for it for the past 1 hour on your socials. Finally gave up and searched on Google ‘waliya’s mom Singaporean rice’ and voilà. Here I am. I do make my Singaporean rice differently, had been tempted to try yours. Going to make it now. 🙂

    1. Shireen Gheba Najib says:

      Yes, I was making it, so thought I’d share it with you all. Do share results. Stay blessed.

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