Chinese New Year recipes: Osmanthus jelly bunnies and sha cha jiang fried rice

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SINGAPORE – Leap into the Year of the Rabbit and surprise your guests by pulling two bunny-themed dishes out of your home chef’s hat.

 

Jazz up fried rice with premium ingredients such as dried scallops and sakura ebi (shrimp), and add a fun touch by shaping the rice into bunny balls.

 

Then end your meal on a sweet note with osmanthus jelly bunnies – a cute dessert which even grown-ups will love.

 

Get your kids involved in making these dishes and the family is sure to have a hopping good time.

 

Osmanthus Jelly Bunnies

 

Both young and old should love this dessert. The elders will approve of the auspicious golden and red colours, while the little ones will find the bunny jellies adorable.

 

A perfect sweet treat to complete a festive meal, the jellies also make for a great snack to cool down on a hot day.

 

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), it is believed that osmanthus can help dispel heat and has detoxifying properties. It is also said to help with raising mental alertness and relieving coughs.

 

Today, it is still valued for its use in perfumery and food products, and you can get the dried flower at Chinese medical shops.

 

Its distinct fragrance hits you the moment you open the packaging.

 

If you want the osmanthus to look clean, pick through it with a pair of tweezers to remove impurities such as bits of branches.

 

It is best to keep unused dried osmanthus in an air-tight container in the fridge. You can boil it as a tea and add a fig for natural sweetness.

 

Use unsweetened konnyaku jelly powder so you can control the amount of sugar you use. While the instructions on the packet suggest using 210g of sugar, I find that too sweet. I prefer a low-sugar jelly and, since osmanthus has a natural sweet fragrance, I use 150g.

 

But if you have a sweeter tooth, try using 180g of sugar.

 

Be sure to mix the konnyaku jelly and sugar before adding it to water. It is important to stir the jelly powder and sugar mixture into the water gradually, a little at a time. Do not add the jelly powder mixture all at once as it will form clumps which will be difficult to dissolve.

 

I get food-grade silicone rabbit moulds from Shopee. The large one ($6.10) comes in a mould of six bunny-shaped cavities. Each cavity measures 5.5cm by 8.5cm and has a volume of 100ml. The small mould ($4.17) is 4.2cm by 5.5cm, with a volume of 50ml.

 

For better presentation, I used wolfberries – believed to be beneficial for the eyes in TCM – as “ears” for the bunnies. It can be tedious putting the fruit in place as they have a tendency to float up.

 

Ingredients

 

• 28 wolfberries
• 1 packet (10g) unsweetened konnyaku jelly powder
• 150g sugar
• 3g dried osmanthus (after picking out bits of branches and leaves)
• 1 litre water
• ⅛ tsp freshly squeezed lime juice

 

What you will need: Rabbit-shaped silicone jelly moulds (large – 5.5cm by 8.5cm; small – 4.2cm by 5.5cm)

 

Method

 

1. Rinse the wolfberries and soak them in water until they turn soft. Discard the water and set the wolfberries aside.

 

2. Mix the konnyaku powder and sugar. Set aside.

 

3. Place the osmanthus flowers in a sieve and rinse.

 

4. Heat the water in a pot. Before the water boils, add the osmanthus. Turn heat to medium-low and simmer for three minutes.

 

5. Add the konnyaku powder and sugar mixture, a little at a time, while stirring continuously.

 

6. Let the mixture simmer and continue stirring for five minutes.

 

7. Switch off the heat and add the lime juice. Stir well.

 

8. Place the rabbit-shaped jelly moulds onto trays. Pour the mixture into the moulds.

 

9. Using a pair of chopsticks, place the wolfberries into the grooves for ears. If wolfberries float up, use the chopsticks to gently push them back in place.

 

10. Allow the mixture to cool. Cover and chill it. Allow to set.

 

11. Serve chilled.

 

Makes six large and eight small jelly bunnies

 

Sha Cha Jiang Fried Rice

 

How do you elevate the humble fried rice for a festive occasion? One secret is to season it with sha cha jiang (Chinese barbecue sauce).

 

The flavour and aroma will have your guests asking for more helpings. Yes, this fried rice is addictively tasty.

 

You can get Taiwanese-made sha cha jiang here. The most commonly available brand is Bull Head, which is available at Yue Hwa Chinese Products. Its online shop sells the product for $8.50 for a 250g bottle.

 

The sauce is made with soya bean oil, dried fish, garlic, ginger, shallots, sesame, coconut powder, dried shrimp, chilli powder, salt and pepper.

 

Instead of using leftover rice kept overnight in the fridge, I cook a fresh batch using less water. Using the recipe below results in rice that is fluffy and not mushy.

 

If you want to turn the rice into bunny-shaped balls, you may want to make the rice more moist for easier moulding. It is best to mould the rice while it is still warm.

 

I get a rice mould, Rabbit & Baby Chick Mini Onigiri Set, for $20.80 from Tokyu Hands. It comes with a ham cutter for the rabbit ears and flowers, and a seaweed cutter for the eyes and mouth.

 

If you cannot get the rice mould, a less labour-intensive alternative is to use rabbit-themed crockery for plating.

 

Ingredients

 

• 2 rice cups short-grain rice (300g)
• 270ml water
• 4 Tbs cooking oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 30g dried scallops, soaked until softened
• 1 dried shiitake mushroom, soaked, softened and diced
• 6g sakura ebi
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 100g frozen mixed vegetables, thawed and drained
• 30g red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 Tbs sha cha jiang
• 1 Tbs light soya sauce
• 1 Tbs fish sauce
• ¼ tsp salt
• ⅛ tsp ground white pepper

 

What you will need: Rabbit-shaped rice mould

 

Method

 

1. Place the washed rice and water into the rice cooker. Once the rice is cooked, set aside.

 

2. Heat the cooking oil in a non-stick frying pan over high heat.

 

3. Add the garlic and fry for 20 seconds until fragrant.

 

4. Add the dried scallops, dried mushroom and sakura ebi. Fry for 45 seconds.

 

5. Add the beaten eggs and stir briefly for 15 seconds. Add the cooked rice. Stir-fry for 45 seconds to mix the egg with the rice.

 

6. Add the mixed vegetables and red bell pepper.

 

7. Season with sha cha jiang, light soya sauce, fish sauce, salt and ground white pepper. Stir-fry for three minutes.

 

8. Plate and garnish with baby tomatoes. Serve immediately.

 

Serves four

 

Follow Hedy Khoo on Instagram @hedchefhedykhoo

 

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Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.

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