Kim Kua Pung -- Pumpkin Rice

Hi there,

Today, 28th Oct. 2013, mummy did her second cooking and secretly I felt very elated knowing that she was on her way to full recovery. Her appetite has improved tremendously and she is enjoying her food immensely.  She is even enjoying her sambal-balacan with her rice! Annette roasted some balacan the last time she came back and kept some extra balacan in a sealed Brand's small bottle. I blended some red chilli with the balacan and kept it in the fridge.  Each time she wanted the sambal-balacan, I would scoop a few teaspoonfuls into a small bowl and squeeze half a lime into it.  She loves the sambal-balacan to go with her rice.  After her detoxification last week, her appetite is even better. Praise the Lord!

Today, she cooked "Kim Kua Pung" or "Pumpkin Rice".  The ingredients are about the same as that of "Tua Chye Pung", but with a slight difference. The pork belly is not boiled, but uncooked. It is cut into thin strips like julienne to be stir fry with the other ingredients. The pumpkin is skinned, washed and cut into cubes. Make sure that the pumpkin is really ripe or matured so that it will be sweet and "powdery" when cooked.

Picture 1.  The ingredients are as follows: a piece of belly pork, a section of pumpkin, some dry prawns, two pieces or more of dry oysters, some fresh prawns and some shallots and garlic.

 To make your work easier, it is better to get all the ingredients peeled,washed, cut and put aside so that when it is time to cook, you will have ALL the ingredients ready.  You can also measure the rice, wash it and put it aside to be cooked together with the rest of the ingredients.

Picture 2.  The rice is measured, washed and put aside to be cooked later with the other ingredients. Mummy usually would cook the rice for two meals as the trouble that she has taken to prepare all the ingredients is too much of a hassle to cook for just one meal. Normally she would just put the whole pot into the cooker again and just switch it on. Wah-la. Dinner is ready to be served!

  The belly pork is julienne, cut into small strips and put aside. There is no seasoning at all. The cut belly pork is to be cooked first and then the other ingredients are added.

Picture 3. The pork belly meat is cut into small strips.

                                                   

Picture 4. The pumpkin is peeled (with the special knife), washed and then cut into cubes.

Picture 5. The pumpkin is cut into small cubes and put aside ready to be added to the other ingredients.

When all the ingredients are ready, mummy will start cooking. The first ingredient that she put into the wok is the raw meat. She stir fry the meat until every piece is cooked and you can see some fat oil in the wok from the meat. If the fat oil is not enough, add a bit of cooking oil. Then add in the other ingredients. Mummy next put in the shallots and fry until aromatic. Then she put in the dry prawns, stir fry, follow by the fresh prawns, then the oysters and then the garlic. Next she adds some oyster sauce, some freshly ground pepper, a pinch of salt, a bit of soya sauce and fry the whole thing again. Then she put in the cut pumpkin cubes and finally the rice. Then she toss the whole mixture and give it a good stir. Then she add in a bowl of water sufficient to cook the pumpkin rice. She let the whole thing boil for some time before she scoop the whole thing into the pot. Then she transfer the pot into the cooker and switch it on. Done!

The following are some pictures to show the various steps to fry the all the ingredients.

Picture 6. Fry the cut meat first. Some fat oil could be seen.

Picture 7. Then add in the other ingredients like dry prawns, oysters and fresh prawns. At this stage you can put in the soya sauce, oyster sauce, salt and pepper.

Picture 8. Finally you can put in the cut pumpkin and the washed rice and fry together before you pour in the water to cook the pumpkin rice.

Picture 9.  The half-cooked pumpkin rice is then scooped into the rice cooker's pot with the spatula.

Picture 10.  The pot is then put into the rice cooker and switch it on. In less than 10 minutes, the pumpkin rice is cooked.

Picture 11. Dinner is served. Although the plate may look piled up into a big heap, but most of it is pumpkin. The pumpkin rice is really delicious. The sambal- balacan is in the middle of the picture. I don't like balacan. It is not my thing.

 Pa.