Chicken Rice Gratin & Lotus Root Tempura. It’s been a while since we put cheese (or butter) into any of our recipes. So, let’s splurge this week! We’ll start with chicken-fried rice, stir-fried in tomato-sauce and topped with a cheesy crust. For our side menu, we will have lotus root tempura. Pair the two and we got ourselves a deeelicious lunch.
Chicken Rice Gratin
Who would’ve thought of combining spaghetti sauce and Worcestershire Sauce! But the combination works. With a touch of butter, that combination turns into a restaurant-quality taste! I also enjoyed this recipe as it was a nice break away from soy sauce based marinades. It works great for lunch and even better for dosirak!
Substitutions: If you can’t find Worcestershire Sauce, use Soy Sauce.
Lotus Root Tempura
Lotus Root is very popular in Korea. And it’s one of my favorite vegetables to throw into stir-fries. What does it taste like? Well, this root vegetable has a signature, crunchy texture – like a raw potato. When deep-fried, the vegetable holds its crunchy bite and doesn’t turn soggy. If you see it in a market somewhere, give it a shot! You’ll love it.
P.s. Next week, I booked a session at K26 (Asia’s deepest diving pool). Excited to practice scuba-diving! I got my license last year but never got a chance to do more dives. Expect a few (fun) shots on our IG. Alrighty, wishing our Neighbors a blessed weekend as well.
Dan-yul out! 🕺
Ingredients
Chicken Rice Gratin
- Chicken Breast - 1 piece ~100 gram
- Onion - 1/2 a whole
- Oyster Mushroom - few substitute with any mushroom
- Yellow Bell Pepper - 1/4 a whole
- Red Bell Pepper - 1/4 a whole
- Cooked Rice - 1 cup
- Mozzarella cheese - handful
- Dried parsley - optional garnish
Rice Sauce
- Worcestershire Sauce - 1 Tablespoon
- Spaghetti Sauce - 3 Tablespoons Tomato Sauce
- Butter - 1 Tablespoon
Lotus Root Tempura
- Lotus Root - 1 whole
- Vinegar - 1 Tablespoon
- Flour - 1/2 cup
Tempura Batter
- Flour - 2 Tablespoons
- Water - 1/3 cup of water
- Parsley - few shakes
- Salt - few shakes
- Ice Cube - 1
Instructions
Chicken Rice Gratin
- Cut the chicken breast into small bite-sized chunks.
- Next, cut mushroom, onion and bell peppers into similar-sized chunks. Try to get even amounts of all ingredients.
- Put a large frying pan (or wok) out on medium-hot heat. Place in oil. Once the pan is hot, place in the onion pieces. Stir-fry until onion turns translucent.
- Then place in the chicken pieces. Stir-fry until most of the pink is gone.
- Now, add in all the other vegetables. Sir-fry everything for 1-2 minutes - until most of the liquid from the veggies has cooked away.
- Add in Worcestershire Sauce (1T). Stir-fry for 10-seconds. Then add in your Tomato Sauce (3T). Stir around and evenly coat everything.
- Now add in the Cooked Rice (1 cup). Place in Butter (1T). Stir everything around. Turn off heat. Then add a handful of Cheese into the rice and stir-again.
- Put the fried rice into oven-safe bowl(s).
- Without guilt, sprinkle-on a layer of cheese on top of the bowls! Give a few shakes of parsley on top for garnish.
- Place into oven and set on broil. Cook until cheese gets a nice browning! Bon Appetit.
Lotus Root Tempura
- Peel the skin-off the lotus root. Cut into bite-sized section (Don't cut them too thin - or else it turn into a potato chip)
- Fill a mixing bowl with cold water. Place in vinegar (1T). Then place-in the lotus root pieces. Let them soak for 10 minutes.
- While you wait, let's make the tempura batter: Mix flour (2T) with water (1/3 cup). Season with few shakes of salt. Also, add 3-4 good shakes of parsley. Give a thorough stir.
- After 10 minutes, drain the water and thoroughly rinse the lotus pieces under the faucet - get the vinegar scent off. Set aside and let it drip-off any excess water.
- Now, fill a plastic bag with some flour (1/2 cup should be enough). Place the soaked lotus pieces inside. Twist off bag and give it a nice shake. You'll end up with nicely-coated lotus pieces.
- Now, take out a large frying pan or wok. Place oil in and place on medium heat.
- While you wait for the oil to get hot, drop one ice-cube into your tempura mix - to make it extra cold.
- Then, place each coated lotus root piece into the tempura batter. Carefully place each piece into the hot oil.
- Let it fry until you get a slight browning on the pieces. Pick them out and set aside. It's ready to eat.
- Optional: Make a soy-sauce dip - mix soy sauce (1T) with a few drops of vinegar. Add a few shakes of sesame seeds. Bon Appetit!
Notes
- See video below for more details
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!