Salted Rice (Giam Png)

Mom used to cook salted rice when she was running short of time to prepare dinner. Salted rice is the direct translation of "giam png" in Teochew, which actually means a combination of different ingredients all mixed into rice. It's something like fried rice, but it's steamed. It's something like claypot rice, but without the former and its nice burnt taste.

I attempted my first Salted Rice the other day and gosh, it was so easy.  These are the ingredients which I used - cabbage, chinese sausages, roast pork, dried shrimps, and ikan bilis.  Mom usually used all these ingredients except ikan bilis. The ikan bilis was suggested by Chelley, a fellow food blogger.  Mom had bought a packet of siew yoke (cantonese for roast pork), so I cut them into thinner slices. I used 3 chinese sausages and cut them up into slices. I soaked a little dried shrimps and ikan bilis. The proportions are up to you actually. I didn't want mine to turn out too salty. I lightly stir-fried all the above items separately for just about a minute or less each.

 

Then I cooked the rice in the cooker, adding very little oil and sesame oil and little light soya sauce. When it was almost cooked and the water had evaporated, I quickly added all my cooked ingredients in. Then I poured dark soya sauce and light soya sauce and sprinkled some pepper. Then I tossed everything up, ensuring the ingredients and rice and sauces were evenly mixed. Then I closed the lid and left it to cook for a while more, and it is ready to be served anytime! 

Here is my plate of Salted Rice. It may not looked that nice due to the colour of the ingredients but it was tasty enough, with the different tastes of all the ingredients bursting in your mouth, from the smoky roast pork to the sweet chinese sausages to the slightly crunchy sweet cabbage with dried shrimps and the salty crunchy ikan bilis. If you do not like roast pork, you can use pork slices or chicken but you need to marinate them beforehand. Actually you can use any ingredients you like, but to me, the cabbage and chinese sausages are a must for salted rice. I also wanted to add chinese mushrooms too but forgot about it! :P

I even made soup to go with my salted rice, so that it would not be too dry.  My simple soup is made of merely chicken stock, little dried scallops and chopped spring onions. Yummy!