This evening I cooked this meal for my family. As for the rice, I did a tomato rice version instead of simple plain steam rice. This set meal reminds me of the days back home where you would find at the hawker stalls, various dishes of meat, vegetables, soup, curries and other savories accompaniment with plain steam rice. They like to call this ‘economical rice’ or ‘Chap Chye Pern’ as they do come cheap say for example rice plus any meat or fish with 2 or 3 types of vegetables about $2.50 to $3.00

Ingredients ( Serves 4 )

Mackeral Fish

• 4 pieces Mackeral fish steaks

Marinade

• 1/2 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp bottled curry powder
• 1 egg, 2 tbsp corn flour

Method

1. Rinse fish and pat dry, season with marinade, marinate for 15 minutes. Shallow fry with some hot oil until cooked and golden brown on both sides. Set aside.

Green beans and julienne carrots( adequate for 4 serves )

• 1 clove garlic, 1 tbsp oyster, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp chicken powder,dash of pepper and 100 ml water

Method

1. Place the washed beans in a pot of boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Drain in a colander.
2. Heat up pan with 1 tbsp oil, add in garlic and saute for a minute till aromatic. Add veggies, oyster sauce, soy sauce, chicken powder, pepper, water and fry for 1-2 minutes till cooked through. Dish out.

Tomato Rice

• 400g uncooked rice( I use plain rice )
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 stick
• 800ml water
• 4 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp salt
• dash of chilli powder(optional, if you like spicy)

Method

1. Wash rice and drain, leave it in a colander to dry.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the cinnamon and rice. Fry for 5 minutes.
3. Add the water, tomato paste and salt. Bring to boil, reduce the heat and simmer the rice for about 12 minutes or until done. Alternatively transfer everything to a rice cooker and cook according to the manufacturer instruction. Steam rice will just do if you prefer plain.
4. Serve tomato rice with sides dish on same serving plate i.e veggies and the mackeral fish. Topped with Japanese pickles as I wish. Voila!