Chicken, Mushroom Pumpkin Rice

I've started to plan a weekly menu to ease the load of having to figure out what to cook for the day:) Since we will have at least 3 dishes per meal time, I've decided to dedicate simple One Pot cooking for every Wednesday!

It has been a while since I last made Pumpkin Rice and so I've penned it down as one of the One Pot meals for Wednesday.

My mum used to cook such one pot meals for us such as Pumpkin Rice, Yam Rice & Cabbage Rice whenever she ran out of ideas for the day:) Eating this dish today simply brings back fond memories of childhood home comfort and my mummy's love.

I still missed my mum a lot even thought she had passed on closed to 8 years now. She'll be amazed that I actually managed to pick up cooking after all! hahahahahaa...... I used to be the one to run out of the kitchen the minute I heard a "ping" sound coming from the heated oil in the wok and my mum used to shake her head and wonder out loud why I chose to climb trees instead of learning the art of cooking :P

So, here is my favourite one Pot Rice Meal :D


Chicken, Mushroom & Pumpkin Rice
Servings - 4 persons (2 helpings each)

Ingredients:

3 cups Rice, rinsed and soaked for 20 mins
½ Pumpkin, cut into cubes
2 pkts Chicken fillet, cut into small cubes
5 - 8 Dried medium size shitake mushroom, soaked in hot water for 1 hour (washed with running water, cut into small chunks & keep the soaking water)
25g Dried prawns (pre-soaked for 15 mins, retained water for cooking later)
1 Small Onion, minced
2 tsps Shallots, thinly sliced
1 tsp Sugar
3 tbsps Cooking Oil
3-4 Cups Water/Chicken Stock for cooking (depending on the type of rice used)
Spring onions (for garnishing)

Seasonings for rice (mix all in a bowl)
2 tbsps Light Soya Sauce
3 tbsps Dark Soya Sauce
1 tsp Salt
2 tsps Oyster Sauce
Dash of Sesame Oil & Pepper

Marinate for Chicken
1 tbsp Light Soya Sauce
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Sesame Oil
3 tsps Corn flour

Methods:

1. Marinate the chicken with light soya sauce, sugar, sesame oil & corn flour for at least half an hour.
   
2. Fried onions until golden brown. Add fried shallots and move to the side of the wok.
   
3. Add in dried prawns and stir fry under low heat until fragrant. Add in mushrooms and 1 tsp of sugar, stir-fry for a while.Push the dried prawns and mushrooms to the side of the wok, add in chicken and stir-fry until the chicken cubes turn pale (half-cooked).
   
4. Add in pumpkin and continue to stir-fry for a while.
   
5. Add in a little oil if the mixture looks dried.
   
6. Add in pre-soaked rice, fried shallots followed by seasoning and stir until all the ingredients are well-combined.
   
7. Transfer all the ingredients to a rice cooker, add 1 cup of Mushroomwater and 3- 4 cups water/chicken stock to cover ¾ of the rice mixture.
   
8. Cook under low heat and stir occasionally until the rice is cooked thoroughly.