Sigh!!! How many of you would agree that women are very good at hiding things? Wait a minute! Let me correct myself. They’re good at putting away things but they do it so very well. More often than not, they would be so well-hidden away that they themselves cannot find them and would have to turn the whole house upside down to find them. What do the rest of you think about this? Hehehehehe!!!!
Well, that always seems to be the case with the things in our fridge. Very often, I would discover things that I can hardly remember when we had them or where they came from and some would have grown moldy already but moldy or not, I would just throw them all away. Well, that day, there were already two tubs of leftover rice in the fridge and yes, this is going to be another fried rice post again. While looking through the fridge in search of something that I could fry it with, I found another tub, “hidden” in the compartment where we would usually keep out chocolates and stuff. That being much older than the other two tubs, I decided to fry it first and save the most recent one for another day.
That morning, I decided to use the fermented/salted dabai that I had kept in a bottle in the fridge. I have blogged about that here but this time around, I decided that I would remove the skin so the end product would not have that unpleasant-looking bits of black and besides, if the skin is thick, it does not taste very nice – siap-siap, they say in Hokkien, whatever that is in English. Other than that, I thought I would use the air budu I got from my friends from Trengganu and also some leftover calamansi lime juice plus sugar and chili dip that I had made the day before for my fried fish balls…
…and of course, I had my usual sliced shallots and garlic and I also got some of the skinny stalks of serai (lemon grass) from my garden.
After frying the shallots and garlic in a bit of oil till brown, I added the dabai…
…followed by the rice and after mixing everything together well, I fried that for a while before adding the air budu and the lime/sugar/chili dip…and half an ikan bilisΒ (anchovies) stock cube…
…and finally, I added some eggs…
…and once I felt everything had been sufficiently fried, I dished it all out…
Yes, it was very nice with the flavours of all the ingredients used and it sure looked much better than I last time I cooked this, without the bits of dabai skin…
…all over but I would prefer it if I had added a handful of ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and maybe some thinly-sliced long beans or french beans to give more bite to it and perhaps, our own local stronger-smelling/more fragrant air budu aur would bring the taste to a whole new level. I think I will try that next time…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Yeah yeah, I agreed. My wife would skillfully put all the stuffs nicely in the cupboard till I had a hard time locating it ! And every time I would called out to her to get me the stuffs ! Hahaha … Wow , you really care cook ! Looks food the fried rice !
Hmmmm…you’ve been drinking…”care cook”…”looks food”? π π π Good thing yours can locate, mine would have to turn the whole house upside down…but I would ask her, anyway, as I don’t fancy going through all that. Hehehehehe!!! Just let her do it! π π LD
Arthur, I think he does his comments in the LRT… so when it chug, his fingers also followed the same.. hahahaa…
I cannot agree with you… there is no one in the house who hides things except for myself… and I don’t keep a lot of stuff in my fridge except for chocs!! π
MRT there. I certainly hope so, not commenting while driving. π
Yes, best that way. I always grumble – want to eat again, keep…eat the next day or very soon, not a week or two later or worse, forget completely about it. No intention of eating, just throw away. Alas!!! All fall on deaf ears…so once in a while, I would go through the chore of clearing and cleaning the fridge and throwing everything away. Saw my lunch on Facebook today? The chicken filling for the wrap was from yesterday, the garlic wrap left one piece from long ago and the purple cabbage salad…from last week.
Haha! I’ve found things that my better half puts away too, which I had forgotten about but I am constantly surprised is still there e.g. I found a 1 kg NEW bag of *unopened* muesli in the pantry, behind some other stuff which obscured it.
It’s good though, having someone that can organize things coz otherwise I would misplace and forget it myself. I would always ask my dear if I need to find something coz it’s me who usually can’t find something and will have to overturn the house if not for her. She knows where everything is kept at my house, better than myself!
It’s a blessing to have her.
Dabai! Man, it’s been a long time although last time I was back in Sibu, there was so much that me and my dad couldn’t finish them. We did keep them in the fridge though, and some in the freezer. I might pop back soon (need to finish a couple of things here before I can though) and see if the dabai is still edible.
It would be nice to bring it over here to make some fried rice.
That dabai fried rice you made looks good mate! π
I am not surprised. Hehehehehe!!!! Yes, I can tell you’re the disorganised one and your better half would be the one keeping track of everything. Takes two to tango, they say. π
That was the dabai that I kept in the freezer – did not work out like what everyone said. They said it would be as good as new but not mine. They tasted slightly fermented, edible but not the same anymore and not very nice, nothing like when they’re fresh…so I just put them all in a bottle and salted them. My parents love these salted/fermented ones with porridge but not me – don’t mind them in fried rice though, not bad.
Yeah, I think dabai would always ferment unless it’s TOTALLY frozen e.g. in one of those freezer only units that looks like a mini washing machine. Some people like the slightly fermented dabai e.g. my sister, she’ll wait for a week or so before opening the prepared dabai from the fridge, all the while telling everyone to eat from the new box and not “her” box.
Interesting! Yeah, your method sounds good, I’ve never done that before though – salting the dabai and putting it in bottles.
Haha! Yeah, I’m the disorganized one. π
Lucky to have her, really.
LOL!!! You need someone to look after you! π I prefer dabai fresh but lately, I don’t mind the fermented ones…but in fried rice only. An acquired taste, I guess…like kimchi.
Mmmmm…..fried rice! π
Yummmmm!!!!
This looks crazy delicious, my kind of comfort meal match it with a teh tarik on the side its the best breakfast ever.
I would usually cook fried rice for breakfast if there’s any leftover in the fridge, any version…but with strong black coffee – need that to jumpstart and begin the day. π
heheh, well, i’m terrible at putting away things, and so everything’s a mess on my tables, and i can never find the cards, receipts, etc amid all the rubbish on my desk heh π anyway, it’s nearly 6am and i wish i could have your fried rice for breakfast π
Goshhhhh!!!! You need a partner, a very organised prim and proper one. π π π
Oohh you are right.. I’m good at hiding+stuffing things so that people cant see them.. Like my dresses and shoes.. I stuff them into my wardrobe as hard as I could so that hubby doesn’t nag at me for buying dresses again.. But when I take them out to wear, then wash after that, he nags again, yada yada..
Air budu? Sounds very new to me.. But nothing can go wrong with fried rice, especially when it comes from you π
He nags? I usually don’t…only when I discover some foodstuff way past the expiry date stuffed somewhere, all forgotten…and that’s more because it is such a sheer waste more than anything else. Don’t mind them buying nice clothes and shoes…and in my daughter’s case, books. Need to pamper oneself sometimes to these life’s little pleasures.
The air budu that my friends gave me…smells and tastes like ikan bilis. It does state that on the bottle, air bilis. I think our own budu is stronger (smelling & tasting), more fermented – may not go down well with some people, of course, like our belacan or cincaluk…so smelly they would say but I love it!
I do agree is very good a hiding stuffs, I’m like that!! Hahaha, but always can’t find it when I really need it =.=!!
Gosh! You’re like that too? Gee…looks like it goes across the board then? π
Yup, my mom’s very goood at hiding things but the magical part, she tends to forget after a while…
Hah!!! Aren’t they all the same? π π π
My mom will have no such problem. She forgets many things easily, but her food items and their locations are NOT one of those things. I don’t have such problem either, single man with few days supply in a 1 door fridge, it’s not crowded enough to create “hiding” spaces π
You’ll be surprised. It’s not actually hidden as in purposely put away to hide it…just that it’s so well put away that you will not see it unless you take everything out. Our fridge was smaller before so I thought that was the reason, got a bigger one…but it’s the same old story. π¦
Nothing goes wrong with fried rice!!
I also did spring cleaning of fridge and shelves to see what to use and throw last week. Phew!
I will have to do that one of these days too. π
No we are not hiding things. We are just keeping the house neat and tidy so that the Mr Husband won’t make noise.
As for not throwing food out…waste not want not….Help ypu save money leh. Petrol naik harga…wanna run to to shop and buy sure mahal
I don’t make noise lah. Just keep one eye closed, if cannot tahan…then I go and clean up myself lor, it’s as easy as that.
Indeed, most not waste – look on the bright side. That’s why I always come up with odd combinations – just throw things that I find in the fridge into whatever I cook. No need to follow standard recipes – and the good thing is, nice also…no complaint as long as edible. If not, quietly throw away. Hehehehehe!!! π
hah..hah..you are so right! I do that to myself, can’t find my cooking ingredients and I end up buying and then discovering that I had it all along tsk..tsk..tsk… You fried rice as usual can stir up the imagination and appetite π
Hmmmm!!!! Is this a woman thing? Must have every ingredient? Perfectionists? I would just do without or just use whatever I can find. Improvise. Guess that’s why they say women are from Venus, men are from Mars. Hehehehehe!!!! π
First of all….fried rice…one of my most favourite things to eat. Didn’t know what dabai was until I read your previous post…oh, black olives (actually, your previous fried rice pic looked better…more colour…but maybe doesn’t taste as good as this current one?). I’ve eaten fried rice with black olives before…very nice!
And you should try squeezing calamansi lime over mamak mee goreng…it tastes better!
It does? I always put it by the side. They also give one with a bowl of Sarawak laksa – same thing, I would not bother to add. The same also with the chili sauce or say sauce dips. If the dish is nice, I would not bother about those – only when it’s not nice, then I would add to make it more edible. If I’m still around when they come to collect the plates and wipe the table, I would tell them that I’ve not used so they could give to somebody else – otherwise, it would be such a waste.
Your black olives are the real olives or dabai, like ours. Not into those real olives (like the ones on a toothpick in your cocktail drink). Some body gave me a bottle – said great for salads but it’s an acquired taste and nobody in the house liked them so in the end, we just had to throw it all away. Pity!
Oh? You didn’t know what they were? You would…if you hang around here long enough – you will see it popping up every now and then. Yes, it was much nicer that time – especially with the salted fish…only that I was not too fond of those bits of black skin. This time, like I said – the lime was overpowering, the air bilis was not strong enough for me, lacking in fragrance if compared to those bits of salted fish the previous time…but it was ok, not bad…just not how I would fry it again.
I love Dabai Fried Rice especially with extra belacan! Hehe.
Got belacan in the actual recipe? Never bothered to google – just tried my own way. Was very nice once when I fried with salted fish.
You and your signature fried rice.
Have not try dabai fried rice before, i think i still like normal fried rice and i still like to eat my dabai on its own.
I wouldn’t say it is something not to be missed, just something different for a change. Would prefer salted fish or cincaluk or belacan fried rice but I know you wouldn’t touch the last two. π π π
can i have this for my lunch please??!!! T___T
They may have this at Absolute Tribal – dunno if they use the fresh dabai or these salted/fermented ones. If fresh ones, probably not available right now as it is not in season. Can hop over and check it out there. Say hi to Gerald for me!
Aawww.. okay.. i haven’t been to Absolute Tribal since they changed venue. Might drop by there again since I haven’t been restaurant hopping lately.. thanks for the intro… and alright.. will check out who this Gerald is π
They changed? I thought they have a new branch in Kota Samarahan? the old one at Tabuan no more?
Sometimes, i buy things, then put there, forgotten about it, keke…
…and you’re not even old yet. Oh dear!!!
If I put stuff away (or attempt to clean and be organized) I can’t find a darn thing! LOL
I know. For some people, there’s method in their madness. If you arrange everything nicely and neatly for them, they will be totally lost – can’t locate anything anymore. Takes all kinds to make the world, eh?
Here is a piece of good news for you regarding ‘overnight’ rice. It’s said these overnight starches become ‘resistant starch’ and less readily absorbed by the body….read…..less calories. Good news for those who love starch food. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3LncBcDcCXKgtpFvrDZVnNQ/can-my-leftovers-be-healthier-than-the-original-meal
That’s great! No wonder overnight rice doesn’t taste so nice, if just steamed. If fried, then there will be the oil used…and everything else. Head you win, tail I lose situation. π¦
Ahh, fried rice…one of the most versatile dish, don’t you agree? You can put almost anything you like. Haven’t tried dabai fried rice before…or dabai for that matter. My favourite version is with sambal belacan or salted fish π
And err, hiding things? Not hide lah. Organise and store things neatly and properly….so properly until I forgot where I kept it at times. π
Birds of the same feather, I see? π Ys, I think I would love those types of fried rice bast, or kampung style…or the Thai-style pineapple fried rice. Not really fond of those at the Chinese places with the bits of char siew and those frozen vegetables.