Cheese Baked Rice A La King

Cheese baked rice

You know the baked cheese-topped fried rice in dim sum baskets served in char chan tengs, Hong Kong-style fusion coffee houses? I was trying to make that dish, except I didn't want the usual fried rice topped with pork or chicken chop or luncheon meat. I thought chicken a la king, a dish we enjoy, would be good instead of fried rice but this dish goes to prove that the same thing served in a different style can be utterly disastrous. I don't know, you can try it out and tell me what you think. Maybe macoroni would work better than rice for this dish. You can still do the dish the char chan teng way, by frying up some rice with luncheon meat and mixed peas and carrots, top with a piece of pork chop or ham, and then top that with mozzarella cheese, cheddar & parmesan cheeses.

I didn't think I would blog about a recipe I didn't like. But who knows, some of you may like fusion food better than us. Wey, who disliked Chinese-Western fusion food, now hates it after eating this. And I feel the same too. Little kids may fall for it, thinking it is western. Yes, it might work on kids.


Cheese Baked Rice A La King
3 cups Chicken a la king*, warm/hot
5 cups cooked plain rice or macaroni, warm/hot**
120 g mozzarella, grated
100 g parmesan & cheddar (or just one type of either cheese), grated

*make the sauce slightly thicker than usual for this dish

**or use fried rice, top with a chicken chop or pork chop or fried egg or fried luncheon meat or ham. Omit the chicken a la king.

1. Oven at 250 C, rack on upper half of oven.

2. Wrap a bamboo dim sum basket with foil, leaving an overhang wide enough to wrap the sides of the basket so that the basket won't burn.

3. Put the cooked rice into the basket, level it and then top with the chicken a la king. Make sure the chicken & sauce is level.

4. Sprinkle an even layer of mozzarella followed by the parmesan and cheddar, and pop into the oven for 3-4 minutes until bubbly and golden brown in some spots. Serve hot.