-This recipe is super cheap.
It's leftover rice,
leftover ketchup,
leftover onions,
leftover tomatoes.
It's cheesy and it's super easy
to put together..
Hey, what's up?
My name is Lucas Sin.
I'm the chef of Junzi Kitchen.
I'm also a proud member
of Shy Boyz Club.
And we are gonna make
cheesy tomato rice today.
It's a last-ditch effort to fuse
those drunken K-town nights
with Hong Kong-style
comfort food.
The cheesy rice itself is
the part that's from K-town.
And then the tomato sauce
is the Hong Kong part.
We're gonna make a sauce
inside of a tiny little pot.
Here's half of an onion.
Not too thin 'cause you kind of
want a little bit of structure.
You don't want it
to become nothing.
That's that.
Tomatoes, take eighths,
small quarters.
If you don't have
these tomatoes,
you can actually probably use
canned tomatoes.
This is the type of thing
that was sort of invented
by an idiot like me
in the middle of the night,
because it's not
supposed to happen.
Okay, cool.
So at the end of all this, kind
of this is what you should have.
Let's put some garlic
in here, too.
♪♪
Remove the ends...
if you love yourself.
Take out the green parts,
'cause that's nasty.
So I'm gonna chop the garlic.
So the tomato part
of this recipe,
it comes from a
[Speaks native language] classic
called [Speaks native language]
which is baked pork chop rice.
Traditionally served
with a pork chop.
Sometimes the pork chop's
a cutlet.
Sometimes it's just broiled.
Chopped garlic pieces we're
gonna combine with the tomatoes.
Save the rest.
So now is the time
to combine the rice.
Super old, kind of left over
from two days ago.
And that's also farro
back there.
Farro would work
probably really great.
Barley, whatever grains
you have left over.
So however much rice
you want to eat.
This rice is already
pretty seasoned.
It's got caramelized shallots
and millet
and all these other
wonderful seasonings
and garlic in here already.
So I'm not gonna
go too crazy on the salt.
Maybe for that amount of rice,
let's do like three cubes
of butter or something.
The other ingredients
that I like to put in this
that I think take it
to the next level are honey.
This is a Hong Kong honey.
Use whatever you have.
I was kind of playing off of
the honey-butter flavor profile.
Maybe teaspoon and a half
over here.
Maple syrup would probably
be pretty good in this.
And this is tamarind vinegar.
But you can use any type
of vinegar you'd like.
An apple cider vinegar, that
would work great, rice vinegar.
Salt.
Just a touch.
And then black pepper.
Super, super generous
with the black pepper.
Other things
that would be good in here --
If you're feeling adventurous,
paprika would probably be great,
dried spices.
Maybe za'atar
would be kind of fun in here,
you know, thyme.
Mix it up a little bit.
And then you're gonna want
to put cheese in there.
Handful kind of covering it...
so it looks like a goopy,
drunken mess.
Mexican cheese.
Sorry, Mexico.
But, yeah, mostly cheddar
and Monterey Jack.
But whatever you have
in house will be good.
Mix it up, and then that goes
into the microwave.
Two minutes,
maybe a minute and a half.
Whatever gets the cheese melty.
Cheesy rice.
Look at this thing.
Look at this thing.
Almost every single meal
I make includes the microwave.
It's my favorite
cooking utensil.
Okay, we're gonna make
the sauce.
So I love cooking in pots
because pots
are basically small woks.
I think pans are,
generally speaking, overrated.
They're only good for things
like quesadillas.
But don't quote me on that.
Okay, high heat.
Tiny bit of oil.
Oil's hot.
Onion goes in.
Trying to get it barely cooked.
Not trying to make it
into nothing.
Once the onions are picking up
just the tiniest bit of color,
you want to put
your tomatoes in.
And the garlic.
Don't add the garlic
in the beginning,
'cause it's gonna burn.
Keep it moving.
Probably been about a minute.
I haven't added any salt
or anything to it.
Once it's starting to soften up
just a tiny bit,
you want to take it off.
Bring the pan
back onto the flame.
Turn the heat down just a tad.
And then we're gonna give it
a nice amount of butter.
Butter is melted.
Add a touch of flour.
Low heat.
The point is
to thicken the sauce,
not to give it too much color.
This is the only recipe
in the entire Chinese canon
that I'm aware of
that uses a roux.
Probably because
it's a Hong Kong appropriation
of a Western-style baked pasta,
baked rice dish.
Tomatoes go back in.
And then cold water.
Want to bring the temperature
of the pan down
before you bring it
back up again.
High heat,
wait for that to boil.
Cheesy rice goes inside
of the Dutch oven.
Use whatever oven-safe bowl
that you have.
Tomato sauce is boiling.
Salt to taste.
You don't want your onions
to be cooked through.
You barely want your tomatoes
to be cooked through.
And then we'll finish it
with ketchup.
Heinz -- best of the best.
Whoo!
Be generous.
Hong Kong-style tomato sauce was
basically born around the '50s
during the British
colonial rule.
And in lieu of fresh tomatoes,
the good people of Hong Kong
would use something like ketchup
because it was sweeter
and more delicious than tomatoes
but also because it was
a cheap substitute
for that sort of thing.
In Hong Kong, we call it
[Speaks native language]
which means
"fresh tomato sauce."
Maybe a touch of sugar.
Also, if you have a pork chop
lying around,
you should definitely
put the pork chop in here.
And then we're gonna go in
with tomato sauce.
Don't cover the whole thing,
'cause you kind of want to see
some of the rice.
Putting some of
the tomato chunks in there.
Low-moisture mozzarella
'cause it melts nice.
And it's what most people have.
Again, be generous with it.
This goes in,
broil until the cheese melts.
That's it.
If you were short on time,
whether it's a matter
of lack of will
or you have to get
out the door or whatever,
you can do this whole recipe
in the microwave.
You just don't broil it
and you don't get
that burnt cheesy goodness.
But whatever.
Your loss.
Check that out.
Oh, my goodness.
Look at this.
Look at this.
[ Whistles ]
Pork chop rice without
the pork chop, extra cheese.
[ Clicks tongue ]
[ Slurping ]
There's cheese on the bottom.
And then there's cheese on top.
What is this?
Who does this?
Ketchup is sweet.
It's pretty good.
That was the easiest recipe
in the world.
But just 'cause
things are simple
doesn't mean you don't
have to think about it.
Every single thing, as simple
and silly as it may seem,
probably has some nerdy
sociohistorical
cultural background.
Really interesting
how Chinese cuisine
could reappropriate
Western cuisine
in specific
historical circumstances.
And that tomato sauce
holds really, really well.
So you can chill that down and
use it the next day for pasta.
Thank you for hanging out.
Get cooking.
Stay thoughtful.
Stay creative.
♪♪
♪♪
Ooh-la-la.
Ooh-la-la.
Oooooh-la-la.
Oh.
