Baked Rice with Bacon and Mushrooms

Recently, me and my sis attended a cooking class by Chef Yong at Cairnhill CC. We were taught Deep Fried Prawns with Wasabi Mayo, Chicken Noodle Soup and Baked Rice with Bacon and Mushrooms. As the recipe from the Chef is cooking the rice from scratch and is much different from the easy lazy way which I've always cooked my baked rice, I decided to replicate the Chef's recipe and try whether taste-wise, it's the same as what we've tasted in the cooking class. Ta-da! The end product tastes every bit as good as what we're tried in the class. Yummilicious!! I've cooked only 1 cup rice for me, hubby and baby, thus halved all the portions. However, I realised that the cooking time remains unchanged even though the recipe calls for 2 cups rice and I've only used 1 cup. So that's something to note.

Baked Rice with Bacon and Mushrooms
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
Rice
1 tsp Butter
60g Chopped Onion
2 cups Jasmine Rice (I've only used 1 cup)
3 cups Chicken Stock (Use 2 tbsp chicken stock concentrate to 250ml water)

White Sauce (Basic cream pasta sauce)
300ml Milk (UHT/Fresh Milk)
100ml Cream
2 tbsp Maggi Concentrated Chicken Stock
2 tbsp Cornstarch or Potato Starch
4 tbsp Water

Others
200g Streaky Bacon, diced
1 can Button Mushrooms, halved or quartered (I used fresh button mushrooms)
100g Fresh Shitake Mushrooms
100g Mozzarella or Emmental Cheese (I used Emmental Cheese)
Chopped English Parsley
1 Whole Tomato, diced

Method:
1. Wash rice and drain dry. Melt butter and saute onions till fragrant. Add rice and pour in the chicken stock. Bring to boil and cook over slow fire for 15 mins. Alternatively, bake rice, covered, in a preheated oven at 180 deg C for 40 mins (20 mins for metal tray). Allow rice to rest for 10 mins before fluffing. (I used glass tray and baked the rice in the oven, covered with aluminium foil)

2. Combine milk and cream together. Bring to boil and add the concentrated chicken stock. Mix starch with water and thicken the sauce with it. (Just enough for the sauce to coat the back of a spoon, runny consistency)

3. Heat oil and saute bacon until fat is rendered. Add the mushrooms and cook for 2 mins. Transfer cooked rice to a casserole. Sprinkle the bacon and mushrooms over the rice. Spoon the white sauce over the rice and sprinkle with some grated cheese.

4. Bake rice in a preheated oven at 220 deg C for 10 - 15 mins. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and diced tomatoes before serving.