Babi Pong Teh - Braised Pork with Salted Bean Paste

Nyonya Cuisine reflects the cultural mix of the community from Malay ingredients such as lemongrass, glangal, and chilies with Chinese pork in basic style of food preparation. In modern society we could easily prepared authentic traditional Nyonya cuisine from those ready packed spices or using a food blender to blend the spices instead of pestle or grinding stone.

To be frank as a Teochew and my Granny being a Nyonya I have never appreciate most of her Nyonya dishes during the days when she was around. And in this case, I don’t really have deep impressions on how she prepares her signature dishes. From my memories, I only remembered her  “Acar”, “Belacan Stuffed Fish”, “Pengat” and this “Babi Pong Teh”.

If you have watched MediaCorp drama "Little Nyonya (小娘惹)" which is very popular in year 2008 till now, you would be familiar with this "Babi Pong Teh" dish which is being prepared by one of the leading actress in the drama. Although the ingredients might various from each recipes but the key ingredients would be more or less the same using Pork Belly and Salted Bean Paste.

These are the basic ingredients for preparing this homecook Nyonya Braised Pork Belly dish.

Ingredients: (Serves 2 - 4)

350g Pork Belly, cut into 3cm pieces
100g Shallots
50g Garlic
30g Salted Bean Paste
1/2 Tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce, for colour
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
300ml Hot Water

Seasoning:
20g Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Chicken Stock Powder
Salt and Pepper To Taste

Method:

1. Remove the outer skin of the shallots and garlic then blend them together with salted bean paste till it form a smooth paste.
2. Heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in small saucepan, add blended paste and fry over medium low heat till fragrant and slightly golden brown.
3. Add pork belly and dark soy sauce and continue frying for 1 minute and pork is evenly coated with the bean paste.
4. Add in hot water to cover pork belly, stir in seasoning and simmer over low heat for 1 hour or until pork is tender.
5. Serve hot with steamed rice.


This is a very authentic dish that can be easily found in every Nyonya household or even in the menu of any Nyonya restaurant. The taste of this dish should be slightly sweet with a hint of saltiness from the salted bean paste and it gives out a great aroma braising this dish with these blended ingredients. For a healthier version you could also replace the pork belly with chicken pieces or chicken wings.

Stir-Fried Pork With Basil Leave

Stir-fried Pork with Basil Leave (Pad Gra Prao) is one of the most common street/household food in Thailand. It’s usually served as a quick one-dish meal eaten with white rice and usually topped with an extra fried egg. And since I have some Thai Sweet Basil left over from preparing the Thai Green Curry (recipe HERE), I decided use them for this stir-fried pork with basil leave to go with the curry.

Ginger Vinegar Trotter - 猪脚姜醋

Hello to all the Asian mums! I am sure you are familiar with this dish which brings back memories during your “Confinement - 坐月” days? Ginger Vinegar Trotter (猪脚姜醋) is one of the traditional "must have" confinement dish that is good for expelling the wind from the stomach, the calcium in the trotter plus the heat from the ginger  which helps to revitalize and replenish nutrients in the mother's body.

To prepare this dish, the two key ingredients are matured (old) ginger and black vinegar. Matured ginger is used because it imparts a stronger and more intense flavour for the dish and most of the folks also believe that Black Vinegar purifies blood and cleanses the arteries of stale blood while Old ginger drives out the wind in the body. And in order to prevent the vinegar for being too acidic and weakening the stomach; glutinous ligaments and collagen of the pig's trotters are added to serve as a lubricant.

Ingredients: (serves 2 -3)
1 Pig's Trotter, ask for the front trotter and cut into big pieces
2 Big Piece Of Old Ginger (老姜), about 500g
1 Small Bottle (375ml) Of Black Rice Vinegar (黑甜醋)
1 1/2 Bottle Of Water, use the same vinegar bottle
1 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
50g Rock Sugar/Brown Sugar
4 Hard Boiled Eggs

Method:
1. Scrap, wash and cut the old ginger into big pieces then flatten slightly.

2. Heat up sesame oil in a large claypot and saute old ginger till fragrant.

3. Pour in vinegar and water, covered and bring to a boil. Reduce to low heat, cook for about 45 minutes to an hour, remove from heat and leave it to stand over night.(alternatively you can transfer the mixture to a slow cooker and cooker for AUTO for about 3 hours then switch it off and let it stand over night)

4. Trim the pig's trotter, rinse and blanch into boiling water for about 3 minutes. Remove, rinse again and drain well.

5. Preheat frying pan with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, saute the prepare trotter for a few seconds to seal the meat.

6. Next bring the vinegar mixture to boil, add in the pig trotter and cooked for 30 minutes on low heat then add in the hard boiled eggs. (or you can transfer the mixture back to the slower cooker and cook over AUTO for another 2 hours before adding in the egg and cook for another 30 minutes or so).

7. Continue to simmer for another 20 - 30 minutes till the trotter is soften to bite then add in sugar to taste.

8. Remove from heat and serve hot or you can prepare this in the morning and let the mixture stand till the adsorb the flavour from the vinegar broth. and serve in the evening.

Note:
~ Cooking in Slow Cooker prevent the soup from drying out when compare to simmer it over the stove on low heat.

~ Ask for front trotter from the butcher as it contains more meat than bones or replace it with pork belly for more meaty dish.

Although this dish might seems a bit time consuming to prepared but you can always prepare the vinegar broth a day ahead and add in the trotter on the second day. Between this dish taste better after one or two days and you can store the unfinished portion in the fridge too but remember not to use plastic container for this dish due to the vinegar reaction to the plastic.

Teochew Ngoh Hiang

In the past, making "Ngoh Hiang - 五香" is always one of my Dad specialty dish. During festive occasion such as Chinese New Year he and mum would make a huge quantity to distribute to our relatives or served it to those who visit us during New Year. But now when he is no long around, we don’t really get to eat this special treat as often as we do.

Baked Herbal Spare Ribs

Most of us would have heard or tried the Steam Herbal Chicken(药材鸡) from either local food stalls or Chinese Restaurant. The chicken is usually wrapped in foil together with some assorted Chinese herbs(eg: dang gui, wolfberries, red dates and etc.) and steam until tender for about an hour plus or so.

This round, instead of the usual Steam or Deep-fried Herbal Chicken I would like to share with you this Baked Herbal Pork Ribs which creates another new fusion of herbal taste. So if you love the taste and gravy of the usual Herbal Chicken, don't hesitate, come and join us to explore the new taste of this Baked Herbal Pork Ribs with just minimum requirement of ingredients from you kitchen pantry.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
8 Pieces of Spare Ribs(排骨)
3/4 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1/2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Grated Ginger Juice
1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper

For Wrapping:
8 small slices of Dang Gui (当归)
1 Tablespoon Wolfberries (枸杞子)
1 Sprig of Coriander, leave only
8 Pieces of Aluminium Foil
8 Pieces of Baking Paper

Method:
1. Wash, trim and pad dry the spare ribs then marinate it with the above mentioned ingredients and set side in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to an hour.
2. At the meantime, cut the Aluminium Foil and Baking Paper to the size of about roughly 15 x 20cm each and set aside for later use.
3. Place a piece of the baking paper on top of the aluminium foil, place a few wolfberries, 1 leaf of the coriander, top with 1 piece of marinated spare rib, add another leaf of coriander, 1 slice of dang gui and a few more wolfberries.(refer to the above picture for more detail of the placement)
4. Fold the baking paper into a parcel shape to wrap the spare rib then double-wrapped it wth the foil layer.
5. Repeat the same procedure for the remaining spare ribs, bake the wrapped parcel in pre-heated 200 degree oven for about 20 - 25 minutes (remove a parcel from the oven, use a chopstick to pierce and test whether the meat is cooked through before removing the rest of the parcels)
6. If it is not cook through, continue to bake for another 5 - 10 minutes.

Note:
~ You can also drizzle some of the marinated sauce on top of the spare ribs before wrapping.


So as you can see, even with some simple ingredients on hand you can create some amazing and eye appealing dish for your guest. This is great to serve as finger food during gathering or party. I am sure your guests will be impressed by this colourful and aroma dish when they open up each of these individual treasure packet. And other than the spare ribs, you will also be able to taste the herbal gravy which expel from the meat during the baking processes from the high temperature.

Jing Du Pai Gu - 京都排骨

Hello!!! My Dear Reader of Cuisine Paradise Main Page. So sorry that I had not being able to update any new recipes for such a long time. As some of you who frequent my blog you had realise that I am now a Full-time working mum so there won't be much chance for me to whip out any dishes unless for any special occasions :)


A few days ago, I had invited one of my best blog pal Evangeline from Bossacafez to come over an had a simple dinner with my family. I had wished up 2 main dishes, 1 soup and a dessert which you can find those photos on her Flickr Site. Thank pal for making my dishes look so great with your photographing skill, and also your compliment of sharing the above photo for my post.

Ingredients:
500g Prime Pork Pribs, cut into smaller pieces
1 1/2 Tablespoons White Rice Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 Tablespoon Honey
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
1/2 Tablespoons Dark Soy Sauce

Methods:
1. Wash and pat dry the ribs then mixed with all the ingredients and marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight in the fridge.
2. Pour everything in a nn-stick pan or pot, then simmer on very low heat until all the sauce dried up and thicken. (about 30 minutes)
3. Do stir the ribs a few times on and off so that they are evenly coated with the sauce.

Notes:
a) If you prefer a darker colour like above, you can add in more dark soy sauce after about 15 minutes of the cooking time to the desire colour that u prefer.
b) The colour will darken sligtly after the sauce dried up due to the honey content.
c) You can omit the sugar and add in more honey if u prefer.

Sweet Lemon Pork Chop

There are all sort of ways and methods to cook Pork Chops and Pork Ribs. For eg: Sweet and Sour, Coffee, Beer and etc. Today I am trying a very simple way using Lemon slices and juice. The gravy taste just nice which is not sour as what we might thought because of the Lemon.


The original recipe used Spare Ribs but i replace it with Pork Loin Meat instead for the convenient of the kid. You don't need any of those fancy sauce, the main sauce ingredients are just Lemon, Tomato and Chilli Sauce.
Ingredients:
250g Of Pork Loin Meat/300g Spare Ribs
1/2 Fresh Lemon, thinly sliced
Marinade:
1/2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 Egg
1/2 Tablespoon Cornstarch
Sauce: (mix well)
2 Tablespoon Tomato Sauce
1 Tablespoon Chilli Sauce
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Sugar
125ml Water

Methods:
1. Rinse the spare ribs or pork chop and cut into convenient pieces.
2. Season with marinade for about 30 minutes or longer.
3. Dust with extra cornstarch and set aside for 2 minutes before deep-frying in hot oil and golden in colour.
4. Dish up and keep aside.
5. Cook the sauce mixture in the preheated wok until boiling, add in the meat and stir-fry over low heat until the sauce is thicken.
6. Lastly add in lemon slices and simmer for a while until the meat are well coated with sauce.
7. Dish up and serve hot with garnish.

Notes:
a) You can add 1/2 Tablespoon extra Lemon Juice to the sauce if you prefer a bit sour.
b) If using pork chop, wash and dry the pork cutlet with kitchen towel then use the back of the knife/or a meat mallet to flatten the pork before seasoning.
c) You can garnish with some spring onion, chilli strips or extra lemon slices.

A Day Into Confinement Dish

Today I am in mood of cooking some confinement dishes because I had this craving of eating this Black Vinegar Trotter which I had never eaten during my Confinement period. I started this craving when I saw this dish on my best friend Beechoo's baby full month celebration. I was tempting to give it a try but then I was afraid of the vinegar fragrant and taste.

But after much struggle and convince from my best pal Tracy I decided to give it a go... Wow.. and it really turns out great, thanks Tracy for introducing me to try cooking on this wonderful dish. I knew there are a lot of different ways to cook this dish depending on individual. Some just add sweeten black vinegar, some use both sweet and black vinegar while other add water and rock sugar/brown sugar. But no matter what are the ways that you choose to cook this dish, I believed it sure turns out great. And old folks believed that Black Vinegar purifies blood and cleanses the arteries of stale blood while Old ginger drives out the wind in the body. In order to prevent the vinegar being too acidic & therefore weakening the stomach, the glutinous ligaments and collagen of the pig's trotters are to serve as a lubricant.

Ingredients:
1 Pig's Trotter(ask for the front trotter)
1 Big Piece Of Old Ginger(about 300g)
1 Handful Of Black Bean
1 Small Bottle Of Black Vinegar, 375ml
1 1/2 Bottle Of Water(use the same vinegar bottle)
2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
1 - 2 Tablespoon Rock Sugar/Brown Sugar
2 - 3 Hard Boiled Eggs

Methods:
1. Peel, wash and cut the old ginger into big pieces then flatten slightly.
2. Rinse the black beans and pat dry then set aside.
3. Heat up sesame oil in the preheated large claypot to saute old ginger till fragrant then add in the black beans and stir for a few minutes.
4. Pour in vinegar and water, covered and bring to a boil. Reduce to low heat, cook for about 1 hour remove from heat and soak the rest for over night.
5. Rinse the pig's trotter and cut into convenient pieces, wash and blanch into boiling water.
6. Remove, rinsed and stir-fry with some sesame oil in a preheated dry wok for a while.
7. Lastly bring the soaked vinegar soup back to boil, add in pre-fried trotter pieces and cooked for 20 minutes then add in the hard boiled eggs.
8. Continue to simmer for another 20 minutes then add in sugar to taste.
9. Remove from heat, soak the trotter pieces until tenders and the flavour has be absorbed. Serve hot.

Notes:
a) You can choose to add in more or less Ginger depend on your preference.
b) You can choose to cook the Black Vinegar Soup 1 day ahead before adding the Pig trotter or you can cook all the ingredients together and eat on the day itself or next day.
c) The amount of sugar added also depend on individual taste, you can omit it as well.

This is another famous and must dish during the confinement, Chicken With Rice Wine Residue. The aroma was great and it goes well with white rice.

Ingredients:
4-5 Chicken Wings, cut into half
1 Tablespoon Of Shredded Ginger
2 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Tablespoon of Red Grain Rice Wine Residue
1/2 - 3/4 Cup Glutinous Rice Wine
Marinade:
1 Tablespoon Red Grain Rice Wine Reside
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Teaspoon Glutinous Rice Wine/Cooking Wine

Methods:
1. Rinse chicken wings and cut into pieces. Season with the marinade well and marinated for about 30 minutes.
2. Heat up 2 Tablespoons of sesame oil then add in shredded ginger and fry till fragrant then add in the wine residue.
3. Add in the marinated chicken pieces, stir-fry till well combined and aromatic then pour in the glutinous rice wine and stir well.
4. Then simmer with cover over low heat for 5 minutes or till cooked through. Remove and serve hot.

Stir-Fried Pork Fillet With Longans

This is an very interesting dish that used Fresh Longan as one of the main ingredients. Actually the original meat ingredient used is fatty beef but I replace it with Pork Fillet(mei rou,梅肉) which is more tender and juice. Since now is Longan season, for those who loves to eat this fruit maybe you can give a try to this dish.

Longan(龙眼) it is also called guiyuan (桂圆) in Chinese. They are round with a thin, brown-coloured inedible shell. The flesh of the fruit, which surrounds a big, black seed, is white, soft, and juicy. Dried longan are often used in Chinese food therapy and herbal medicine. In contrast with the fresh fruit, the flesh of dried longans is dark brown to almost black. It is Low in calories and a good source of Vitamin C and potassium.


Ingredients:
20 - 25 Fresh Longans, removed shell & seeds
300g Fatty Beef/Pork Fillet, thinly sliced
1 Stalk Of Spring Onion, cut into sections
3 Slices Of Ginger, shredded
Some carrot slices

Marinade:
1/2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Teaspoon Cooking Wine
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Cornflour

Methods:
1. Marinate the meat with the above marinade for at least 30 minutes or more.
2. Shell and remove the seed from the longans, rinse and set aside.
3. Heat about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Sesame Oil/Oil in a wok, saute the ginger, spring onion and carrot until fragrant then add in the meat and stir-fry until almost done.
4. Add in longans, stir-fry quickly for about 30 seconds or so then remove and serve.

Hakka Khau Yoke(Yam With Pork Belly)

I had heard a lot of good comments and feedbacks on this dish, so I thought just give it a try since my hubby is also a Hakka. To him, this is the 1st time trying out this special Hakka dish. Even though both my in-laws are Hakka, but they had never cooked this dish at home before.

Saw a few recipes in the net, but finally decided to try the recipe from Food Heaven(Lillian Chan). Since she did not mention some of the sauce measuring quantity, I also don't really know whether my version of the Khau Yoke is the correct taste. But overall, the red fermented beancurd taste is strong, maybe I had added too much of it... But for those who is interested, you can take a look at both the recipes. Another one is from Waitakere Redneck's Kitchen.

Kong Ba Bao/Kou Rou Bao(扣肉包)

Kou Rou Bao(扣肉包) or Kong Bao Bao... that's what we usually called this Chinese snacks. I love this especially the stew pork belly which is so soft, tender and juicy when you bite it off from the bun. I had also tried a similar stew pork belly dish in the previous post on Dong Po Rou. But this taste and methods are abit different from this.


This stew Kong Ba is towards the dried type of meat where you don't really add water to stew but rather pan-fry it on very very low heat and simmer on it's very own natural juice from the meat. I got to learn this method from one of the mummy from my son's playgroup.

Ingredients:
1 Piece Of Pork Belly(三层肉 ), about 200g
1 Small Cinnamon Stick(桂皮 ), about 5cm long
1 Star Anise,八角
6-8 Cloves,丁香
4 Cloves Garlics,蒜头
4 Shallots,小葱头
1 Small Pieces Rock Sugar(冰糖), 10g
Seasoning:
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine

Methods:
1. Wash, clean and trim the pork belly then marinate it with the seasoning, cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves, garlic and shallot for at least 2 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat a small claypot with some 1 tablespoon of oil and saute 3 cloves of garlic and rock sugar to fragrant then add in pork belly and the marinade juice and saute on medium heat for 1 minute then turn it over.
3. Add in 1 - 2 tablespoons of water and let it simmer on very low heat for 30 - 45 minutes, check occasionally to see with if the sauce dried out before the meat is tender, add in extra tablespoons of water and continue to simmer.
4. When done, dish up and cut into serving size and serve together with steam plain bun and lettuce.

Wrapped Asparagus With Pork & Sesame Seeds

This was an easy and delicious finger food to make for all occasion. It consists of both meat and vegetable which make it a health snack even though it is a deep-fry food.

The original recipe used only white sesame while I use a mixture of white and black sesame seeds. For this dish, you need to purchase those thick and fat asparagus instead of the thin type so that it could be easily wrapped by the pork slices.


For this dish, I made two different version. 4 are coated with sesame seeds while 2 are coated with breadcrumbs.

Ingredients:
6 Slices Of Pork Fillet
6 Thick Asparagus
20g White Sesame Seeds
5g Black Sesame Seeds
3 Shallots, thinly slices
2" Ginger, finely grate
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1/2 Beaten Egg
Seasoning:
2 Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Mirin/Rice Wine
Dash Of Pepper & Sesame Oil

Methods:
1. Pound the pork slices with the back of the knife to make it more tender and spread out.
2. Marinate it with shallot, ginger and seasoning for at least 30 minutes.
3. Cut all the asparagus into equal length then use a vegetable peeler and scrape off the skin around 2" from the bottom part of the stem.
4. Wrap each asparagus with 1 piece of the marinated pork slice tightly then dust with some cornstarch.
5. Deep in the beaten egg then coat with the white and black sesame mixture.
6. Set aside while repeating the rest of the ingredients.
7. Heat oil in a pot, then deep-fry in medium heat until crisp and golden brown, drained and set aside before serving.

Tracy's Special Homemade Dishes

Tracy is one of my best blogger friend and also the only one that I had mit up with so far. She is a very Enthusiastic person who always try out new recipes. She can even whip up a dessert late in the night or wakes up early in the morning to bake or prepare dishes. I really admire her way of doing things and she really encourage me a lot during my downtimes and pushing me trying all those interesting recipes. Like now, I do not need to buy any commercial ricotta cheese because she is the one who taught me how to make it. Thanks pal.

Recently I bought my son over to her house and she is really very warm hearted hosts who whip up a wonderful meal and dessert for us. We really appreciate it so after I came back, I decide to try cooking these two dishes which we had eaten at her place. The 1-2-3 Chicken Stew is a recipe that is pass down to her from her mum, it's a really easy and wonderful dish that everyone should give it a try. The original recipe contains only chicken or chicken with potatoes but I add in some greens and tomato to enhance the colour and give it some extra flavour.


1-2-3 Chicken Stew
Ingredients:
500g Chicken Pieces, cut into bite size
4-6 Cloves Of Garlic, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon Tau Cheong Paste, 豆酱
2 Tablespoons Sugar
3 Tablespoons Black Vinegar,黑醋
1/2 - 1 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
1 Packet Of Sweet Peas,甜豆
1 Medium Potato, cut into small cubes
1 Small Carrot, cut into small cubes
1 Medium Tomato, cut into wedges
1/2 Cup Water

Methods:
1. Wash and clean the peas then saute it in a pan with some oil, garlic and half the tomato wedges for 1 minutes, dish and set aside.
2. Cut, wash and drain the chicken pieces then set aside.
3. Preheat the pan with 1 tablespoon of oil then saute the garlic, tau cheong paste, sugar and black vinegar until fragrant then add in the chicken pieces.
4. Stir-fry the chicken for about 30 seconds then add in the potato, carrot and tomato.
5. Next add in some water, cover and simmer the chicken for about 5 minutes till the potato and carrot are tender.
6. Lastly thicken the sauce with some cornstarch water and serve.

Notes:
I used 2 chicken drumsticks and 3 chicken wings.
You can use this recipe to cook pork ribs instead of chicken too.


Other than the chicken stew, this is one of their family favourite dish which is the Stew Pork Belly. She aslo gave me some fresh whole nutmeg which I had never come across in Singapore. The whole Nutmeg looks similar like a chestnut which wrap in a shell.

This stew pork belly dish is very different from those that I had eaten before. This fragrant of the nutmeg make this dish very refreshing and the taste is more towards the sweeter side rather than the salty pork belly that we eaten outside. For those who loves stew pork belly, maybe you can give this dish a try but you must be prepared because this is not a salty dish.

Stew Dong Po Pork Belly
Ingredients:
500g Pork Belly(三层肉), blanched and cut into 3 sections
3 Slices Of Ginger
2 Nutmeg(豆蔻)
2 Star Anise(八角)
20g Lotus Seeds(莲子), soaked till soft
6-8 Shallot, sliced
15g Rock Sugar
2 Tablespoons Dark Soy Sauce
200ml Rice Wine/Cooking Wine
200ml Water
Some Cornstarch water

Methods:
1. Wash and cut the pork belly strips into 3 sections then blanched in boiling water, drained and set aside.
2. Soak the lotus seeds in warm water until soft, drain and set aside.
3. Preheat a claypot with 1 tablespoon of oil then saute the ginger, shallot, star anise and nutnug until fragrant then add in the blanched pork belly and lotus seeds.
4. Saute the above for 1 - 2 minutes then add in dark soy sauce, rice wine and water.
5. Simmer the mixture over lowest heat until pork is tender and fragrant for about 3 hours.
6. Thicken the sauce with some cornstarch water and serve.

Note: You can add in hard boiled eggs or firm doufu according to your preference.

Pork Chop La Mian-排骨拉面

I always like to eat the 排骨拉面 from Crystal Jade Noodle House. So when I saw this similar recipe from one of the cookbook, I decide to give it a try. I bought the Fresh La Mian(拉面) from NTUC supermarket which can use to serve 3 - 4 person. This dish is very simple, just need to marinate the pork chop then deep-fry it and serve with soup noodle. It cost about $3.00 per bowl base on the ingredients used.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 Pieces of Big Pork Chop With Bone
1 Packet of La Mian(拉面)
A Few Stalks Of Xiao Bao Cai/Cai Xin(小白菜/菜薪)
600ml Of Soup Stock
Some Shallot/Sesame Oil
2 Tablespoon Sweet Potato Flour + 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

Seasoning:
1 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
3-4 Cloves Crush Garlic
1/2 Teaspoon Five-spice Powder

Methods:
1. Wash and chop the pork chop with the back of the knife to make it tenderize.
2. Marinate it with the seasoning for at least 30 minutes or more in the fridge.
3. Before deep-frying, coat it evenly with the flour mixture and set aside for 2 - 3 minutes.
4. Preheat the oil and deep-fry the pork chop in medium heat one at a time until golden brown and crisp.
5. Blanch the noodle in boiling water, then rinse with tap water to remove the starch on the noodles.
6. Then cook the noodles accordingly to the packet instructions.
7. Wash and blanch the vegetables in the boiling soup, remove and set side.
8. Place the cooked noodles in a serving bowl, top with blanch vegetables and deep-fry pork chop.
9. Pour over the soup stock and sprinkle some dried shallot, sesame oil and spring onion then serve.

Notes: You can use any types of noodle that you prefer. Or you can change the pork chop to pork ribs.

Stuff Eggplant With Basil Pork mince - 塔香茄子肉

Another dish of the week using Thai Basil Leave(click link for more details). It can be treated as finger food or appetizer because of it's light content. You can easily get hold of Thai Basil Leave(it with purple-red flowers and fresh green foliage which offers an intense licorice aroma) in those vegetables stall in the wet market. The one selling in the Cold Storage is Sweet Basil which had a bigger leave and it's fragrant and taste will be different from Thai Basil Leave.


Raw Eggplant has a somewhat disagreeable taste, but when cooked, becomes tender and develops a rich, complex flavour and firm texture. Salting and then rinsing the sliced eggplant can also remove much of its bitterness. This is a spongy, mild-tasting vegetable that's meaty yet low in calories. You can either sever it with or without sauce dressing. It's all depend on individual taste. As for the sauce dressing, you can click on the Thai-style Basil Salad for it's sweet chilli sauce dressing.

Ingredients:
1 Large Purple Eggplant(Brinjal) 茄子
50g Pork Mince
4-6 Leave Of Thai Basil Leave(九层塔), finely chopped
1/2 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Teaspoon Soy Sauce
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
2 Tablespoons Plain Flour
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

Methods:
1. Wash and cut the eggplant into halve, then slice them length-wide thinly to about 0.5cm thick.
2. Soak it in some lightly salted water or else it will oxidize and darken in colour.
3. Marinate the pork mince with chopped basil leave, sesame oil, soy sauce, pepper and 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch and set aside.
4. Coat 2 slices of eggplant with some plain flour then sandwich it with a thin layer of basil pork mince.(do not put too much filling inside, otherwise it will not be cooked with deep-frying)
5. Continue to sandwich the pork mince with the rest of the eggplant slices then let them in the fridge to infuse the favour for about 30 minutes before deep-frying.
6. Evenly coat the eggplant stuffing with some cornstarch on both side of the eggplant slices(set it aside for a few minutes before deep-frying, so that the flour will stick to the eggplant) and deep-fry it in medium hot oil until golden colour.
7. Drain and set aside. Blanch some extra basil leaves in hot oil, drained and crash it on top of the eggplants and serve with or with sauce dressing.

Pork Ribs Curry With Egg Wrap Rice

Curry... all sort of different types of curry in Singapore... You have Indian Curry, Malay Curry, Nonya Curry, Japanese Curry, Thai Curry and etc.... Each of these curry had their own special and unique taste and fragrant. Since my dear son is in curry mood.... I decided to whip up a special curry dish for him.

We used Pork Ribs instead of Chicken, Mutton or Fish for the usual curry. Since it's a kid's meal, I decided to add in Cherry Tomato, Baby Potato and some Carrot to tone down the hot and spicy curry taste.

To make this dish more kid's friendly, I also wrap the cooked white rice with egg wrapper to make it just like those Japanese Egg Wrap Rice with curry.... and our dear friend here, is enjoying himself with his mini portion of curry rice.

Ingredients:(serves 2)
300 - 350g Of Pork Ribs
1/2 Brown Onion, roughly chopped
8-10 Baby Potato, peel the skin
6 Cherry Tomato, cut into halves
1 Medium Carrot, peel and cut into bitesize

Curry Sauce:
1 Packet Asian Home Gourmet Singapore Chicken Curry SpicePaste
100ml Coconut Milk
200ml - 250ml Water
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Balchan Chilli(optional)

Methods:
1. Wash the pork ribs, and blanch in boiling water, rinse well and set aside.
2. Mix the 100ml of coconut milk with 100ml of water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt together and stir well, then set aside.
3. Preheat the pan with about 1.5 Tablespoons of oil and saute the onion until fragrant and soft, then add in the curry paste and stir till fragrant.
4. Add in the pork ribs and stir until well coated with curry paste, then add in the potato, carrot and half of the tomato.
5. Slowly stir till well mix then pour in half of the coconut milk mixture and and remaining 100ml of water.
6. Stir well then simmer on medium heat until the mixture come to boil then low the heat and add in the other half of the coconut milk and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes until the pork is tender.
7. Add in the remaining half of the tomato 5 minutes before switch the heat off.

Notes: You can experiment with different type of curry paste to suit your own taste. Or you can mix up this curry paste mixture:

Curry Mixture:
3 Tablespoons Meat Curry Powder
1 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
3 Cups Water

Methods:
1. Preheat the pan with 2 tablespoons of oil and saute the onion tillfragrantt and soft then add in curry powder and stir till well combine.
2. Next add in the pork ribs, vegetables and other sauce ingredients and simmer on low heat until ribs are tender and sauce had thicken.

Egg Wrap Rice:
3 Eggs
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Some Pepper
30ml Water
2 Bowls of Cooked White Rice

Methods:
1. Break the egg in a bowl, add in salt, pepper and water then beat well.
2. Preheat the pan with some oil then pour it half of the egg mixture and swirl the mixture around the pan to form a round circle.
3. Cook over medium low heat until both side is slightly golden brown then remove from pan and wrap 1 bowl of rice with the egg sheet.
4. Repeat cooking the other half of the egg and wrap the rice then serve with pork ribs curry.

Guo Tie - 锅贴

Guo Tie or Gyoza which is originally a Chinese dish, which has become very popular across Japan. In this recipe of mine, I will share with you how to make a simple guo tie dough. To make the Spinach Juice, just wash and soaked 3 bunches of spinach leave in water. Then remove the leaves only and add about 1/2 cup of water in a blender together with the leaves to blend until smooth. Strain and obtain only the juice, you should get about 3/4 cups or more.


In this little experiment of mine, I am making two kind of doughs(one is the plain type while the other is using spinach juice to make spinach dough). Spinach is an important leaf vegetable, now grown throughout the temperate regions of the world. Spinach is a rich source of iron. In reality, a 60g serving of boiled spinach contains around 1.9 mg of iron.

Ingredients For Pork Mince Fillings:
200g Pork Mince
1 Tablespoon Chinese Celery(芹菜叶), finely chopped
1 Teaspoon Ginger Juice
1 Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Cornstarch

Methods:
1. Combine all the ingredients together and set aside to marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or more.

Notes: You can replace the Chinese celery to Chives(韭菜).

The time consuming and difficult part of making of the dough can be skipped by buying pre-made dough pieces, which are available at some Japanese and Chinese grocery stores. But if you had time, it's a fun activities to share with family members as each can play a different role in making the dough.

After trying a few failure wrapper on wrapping a traditional Guo Tie, I finally gave up the idea and trying making this simple wrapping. I really hope to master the skill for pleating the traditional guo tie, so I am sure to challenge this recipe again.....

My final product of Guo Tie from Cuisine Paradise...... Although the shape is not up to standard but the taste is there... It's very yummy to go with the black vinegar and ginger dipping sauce......

Ingredients For Dough: (make about 10-15)
125g Plain Flour
35ml Water
35ml Cold Water
Pinch Of Salt

Methods:
1. Sift Plain Flour into a mixing bowl, then slowly pour in the water and stir using a chopstick until combined.
2. Use hand to knead the dough while adding in the cold water.(you can add abit more if it is too dry).
3. Add pinch of salt in it and continue to knead until it form a soft dough.
4. Remove and place it on a lightly flour table top and continue to knead until it's smooth and elastic(10 to 15 minutes) then rest it for at least 30 minutes then cut it into half.
5. Roll it into an oblong shape and cut it into about 20g dough then flatten it on the cut side and roll into a 8-9cm circle.
6. Wrap it with the pork mince filling and pleat it into a Guo Tie shape.(sorry can't find any picture of showing how to pleat the guo tie)
7. Preheat a non-stick pan till hot add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, tilting pan to spread evenly.
8. Arrange dumpling in the pan, being careful not to overcrowd and fry until the base is slight golden brown, add 150ml water/chicken stock, cover, and cook over high heat for approximately 2 minutes to sear bottoms.
9. Then simmer on low heat until all the water has evaporated, gently loosen dumpling with a spatula to check whether the bottoms are golden brown.
10. If not, pan-fry, uncovered, until bottoms are crisp and browned. Transfer to a platter, and serve immediately with black vinegar and shredded young ginger.

Note: To make the spinach dough, replace the wonder to spinach juice.