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.

Lotus Seeds Soup - 莲子羹

During the Eve of Chinese New Year, usually most of the household would prepare a sweet dessert to be served during the 1st Day of Chinese Luna New Year as an auspicious treat for the family or relatives. The common sweet dessert(Tong Shui) are Cheng Teng(清汤), Red Bean Cream(红豆沙), Lily Bulb and Lotus Seeds(百合莲子), Glutinous Rice Balls Soup(汤圆) and etc.

For a Teochew household like us, we usually have our favourite "Yam Paste(Orr Nee)", "Cheng Teng(清汤)" or "Lotus Soup(莲子羹)" which is shown in this post. Last year, I made Glutinous Red Date With Osmanthus Syrup for Chinese New Year dessert but this year I would like to share this Lotus Soup post with you.

This photo shows some of the ingredients and steps in preparing our all-time favourite dessert during Chinese New Year.

Ingredients: (serves 6 - 8)

300g Dried Lotus Seeds
150g Brown Sugar(in pieces form)
30g Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Caster Sugar
1 Bundle of Pandan Leaves
2.5 Litres of Water
1 1/2 Tablespoons Potato Starch(生粉) + 1 Tablespoon Water

Method:

1. Bring a small pot of water to boil, add dried lotus seeds and cook for 5 - 8 minutes or till soften.
2. Drain, rinse and remove the green sprout from each seeds and set aside.
3. Use a big soup pot, bring 2.5 litre of water to boil, when water comes to boil add in pandan leaves and cooked for about 5 minutes before adding it the pieces of brown sugar.
4. While waiting for the water to boil, season the cooked lotus seeds with 2 tablespoons of caster sugar and set aside.
5. When the pieces of brown sugar melt, removed the pandan leaves, add in seasoned lotus seeds and simmer on medium low heat another 15 - 20 minutes till the lotus seeds achieves your desire texture when bite.
6. Next slowly add in the remaining 30g of brown sugar to sweeten the dessert to your liking.
7. Stir in potato starch mixture over low heat to thicken the soup accordingly.
8. Remove from heat and serve warm.


Lotus Seeds(莲子)are actually nuts from the lotus plant that are commonly found in Asia. The typical lotus seed is small, round and slightly white in appearance that is usually sold in dried and pre-packaged. The most common use of the seed is in the form of a paste for making moon cakes and bun or sometime they are found as one of the ingredients in Asian dessert or soup.

It is believed that when using lotus seeds to cook soups, congee or dessert, it actually act as a cooling tonic that "clears heat" according to the Chinese Physician. being sweet and neutral, they have been known to tonify the spleen, reinforce the kidneys and nourish the blood too. But within the seed lies a "green sprout" that is quite bitter and it is usually removed when lotus seeds are use in sweet dessert.

No matter which Chinese New Year dessert you preferred or made at home I am sure everyone would love to have something Auspicious for their family. So if you have some special dessert which you prepared for Chinese New Year do share with us, if you don't have a blog you can Email me your recipe and I would be most delighted to do a [Guest Post] on your behalf

Baked Sweet Chili Chicken

Continue from last week Philips, MyKitchen (www.philips.com.sg/kitchen) recipe post on the "Red Cabbage Salad with Filet of Duck Breast", this week I would like to share with you this super quick and simple Sweet Chili Chicken which is perfect for BBQ function or served as finger food during party.

Sweet Chili Chicken Mid-Joint

Preparation Time: 60 Minutes                  Cooking Time: 25 Minutes

Ingredients: (Makes 10 Mid-Joint)

1/2 Tablespoon honey
2 Tablespoons Sweet Chili Sauce
1 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
10 Chicken Mid-Joint Wing

For working mothers who don't have the luxury of time to spend an hour marinating the chicken. The quicker way would be doing it the night before or spending around 5 - 8 minutes in the morning preparing it ahead and leave them in the fridge till evening time.

Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the honey, sweet chili sauce and soy sauce.
2. Place chicken mid-joint wings into the bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 180 degree on grill function, arrange the mid-joint wings on baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes.
4. Turn the wings over, baste with marinade and continue to bake for another 10 minutes.
5. Adjust the oven to 200 degree fan-forced mode on upper and low heat, bake for the last 5 minutes to achieve the golden and char-grilled colour.


ORIGINAL RECIPE FROM PHILIPS (MyKitchen):

Sweet Chilli Chicken Drumsticks

Preparation Time: 60 Minutes                  Cooking Time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients: (Makes 12 Drumsticks)

1 Tablespoon honey
5 Tablespoons Sweet Chili Sauce
3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
12 Chicken Drumsticks

Method:
1. In a large bowl, mix together the honey, sweet chili sauce and soy sauce. Set aside a small dish of the marinade for basting.
2. Place chicken drumsticks into the bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat barbecue for medium high heat.
4. Lightly oil the barbecue cooking grate. Arrange drumsticks on the grate and cook for 10 minutes per side, or until cooked through.
5. Baste frequently with the reserved sauce during the last 5 minutes.


With such a quick and easy recipe above I am sure you would like to explore more recipes from Philips MyKitchen at www.philips.com.sg/kitchen for coming Chinese New Year too. Stay tune for more recipe idea from MyKitchen on next week post which I would share a recipe for a delicious dessert.

Taiwan SunnyHills Pineapple Cakes

I am sure during Chinese New Year most households would have at least a tub of freshly made or store bought "Pineapple Tarts". And for those who loves Taiwan snacks, their famous Pineapple Cake(凤梨酥) or Sun Biscuit(太阳饼) is definitely something that you would not want to miss out.

Last week I have received a complimentary box of Pineapple Cakes from "Sunnyhills(微热山丘) which is air-flown from Taiwan. According to the local distributor Mr Damian these pineapple cakes are made from fresh ingredients that do not contain any preservatives or colourings. From the photos you could see that each brick-shaped pineapple cakes is individually packed and sealed to maintain it's freshness till the expiry date.

Sunnyhills Pineapple Cakes (微热山丘凤梨酥) used only the native Cayenne pineapples from the rich fertile soil of Ba Gua(八卦山) mountains in Nantou(南投) area to make their pineapple stuffing which is full of natural sweet and sour goodness.

These golden brick-shaped crusts are made using premium eggs mixed with gourmet baking flour from Japan and pure New Zealand butter. No wonder each mouthful that you bite brings out a wonderful buttery aroma and fine texture from the pastry. And with its authentic gift box set that comes in 3 different sizes including a little warm greeting card, I guess this might be something special that you would want to consider in your Chinese New Year gift purchasing list.

  In order to achieve customers satisfaction, the distributor for Sunnyhills Singapore would also give out free individual tasting packet (sample shown above) to customers who visit their booth during the festive event period. So if you are interested to find out more about this new product from Sunnyhills, remember to pop-by at Funan IT Mall starting from 17 - 31 January 2011 on the Chinese New Year Food and Lifestyle event.

Or you could also contact them at (65)8522 9605 for enquiries or place your order which they would delivery to your door-steps at your convenience at a minimum amount purchased. Lastly Iwould like to thanks Sandy and Damian for sending us these delicious Pineapple Cakes from Sunnyhills which comes just in time for Chinese New Year.

TO ORDER

Contact: (65) 8522 9605
Fax: (65) 6792 8211
Email: services@sunnyhills.com.sg
Website: www.sunnyhills.com.tw

~ FREE DELIVERY for oders S$90.00 and above.