Lemon Butter Cake With Chia Seeds & Pistachio Nuts

This Lunar New Year, I have come up with 2 similar cakes using orange and lemon rinds plus Chia Seeds to enhance the taste of the cakes. And for festive flavour, I also used dried longan (龙眼) which represent "many good son" and pistachio nuts (开心果) which is often given as a gift to symbolize health, happiness and good fortune.

Braised Pork Belly With Rice - 卤肉饭

Both Pork Belly and Pork Trotter are my favourite parts of meat which I love to use them for either Braised Pork Belly In Soy Sauce (卤肉) or Ginger Vinegar Trotter (猪脚醋). To be frank, I love the soft and jelly like "fats and skin" on them which makes it a good source of collagen in some sinful ways.

There are many ways to braised pork belly depending on what other ingredients you prefer to add on to it like; hard boiled eggs, firm tofu, mushrooms or beancurd sticks. And also in order to braised a good pot of pork belly in soy sauce, you have to take note on the amount of water added plus amount of the seasonings and spices used.

BRAISED PORK BELLY IN SOY SAUCE

(Serves: 4  | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 60 minutes)

Ingredients:
500g Pork Belly (三层肉), cut into thick strips
4 Hardboiled Egg, shelled
2 Pieces of Firm Beancurd (豆干), cut into quarters
6 Shiitake Mushrooms, soak till soften
Some Dried Beancurd Stick (腐竹), optional
500ml Hot Water
2 Star Anise (八角)
3 Cloves (丁香)
1 Cinnamon Stick (肉桂棒)
5 Cloves Garlic, crashed
3 Shallot
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar

Method:-
1. Marinate the pork belly with 1/2 Tablespoon each of oyster sauce, light and dark soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of cooking wine and 1 teaspoon grated ginger for at least an hour.

2. Preheat frying pan with some oil and fry the firm beancurd till slightly golden brown on all sides. Remove and set aside.

3. Using the same frying pan, add in another tablespoon of oil. Saute garlic and shallots till fragrant, add star anise, cloves, cinnamon stick and marinated meat (without the sauce) and fry till slightly golden brown in colour on both side.

4. Add in mushrooms and continue to fry for another 30 seconds. Next stir in oyster sauce, light and dark soya sauce, cooking wine, sesame oil and sugar and give it a quick stir till well mixed.

5. Pour in hot water, bring it to boil and let it simmer for about 30 minutes or more till the meat is tender, add in hard boiled eggs, beancurd and soaked beancurd stick. Continue to simmer for another 15 minutes till all ingredients are flavoured by the soy sauce. 

6. Remove from heat and serve with steamed white rice.

Tip:
~ Soak the dried beancurd in warm water till soften, rinse a few time and drained well, set aside.

~ Fresh Shiitake mushrooms can be used to replaced the dry ones too.

~ If Cooking Spices like Star Anise, Cinnamon Stick and etc are not available in your area, replace it with 1 teaspoon or more of five spice powder for taste.

~ For extra flavour, add in 2 - 3 dried chilli in step 3, and remove it on step 5 before adding hard boiled eggs and etc.

{Braising Spices} Five Spice Powder (五香粉) and Cooking Spices

Above are my two cents worth on Braised Pork Belly In Soy Sauce which I hope you would have a rough idea on how to make your very own braised pork. For a start you could just try the pork belly with hard boiled egg combines perhaps with a few shiitake mushrooms too. Alternatively, you could also modify the recipe above with some Chicken Mid-joints instead of pork belly.

Rise And Shine Carnival @ The Lawn

Photo Credit: Rise And Shine

This coming 03 March 2013, Rise And Shine is organizing a Singapore's largest breakfast fiesta known as Rise And Shine Carnival at The Lawn, Marina Bay. Every family can register and come together with babies or young children and have a fun Sunday morning as well as be part of it to set a new record for the highest breakfast picnic turnout.

At the carnival, little ones would be enthralled by lot of fun games such as gigantic bouncy castles, engaging crafts including balloon sculpting, face-painting and stellar stage performances. The Rise and Shine Carnival also aim to prepare you and your children to bond as a happier and healthier family,

Sample:- Rise And Shine Carnival Registration Form

FOR EARLY BIRD SPECIAL!

Register over at http://carnival.riseandshine-expo.com/event-registration/  for a fee of S$8.00 per adult (plus 7% GST) where children aged 12 and below entitled FREE admission. Also every paid participant will receive a set of game coupons worth S$10.00 to be used at the carnival.

Furthermore, for the first 1,000 sign up, there would be a goodie bag worth S$100.00 out for grab too! And you will receive a unique Goodie Bag ID in a separate email, which must be presented for you to redeem your goodie bag.

Photo Credit: Rise And Shine

For more information on the Terms and Conditions plus Registration Details, please refer to their event registration page shown on the link here.

As one of the Ambassadors of Rise And Shine Campaign, Cuisine Paradise is partnering with Rise And Shine to giveaway some Complimentary Rise And Shine Carnival Admission Ticket (2 Adults Ticket) to TWO lucky readers. Upon winning you could join us with your kids at the Rise And Shine Carnival on 03 March 2013.

How To Win:-
1. Click LIKE and SHARE the above photo over at Cuisine Paradise Facebook Page (here); AND
br />2. Leaving a comment (on facebook) sharing with us one of your breakfast idea for your kid(s), example: egg mayo with wholemeal bread.

Closing Date: 22 February 2013 (Friday), 5.00PM
*Giveaway is open to those reside in SINGAPORE only and with a valid mailing address.

[Updated on 25 February 2013]

Homemade Crystal Yam Cake - 水晶芋头糕

I have seen many friends in my facebook list making either Radish Cake (萝卜糕) or Yam Cake (芋头糕) before and during Chinese Lunar New Year period. And usually these are the auspicious steamed cakes to be served to the visiting guests as compared those western cakes.  This year, my mum made a new version of Yam Cake using different types of flour combination which is different from what she always did.

From the photo above, you realize that the colour of this yam cake is slightly more translucent and Springy (QQ) texture which is similar to Agar Agar (a kind of Asian jelly).