Braised Belly Pork with Mui Choy

There are two types of 'mui choy'. One is preserved with salt and the other is darker in color which is termed 'teem' - sweet. The sweet type is more 'mui' which is soft in cantonese, the softer the better, it will melt in the mouth. This dish could be presented in a fancier manner but for homecooked meals this is good eats.



Ingredients:

600g belly pork
200g garlic (chopped)
4 tbsp light soya sauce
400g pickled vegetable (teem mui choy)
2 tbsp dark soya sauce
a dash of sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
5 tbsp cooking wine (wong chau/shao xing/hua tiau)
3 tbsp oil

Method:

Remove leaves of mui choy from stem, wash and steep in water to remove excessive salt. Cut into 1 inch lengths.

Cut belly pork into 1 inch cube and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Using the pressure cooker, heat 3 tbsp oil and fry the pork until slightly brown, then add the garlic and mui choy. Stir fry until fragrant, add the light soya sauce and enough water to cover the pork and mui choy.

Close the lid and pressurized for 15 minutes(from hissing). Release pressure by putting the pot under cold running water.(to prevent cooking any further)

Return pot to heat and cook down the sauce.(sauce should not be too runny). Add in the dark soya sauce , sesame oil, cooking wine and adjust taste with sugar.

Serves
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Breadfast Nasi Lemak

When we had this for breakfast, my daughter commented that she felt like she was in Malaysia. What made it so familiar with the breakfast nasi lemak of malaysia is the sambal. This sambal was straight from the bottle and it tasted like the 'macik's' , unlike my sambal which tends to be slightly sweet. This bottle of asian meals sambal tumis sauce was sponsored by http:/mytasteofasia.com. Thank you, Ray, this is one sambal i would recommend to have in the pantry.



Ingredients:
and
Method:

Refer here http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2005/06/nasi-lemak.html . The best part is you do not have to cook the sambal.

Serves
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XO Sauce Winnie

I have always eyed the bottled of XO sauce on the shelf which is so tiny and costed an arm and a leg. My dear friend, Winnie, gave me this recipe and i tried it and liked it so much that i had to post and share with everyone. Thank you, Winnie



Ingredients:
Dried scallops
Dried shrimp
Smithfield country ham (or any dried cured ham)
Fresh red chili (I used red jalapenos)
Red chili powder (I use sweet paprika for color)
Shallots
Sake (Japanese rice wine)
Kosher salt
Canola oil for cooking (some people use olive oil, i used soyabean cooking oil)


Method:

1. Rinse dried scallops and shrimp. Coarsely dice shrimp and break up scallops.

2. Cover scallops and shrimp with sake. Microwave one minute to cook and soften the mixture . (do not boil). Let the sea foods cool off and leave in refrigerator for up to 1 week before making the sauce.

3. Finely chop the country ham in the food proccessor, set aside.

4. Drain liquid from the scallops and shrimp if there’s any left, they should absorbed all the sake by now. Using a food proccessor, chop the scallops and shrimp into smaller pieces .

5. Slightly cut up fresh chili and shallots. Put the vegetables and salt into a food processor and pulse few times to chop up the vegetables.

6. Heat a wok with lots of oil, Fry the ham, dried shrimp and scallops until crispy.  Then stir fry the chili mixture until fragrant and shallots are thoroughly cooked.

7. Add seafood and ham mixture and red chilli pepper powder or paprika into the wok, add more oil if needed, and stir fry at medium low until the sauce bubbles. Add kosher salt for taste. Keep cooking for a minute or two. Remove from heat and let the sauce cool off.

Optional: Add soy sauce and oyster sauce to the mixture if you wish, but the xo sauce will be a brown color instead of red.


Winnie's Note:

I did not give any measurement for the ingredients because I never measured when I cook; I just “eye ball” them. This is like making hot chili sauce, how much of each ingredient one puts into the sauce is personal preference.

Serves
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Snowy Mountains

This cake was a craze in the 70's and it needed special plastic moulds for steaming. The moulds were not available in Malaysia then, i have to beg a singaporean friend to get me some. The name of this recipe is Apam Sri Ayu but Renee has named it Snowy Mountains. She told me to look out my bedroom window to look at the snowcapped mountain and that these cakes look like them. I have managed to buy these moulds when i was back in Malaysia and also found my old recipe book which has this recipe. This recipe calls for freshly grated coconut and i was able to grate coconut in great speed with the coconut grater shown below. A friend was in India and he came home with one for me, knowing that i will treasure it.



Ingredients:

Cake Batter

3 large eggs
1 egg yolk
½ cup coconut milk
½ tsp soda bicarbonate
¼ cup milk
A pinch of salt
2 cups cake flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ovallette
1/2 tsp pandan paste
green coloring

Topping:

1 cup grated coconut
2 tbsp water/coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp tapioca/corn flour

Mix coconut and water/coconut milk and microwave on high for 30 seconds.

Add in salt and tapioca/corn flour and mix well.

Grease moulds lightly and press some coconut into the base of a mould. Use another mould to push the coconut into the mould and press hard on it.

Repeat process for the rest of the moulds

Method:

Whisk all the ingredients for cake batter until thick and fluffy.

Spoon mixture into prepared moulds and steam on very high heat for 8-10 mins.

Serves
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Bak Kut Teh

This is a soup but the hokkien has named it 'tea' probably because of the herbs. I will always cook this soup everytime it snows. it perfumes the house with it's fragrance of herbs snd how comforting it is to have a bowl of hot soup after being in the cold. Bak Kut Teh is always requested after a skiing trip without fail. I would not be able to cook this soup if http://mytasteofasia.com had not send me a packet of Claypot brand to sample. Thanks. The herbs and spices are not too overpowering and it will enlighten anyone's palate be it asian or caucasian.




Ingredients:

2 - 3 lbs pork spareribs
10 chinese dried mushrooms - soaked
10 - 12 pieces Tofu Pok - cut into small pieces
2 whole bulb garlic
2 1/2 liters water
4 tbsp of soya sauce
1 pkt of 'Claypot' Herbs and Spices Mix
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Put spareribs in the pressure cooker and pour in enough water to cover the meat. Bring to the boil and cook until there is no more red blood oozing out of bones.

Pour away the water and clean the bones thoroughly with cold water.

Put back the cleaned spareribs, mushrooms, tofu pok, garlic, soya sauce, the herbs and spices mix bags and water.

Cover the pressure cooker and cook for 15 minutes (at point of hissing).

Release pressure by running pot under running cold water. Open lid and remove the oil from soup using a gravy separator.

Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.
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