Jumping into the bandwagon of making Char Siu

Good morning everyone. Never have I thought that I would take another 6 months to pen down another recipe in here. This recipe surfaced because of my little one, Little M. 

One day while I was watching Singapore Home Cooks (SHC) Live, Little M joined in. As any curious toddlers, he loves to press any emojis. But little did I know that this little monster (didnt realise M is also for monster) took my phone, and typed +1 during SHC Live. 

He was giggling when I told him to return me my phone. I panicked when I saw a +1 in the comments. OMG. "What have you done???" I told Little M. That was how I got a hold of pork jowl. 

SHC Live ships for free for purchases of $80 and above. Truth be told is it is so easy to exceeded $80. Haha. Now I have beef combo, pork jowl and iberico bellota from my first SHC Live buy. Most of which I am not sure how to cook it. My second purchase is almost $250! Yes addictive to watch and +1/+2 on SHC Live. 

Back to this pork jowl, after googling on "How to cook pork jowl" for a few days and read through many recipes of people who have prepared this dish before. I have decided to jump into the bandwagon of using pork jowl to make char siu. 

I sieved out the "essential" ingredients and added some of my own to make it more aromatic. Making sure I have all the ingredients on hand, I marinated this char siu. 

Outcome was surprisingly good. Mr W said it tasted just like those served in high end Chinese restaurants. His words not mine and this husband of mine is very picky when comes to food. So I guess this newly discovered recipe is a keeper.

Here is the recipe and step by step process. Do note that you may alter the amount towards your own liking as everyone has different taste. Cheers!

Ingredients (Serve 2 to 3)

1 pork jowl (around 300g to 400g)

Marinate 
Wet ingredients
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
2 tbsp charsiu sauce (I bought Lee Kum Kee 李锦记)
1/2 tbsp five spice powder 五香粉
1/2 cup honey 

Dry ingredients
1 knob of ginger
3 cloves of garlic
1 shallot


Method

1. Bring the pork jowl out and leave it in room temperature for about 5 to 10 minutes.
This is to allow the meat to sweat out the coldness or any excess water. 

2. While waiting for the pork, finely chopped or minced the dry ingredients. Set aside. 

3. Combine all the ingredients in the wet ingredients. Mixed it well. 

4. Add the chopped/minced ingredients into the wet ingredients mixture. Stir well and set the marinate aside. 
I use a huge bowl because I like to massage the meat in the sauce. 

5. Using a few pieces of kitchen towels, pat dry the piece of pork jowl. Use a fork and prick the piece of pork front and back. 
This will allow the pork to absorb the marinate and be more flavourful. 

6. Place the pork into the bowl of marinate and massage it. Thereafter, I place the marinated pork and the rest of the marinate into a Glad Food Storage bag. Squeeze out the air in the bag and seal it. Place the Glad bag in the fridge.
This is personal preference. To reduce messiness, you can pour the marinate in any food storage bag and place the meat inside. Seal it up and massage the pork all over. 

7. Marinate the pork for 8 to 12 hours. 
For pork jowl, a marinate for 6 to 8 hours is suffice as this piece of meat is thinner.
For pork shoulder butt, marinate for 12 hours or more as it is thicker.

8. Preheat the oven for 10 minutes at 175 degree celsius.

9. Take the marinated pork out from the fridge, leave it aside while waiting for the oven to pre heat. 

10. Using the broiled function, place the pork on the rack like this.

Remember to place a tray below to allow hold any excess sauce or oil that will drip down. This is for easy cleaning.

11. Broil the pork at 175 degree celsius for 10 minutes.

12. Pour out the rest of the marinate in a bowl and set aside. 

13. After 10 minutes, take out the tray and use brush to apply the marinate on the pork. Return the tray back to the oven and continue for another 5 minutes. 

14. Bring out the tray again, turn the pork and brush the marinate on the pork. Return the tray back to the oven and broil for 15 minutes. 

15. Once done, bring out the tray and allow it to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing it. 

16. While waiting to chomp down the char siu, using a saucepan to bring the remaining marinate to a boil. This can be a sauce on your sliced char siu and rice.
Bear in mind that in this marinate, there are minced/chopped garlic, shallots and ginger. You may want to sieve out the boiled sauce to have a smooth consistent texture instead of a lumpy one. 

17. Serve it while it's hot. 

I hope you will enjoy my humble Char Siu recipe. 

Steamed Chicken with Chicken Essence

Hi all,

Its been well...3 years since my last post. Woah time flies, my son is now 3 years old. Haha...now you know why I have not been updating this blog.

A life of a working mom isn't easy. I have to juggle between work and home. My boy, M is so sticky to me till I wish I can have some time out myself.

With such a hectic life, I was not able to cook proper meals for Mr W and my boy, M. So I am struggling to ensure both the men in the house have nutritious meal as and when I can cook.

Recently I learnt about this dish from a colleague of mine. Simple dish. Just steam away! Is it that easy? Yes.

For those who doesn't like chicken essence or too many bottles to spare. This is a recipe to the rescue. This dish will not taste anything like the chicken essence. So don't worry.

Ingredients (Serve 3-4)

2 boneless chicken thighs
6 to 8 red dates
Wolfberries or Goji berries
1 bottle of chicken essence

Optional
Black fungus
Shiitake Mushroom

Method

1. If you are using black fungus or shiitake mushroom. Soak them till they soften. Set aside.

2. Slice the red dates and remove the seeds if you wish. Set aside.

3. Remove the skin and excess fats off the chicken thighs. Slice them into portions.

4. Set the chicken pieces on the plate with the red dates, black fungus and mushrooms. Pour the chicken essence over the chicken. Add the wolfberries/goji berries on top.

5. Place the dish into the steamer and let it steam for 20 to 30 minutes.

You may add scallions or parsley as garnish and serve.

Serve it with a bowl of rice. There...easy as A B C.
Remember to eat it when its hot.

It is nutritious and it tastes nothing like the chicken essence in the bottle.
Best of all...for those who dislike drinking chicken essence, you have a way to consume and not waste those bottles and bottles of chicken essence.

Cheers!

Stir fried Mee Sua aka Longevity Noodles

I have always love mee sua. Be it be soup or stir fried.

Most of the time, my granny or mom will cook mee sua soup, which is a very simple dish. Because with any soup, just add in mee sua, it will become a filling meal. I can take mee sua day in day out without complaints.

Lately I have been having headache what to cook so I decided to try stir fried mee sua. To my surprise, it tastes good.

Ingredients wise, you can choose whichever you prefer. There is no restriction. Just remember to basic - Fry the mee sua then boil the mee sua. It's one more step but worthwhile.

Ingredients (Serve 4)

4 bundles of mee sua
6 kailan/caixin
8 fresh scallops
8 prawns, deveined
1 cod fillet
Pork tenderloin/Chicken thigh
Half a carrot, shredded

Braising sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 rice bowl of water
1 tsp shaoxing/huatiao wine
1 dash of fish sauce
1 dash of pepper

Method

1. Pour some oil in a frying pan. Amount of oil to use will be determine by the mee sua. Please ensure that it is enough to cover half of the mee sua. after 3 minutes or so, use a chopsticks or tongs to gently turn the mee sua to the other side. The mee sua must be golden brown. Don't worry if you over fried it and it becomes darker brown. As long as it is not char.

2. Once the mee sua becomes a nice brown inside out, remove and set aside to allow excess oil to drip off. I placed them on kitchen towel.

3. Boil a pot of water, place the mee sua inside to allow them to soften. Use a chopstick to loosen mee sua. Once cooked, remove the mee sua and set aside.

4. Season the fish and pork tenderloin for 10 minutes. Set aside.
a. Slice the pork tenderloin thinly. Season with soy sauce and sesame oil.
b. Cut the cod fillet into 1 inch length. Season with pepper, sesame oil and soy sauce.

5. In a bowl, add the ingredients in the braising sauce and mix well. Set aside.

Now you are ready to use a wok to stir fry the rest of the ingredients.

6. In a heated wok, add a tsp of cooking oil. Add pork and stir fry for a 2 to 3 minutes.

7. Add in the prawns and scallops. Stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes.

8. At this time, use a tongs or chopstick, add the mee sua bit by bit and stir fry. This is to avoid breaking the mee sua.

9. Add in the cod and kailan and carrot. Give it a few stir.

Note: I like my kailan crunchy so I added it late. Fish tends to cook pretty quickly, so it is added in last.

10. Pour in the braising sauce. Give it a few stir again. You can choose to cover the wok with a lid til the water reduce or just gently stir fried till the sauce is reduced.

Note: Those who doesn't like fish sauce, like Mr W. You can choose to omit it.

After cooking this stir fried mee sua, I don't think I will order this from any restaurant or zi char anymore.

Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶

This is my second try on 肉骨茶. The first time, I used ready pack from A1 which didn't turn out to be favorable. Maybe it's personal preference. Mr W, being a pretty picky person when comes to food, blatantly told me my Bak Kut Teh failed. 

So months later which was also last week 的年初四, I decided to try again. Using a different brand of Bak Kut Teh spice - the orange white pack, from ILC Trading. Mr W loves it! So I'm so going to stick to this Bak Kut Teh spice & this recipe.

I added black fungus cos I love to eat them but it is odd having them in Bak Kut Teh. Nonetheless, it doesn't alter the taste. 

Ingredients (Serve 2)

500g of pork ribs

1/2 Nappa cabbage, coarsely chopped

4 shiitake mushrooms

A handful of black fungus

6 cloves of garlic 

3 cilantro roots

1 packet of Bak Kut Teh spice (ILC trading)

2 litre of water 
1 tsp of dark soy sauce
1 tsp of cinnamon powder *it enhances the tastes

Wolfberries depends on your liking
A dash of pepper

Directions 

1. Soak the mushroom and black fungus ahead of time. 

2. Wash and parboil the pork ribs. Set aside.

3. Bruise the garlics and remove the skins.

4. Wash the cilantro roots thoroughly.

5. Place the garlics, cilantro roots, pork ribs and the packet of Bak Kut Teh spice in a pot of water.
6. Add in the mushroom and black fungus. 

7. Once boiling, lower the heat and continue cooking for 2 hours.

8. Soak the wolfberries in a bowl of water. Drain and set aside.

9. Add the Nappa cabbage into the soup.
10. Add a teaspoon of dark soy sauce and a dash of pepper. 

11. Check the tenderness of the pork rib using chopsticks, if it is to your liking, turn off the heat. 

12. Add in the wolfberries. Garnish with cilantro & serve with a bowl of steam white rice and accompanied with dark soy sauce with chili.

Spicy Chili Prawns with Egg Tofu

Having to organise a makan session for my family, I was a mess!

I wasn't focus as to what dish to prepare and what to buy in advance. I need something quick but delicious. I saw this bottle of chili sauce at Cold Storage with a tiny recipe tag on top of it. So I decide to try this.

Oh well...its like playing russian roulette. Either it is a hit or miss. Luckily for me, it was a hit!

It was well liked by all except those who doesn't take spicy food.

Be warned, Singlong Chili Crab sauce is indeed spicy. Not for children.

I made a few changes to this recipe such as adding egg tofu, chopped garlic and tomato ketchup. 

Ingredients

• 700g of prawns deshelled *I didn't manage to get any fresh big prawns, I decided to use frozen ones. 
• 2 tube of egg tofu
• 5 tbsp corn flour *for coating the egg tofus
• 3 gloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 bottle of Singlong Chili Crab sauce - weighing 380g
• 1 bottle of water - 380g *I used the singlong bottle
• 3 tbsp of tomato ketchup 
• 1/2 tbsp of corn flour 
• 1 egg
• Cilantro for garnish

Directions

1. Deshell and devein the prawns. Set aside
2. Cut the egg tofu in to a inch thick. Coat them with corn flour. 
3. Pan fried the egg tofu till golden brown. Set aside on a kitchen towel.
   
4. Using the same pan, fry the chopped garlic till fragrant. Add in the prawns. Fry each side fot he prawn. Once both sides turn orange but the centre is still grey, dish it up. 
5. In a pot, pour in the bottle of Singlong Chili Crab sauce, tomato ketchup and the bottle of water with the 1/2 tbsp of corn flour. Stir well.
6. Add in the prawns with the garlic in to the pot.
7. Add in the fried egg tofu and mix it with the sauce. 
8. Beat an egg and pour in. Once it is boiling, off the heat. 
9. Dish up and garnish with cilantro.

Snow Pear with Snow Fungus Soup (雪梨雪耳汤)

This is my first time brewing this soup and being a lazy me, I prepped everything and put them in a slow cooker to brew. I left it to cook in a slow cooker for almost 12 hours. 

Reason being it was my first time preparing a luncheon for 14 pax and I kinda freak out. So one dish down using the slow cooker. =p

Ingredients

• 4 chinese white pears
• 3 candied dates 
• a handful of snow fungus
• 3 tbsp of small chinese almonds (南北杏)
• 800g of pork big bones
• 3.6 litre of water
• salt to taste

Directions

1. Wash and parboil the pork big bones. Set aside.
2. Soak the white fungus in a bowl of water for 15 minutes. 
3. Place the big bones and the rest of the ingredients (except salt) into the slow cooker.
4. Fill it with 3 litre of water.
   
5. Use auto-shift mode to cook the soup. *I brew it for more than 12 hours. 
6. When ready, add salt to taste. 

Note: 

1. If you prefer a more savoury soup, reduce the chinese white pears & candied dates. 
2. If you want to have meat in this soup, you can either change the pork big bones to pork ribs or add pork ribs and reduce the big bones. 

Green Bean Barley Dessert

With the heat and the haze, we need to cool the internal heat of our body.
Green bean and barley are known to have lots of benefits. And I am not going to bore you guys up with the lengthy goodness. So I will just go straight into the recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup green beans
1/2 cup of pearl barley
1/4 cup of sago
4 pandan leaves
8 strips of candied winter melons
2 pieces of honey rock sugar
2 to 2.5 litre of water
Directions
Wash the pandan leave thoroughly. There tends to be soil trapped between the leaves.
Once washed, tie the pandan leaves into a knot.
Place this pandan knot in the pot of water and start the heat at high,
Rinse the green beans and pearl barley. Add them into the pot of water
Bring it to a boil.
Rinse the sago in a small bowl. Add some hot water and leave it to soak for 5 minutes.
Drain and pour the sago into the pot.
Lower the heat.
Add the candied winter melons and honey rock sugar. Give it a few stirs.
If it isn't sweet enough for you, add more candied winter melons/honey rock sugar.
Let it simmer til your preference. *I like my green beans & barley fluffy just like in the photo.
Turn off the heat.
You can serve it hot or chill it and serve later.
Cheers!

Stir Fry Shrimps in XO Sauce

Well it is just another holiday here, so I decided to whip up something easy from what I can find in my fridge. Shrimps! I have abundance of shrimps frozen in the freezer. So I guess shrimp is on the menu. 

Opening my cupboard full of canned food and I saw my XO sauce. I have been thinking what to cook with it. Now its the time!

Stir Fried Shrimps in XO Sauce

Ingredients

15 pieces of shrimps (deshelled)

1 green onion (you can choose to use red onion)

3 cloves of garlic (chopped into small pieces - rice grain size)

2 tbsp XO sauce

1 chili padi sliced

Sauce

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1 tbsp rice wine/sherry wine

2 tbsp water

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp of corn flour

Method

1. Slice the green onion.

2. Mix the ingredients under the Sauce and set aside. 

3. Use a small paring knife, cut along the outer edge of the shrimp's back and de-vein it. This also allows the shrimps to curl into a ball (for presentation).

4. Heat up the frying pan with 1 tsp of cooking oil, add in to the chopped garlic & onion. Stir fry for a few seconds. 

5. Add in the shrimps &  XO sauce. Stir fry for 1 minute. 

6. Pour in the mixture that was prepared earlier and sliced chili padi. Coat the shrimps evenly. 

7. Once all the shrimps are beautifully curl and turn orange. Dish them up immediately. 

8. Garnish with parsley and enjoy!

Note: You can add some vegetables such as celery or asparagus or capsicum in this dish. As I don't have any on hand, I have to make do with it. 

Claypot Chicken with Mushroom & Black Fungus

My husband prefers chicken over pork and so most of the dishes I cook for him are chicken or beef. For this dish, chicken will taste much better than any other meat. 

This dish has meat, mushrooms and I have added black fungus. Everything in a pot! So one dish to conquer the meal!

Ingredients:

5 pieces of chicken thigh (bones & skin removed), cut into bite sized
6 dried shiitake mushrooms

A handful of black fungus
1/2 teaspoon cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1-inch piece peeled ginger, cut into slices
1/2 cup water
2 stalks scallions, cut into 2-inch lengths
Salt to taste

Marinade:

1/2 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
1/2 tablespoon corn starch

Sauce:

1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
3 dashes white pepper
A few drops dark soy sauce, optional, for coloring purposes

Method:

Marinate the chicken with the Marinade for 15 minutes. 

Mix all the ingredients in the Sauce in a small bowl, set aside. 

Soak the mushrooms and black fungus separately in warm water for 30 minutes or until softened. Remove the stems and slice the mushrooms. If the black fungus are too big, cut into smaller pieces.  

Heat up the claypot with the sesame oil & cooking oil. Add in the ginger and stir-fry until aromatic. 

Add the chicken into the claypot and stir for 30 seconds. Add in the mushrooms and fungus, do a few quick stirs. 

Pour in the sauce, stir to combine well. Add the water and lower the heat to low. 

Cover the claypot and let cook and let it simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. 

Add the scallions, give it a stir and this Claypot of Goodness is now ready to serve!

General Tso Chicken

I can consider myself as a meat lover. Chicken is one of the meat I love to cook with. It is easy to prepare.

After cooking this dish for dinner, I am sold. It is one of my favourite chicken dish. 

Try cooking them at home. Its alot cheaper than having it at a restaurant. Yes it may be fuss free to have at the restaurants but when you can cook at home, you can control the oil. I tend to use minimal oil when cooking, its healthier. And I get to choose the meat part I prefer, removing the skins, bones and fats before cooking them. 

This dish may be a little tedious because of the deep frying but its worthwhile. With the sticky tangy taste, it goes well with a steamed white rice. 

For those who prefer chicken breast, feel free to replace the chicken thighs. I am biased towards chicken thighs! So pardon me here. :P

For those who prefer spicier food, you can increase the number of dried chilies. Well, I have added chili padi (bird's eye chili). Hot & spicy!!!

Here is the recipe, General Tso Chicken

Ingredients

4 to 5 pieces of boneless chicken thigh, cut into bite size

1/2 tbsp hua tiao/shaoxing wine

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 tbsp oil

4 slices of peeled ginger (finely minced)

1 garlic clove (finely minced)

5 dried red chilies (rinsed and seeds removed)

2 stalks of scallion or spring onion for garnish

Sauce

3 tbsp of chinese rice vinegar

2 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce

1/2 tbsp of dark soy sauce (for colouring)

1 tsp of hoisin sauce

1/4 cup of water

2 1/2 tbsp of sugar

1/2 tbsp of chinese wine

1 tbsp of cornstarch (for thickening)

Method

Marinate the chicken meat with chinese wine and salt for 15 mins. Mix all the ingredients for the Sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.

Coat the chicken pieces generously with the 1/2 cup of cornstarch.

Heat up the oil for deep frying. Deep fry the chicken until they turn light golden brown.

Dish out with a strainer. To remove those excess oil, lay the chicken pieces on a dish lined with paper towels.

Heat up another work with 1 tbsp of oil. Add the minced ginger, garlic and dried chilies in and stir fry until there is a spicy fragrant.

Pour the Sauce into the wok. When the sauce boils and thickens, add in the chicken.

Stir and combine them well with the sauce.

Add in the scallion and stir a few times.

Dish out and serve immediately.