This must be one of the discoveries from Sitiawan. I was there for a trip recently and chanced upon these instant noodles being sold at a famous Kong Pia shop. Read about my review on the kong pia. Anyway, I've always known that the Foochows have great tasting noodles called "Kan Pua". And I believe these are the dried and instant type.


Having brought it home, I went to the wet market the next day, bought some char siew (with sauce), cucumbers and carrots and had a lip-smacking lunch ala PabloPabla. Almost like cold soba styled, it's simple, light, healthy and definitely, delicious! These noodles are different because of the texture and it does not break easily. It also does not clump up. Try it if you can get your hands on these noodles. Otherwise, just try it with any other types of instant noodles though I can't guarantee it will be as nice.

Fry shallots in oil till golden brown. Remove fried shallots. Save up 2 tablespoons of shallot oil.

Boil instant noodles till al-dente. Remove, run through cold tap water and return to boiling water to heat it just a little. Drain and let the noodles cool down.

In a large mixing bowl, mix noodles with seasoning and shallot oil till even.

Place an amount of noodles on serving plate, garnish with generous amounts of cucumber, carrots and char siew. Mix well before eating. Gives about 4 servings.


Technorati Tags : Recipe , Noodle , Pork , Chinese Food , Char Siew

Spinach is a fast-cooking vegetable and packed with nutrients. That's why Popeye loves 'em. It can be stir-fried and it can be cooked in soup. Recently, my dear wife told me that she wanted to try cooking spinach soup with hawthorn berries (a.k.a. kei chee).

Imagine all the goodness from the spinach doubled up with the circulatory benefits of hawthorn berries (get the good quality berries which are slightly plummer and sweeter in taste). It is definitely a power-packed soup. Oh yes, the stock is made from ikan bilis soup. So, there you go. My daughter of 3 1/2 years old loved it. I think you will too!

Boil ikan bilis in water for 30 minutes to make stock. Remove ikan bilis when done. Meanwhile, marinade minced meat.

Bring stock to boil again after removing ikan bilis. Scoop minced meat into meat balls using a teaspoon and add into the stock. Cook till all meat balls float to surface. Add spinach and hawthorn berries and bring back soup to boil. Add seasoning to taste and serve immediately.


Technorati Tags : Recipe , Spinach , Pork , Chinese Food , Soup

This was an experimental dish recently and I was quite pleased with the outcome. What I had in my fridge that day were 2 pieces of firm tofu (beancurd), about 200 grammes of lean pork, some oyster mushrooms and other vegetables. This time, rather than cooking another "usual" tofu dish, I decided to make patties out of it, not unlike burgers.

The main ingredients here are tofu and pork whilst the rests adds to the colour and gives its distinctive taste. The end result is a tofu meat patty which is crispy on the outside and yet, juicy and semi-firm on the inside. My daughter liked it very much. It is tasty eaten with rice and also great for tea time snack or parties. I think it will taste even better if it is dipped into some freshly pounded red chilli and garlic with a squeeze of lime. I intend to continue modifying this recipe and will add them in this blog in due course. Nevertheless, I hope you will try this recipe as I loved it!

This is my recipe for Deep Fried Tofu Meat Patties


Ingredients

• 2 pieces firm tofu
• 200 grammes of lean pork mince
• 1/4 piece of carrot (diced as finely as possible)
• An equivalent amount of spring onions (chopped finely)
• An equivalent amount of oyster mushroom or any other type of mushrooms (chopped finely)
• An equivalent amount of dried prawns (chopped / pounded finely)
  
• 1 large egg
• 2 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)
  
• 3 tablespoons of corn flour
• Oil for deep frying

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoons of oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper powder

Method

In a mixing bowl, combine and mash up the tofu, pork, carrot, spring onions, mushrooms, dried prawns, garlic, corn flour and seasoning and mix well in one circular motion. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Place mixture in a stainless steel bowl or deep plate and steam it for 10 minutes. The mixture, especially the meat, should be at least 70% cooked after steaming. Remove from steam and place bowl over cold water (to cool it rapidly).

When mixture has sufficiently cooled down, break the egg onto mixture and stir it in one circular motion till egg is evenly distributed. Add some corn flour if mixture is runny.

Heat oil in wok for deep frying. To fry, scoop one heaped tablespoon of mixture and using another spoon held on another hand, push / slide the mixture into the oil. Fry till patty becomes golden brown. Place fried patties on absorbent kitchen napkins to absorb excess oil prior to serving.

For more recipes on tofu / beancurd, click on Beancurd below.


Technorati Tags : Recipe , Tofu , Pork , Chinese Food

This recipe is VERY EASY and DELICIOUS. You have no reasons why you should not try it (unless you do not eat pork), even if you are a beginner. The ingredients are simple and can be obtained almost everywhere. In fact, I used to cook this dish during my university days in England and it was really nice to have it with steaming hot rice on a cold winter's night!



This is my recipe for Stewed Pork Belly in Dark Soya Sauce


Ingredients

• 300 grammes pork belly (whole)
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 whole bulbs garlic (separate into individual cloves)
• Approximately 15 - 20 white peppercorns
  
• Warm water
• 1 piece star-anise (optional)
  

Seasoning

• 3 to 4 tablespoons dark soya sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  

Method

Add sugar into a wok / saucepan which has been heated up. Let the sugar caramelise (turn liquid and brown).

Once sugar fully caramelised, add pork belly and let it "sear" for 1 minute on each side. Add water to cover the chicken pork belly (*thanks to Tummythoz for identifying my error) by 1 to 2 cm. Add the rest of the ingredients and seasoning. Once water begins to boil, reduce to medium low heat, cover lid and let it simmer for 30 minutes to an hour.

To serve, separate gravy from the rest of the ingredients. Slice the pork belly to desired thinness.


Technorati Tags : Pork , Recipe , Food

Mui Choy, which is preserved mustard cabbage, comes in two variants - salty type as well as the sweet type. It is normally sold in sundry shops and wet market grocers (unsealed) or in sealed bags in supermarkets. In Malaysia, it is usually sold in wet market grocers. Whichever type you use, make sure you wash and soak them (especially the salty type).

This dish is great eaten with mantou (a type of bun) or with plain white rice. In fact, it even tastes better overnight as the meat would have soaked all the exquisite sweet-salty taste from the cabbage.

This is my recipe for Mui Choy Bak (Mui Choy with Pork Belly)


Ingredients

• 1/3 piece salty mui choy (washed thoroughly, soaked for 30 minutes and chop to small pieces)
• 2/3 pieces sweet mui choy (washed thoroughly, soaked for 15 minutes and chop to small pieces)
• 500 grammes pork belly without skin (also known as three-layered pork, cut to small cubes)
• 2 whole garlic (smash it a bit with the side of a cleaver / chopper)
• 1/2 tablespoon cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• Warm water

Seasoning

• 2 to 3 tablespoons of dark soya sauce (or more if you prefer)
  
• Sugar and salt to taste (if necessary)

Method

Heat oil in pot and stir-fry pork belly till beginning to brown. Add mui choy and garlic and continue stir frying for another 1 to 2 minutes. Add water to cover all the ingredients by at least 1 cm and seasoning.

Simmer for at least 1 hour or more till meat is flavourful and slightly soft, checking that the dish does not dry out occasionally. You can also add dried chillis at the stir-frying stage if you want a little spiciness to this dish.

For picture of mui choy and a quite similar method of cooking, click here.


Technorati Tags : Recipe , Chinese Food , Mui Choy , Pork

Stir-fried Pork Liver and Kidney with Ginger is a fear-factor dish for some, confinement food for many chinese mothers and delicacy for some like me. This dish is supposedly "heaty" in nature and helps to expel "wind" after mothers have gone through labour. The liberal use of ginger helps in this cause and the liver and kidney provides much needed nutrients.


Preparation of the kidneys can be a trying task for those who are inexperienced (including me!). If your butcher can help, so much the better. If not, you will need to slice the kidney into half across the middle part, which will give you two equal looking kidney. Using a sharp knife, slice and remove the whitish middle part of the kidney. Then, cut the kidney into smaller portions, cut criss-cross patterns on the outer side of the kidney and then, soak it in water (add ginger slices if you want). My mum will, prior to the actual cooking, further give the kidney "treatment" by frying the kidney in a wok without any oil. It is quite a process because the smell can be offensive to some. After the kidneys have been thoroughly cooked through this process (when it becomes dry and no more juice / water oozes out of the kidney), it will be removed from the wok. Then, wash the wok thoroughly and begin cooking proper.



This is my recipe for Stir-Fried Pork Liver and Kidney with Ginger


Ingredients

• 2 pork kidneys (prepared as per paragraph above)
  
• Equal amount or less of pork liver (sliced)
  
• 50 grammes of sliced pork (marinate with 2 teaspoons light soya sauce and 1 teaspoon corn flour)
  
• 1 or 2 eggs
• 3 cm of ginger (julienned finely)
• 1 1/2 whole bulbs of garlic (chopped)
• 2 to 3 stalks of spring onions (cut to 6 cm lengths or so)
• 1 tablespoons cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  
• Warm water

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dark soya sauce
• 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
• White pepper powder (to taste)
• 2 teaspoons brandy

Method

Heat cooking oil and sesame oil in wok on high heat and saute garlic and ginger till aromatic. Push garlic and ginger slices aside and fry an egg till semi-done. Add sliced pork and mix well with egg, garlic and ginger till pork is cooked.

Add kidneys, seasoning and warm water enough to cover the ingredients and bring to boil with lid closed. Add liver and break another egg on top of ingredients. Stir gently and add spring onions.

Once liver is cooked (no more blood oozing out), dish up and serve.


Technorati Tags : Recipe , Chinese Food , Confinement Food , Liver , Kidney , Pork

This is a healthy dish to eat and fairly simple to cook. The ingredients are kept to a minimum for simple cooking and it is delicious eaten with plain white rice or porridge. As I have mentioned before, tofu (beancurd) comes in many textures and for this recipe, I use the firm white tofu which comes in a size of 6cm x 6cm x 2 cm (W x L x H) blocks.

You can whip up this dish in 30 minutes wherein the majority of the time spent is actually towards marinating the minced pork. You can substitute the pork with chicken. I have not tried minced beef or minced lamb though. If you wish to spice up the dish a bit, you can add a little (perhaps 1 teaspoon) of chilli oil when you start frying the minced pork for that added kick.

This is my recipe for Tofu with Minced Pork


Ingredients

• 3 pieces firm tofu (quartered)
• 100 to 150 grammes of minced pork
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
  
• Spring onions (cut to 6cm lengths or thereabouts for garnishing)
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil (palm oil preferred)
• 50 ml water or more
• Cornstarch (mix 1 tablespoon corn flour with 4 tablespoons water)

Marinade for minced pork

• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Seasoning

• 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon dark soya sauce
• salt to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper powder

Method

Marinade minced pork for about 30 minutes.

Heat oil in wok and stir-fry garlic till beginning to brown. Add minced pork and stir-fry till cooked. Add tofu, water and seasoning and lightly stir to mix well. Close lid and let it cook for another 2 minutes (add more water if gravy drying out).

Before serving, and sprinkle spring onions evenly and add cornstarch bit by bit if gravy too runny for your liking.

For other tofu dishes, click on the label "Beancurd" below.


Technorati Tags : Recipe , Chinese Food , Tofu , Beancurd

I like to eat enoki mushrooms. They are also known as "kim cham" mushrooms (meaning golden needles in hokkien) as they are longish with a small cap. These mushrooms are sometimes added to soups like Bak Kut Teh and commonly used in Japanese cooking. The stems have a crunchy bite despite it being rather thin and needle-like in appearance. It has a mild and delightful flavour and compliments well with meat dishes.


I usually cook enoki mushrooms with meat, pork tenderloins to be exact. You can substitute the meat with chicken breasts. The enoki mushrooms are added in towards the end of the cooking time as too much cooking will render the stems tough and stringy.

This is my recipe for Stir-Fried Pork Tenderloin with Enoki Mushrooms


Ingredients

• 200 grammes of pork tenderloins (sliced thinly)
• 1 packet of enoki mushrooms (cut off and discard the bottom of the cluster of mushrooms and gently rinse them to remove any dirt)
• 1/2 piece of carrot (julienned) - for added colour to the dish
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 50 ml of warm water
• Corn starch (prepared using 1 tablespoon of corn flour mixed with 5 tablespoons of water)

Marinade

• 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Seasoning

• 3/4 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon of chinese cooking wine
• Salt

Method

Marinade pork tenderloin for about 30 minutes.

Heat oil in wok on high heat and stir-fry the garlic till beginning to brown. Add pork tenderloin and carrots and stir-fry till meat is almost cooked. Add oyster sauce and salt to taste followed by water and bring gravy to boil. Then add the enoki mushrooms and chinese cooking wine and stir well for 30 seconds.

If it is too dry to your liking, add a little bit more warm water. If the gravy is too runny, add a tablespoon of corn starch at a time.

Serve hot with steaming white rice.



Technorati Tags : Recipe , Pork , Mushroom , Chinese Food

Let's cook porridge / congee today! I like to eat porridge especially on for lunch on weekends. It is light and suitable on hot days especially when you want to eat something non-oily. When I plan to cook porridge for lunch, I will usually drop by at the wet market in the morning to buy yau char kuey (fritters) to compliment the porridge.

Porridge can be cooked with many different types of ingredients. Actually, the types of ingredients are only limited by one's imagination. Here, I have added minced pork, pork liver and dried oysters. The dried oysters add a little sweetness to the porridge whilst the other ingredients each have its individual taste. I also like to break an egg into the bowl prior to pouring boiling hot porridge over it. It is a taste I acquired since young (runs in the family).

Give this recipe a try. If some of the ingredients are not your type, feel free to omit them or substitute them. If you need clarification, just post them in the comments below.

This is my recipe for Pork and Dried Oyster Porridge


Ingredients

• Approximately 50 to 100 grammes of rice (rinsed once and pre-soaked in water for 30 minutes)
• 100 grammes of minced pork
  
• 50 grammes of pork liver (sliced)
• 5 to 10 pieces of dried oyster (pre-soaked in water for 30 minutes and cut into half)
• 1 to 2 pieces of yau char kuey (cut across like in the picture above)
• 4 cloves of shallots (sliced thinly)
• 3 eggs
• 3 bowls of Water
  
• 2 tablespoons of palm oil
• 3 teaspoons sesame oil
  

Marinade (for minced pork)

• 3 teaspoons of light soya sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• Salt
• White pepper powder

Garnishing

• Chopped spring onions
• Chinese salted vegetables or Tung Chai
  

Method

Marinade minced pork for 15 minutes or more.

Place water in a cooking pot and add rice. Cover with lid and bring to boil. Unlid and reduce heat to medium low and cook till rice becomes porridge / cooked and broken (approximately 20 minutes). Add a little hot water when it becomes too dry. You shall strive to cook it a little runny in consistency. Midway through cooking, add the oysters.

Meanwhile, place cut yau char kuey into a toaster oven to toast it till crisp. At the same time, heat oil in wok and fry the sliced shallots till golden brown. Remove fried shallots and set aside.

Once you have cooked the porridge, bring to boil again and add the minced pork (using a teaspoon, scoop one teaspoon of minced meat at a time) and stir. After you have finished adding all the minced pork, add the pork liver and stir the porridge till pork liver is cooked (no more blood oozing out - yes, I know it sounds gross but it's delicious, I tell you!). Add seasoning to taste.

To serve, break an egg into bowl (you will have about 3 servings here) and pour boiling hot porridge over the egg. Drizzle one teaspoon sesame oil and add garnishing. If you still have some of the oil used to fry the shallots, drizzle a bit as well. Finally, sprinkle the toasted and crispy yau char kuey and fried shallots over the porridge.

Enjoy! I know it may sound a bit complicated but it is actually very easy to cook if you try it.


Technorati Tags : Porridge , Recipe , Pork , Food

This is a very easy recipe to cook and uses only a handful of ingredients. You only need pork or beef, preserved szechuan vegetables, garlic, cooking oil and dark soya sauce. The preserved szechuan vegetable, which is spicy hot and salty, gives a natural flavouring to the dish and you don't really need to put any others seasoning apart from the dark soya sauce to give the dish some "colour".

This is my recipe for Stir-Fried Pork with Preserved Szechuan Vegetable.

Ingredients

• 200 grammes of tenderloin pork (sliced thinly)
• 1/2 piece of szechuan vegetable (julienned and washed thoroughly)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 50 ml of warm water

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoons dark soya sauce
• Sprinkle of sugar (optional)

Method

Heat oil in wok and add chopped garlic. Stir for 5 to 10 seconds. Add pork and preserved szechuan vegetables and stir-fry for 1 minute.

Add dark soya sauce and water and cook until pork is thorougly cooked and sauce has reduced. Sprinkle some sugar if you find it too salty.

This is my recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 Pork ribs cut into 2 inch lengths (approximately 400 gms)
• 1 large onion (quartered and separated)
• 1 green capsicum (slivered)
• 2 large tomatoes (cut into wedges)
• Oil for deep frying
• Corn flour
• 1 teaspoon of Salt and 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper powder to marinade pork ribs
  

Sauce

• 3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• sugar to taste
• 1 cup of warm water

Method

Marinade pork ribs for about 3 hours or more. Adjust amount of salt as marinade according to your preference.

Deep fry the pork ribs till golden brown and cooked. Remove and drain.

Add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil into wok at high heat. Fry onions and capsicums for 30 seconds. Add tomato ketchup. Sprinkle sugar to taste (depending how sweet or sour you want the sauce to be). Gradually add a little warm water depending on how thin you want the sauce to be. Finally, add the tomatoes and fried pork ribs.

Stir and coat the pork ribs in the sauce and serve hot. Excellent served with Egg Fried Rice.

You can also add cucumbers (diced) or pineapples (diced) into the dish.

I am quite fond of noodles and pastas. One form of noodles that I like (if it is classified as a type of noodles in the first place) is beehoon (also known as rice vermicelli). Beehoon can be cooked dry or in soup or even in light sauce. It is very commonly cooked in Malaysia and Singapore.

On festive occasions, my mum will cook beehoon with stewed pork ribs. The stewed pork ribs are sold in cans and purchased from supermarkets. Of course, you can just heat up the stewed pork ribs and eat it with rice but this is another method to cook it. Tastes good!


Ingredients

• 300 gms of beehoon (pre-soaked for 1 hour and drained)
• 1 can of stewed pork ribs (do not throw the gravy away)
  
• 150 gms of cabbage (sliced) - you can have more if you like more vegetables
• 1 carrot (optional - sliced into strips)
• 2 eggs
  
• 3 bulbs garlic (minced)
• 5 bulbs shallots (sliced thinly)
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 1 cup of hot water

Flavouring

• 1 tablespoon dark soya sauce
• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce (more if you prefer the dish to be saltier)
• Dash of white pepper powder (to taste)
  

Method

Heat oil in wok and fry shallots till golden brown. Remove fried shallots from oil.

With the same oil in the wok and at high heat, fry the garlic (till light yellow colour). Add eggs and fry till eggs are slightly brown. Then add cabbage and carrot and stir fry for 2 minutes till vegetables are slightly limp. Add in the stewed pork ribs and its gravy.

When the mix above starts to boil, add the beehoon (rice vermicelli) and stir fry for about 5 to 7 minutes. Add flavouring to taste whilst stir frying.

Add the hot water gradually to keep the beehoon moist whilst stir frying. Beehoon is cooked when it is no more translucent and is soft.

Serves 3 to 4 persons.

I like this dish as it compliments rice very well. The rich stew tastes heavenly when poured over the rice and the meat is usually very tender by the end of cooking time.

Tau Yu Bak can be cooked using either belly pork or even pork ribs. In this picture, pork ribs are used together with tau ki (which is soya sheets).

You can also add hard boiled eggs or even tau pok (fried beancurd) as extra ingredients.

Taste can be a matter of individual preference and also depends on the type of dark soya sauce you use. Dark soya sauce (and even light soya sauce for that matter) differs in taste from one brand to another due to the individual recipe in the fermentation process. Some tastes saltier than others. Some tastes sweeter than others. For us, we usually source our dark soya sauce from our hometown in Pontian Kecil, Johor, Malaysia.

My mum's recipe is as follows:-