Bite On It!

Another PiggyBeng’s favourite…

I used to boil this soup very often as I like the sourish and spicy taste of the Sze Chuan vegetable (a type of preserved mustard head, normally from China). There are many versions but I like this version better as I put in alot more vegetables to sweeten the soup. So if you are craving for some sourish and spicy stuff… try this soup. It taste extra good on a rainy day!

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Ingredients

• 2 medium sized Sze Chuan Vegetable (sliced to 5mm thickness)
• 400g Pork ribs (an also use chicken)
• 2 sticks Carrots (cubed)
• 3 medium sized Tomatoes
• 3-4 litre of Water
• 2pcs Soft tofu
• 1/2 tsp Peppercorns (more if you like it to be more spicy)
• Shallots (optional)

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Methods

1. Boil water till boiling, add in pork ribs and let boil for 2 minutes.
2. Add in sliced Sze Chuan vegetable and let it boil for another few minutes then add in the cubed carrots, shallots and crushed peppercorns boil for an hour on low fire.
3. Cut tomatoes into four sides, seeds removed and add into soup and cook for another hour.
4. When about to turn off fire, put in the cut soft tofu and let it boil for 5-10 minutes.

With the recent unpredictable weather, we are having difficulty getting our usual supply of deep-sea siakap fillets from our regular fish monger. He has been complaining that his suppliers’ fishes are not up to his expectation so he rejected the fishes supplied to him.

So last weekend, PiggyBeng ended up with a huge black promfret instead. Normally MIL will cook assam curry with it but she was busy this week so no time to get the necessary ingredients. Not wanting the fish being kept too long in the freezer, I decided to fry it yesterday…

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Ingredients

• 3 slices Black promfret fillets
• 5-6 pcs Shallots
• 1″ Ginger
• 1-2 Chili padi
• 1tbsp Bean paste (tau-cheung)
• 3/4 cup Water

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with oil and fry the promfret fillets until golden brown. Lift up.
2. Use remaining oil in wok, fry ginger till fragrant, add in chili padi, stir for 1 minute and add in shallots, fry till soft.
3. Add in bean paste, stir for a while and add in water, continue to stir till all well mixed, put in the fried promfret fillets and let it cook in the sauce for 2 minutes, turning it ocassionally.

This is something I have wanted to try for sometime but I hardly buy chicken meat so never have the chance until now. Surprisingly it tasted quite good… For those who are craving for more sourish dish… maybe can give this a try.

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Ingredients

• 400-500g Chicken meat (I used 2 drumsticks + 2 breasts)
• 2 Bombay onions
• 2 Chili padi
• 20g Tamarind (Add 1 cup water and sieve out juice)
• 1tbsp Brown sugar
• 1tsp Oil
• 1/2 tsp Black soy sauce
• Salt and pepper for taste

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Methods

1. Cut chicken to smaller pieces, add cut chili padi, oil, tamarind juice, brown sugar, black soy sauce, salt and pepper to marinade for 2-3 hours (best over night)
2. From the residue of the tamarind earlier, put another 1/4 cup of water and sive out juice for the sauce later.
3. Heat up wok with a little oil, lightly fry the chicken pieces without any sauce from the marinade. Lift it when cooked.
4. There will be sauce in the wok after you completed frying the chicken, leave it and throw in cut onions and continue to fry until slightly soft, put the fried chicken pieces and continue to stir for 3-4 minutes, pour in the tamarind juice (those left in the marinade and the additional) and stir for a further few minutes.

I had the worst case of nausea during my pregancy. My appetite was really poor and I lost a lot of weight during my the 1st and part of my 2nd trimester. When my appetite begin to get better, I started craving for sourish food. For most of my pregnancy, I was staying at my mom’s place as my PiggyBeng has to travel and MIL is in Germany with SIL, so there isn’t anyone to take care of me. Therefore, PiggyBeng sent me back to my parents’ place… it was a wise decision…

From what I’ve read, fish is a good source of Omega 3 and it is good to consume at least 2 fish meals a week especially during pregnancy. Therefore, mom tried to prepare adequate portion of fish for my diet. That was when I discovered mom’s fried fish recipe which I fell in love instantly… and my appetite was better than before! The special ingredient? Lemon!

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Ingredients

• 1 slice Siakap (deep-sea) or Salmon fillet
• 1 Chili padi
• 1.5″ Old ginger (shredded)
• 1/6 of a Lemon juice
• 1.5 tsp Light soy sauce (Lee Kum Kee brand is recommended)
• 50ml Water

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with oil. When oil is hot (can see smoke rising) turn to low fire and gently put in the fish fillet. Fried till both sides turn golden brown. Lift up and put on a plate.
2. Using the remaining oil in the wok, fry ginger and chili until fragrant. Lift up and put on top of fried fish.
3. In a small bowl, mix light soy sauce with lemon juice and water. Pour into the wok, stir and let it boil for 1 minute then pour over fried fish fillet. Serve.

I had a request from Angeline a few weeks back asking for some spicy dishes. I seldom cook spicy dishes as they are rather heaty but I know my PiggyBeng will loves them so I have to cook one or two dishes of hot stuff once in a while. Though my MIL will cook some fish gulai (curry with no coconut milk and a more sourish version) but that ain’t enough so I will try to add some varieties if I can.

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My mom gave me some habaneros (one of the most intensely spicy chili peppers - Wikipedia) during my last trip back to KL and I have totally forgotten about them sitting in my chilies box in the fridge. Some has started to rot when I checked them out so decided to cook them asap!

Ingredients

• 300-400g Longbeans
• 100g Dried shrimps
• 7-8pcs Shallot
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 5pcs Red chilies
• 1pc Habanero or 3pcs Chili padi (I put them all!)
• 1/2″x1″ Belacan (Shrimp paste)
• Water or Tamarind juice
• Sugar (in case too spicy)

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Methods

1. Wash longbeans and cut to 2″ long. Heat up wok with some oil and lightly fry the longbeans till 60/70% soft. Lift them up.
2. Grind (blender) dried shrimps, shallots, garlic, red chilies, habanero and belacan. Add about 3 tbsp oil and fried the paste and adding a little oil after every 2 minutes and fry till fragrant. (try to fry using medium fire)
3. Add in fried longbeans into the chili paste and stir for a while, add some water (about 3/4 cup) and cover, stir occassionaly till the longbeans turn soft. Serve.