Bite On It!

All of us just recovered from a terrible flu earlier so I am still preparing simple dishes which are mild and don’t require much frying. In fact I did a lot of steaming which is less oily and less heaty too.

This dish is one one of my childhood favorite too. When I was working, I normally cook simple dishes like this that require very little preparation time since it will be so late when I reach home but I always yearn for home cooked food, that I will troubled myself even after a tired day in the office.

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Ingredients

• 200g Minced pork (not too fatty but can’t be too lean either)
• 1-2 slices Preserved Mustard or Ham-choi (finely chopped)
• 1-2 tsp Corn starch (to hold the minced pork and preserved mustard together)
• Salt or light soy sauce for taste
• A  few drops of oil (to make the meat smoother)
• Water

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Methods

1. Add minced pork and finely chopped preserved mustard together with 1-tsp corn starch.
2. Add in some salt to taste and placed it on a not too deep set plate. Smothen the top and add some water before sending it to steam.
3. Steam till the suace (water) starts to boil or you can poke the centre with a chopstick after 10 minutes in steamer to make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked.

I love One-Pot dish not only they are convenient and easy to prepare but full of flavors.

This is another one-pot dish that I often cook as the ingredients can be easily purchased. In fact I have most of them stuffed in my freezer! How convenient is that right?

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Ingredients

• 3 Chicken drumsticks (cut into about 4 pieces each)
• 2 cups rice (wash and sieve dry)
• 6-8 Dried mushrooms (soaked and sliced)
• 1 Chinese pork sausage (Lap cheong)
• 1/2 bulb Garlic (minced)
• 1″ Old ginger (sliced)
• 2tbsp Sesame seed oil (1tbsp to marinate and 1tsp for frying)
• Dark soy sauce
• Light soy sauce
• Fish sauce
• Pepper to taste (optional)

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Methods

1. After cutting chicken, prop them into a deep bowl and marinade with dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, fish sauce, pepper and sesame seed oil.
2. Heat up wok with some oil + sesame seed oil, saute the ginger till brownish then add in the minced garlic and saute till fragrant. Toss in the rice, stir and add in the chicken pieces (together with the sauce) and continue to stir till all well mixed.
3. Add in the mushroom pieces and Chinese sausage slices and mix well. Lift them up and put into rice cooker, add sufficient water (cover all the rice mixture) and cook like normal.
4. Alternatively, you can put into the steamer and steam till the rice cooked.

When I was back in KL 2 months ago, my mom showed me how to do home made Char Siew (BBQ Pork) with the Lee Kum Kee Char Siew sauce. It was pretty delicious so I thought I’ll try to make some when I’m back in Penang.

However, I did not have the Lee Kum Kee Char Siew sauce but I have some really nice pork belly sitting in my freezer so I thought, ‘Why don’t I concoct the Char Siew sauce myself?’ It was pretty easy and only require a few ingredients.

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Ingredients:

• 300g Pork belly (get those that are not too lean or too fat)
• Black soy sauce (enough to cover the entire piece of pork belly)
• Light soy sauce (based on your own taste bud)
• 3tbsp Brown sugar
• A few dash of Fish sauce
• Sprinkle some pepper

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Methods

1. Marinade the pork belly with all the ingredients and leave it for about half a day or over night (if over night please put in the fridge)
2. Heat up the oven to about 200 degree Celsius  or you can you can heat up your frying pan with some oil and fry it on small fire till it is cook. For grilling, grill for about and hour, turning it every 20 or 30 minutes.
3. The sugar and black sauce will caramelize so do turn it every now and then so it won’t stick to the frying pan and get burnt.
4. Cut them into slices. For added taste, I did some sauce of brown sugar, light soy sauce, black sauce sauce and a little corn starch which I cook them until sticky and glaze the Char Siew.

Normally we will cook soup with preserved mustard head but it is a little spicy for Darrius so I will boil non-spicy soup if I could. PiggyBeng loves the soup but the Lil’ Master comes first in cases like these.

PiggyBeng bought a piece so I decided to do some stir-fry instead… at least can eat with white rice or plain porridge.

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Ingredients

• 1pc Mustard head (cut into thin strips)
• 150g Pork (not too lean and not too fat - cut into thin strips)
• A few pips of Garlic (chopped finely)
• Black soy sauce
• A few dash of Pepper
• Some water
• Chili padi - optional

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Methods

1. Cut the preserved mustard head and soak in a bowl of water for at least 30 minutes changing the water after a few minutes. This will wash away the saltiness.
2. Heat up wok and saute the chopped garlic till fragrant, toss in the pork strips and stir-fry till cook, add in the preserved mustard head strips.
3. After stirring for a while, pour in some black soy sauce and add a little water, stir and cover under a small fire. Simmer for at least 20 minutes before serving.
4. if you prefer to have a thicker sauce, add a little corn flour solution before removing from wok.

A few weeks back I suddenly have the crave for celery. Not sure why. Then I was thnking I can use them to cook porridge for Darrius too so I bought a bundle every time I go to Tesco.

I normally just do a clear stir-fry without any other ingredients except some chopped garlic but I decided to try with some spiced pork this time.  I’ve cooked it a few times before long time ago and  think the taste goes well together. I often stock up some dried stuff or can food so I can use them whenever I’m out of stuff to cook.

So, if you are stuck with some celery and don’t know what to cook with, you can try this simple dish…

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Ingredients

• 1/2 bundle  Celery
•  1/2 can Spiced pork
• Water ( just a little to soften the celery)

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with little oil and stir-fry celery till half cooked. Toss in the spiced pork and continue to stir.
2. Add a little water (2 tbsp) and let it simmer with cover on for 2-3 minutes.
3. Served.

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