Braised Pork Belly

Blend 1 whole garlic. Fry with 3 tbs sugar till brown. Fry 2 slabs of 3-layer pork till caramelised. Add dss, lss and water. Cover and cook on slow fire for a couple of hours.

Karen (Frankfurt)'s recipe

Khang Ju (Minced porkball soup)

1. Beat two eggs and fry. Set aside.
2. Boil water. Add all-in-one seasoning to taste.
3. Use spoon to form minced pork into pork balls. Place in boiling water.
4. Add sliced egg tofu.
5. Add a bit of fish sauce.
6. Add cabbage, spring onion and chinese celery (the one with larger leaves). Boil till pork ball rises.
7. Garnish soup with celery and cut up fried eggs.

Note: Fried eggs are optional. The boys didn't like the soup with fried eggs, so I had to remove them from the soup. This is an easy soup to cook, done in 20 min or so. Perfect for a rushed dinner. Pork can be replaced with other meat.

Pad Ka Pao (Fried Spicy Pork)

(all measurements agak-ration)

1. Heat 2 tbs of oil.
2. Fry minced garlic (about 5 cloves or to taste). Add sliced red cili padi (about 5 or more if you like it very spicy). Fry till fragrant.
3. Add minced pork, stir-fry.
4. Add oyster sauce (I used Thai oyster sauce, not quite sure if it's that much different from LKK oyster sauce).
5. Add soybean sauce (I didn't have this, so I used light soy sauce instead).
6. Add some sugar and fish sauce and MSG.
7. Add holy basil leaves.
8. Continue to fry till pork is cooked.
9. Garnish with basil leaves.
10. Serve with rice, yummmm.

Roasted Charsiew

1. Marinate 1kg pork shoulder/butt (fei ji rou) with charsiew sauce, chinese cooking wine, sugar, fish sauce. Poke with fork, place in a ziplock bag and keep in fridge overnight.

2. Place pork and marinade in foil, and bake covered at 220deg for 20 min. Place a bowl of water at the bottom of the oven (said to result in more tender meat).

3. Open up foil and bake uncovered till slightly charred, turning often.

4. Remove pork and separate from remaining marinade, if any. Brush all over with glaze (mixture of 1tbs dark soy sauce, 1 tbs oil, 1 tbs honey and a drop of red food colouring).

5. Bake for another 10 min or so, depending on how chao tar you like your charsiew.

Verdict: Eddie's favourite dish and he said this was excellent. Sean ate up even though he wasn't happy about it, while Brian loved it. Can cook this in larger batches and freeze for future use.

Note: Don't bother with Instant Pot or Air Fryer. Stick to oven.

Sweet and sour pork

Follow recipe for Tonkatsu.

For the sauce:
1. Fry 4 cloves of garlic (sliced), quartered Bombay onion, few slices of ginger. Use the oil from frying the tenderloins for better flavour.
2. Add ketchup, dash of worcestershire sauce, some vinegar and brown sugar to taste. I also added some oyster sauce and light soy sauce. Oh, and water too.
3. Pineapple, green pepper, tomatos can be added if desired, I didn't.
4. Mix cut up fried Tonkatsu into the sauce. Serve hot with rice.


Background

I've never tried cooking this as I never had the confidence to do so. My mum cooks this really well and back in the good old days when Eddie used to cook for me (before kids...before marriage...it was the good old days remember?), he also made a mean dish of sweet and sour pork. He did not use bread crumbs to coat the meat, but used crushed Jacob's biscuits instead...yummm.

Back to reality now. After two plus years of cooking, I am now somewhat able to estimate the sauces/ingredients required in the simpler dishes I eat in restaurants. And this dish garnered praise from Mr Fussy himself. He's such a Chinaman, and had second helpings of rice because there were two pork dishes tonight, this and steamed minced pork, plus soup of course.

The boys, on the other hand, prefer plain Tonkatsu, without any sauce. I have a trio of hard-to-please palates in this house. Grrr....

Tonkatsu

1. Cut small incisions on tenderloins to tenderise. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.
2. Coat tenderloins with plain flour, shake off excess flour, next coat with egg, then bread crumbs
3. Submerge in hot oil for 2 minutes, turn and fry for another 2 minutes, turn and fry another 1 minute. Adjust heat as required.
4. Place on kitchen towel for oil to be absorbed. Cut into bite-sized pieces and add Tonkatsu Sauce (thick Japanese Worcestershire sauce).

Can be adapted to make:
Pork cutlet with chips, just do as above, then fry an egg and potatoes, kids won't know the difference :)

Tau Yu Bak

Source: Improvised from Kuali

Ingredients:

500 gms pork (with skin and some fat), keep pork whole without slicing

For Marinade
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/4 tsp 5-spice powder
1 tbs oyster sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs sugar or to taste

4 whole garlic pods with skin on
1 star anise
4cm cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar or to taste
Salt to taste
1 cup water
Hard-boiled eggs (optional)

Instructions:

1. Marinate pork for several hours or overnight.
2. Heat claypot or heavy-based saucepan over medium low heat.
3. Put in marinated pork to brown.
4. Add garlic pods, cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves.
5. Pour in half cup of water and cook covered for 5-8 minutes.
6. Add in dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sugar and salt to taste.
7. Add half cup of wter and simmer till gravy is thick and meat is tender.
8. If gravy is too thick, just add more water. Same if meat is not tender enough, just add water and simmer for a longer time.
9. Add peeled boiled eggs.
10. To serve, cut pork into slices and add gravy to the dish.

REVIEW:
When cooked: Tuesday 6 February 2007
Which meal: Dinner
Which try: I'm sure I've tried this before, but not sure how many times
Missing ingredients: Cinnamon sticks
Exchanged ingredients: Used 2 whole garlic pods instead of 4 (the garlic here is huge)
Difficulty Level: 2.5
Others: Recipe did not have hard-boiled eggs in it. Oh when I bought the pork it was already sliced.

Verdict: Very popular. Sean ate a big plate of rice by himself. What I like about it is there's nothing to chop or pound. Easy.

Stir-fried ginger pork

Source: www.aromacookery.com

Ingredients:

400 gms pork loin or tenderloin
1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
a few drops of sesame oil
a large knob of ginger, about 80 to 100 gms
2 tbsp vegetable oil
light soy sauce, about 2 tbsp or to taste*
water, about 150 ml or just enough to cover the pork

Instructions:

1. Cut pork against the grain into thin slices.
2. Marinate for at least half an hour with 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp cornstarch, and a few drops of sesame oil.
3. Peel the ginger, slice thinly, and cut into fine strips.
4. Heat the wok till very hot. Add the oil and saute the ginger for about one minute, turning constantly.
5. Over moderately high heat, add the pork and stir-fry with the ginger. When the pork starts to change color, add light soy sauce and stir-fry to mix evenly.
6. Quickly pour in the water. When the mixture bubbles, immediately turn the fire off to prevent overcooking the pork. Serve with plain rice.

REVIEW:
When cooked: Friday 26 January 2007
Which meal: Dinner
Which try: First
Missing ingredients: None, cooking wine was added
Exchanged ingredients: None
Difficulty Level: 2
Others: Nil

Verdict: Popular dish. I think I'd try to add dark soy sauce and make it drier next time.

Braised pork loin steak

Source: www.aromacookery.com

Ingredients:

800g pork loin steak
1 tsp corn flour
1 small bowl chopped shallots
1 whole chopped garlic
5 bruised lemongrass
Some galangal, sliced or bruised
Light soy sauce and dark soy sauce to taste
Water

Instructions:

1. Fry shallots, garlice, galangal and lemongrass till fragrant.
2. Add pork (which has been tenderised with corn flour or with back of cleaver), sprinkle brown sugar generously.
3. When sugar has melted, add light and dark soy sauce.
4. Add just enough water to cover meat (not too much). When boiled, taste and add sugar and light soy sauce if necessary.
5. Cover and braise for 1 hour. Remove cover and if drier version is preferred, remove excess gravy and continue to fry pork on high heat, adding dark soy sauce to make pork darker.
6. Cut pork into bite-sized pieces before serving.

REVIEW:
When cooked: Thursday 25 January 2007
Which meal: Dinner
Which try: First
Missing ingredients: None
Exchanged ingredients: None
Difficulty Level: 3
Others: The original recipe calls for Pork Belly ie to make LorBak

Verdict: Everyone loved this dish. Same recipe can be used for braised duck as well.

Wendy's fried ginger liver

Source: Wendy Aw

Ingredients:
Ginger
Garlic
Spring onion
Dark soy sauce
Light soy sauce
Wine
Sesame oil
Pepper
Sugar

Method:

1. Fry ginger and garlic and spring onion.
2. Add liver (liver cut into small pieces).
3. Add wine, light ss, dark ss
4. Add sugar and water to taste.
5. Add sesame oil and pepper when done.

REVIEW:

When cooked: Long time ago, in Frankfurt
Which meal: Dinner
Missing ingredients: Nil
Exchanged ingredients: Nil
Difficulty Level: 2
Others: I'm the only one in the house who loves liver, so can't cook this often.

Verdict: Easy and yummy. Wendy, unlike me, is an instinctive cook. One look and she'll be able to cook the dish. Let's kill her.

MIL's sam cham bak (3-layered pork)

Source: MIL

Ingredients:

1 pack Sam Cham Bak
Pinch of salt
Corn Flour
Oyster sauce
Special light soy sauce
Ginger slices
7 slices garlic
7 slices shallots
1 cube rock sugar
Black soy sauce
Chinese wine

Instructions:

1. Marinate sam cham bak with salt, corn flour, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and ginger for half a day.
2. Pound garlic and shallots. Fry till fragrant.
3. Add pork. Fry till slightly brown.
4. Add black soy sauce.
5. Add water, bring to boil.
6. Add rock sugar. Wine.

Others: Add oyster sauce and sugar to taste, if needed.