Sausage galore !!

 

 

It's a cool lazy Saturday evening and I'd like to have a simple dinner at home. Afterall, I have zero idea what to eat out. Sausages and salad should be a rather quick fix for dinner. I took out my Happycall pan lookalike which I bought from Amway six months ago. The pan finally made its first "debut" to my old stove.



 

 

 

See the oil splattered all over the top of the pan? Well well well... it sure saved me the trouble of wiping the walls and mopping the floor. Besides, it was kinda fun turning the pan every now and then. My 3 variants of sausages : chorizo, Italian sausage and wine sausage were cooked to perfection and all done in less than 15 mins. I've steamed a sweet potato to replace corn on cob. Fresh vegetables are inevitable if one is having sausages.

 

Diner's done and now dishes are in the sink, waiting to be washed.... by someone. Who do you think it would be, huh??

Roasted Pork Belly (again)

 

While I was in Spore during the recent raya, John's FIL bought siew yok for us to eat. He mentioned it was one of the notable stall selling siew yok. Later on, I bragged to dad and mom that I know how to roast one. Dad of course poohed poohed at my remarks and so....I just had to show him and make him eat his words... as well as the roast pork, of course.

 

There were several deafeaning explosions in the oven that made me hover at the side. The pop and cackling sound were just too humongous and frequent but that means the skin will be crispy instead of chewy. I bought the fattest chunk of meat belly I could get because dad will not bat an eye on any meat without a layer of huge fat in it.

 

Dad loves the meat to be cut slightly  think and chunky while me and mom prefer it to be just about 1-1.5cm thick. Dad went oohhing and aahhing when he first tasted the meat and I of course was chuckling at his reaction. I was showered with accolades and he told me I must make this in Singapore for my bro John and his in laws to eat. I told dad to pass that message to my brother  that if he can't wait to eat it, all he needs is to buy me an air tix and I'll fly there to roast one for him. All expenses will be on him then. Afterall, nothing comes free right? Afterall, I'm his little sister, right?

Creamy Mushroom Soup & Pork Patty

A juicy piece of patty with a slab of mayo and drizzle with some chili sauce. Awesome.

My blog it seems, has been reduced to quite a pathetic state with the frequency of postings getting few and far between. Blame it on my hectic time schedule and well,  facebook too. What prompted me to make another round of mushroom soup was the finding of 3 wild mushrooms sprouted out from my lawn. I just need to refresh my memory of how to make it by making a call to my sis in law in Singapore. It is typical to have garlic bread to go with mushroom soup but I figure I'll do something different this time : a meat patty. We had several meat projects done for some clients of ours and I remembered my then Application colleague had to come out with the actual meat patty with added flavors from our library collection. All it needed was a message to her via facebook and she obtained the meat patty recipe for me from our the chef.  Thanks Jez for the prompt reply and action on my request :)

The really creamy wild mushroom soup. Yummy....(fatty...)

I think the dinner attempt tonight was fated to be postponed since hubby called to say he ain't coming home for dinner. I went ahead with my dinner plans because for the next few nights, I will not be home early to cook. Less than halfway cooking the mushrooms, I had a major kitchen mishap. I accidentally cut my finger while taking out my food processor. Blood was oozing out and I was fumbling to take a picture of it while manning the mushrooms still simmering in the saucepan.

My homemade mini burger, sandwiched with a mini pork patty.

The so called 'kitchen mishap'.

 It took me slightly more than 2 hours to come our with the creamy mushroom soup and the meat patty plus the cleaning. Hubby came home to taste the soup and for him, it was creamy. He doesn't like it too creamy though but I like it otherwise. I'm not sure whether to consider the meat patty a success because it was obvious that I was over generous with the salt. Yes, you got it right. It was over salty. To make the best of it, I'll just have to top it with lots of veggies then. Other than the saltiness, it was awesome to bite into the burger which I smeared a generous amount of mayonaise and chili sauce. I just wish I have more people to eat it with me and to share the delight. Cousin Soo will get her share tomorrow and perhaps I'll scoup some out for my doctor too since I'll be seeing him tomorrow.

Not cheap. Deliberate got it for the purpose of making the soup.

The real stuffs and therefore, this soup is really costly.

Over estimated again that I had to keep a packet of the mushrooms

Braised Pork Belly / Kou Rou Bao(扣肉包)

My lovely mom made some really awesome braised Pork Belly( Kou Rou Bao - 扣肉包)  in which we sandwiched it between the pau, added a little piece of lettuce and drip some drops of the superb sauce in it. Mom made it for dinner tonight. You'd be surprise that at one point, mom actually vowed not to ever attempt any bao related recipes after so many failures (that's according to her standard). Finally one fine day, she got it right after consulting several recipes and from there on, came up with her own recipe.

I cannot tell you how tasty and yummy it is. The pork belly was just at the right tender texture while the bao was super soft. At this rate, I don't think my diet plan is going to materialize at any time sooner but anyway, it's a blessing to come home with yummy dinner waiting for me.

Look at the wobbly combination of fat and lean meat. The top skin was fried on a pan of scarce oil to make it crispy (of course when soaked with gravy, it becomes soft), the mixtures of major spices like cloves, star anise, cinnamon stick, chinese wine and fermented beancurd created the aromatic and tasty gravy as well.

As we munched with satisfaction on bao with the gravy oozing out from the side, the other hand of ours reached for another piece of lettuce to crunch together.

The above has been packed for a friend of mine whom I haven't seen in decades. Tomorrow ...yes ....tomorrow... we will meet for the 1st time in decades and exchange food for the first time as well.

Leek with Pork Belly

My mom finally came over to my place to stay for about a fortnight. Needless to say, she relieves me of many household chores but the one thing I can count on is there'll be homecooked dinner for me every night. We bought a nice looking piece of pork belly the other morning because mom already made plans to slice it thinly to cook with the china leek. I was standing behind her to see what special sauces or powder she will add into the dish and I found the answer.

Sauces :

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp chinese wine (she used Hua Tiau wine)

soy sauce

a little water

Ingredients :
chopped garlic
pinch of salt
slice ginger
leek , slice slanting and an inch thick
carrot
fried beancurd , cubed (tau kua)
thinly sliced pork belly

Method :
Heat up oil and fry the garlic and ginger for a while before adding in the sliced pork.

Add in the sauces except water and saute for while. Next add in the beancurd.

After a minute or 2, add in the carrot and leek to saute. Add in a little water to simmer a while before dishing it up. It's done.

My cooking tips: Mom and I prefer the leek to be a little crunchy than soft. Hence, don't saute and add too much water to simmer.

Tung Po Yok

Again this is another dish we prepared for dinner on new year eve. There isn't a need to speculate. I didn't cook this dish. This dish requires a lot of steps before you can accomplish and the part I hated most would be frying the pork before dishing them into the pot for further boiling. This is the part where the oil will spew forth everywhere : the wall, the floor, the stove, your body, your limbs, your face etc. Hubby insisted he wanted to have this dish and so he was the chef then. This is his secret recipe which till today, remains a mystery to me.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

It has been quite a while since I last cook this dish. I used to ask my mom made it for me during my younger days and to this day, it remains as one of my favorite dish. My mom usually did the pork in chunky style; the same as those you see if you order from any 'tai chau' place. As for me, I prefer to mince the meat and roll it into balls; the way most kids like it. I guess there will always be a 'kiddy' part in me. By right, you normally will not find a lot of gravy in this dish to go with your rice.  However since both hubby and I like to soak our rice with the appetizing sweet and sour gravy, I deliberately added more water to this recipe. But of course, I gotta increase the amount of ketchup as well.

Here's how I did the dish. The measurement has been left out.  You'll just have to estimate how sour, how sweet and how salty you want this dish to be.

Ingredients :
mince pork - marinated with sesame oil, soy sauce, salt , a little pepper and a little cornstarch

vegetables:
green capsicum - long strips
red capsicum - long strips
yellow capsicum - long strips
cucumber - squared
tomatoes - quatered
red chili - cut into an inch

pineapple - cut into small pieces
big onions - quatered
sugar
tomato ketchup
a little white vinegar
a little worcestershire sauce (optional)
cornstarch

Method:
1. Roll meat into balls and deep fried it till golden brown. Dish out and set aside.
2. Heat up oil, add in the onions. Stir fry for a while and add in all the vegetables.
3. Fry for a minute or two  then add in the pineapples. Pour in the ketchup, vinegar and worcestershire sauce. Add  in the sugar and taste to your preference.
4. Lastly, stir in the cornstarch to thicken the gravy a little.

X'mas Eve Dinner : Seared Sirlion Steak with Asparagus

It's really a blessing to work for an EU company because again they declared a day off for us on christmas eve. Hubby upon knowing this, applied for a day off too. We started our day without having any plans in mind but we know ultimately, we'll have a western homecooked dinner on x'mas eve.  We got what we were looking for in Cold Storage : a sirloin steak unmarinated because it was cheaper than marinated and a bunch cheap asparagus. Never in my life have I bought asparagus before because of  it's exorbitant price.

I was in charge of getting the greens ready while hubby offered to make a blackpepper sauce from scratch and get the steak done. It's a good thing I have this grill pan and hubby was able to sear the steak. As for the asparagus, I blanched it with hot water and later submerged it in cold water. In a pan, I melted a little butter together with a little olive oil, sauteed the garlic and threw in the asparagus and sprinkled a pinch of salt. It tasted awesome. And our quick fix dinner was completed with some steamed baby carrots, fresh vegetables and some cherry round tomatoes. I hope everyone has a lovely dinner on X'mas eve. Merry Christmas !

Steamed Mince Pork with Salted Vegetable (Dong Choy)

This is a dish my mom used to make in Batu Pahat , when I was a young little girl. Until today, whenever I'm in a hawker centre selecting 3 dishes to go with my rice, my hands seem to be automatically reaching out for a chunky piece of this mince pork. The good thing about this dish is it doesn't need a lot of ingredients to prepare. The main ingredient will of course be the salted vegetable which I have washed and drained for 3 times, a little sesame oil, a little soy sauce and some fried shallot. If my memory served correctly, my mom occasionally would add some chopped raw garlic in it but I prefer to remove this  ingredient entirely because the smell and taste of garlic is too overpowering. I knocked off sharp from office on a Wednesday and hurried home to prepare the ingredients for my dinner. I had to get everything done real fast because I was on a 'jogging date' with hubby. Right after the jogging session, I put everything on the steamer pot and steamed them at one go whilst I ran upstairs and had a quick shower. Minutes later, I came down, opened the cover lid and to my surprise, I found the mince pork had shrunk considerably and as a result, it looked like an island submerging in shallow water. This is how it looked like.

I wished I had added more sesame oil. It would've been a great idea to marinate with a little constarch to make the meat slightly tender.