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?

Fried Longevity Noodles

The yummy Longevity noodles

Dad's nong li's birthday (birthday according to the chinese calendar) is tomorrow. We just arrived from Singapore yesterday and mom depended on me to get groceries during my lunch hour. Since there was a time constraint with me bringing back the groceries after work, mom decided to push forward the frying of longevity noodles from tomorrow to today. I gotta hand it to my mom. Whatever she whips out seems to be so mouthwatering and delicious. The best part is she doesn't seem to be tired and constantly putting on her thinking cap on what to cook next or what newbie she can introduce on the dining table. Needless to say, my next one month is gonne be terrific with homecook meals (except for the fact that I desperately need to diet. Yea... you heard that months ago), nicely pressed blouse for me and shirts for hubby and fresh smelling clean clothes completely washed and hung dry. Aahh....blissful days ahead before mom head for Sydney till next year.

Red eggs for dad. Mom stole some of my coloring meant for baking

Oh yea.. the noodles. It was cooked with some mince pork, slices of mushrooms, shredded carrot, fish cake and spring onion. I haven't got the chance to interview mom thoroughly on what sauces she used but I overheard hubby telling mom to teach me to cook this. The noodle itself was slippery and the entire dish was not completely dry but  with little gravy beneath the noodles. Two thumbs up. Long live mom ...... and dad.

Something to go with the noodles

Stuffed Bitter Gourd

I was inspired to try this out after having sampling this dish made by hubby's eldest sister. I realized that I missed out a very crucial ingredient when I was halfway frying it because the filling doesn't seem to stick well to the vegetable. The culprilt is  mackerel (ikan tenggiri). We just had to make do without it then. Can you believe I was actually being shooed out of the kitchen by hubby because he insisted that he knew better how to make the sauce than me?  This dish turned out great. We both love bitter gourd and the simple marination of the meat seemed to go well with the vegetable. The sauce... well... what can I say? It was awesome. This dish goes well with white rice or you can even eat it on its own. We ate it with steam white rice topped with a juicy piece of ayam goreng berempah. l'll rate this as an easy and fast dish to whip out. In case you're interested, here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Filling & Marination :

Mackerel fillet

Mince pork

Soy Sauce

Sesame oil

Chop onions

Salt

Sauce :

Bean paste (taucu)

Water

Dash of salt

Sesame oil (optional)

Cornstarch

Sugar

Other Ingredient :

Bitter gourd (of course!!)

Small onions - slice

Method :

1. Marinate the filling with the sauces mentioned. Set it aside.
2. Cut bitter gourd to about 1 or 1.5cm thick. Remove seeds and white pulp with a spoon.
3. Stuff the a generous portion of filling into the centre of bitter gourd. Pat around it.
4. Heat wok with little oil. Fry the bitter gourd in low fire.When it is cooked, dish out and set aside.
5. Heat wok with little oil and fry onions in slow fire till slight golden brown. Scoop in sone bean paste, stir it a while before adding water and remaining sauce ingredients except cornstarch.
6. Bring to simmer. Add in the bitter gourd, stir around and lastly add in the cornstarch.

Homemade Apple Crumble

My Apple Crumble with lots of crumbles

I  thought I'm finally done with apple pie. Apparently I was wrong. I overheard a conversation on apple pies between my colleagues that piqued my interest which slowly built up to an intense craving for my very own self made apple pie. Don't ask me why but I just love appie pies but I would normally opt to have the crumble as topping. The decision to bake came at the time I was shopping for some baking stuffs in Chang Tung in Taman Megah. It was there and then that I decided that I would scoot home to bake the apple tart today. 

The apple tart before topping the crumble



Once again, the strange phenomenon happen. The very thing that you crave for so much and couldn't wait to get your hands on, suddenly doesn't seem appealing once it is right before you. The pies are great .... I mean it isn't as if I've made it for the 1st time. Peeling the apples, core it and subsequently chop it took a great deal of my time. Thereafter, was patiently cooking the filling in the pot. Green apples are sour in nature and I deliberately reduced the sugar. Next, my faithful food processor helped me to produce the dough out in a jiffy. Finally, it's baking of the pie shell and the crumble.

The pot with apple filling


I had this as part of my dinner  at almost half past nine. I shall bake the remaining tomorrow morning as breakfast for myself and for cousin Soo (who else ...)