Pumpkin and mince stew 南瓜焖肉

I'm so far behind on blogging... Was sick for 3 weeks and only beginning to feel better this week. this extremely cold and wet winter really hit me hard... low motivation, carbo cravings, mental sluggishness just to name a few. >__<

I've a few recipes lining up, just no time to blog yet. Will play catch-up soon... ^__^

Up next is pumpkin and mince stew!

Updated recipe

Ingredients
1 quarter pumpkin, cut into pieces
200g minced pork, marinated with soy sauce and corn flour
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small piece ginger, grated
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1 tbsp oyster sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking oil
Water

Method
Heat oil in pan, sauté ginger and garlic till fragrant. Add minced pork and stir fry till brown. Gently break the mince up with spatula. Add soy sauce, wine and oyster sauce, mix them well.

Add the pumpkin pieces and some water, stir fry for a minute. Cover pan with lid and gently simmer for 10 minutes. Add more water if it gets too dry. Season with salt and pepper.

Dish and serve with steam rice.

Coq Au Vin 紅酒燴雞

This was dinner on Mother's Day, the result of spending hours in the kitchen on "my" day trying to cook a special dish for the family. I'm not complaining for having to cook on Mother's Day... but it's stressful when you still can't have dinner served by 7pm and have a child roaming in the kitchen trying to open every drawer and cabinet, pressing the buttons on the dish washer and washing machine, and give you a cheeky grin when you tell him off.

On a side note, I received a small gift from my one-year old when I picked him up from the childcare centre on Friday - a painted photo frame (painted by Bryan with the carer's help). Sweet! :D

Recipe to follow soon... time to hit the sack! Night.

Recipe - Updated

Ingredients
1.2kg whole chicken, chopped into pieces
200g button mushrooms
4 rashers middle bacon, cut into strips
1 carrot, cut lengthwise
2 stalks celery, cut lengthwise
5 shallots, peeled and left whole
5 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
White and black pepper
1/2 cup Plan flour
1 cup red wine
1 cup chicken stock
Cooking oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cook bacon slices in a cooled pan to render some fats. Add shallots and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until browned. Add the carrots, celery sticks and mushrooms and cook, stirring for about 8 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Pour flour on a plate, season with salt and pepper. Coat the chicken pieces thoroughly in the seasoned flour. Brown the chicken pieces on both sides in a large frying pan heated with oil. Brown the chicken in batches to prevent overcrowding the pan. Transfer the bacon and vegetables back. Stir in red wine and chicken stock. Bring to boil and lower heat to simmer for 10 minutes.

Transfer everything to an ovenproof casserole (with lid) and cook in oven, covered, for about 45 minutes to an hour. Serve with rice or potatoes if desired.

Mushrooms & Pork Ribs Claypot Rice 冬菇排骨煲仔飯

It's been 2 months since I last updated the blog, am I lazy or what? :)

I have always wanted to cook chicken claypot rice but I don't have a claypot. Last weekend I finally went ahead to get one and cooked the mushroom pork ribs claypot rice. I didn't use chicken because I wanted to clear the packets of pork ribs in the freezer.

Traditionally the marinated meat is placed on top of the near-cooked rice and the steam will cook the meat. I have decided to cook the pork ribs separately before adding to the rice, for fear that the pork ribs will not be tender enough while my rice burned at the bottom. It's alright for the rice to form a crusty layer at the base but not too charred or you will have a hard time cleaning the claypot later on.

Alright, recipe to come later on. Bed time now...

Update - Recipe

Ingredients
2 cups rice, soaked for 15 minutes (i used the rice cooker’s cup)
3 cups water - cooking rice
400g pork ribs
5 Chinese mushrooms, soaked
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Cooking oil
200ml water

Marinade
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
1 small piece ginger, grated
1 tsp sesame oil
Dash of white pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp corn flour

Method
Marinate pork ribs and mushrooms with seasoning. Set aside in a container and refrigerate for at least an hour. In a pan, heat oil and saute garlic till fragrant. Add pork ribs and brown them to seal in the juice. Stir in water and allow to simmer over a gentle low heat until ribs turn tender, about half an hour.

Put rice, a little oil and water into a clay pot, cover and bring to boil. Stir to mix every now and then so it will not stick to the bottom. Turn down the fire and cook with low heat until bubbles start to form on the surface.

Spread the pork ribs and mushrooms on top of rice, cover and cook with low heat till rice is dry. Turn off the heat and let rice sit for further 10 minutes. Garnish with spring onion. Serve hot.

Hainanese Chicken Rice 海南雞飯

This was my first attempt in cooking Hainanese chicken rice and the soft poached chicken turned out better than expected. The skin was silky and meat moist and juicy. But I need more skill and practice in carving the chicken, perhaps getting a Chinese chopper will make the job easier.

I used Prima Taste ready-to-cook sauce kit, which saved me the trouble of chopping and blending the ingredients like ginger, garlic, shallots and such. The kit even came complete with the dipping sauces - chilli, ginger and dark soy sauces.

Click here for full ingredients and cooking instruction from Prima Taste.

I did not exactly follow the cooking instruction on the packet, which suggests to cook the chicken in the stock by simmering in low heat for 30 minutes. Instead, I immersed the chicken in the boiling stock, turned off the heat and let the chicken stand in covered pot for 20 minutes. I repeat the process and bring the water back to a boil, turned off the heat and let chicken cool for another 20 minutes. (This process is done 3 times in an hour to make sure the chicken cooks inside as well as outside.) The chicken is then removed and immersed in ice water for 15 minutes to stop the cooking process. The final step involved pouring PT's sesame soy sauce oil over the chopped chicken pieces.

For chicken rice, I mixed 3 cups of rice with PT's premixed fragrant oil and chicken stock (for boiling the chicken) and cook in an electric rice cooker.

Serve the chicken with rice, soup (from the chicken stock) and the condiments. Bon Appétit!

Baked Lamb Cutlets with Herbs and Balsamic Vinegar 迷迭香羊排

Hello peeps!!! Apologies for the long absence! Been busy with work as I am now back to full time duty and don't have much time to try out new recipes and experiment in my kitchen.

This was dinner last Sunday - baked lamb cutlets. I marinated the lamb with herbs, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper overnight, so that the meat will absorb all the wonderful flavors of the marinade. I am a big fan of balsamic vinegar. It is a great all purpose marinade that helps to tenderize meats and works well on all kinds of poultry. Do buy a good high-end aged Italian balsamic vinegar if you could afford it, but a less expensive young balsamic works fine as a marinade.

Full recipe will be updated soon! :) I will be back.

* Updated - recipe *

Ingredients
6 lamb cutlets
2.5 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp dried mixed herbs (rosemary, thyme, basil, marjoram, oregano and sage)
Salt and pepper
1 tsp sugar

Method
Marinate lamb with balsamic vinegar, herbs, sugar, salt and pepper overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan forced. Baked lamb for 20-25 minutes, brushing with marinade occasionally, or until the lamb cutlets is tender.

Taiwanese Style Stewed Pork Rice 台式滷肉飯

Fatty pork rules!!! Slow-cooked and stewed to perfection, this Taiwanese style stewed pork rice is just sinfully delicious. I will add the recipe soon! I mean hopefully real soon... it's not easy to juggle between work and family now that I have gone back to work full time. Will definitely make time for blogging.

By the way, happy new year folks! :)

* Updated - recipe

Ingredients
500g pork belly
8 shallots, finely chopped
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup fried shallots
Cooking oil

Seasonings
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp five spice powder
Dash of white pepper
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
Rock sugar to taste
Water

Method
Blanch the whole pork belly in boiling water for 4-5 minutes. Remove and cut pork into small bite-sized pieces.

Heat oil in a wok or frying pan. Saute the chopped shallots for 5 minutes till browned and slightly burned. Add the chopped garlic and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add pork pieces and stir fry for another 3 minutes. Add the seasoning, rock sugar, fried shallots and water that is enough to cover all ingredients. Mix well and transfer to a slow cooker.

Slow cook for 3-4 hours on high power till the pork is soft and the fats just literally melt in your mouth. Serve with steamed rice.

Note
- You may want to adjust the amount of soy sauce and rock sugar to suit your taste.

- I always pop in a few hard-boiled eggs in the process of cooking the meat.

- The original Taiwanese style stewed pork does not have dark soy sauce as part of the seasonings. It used caramelised sugar instead. I was lazy to make it so I used some dark soy sauce to add a bit of colour.

- Peanut butter is optional, but it gives a lot more texture and a nice aroma to the dish.

Homemade BBQ Pork (Char Siu) 叉燒

This was dinner last week - homemade char siu using Lee Kum Kee 李錦記 ready made char siu sauce. It's easy to make as the marinade is ready to use and for a stronger flavour, I added a dash of five spice powder onto the pork.

Pork butts (the shoulder of the pig) or pork tenderloins are usually used for making char siu but I have used pork belly this time as B likes his meats a little fatty.

Ingredients

500g pork belly
4 tbsp of Lee Kum Kee char siu sauce
Dash of Chinese five spice powder

Method
Marinate pork with 4 tablespoons char siu sauce and dash of five spice powder for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

Roast pork in pre-heated oven at 180°C (fan forced mode) for about 20 minutes, turn the pork over and baste with more sauce, roast for another 20 minutes.

Reserve remaining marinade and boil it in a saucepan. Pour sauce over sliced pork. Dish and serve.

Garlic Fried Rice & Ginger Pork Chop 蒜茸炒飯 & 薑汁豬扒

Bed time now.... Recipe will be added shortly.
zzZZzzzZ...

**Updated - Recipe added**

Ginger Pork Chop
Ingredients
6 pieces thinly sliced pork chop
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tsp sesame oil
Cooking oil for frying pork

Method
Marinate pork slices with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, mirin and sesame oil for at least 2 hours.

Heat oil in pan and pan fry pork slices on medium heat until both sides are brown and cooked through.

Garlic Fried Rice
Ingredients
2 bowls of cooked rice
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste
2 stalks green onions, chopped

Method
Using the oil and fats remained from frying the pork, saute the minced garlic for about 30 seconds till fragrant. Toss in the rice and add salt, pepper, butter and soy sauce. Stir fry rice for a minute till well mixed.

Make a well in the center and pour in beaten egg. Scramble egg and stir egg into the rice until thoroughly blended. Add green onions, mix well and serve.

Butadon 豚丼

It's hard to dine out these days with a baby, so I try to cook at home as much as possible and experiment with new recipes. It's going to be challenging next month when I go back to work part-time. I seriously don't know how Mummy B is going to juggle between work and family... I will tell you more in 2 weeks time.

Butadon, or "pork rice bowl", has thin slices of pork and onion simmered in a sweet broth and served on top of a bowl of rice. This is a quick and easy pork recipe, and the pork can be replaced with beef slices to make gyudon (beef rice bowl).

Ingredients
1 onion, thinly sliced
300g pork fillet, thinly sliced
1.5 tbsp mirin
1.5 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup dashi stock
1 tsp sugar
Cooking oil
2 stalks scallion, finely chopped

Method
Heat oil in pan and saute onion till soft. Add pork slices and stir-fry for a few minutes till brown. Combine mirin, sugar, soy sauce and dashi. Pour mixture into pan. Reduce the heat and simmer the pork, covered, for 5 minutes.

Serve over Japanese rice. Garnish with chopped scallion.

Steamed minced pork in egg custard 肉餅蒸蛋

The key to a smooth and perfect steamed egg is to steam over very low fire, and I find that it helps to cover the steaming dish with a plastic wrap.

Ingredients
250g minced pork
2 stalks scallion, chopped
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp corn starch
1 tsp sesame oil
Dash of pepper

2 eggs, beaten
stock/water (2 eggs:2 stock)
1 tsp soy sauce

Method
Marinate minced pork with light soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper and corn starch. Mix all ingredients well and transfer to a shallow steaming dish.

Mix the beaten egg, stock and soy sauce in a bowl. Pour the egg mixture over meat and skim off bubbles on the surface. Cover steaming dish with a plastic wrap. Steam with lid covered over a low simmer for about 15-18 minutes.

Garnish with chopped scallion and serve.

Stir-fried chicken with ginger and scallion 姜蔥炒雞丁

This is another dish with the ginger, garlic and scallion mixture. Click here and here for some other recipes with the 3 ingredients.

This is a simple foolproof recipe that cooks in minutes. It's as delicious as it is easy to make!

Finely chopped the 3 ingredients and sauté them with 2 tablespoons oil and sprinkle of salt for a few minutes till aromatic and slightly brown. Remove and set aside. Stir fry marinated chicken pieces (soy sauce, sesame oil and corn flour marinade) till cooked and return the ginger scallion mixture. Mix them well with chicken and voilà! We are in business. Easy eh? ^__^

Steamed Hot & Spicy Pork Ribs 香辣排骨

It's been an extremely busy and taxing week, slapped with countless little things to do and a series of unpleasant encounters with some difficult people. There were so much packing, so much cleaning and washing, and I still have not finished unpacking stuff. I reckon when I finally settle down and have time to enjoy the new place, it's bout time to go back to work. -__-

While unpacking the books in my new home I found this recipe in the 47th issue of YUM YUM magazine. The original recipe has the coriander, onion, chillies and garlic blended into a sauce. I don't have a blender so I chopped up the ingredients as finely as possible. I have added more seasoning to the marinade to give it a bit more flavor. It was overall good but B thought it was a tad bland and not spicy enough. Will add more salt and chili padi next time!

Ingredients
400g pork ribs, cut into pieces
3 stalks coriander, finely chopped
3 red chilies, thinly cut
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste

Marinade
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp corn flour
1 tsp sesame oil
Dash of white pepper

Method
Mix pork ribs with marinade and keep refrigerated for at least 2 hours.

Heat oil in pan and saute garlic, chillies and coriander for 2 minutes till fragrant. Sprinkle some fine salt and stir well. Pour the mixture onto pork ribs.

Steam pork ribs over medium high heat for about 15 minutes till cooked. Serve with rice.

Chicken skewers 雞肉串燒

What a month! B is down with a stubborn cold that just don't go away. I am busy taking care of the two men (one little man) at home and getting ready to move to a new place and a bigger kitchen! ^_^

Stay tuned as the recipe of chicken skewers to be added shortly.

Ingredients
600g chicken breast
1 red capsicum
1 zucchini
1 can peanut sauce

Marinade
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Black and white pepper

Method
Cut chicken into 1.5 inch cubes. Marinate chicken and keep refrigerated for at least 3 hours.

Soak skewers in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Thread chicken and vegetables onto skewers. Place on grill for 15 minutes or until cooked through, turning and brushing often with remaining marinade.

Serve with peanut sauce.

Stewed Pork Ribs with Pumpkin 南瓜炆排骨

Dinner last night was stewed pork ribs with pumpkin. We love pumpkins and I cook it at least once a week. Pumpkins are nutritious, firstly they are low in fat and calories, perfect for people on diet. They are also rich in antioxidants and beta-carotene, and good source of potassium.

Ingredients
350g pork ribs
Quarter pumpkin, cut into pieces
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsbp cooking oil
Water

Marinade
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp corn flour
Dash of white pepper

Method
Combine pork ribs with marinade and mix well. Set aside and refrigerate for several hours.

Heat oil in pan and saute garlic for about 1 minute. Add pork ribs and stir fry for 3-4 minutes till brown. Stir in some water and allow to simmer covered over a gentle low heat until ribs turn tender, about 20 minutes.

Add pumpkin and continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Dish and serve.

Stewed spare ribs with BBQ sauce 燒汁茄醬燜排骨

I recently bought a 3.5l slow cooker and it's been one of my best purchases ever! I have cooked congees, stews and soups with the slow cooker and they all turned out divine. Meats (even cheap cuts) became meltingly tender, yet retained its flavours and juicy textures. I no longer have to worry about congee getting burned or spilled over, and there is little evaporation involved and minimal risk of soup drying up.

This spare ribs with BBQ sauce recipe is fairly easy to prepare. The spare ribs were simmered to perfection and so tender and moist that they fall off the bone.


Ingredients
2 slabs spare ribs
1 cup BBQ sauce of your choice
2 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp honey mustard
Dash of black pepper
10 button mushrooms, quartered
1 brown onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp cooking oil

Method
Marinate spare ribs with BBQ sauce, tomato sauce, honey mustard and black pepper for a few hours.

Place sliced onions in the bottom of the slow cooker. Arrange whole slab of spare ribs on top of the onion. Pour in the marinade. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7 hours.

Heat oil in pan and sauté garlic and mushrooms. Pour sauce from spare ribs over mushrooms. Dish and serve.

Lamb Rogan Josh 咖喱羊肉

This is my second attempt in cooking Lamb Rogan Josh at home, and I decided to use a slow cooker this time. The meat turned out to be really soft and tender after only two hours of slow-cooking on "high" setting.

Read more about Rogan Josh here.

Ingredients
600g boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 2-inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 brown onion, roughly chopped
1 bottle Rogan Josh simmering sauce (Patak's brand from UK)
1 small can diced tomatoes
Cooking oil


Method
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and saute onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes till fragrant. Add lamb and cook for 4-5 minutes until meat is sealed and browned.

Add the simmering sauce, diced tomatoes and stir for 1-2 minutes till lamb is coated with sauce. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about an hour till lamb is tender. Alternatively, transfer the lamb and sauce into a slow cooker and cook on "high" for 2-3 hours.

Dish and serve with rice.

Pork and onion omelette 煎蛋餅

My cooking is getting simpler these days as I approach the last month of pregnancy, which is also the least comfortable and the most emotional one so far. I am still working and my bosses have been so kind to allow me to work from home and go to office only once a week.

I am sharing today an easy recipe that has been my favourite since young. Every time I cook this omelette, it will draw B sniffing into the kitchen. It's one of his favourites as well. ^__^

Ingredients
2 eggs, beaten
100g minced pork
1 brown onion, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking oil

Method
Heat oil in pan and saute onion for 2 minutes. Add minced pork and stir-fry with some salt and pepper till browned. Transfer onion and pork into the bowl of beaten egg. Gently mix the ingredients.

Heat oil in pan again. Pour the pork and egg mixture into pan and spread the ingredients evenly. Reduce heat and let it cook for about 4 minutes till the bottom is firm and browned. Use a spatula to lift the edge of the omelette and gently flip it over. Cook for another 3 minutes.

Transfer omelette to a plate and serve.

Braised Pork Belly with Mushrooms and Dried Oysters 冬菇蠔鼓炆五花腩

Happy 牛 Year! Today's the first day of Chinese new year, the year of the Earth Ox. We started our day at the Buddhist Centre with prayers and Dharma talk, followed by a delicious vegetarian lunch. After lunch, we went shopping for baby stuff (again!), the shopping started a few weekends ago and never seems to end. There's always something to buy every time I walk into the babies section.

Rang my family and relatives back home last night and they were all curious as to what we had for CNY's eve dinner. This is what I cooked - Braised Pork Belly with Mushrooms and Dried Oysters 冬菇蠔鼓炆五花腩. B loves this dish and had 3 helpings of rice. ^_^


Ingredients
700g pork belly
6 pieces Chinese mushrooms, soaked to soften and stalks removed
5-6 big dried oysters, soaked to soften
1 small piece ginger, sliced
8-10 cloves garlic
1 tbsp cooking oil
Water

Seasoning
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 1/2 Chinese cooking wine
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp five spice powder
1 tsp sesame oil

Method
Soak dried oysters and mushrooms separately for at least 4 hours in cold water. Retain soaking liquids.

Cut pork belly into 1.5 inch slices with the fats in between the lean meat intact. Blanch pork in a pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes. Remove pork slices.

Heat oil in a pot, stir fry ginger and garlic till fragrant and slightly brown. Add pork belly, oysters and mushrooms and stir fry for another 3 minutes. Stir in the seasoning and the liquids used for soaking mushrooms and oysters. Add more water to ensure ingredients are covered, and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour 15 minutes.

Serve on Chinese cabbage or lettuce leaves.

Not in picture:
1. I tossed in some hard-boiled eggs to braise the eggs (滷蛋) in the last 15 minutes of cooking the meat.
2. I also cut some iceberg lettuce separately for wrapping the pork slices.

Baked Balsamic Chicken Wings 香烤雞翅

Baked chicken wings is one of our regular dinner dishes and I have been experimenting with the sauces and seasonings used for marinating the chicken. My favourite marinade so far has to be Balsamic vinegar. It helps to tenderize the chicken and gives a great flavour. I also dashed in some Chinese five-spice powder to give it more of an Asian flare.

The left-over sauce from the baked wings goes really well with the rice and I serve it as a side after skimming and de-greasing the top of the sauce.

Ingredients
6 chicken wings, separate mid-wings and drumlets, discard wing tips
1 tsp cooking oil

Marinade
1.5 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
Dash of black and white pepper
Dash of Chinese five-spice powder
1 tsp sesame oil

Method
Wash and clean the chicken. Marinate chicken overnight or for at least 4 hours in the fridge.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degree celcius on fan-forced mode. Lay 2 layers of aluminium foil on baking tray and lightly oil the foil. Place chicken on foil and pour the marinade over chicken. Bake for 15 minutes on one side, turn the chicken and bake for another 10 minutes till both sides turned brown.

Dish and serve.

Chicken and Mushroom Stew 蘑菇焖鸡

Ingredients
8 chicken wings
1 canned mushrooms
1 medium ginger, sliced
5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 bowls water
Corn flour mixture

Marinade
2 tbsp rice wine
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp corn flour
1 tbsp sesame oil

Method
Cut chicken wings to separate the wings and drumlets. Marinate chicken overnight with rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil and corn flour.

Heat sesame oil in wok and saute ginger and garlic till brown and fragrant. Add chicken pieces and pan fry each side till the skin turned brown. Stir in the seasoning (except rice wine) and water. First bring to boil, then lower fire to a simmer and cook till chicken is tender, about 30 minutes. Add mushrooms and rice wine, stir well and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Thicken the gravy by adding some cornflour mixture.

Dish and serve with steamed rice.