Char Siu

 叉烧

I have made countless char siu using this recipe and am pretty sure you will love it, just like my family. 

The ingredients for the marinade, while it looks long, are readily available in my kitchen. I don't have to buy bottles/tubs of red fermented beancurd specifically for this dish! Most importantly, this recipe does not use food colouring, oyster or hoisin sauce (which contains MSG monosodium glutamate, food flavoring and preservatives).

There are two ways to make this dish: roasting/grilling in oven and cooking over the stove.

Ingredients

1.2kg pork (I requested butcher for 不见天, a cut of meat around the pig's armpit which has good amount of fat. Slab of pork belly will do too)

2 teaspoon molasses

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dark soy sauce

2 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoon sugar (I use jaggery)

1 tablespoon chinese wine (I use 绍兴花彫酒)

1/4 teaspoon five spice powder

4 cloves of garlic (chopped finely or minced/grated)

1 teaspoon paprika (optional)

2 tablespoon warm water

1/2 piece fermented tofu (optional)

1 tablespoon fermented tofu juice (optional)

1 spoonful of love

Method (Roasting/Grilling in Oven)

1. Slice the pork into strips of 1.5 to 2 inch wide.

2. Use the sharp tip of the knife to poke the meat lightly to help the meat absorb the marinade.

3. Combine all the ingredients with the pork and marinade overnight in fridge.

4. The next day, take the pork out from fridge half hour before roasting*. Preheat oven to 200 degree celsius. Keep the remaining marinade to baste the pork during roasting later.

5. Line baking pan with aluminum foil and place a wire rack (I use two steaming racks) on the pan. Then lay the pork on the wire rack and pour some water to the bottom of tray. 

6. Roast (fan mode) at 200 degree celsius for 15 minutes. Then flip the pork over, baste marinade and roast for another 15 minutes. Try: 200C for 20mins, flip and baste every 5 minutes.

7. Add 1 tablespoon maltose (substitute: honey) to the leftover marinade and mix until dissolve. Once the pork has been roasted for 30minutes, brush the marinade all over the pork and grill for 5 minutes. Repeat the basting and roasting (for 5 minutes) until the char siu is charred to your liking. 

8. Rest the char siu for 15 minutes before slicing them and serving.

  

Method (Cooking Over Stove)

1. Heat up wok with 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. Then place the pork into the wok including all the marinade. Simmer for 40-45minutes until the pork is tender. The marinade should thicken.

2. Remove the marinade from the wok, raise the stove heat to medium and sear the sides of the pork until they are nicely charred. This should take not more than 5 minutes.

3. Add 1 tablespoon maltose (substitute: honey) to the leftover marinade and mix until dissolve. Brush the marinade all over the pork.

4. Rest the char siu for 15 minutes before slicing them and serving.

Hainanese Pork Chop

 海南猪排

This recipe serves 3.

Ingredients

450g pork fillet

1 tablespoon hua tiao wine (chinese cooking wine)

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

Dashes of white pepper

1 egg (lightly beaten)

6 pieces of cream crackers 

1 spoonful of love

Method

1. Beat the pork fillet with the back of the knife or a meat mallet to thin them out.

2. Marinate the pork with hua tiao wibe, light soy sauce, salt, white pepper and egg for at least 20 minutes.

3. Grind the creM crackers to fine crumbs. I use a mortar and pestle to do it - this was what my mum taught me!

4. Heat oil in wok/frying pan to 160 degree celcius.

5. Coat the pork fillet with the cream cracker crumbs. Slide it into the hot oil and fry until light golden. Transfer the pork fillet to a wire rack to drain excess oil. Scoop up the crumbs from the oil using a fine mesh sieve before you fry tge next piece of fillet. Repeat until all fillets are cooked. 

6. When all the fillets have been fried, turn up the heat for the stove and heat the cooking oil to approximately 180 degree celcius. Fry the fillets again until nicely brown. This will take about 20seconds. Place the fillet on wire rack to cool and drain excess oil.

7. Slice the pork choos and serve whist they are hot abd crispy.

Mushroom Risotto

This is an Italian dish made with arborio/risotto rice. It is an easy all-in-one meal which can be cooked in half hour. 

Ingredients

120g arborio/risotto rice (don't rinse the rice as that would remove the starch from the rice which helps to make it creamy)

300g portobello mushrooms (sliced)

600ml vegetable stock (onion, celery, carrot, mushroom stems, dried porcini mushrooms, bay leaves) - keep the stock hot

1 tablespoon heavy/double cream

45g unsalted butter

1/2 large onion (diced)

2 garlic cloves (diced)

2 tablespoon herbs (e.g. thyme, dill, parsley)

100ml white wine (can replace with the stock and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice)

2-3 strips of smoked bacon (cut into 1cm strips) as toppings. This is optional.

1 spoonful of love

Method

1. In a deep saucepan / pot, lightly saute the onion, garlic and 1 tablespoon herbs in olive oil and 15g butter. 

2. Add risotto rice and stir the rice under medium heat until the rice is coated with the oil.

3. Add white wine and stir the rice until the wine has been absorbed.

4. Lower the heat to medium-low and add one ladle of hot vegetable stock into the rice. Stir the rice until the stock is absorbed. Repeat this process (about 20 minutes) until the stock is used up.

5. While cooking the rice (step 4), pan fry the bacons in a little olive oil until the sides are slightly crispy. Remove the bacons from the pan and stir fry the mushrooms in the bacon fat. Add 15g butter, dashes of black pepper and salt, and continue to stir fry until the bacon fat and butter are absorbed into the mushrooms.  

6. Remove the saucepan / pot from the heat when the rice is tender but still a little bit hard in the center. Rest the rice (covered with lid) for 5 minutes as it continues to cook in residual heat.    

7. Stir in mushrooms, followed by heavy/double cream and remaining 15g butter. Stir in grated cheese (optional).

8. Serve the risotto hot with bacon topping.

Crispy Fried Wanton

 脆皮炸云吞

Made this cantonese bite-sized dumplings using late mother-in-law's recipe. They can be deep fried or boiled in soups. We like fried ones - so crispy and finger licking good.

Ingredients

300g minced pork (I asked the butcher for 'bu jian tian' 不见天, a cut of meat around the pig's armpit. The meat is tender and has good proportion of fat.)

300g fresh prawns (including shells)

60-70 pieces of square wanton wrappers from wet market (100g, 25 wrappers)

3 fresh shiitake mushrooms (cut into thin strips)

2 shallots (minced/grated)

2 garlic cloves (minced/grated)

2-3 stalks of spring onions (finely chopped)

3 water chestnuts (cut into small cubes)

Half an egg (small egg about 50g, lightly beaten)

Seasoning - 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce and dashes of white pepper

1 spoonful of love

Method

1. De-shell and de-vein the prawns. Then smack them with the back of a cleaver to mash the prawn meat. This is so that the prawn meat will be crunchy.

2. Mix minced pork, spring onions, garlic, onion and seasoning using a pair of chopsticks (or your hand) in one circular direction until you get a sticky paste - about 5 minutes.

3. Add water chestnuts, prawns, egg and two tablespoon of water, and continue to mix (same circular motion) until well combined for another 5 minutes.

4. Add the half egg and a few drops of sesame oil, and continue to mix (same circular motion) for final 5 minutes. 

5. Take a piece of wanton wrapper, place the filling (about 1 heap teaspoonful) on the wrapper and gather the corners/edges of the wrapper to enclose the filling. Repeat until the fillings/wrapper are used up.

6. Heat up cooking oil in your wok/frying pan, and deep fry the wantons (in batches) until light golden brown. Remember to turn the wantons around so that all sides are evenly fried. Transfer to wire rack to drain excess oil. Serve whilst hot and crispy.

Homemade Laos Khao Piak Sen Noodles

 

Came across this interesting recipe for Laos noodles in Wendy's blog, and had to give it a go. Very easy and fun to make these noodles from scratch. They can pass pass off as udon (a type of Japanese noodle)! :)

Ingredients

160g rice flour

160g tapioca flour (and extras for dusting)

250g boiling water

1 spoonful of love

Method

1. Mix 160g rice flour with 160g tapioca flour.

2. Add 250g boiling water to flour mixture and use chopstick to mix.

3. Knead the dough until smooth.

4. Dust the table with tapioca flour and roll the dough into 4mm thick.

5. Cut into strips and sprinkle tapioca flour to prevent noodles from sticking together.

6. Cook the noodles in boiling water. Once noodles float, they are ready. Here's the bowl of chicken noodles I cooked with these noodles. So yummy.

Chawanmushi (Japanese savory egg custard)

茶碗蒸し

Adapted recipe from Just One Cookbook

Ingredients

3 eggs

Dashi/Chicken stock (2.5 x weight of eggs)

1 teaspoon mirin

1 teaspoon light soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

Fillings (I put crabsticks, gingko nuts and carrot. You can add chicken or shrimps).

Garnish (I put parsley and dill)

1 spoonful of love

->  points to note on fillings:

° For gingko nuts, I use fresh/raw ones which I had earlier removed from its shells and frozen them for use in desserts/dishes. Boil the nuts for 5 mins and leave them in the pot to cook in residual heat).

° For chicken, you need to marinate with sake and salt, and pan fry until the sides are lightly browned before you use them as fillings.

Method

1. Prepare fillings, marinate them (for chicken and shrimps only) and place in cups/bowls. 

2. Lightly whisk eggs and make sure not to make the egg mixture frothy.

3. Add dashi/ chicken stock and seasoning (mirin, soy sauce, salt) to the eggs. Sieve the egg mixture through a fine mesh sieve so that the texture of the chawanmushi will be very smooth.

4. Pour the egg mixture into prepared cups/bowls. Remove bubbles on the surface of the egg mixture in the cups/bowls (this is to make sure the chawanmushi will be smooth). Cover the cups/bowls with aluminium foil (to prevent water from the steamer/wok/pot cover from dripping into the chawanmyshi).

5. Bring the water in steamer/wok/pot to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and place the cup/bowls on the steaming tray in the steamer/wok/pot. Steam for 20 mins and use a skewer to test whether the chawanmushi is set. It is done when when you insert a skewer into the egg mixture and it comes out clean.

6. Leave the cups/bowls in the steamer/wok/pot for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Note to self: 

To use only salt for seasoning to keep this dish even simpler. For 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon of salt should suffice.

Fluffy Cream Cheese Bun (with butter)

芝士棉花餐包

These buns are perfect to use up your leftover cream cheese in fridge. They are very soft and fluffy.

Recipe from Chef Chu’s Kitchen.

Ingredients

65g cream cheese

270g bread flour

35g sugar (I use 30g jaggery sugar which is supposed to be more nutritious than refined sugar)

3g salt

4g instant yeast (I reduced slightly to 3.2g)

180g warm milk

20g unsalted butter

1 spoonful of love

Method

1. Put all ingredients (except butter and salt) into stand mixer and knead for 10mins. Kneading time is only a guide as it may differ depending on mixer and brand of flour used. I am using SPAR mixer and dough hook with speed 1 for 2 mins and speed 2 for 8mins. Note: dough is sticky and will take a long time to hand knead.

2. Add butter and salt and knead for 15mins or until you get window pane (which indicates that the dough is fully kneaded) whichever is earlier. For me, speed 1 for 5 mins and speed 2 for 10mins.

3. Lightly grease a bowl with olive oil and transfer dough to it. Cover the bowl and let it proof in warm place for 40mins or until double in size, whichever is earlier. I proof in my oven by putting a glass of hot water beside the bowl and closing the oven.

4. Meanwhile, line your baking tin with parchment paper. 

5. After 1st proofing, punch down the dough and divide into small pieces. I divided the 550g dough into 9 pieces (70g each) and shape them into balls to fit my 18cm square pan.

6. Once shaped, cover the dough and let it proof in a warm place for 1 hour.

7. 15mins before end of 2nd proofing, preheat oven to 180 deg cel. Sprinkle bread flour over the buns and bake at 180 deg cel for 5mins and 160 deg cel for 20-25mins.

8. Remove the buns from oven and turn them onto a cooling rack to cool.

Char Siu Baby Pork Ribs

叉烧小排骨

I cook char siu (叉烧), a type of cantonese roast meat very often. Saw a nice slab of pork ribs in the supermarket and decided to try cooking it with my homemade char siu sauce. The result is very tender pork ribs that are finger licking good!

Ingredients

1 slab of baby pork ribs (approximately 500g)

Homemade char siu sauce:

1 tsp maltose + 1 tbsp hot water (stir until maltose has dissolved)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1/2 tbsp honey

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tbsp chinese cookjng wine

1/4 tsp five spice powder

2 cloves of garlic (grated)

1/2 tsp paprika

1 spoonful of love

Method

1. Wash the pork ribs and tear the membrane on the back of the ribs. Dab dry the ribs with kitchen towel. On the back of ribs, cut shallow slits between the bones. This helps the marinade to penetrate the meat.

2. Mix the char siu sauce and marinate the ribs with the sauce for at least 4 hours or overnight (in fridge). 

3. Remove from fridge half hour before roasting to bring it to room temperature. Wrap the ribs - first with a baking parchment paper, then with aluminum foil. Reserve the marinade for coating of the ribs in step 5 below.

4. Lined an oven tray with aluminum foil for easy cleaning later. Place the ribs, with the meat side facing down, on an oven tray and roast at 120 deg cel for 1 hour. 

5. After one hour of roasting, open the wraps and flip the ribs with the meaty side facing upwards. Do not pour away the juices from 1st roasting. 

6. Turn the oven up to 200 deg cel. Brush the ribs evenly with the marinade and grill at 200 deg cel for 7 minutes. Repeat the brushing and grilling for 1 or two times until you get the nicely charred appearance. 

7. Rest the ribs for 10 minutes before serving.

Steamed Ginseng Chicken With Glutinous Rice

参须糯米鸡

My late mother in law used to cook this dish whenever there were family gatherings. The flavorful glutinous rice, tender chicken meat and the uplifting ginseng-infused chicken juices are so delicious.

Ingredients

1 kampong chicken (approx 1kg)

1 cup of glutinous rice

1 cup of water (for glutinous rice)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

20g ginseng beard

2 tablespoon goji berries (optional)

1 spoonful of love

Method

1. Wash glutinous rice and soak in 1 cup of water for 1 hour. After soaking, dissolve the salt and sugar in the water and cook the rice using rice cooker/stove. Set aside to cool down.

2. Remove liver, heart and gizzard from the chicken cavity and discard them. Rub 1 tablespoon of salt all over the chicken to clean it and wash the salt away under running water.

3. Pour boiling water into the chicken cavity to blanch it and dab dry with kitchen towel.  

4. Rub 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon sugar inside the chicken cavity, and stuff the glutinous rice (from step 1) into the cavity. Seal the cavity with thread/wooden satay stick/wooden toothpicks. I use toothpicks. 

5. Rub 1/2 teaspoon salt all over the chicken. Lay the ginseng beard (and goji berries if using) on the bottom of steaming tray and place chicken on the ginseng beard. 

6. Steam the chicken over high heat for 1 hour. Check on the water in the steamer/wok occasionally to make sure it does not dry up. 

7. Unseal the cavity and serve the chicken hot.

Roast Garlic Butter Chicken

 

Ingredients

1 chicken

25g garlic butter (I use store bought one)

1 spoonful of love

Method

1. Clean chicken, rub salt all over the skin and wash away the salt. 

2. Pat dry the chicken with kitchen towel.

3. Use a spoon to separate the chicken skin from the meat. Insert garlic butter under the skin.

4. Massage a bit of garlic butter, salt and black pepper over the skin. Lightly drizzle olive oil all over the chicken.

5. Preheat the oven to 220 deg cel. Line an oven tray with aluminium foil for easy cleaning later. Put a roasting rack on the tray and the chicken on the roasting rack.

6. Roast the chicken @ 220 deg cel for 10mins. Lower oven temperature to 180 deg cel and roast for another 1 hour. Baste the chicken with its liquid dripped from roasting every 30 minutes.

7. Rest chicken for 15mins before serving.