Fried Crispy Pork Belly (香脆炸花肉)

Posted by Vivian in Pork

0 comments

Looks are indeed deceiving. Just basing on the photo, I would assume that this is one dish that requires a fair amount of work. Well usually most stuff that requires deep frying does. Just making sure the meat (whatever it is) is evenly coated with flour or batter takes a good 20 minutes.

Surprisingly this is an incredibly easy recipe which a colleague shared with me recently. Needless to say, the kids enjoyed it A LOT simply because it is crispy… and that in itself is probably good enough justification for the deed to be repeated.

Ingredients:

• 500g pork belly (about 1 inch wide)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
• 1 tablespoon corn flour
• 5 tablespoon rice flour (alternatively a mix of plain flour and corn flour)

Preparation:

• Marinate pork belly with all ingredients except rice flour, for at least 3 hours or overnight in the fridge.
• Coat pork belly with rice flour before cooking.
• Deep fry pork belly until gold brown and cooked.
• Slice pork belly and serve with mayonnaise or tonkatsu sauce as dipping sauce if desired.

Number of Servings: 4 to 5 persons

Chicken Congee (鸡丝粥）

Posted by Vivian in Chicken, Chinese

0 comments

This is probably the third time I have ever made porridge for the family because asking the boys in the family to eat that is akin to making them swallow poison.

We had initially booked ourselves in for a Japanese buffet today since it was a public holiday.  Unfortunately, Matty had fallen sick and we decided to have something light for lunch instead.  Since I hardly stock too much ingredients at home, this was what I could come up with. Usually I will make soup and add in macaroni or mee sua when someone is not feeling well at home.  I figured that the objective is to get the patient to eat rather than to put him off and reject all food.  So no point forcing it.  

After today, it will probably be another 5 to 10 years before I make another pot of porridge.

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken drumsticks
• Chicken bones for added flavour (if available and desired)
• Few stalks of spring onion bulb
• 2 to 3 slices of ginger
• 3/4 cup of rice (best to soak overnight)
• Few stalks of spring onion (finely chopped)

Preparation:

• Bring about 2.5 litres to 3 litres of water to boil in a pot.
• Add in chicken drumsticks, chicken bones, spring onion bulbs and ginger.
• Allow the soup to boil for 10 minutes before lowering the heat and let the soup continue to boil for another 35 to 40 minutes.
• Season soup with salt before turning off the heat.
• Once the soup is done, remove the chicken and set aside.
• Discard bones, ginger and spring onion bulb .
• Strain the soup to remove excess oil.
• Add rice to soup and let it boil for 10 minutes before lowering the heat.  Allow it to boil for another 30 minutes.  Stir the mixture every now and then to prevent the congee from sticking to the bottom of the pot.  More water or chicken stock can be added if the congee appears too thick.
• In the meantime, shred the chicken and set aside.
• Season with more salt or light soy sauce if desired.
• Stir in the shredded chicken to the congee.  A small portion can be set aside and served by the side or topped on congee before serving.
• Sprinkle with spring onion and serve hot.
• Other ingredients like fried shallot, white pepper or sesame oil can be added on top of congee before serving.

Number of Servings: 4

Non-Spicy Korean Stir Fried Rice Cake (Ddukbokki 떡볶이)

Posted by Vivian in Beef, Korean

0 comments

At a recent get together with my bunch of girlfriends, I finally got to try the Korean Rice Cake after having seen it being served in countless k-drama.  The one that we had was probably not very traditional, as it was topped with Mozzarella cheese and baked to a golden hue.  Traditional or not, it had a nice chewy texture to it.

Not long after that dinner, I spotted packets of frozen Rice Cake on display at the supermarket which I frequent.  Without much thought, I took home a pack but it ended lying in the freezer for weeks waiting for the day when I am in the mood to make something out of the usual menu.  Fortunately, I did get to it even before the Rice Cake expired.

Because the kids are not used to taking spicy food, I decided to randomly search for recipes hoping to find one that is non-spicy.  The cyberworld didn't disappoint me and it didn't take me very long to chance upon one here.  The recipe looked promising from the fact that it was one passed down from generations within a Korean family.  There is no way one can go wrong with that!

I made a minor tweak when cooking the beef though since I had used beef flank which is the cheapest cut available at the supermarket.  Not because I was on a tight budget but rather I had discovered that no matter how bad the cut is, stir-fried beef can still turn out tender when done using the velveting method.  I read some years back that velveting is how Chinese restaurants whipped up nice tender stir-fried beef and since then I never bothered to splurge on beef to be used for stir-frying. 

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of Korean Rice Cake
• 350gm of beef (cut into thin strips)
• 1 stick of carrot (julienned)
• 1 medium sized onion (cut into thin wedges)
• Few stalks of spring onion (cut into 2 inches long)
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon of crushed sesame seed
• Half an egg white
• Cornflour
• Light soy sauce
• Sugar
• Sesame oil
• Grounded black pepper

Preparation:

• Marinate beef for 30 minutes to 1 hour with:
• Minced garlic
• Crushed sesame seeds
• Egg white
• 2 teaspoons of cornflour
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
• A dash of black pepper
• Soak Rice Cake with cold water and thereafter parboil for 2 minutes or until soft and chewy taking care not to overcook.  Run Rice Cake under cold water after removing from boiling water.
• Mix 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a bowl. Set aside to be used as finishing sauce.
• Heat about 4 to 5 tablespoons of oil in wok using high heat.  Add beef to wok and quickly stir-fry for 30 seconds or until the beef is nearly cooked and still showing bits of pink.  Remove beef from wok and set aside.  Allow additional oil to drain.
• Reheat wok with some oil and sauté onion and carrot.  Season with salt and pepper.
• Add Rice Cake into the wok together with the beef.  Mix well and allow mixture to cook for a minute.
• Pour in finishing sauce and spring onion.
• Remove from heat when well-coated.

Number of Servings: 5 to 6