Crispy Roast Pork

Crispy Roast Pork

I prepared this roasted pork for CNY thid year. Eventually I wanted to buy it from the BBQ restaurant nearby my house but they are not openopen during CNY.  So I decided to make one for the family dinner .

Here's what I use:

• Pork Belly with skin (size approx 12" x 6")
• Marinating ingredients :
- Rose wine (玫瑰酒) 1-2 tbsp
- salt, pepper, smoke paprika powder,  5 spice powder- half tsp each, mix in bowl and rub some on meat. I didn't use up all the seasoning.
- 1.1/2 cube of fermented tofu (南乳)
• I use Himalayan pink rock salt.

Here's the how:

1) Rub marinating ingredients on the side of the meat. The marinating ingredients quantity can be adjusted to your liking. Poke hole in meat. I uses a meat tenderizer nails to poke the meat. This will help to make the meat tender.

2) Place the skin facing up and wrap the pork in aluminum foil, but expose the skin to air. 

3) Cover pork and marinate in fridge overnight. I have marinate for 10-12 hours.
Remove from fridge when ready to roast.

4) Pat dry the skin and add a little salt on skin. Criss-cross cut on skin. Cutting depth reach the lard, no need cut too deep. Do not cut till the meat. I tried poking the skin but I don't think it reach the lard.

5) Cover skin with a layer of salt.

6) Pre-heat oven at 200°c for 5 mins.

My roasting split into 3 time as below here .

7) Roast at medium-low (130-150°c) without fan on both up and bottom heat. Plus minus around 1 hour. You will see the meat is still white in colour and look undercook. Discard some of the juice (or oil) away.

8) Turn heat up to high heat (about 220°c) without fan on both up and bottom heat. Roast for 15-20 mins. You should be able to smell the aromatic. Watch out not to over cook.

9) Remove the salt on top. Turn on the fan and only keep the upper heat on. Move pork to the upper tray to keep the skin near to the heat. Watch during this duration not to burn the skin. Should be ready by 5-8 mins.

Note:
1) You can reduce the salt as the fermented tofu is salty too.
2) the °c of the heat and roasting timing should be adjusted accordingly to your oven.
3) fan will make the meat dry up.
4) do not entirely remove all the oil and juice from the meat as the meat will soak them back and keep meat moisture.

I didn't take photo for this As I'm too busy cooking. Hope you like it. 

This photo shows the 2nd time of roasting.

Pasta Alfredo with Grilled Butter Prawn (from scratch)

I seldom make western food at home as my husband is a typical person who prefer Chinese food most of the time. So , I only cook western on occasionally basis.

As usual , I usually don't plan so much and only decide to cook what's available in my kitchen when I start the prep. This recipe is modify to my own liking and ingredients available (in da kitchen of cause).

Alas, today's menu is mushroom soup and pasta Alfredo with grilled prawn.

Grilled Prawn
1) Wash prawn in salt water, clean and cut off the legs, and pull out the vein at the back of the prawn.

2) Heat up grill pan and coat with some butter, add in the garlic and put in the prawns . Grill both side of the prawn until golden. Once it's almost ready , pour in some white wine. Can skip this if don't have white wine .

3) move out and put aside .

Mushrooms Soup
1) slice up Brown (150g ) & White (150g)  button mushrooms . Set a side a small portion (about 4-5 buttons) for the pasta .

I brought 1 pack of brown n white button mushroom each from Tesco and use up all in this cooking. It about RM4.50/pack.

2) Wash n Peel yellow onions .Chop into small bits .Don't need to be very fine as you will end up blending everything . You only need 3/4 for soup . Save up quarter for later use.

3) Wash chicken breast and cut into 2cm cube . Marinate with salt and corn flour. Split a quarter out for soup and keep the rest aside .

4) Heat up a small sauce pot , add in oil and once heat up, put in the chicken, onions and mushrooms. Turn heat to medium low and let them caramelizecaramelize. It will start to ooze liquid at the beginning , you will need to add water once the liquid dries up. Repeat about half an hour or until thicken. 

Blend everything together. Add in cooking cream (can replace with milk if no cream ) and add in dash of thyme. Add in salt and pepper as per your preference .

Pasta Alfredo

1) You may start to boil a pot of hot water first as it will take some time. Once boiled,  put in the pasta of your preference.

I like Spaghetti from this Barilla Brand. It's kind of more 'springy' and does not expand too much . It's also affordable, RM5.90 for one. 

2) now since pasta otw, let's get over with the rest. Pan fry onions that have prepared earlier, pan-fry till brownish and fragrance, add in the sliced button mushroom (which is also prepared earlier ). Stir fry until the liquid dries up , add in the chicken. Add salt n pepper for seasoning . Take out and put aside. 

3) When the pasta is almost ready , it's time for the sauce . Heat up pan, add in oil and put in garlic when oil is hot enough. Gently fry the garlic over low heat until brown and fragrant. 

Turn down the heat to the minimum. Transfer the pasta directly from the water to the pan. Don't need to drain dry . Stir fry the pasta to be evenly coated with the fragrance oil . 

Add in cooking cream (about +-50ml agak agak) and a little of milk. You can add in more milk if you preferred more sauce . 

Add in egg + cheese to thicken the sauce .

Now , Lightly beat one medium size egg and add in cheese. Gently pour in gradually to the pasta . Stir up using the spatula. At this time , the heat should still on low. 

I use one slice of Cheddar cheese for the whole pan . For better taste, use mozzarella cheese instead . If you have parmesan cheese , you can sprinkle on top .

Tara ! Ready to serve !

Roast Chicken

Like many others, I always wake up too late and didn't enjoy the shoping experience in wet market. So, I usually buy fresh goods from supermarket. I came across this Lacto Chicken, a premium range of chicken that doesn't have hormone and antibodies. I notice it's less fat and the meat texture is more tender and it's not so 'soft'.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken
3 pcs Nam-yu
A little Pepper
A little 5 spices powder
A little cayanne powder
2 cloves of garlic, mince

Brine water
8~10 tbsp of soysauce
Dash of Pepper
2 cloves of garlic, smash

The How:
1. Clean the bird under running water.
2. Put the brid into the brine water for at least 4 hours in fridge. The longer the better.
3. Remove the bird from the brine. Do not wash. Drain dry or pet dry the bird with kitchen towel.
4. Rub the Nam-yu, 5 spices powdee, cayanne powder, pepper and minced garlic. Let marinate for at least 1 hour, the longer the better.
5. Heat up oven.
6. Place a large sheet of aluminum foil on the baking tray. This will help to ease the washing.
7. Cut 2 large onions and lay it on the aluminum foil. Place chicken on top of it. This will help the chicken not to stick to the foil directly.
8. Roast chicken at 110°C for 45mins. Then turn heat to 220°C for another 30mins. The hi-heat is to quickly brown the skin while the inside is still juicy and tender.

Soy Soy Soy Braised Pork

It's been a long while not writing any post. Not to say super busy that I don't have time to cook but I just simply cook and not in a mood to write (alright, I'm lazy I admit it). Today,  I made this pork dish and I think it's simple and delicious. So I wanted to share this recipe with you all.

Ingredients 

300-400g lean pork (I buy top pork shoulder) - slice thinly 

1 pc UK potato - cut into cube

1 pc Onion - finely chopped

1 clove Garlic - finely chopped

*2 tbsp Soy Sauce

*1 tsp Taucu

*abit of Fermented Black Bean - wash thoroughly to remove skin

* A bit of Gula Melaka

Cooking Steps:

1. Heat up pan and pour some oil.

2. Pan fry potatoes 

3. Add in the pork. Keep on pan fry until dries up. 

4. Heat up another pot. 

5. Pour in some oil to fry the onion and garlic until brown and fragrant. 

6. Once the pork dries up. Slightly fry abut until you can smell fragrant. 

7. Transfer potatoes and pork to the pot. 

8. Add in water to be on same par level. Let it boil, then turn fire to low-medium. 

9. Braise for half hour and ready to serve. 

*Note :

1. Cut potatoes in larger cube and fry the potatoes till brown if you want the potatoes to be less mushy. 

2. You can adjust amount and quantity adjust to your liking. 

I also want to share a good Soy Sauce that I used in this recipe.The brand is called Se Woh (四和). It's located at Kampar, nearby to Ipoh, Perak. I google a bit about this brand and find it's a traditional local factory with more than 70 years history. 

This is a premium soy sauce and not very salty. The soy flavour become robust after cooking. I have used Lee Kuan Kei and Kikkoman. The Kikkoman premium soy sauce is considered the better one compared to Lee brand. 

Se Woh Facebook

This small bottle is RM6.50

Homemade Spicy Taucu Sauce Steam Fish

Making sauces at home is easy. You control what you put in, adapt to your own preferences and no additives and preservatives. You know what you are eating. It's not only healthier, but actually it's more delicious too. 

I usually don't make too much at a time, each time, I'll make sauces that can use up to 3~5 times only. 

Ingredients :

2 pcs fresh Red Chilli

3~4 cloves of Garlic

4~5 pcs of shallots

2 tbsp of bean paste (taucu)

2 tsp of brown sugar

Some water

1 pcs of talapia fish

Step :

1) chilli, garlic and shallot- Fry to fragrance. 

2) Add in bean paste and brown sugar. Add some water to simmer.

3) The sauce is ready when it thicken. The longer you simmer is the better. Do not add too much water at a time. You should add water bit by bit so the sauce will not dry up.

4) Cleaning fish - descale and remove all the organs. Do not break the gut (black colour thing) as it will make the fish bitter. 

5) Steam fish for 15 mins. Check fish if fish is cook by using chopstick to poke the thickest part. If it goes it directly, easily, it means it's cooked. 

Remove some of the fish sauce that caused by the steaming process. You may keep it to cook vegetables .

6) Pour some sauce over the fish and let it steam for a while about 5mins.

Photo helper

Mix and cook all together.

Once you see that the sauce have get thicker, it's ready. Transfer to a jar to cool down before storing in fridge. Leave it in fridge for at least 1 week so that the taste and aroma become stronger.

Korea Fresh Ginseng Chicken Soup

Happened to came across The air-flown Korea Fresh Ginseng, brought in by Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp into Tastefully KL last weekend. 

As most of you may know,  ginseng have been traditional taken to aid many health condition and often taken for general health. it's taken to improve thinking ability (good for work n studies), anti-inflammation and improve immunology system and many others. 

As I have been working hard lately and find myself get easily tired and poor focus. I decided to make some tonic and herbal to drink. Mom says, ones get younger by consuming tonic. 

The Ginseng that I came across at Tastefully is small and slim but the aroma n flavour is powerful. The leaves and stem is also edible. 

Since we got this good stuff, I have make into a Ginseng Chicken Soup, double boil for 8 hours to consume. 

Ingredients :

1 pc x Korea Fresh Ginseng

1 Whole Chicken leg n Thigh

2 pcs x Jujube

Pitch of salt

Step :

1) Boil water - you will need it to pour into the double boil electric boiler.

2) Clean chicken and de-skin. Remove any fats. 

3) Boil the chicken in another pot and let it boil over 15 - 20 mins or until completely cooked. 

4) Wash ginseng thoroughly and de-seed jujube. 

5) Place chicken,  ginseng and jujube into the ceramic pot, pour in hot water, cover it and put into the double boiler. 

6) I turn under high heat until the water is very hot then switch to auto to let it simmer for 8 hours. 

The soup is clear and golden in colour. 

Double boil

Cover with a ceramic lid. 

Double boil,  is a Chinese cooking technique that is commonly used to cook soup and herbal. It uses a ceramic jar put inside the larger pot filled with hot water. The soup is cooked from heat generated from the steam. It cook over long hours,  6 - 8 hours, to finish. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_steaming

It's Simply Tastefully 11.11

Mark your calendar. Something is coming up in town. Tastefully F&B Expo is here! This is my 3rd time participate in Tastefully event this year. First in Penang, 2nd time in Johor. For both, I have seen quite alot of local brands selling all sort of ingredients and stuffs that makes cooking easier.

This weekend, 11 - 13 Nov, is happening at Mid Valley Convention Hall. Make sure you wear a comfy shoes, come in hunger state and bring a shopping bag. Expect alot of eating and drinking as there's more than 300 booths to check out.

This is a place to try out those sauces that you never buy but aways see them at supermarket shelves. This is also the place to sample some stuffs that you never buy from the supermarket freezer.

Here's some recommended brands that makes good soup. I like the Bak Kut Teh n Chicken soup from Claypot and Mo Sang Gor.

Sweet, you will get a free Bak Kut Teh to try at home when u present this coupon (below). 

Yuen Chun special offer from 12pm - 4pm - RM1 for any item. Wonderful, I like Yuen Chun brown soy bean sauce. It makes wonderful bases for many types of sauces - Jeong Jing or braise. 

Another thing you cannot miss is the abalone sampling session. The owner, generously, will make few types of Abalone for you to sample. They are also selling it at a very good price. Time to stock up for CNY.

I don't know why it's call Abalone noodle and Scallop noodle. I doubt they uses these to make the noodle. Anyway, you can try using this noodle to make 'gon-lou' or 'chao mien'. Finger licking good.

Freegifts, who doesn't like freegift.

We (yeah, I'm working for PappaRich) giving out FOC. Come early to redeem cause it's usually finished by late afternoon.

Surprisingly, this Pau Sedap have good nice HALAL dimsum. I'm quite surprised their dimsum taste very well. 

Check out their Facebook for more information and offers. They are running Facebook promotion to redeem freegifts.

Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Taste-Fully-Food-Beverage-Expo-291202534266096/