Dry-fried Beef Hor Fun (干炒牛河)

Dry-fried Beef Hor Fun (干炒牛河)

What's the most important element of a great Dry-fried Beef Hor Fun? If you ask me, I'd have to say a great light soy sauce or sang chao followed by tender beef and lots of "wok fire"! So, to put it blantly, don't attempt to fry noodle if you do not have a conventional stove with really big fire... it really doesn't taste the same on a hot pan or induction cooker!

Cold Tofu

Cold Tofu

I've learned that not all recipes need to be complicated to look and taste great.... ( which is something that I am trying hard to apply in life as well!) I'm learning, like some of the great chefs I admire, that I have to look at the core ingredient that I'm given and appreciate it in its simplicity- its look, texture and flavour.

Nobu's Signature Black Cod with Miso

Black Cod with Miso

A friend of mine posted a picture of his homecooked oven grilled cod fish on Facebook a couple of months back. Even from the confined screen of my Iphone, I could tell this fish is delicious! And when he explained further that it was Nobu's recipe, without hesitation, I ordered Nobu The Cookbook on Amazon! (Yes, I can be rather impulsive when it comes to food and recipes :p)

It still took me awhile to attempt the dish myself. I had to hunt for the right ingredients... Nobu's recipes are uncomplicated but without following the recipe to the dot, you'd probably end up with a slightly different version, like mine! Tasty but not as heavenly as the real thing itself! Looks good as a dish but certainly nothing compared to the presentation at Nobu!

Superior Soup Yin Choy

One of my Hubby's favourite vegetable is the leafy 'yin choy' or Chinese spinach (I've just looked it up on wiki and it's called Amaranth Green). The rich vegetable mineral taste is absolutely addictive when stirfried or boiled in soup.

You will find this dish quite common in Chinese restaurants as it is not only delicious but good for your health with the combination of 'dang kuei' (angelica sinesis) and 'kei chi' (wolfberry). The richness of anchovy/ chicken broth combined with Chinese herbs gives you that appetizing golden hue you see.

Superior Soup Yin Choy Recipe

A bunch of Yin Choy (wash thoroughly as yin choy tends to hold more sand particles)
1/2 a bowl of anchovies (soaked in water)
1 cup of chicken broth/soup
2 slices of ginger
1 clove of garlic (lightly bruised)
1 tbsp of kei chi
10 gm dang kuei
Deep fried baby silver fish (Ngan Yu Chai)
1/2 cup water

Method:

1. Firstly, heat up a non-stick pan and fry (without oil) the anchovies that have been soaked until you can smell the fragrance. Remove aside.
2. Heat up wok. Add ginger & garlic and fry for a few seconds before adding the chicken broth & early fried anchovies. Bring to boil and add the kei chi & dang kuei. Turn down the heat to allow soup to simmer for 10 min or until you smell and taste the herbal fragrance. Add water if necessary.
3. Bring the soup to a boil again and add in the yin choy. Boil for 2 min before dishing into a soup bowl.
4. Place deep fried baby silver fish on top of the yin choy.

Note:
Some restaurant like to serve this dish with century egg. You do not need to boil the egg with the soup. Just clean and cut the egg into small sections and place them into the soup when serving.

Pork Porridge

Every now and again, I have craving for a really simple yet satisfying bowl of pork porridge. Like a good bowl of chicken soup, rice porridge is one of those comfort food that most Asian families turn  to when we are feeling a little under the weather.

It really is so easy. You could cook porridge with leftover rice or you could cook it from scratch, either way, it takes less than 1 hour from preparation to serving. All you need is a little ginger, shallot and parsley for garnishing.

Pork Porridge Recipe 

Ingredients:
2 cups of cooked rice
or
1/2 cup of uncooked rice, soaked in hot water and a few drops of cooking oil for 15 min
50gm pork (minced or sliced)

Pork Marinade:
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp cornflour
Few drops of garlic oil (alternatively sesame oil)

Braised Pork Trotter

Braised Pork Trotter

Pork trotters are basically the feet of a pig. Chinese love serving trotters as a dish on its own rather than use it to make stock (We eat anything...). I'm very bias when it comes to choosing the right trotter for braising. I prefer the front trotters rather than the hind ones. I don't know why but meat on the hind seems coarser, less tender even after hours of braising.

Lucky for me, my neighbourhood butcher displays the whole pig and will only cut the sections up when customer request for a part. Now that's what you call fresh meat!

This particular recipe that I am sharing with you, belongs to my Granny. The seasonings are simple but all the flavours are in there ~ salty, sweet, spicy, sour! I personally go for the cucumber slices at the bottom of the dish first because of how they soak up all that lovely sticky braising sauce. Yumyum....

Braised Pork Trotter Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pork trotter, chopped into 1 1/2 inch chunks
1 whole garlic, peeled
1 inch ginger, sliced
2-3 tomato, sectioned
2-3 dried chilli, soak & remove seed (optional)
1 litre of water

Seasoning:
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
30g rock sugar
Salt & pepper to taste

Garnishing:
Chinese parsley
1 cucumber, sliced


Method:

1. Boil a pot of water and blanch the pork trotter chunks for 2 minutes to remove scum.
2. Heat up 2 tbsp cooking oil in wok. Fry ginger & garlic slices till fragrant and add pork trotter & dried chilli. Add dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and sesame oil. Fry till fragrant.
3. Add water and bring to boil. then turn down to low heat and cover lid for 45 minutes. 
4. Add tomatoess and rock sugar. Cook for another 15-20 until the meat is tender. Lastly add salt & pepper to taste
5. For garnishing, place sliced cucumber on bottom of serving plate. Place pork trotter on top and garnish with parsley.