Braised spare ribs

I have been cooking this recipe for a year now, and only recently changed to spare ribs. I thought the flavour improved because of the bone, but this time there was no bone yet delicious because I changed a few ingredients. What a difference just putting sweet sauce instead of sugar, and adding fennel seeds and an otoshibuta make! I didn't even marinade the pork!

Updated from here: http://simmetra.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/on-my-second-attempt-success-i-adapted.html

Ingredients
1kg of belly pork
5 tbsp light soya sauce
10 tbsp dark soya sauce
3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp ginger crushed
1 tbsp garlic crushed
1 tbsp 5 spice powder
5 cloves
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick (i cheated using 1 tbsp cinnamon powder since I didn't have the stick version)

1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp sichuan peppercorns

1 fresh chilli (not for spiciness but for flavour, so I left it whole, not chopped)
3 tbsp sweet sauce (kechup manis)
1 tau kwa, cubed
1 packet tau pok
6 eggs

Water

Method

1) Put the spices in a stock bag. Set aside.

2) To a deep stock pot, add all the sauces, pork, condiments and spices.

3) Pour in enough water to submerge the meat. Bring to a boil and skim away fat and scum. Turn down to a simmer for 10 to 20 minutes till cooked. I find 10 minutes is enough, shorter than belly pork. Cover with otoshibuta.

4) In another pot, hard boil the eggs as preferred. Once cooked, plunge in cold water and peel. Set aside.

5) Lift the otoshibuta and add the eggs and tau kwa. Bring back to a boil and cover with otoshibuta. Turn off the flame. Cover and steep for at least 2 hours but the longer the better.

6) 10 minutes before serving, lift the ototshibuta and introduce the tau pok, then recover with otoshibuta. Don't steep this for too long or it gets too salty.

7) Serve with steamed rice, Jasmine preferred.

Braised soya sauce pork

On my second attempt, success! I adapted the recipes from Here and it seemed to work quite well the difference being that I used the right cut of pork, belly pork instead of shoulder or twee bak, and left the skin on, which made it meltingly gelatinous. Both recipes didn't add tau pok which I consider to be essential. It is important to try to keep the pork belly whole. Altho it takes longer to cook, it keeps the pork moist during cooking.

Ingredients
1kg of belly pork
2 + 5 tbsp light soya sauce
2+ 10 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp 5 spice powder
5 cloves
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick (i cheated using 1 tbsp cinnamon powder since I didn't have the stick version)
3 tbsp sugar
1 tau kwa, cubed
1 packet tau pok
6 eggs

Method
1) Marinade pork, preferably overnight, in 2 tbsp each of light soya, dark soya, 1 tbsp sugar and rice wine.
2) Transfer to a pot and put in another 5 tbsp light soya, 10 tbsp dark soya, 2 tbsp sugar and then all the other ingredients. Additional rice wine is optional. Add water, enough to cover.
3) Bring to a boil then simmer and skim off the fat and impurities. Simmer till cooked, approx 20 mins (my AMC pot needs only 10). Add in the tau pok and tau kwa in the last 5 minutes if using. Turn off the flame and let steep for about 45 minutes to absorb the flavours.
4) In another pot, boil the eggs. I bring the eggs up from cold water, eggs out of the fridge, then bring to a boil and turn off. The eggs steep for approx 6 minutes to get the shoyu squidgy egg consistency, but this needs to be peeled very very carefully. Otherwise, hard boiled eggs take about 10 minutes if steeping time, depending on your pot. (Yes, i used AMC again)
5) Add the carefully peeled eggs into the main pot at the same time as the toufu products. If using shoyu egg, only serve it but don't steep it in the sauce, otherwise the salt draws out the moisture and u end up with hard boiled egg, which kinda defeats the purpose and wastes your efforts. If adding in hard boiled eggs, you may need to periodically rotate the egg to get an even coloring.
6) Serve with warm rice.

Everything is still 'bek bek' because it hasn't had time to steep, but you get the idea!

Mapo Toufu Pasta

This is mapo toufu pasta, or simply put, zhajiang mian with toufu and pasta. I prefer the al dente-ness of pasta compared to the soft ban mian type of noodle.

Ingredients (feeds 2)
300g of minced meat
1 packet of silken toufu (the variety that is suitable for frying)
1 cucumber
1.5 handfuls of pasta (I like angle hair because it cooks in 2 mins but you can use spaghetti or even tagliatelle)
2 tbsp bean paste
1 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp garlic
1/4 cup water

Method
1) Marinade the meat with the bean paste, wine, sesame seed oil, sugar and corn flour. Blend well.
2) Heat up a wok and some oil. When the wok is hot enough, stir fry the garlic briefly. Do not let it brown. Next, brown the minced pork until well separated. Add 1/4 cup of water, bring to a boil. Cover and let it simmer.
3) Meanwhile, prepare the cucumber by skinning it, then scouping out the seeds with a spoon. You can then use a mandolin to grate long thin strips, but since I don't have a mandolin, I used my peeler to peel out long half inch strips.
4) Add the toufu (cubed) into the work and gently stir to incorporate but be careful not to break up the toufu.
5) In another pot, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Drain on a sieve and set aside.
5) Serve by assembling - pasta at the bottom of the bowl, mapo on top, topped off by grated cucumber.

Stewed beancurd in a King Oyster Mushroom Chicken Broth

I saw giant oyster mushrooms from Korea, considered a delicacy here. I was trying to recreate the toufu soup that I had in Korea and this is what I came up with.

The original stewed beancurd soup was vegetarian but my household are meat eaters, and would feel weird without meat, so I threw in chicken and chicken soup. In addition, being so huge, the mushroom slices had an almost abalone texture to them, very meaty and smooth. In addition, just because I'm too lazy too cook the rice separately, I put in brown rice to make it into a porridge. The result - a velvety creamy stock which reminds me of risotto texture.

In addition, I put in the beancurd whole at the beginning, and expected it to break up. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was still whole, and in fact, the taste of the stock had permeated into the beancurd, effectively 'marinating' it!

Ingredients
1 packet of king oyster mushrooms, sliced on the diagonal
1 tin of Swenson chicken stock
1 packet of silken toufu (suitable for soup)
1 cup brown rice
8 chicken wings
1 tbsp wine
1 tbsp light soya sauce
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 thumb sized ginger, thinly sliced
1 large red onion, diced
1 litre of water

Method
1) Marinate the wings with wine and soya sauce and set side to marinate for at least 1/2 hour.
2) Heat up a pot and fry the diced red onion and ginger.
3) Add the wings and briefly fry until the wings are lightly browned.
4) Briefly fry the mushroom slices.
5) Add the stock and water, and garlic.
6) Pour in the washed brown rice and stir.
7) Carefully place the toufu into the pot, making sure not to break it. Ensure its immersed in the stock.
8) Bring to a boil before turning it down to gently simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
9) Serve immediately.

Kim Chi Tang

The kim chi from my Korea trip has been hanging around my fridge for close to a month now. Altho I'm told it can last ages (ie months or even years), I'm not inclined to do so because I want to be able to buy new kim chi! Yes, the taste has kinda grown on me. From someone who detests kim chi, I actually found my own batch of kim chi surprisingly refreshing when eaten. Since kim chi is naturally sour (due to the naturally occuring lactobacilli as a result of the fermentation process), there is a salty-sweet tang at the end. Maybe it's just psychological since I made it myself.

Anyhow, my tour guide did mention that you can do lots with kim chi including kim chi fried rice or kim chi soup (which I also tried during the tour). Came across this simple recipe yesterday from a health magazine and thought I'd try it as well as slightly adapt it. This soup brings out the best in the kim chi - it's like Sichuan hot and sour soup, but the chicken stock dilutes the inherent tartness of the kim chi, so this works for people who don't like very sour things - give it a try!

Ingredients
400g kim chi
1l chicken stock (you can use stock cube, I used Maggi Chicken Stock)
8 fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 box of silken toufu
1 thumb sized ginger, sliced thinly
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
Soya sauce to taste (usually canned or ready chicken stock is already quite salty, so watch it!)
1 tbsp fish sauce

Method
1) Bring the chicken stock to a boil.
2) Add the kim chi, ginger, garlic and shitake mushrooms and let simmer for about 10-15 mins.
3) Add the soya sauce and fish sauce.
4) Add the toufu.
5) Serve with steamed rice.