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!

Buttermilk grill pan waffles Mark II

I first tried Jamie Oliver's recipe, which I posted here. However, problem is that I don't have self-raising flour, so I substituted with baking powder. Unfortunately, that equates to 5 tsps of baking power, which as you can imagine, means a whole mouthful of baking soda - not a very pleasant taste. I also thought I'd give HCP a try and while it works, it doesn't have the ridges that grill pans have, so I'd probably go back to using a grill pan. I don't think it's anything wrong with Jamie's recipe but my substitution. Nonetheless, I thought I'd try another recipe.

From this blog who also got the idea from Jamie Oliver, but decided to use her own recipe. Problem is, her recipe uses buttermilk or yoghurt and if I'm going to substitute with things again...who knows what will happen?

From http://www.alwaysorderdessert.com/2012/08/grill-pan-waffles-how-to-make-waffles.html

Mint and honey mustard chicken

I've done a mustard honey recipe before but since I had tonnes of mint in the garden thanks to some fertiliser, insecticide and summer, I thought I might as well put it to good use.

Ingredients

400g chicken thigh, deboned and deskinned, cut into chunks

10 mushrooms, sliced

¼ cabbage sliced thinly (optional because this was in the fridge. U can put in chopped carrots too)

1 handful washed fresh mint leaves

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp grained mustard

2 tbsp honey

3 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp corn flour

½ cup water

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 tsp crushed ginger

Method

1) Using a food processor, blitz together the mint, honey, mustard and olive oil into a smooth paste.

2) Pour the marinade over the chicken, and together with the corn starch and soya sauce, mix everything together well. Leave to marinade for at least an hour.

3) In a wok, stir fry the aromatics (garlic and ginger) briefly till aromatic. Be careful not to burn.

4) Drain the chicken and stir fry the chicken till 75% cooked. Add the vegetables and stir fry again till well incorporated.

5) When the vegetables wilt, add the water. When the liquid comes to the boil, turn down to a simmer and cover with a lid. Simmer till cook, approximately 7 minutes.

6) Serve immediately with steamed rice.

5 spice Oxtail stew

I used to eat this quite often as a child. It was always delicious, and one of the best memories of childhood. I don't know the exact childhood recipe, but there is still a little glamour involved in eating  oxtail stew compared to eating plain boring beef stew, and this is the best beef-ish stew I've had in ages!

Ingredients
1kg oxtail (ensure at least one medium sized bone for each person)
250g stewing beef, cubed (there really isn't much meat on the ox tails after removing the bones)
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp black peppers
1 tbsp Szechuan peppers
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp 5 spice
3 star anise
3 cloves
3 sticks of cinnamon
1 l water
1 can stout (about 475ml)
1 cup flour
½ big onion
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp crushed ginger
8 sticks of celery (sliced)
4 medium carrots (chopped into big cubes)
2 big potatoes or 2 medium ones (chopped into big cubes)
3 tbsp light soya sauce or salt to taste

Method
1) Using a freezer bag, pour in the oxtail, beef and flour and shake to coat.
2) Shake off the excess flour and sauté the beef pieces in a little oil in a screaming hot pan. Don't crowd the pan to ensure that the beef is nicely browned. Put the browned meat in a stewing pot. I prefer to use a slow cooker but it can also cook at a low heat (130 deg C) in the oven.
3) Sauté the onions slowly till caramelised, then add in the ginger and garlic and briefly sauté. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Place in the stewpot. Sauté the vegetables briefly till slightly softened. Pour into the stewpot.
4) Place all the herbs and spices, except the salt, into a stock bag and place it in the pot with the ginger and garlic.
5) Pour in the stout and top up with water to cover everything. Once the liquid comes to a boil, skim off the scum. Leave it it to cook for 6 hours. Periodically open to skim off the scum and oil.
6) 1 hour before it's ready, add the soya sauce. Adding it too early will cause the meat to stop tenderizing.
7) At the end, check for seasoning and serve with rice or crusty bread. If you can wait a day, leaving the stew to steep overnight will let the flavours develop.

Gluten free banana pancakes

Gluten free banana pancakes is a fancy name for banana omelettes. What they are, are essentially just bananas and eggs, hence, flour free and thus, gluten free.

Got the recipe from the internet but although it was touted as being so easy, it really isn't. Easy to prepare maybe, but difficult in cooking. Because there was no flour, it was difficult to turn over compared to pancakes, and i really had to make sure it was slightly more than golden brown before doing so. Because of the high sugar content of the bananas, it needed more oil than normal pancakes, so it meant I had to add oil to my non stick pan after each pancake and clean the pan of burnt sugars.

Difficult to perfect and come out with a flawless pancake that wasn't torn, but the taste is fantastic because it's naturally sweet and texture wise, it literally melts in the mouth.

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 bananas

2 eggs

Dash of cinnamon sugar

Dash of vanilla extract

Method 

1) Mash up the banana in a bowl. Try it get them as mashed up as possible and without as many big lumps as possible.

2) Lightly whisk up the eggs and incorporate into the mashed bananas. Add the cinnamon and vanilla.

3) Lightly oil and heat up a non stick pan and using an ice cream scoop, scoop the mixture into the centre, swirling the pan to get as best as circular shape as u can.

4) You have to be really patient. Start the flame on high and after 2 minutes, turn it down to medium. The smaller and flatter the pancakes (hence, no big banana lumps), the faster it cooks. I test where're it's ready to turn by using my spatula to touch the edges and trying to gently move it. If it's still stuck it's not yet ready to flip. It may need to be more golden brown than you're used to but not a worry, the browning is due to the caramelisation from the sugars in the banana, so it's not really burning, but this is also the reason I turn down the fire so it really won't burn!

5) When the edges shrink back slightly from the pan (about 5 minutes in total) gently use the spatula to slide under the pancake and flip over. Give it another 2 minutes. This is much longer than real pancakes!

6) Before cooking the next pancake, pour on more oil and also scrape away any burnt sugars. This reduces and catching of the next pancake on the pan, and unnecessary burning.

7) Serve with butter and more syrup if preferred.

Jigae cottage pie

What do you do when you feel like eating cottage pie and jigae? Make jigae cottage pie!

Ingredients
300g minced beef
1tbsp gochugaru
1tbsp doenjang
1tbsp fish sauce
½ white onion, chopped
1 tsp chopped ginger
1tsp chopped garlic
1tsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
2 carrots, cubed into small 0.5 cm cubes
1 potato, thinly sliced using a mandolin
½ cup cheese
¼ cup water


Method
1) Marinade the beef with all the ingredients. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and mix well.
2) Place the carrots at the bottom of a casserole.
3) Add the water, just enough to cover the carrots.
4) Spoon the minced beef on top. Using a spoon, press down and flatten the beef like u would a meat loaf.
5) Arrange the  potato slices on top of the beef, then sprinkle the cheese on top. Cover.
6) Bake at 200 deg C for 30 mins, then uncover the casserole and grill for 10 mins until the cheese is bubbling and slightly charred.

Pasta Alfredo

I adapted my recipe from OnePotChefShow called easy pasta alfredo. Mine's probably not very authentic but since I didn't want to use cream, I had to improvise by using a white sauce and cheese to thicken.

Ingredients
2 l milk, at room temperature
50g butter
4 tbsp plain flour
1 cup grated cheese (use any type you like)
1 cup chopped parsley
250g proscutito, chopped
1 tsp garlic, minced
500g dry pasta (again, use whatever type you like)
Salt
Pepper

Method
1) Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Drain and set aside.
2) In a pot, fry the proscuitto in a little butter. Once the fat on the proscruitto has melted, fry the garlic for a few seconds until fragrant, then melt the rest of the butter. Add in the chopped stalks of the parsley.
3) Add the flour and stir quickly until well incorporated. Pour in about a cup of the milk and stir in quickly to ensure that there are no lumps. When the mixture has thickened, add in more milk, a cup at a time whenever the sauce thickens, until you have finished all the milk.
4) Add in the grated cheese. Stir till well combined and till all the cheese has melted.
5) Toss in most of the parsley, leaving a bit behind for garnishing.
6) Pour in the drained pasta and quickly stir through the sauce through till well incorporated.
7) Garnish with the reserved parsley and serve immediately.

Jamie's crumbliest scones

http://rasamalaysia.com/crumbliest-scones-recipe/2/

Another scone recipe.

Ingredients (makes 6):

75 g dried fruit, such as sour cherries, raisins, sultanas, chopped sour apricots, blueberries, or a mixture
Orange juice, for soaking
75 g cold unsalted butter
250 g self-raising flour, plus a little extra for dusting
1 level teaspoon baking powder
1 heaped teaspoon golden caster sugar
Pinch of salt
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk, plus a little extra for brushing

Roll to 2-3 cm thick, 6cm rounds, bake at 200 deg C for 15-18 minutes.

Place upside down (bakes better?)

Sago gula melaka

From my cousin's email

I don't really have a proper recipe but gathered bits and pieces of tips on how to make pudding. I had made few failed attempts before. 
Here's what I did this time. 

1) use large pot. 270gm (1 packet) of sago.
2) fill the entire pot with water to cover sago (important to ensure the pot is full and you can barely see the sago underneath or the washing stage later will be laborious)
3) over medium fire, boil sago stirring constantly. 
4) change over to other hand if started with right hand. 
5) keep on stirring till mixture thickens and you don't see white spots in the middle of each bead. Don't stress it will look like glue but this is normal!!
6) pour thick starchy mixture into colander and run COLD tap water over starchy mixture to wash excess glue-yness from sago. 
7) you feel guilty for using so much water. But keep going. 
8) you are flushing starch away. 
9) Lo and behold, you see little individual pearls appear. 
10) Drain off water and scoop pearls into mould. Leave to set in fridge.
11) when ready to serve, drown set sago in coconut milk. Drizzle with Gula Melaka according to sweetness you want. 
12) Yay! 

Nutella mini croissants

I have some left over puff pastry in the freezer from the last time I made sausage rolls for a picnic. I didn't relish doing sausage rolls again, so thought I'd look for some quick and fast recipe. Since I have 1.5 bottles of Nutella in the pantry, et voila, this is perfect!

I can't stand the way the chef pronounces "Nutella" as "Neu-tella" but hey, whatever floats her boat, right, especially if she's trying very hard to be faithful to her Italian (Brooklyn?) heritage.

She uses 425 deg F (220 deg C) for 10 to 12 minutes.

Here's another recipe that uses chocolate buttons (which I also have lurking around in my pantry) instead of Nutella, and bakes it at much lower, only 350 deg F (180 deg C) but for 20 to 25 minutes. I guess it takes longer to melt the buttons than the Nutella, which is already kinda liquid.

http://www.inspiredtaste.net/20300/sinfully-easy-chocolate-croissant-recipe/

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/3-ingredient-nutella-croissants-recipe/

Basic recipe is as follows:

1) 1 sheet of pastry, rolled out another another inch on all sides. Cut into 8 rectangles, then cut each rectangle diagonally to make 16 triangles.

2) Try to make the triangle equilateral by stretching out the dough. Then starting from the longest side, put 1 tsp of Nutella or 1 tsp of buttons. Brush egg wash on the sides and then roll towards the other end (watch the video), making sure to tuck in the filling so it doesn't spill out. Then like a croissant, turn in the ends towards the centre.

3) Place on baking sheet with parchment or baking paper, then brush the tops of each croissant with egg wash (1 beaten egg with dash of milk).

4) Bake away and serve dusted with powered sugar if using.