Plain Fried Lean Pork with Leeks

Whenever I watch Western cooking show, I am always amazed how simple the chef marinade the steak they are cooking. Most of the time they just use pepper and salt. Actually, this simple marinade maintain the natural flavours of meat and is real tasty if you cook it right. The addition of various sauces enhances these flavours more.

I tried cooking lean pork with just pepper and salt. Since I wanted to char the meat a little, I used non-stick wok with no oil. I added leeks and onion so that I do not have to cook another vegetable dish. Anyway, leeks always taste good with pork.

Here is my Plain Fired Lean Pork with Leeks recipe......

Ingredients
Pork, 500gms, cut into thin slices
Pepper, to taste
Salt to taste
Leeks, 3 stalks, wash throughly and cut onto desired length
Onion, 1 pc, cut into thin slices
Garlic, 3 cloves, smashed

Marinade pork with salt and pepper. Heat up non-stick wok and put in the marinated pork. Fry at medium heat until they are slightly burned. Add in the onions and fry until they are slightly brown. Throw in the leeks. Stir fry for a short while. Serve while still hot.

Note : You can make some sauce to go with this dish which is rather dry.

PS : If you want a tastier dish, use pork belly with a layer of fat on it........mmmm, nice!

Roast Hickory Barbecue Sauce Pork Ribs Recipe



One thing that I still missed from my visit to Erie Pennsylvania  a long time ago  is the barbecued baby back ribs that was served by the restaurant in the hotel that I stayed in. The butcher at Kepong Baru Wet Market offered me this nice rack of ribs and I bought it immediately. At home, I decided to slow roast the pork ribs until they turn tender. I did not prepare any marinade but I just used hickory barbecue sauce bought off the shelf from a local hypermarket. The end result.......a tender and juicy hickory roasted pork ribs....mmmmm, delicious!

Ingredients

Pork ribs, 1 rack

Hickory Barbecue Sauce, enough to marinade the ribs

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Bay Leaf, 2 pieces, crushed

Rub the pork ribs with the all the ingredients. Leave the pork ribs aside. Preheat oven to 120 Deg C for around 3 minutes. Put in the marinated pork ribs and roast for 2 hours. Check the roast from time to time, to ensure that the ribs are not burned. Rub the pork ribs with more hickory barbecue sauce after 1 hour 45 minutes of roasting.and continue to roast for another 15 minutes. Let the ribs rest for 10 minutes before serving.



Healing Pork Bones Soup with Lingzhi Mushroom Recipe

Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum, 靈芝) is well known for its' healing properties. Lingzhi have ganoderic acid that have steriod liked molecular structure.  It can help to prevent senility and improve mental strength. I managed to get hold of some dried Lingzhi mushroom slices and used them as one of the ingredients in my Chinese Herbal Soup Recipe. Lingzhi is bitter, so I only added 2 slices into my medium size pot of soup. In order to reduce the bitterness in the soup, I throw in 2 pieces of Chinese Licorice (Kan chou) and some dried longan. Kan Chou is good for preventing cold, flu, tooth decay and gum diseases.

Here is my Healing Pork Bone Soup with Lingzhi Mushroom Recipe.

Ingredients
Pork Bones, 5 pcs
Lingzi, 2 slices
Ang Cho (Chinese Red Dates), 8 pcs
Dried Longan 8 pcs
Kei Chi (Wolfberries), 1 tablespoon
Kan Chou (Chinese licorice root), 2 slices
Salt to taste

Pour around 7 bowls of water into a pot. Bring to a boil and add in the pork bones. Throw in the rest of the ingredients and boil for around 1 hour. Add salt to taste. Add more water if the level drops significantly. Bring to a boil again and turn off the heat. Serve while still hot.

Simple Fried Luncheon Meat with Potato and Carrot Recipe

Actually I rarely cook processed food for my family lunch or dinner meal. However, I was running a little late from work and have to cook up something fast for dinner. Therefore, I just open a can of luncheon meat,  fried them with potato and carrot. I used US Russet potato which soften easily compared to other types of potatoes.
My kids love this dish very much!

Here is my Quickie Fried Luncheon Meat with Potato and Carrot Recipe.

Ingredients
Luncheon Meat, 1 can, cut into bite sizes
Garlic, 3 cloves, chopped finely
US Russet Potato, 2 pcs, cut into small cubes
Carrot, 1 pc, cut into small cubes
Pepper, to taste

Heat up wok and put in a little vegetable oil. Put in the garlic and stir fry until they are slightly golden brown. Add in the potatoes. Fry until they are well cooked and soft. Throw in the carrot and luncheon meat. Add a dash of pepper. Fry the mixture for a short while. Dish up and serve while still hot! Taste real good with steamed rice.

Sour Basil Pork Ribs Soup Recipe

This soup is almost similar to Thai Tomyam in taste. However the addition of basil leaves and lengkuas (galangal) brought out a totatlly new mix of flavours. I trust those who loves sourish soup would love it very much.

I boiled the pork ribs until they are very tender. It is good to eat them with soya sauce in cili padi (bird eye chillies). Yummmm, can eat extra bowl of rice! LOL!

Ingredients
Pork ribs chunks, 5 pcs
Onions, 1 pc, cut into four
Tomato, 1 pc, cut into four
Basil leaves, from 5 stalks
Galangal, 1" in length, remove skin and smashed
Bay Leaves, 1 pc
Tamarind juice, from 1 table spoon of tamarind
Bird Eye chily, 3 pcs, smashed (or desired amount)
Serai (lemon grass), 2 pcs, smashed
Kaffir Lime Leaves, 5 pcs
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Nampla (fish sauce), 1 teaspoon

Put around 7 bowls of water in pot (or more). Bring to a boil and add in the pork ribs. Throw in all the ingredients and boil until the ribs are tender. Add salt and sugar to taste. Serve with white rice. Good to eat this soup with a meat dish!

Baby Back Ribs with Sezchuan Peppercorns (Fah Chiew) Recipe

I managed to get hold of some sezchuan (sichuan) peppercorn from a Chinese medicine shop near my place. Sezchuan peppercorn is widely used in Chinese, Nepalese, Tibetan and Bhutanese cooking. It has a strong unique aroma and spicy as well. This characteristic made Sichuan peppercorn an ideal ingredient for bbq or grilled meat.

I decided to use this aromatic spice for my baby back ribs recipe.

Ingredients
Baby Back Ribs, 1 cut
Sechuan peppercorns, 1 teaspoon
Light soya sauce, 1 table spoon
Five spice powder, 1/2 teaspoon
Garlic, 3 pips, chopped finely or used whole
Plum sauce or tomato sauce, 1 table spoon
Salt to taste

Rub the baby back ribs with all the seasoning. Wrap the ribs in aluminium foil and bake it in a preheated oven at 200 Deg C for 1 hour. Let the ribs rest for a while to seal in the juices. You can rub some honey on the ribs to balance off the spiciness from the fah chiew. Cut the ribs and pour the leftover gravy over it. Serve while still hot!

Deep Fried Pork in Tomato Sauce Recipe (Kulo Yoke, Sweet and Sour Pork)

I cooked this sweet and sour pork (kulo yoke) for my family's dinner before driving back to my hometown for Chinese New Year Celebration. This is one of my children favourite dish and I am sure your kids love this dish too.

I prepared this tomato sauce using minced pork meat. You can just coat them with corn flour or any fried chicken flour before deep frying them. If you want the meat to have more flavours, you can use this Mini Pork Balls recipe that I posted previously.

Here is my Sweet and Sour Pork  recipe (Pork in tomato sauce).

Ingredients
Pork, 300 gms, minced
Corn Flour, enough to coat the pork balls
Tomato sauce, 10 table spoons or more if you want to dish to have more gravy
Garlic, 3 cloves, chopped finely
Tomato, 1 pc, cut into 6 pcs
Onion, 1 pc, cut into 4
Cucumber, 1 small, cut into bite sizes
Bell Pepper, (optional), 1 pc, cut into bite size
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Coat minced pork with corn flour and deep fry them until golden brown. Put the deep fried pork aside. Heat up wok and pour in a little vegetable oil. Saute garlic until fragrant. Add a little water, tomato sauce, onion, bell pepper, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil.

Arrange the deep fried pork and cucumber on a serving dish. Pour the sauce over the deep fried pork and cucumber. Serve while still hot. Best eaten with steamed rice.

Stir Fried Pork Belly with Pineapple, Fresh Turmeric and Cashew Nuts

This is another new recipe that I discovered accidentally. Initially, I wanted to fry the pork belly with just turmeric and a little soya sauce but I ended up adding other ingredients to the dish. Anyway, the dish turned up quite well and my kids love it. I guess the combination of flavours from the ingredients brought out a taste for their taste buds.....LOL!
Here is my recipe for Stir Fried Pork Belly with Pineapple, Fresh Turmeric and Cashew Nuts.

Ingredients
Pork Belly or Pork Tenderloin, 300 gms, slice thinly
Cashew Nuts(roasted), 1/2 cup
Fresh Turmeric, 1 ", cut into thin slices
Tomato sauce, 1 tablespoon
Light Soya sauce, 1 tablespoon
Pineapple, 10 bite size slices
Shallots, 5 pcs, cut thinly
Salt to taste

Heat up wok and put in a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Saute shallots and fresh turmeric until fragrant. Add pork belly. Fry until they are cooked. Add tomato sauce, light soya sauce, salt to taste, cashew nuts and pineaple. Serve with steamed rice.

Cooking Misadventure - Crispy Burnt Bak Hu (Pork Floss)

Just a short post, while waiting for my customer response before a meeting.......

This is what happened when I added to much sugar when cooking Bak Hu (Meat Floss, click here for Bak Hu recipe). Instead of using 4 tablespoons of sugar, I thought that 7 tablespoons for 1kg of lean pork would make the Bak Hu taste nicer. It was rather hard to fry the bak hu because it burnt easily and at the end the Bak Hu turned crispy because the sugar caramelized. Anyway, this bak hu has a new taste and is rather crispy! LOL!

Gotta run.....Cheers and Have a nice weekend!

Stir Fried Leeks With Roast Pork Recipe

I bought a nice cut of roast pork leg to cook soup and used the meaty part to fry with leeks. Although I normally cook leeks with tofu, I find that it also goes along well with roast pork. I wanted to cook up a leeks and roast pork dish like the one that I had in Ah Shun Siew Char stall.
Everyone in my family loves to eat leeks and it tasted even better with roasted pork! LOL!

Ingredients
Leeks, 3 stalks, cut into large strips
Roast pork, 7 to 8 slices
Garlic, 5 cloves, chopped finely or just cut into slices
Salt to taste
Corn flour and water mixture to thicken the gravy

Heat up wok and add in a little vegetable oil. Put in the garlic and saute until fragrant. Add roast pork and stir fry for a short while to bring out the flavours. Add leeks and fry until it is slightly cooked. Pour in a little water and bring to a boil. Add corn flour and water mixture to thicken the gravy. Lastly add a little salt to taste.

Chinese Style Pork Meat Floss Recipe (Bak Hu, Yuk Si) Recipe - How to make

I posted Chicken Meat Floss Recipe in 2008. This time I made some bak hu (meat floss) with lean pork meat. The process of frying the meat until dry might seem very tedious but the end result is really great. Everyone in the family gets to enjoy preservatives free and tasty home made meat floss (yuk shi, bak hu). Since I didn't use any preservatives, I kept the Bak Hu in the fridge to prevent them from turning moldy.

My kids love to eat meat floss with porridge or plain bread.

Here is my Chinese style Meat Floss recipe,

Ingredients
Lean Pork, 1 kilogram, cut into 1" cube
Light soya sauce, 7 table spoons
Dark soya sauce, 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste (around 4 to 5 tablespoons)
Water, enough to cover the pork meat

 Put all the ingredients in a pot and boil in low heat until all the pork meat turned tender. Separate the meat into thin strands using your hands. Put all the meat into a non stick pan and fry until all the gravy dries up. Keep frying the Bak Hu at low heat until they become dry. You can fry them longer if you want the Bak Hu (meat floss) to be crispy.  Let the bak hu cool down before storing it in air tight container. Keep the bak hu in the fridge.

One large container of tasty and savoury Pork Meat Floss (Bak Hu, Yok shi)

Sesame oil, Eggs, Ginger and Pork Soup - A Confinement Dish

My wife loves this soup which she used to take during her confinement period. We still cook this dish occasionally to eat with rice. The soup has very strong sesame oil aroma and sweet flavours from the pork. I normally use lean pork but those with a little fat would make the soup taste better.

It is good to drink this soup, especially during rainy days when you need some hot soup to perk yourself up!

Here is my recipe for Sesame Oil, Eggs, Ginger and Pork Confinement Soup.

Ingredients
Lean pork or pork belly, 100 gms, cut into bite sizes
Eggs, 2 pcs
Sesame oil, 1 tablespoon
Light Soya sauce, 3 tablespoons
Salt to taste
Celery for granishing
Garlic, 3 cloves, chopped finely
Ginger, 2"x1", cut into strips

Fry eggs, sunny side up and put aside. Add some vegetable oil in wok. Saute ginger and  garlic until golden brown. Pour in the sesame oil. Add lean pork and stir fry for a short while (Opps, missed this step, thank you Yvonne for highlighting it to me). Add aound 2 to 3 rice bowl of water. Put in the light soya sauce and salt. bring to boil. Pour the soup on the sunny side up eggs. Garnish with celery before serving.

Cooking With Microwave Oven - Lean Tenderloin Char Siew Recipe

Meat that are cooked in Microwave oven tends to be tougher and would hardened when cooled. In order to solve this problem, I experimented with tenderloin which is the tenderest cut of pork. I put the whole tenderloin strip in the microwave oven to cook so that the juice would be sealed inside it. I do not want to end up with dried meat! LOL!

Here is my recipe for Lean Tenderloin Pork Char Siew

Ingredients
Pork tenderloin, 1 strip
Sugar, 2 tablespoons
Salt to taste
Light soya sauce, 2 tablespoons
Five Spice powder, 1 teaspoon
Fish sauce, 1 teaspoon (optional)
Corn flour, 2 teaspoons

Marinade pork tenderloin overnight with all the ingredients. Cook the marinated pork tenderloin in microwave oven over high heat for 15 minutes. Turn off the microwave oven power and take out the pork tenderloin. Turn the meat over to the other side. Cook in microwave oven for another 10 minutes. Take the pork tendeloin char siew out from the oven and let it cooled down a little before cutting it into slice. You can make char siew sauce from the leftover marinate by heating it up and bring to a boil. Drizzle a little char siew sauce on the tenderloin char siew before serving.

Braised Pork Soft Ribs with Cinnamon and Star Anise Recipe

I saw this nice cut of pork ribs and bought it immediately. While at home, I was wondering what to cook it with? I know that everyone in my family loves the flavours of star anise and cinnamon. So, the rib cut goes in the pressure cooker with our favourite spices.....
Mmmm, nothing beats the succulent and tender pork ribs....
Here is my recipe for Braised Soft Ribs with Cinnamon and Star Anise.

Ingredients
Pork Rib Cut, 1 pc
Cinnamon, 1 pc
Star Anise, 2 pcs
Garlic, 1 bulb
Light Soya Sauce, 3 tablespoons
Black Vinegar, 1 tablespoon
Sugar, 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Pepper, a dash
Corn Flour, 3 teaspoons
Water, enough to cover the leaves

Put all the ingredients in the pressure cooker. Add a little more water above the ribs. Put the pressure cooker lid on and secure the safety lock. Cook at high heat for 5 minutes then turn it to medium for another 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the cooker cool down a bit for 30 minutes. Turn the release valve to release the excess pressurized steam. Open the lid and take out the Braised ribs. Garnish with parsley before serving.

Simple Fried Char Siew (BBQ Pork Belly) Recipe

Stop work, stop work, lunch time liao! Gonna eat this simple fried char siew for lunch! he he he!

Although fried Char Siew is not as aromatic as BBQ Char Siew, my kids still love it very much; errrr.....daddy and mummy too! LOL! In order to make good char siew, you must use the pork belly meat which have a well balanced portions of fats and lean meat. I marinated this char siew overnight so that it will be tastier.
Here is my simple fried char siew recipe....

Ingredients
Pork Belly, 1 strip
Fish Sauce, 1 teaspoon
Five spice powder, 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Sugar, 3 tablespoons
Light Soya sauce, 2 tablespoons
Corn Flour, 2 teaspoons
Chinese cooking wine, 1 tablespoon
Hoi sin sauce, (optional), 1 teaspoon

Marinade the pork belly with all the ingredients overnight. Heat up wok (better use non-stick) and add in oil for deep frying. When the oil is hot, put in the marinated pork belly. Turn the heat to medium so that the sugar in the marinade would not burn. Fry until the pork belly turned golden brown and a little burnt.

Use the left over marinate to make the sauce by cooking it over slow fire. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat. Rub the fried char siew with the sauce. Cut the char siew into bite sizes and serve.

Bak Kua (Yoke Kon, Dried BBQ Pork) Recipe without Preservatives and Artificial Colouring

My homemade bak kua, don't have the looks and right texture but taste almost like the one available commercially!

This is my first attempt in making Bak Kua (Yoke Kon, Dried BBQ pork). I didn't get the texture right because I used lean meat instead of mixing it with at least 20% fats. Anyway, it is better to have this healthier version of bak kua! LOL! Another mistake I made is I didn't dry the meat and spices mixture properly before roasting them in the oven. Anyway, the final result turned out quite close to the real bak kua! ha ha ha! I spent around RM8 to make 9 pieces of bak kua! Worth it? Anyway, my main purpose is to try out this recipe for fun since Chinese New Year is around the corner.

Ingredients
Minced Pork or Chicken , 300 gms
Fish sauce, 1 teaspoon
Five spice powder, 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Soya sauce, 1 tablespoon
Rock Sugar, crushed, to taste or around 4 tablespoons
Red Colouring (optional), a few drops

Mix all the ingredients throughly. Leave it aside. Line baking tray with aluminium foil. Rub some vegetable oil over on the aluminium foil. Spread the meat mixture on the baking tray. Use the blunt part of the knife to gently cut the bak kua into nine pieces. Dry the meat in the fridge overnight. Rub the top part of the meat mixture with vegetable oil. Heat up oven at 180 Dec C and bake the bak kua for around 1 hour. If you do not want to dry the bak kua in the hot sun or fridge, you can actually roast it in the oven under low heat (100 Deg C) for one hour before turning up the heat to 180 Dec C to roast it for another 20 minutes.

Roast Pork with Sweet Potato Porridge Recipe

I came across some nice Roast Pork bones being sold at the wet market. Roast pork bones are normally used in cooking porridge. However you must carefully wash away any small bones fragments that are still intact to the bones and meat when the seller chopped it with the chopper. For extra sweetness, I added a few nice orange coloured sweet potatoes into the porridge.

Ingredients
Roast pork bones, 600 gms
Sweet potatoes, 2 pcs, cut onto large chunks
Garlic, 5 pcs, chopped finely and fried until golden brown
Rice,1 cup
Water Light Soya sauce, 2 tablespoons
Spring onions, for garnishing
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Put rice and water into a pot. Boil until the rice softens. Add in the pork bones, sweet potato and light soya sauce. Boil for another 20 minutes. Add pepper and salt to taste. Garnish with spring onions and fried garlic before serving.

Hot Pepper Pork Stomach Soup

It is actually very easy to clean pig stomach. First you have to scrape off all the slime in the inner layer. Then wash it with tamarind paste. Heat up wok and fry the inside stomach lining to get rid of excess slime. Some people would boil the pig stomach with ginger to get rid of the smell but I found this step is not necessary if you clean it properly. This delicious soup is normally taken by mothers who have just delivered babies. The pork stomach itself does not have much flavour so it is advisable to add pork ribs to enhance the taste of the soup.

Ingredients

Pork Belly, 1 pc

Sarawak Pepper, 20 pcs, crushed

Carrot, 1 pc, cut into cubes

Pork ribs, 1 pc, cut into 2” length

Salt to taste

Ginger, 2 pcs

Water, 7 bowls

Put water in a pot and bring to a boil. Put in the pork ribs, pepper, ginger, carrot and pork belly. Boil until the pork ribs turn soft. Take out the pork stomach and cut it into bite sizes. Put the pork stomach back into the soup. Add salt to taste. This wonderful soup is best eaten while still hot.

Fun Kok (Arrowroots) with Leng Ngau (Lotus Roots) Soup Recipe

Smallkucing Mama suggested that I add Fun Kok (Arrowroots, not hapi kok) into my Leng Ngau (Lotus Roots) Soup for extra sweetness. So, off I went to the wet market in search of Hapi Kok.....opps, Fan Kok! Luckily Smallkucing Mama thought me the correct Cantonese name for Fun Kok; I didn’t land myself in trouble and managed to locate a stall selling Fan kok. Ha ha ha!Fan kok is a type of tuber roots in the yam and taro family. It is a very suitable ingredient for soup and is widely used by Chinese chefs. Basically, apart from the addition of Fun Kok, I used the same ingredients as my previous Leng Ngau soup recipe.

Ingredients
Lotus roots, 1 large section, cut into rings and marinate with salt
Groundnuts, ½ cup
Chinese Dates (Ang Cho), 10 pcs
Pork Ribs, 500 gms or Chicken Carcass, 1 bird
Fun Kok (Arrowroots), 5”x3”, cut into big chunks
Salt to taste
Water 7 bowls

Pour water into a pot and bring to a boil. Add groundnuts, pork ribs, Chinese dates and Fun Kok. Boil for 45 minutes to 1 hour or more if you want the groundnuts to be soft. Add salt to taste. Serve hot with steamed rice. Thanks Smallkucing Mama for the cooking tips!

How to Cook Deep Fried Crispy Pig Intestine – Recipe

My crispy fried intestine was little burnt but taste yummy!

It is very easy to cook crispy pig intestine. The only hard part is actually, cleaning the intestine. It is a little tricky to turn the intestine inside out but you should get the hang of it after cleaning 2 to 3 pieces. Deep fried crispy pork intestine is eaten with soft porridge and it is one of my favourite foods! Some hawker serves this with kueh teow soup. There used to be a hawker in Paramount, PJ who sells kueh teow soup with crispy pork intestine but I am not sure whether she is still around or not because I have not been back to this restaurant for quite a long time.

Ingredients

Pork Intestine, cut into 1” length

Salt to taste

Vegetable oil for deep frying

Heat up wok and put in the oil. Put in the pork intestine and turn the heat to low. Pork intestine tends to explode when they are deep fried. So, it is advisable to cover the wok with a lid. Fry until the intestine turned golden brown. Remove the intestine from the wok and drain away excess oil. Sprinkle some salt on the crispy intestine and mix well. The Crispy pork intestine taste good with plain porridge, chicken porridge or pork porridge.