Homemade Chinese Barbeque Pork (Char Siu)

One of my specialites developed over the last few years is chinese barbeque pork or char siu. I guess practice makes perfect and this dish remains a favourite with my family and friends. The only problem with this recipe is that I don't measure my ingredients. I just add a dash of this and a dash of that. Also, I tend to improvise my ingredients depending on what I have available in my pantry so my advice if you're trying this recipe is to be adventurous :-)

Here is my recipe, to the best of my estimation...

Serves 4-8 (depending on whether you're serving other dishes)
1. 8 strips of pork belly (you do need a fatty cut in order for this dish to be successful. A fatless cut would result in a rather dry and chewy char siu)
2. 1 jar (240 gm) of Lee Kum Kee Char Siu sauce
3. 1/2 jar (120 gm) of Lee Kum Kee Hoisin sauce

4. 1/4 cup of honey
5. 1 tablespoon of five spice powder
6. 2 tablespoons of lemon/lime juice
7. 2 tablespoon of Lea & Perrins Worchestershire Sauce
8. 1-2 teaspoons of thick soya sauce
9. 1 tablespoon of Chinese wine
10. 1 teaspoon salt and pepper
11. 1-2 tablespoon of Maltose sugar (Mak Ngah Tong)

Marinade:Mix ingredients 2-10 in a deep glass dish. Place each strip of pork belly into the marinade and make sure that each pork belly is coated with the marinade. Using a fork, pierce the meat to allow it to absorb the marinade into the meat. Ideally, the marinade should totally cover the meat. Marinade overnight in the fridge.

Pre-Roast:45 minutes before roasting, take out the pork belly from the fridge. Preheat oven to 180C. Wrap your roasting rack and tray with aluminium foil (it will make cleaning up much easier). Slit some holes on the rack to allow the liquid to drip down to the tray. Place the pork belly on the rack and pour half of the marinade over the meat.

Now for the key ingredient - maltose sugar. Pour some boiling water onto a large bowl. Place the maltose sugar jar into the bowl. This will warm up the thick maltose sugar into a more liquid syrup, making it easier to pour on the pork belly. Using a large spoon, scoop up the maltose sugar. Lift your hands high and start lacing the pork belly until the maltose sugar coats the pork belly fairly evenly.

Roast:
Roast in the oven for around 30-45 minutes. Midway through, turn the meat and baste with the remaining marinade. If you wish, you can also add the maltose sugar again (I used to but don't anymore). When the char siu is cooked, remove the meat from the rack and the gravy from the tray. Once the meat is cool, slice and serve with rice or noodles. Enjoy!

Risotto with Prawn and Bacon

It's been a while since I experimented with new recipes. I've always been a big fan of paella and risotto. Maybe it's the Asian in me - rice is such a big part of my life. I've been wanting to cook a paella or risotto dish for a while but was not able to find the medium grain Arborio rice in Malaysian supermarkets. The Arborio rice has a high level of starch which absorbs many times its weight in liquid, resulting in a soft and creamy texture. So, on my last trip to Australia, I bought a pack of Riviana Arborio rice. To be honest, I was quite surprised at how easy it is to cook risotto. However, if you're looking for a quick dish, then this is not it as it requires a fairly long cooking time and constant stirring. If you have the time and patience, this dish is worth it. As with all recipes, you can substitute the ingredients according to your fancy.

Ingredients (serves 4-5)
2 tablespoon olive oil
30 gm butter
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
600 grams streaky bacon (or as much or as little as you want)
600 grams prawns, seasoned lightly with salt and pepper (again, as much or as little as you want)
2 cups Arborio rice
4 cups stock, simmered (you can use chicken or a combination of stock. Since I was cooking fresh prawns, I used the prawn shell and head to boil into about 1.5-2 cups of stock. I used chicken stock for the rest)
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Basil or Italian parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Heat a large heavy based saucepan. Fry about 1/3 of the bacon until crispy and set aside. Note, since I used streaky bacon, it was not necessary to add oil as the bacon will ooze its own fat. Add a little olive oil and stir fry the prawns until it's pink. Remove and set aside.

Heat the rest of the olive oil and butter in the pan. Add the onions and stir fry for a few seconds. Then add the garlic and the remaining bacon and fry for about 3 minutes. Stir in the Arborio rice and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or so, until the rice slightly colours, stirring regularly. Add the white wine and simmer to absorb the liquid, again, stirring frequently (Note: this is a constant theme when cooking risotto!).

Begin adding stock, one cup at a time. I found it best to add the stock slowly, stirring well and allowing the rice to absorb the liquid, before continuing adding the stock. So, for one cup, it may take about 2-3 pours. Continue to do so until the you have finished adding all 4 cups of stock, making sure that you stir dilligently! You will see the arborio grow plumper as the rice grains absorb the flavourful liquid. After you have added all 4 cups of stock, taste the risotto. If the rice is still crunchy, you may need to add a little more water or stock until the rice is fully cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the parmesan cheese and basil/parsley. Dish out the risotto and add the crispy bacon and prawn. Enjoy the fruit of your labour!



I've eaten risotto at restaurants where the risotto is way too mushy and is served in a bed of starchy liquid. Personally, I prefer my risotto like this - you can see each plump and juicy individual grain.


Rice is born in water and must die in wine.
Italian Proverb

Pork chops with apples recipe

One of my greatest passion in life, apart from travel is food. Now that I work from home, a big advantage is that I now have more time to experiment with different cooking styles and recipes. I have always wondered about the technique used by chefs in almost every cooking show I've seen - Chef at Home, Restaurant Makeover, Jamie Oliver, etc., of pan-frying the meat and then roasting it in the oven. I always thought it seemed like a lot of work and more cleaning up to do! But I figured I should give it a try to see what all the fuss is about.

I dug up my "Cook with Jamie" cookbook and tried out Jamie Oliver's Old-school pork chops with apple and sage. I have to admit that pan frying the pork chops and then roasting it in the oven does make a difference in the taste! I think that searing it for a couple of minutes seal the juices in the meat and then roasting it in the oven which uses undirect heat cooks the meat beautifully. I definitely will try it again.


Here's the pork chop recipe:
4 x 250 gm pork chops with bone
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Olive oil
2 apples - unpeeled, cored and cut into 8 wedges each
A knob of butter
A handful of fresh sage leaves (I substituted with basil as I didn't have sage available - the best part of cooking is using what you have and not worry about following the recipe to a T)

Preheat the oven to 200C. Make deep cuts on the fatty side of the pork chop and tenderize the meat with a kitchen hammer or blunt object. Season the chops with salt and pepper. Pour the olive oil into a hot pan. Carefully place your chops in the pan and cook for about 2-3 minutes each side. Place the chops into an oiled baking tray. Then, add the apple wedges and the butter into the pan and fry until lightly golden. Lay 4 wedges of apple on top of each pork chop. Top up with herb (sage or in my case, basil) and drizzle olive oil on top. Bake the pork chops in the oven for about 5-10 minutes. Serve with your favourite potato dish and vegetables.

If like me, you would like additional apple sauce to accompany your pork chops, here's a simple recipe for the apple sauce.

Apple sauce recipe:
3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced (if you like a little tartness, use green apples. Otherwise, any type of apple will do)1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons soft brown sugar

Put the apples into a small saucepan with the water, allspice, cinnamon and sugar. Cover and cook on low to medium heat for about 15 - 20 minutes until soft and pulpy.

Enjoy!

Homemade Spaghetti Meatball Recipe

I used to love the meatballs in Ikea. However, the last time I ordered it, I was disappointed to discover that the meatball was processed and had the texture of the pork meatball you would normally find in the Chinese porkball noodles. What happened to the chunky mince??? Anyway, after that disappointment, I decided to cook my own meatball. Usually, this would require a lot of work but I found a recipe where instead of frying the meatball, you could bake the meatballs instead. So, there is no need to slave over the stove. Just pop it into the oven.

Meatballs:
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3 slices bread, crumbled (toast lightly and blend in food processor)
1 kilogram minced beef (can substitute with pork)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (can substitute with other herbs - fresh herbs preferred but if not availble, can use dried herbs)
1 clove garlic, smashed, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

In a medium bowl, beat eggs lightly; add milk and bread and let stand for about 5 minutes. Add minced beef, onion, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper; mix gently until well blended. Shape into about 24 meatballs, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place meatballs in a generously greased large shallow baking pan. Bake meatballs at 220°C for 25 minutes.



If you wish to serve spaghetti with the meatball, you can whip up this classic tomato sauce to accompany the spaghetti. In my earlier days, I used to buy the spaghetti sauce in a jar. Then J & I "outgrew" the tomato-based sauce and moved on to olio. Since I discovered this simple recipe, we have re-discovered our taste for this classic sauce.

Tomato Sauce
1 kilogram ripe plum tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup snipped fresh basil, oregano, or parsley

Peel, seed, and finely chop the fresh plum tomatoes. Or, if you're lazy, like me, skip the first 2 steps. Heat oil over medium heat, sauté onion until tender. When it just begins to turn golden, add remaining sauce ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more salt, if necessary.

Spaghetti
Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain. Serve spaghetti topped with meatballs in sauce; sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.

Chinese Stir Fried Beef with Ginger and Spring Onion

It's been a while since I did a recipe post. Since Kess's blog had a post entitled Ginger and Beef (if you're wondering why a dog blog has this heading, click and check it out), this ties in nicely with that. This dish is comfort food for me. Simple and delicious.

Ingredients

• 400 gm beef steak
• 1 tsp light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp light soya
• 2 tsp Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 2-3 stalks of spring onion (scallion)
• A few small pieces of ginger
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

1. Slice the beef into thin slices.


2. Marinate the beef with sugar, soy sauce, wine and corn flour for about 30 minutes.


3. Cut the spring onion into short sections. Slice the ginger into thin slices.


4. Heat the oil and stir fry the ginger until golden. Add the beef and stir fry until the colour changes.


5. Add the oyster sauce and spring onion. Blend well and serve.

Vienna Sausage Wrapped With Bacon, Home-Made Onion Rings, Potato Salad

After writing my post on pizza yesterday, I was inspired to turn what would have been typical British pub fare of "bangers and mash" (ie sausage with mash potato) to a more creative dinner meal.

I was watching Scandinavian Cooking on the Asian Food Channel ("AFC") the night before and decided to try the bacon wrap on Vienna sausage. Ideally, streaky bacon would have been the best option for a wrap as the pieces are longer. However, I chose to use smoked back bacon as the meat was leaner. It was my little compromise on an otherwise not very healthy meal (but taste oh so good....).

To accompany the sausages, I experimented with home-made onion rings, again inspired by another program called Restaurant Makeover on AFC (by now you would have guessed I'm a big fan of AFC). I was looking forward to trying out the homemade version as you could only taste the batter and not the onion in the commercial frozen onion rings. I also made Tracy's yummy potato salad but had to make some adjustments as I didn't have cream in my fridge. Last, but not least, a simple salad to ease my guilty "healthy" conscience.

The Main...
Wrap 2 pieces of bacon (streaky or smoked back bacon, depending on your preference) over the sausage (take your pick - Vienna, Hungarian, Pepper, Garlic, Chorizo, etc, etc). Secure the wrap with a small toothpick. Pan fry until it is done. Serve with mustard of your choice, tabasco sauce or home-made thai style green chili sauce (something we picked up from our 18 months in Bangkok).

The Side Dishes...
Potato Salad
Click above to see Tracy's recipe from her Makanning blog. I substituted cream with milk as I didn't have any cream at home. To add some richness to the sauce, I added a slice of cheddar cheese into the milk. Otherwise, I followed her recipe to the T.

Onion Rings with Beer Batter
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup beer
1 egg

Whisk the ingredients until the batter is smooth. I also added the excess sauce from the potato salad to the batter. (As the taste is fairly consistent, why waste?) Slice the onions into rings. Dip the onion ring into the batter and deep-fry in hot vegetable oil. The trick is not to move the onion ring immediately after placing into the wok (I'm Chinese so I like to use the wok) or pan. This enables the batter to stick to the onion. When it is golden brown, use a chopstick or a tong to turn the onion ring over. Remove the onion ring and place on a plate with layers of paper towel to soak excess oil. Be careful not to burn the kitchen down as paper towels are flammable. I placed the plate too close to the burner and the towel caught fire when the a gust of wind blew the flame! Lesson learnt...

Simple Garden Salad (for 2)
Slice cucumber, tomato, capsicum, red onion (1 of each) and fresh basil. Combine ingredients into a salad bowl. Just before serving, toss with 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar dressing (Rule of thumb - 1 part vinegar, 3 parts oil). Season with pepper and salt.

The Results...

The plate was too full for me to find space for the potato salad. Hence 2 different pictures. Hubby, who is a huge sausage fan absolutely loved dinner last night!

Quick & Easy Home-Made Pizza

I found a quick shortcut to making my own pizza. As with the baby back ribs, I prefer to home-cook because of the lack of pork options in the restaurants in Malaysia. But, because I am lazy, I'm always looking for short cuts to making cooking easier and faster.

If you really wanted to make it from scratch, you could make your own pizza dough. Me, I either buy the pizza base from the baking shop or as I recently discovered, naan bread makes a great pizza base. You could get that from any supermarket. I prefer to use garlic naan. As for the topping, just use your imagination...I like to use real bacon and real sausages (translated: real = pork).

Here's my recipe:

1) 1 Pack garlic naan

2) Pork bacon & sausages - sliced (Can also vary with salami, pepperoni, you get my drift...)

3) Tomatoes - sliced (Can also vary with bottled sun-dried tomato)

4) Capsicum - sliced

5) Canned pineapple - sliced

6) Anchovies - diced (as this has very strong flavour, use sparingly)

7) Red onion - sliced

8) 1 Pack pizza cheese - Combination of Mozarella, Parmesan & Cheddar

9) Olive oil

10) Fresh basil - chopped

11) Cracked black pepper

11) 1 Can tomato paste (Can also vary with pesto sauce for a different flavour)

The Pizza...

Spread tomato paste or pesto sauce on the garlic naan. Layer the pizza with ingredients 2-7. The beauty of it is you can add any combination or all ingredients, according to your whim and fancy at that time. Finish off with a generous topping of pizza cheese, sprinke of black pepper and basil . Drizzle olive oil over the pizza.

The Tray...

Place a piece of greaseproof paper on the pizza tray. Grease the paper with butter/oil. Place pizzas on tray.

The Oven...

Preheat the oven to 200C. Bake the pizza for about 15-20 minutes.

The Finished Result...

Roast Pumpkin Soup & Mango Salsa

Roast Pumpkin Soup

Mango Salsa Dip with Corn Chips

These were the other 2 dishes we prepared at the dinner party we hosted last month. Check out the recipes at Makanning, Tracy's food website. I am grateful to Tracy for encouraging me to start blogging about my cooking...Since I didn't want to overstay my welcome as guest blogger at Tracy's site, watch for future recipes here...

Baby Back Pork Ribs

Good friend, Tracy invited me to be a guest blogger on her Makanning blog. She actually asked me months ago when I was still living in Bangkok and now I've done it. If you like baby back ribs, check out the post in Makanning. Enjoy.