Pork Belly with Double Dipping Sauce

This is one of the many recipes that is waiting in line to be shared.  Sometimes, I just wished that there are 72 hours a day or I could clone a few me!

Anyway, this is one of those that you can prepare ahead. You can serve it hot or as part of the steamboat. Or, you can eat it when it's cooled (room temperature).  I have not tried eating it cold or chilled though.

It is very easy to prepare, for both the meat and the dipping sauces.  I have shared this recipe a few years back but I'm reposting it here again with an additional dipping sauce. You can use store bought sauce if you want to.  However, if you do not want to keep so many bottles of sauces, then try making  just enough for one serving.  You can also use the dipping sauce for salads too.

Ingredients:

• 10 Thinly sliced (Shabu Shabu) Pork Belly
• 1/2 tablespoon Corn Flour
• 1/2 tablespoon Sake or another cooking wine
• 1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• 500ml Water
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• Lettuce or others salad leaves

Ingredients for Sesame Dressing/Dip:

• 3 tablespoon Toasted white sesame seeds, grounded
• 2 tablespoon Mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon White Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon  Sesame Oil
• 1 tablespoon Dashi Stock (liquid type)
• 1 teaspoon Sugar

Ingredients for Plum Dressing/Dip:

• 5 Pickled Plum, rinsed, pitted and finely chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon Sake or other Cooking Wine
• 1/2 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Stock (Pork, Chicken or Vegetable)
• 1/2 tablespoon Sugar

How to do it:

1. Marinate pork with sake, light soy sauce and corn flour.
2. Boil water and season with salt.
3. Blanch pork piece by piece in the water. It just takes a few seconds for the pork to cook.
4. Place the pork slices to a previously boiled cool water to stop cooking.
5. Drain and set aside.
6. Mix all the ingredients together for individual dips till sugar melts and set aside.
7. Serve the pork slices with lettuce or your preferred salad leaves and both dipping sauce.

Note:

• The corn flour is used to make the pork velvety.  You can omit it if you wish.
• The dipping sauce can be make in advance and chill in the fridge.
• If you do not have dashi stock, you can use pork, chicken or vegetable stock instead.
• You can use lean pork instead of pork belly too.

{ Blanched Cockles with Garlic } 蒜香伴氽烫血蚶

Cockles!!  Like what I said previously when I shared this recipe, you either love this or hate it.

I love it but hate the scrubbing part, especially when you get small cockles. I happened to see cockles bigger than what I usually see in the supermarket and couldn't resist them. I bought some home and made this. Missed it so much.

If you too like eating cockles, hop over HERE for the recipe. :)

Sweet and Sour Squid for #CookForFamily Initiative

Daniel from Daniel's Food Diary started the #CookForFamily initiative with the main objective of getting more bloggers and their readers to start cooking. I'm glad to be part of it.

I don't know about you but for me, I treasure each time my family is able to eat together. My husband has long working hours and usually reached home past 8pm. So we can hardly eat as a family.

Each time, he is able to come home earlier for dinner, I will try to cook more dishes. Dinner or any meal times together is another great way for family bonding.

This is one of the dinners I have prepared for my family for the month of July. One of the 3 days in the whole of July that we were able to eat as a family. :)

 

For this dinner, we had:

• Mushroom Egg Drop (thickened) Soup
• Steamed Snapper with Cordyceps Militaris
• Blanched Kai Lan with Soy Sauce
• Sweet and Sour Squid (Please refer to the recipe at the end of this post)

The photos below are what we had for the other 2 dinner we had as a family. :) I'll be sharing the recipes in later posts.

Cooking for your family doesn't restrict to dinner. It can be breakfast, lunch or even tea or supper. Cook for that special person or persons in your life to show appreciation for what he, she or they have done for you. Hopefully they too appreciate what you have prepared for them because nothing beats home-cooked food. :)

You can set aside once a week for home cooked meals if you really can't find the time. Perhaps on a Sunday?

One of the breakfast I made for the family on a Sunday was on eggs. It was so good to be able to sit down together to enjoy the breakfast each of us liked.

Well, mine was the omelette set on the bottom right, which was done with all leftovers used for the rest of the set. :P Not a personal favourite but it's the company I enjoyed and the happy faces on my family's faces that I looked for. :)

I cook several times a day. My daughter is studying in the afternoon session. We will meet her lunch kaki for lunch every Thursday. ;)  Other than that, I will make lunch for her before she goes to school. This is one of her lunches I did for her.

My son is in the morning session. Likewise, I will make lunch for him when returns home from school. Usually, not "proper meal" as in rice or noodle. Just food he like and can fill him, like the burger below. :)

If you have been following my blog, you should know that I only pick-up cooking when my elder son was close 3 years old. :P My son is in P4 this year, you go do the calculations. :P

If you think cooking is difficult, cooking is time consuming, start with something easy. You can't go wrong with salad! That can't be difficult or time consuming, right? :)  If I can do it, you can too! :)

I do hope that this #CookForFamily initiative,will get more people to start cooking for their family. If you are reading this, why not pick a date to do it? Soon I hope! :)

Now for the recipe I'm sharing, Sweet and Sour Squid 酸甜花枝, a quick and easy dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 Squid, cleaned, scored and sliced into smaller pieces
• 2 Shallot
• 2 glove Garlic
• 2 slice Ginger
• 1 fresh Red Chilli, de-seed and diced

Seasonings:

• 1/3 tablespoon Apple Cider or White Vinegar
• 2/3 tablespoon Sugar
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blanch squid till just cooked. It should under a minute.
2. Drain squid and reserve 5 tablespoon of water used to blanch squid, more if you like more sauce.
3. Meanwhile, grind shallot, garlic and ginger together.
4. Heat wok with oil.
5. Saute chilli and the spice mixture in step 3 till fragrant.
6. Add in the reserved water and seasonings to taste.
7. Bring to a simmer.
8. Turn off the heat.
9. Return cooked squid to the wok and toss to coat well with sauce.
10. Dish and serve.

Note:

• Adjust the taste to your liking. If you like it less sweet, add less sugar.
• Do not over cook the squid as it will turn chewy. Hence, remember to turn off the heat before adding the squid to the sauce.

Prawn Croquette 虾子可乐饼

This was one of the dishes I made for my kids' lunch boxes today.

You can make this in advance and fry it when you are ready. You can even add mixed vegetables (corn, peas and chopped carrots). I didn't cos I was trying to get the kids to eat potato. I didn't want to push my luck by adding too much things in it.

I added some cheese instead, obviously not enough of it and the wrong type this time. I would suggest using Cheddar and Mozzarella. Parmesan Cheese is nice too. I usually use those but I was clearing whatever I have in the fridge, so this is it. :P

Ingredients:

• 3 medium Potatoes, cooked and mashed
• 6 Medium Prawn, shelled and deveined
• Cheese of your choice
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• All purpose flour for dusting
• 1 Egg, beaten
• Breadcrumbs
• Oil for frying

How to do it:

1. Blanch prawns till almost cooked.
2. Dab dry and set aside.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste to mashed potatoes.
4. Add mix vegetables if you like.
5. Oil your palms, so the mashed potato won't stick on your palms.
6. Scoop about a tablespoon of mashed potato onto your palm.
7. Add some cheese and place a prawn on it.
8. Add more cheese and cover with half to a tablespoon of mashed potato.
9. Shape and cover the prawn well.
10. Dust with flour shaking excess.
11. Dip into beaten egg.
12. Coat with breadcrumbs.
13. Deep fry till golden brown.
14. Drain and serve immediately.

Note:

• If you are using cheese singles, cut each piece into 4 strips and wrap each prawn with 1 to 2 strips of cheese, depending on the size of the prawn.
• To make it more cheesy, you can mix Mozzarella or Parmesan Cheese together with mashed potato.
• As all ingredients are cooked, you don't have to deep fry it for too long. Just enough to get it into a light golden brown shade.

Blanched Cockles with Garlic 蒜香伴氽烫血蚶

Blood Cockles. You either love it or hate it. Both me and my husband loves it. My son eats it too.

My father used to buy 5kg of cockles to make his famous chilled dark soy sauce cockles. Each time he made it, he will bring some over to him. I tried and tried but I just couldn't get the taste of cockles that my father made. He even bought the dark soy sauce to me once but still I just could get the right taste. His is still the best!

I had wanted to try my hands making my father's version of chilled cockles but realised I didn't have dark soy sauce with me. So change of plans. :P

This is (another) replica of what we have tried at Putien Restaurant sometime back. I shall try to conquer my father's revision another time.

* Giving the cockles a good 'body' scrub. Hate doing it but it's all worth it. *

Ingredients:

• 350g Cockles
• 1 Red Chilli, de-seeded and chopped finely
• 2 tablespoon Minced Garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon Cooking Oil
• 1/2 tablespoon Mirin or Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1/2  tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• Chicken Powder or Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Prepare the garlic first by heat oil in pan.
2. Add in chilli and Garlic and stir-fry till fragrant but not browned.
3. Add in Mirin, Light Soy Sauce and Chicken Powder. If you are using Chinese Cooking Wine, add a pinch of sugar too.
   
4. Stir to coat well.
5. Let the seasoned garlic cool.
6. Now, scrub the cockles clean. I used a toothbrush here.
7. Soak clams in salted water to let it 'spit' out sand.
8. Boil a pot of water enough to cover the cockles.
9. When the water is boiling, turn off fire and throw in all the cockles.
10. Drain them out in 3 seconds. *1
11. Place them in cool water or normal tap water and drain so it's not too hot to handle. *2
12. Remove half the shell and any dirt that maybe be there.
13. Place some seasoned garlic on each cockles and place then on a dish.
14. Chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes. *3

Note:

• I blanched then for 3 seconds here. If the cockles you bought are bigger or if you preferred them more cooked, ie, less bloody, blanch for 5-7 seconds. Anything longer than that, it's likely that will be cooked. *1
• Cool the blanched cockles partially is to stop it from continue cooking and also to make it less hot to while removing the shells. *2
• The cockles taste better when chilled but if you can't wait, go ahead to have it immediately. *2

French Bean Salad

This dish is meant to be a side dish for my husband's salmon dinner. He was held up with work and could only return way pass dinner time. Hence, he skipped dinner and had something light (as supper) when he got home.

I added sliced shallot and ate it myself instead. If you are like my husband, who dislike shallot, just leave that out. Try using thinly sliced celery instead. ;)

Ingredients:

• 400g French Beans, top and tails removed and sliced
• 1 - 2 Shallot, sliced thinly (optional)
• Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste

Dressing to mixed well:

• 1 1/2 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 1 teaspoon Sugar

How to do it:

1. Blanch sliced french bean for 5 minutes or till cooked but still crunchy.
2. Drain and rinse in cold water.
3. Drain well.
4. Toss french bean with dressing to mix well.
5. Add shallot, salt and ground pepper.
6. Toss gently.
7. Serve as side.

Broccoli and Pasta with Cheese Sauce

This is one dish I have experiment for a few times and only got it right (according to my taste) on my 4th try. To be exact, it was the cheese sauce that I was working on.

If anyone of you had been to Long John Slivers, you will know the Cheese sauce that comes with the chips. I was trying my luck to do that. No, I didn't achieve that but I'm still trying BUT this is not too bad either *thick-skin*.

In the first place, the cheese I used is not the correct one. I used Kraft Cheddar but the LJS's cheese tasted more like La vache qui rit (laughing cow) Cheddar cheese.

Nevertheless, this goes well with the broccoli I love so much. I cooked some pasta too and it's a meal for me already.

Ingredients:

• Pasta, cooked according to package
• Broccoli, cut into florets and blanched with 1/2 tablespoon cooking oil

Cheese Sauce: (about 3 servings)

• 50g Butter
• 80g Cheese, shredded (I used Kraft (block) Cheddar)
• 150ml Milk (I used fresh milk)
• 2 tablespoon Flour

How to do it:

• Set cooked pasta and blanched broccoli aside.
• In a pot, melt the butter on low heat.
• Gradually add in the flour while whisking.
• Once the flour is while blended into the butter, whisk in the milk gradually.
• Bring to a boil.
• Whisk in the cheese till it melts.
• Add the desirable amount of cheese sauce to the pasta and broccoli.
• Toss and serve with additional Parmesan Cheese.

Note: If you find the sauce too thick to your liking, add in more milk.

Blanched Chinese Flowering Cabbage

You might notice that I cook my vegetables by blanching them. They usually turn out looking nicer then stir fried. I never really like to stir frying leafy vegetables. Maybe I don't have the skills. ;p

They are always either over or under cooked. Sometimes, part of the veggie is cooked but another part under cooked. Plus, I hate how the dish of veggies always looked so 'messy'. :P

After a few times of unsuccessful stir-frying of veggies, I turned to blanching them and have stick to that method till now. Except now, on lazy days, I turned to use my Sharp Water Oven. My veggies always comes out perfect, if not tastier.

This Chinese Flowering Cabbage or Cai Xin 菜心 as we commonly call it, is cooked on less lazy day, ie, blanching method. :P This is really easy and fast to do, plus you have a dish of nicely cooked veggies too.

Just add a teaspoon of salt and half a tablespoon of oil in a pot of water enough to cover the vegetable to boil. Once the water is boiling, put the stems of the Cai Xin 菜心 in first. If you, like me prefer not to cut your Cai Xin 菜心 in sections, let them 'stand' with the stems in hot water. You hold on to the leaves, with gloves lah. After 2 minutes, turn off the heat and submerge the whole vegetables in the hot water for another minute. If you like your Cai Xin 菜心 to be softer, then let it cook with the heat on.

Now, here's the trick. If you are adding the Cai Xin 菜心 to further stir-frying later, like adding some mushroom with sauce, when your family are all home for dinner, then plunge the Cai Xin 菜心 into ice water to stop further cooking. So later when you are ready to complete the dish, you just have to add them to the sauce, stir-fry a little and you are ready to serve it. It helps cut down lots of cooking time, especially if you are a couple more dishes to cook. The best part of this method is that the vegetables still looks very green!

For this particular dish, I just plunged the Cai Xin 菜心 in previously boiled cooled water as I was to serve it in 20 minutes time without further stir-frying. I don't want to serve cold veggies. I just drizzle some light soy sauce and top some dry-fried dried white bait on it for that extra flavour and crunch. And that's done.

Sliced Pork with Plum Sauce烫肉片粘梅子酱

Everytime we went shopping, I always request to go to the supermarket and before we went home. I love supermarket shopping!!. I bought a tray of thinly sliced pork and a bunch of Frisee (among many other stuff) during my last trip. I'm using both items here and this dish taste great even when it's cooled. Just nice for my husband who is always back home late past dinner time. Most importantly, it's really easy to make!

Ingredients:

• 9 pieces Pork, thinly sliced
• 3 leaves of Frisee, cut into 3 each
• 5 Pickled Plums, pitted and finely chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon Sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1/2 tablespoon Cornflour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 3 slice Ginger
• 200ml Water
• 1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce (optional)

How to do it:

1. Mix pork with light soy sauce and cornflour.
2. Bring water to boil.
3. Add salt and wine.
4. Cook the pork in the above quickly (as if cooking in steamboat).
5. Stand pork in a pot of previously boil cool water.
6. Drain and set aside.
7. Take 2 tablespoon of the liquid from the pot used to cook the pork.
8. Mix with sugar and plum.
9. Serve pork with Frisee and plum sauce.

Note:
Add more sugar if you find your plum sauce too sour. Adjust according to your taste.

Spinach with Light Soy Sauce

I happened to see a recipe in a cookbook that is similar to this spinach dish I wok even the presentation is the same. But the one in the cookbook added an extra ingredient - shredded bonito. Since I have that, I tried it.

Ingredients:

• 300 g Spinach, cut into equal sections
• 1/2 tablespoon oil
• Some shredded bonito
• 2 teaspoon light soy sauce.

How to do it:

1. Add oil in a pot of water and blanch spinach. 2-3 minutes is enough.
2. Drain and squeeze out water.
3. Sprinkle some shredded bonito.
4. Drizzle the light soy sauce.
5. Serve.

Note:

• I like to place spinach this way (standing up) because they tend to absorb sauce very fast. Then those on the bottom will be too salty.
• This presentation makes sure the sauce gets even distributed.
• I find this dish best eaten at room temperature not hot.

Vegetarian Abalone with Veggies 素鲍鱼炒什菜

For this dish, you can serve it 2 ways, either with or without the Vegetarian Abalone.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 carrot, sliced
• 1/2 cup broccoli, cut into florets
• 5 pieces Baby corn, sliced
• 8 pieces dried Chinese mushrooms, soak to soften and stalks removed
• 1/2 can button mushrooms, washed
• Vegetarian Abalone, sliced
• 2 teaspoon Vegetarian Oyster Sauce

Sauce:

• 1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Vegetarian Oyster Sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Cornstarch mixture

How to do it:

1. Blanch all the vegetables with stock or water for 5 mins.
2. Remove and set aside.
3. In a wok or pan, add 1 teaspoon oil and stir fry all the vegetables.
4. Add 2 teaspoon of vegetarian oyster sauce and a pinch of sugar.
5. Remove and place in a plate.

Notes:

• *To prepare the vegetarian abalone, boil 1/2 cup of water with the abalone for about 2 minutes.
• *Remove and set together with the vegetables cooked earlier.
• To prepare the sauce, add all the ingredients for the sauce, except cornstarch mixture into the water used to boil the abalone.
• Stir in the cornstarch mixture when it starts to boil.
• Pour over the vegetables and serve.
• If you do not wish to add the vegetarian abalone, skip steps with * indicated.
• You can also add or replace other vegetables like cauliflower, straw mushrooms.

Chinese Broccoli with Conpoy 瑤柱芥兰

This is another simple vegetable dish. It is similar to the Xiao Bai Cai dish that I have posted some time back. Try it!

Ingredients:

• Chinese broccoli commonly know as Kai Lan
• 4 pieces dried scallops, soaked in hot water and tear into strips
• Cornstarch mixture

Seasoning:

• 1/2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 5 tablespoon water used to soak the dried scallops

How to do it:

1. Cut the ends and skin the stem of Kai Lan.
2. Blanch Kai Lan in a pot of boiling water with the stems first for 2 minutes then whole for another 1 minute.
3. Remove and set aside.
4. In a fry pan, add in the dried scallop strips and the seasonings.
5. Bring to boil.
6. Add in the cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce.
7. Pour the sauce over the Kai Lan.
8. Serve.

Note:
If you like your Kai Lan softer or more cooked, blanch longer.

Baby Bok Choy with Shitake Mushroom 小白菜绘鲜菇

This is a relatively easy dish to prepare. If you are home late and have not prepared your dinner, why not try this ….

Ingredients:

• 4 stalks Baby Bok Choy 小白菜
• 5 Shitake Mushroom, sliced
• ½ tablespoon Garlic

Seasoning:

• ½ tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoon water

How to do it:

1. Cut the end of Xiao Bai Cai and wash.
2. Blanch Xiao Bai Cai in a pot of boiling water with the stems first for30 seconds then whole for another 30 seconds.
3. Remove and set aside.
4. In a wok or fry pan, heat ½ tablespoon oil and add in garlic and stir-fry. Add in the shitake mushroom and stir-fry till fragrant.
5. Now add it the seasoning and bring to boil.
6. If you want to thicken your sauce, you can stir-in some cornflour mixture. Pour the sauce over the Xiao Bai Cai and serve.

Broccoli with Dried Scallops 瑤柱芥兰花

I love to eat Broccoli! So does my girl. I add broccoli in her porridge and she loves it.

Ingredients:

• Broccoli, cut into florets
• 4-5 Dried scallops, soaked in hot water for ½ hour
• ½ pack Enokitake
• 200ml stock or water
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• ½ tablespoon Chinese wine
• ½ tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 egg white
• Cornflour mixture (2 teaspoon cornflour with 2 teaspoon water)

How it’s done:

1. Blanch broccoli florets.
2. Remove accordingly to how cooked you want the broccoli to be. For me, 8 mins.
3. Place broccoli in a dish.
4. In a saucepan, combine dried scallop, enokitake, oyster sauce, Chinese wine, soy sauce and stock.
5. When it starts to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 mins.
6. Thicken the sauce with the cornflour mixture.
7. Turn off the fire and slowly stir in the egg white.
8. Pour the sauce over the broccoli and serve.

Note:
Don’t throw away the water you use to soak the dried scallop.You can add in to your stock or water to be use to simmer the enokitake and dried scallop.