Fragrant Pork Belly with Thai Basil

My mini garden has been growing weeds....!!! Hubby wanted to throw away all my plants especially those inedible plants and keep those edible ones. What should I do??? I still want to keep my plants especially those herbs which I need it every now and then. At the end, we decided to keep only the edible plants and concentrate on edible garden which we think is more practical. Thai basil is in abundance and they are in fact too matured. So, what I did was to harvest all the herbs and replant them for another new batch of herbs garden.
Since Thai Basil is in abundance, I decided to fully utilize it. Hence, stewing pork belly with it is one of the many dishes I have cooked.

For your info, when I was young, I never like or would not touch pork belly. Even when I ever did eat it, I would always throw away the fat and take the lean meat. However, these few years, I don't know what has gotten into me. I LIKE pork belly especially the FAT!!! I know it's unhealthy but ah..... eat first health later... hahahaha.... The gravy is especially yummy and when mixed with rice, we can easily go for 2nd helping of rice! The recipe for this is taken from my previous posting on Stewed Pork Belly with Fried Tofu.

Ingredients :
- 1 strip of pork belly (blanched and cut)
- 1 bunch of Thai Basil
- 1/2 tbsp fermented soy bean paste/tau cheong (for frying)
- 1 1/2 tbsp fermented soy bean paste/tau cheong (to taste)
- 1 bulb of garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 thumbsized ginger (sliced and crushed)
- water (enough for stewing)

Seasonings : (to taste)
- a dash of salt
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp caramel sauce (reduce the amount if you don't like your dish to be in dark colour)
- 1 tsp sugar

Method :
1) Heat some oil in a wok and saute garlic, ginger and 1/2 tbsp of fermented soy bean paste until aromatic.

2) Add pork belly and stir fry for a while. Mix well.

3) Add water, the remaining fermented bean paste and caramel sauce. Stir and mix well.

4) Cover and let it boil at high heat for about 5 minutes. Then, lower the heat and let it simmer until the gravy is thickened and/or the meat is cooked and tender. It takes about 30 to 45 minutes depending on the fire and pot/wok used. Add water if you want more gravy.

5) Lastly, add in Thai Basil and the remaining seasonings. Bring it to a boil again for 1 or 2 minutes.

6) Dish up and serve with steamed rice.

If you like pork belly, this is a very flavorful dish

Hope you like this homey dish. It's also great to serve it with plain bread instead of steamed rice. Do enjoy.

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Braised Narcissus Pork Trotters Bee Hoon/Rice Vermicelli (猪脚米粉)

I have been quite busy lately and when it's time to prepare meals for my family, I go for the simplest and the easiest way; without having to cook few dishes. It would usually all-in-one pot dish or just one-dish meals. I usually serve noodles or bee hoon (rice vermicelli) when I am busy or just for a change.

Braised Pork Trotters Bee Hoon is one of our favourites.  I am sure most Chinese families have been eating this since their childhood days and I am no exception.  It's so easy to prepare and yummylicous too.  I remember Phong Hong's Braised Pork Trotters Bee Hoon which I came across recently and decided to follow her recipe.  In fact, it's more or less the same, except that my way of cooking has added ingredients such as shredded mushroom, bird's eyes chilies (cili padi) but minus the fish sauce and Chinese Cooking Wine.  Do hop over to Phong Hong's blog and you will be drooling over her yummy pics.  So, this time, I practically follow her recipe with some very minor changes.

Ingredients :

- 1 packet bee hoon
- 2 cans Narcissus pork trotters with mushrooms
- 1 bunch of choy sum
- 6 cloves garlic (chopped)
- Cooking oil

Sauce ingredients : (to taste) - Mixed and stir well
- 1 tbsp dark soya sauce
- 2 tbsp light soya sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- A dash of Chinese cooking wine (Hua Tiao Chiew)
- Hot water (enough to braise the bee hoon)

Method :
1. Rinse and soak bee hoon in water until softened. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat up oil in wok and saute garlic until fragrant.

3. Empty the cans of pork trotters into the wok.

4. Briefly stir it over low heat for a while before adding the sauce mixture.  Then, turn up heat and bring the sauce mixture to a boil.

5.  Add vegetables and bee hoon.  Stir and mix well. If you need to add water, do add hot water.

6. Cover the wok and braise the noodles on high heat for about 10 minutes or until noodles are cooked.

7. For even braising, toss the bee hoon occasionally.

You can see that there are still some chunks of meat.  I didn't break the meat into small pieces as hubby prefers chunky meat!

I usually stock up a few cans of Narcissus Pork Trotters and packets of bee hoon so that I can cook this yummylicious braised bee hoon whenever we crave for it.

You can also serve it with bird's eyes chili soy sauce

Have a wonderful week ahead :)

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Home Cooked Bak-Kut-Teh/Herbal Pork Ribs Soup (肉骨茶)

Home cooked or brewed bak-kut-teh is very easy and simple to prepare.  If you do not like to take the trouble to get the full prescription of the herbs from the Chinese Medical shop, there are pre-packed  bak-kut-teh herbs and spices available too.  

I never stick to a particular brand of pre-packed bak-kut-teh and would try whichever that catch my attention during our casual shopping.  Besides, I also like to stock up a few pre-packed of bak-kut-teh and it comes in handy when I run out of ideas what soup to cook for my family.   Sun Kee pre-packed is also one of our favorites.

Previously, when cooking bak-kut-teh using pre-packed herbs and spices, I just 'dumped'  the sachets into the pot without any additional herbs or spices.  However, when I came across Boon's Little Kitchen Cookbook, I learned something new!  I added pieces of dang gui (Radix Angelica) and wow... the soup definitely tastes so much better as dang gui itself  is sweet, pungent and bitter in taste.  One of the many advantages of dang gui is it benefits the digestive system by maintaining proper metabolism and improved immune functioning. By boosting immunity, the herb also helps to protect our body from various diseases and infections. However, men, be cautioned! Dang gui can be very 'heaty' for some men and have it moderately as 'overdosed' of dang gui will see you having fever and even nose bleeding!

(Recipe according to Boon's Little Kitchen Cookbook page 95, with minor modifications in red)

Ingredients (A) : 

-1kg shin (I omitted this)

- 2 spare ribs (1kg, blanched)

- 1 pc pork belly (I omitted)

Ingredients  (B) :

- 6 big bulbs smoked garlic (unpeeled)

- 2 sachets pre-packed bak-kut-teh

- 10gm sweet dang gui head (I used 4 thin slices only)

- 3 litres water

Seasonings : (to taste)

- 4 tbsp soy sauce

- 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce

- 60g rock sugar (I omitted)

- 1 tsp salt

Method :

1)  Bring water to a boil.  Add in ingredients (A) and (B). 

2)  Bring it to another boil. Lower heat and cook for 45 minutes.

3)  Add in seasonings and bring to a rapid boil.

4)  Turn to low heat and simmer for another 45 minutes.

5)  Serve hot with steamed rice.

Simple and nutritious soup

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Steamed Pork Belly with Portobello Mushroom

After I have successfully using corn flour for my previous post on Steamed Pork Belly with Salted Fish (咸鱼蒸猪肉), this time I used it again for steaming pork belly with fresh mushroom.  The end result????  The slices of pork belly and mushroom is so flavorful and the gravy itself is also very yummy.  And....the slices of mushroom is  chewy and tasted like abalone!  

My children enjoyed mixing the gravy with the rice and I regretted that I didn't cook extra rice for this! It's very appetizing indeed!!!

Ingredients :

- 1 strip of pork belly (skinned, sliced and marinated)

- 2 large portobello mushrooms (sliced)
- 2 tbsp young shredded ginger

- 2 tbsp chopped garlic

- 1 red chili (sliced)

- some diced spring onions for garnishing (I had run out of spring onions, so, no garnishing :)

Marinate : (to taste)

- soy sauce

- 1/2 tbsp tapioca flour

Seasonings (Sauce) : to taste

- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp miso
- 1/4 tsp pepper 

- 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine 

- 2 tbsp water

Method :

1)  Marinate pork belly for about 15 minutes.

2)  Meanwhile, heat oil in a wok and saute garlic and ginger until aromatic.  Dish up.

3)  Boil water in a steamer. 

4)  Arrange slices of pork belly and mushroom alternately on a steaming plate.

5)  Mix seasonings and pour all over the marinated pork belly and mushroom.

6)  Add fried garlic, ginger and shredded chili on top.

7)  Steam over rapid boiling water for 15 minutes. 

8)  Remove and garnish (with diced spring onions).

9)  Serve with hot steamed rice.

This dish is as good as Steamed Pork Belly with Salted Fish (咸鱼蒸猪肉) 

~Simple, fuss-free and healthy dish ~

Have a great day ahead !

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake at this post.

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Steamed Pork Belly with Salted Fish (咸鱼蒸猪肉)

This is a very simple and yet appetizing dish which is popular among Chinese.  I have been preparing this particular dish on and off but didn't realize that I have in fact missed out one particular important seasoning.  This important ingredient is TAPIOCA FLOUR!!!! See how ignorant I am!!!  Well, I should thank Y3K when I chanced upon this in the Y3K issue no. 31, page 8.

Recipe source : Y3K(31) page 8 by Ms Catherine Chia

Frankly speaking, previously it never cross my mind to marinate meat with tapioca flour for steaming dish.  I do use tapioca flour for other methods of cooking but why not in steaming? Still scratching my head!!!  From here, you should know how good I am in cooking, right? Well, it's still  better late than never!

Meat marinated in corn starch or tapioca flour is tenderer and softer and since then, corn flour plays one of the important ingredients in my kitchen!

Ingredients :

- 2 strips of pork belly (skinned and sliced)

- 50g mui heong salted fish (rinsed, diced)

- 2 tbsps young shredded ginger

- 1 red chili (sliced)

Seasonings :

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp sugar

- 1 tsp oyster sauce (I omitted this)

- 1/4 tsp pepper

- 1/2  chicken granules stock (I omitted this too)

- 1/2 tbsp tapioca flour

Garnishing :

Diced spring onions

Some fried minced garlic

Method :

1)  Marinate sliced pork belly with seasonings.  I let it marinated for about 20 minutes.

2)  Meanwhile, boil water in a steamer.

3)  Add shredded diced salted fish, ginger and chili on top of the marinated pork belly.

4)  Steam for 10 minutes. (I steamed it for 15 minutes over high heat).

5)  Remove and garnish it with diced spring onions and fried onions.

4)  Serve it hot with  steamed rice.

Simple, quick and easy

Be advised to cook extra rice if you are serving this for your family

I'm linking this post with :Cook-Your-Books #4 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

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