Almost the end of february and bacon bak kwa.. finally ^^

I've said it many times, I'm a non-traditionalist, ok, I'm a laggard.

CNY is so over ^^||, but it's only now I found the time (it's been an extremely busy cny this year going without aunt's maid, as well as an uncle's passing all in one week) and groove to make the promised bak kwa.. not just any bak kwa, mind you.. bacon bak kwa. ^^

Anyway, I'm really behind in the bak kwa world, having sworn off buying bak kwa for many years now. This year I finally stepped into one, because of a good friend who loves this certain brand of bak kwa, and I knew he would appreciate my getting it for him. And lo and behold.. bacon bak kwa.. am I slow or what?! haha ^^

Bacon bak kwa @ jerky (adapted from melspantrykitchen and nasilemaklover)
~ serves 5, and 1 small eater, maybe ^^
600g bacon slices, cut into half
100g sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp chinese rice wine
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark caramel sauce
a dash of pepper
2 tbsp honey
no salt please! bacon is salty enough!

1. Mix all ingredients except bacon slices in a bowl. Then add bacon slices and coat well with marinade. Leave to marinate in the fridge for a few hours.

2. Place the bacon slices onto a baking tray (no need to grease or line with grease paper).

3. Bake in a pre-heated oven of 160C for 15-20 minutes. Remove and wipe off grease on baking tray if you wish.

4. Increase oven temperature to 200C, turn to grill function. Place bacon slices back in the oven and grill for about 7 minutes, then flip over and grill for 4 minutes. Do watch out so that meat doesn't over burn.

Whoa, them jerkies sure look awful! But, ooooohhhhhh... they are sooooooo-yums!!! Then again, how can bacon taste anything but yums! ^^

Anyway, as good as these jerkies are, I'm unlikely to make them again. Bacon is as bacon good, it doesn't need anything to make it better ^^! Now, the traditional bak kwa.. they are so worth making from scratch! ^^

Erratic weather.. and an even-more erratic wifi connection!

That's how life has been these past few weeks! Weird and erratic!

Since coming back from a short holiday in taiwan.. that's all we've been experiencing.. which is so not conducive for baking nor blogging! The aftermath of a certain event over here isn't exactly a mood-lifter either.. ^^|| And all the msg-laden foods that we stuffed ourselves during our holiday, took a toll on our bodies too..

But finally today, the wifi connection seems a little more stable.. and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll remain so till I finish this. ^^ Weather's still horridly hot and suffocating though!

Anyway, this is something I made more than a month back but never posted because I was hoping to perfect and compare it with the marinated pork belly in shrimp paste (still!!!) sitting in the freezer!

Since my first taste of moo tod kapi (crispy pork with shrimp paste) in a thai restaurant, I've always wanted to re-create this dish at home. I really dig the flavor of kaffir lime leaves in this dish!

Despite googling high and low for a recipe of moo tod kapi, I just couldn't find one ^^|| So I figured I'd just do my own interpretation of this dish.. without shrimp paste (since I didn't have any at home then!).. but with lots of kaffir lime leaves! ^^

Almost-crispy pork belly with kaffir lime leaves
500g pork belly, skin removed (I'm sure other parts could be used)
1 tsp sea salt (if using shrimp paste, omit salt)
2-3 cloves of garlic, grated (can omit if using shrimp paste)
a big handful of kaffir lime leaves
a handful of curry leaves
2-3 bird's eye chilles, seeds removed
2 cloves of garlic, lightly smashed
sea salt, to season if necessary

1. Marinade pork belly with salt (or shrimp paste) and grated garlic for at least 1 hour or overnight.

2. Heat a bit of oil in a non-stick pan/wok. Place pork belly on the sides and sear till golden brown. Flip to the other side and do the same. Remove pork belly and cut into smaller slices. Looking back, I'm not sure why I did this (??!) and not cut it into smaller slices and just done step 3??? ^^||

3. Remove or wipe off remaining grease/oil from the pan/wok. Put pork belly slices, kaffir lime leaves, curry leaves, chilies and lightly smashed garlic pips in and saute till meat is golden and crispy. If necessary, season with a bit more salt. Do remove the fat/oil/grease when meat starts drowning in it ^^||. 

4. Serve immediately. Tastes even better when cooled or the day after ^^

It's amazing the amount of fat that oozed out from the pork belly! So be warned!

If you can deep fry, please do so to get a crispy texture (slice to smaller pieces after it's cooked).. since I can't, this is it.. an almost-crispy pork dish. ^^

Anyway, this is a wonderfully piquant dish with soft hints of kaffir lime leaves, garlic and curry leaves ^^. And if you can bring yourself to save some for the next day, the flavors get even better! ^^

Piggies were not exactly enthusiastic at first bite.. but by the 2nd/3rd piece, they were smitten!!  It's the kaffir lime leaves, I tell you! ^^

So, shrimp paste or not.. it's still exceptionally DELICIOUS ^^!

And here's a few pictures of the places and food I really liked in taiwan.. sans msg ^^

night harbour view of keelung ~ from our hotel window

picturesque jiufen

huge caramelized peanut slabs ~ turned into shaved peanut candy topped with 2 scoops of ice cream wrapped in popiah skin ~ deliciousssnesss!!! i love this and had two servings.. and i'm not even a fan of peanuts! ^^ i like jiufen ^^

Oops.. that's all the decent food pix I have, haha! Didn't take many food pictures because I just couldn't wait to eat.. and by which time I remembered to, I was already half way through and it looked like a hurricane had struck the dishes.. sorry ^^.

Taiwan's really nice.. cool weather, beautiful scenery, exciting, lots of food/snacks, safe ^^.. but the heavy handed use of msg is not. ^^||

Three cup chicken?

I've heard so much about this 1 cup soy sauce: 1 cup seame oil: 1 cup rice wine dish.. googled it even.. but yet, never gotten round to trying it in a restaurant.

So I really have no idea if I have the taste right. Anyway, here goes..

Three cup chicken (recipe adapted from flavours magazine, cny edition)
~ serves 2, maybe 3 ^^
2 whole chicken legs, cut to pieces
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp cornstarch
3 tbsp sesame oil (I used only 2 tbsp)
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp rice wine / chinese cooking wine (hua tiao wine)
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 small knob of ginger
2 spring onions, white part only
a small handful of thai basil leaves, optional

1. Marinade chicken pieces with salt, sugar, pepper, cornstarch, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice wine, water and dark soy sauce for at least an hour.

2. Heat some oil in a claypot/pot/wok, and saute garlic, ginger and spring onions till fragrant.

3. Add chicken together with marinade and stir fry for a bit. Cover pot/wok and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes or more, or till sauce is reduced/almost dry.

4. Add basil leaves and give it a quick stir fry. Serve immediately.

Since fatty hubby enjoyed it.. I guess I must be on the right track, somehow! ^^

I must say the flavors of san bei ji are really robust and piquant! We enjoyed it with lots of rice.. and butter garlic rice! ^^

p.s. the leftovers tasted even better the next day! ^^

Japanese hamburger steak ^^

I've been meaning to make hambagu steak since I caught the recipe at nami's@justonecookbook ^^.. but never got round to it because I don't keep red wine at home ^^|| My fatty hubby's a beer guzzler!

Since nami's featured in this month's issue of food&travel magazine, I knew I had to try at least one of the recipes she shared, red wine or not!

And so I finally made the very deliciously moist and luscious japanese hamburger steak for dinner today ^^! with beef broth (thanks to google!) instead of red wine ^^

As usual, I think the combination of beef and pork is brilliant! The patties turned out really fabulously moist and tender.. just the way I like it ^^. And nami's sauce (no tonkatsu, use worcestershire sauce instead!) is perfect with the hambagu! For detailed step-by-step, beautiful pictures and recipe, check out nami's blog.

You may notice my hambagu steaks are kinda pale and could've done with a few more minutes of browning, but being the terrible cook that I am, I couldn't tell that at the time of cooking ^^||! Besides having burnt more food than you can imagine, I wasn't leaving this to chance! But I assure you, they are cooked! ^^

And they are delish.. especially served with rice ^^! 2 thumbs up from my piggies! And me! ^^ Thanks, nami!

I made yummy bak kwa! ^^

Fatty hubby and piggies love bak kwa @ long yoke @ pork jerky. Me, I can pretty much go without it and not miss it at all ^^

But we don't eat much of it these days due to the nitrate scare, and the other additives/preservatives that (might) come with it.

This CNY, fatty hubby and I shared the tiniest piece of bak kwa ever! So fatty still craves for a bite or two, or more! Hence when I told him about the homemade bak kwa I read in mel's blog (thanks, mel ^^), he's been bugging me with.. "when are you going to make bak kwa???"

Bak kwa (recipe inspired by mel@melspantrykitchen, adapted from nasilemaklover)

450g minced pork (I used 100% minced pork belly ~ a mistake! best to use a mixture of lean and fat)
100g sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp chinese rice wine
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark caramel sauce
a dash of pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a chopstick. Blend and stir in one direction till the meat comes together or becomes "gluey". Store in the fridge for a few hours (Oops! I missed this part and used immediately! ^^|| no harm, I think :p)

2. Spread the marinated minced pork thinly onto a 13x13 inch baking tray (no need to grease), using fingers to spread.

3. Bake in a pre-heated oven of 160C for 15-20 minutes.

4. Remove baking tray from oven and turn oven to 240C.

5. When meat is cool, cut into desired size and shape using scissors, knife or pizza cutter.. ~ makes 9 pieces.

6. Place meat back into oven and grill (using top heat only) at 240C (I recommend using 230C) for 10 minutes, or when it's golden brown. Then flip meat over and grill for 7 minutes, or till golden brown. Be very careful while grilling, as meat tends to burn very fast at 240C! 

I cannot believe I made bak kwa! So easy! And the best part, EVERYONE loves it! Especially the thick bak kwa over the thin ones ^^! Yes, greedy me made 2 portions! ^^

And now, I'll just leave you with the thought of baby pig licking his bak kwa ^^ It's that good!!!

Pad krapow moo ^^

Thai night ^^!

Pad krapow moo (recipe inspired by chez pim's description)
~ serves 3-4
500g minced pork
6-10 cloves of garlic, minced
4-5 bird's eye chilies, sliced
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet dark soy sauce/kicap manis
some pepper
1 cup/ a big handful of holy basil leaves

1. Heat some oil and saute minced garlic and chillies for a few minutes.

2. Add minced pork and stir fry for a bit till almost cooked. Then add fish sauce, soy sauce and sweet dark soy sauce.

3. Toss basil leaves with the minced meat and give it a quick stir-fry before removing from heat. Serve immediately with rice.. and a runny fried egg for a simple thai meal ^^

I was planning to replicate a crispy pork dish we enjoyed at a thai restaurant some time ago.. but I forgot it was cooked with kaffir lime leaves, not basil leaves ^^|| So dinner became stir-fried minced pork with basil leaves, pad krapow moo, instead ;p

Old stuff..

My refrigerator's usually full.. but this last two weeks, it looks like it's about to burst at the seams!

 delish petit kumquat almond cakes 

Even fatty hubby who never notices such things, commented on it! ^^||

I suspect it's because I haven't been cooking/baking very much.. but sssshhh, I told fatty it's because of the "stuff(??)" we have to stock for CNY! ^^

Well, I've been trying real hard to "clean" the fridge as much as I can. While I've cleared most of the old fruits to store sweet tangerines (see it's full again!), the rest of the fridge is still a mountain of work ^^||!

Anyway, I've made "some" inroads over the past few days, clearing what's left of the kumquat halves, syrup and puree, minced beef, sour cream, chicken breast meat, kimchi (in a jar that's taking up a lot of space!), rice, canned tuna, chopped nuts and half a block of butter amongst others.

Brown butter banana cake (adapted from christine's easy recipes, also in here, with slight changes)

3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
60g unsalted butter, melted (I used 120g and made brown butter ^^)
1 egg, whisked
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh milk
100-150g sugar, depending on bananas' sweetness
245g all purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda,sifted
a pinch of salt
a handful of chocolate chips or more ^^
a handful of toasted walnuts, chopped
a handful of raisins

1. Preheat oven to 170C.

2. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Then fold in the dry ingredients till well combined. DO NOT OVERBEAT.

3. Bake in a loaf pan or 2 small tins for 1 hour, or till the skewer comes out clean.

This is not my usual banana cake, but I thought I'd give it a go since I had half a bar of butter to get rid of.. and it looks super easy and quick ^^! And since I've always wondered how chocolate chips and raisins taste in banana cake, I added some too ^^. I like this cake ^^.. it's extra loaded with flavors, moist and spongy-soft.. very nice ^^ And like most cakes, this banana cake shines when it's rested and cooled. ^^

gochujang minced beef served with rice, seaweed and a runny egg ~ yums!

baked chicken tenders with honey mustard sour cream dip ^^ 

very spicy kimchi tomyam fried rice ^^ we like!

While it seems everyone has (almost-)finished their marathon-baking and preparations for CNY, I'm making a wild, mad sprint to spring clean the kitchen/fridge and the rest of the house! At times like these, I wish I had a bigger kitchen to store a bigger fridge and a smaller living space (in an already tiny apartment) so that there's less to clean! Or maybe i should just wish for a maid??? ^^

I really don't prepare much for CNY, no cookies, no ang-ang decorations or whatsoever.. but I really like having a neat and clean house to welcome the new year ^^.

A simple dinner ~ minced meat noodles

Another a "bit of this 'n that" dinner! Minced meat with noodles! Best served with poached, runny egg and some blanched greens. (^^)

Minced meat marinade (serves 2 or 3)

150g minced meat (I used pork)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp doenjang/ miso/ teocheo/ soybean paste
1 tbsp dark soy sauce (optional)
1 tbsp mirin (optional)
1 tbsp sesame oil (optional)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 yellow onion, diced
some grated ginger (optional)
some finely sliced red chili or 1 tsp chili pepper powder (optional)
salt and pepper for seasoning

Well, this marinade is an improvisation from what I remember of recipes read in the past.. So it is most likely to be recipe-cally incorrect ^^||! But it's still pretty tasty ^^!

And don't worry about having to marinade the minced meat either.. If you don't have the time, don't bother. It really doesn't matter. Just toss everything together and cook! (^^)

A simple, robust and tasty meal fatty hubby enjoyed! (^^)

Succulent steamed spare ribs with black beans

I'm no cook.. and it's not like I'm good at baking, either.. a "half past six" (neither here nor there!), as my elderly aunts would say in mangled english! (^^||)

Well, you may have realized by now, that one of the reasons I remain terrible at cooking, is that I'm simply lazy (^^||)! So meals at home means it's usually some super easy one-pot meal or minimal cooking/ingredients dish. Occasionally, I do get inspired to cook by other bloggers' beautiful works and put a little more effort in my cooking! But most times I cook with whatever ingredients I have in the fridge. Other times I avoid cooking ^^||. Then, there are times I cook, when an ingredient just happens to fall on my lap! As the case with the fermented black beans ^^.. (a little far fetched but almost true ^^)

sorry, I forgot to drizzle some sauce over (amateur at work).. it should look more succulent ^^

Hence the "inspiration" to make my very first steamed spare ribs with black beans.. a really popular dish at dim sum restaurants. Fatty hubby's wild about them (?!).. I'm not.. at least not crazily so (^^)

Steamed spare ribs with black beans (adapted from hungerhunger and steamykitchen)

400g pork spare ribs
1 tbsp whole fermented black beans (give it a quick rinse before use)
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp grated ginger (optional)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice wine
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp soy sauce (optional)
salt and pepper to season
red chillies, sliced finely (optional) 
spring onions/scallions, sliced finely (optional)

1. Mix and marinade spare ribs with black beans, garlic, ginger, sugar, sesame oil, rice wine, cornstarch, soy sauce (if using), salt and pepper (and some finely sliced red chillies too) for at least 30 minutes (or longer) in the fridge. I thought the fermented black beans were salty enough, but they weren't.. so a dash of soy sauce or a pinch of salt was necessary.

2. Steam in a heat-proof dish for 20 minutes or till cooked. Serve with some garnishing of spring onions and red chillies, if you like.

I don't know why, I've always thought this dish as difficult to make.. It's not. Really. If a klutz like me can do it, anyone can! It's super easy and super delicious too! You can even steam this dish on top of your rice using the rice cooker. Just pop in the marinated meat just as the water in the rice stops bubbling. Close the lid and let it cook with the rice. Do not open lid immediately after rice is cooked.. dish up after 10 minutes or so.

Fatty hubby and piggies enjoyed the spare ribs even though they were a teeny-weeny bit chewy/tough. (^^||) I think I really should make it a point to get those soft spare ribs part after all ^^. Me, I actually like them kinda chewy (^^)

Guess who's happiest today? (^^) Ze fattest pig of all, of course!

Delish homemade IKEA swedish meatballs

Who doesn't like meatballs, hands up? A-ha! I bet no one raised their hand! ^^ Everyone loves a good meatball, right!

And one of the most popular meatballs around, would definitely have to be the swedish ones from IKEA (well, at least on this part of the world ^^||). It was love at first bite for me ^^ We sometimes visit IKEA not to shop but just to have meatballs! (^^)

But a year or more ago, I noticed that the meatballs in IKEA were getting really fake/weird.. Though beefy-ier tasting and smelling (I bet it's just beef extract and flavoring).. it is less meaty and you can tell they've been adding more starch or something.. that it feels/tastes more like beef-ball (think fish-ball)! It has also magically shrunk too! Sad, no?

Anyways, I came across a recipe for IKEA swedish meatball in iamafoodblog a few months back, and I've been meaning to make it... but somehow never got to it ^^|| But here we are at last!

IKEA swedish meatballs (adapted from iamafoodblog who adapted from ikea-friends.com)

1/2 pound (227g) minced beef
1/2 pound (227g) minced pork (I used minced pork belly ^^)
1 egg (???! I missed this totally! ^^||) 
2 small potatoes
2.5 tbsp yellow onion, diced (I used a big whole yellow onion.. yums!)
3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to season
1/4 tsp allspice (I didn't have any.. so I used a pinch of mixed herbs.. otherwise just omit)

1. Peel and dice potatoes into small chunks. Put diced potaotes in a pot of boiling water and cook till soft. Drain water and mash them up while hot. Set aside.

2. Fry diced onions with some butter till brown and set aside.

3. Mix minced beef, minced pork, egg (I so totally missed this ingredient! but honestly, I felt it made no difference to the outcome ^^), mashed potatoes, onions, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper to taste and allspice (I personally think this is optional ^^) till well combined. Shape meat mixture into rounds or balls (I had no problem shaping/"glue-ing" the meatballs despite not adding egg.. it didn't break apart at all ^^). 

4. In a non-stick frying pan, heat the rest of the butter on MEDIUM heat and fry meatballs till nicely brown and cooked. Don't leave it too long without turning! Turn, turn, turn! (You know I'm a hopeless "fry-er", right? So is it any wonder I burnt my meatballs too???! ^^||)

5. If you can't fry (like me), opt to bake your meatballs at 200C for about 15-20 minutes! You'll be happy you did that! Just don't forget to grease/line your baking dish. And if you like, spray/brush the meatballs with some butter/cooking oil. (^^)

I cannot tell a lie.. the meatballs are DELICIOUS!!! And yes! they taste just like the ones from IKEA!!! despite my forgetting to add the precious egg and omission of allspice ^^ It tastes REAL and exceptionally GOOD! (^^)

Just for the record, the pan-fried meatballs tastes slightly better (despite my burning them) due to it being browned and crispy all over compared to the baked ones. Anyways, if you prefer the baked meatballs a little bit more crisp, you could do a quick pan-fry just before serving to get them browned. But if you are planning to add the meatballs into spaghetti sauce, the baked meatballs are absolutely perfect! (^^)

Well, I never expected meatballs to be so easy to make (except the frying part ^^||) and it turned out really well too! We love it! This is an absolute keeper! (^^)