Steamed Tofu with Minced Meat

My initial plan was to bake some meat balls. Then, I saw a blog post at Babe in the City on this steamed tofu and thought why not since I had some soft tofu. I marinated my minced pork with ShaoHsing rice wine, sesame oil, salt, white pepper, garlic powder, chopped carrots, ginger and scallions and some cornstarch water. Then, I cut out the soft tofu, lay it on a steaming tray and used a melon scoop to scoop a hole in the middle of each tofu. The scooped out tofu I added them into the minced meat mixture (don't want to waste you see) and mixed it well.

Microwaved Ground Pork

While I was at a ladies gathering, I noticed that my girls loved this pork dish. Lily made this dish with a Chinese preserved vegetable and she told me it was very easy, just used the microwave or put it in the rice cooker 5 minutes before the rice is cooked. This is one familiar home cook dishes in Malaysian households as my mom used to make this dish too, along with the steamed eggs. You can also find it at the place where they sell porridge or economy rice. But for some reason, I just never make it, perhaps finding steaming takes too much time. Anyway, now I learned that it takes 4 minutes in a microwave, I have no reason not to make it anymore. Since I don't have the Chinese preserved vegetable, I substituted it with salted turnips/ "chai por" and used my seasonings since I couldn't remember what Lily told me already (she was busy cooking and spoke so fast that it just went in my right ear and came out my left ear, LOL!). Got to say, it turned out delicious and very flavorful. "Chai Por" is a very good substitute.

Tofu with Ground/Minced Pork Asian Style

This is one of the common household dishes. Most Malaysian Chinese families should have their own version. I cooked this dish often for my family and I was surprised I haven't posted this recipe before. This is a good one dish meal too but often time I would serve it with another Asian green with or without a chicken herbal soup. I often cook a minimum of two dishes, one make up of protein/seafood and the other of fiber and about 2 soups in a week, one is herbal, and the other one can be of anything.

Spicy Eggplant with Ground Pork

This is one of Malaysian favorite dishes. I love eggplant stir-fry with ground pork and in spicy chilies. Yet, my hubby dislike the taste and texture of eggplant, thus I haven't bought an eggplant for ages. However, recently while reading Rita's blog, she mentioned that to soften her eggplant, she just sprinkle it with some olive oil and salt and bake it in the oven. Now, why I haven't thought of that? I used to stir-fry the eggplant in oil to soften it and found it very oily because the eggplant will soak up all the oil. But with the new knowledge, I went to buy an eggplant. I had this dish for two days and it was yummy!

Ground Pork Patties

I had some ground pork at home and was wondering what to make of it because I just used some to stir-fry tofu the previous night. Was thinking of making deep-fry wontan but my girl was having sore throat so that was a bad idea. Then, probably baked meat balls but was too lazy to make a sauce for it. Then, why not pan-fry some pork patties as this would be easier. So, I started seasoning my meat and let it marinated. Wow, this turned out to be so delicious! It's slightly crispy on the edges, moist inside and so flavorful. It will be suitable as a hamburger patties too. Next time try this Asian fusion pork patties for your Summer grilling party ya. It was really good that I quickly pen down my marinade ingredients. I will give an estimate recipe so that you would know which one to put more or less. I will certainly make this again.

Braised Pork in 5-spice Powder and Mantau

I served my Chinese steamed buns/Mantau 饅頭 with braised pork. This is a recipe shared by Josh (Gan55) in 2005. You can read more from my other link here.

Still in the pot waiting for dinner time to arrive. Imagine my mantau soaking up this deliciously thick gravy.

I will share his recipe here with you.

Bakuteh

Some like the Singaporean version of white pepper bakuteh (pork ribs soup), some like the Malaysian version of dark herbal taste bakuteh. As for me, I prefer the Malaysian version and thus I decided to give Tean's Gourmet Bakuteh a try. I bought few packets from mytasteofasia.com as I hardly shop at Denver anymore. Oh yeah, MyTOA is going to close down its' business for the unknowing time being and the last day to take your order is Nov. 26th. So, go grab whatever you want before it's too late (if you haven't done so already!).



This is how the packet looks like. Overall, I still prefer Yew Chian Haw and A1 bak kut teh premix. If you are buying this, don't follow the salt amount indicated in the packet because it will turn out too salty.

Sweet and Sour Pork Meat Balls

I love to make my own meat balls. Is it just not for soup, sometimes I make it to cook dinner like in this case sweet and sour meat balls. Baked meat balls are good as afternoon snack. But for dinner, I wanted to add some vegetables to go with it to make it more balance and colorful.

Making Pork Meat Balls:
1 lb. ground/minced pork
Season with salt, white pepper, sesame oil and Worcestershire sauce.

Method:

Mixed the above together and stir with a spoon until the mixture turned gluey and sticked together. Either use your hands or a melon scoop to create pork balls. Place on alum. foil lined baking sheet and bake in preheated 350'F oven for 15 minutes or until cooked. Set aside to cool.

Sweet and Sour Sauce:
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar (or any type of vinegar)
2 Tbsp. tomato ketcup
1/4 tsp. salt

*Mix the above in a bowl, stir well and set aside*

2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 red onion, cut
1/2 carrot, sliced
1/2 zucchini, cut

Method:

1. Heat wok with oil. When heated, add in garlic and zucchini, fry until zucchini is almost half cooked, add in carrot and onion. Fry for a while. Add in pork balls. Stir-fry until pork balls are heated.

2. Add in the sauce mixture. Stir to coat well with the pork balls. Stir for a second and dish out to serve.

Black Pepper Pork

Another one of my easy home cook dishes: Black pepper pork with onion and red bell pepper.

Ingredients:

1 boneless pork chop, sliced thinly
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced thinly
1/2 yellow onion, sliced thinly
2 tsp. LKK black pepper sauce
1/2 tsp. black soy sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
A little water

Method:

1. First, marinate the pork with a little salt, chinese cooking wine, white pepper and cornstarch.

2. Heat up wok with oil. When smoking, add in pork slices, stir-fry until pork is no longer pink. Add in onion and bell pepper. Stir-fry for 2 mins. Add in sauces and sugar and a little water. Stir to blend well and serve hot.

Note:
Of course you can substitute red bell pepper with other colors bell pepper. I like red because it's sweeter.


I am sharing this dish with Culinarty's Original Recipe blog event. Check it out every month on the week of 15th for the round up.

How to Make Ground Meat from Scratch

I decided to make this post so that my daughters will know it is actually very easy to make your own ground meat at home. I figure if I don't show them, they will not know when they grow up. I noticed a lot of people only know how to purchase ground meat at the supermarket and really have no idea how to make it at home. So, if you haven't gotten a clue before, after reading my post, you will know! :D Of course I learned it from my mother when I was little, used to help her made ground meat in her kitchen.


First you will need a sharp Chinese cleaver. And then of course ground meat of your choice, pork, beef, chicken, etc. You will have to cut the meat into small pieces and then use your cleaver to chop on it. Just chop through the meat, flip it and chop again, flip the meat again and chop again until you have worked all your muscles. In the olden days, the butcher used two big cleavers to chop ground meat for his customers. This is really a good hand exercise for anyone who wants to try. Haha...


My ground pork is done after multiple times of flipping the meat and chopping. Now it's ready for seasoning for my pork balls noodle soup later.


Serving up my homemade pork balls with glass noodle (tang hoon) soup!


Who wants to try my pork ball with Thai chili? :P

I cooked my broth with 2 chicken drumsticks, 1 baked chicken cavity, 1/4 cup of yellow beans, shrimp shells that I saved, dried Chinese mushroom stems (I saved this for making broth too), 1 whole large yellow onion and 3 carrots hence my broth turned out very sweet and flavorful.

Twice Cooked Pork

I bought some family size pork recently. It turned out some pieces had more fat than the other. I noticed some with three layers of fat too. Normally I would cut away all the fat, but how to cut when it had three layers of fat in between? So, instead of spent too much time slicing away the fat, I just cut them into pieces. Since these were some fatty pork, I thought of preparing them like in twice cooked pork.


First, I boiled them in boiling water until cooked. Then, drained and set aside. As for the ingredients, I used red bell pepper, scallion, dried red chili, garlic, LKK premium dark soy sauce, soy sauce, sugar, white pepper and sesame oil.


Can I say YUMMY!

Do you know what this is good with, a bottle of ice cold beer!

Triangle Spring Rolls

Evy has been asking for my seaweed spring roll. Every time she sees my blog and saw the seaweed picture at the title of my blog, she has been asking, "Mommy, I want to eat that, can you make it again?". After numerous requests from her, I finally made her some. Reason being I tried to stay away from deep-fried food if I can, deep-fried food is delicious but can't really eat it too often. This time instead of the wontan wrapper, I used the spring roll wrapper and make it into the triangle shape. I provided a step-by-step pictures guide for those who doesn't know how it was made. Remember to seal it with cornstarch+water mixture (it acts as a glue).

White Peppered Pork

I tried Cooking Ninja's White Peppered Pork some time back. Made one change. Instead of pork slices, I used ground pork. I made it into thin patties and pan-fried it until cooked. Looks like pork slices right? If I didn't say, would you know it's made from ground pork?

Verdict: Not bad at all. Thanks Cooking Ninja for sharing. :o)

Stir-fry Lotus Root with Snow Peas & Ground Pork

What did I do with the extra lotus root?

I have been seeing stir-fry lotus root in some food blogs and thus I was thinking why not? The above was the first for me because I mainly bought it to make soup. Coincidentally I also bought some snow peas and had some marinated ground pork at home, so why not? The one fool proof way of cooking this will be using oyster sauce, can't go wrong with this and I didn't want to be too adventurous for my first time trying a new dish (shush...picky eater hubby here!).

Verdict: The lotus root is crunchy and actually quite tasty.

I would also like to thanks my girlfriend V at East Meets West Kitchen for awarding me with this Schmooze Award. Not sure whether I have done enough schmooze, but I gladly accept any award throw at me! LOL!


" The POWER OF SCHMOOZE AWARD is the award for bloggers who effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don't limit their visits only to the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship." and so I would like to pass this award to:
More than Words
Kooky Culinary
Food Lover's Journey
Daily Affairs

Potstickers/ Guotie

I made Guotie last week, which is a pan-fried version of Jiaozi. In U.S., we called this potstickers. I have been deciding on whether to deep-fry it, boil it or pan-fry this little dumplings and ended out with pan-frying them. I think it's healthier than deep-fry and so much quicker too (since I can do a bunch of them in a non-stick pan). I love the crispy skin at the bottom and soft top skin with moist and juicy filling. Normally we serve Guotie with vinegar soy sauce and chili.

I made two dipping sauces for my potstickers. The top one is sweet vinegar soy sauce with chili oil and chopped scallion. The bottom one is salty vinegar soy sauce with sliced gingers. Of course I also have Sriracha hot chili sauce as an additional dipping sauce (not shown). Got to have my chili right? :)

BBQ Ribs

My experiment with oven BBQ ribs:

Cut the slab into half and rub it with spice rub. Put it in the disposable aluminum tin and let it marinate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator, covered.

Then, bake in 300'F oven covered with foil for 3 hours. After that, take it out and spread it with your favorite BBQ sauce and bake uncovered for an additional 1 hour. When done, broil in 500'F oven for 5 minutes. Spread the top of the ribs with additional BBQ sauce or dripping from the pan before serving.

Verdict: Surprisingly tender and moist, but not fall off the bone soft.

Claypot Beef Rendang

I used this instant Claypot premix to make my beef rendang for Evy's birthday. This packet was given to me by Lily (thanks Lily :*) because I told her I never tried this brand before, she said it's good and I should try it. :D This packet comes with everything, the coconut powder, the rendang paste and the desiccated coconut to put in the end. Very easy all in one.



I totally agreed. This premix is delicious. I added kaffir lime leaves at the end for extra flavor. Yummy, will sure buy this brand the next time I'm in Denver! :)

CALL OUT To Novice Baker:
-----------------------------------
YES! you can make this beef rendang too!! :D

S_ter Babi Assam 2 (Tamarind Pork)

I decided to try a new dish today. This S_ter babi assam has been on my to try list since it received rave reviews. I used lean pork instead of the pork belly and omitted all the veggies since I don't have any. I omitted the light soy sauce also since the taucheo and oyster sauce are salty enough. This dish is indeed delicious and will sure to make it again. Even my picky eater hubby who is skeptical about trying any new dish, finished this up. Thanks S_ter! :)

Recipe can be found under Asian Red Meat at KC.

Adabi Beef Rendang

I got a few packets of Adabi rendang paste while in Malaysia last year, however this was the first time I cooked it with beef. I cooked it with chicken other times. Can I say YUMMY! I love this rendang paste and will sure save my last packet for beef.


This is how the packet looks like. I got it at Giant supermarket in M'sia.



This is my finished product, soft tender beef with excellent gravy.

By the way, all the oil you see on top came from the coconut milk. I didn't add any oil to cook the rendang paste. The oil came up when the gravy thicken. Got to say can't eat this too often because I used the whole can of coconut cream!! Cream okay not milk!! *faint* But it was so delicious even my daughter loved it.

Josh's Braised Pork Belly

I bought a piece of fatty pork from my local supermarket the other day thinking of making Lily's roasted pork belly (siew bak). And then I came across Josh's braised pork belly and I thought this would be best suited for my wontan mee. He provided step-by-step pictures in his recipe so that was easy to follow.


Braising the fatty pork.


Dish out to cool before slicing.


I added tau kwa (deep-fried hard tofu) in the last hour of braising as well.

Verdict: Very delicious, the pork fat just melted in your mouth and the seasoning was just right, very flavorful. Hence, the tau kwa was also very flavorful. He said you can add hard boiled eggs in it as well.

Note:
You can get his recipe at kitchencapers.net under Asian Red Meat. I would cut down the oil to 3 Tbp. instead of the stated 6 Tbp. next time I make it. Because while making this dish, I kept scooping out the oil on top. :P