Square Balls, Siew Cheong a.k.a. Roasted Sausages Sar Hor Fun

What i really missed eating is a bowl of silky soft kway teow/sar hor fun with Square Pork Balls and Siew Cheong a.k.a. Roasted Sausages.  For all the years that i have been here, i have not been able to get hold of these silky, soft kway teow/sar hor fun, fresh or dried.  The closest to this would be a packet of instant rice noodle/pho with artificial chicken or beef by OH RICEY or Pho Bo/Ga by VIFUN..  Strangely this noodles are not available in large packets with no seasonings and i have bought so many packets hoping that the next packet would be the one i prefer but to no success so far.  The ones that are available are not as silky and they are thicker but it has to be it when there is a craving for a good bowl of hot soup noodle.  If anyone reading this post, find these large packets of thin, silky rice noodles please do share.

Square Pork Balls

If you are older or as old as i am, it is better not to make promises, either you forget to keep it or multi-tasking is harder and chores are taking too much time to complete.  Anyway, i did try posting it sometime back and somehow it was so frustrating as the whole post just vanished without a trace, all my effort for nothing but frustration.  This is not an excuse, a promise is a promise and it has to be kept however or whatever and here is how to make these Square Pork Balls.  I do not mean to confuse the name of this recipe, it is so strange, balls are always round or olive-shaped but these are square, so, since these are to eaten and not to play with, it is fine to be square, agreed?????

Pineapple Pork

Pineapple is a remarkable delicious tropical fruit,  it is not only sweet, it also offers many benefits to our health.  It may be one of the most healthful foods available today, valuable for easing indigestion, arthritis or sinustis.  One of the juiciest fruits that is absolutely a delight to eat and the best part is that it is loaded with nutrients and beneficial enzymes, which ensures that you not only have a healthy body but also a glowing complexion.

Cooking with fruit is a great way to make sure your family gets their recommended daily requirement and this dish is one of them.  The family licked the platter clean and if the pineapple skin could be eaten it would have been devoured too.

Smile Pau/Bao

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile, even though it's breaking
When there are clouds, in the sky, you'll get by
If you smile, through your fear and sorrow
Smile, and there'll be tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through
If you'll....


Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear, may be ever so near,
That's the time, you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile,
If you'll just....


Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear, may be ever so near,
That's the time, you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile,
If you'll just....


Smile

I hope you all enjoyed this video and sang along with the lyrics as the lyrics of yesteryears are so meaningful.  Smile is a very powerful tool, even a pau/bao that smiles will make your day.  It is easier to make me SMILE but not so easy to make the pau/bao smile.  It took me 2 days and many paus/baos after, to be able to make them Smiling.  It is not the recipe, any recipe will work if we are able to recognize the function of each ingredients in the recipe.  I have edited this recipe and omitted the wheat starch and replaced it with pau flour as i have found that too much starch makes the dough tasted gummy and stick to the teeth.  The wheat starch write-up is for your knowledge only.

Red Fermented Bean Curd/Lam Yee Char Siew

Everytime i cook with red fermented bean curd/lam yee, i was asked, what is it?  First we must know what the original Fermented bean curd also called sufu, fermented tofu, tofu cheese, or preserved tofu/cantonese fu yee/腐乳 is?.  It is a form of processed, preserved tofu,  the ingredients  typically are soybeans, salt, rice wine and sesame oil or vinegar.   Red fermented bean curd/南乳(Cantonese - Lam Yee)(Chinese  紅腐乳/南乳 pinyin hongfuru/nanru), is fermented bean curd incorporated with red yeast rice for a deep-red color.   Now that we know what they are and what ingredients are used to make these 2 types of fermented bean curd, do you know that these humble cubes can impart distinctively thickened flavor and aroma to any dish cooked with them?. 


I have been making Char Siew following this easy recipe and everyone who followed this recipe gave a very good review, but i am always game to try something new.  I was intrigued with this new recipe as EGGS are used together with Lam Yee in the marinate, I had to give this recipe a try.  The Char Siew was so well flavored, full aroma of Lam Yee and the sauce so thickened - must be the presence of the egg.  I had to share with all of you.

Dongpo Pagoda With Mui Choy

This weekend would be the last weekend to celebrate the Chinese New Year. as the 15th day falls on Feb. 6th 2012  What celebration??????  What is in store for my family and friends tomorrow would be "eating" of course and since it coincides with Super Bowl XLVI, the male friends and family will be glued to the TV enjoying the beers and all the good eats - you know what they are - chips and dips, buffalo wings etc.  We, the asians, wives and friends will be in the kitchen preparing our banquet and this is one of the dishes that i will be serving. 

Belly Pork Roast/Siew Yoke - Step-By-Step



I have been getting too many questions as to why the cracklings are not so crackling although they follow my recipe to the 'T".  So, i have decided to create this Step-By-Step and hope that the cracklings will crackle like it should. 


There are many factors to achieve a good 'Siew Yoke/Roasted Pork Belly".  First is to get a good piece of belly pork.  Choose one that is 2 inches in height which is quite difficult as the Asian stores here tend to leave a lot of meat to the ribs thus leaving a very thin piece of belly pork.  Secondly, choose a piece which is level in height,  an uneven level piece will have to be adjusted with aluminium foil so that the skin will be level while broiling/grilling. As suggested in my previous recipes Roast Belly Pork , Roast Belly Pork II and Roast Belly Pork III, the marinated piece of belly pork would like a vacation in the fridge, uncovered, overnight to dry out the skin.  This process will allow shorter crackling time.  I have now become lazy and found that i can achieve good crackling without drying.  So, you can omit the vacation process. 

An important tip:  When you scald the meat, make sure that the water is boiling hot when you put to meat to cook.  This is to remove scum and the piggy smell.  If the meat is thick, you can par-cook the meat by boiling it longer and this will ensure that the meat will cook through when the crackling is done.

The oven used for broiling/grilling has to be considered.  Here i have chosen the wall unit oven of which most of you will have in your kitchen, but, i have used the grill function on my Microwave oven and the Turbo Oven and made pretty good Siew Yoke.  If you are using the Turbo Oven, use the lower rack so that the meat is furthest away from the fan and half way through the grilling, put a piece of aluminium foil under the meat so that the meat will not cook further and dry out.


I hope i have covered all the tips and now get started to crackle...............

Brined Pork Chop Dinner

Thanksgiving is around the corner and i have been so caught up with whatever??????? and you would not believe me when i tell you that i have not even bought 'The Turkey' - a must have for Thanksgiving.  Renee and Alexander are very optimistic that they might win a turkey AGAIN this year in their school Turkey Pokey.  They confidently told me the other day when i mentioned that i have not bought the turkey yet - they said - Popo don't buy, we MIGHT come home with one from the school's Turkey Trot.  I was so happy that they showed so much enthusiasm, i love all three of my grandchildren as they are such good kids - The chinese saying or rather my saying - "Ah po has no naughty grandchildren until they lau kei".  So, for all those people who have not bought the turkey, please do so today cos these frozen birds take awhile to thaw and the clock is ticking fast to Thanksgiving Day.  In the meantime, we all still have to dine and since the mind has been refreshed to BRINING,  i would like to share a BRINED PORK CHOP dinner which has never failed to please every member of the family including yours truly.  I have never cooked pork chops without brining since i learned how to and you too can learn about it from HERE. 


The recipe i am sharing is from Alton Brown,  the  regular recipe stated 1 cup salt but I cut it down to 3/4 cup you could even reduce the salt down to 1/2 cup but go ahead and use the 1 cup if you wish, remember kosher salt ONLY or you will not be able to eat the chops, and only brine the pork for 2 hours, NO MORE than that! If you HAVE to use table salt, use half of 3/4 cups.You can use less than 5 large thick-cut pork chops or you might be able to fit more pork chops than five, just make certain that the meat is completely covered with the brine.

BTW, when The Turkey is bought and thawed, learn how to BRINE it from HERE

Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Ribs

There are many right ways to make BBQ Ribs and it's all up to you and don't let anyone tell you that it isn't right.  After all the best pork BBQ rib is the one you like best. So if you want them fall off the bone tender then make them that way. You can put sauce on them or not, you can make your BBQ Ribs spicy hot, or sticky and sweet, however, whatever.

I, for one does not like to buy store bought sauces and being part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce Southern Style for sampling.  When i received it, it was the time of the week where i am cleaned out of fresh ingredients. I had no ingredients and no time too, i was kept busy making mooncakes but i had to prepare dinner.  This bottle of barbecue sauce was beakoning - cook with me!, cook with me!.  So, i defrosted some pork ribs

and took out the SLOW COOKER.  Now all i needed was an onion, yes, there was an onion all alone in the basket.  Thank goodness it was still good, you know how onions die on you fast. These 3 ingredients, pork ribs, onions and barbecue sauce, went into the slow cooker - set it and forget it.  Dinner was served 3 hours later with the best tasting ribs ever.  The sauce was just right, it did not need any adjusting, just have alot of napkins during dinner.

 

Yau Yee Cheng Chee Yoke/Steamed Ground Pork With Dried Squid

This dish is without a doubt in any MOM's repertoire, asian moms that is.  Steaming ground pork and adding whatever to enhance the ground pork has been cooked and served since time immemorial.  This  was classified as homecooking but no more, it has appeared in the menu of chinese restaurants and has no dimarcation, the rich, poor, young or old, at some point of their lives must have encountered tasting this dish.  Busy MOMs love cooking this dish as it takes a very short time to prepare especially nowadays when pork comes already ground and there is no need to start a steamer to steam, just leave the uncooked prepared dish on top of the rice while it is on its last stage of cooking.

East Meets West- Zucchini with Pork and Rice Stuffing

This is a guest post from Reese Darragh of The New Art Of Baking. A Malaysian living in the United States, not to mention a huge fan of Aunt Lily’s blog.

My dad put in 4 zucchini plants in the garden for me this year after I started dabbling in homemade zucchini relish last summer. The relish came out so good that dad thought I will be delighted to have more zucchini in the garden for more relish this year. The problem with zucchini is when you have a bumper crop. Boy do they grow!

After making what seems to be like 20lbs of zucchini relish last week, enough is enough. The next thing to do is to use them for dinner. Something I have never tried is making stuffed zucchini, the American way. See, my all American family have different idea compared to us, Malaysian, when it comes to stuffing vegetables. They don’t subscribe to Yong Tau Foo, so trying to stuff the zucchini with fish paste is strictly out of the question. I tried last year with eggplants from our garden and ended up eating all of them on my own.

It hit me yesterday to come up with an east meets west style of stuffing zucchini. I know for a fact that they love American Chinese food, pork fried rice in particular. Plus I really do not like tomato sauce with zucchini, like most recipe I found in cookbooks have suggested. So, why not make something entirely my own. The verdict: Everyone loves it! They went gaga over the fresh zucchini, pork fried rice and cheese combo. If your zucchini plant goes crazy on you this year like mine, give this recipe a try.

Char Siew Pork Ribs

The Char Siew posting in this blog is one of the most sort after and from the comments, i know that everyone who have tried making Char Siew with this recipe liked it alot.  My family always give me the thumb up when Char Siew Pork or Char Siew Pork Ribs are served.  Make sure you have a huge pile of napkins ready cos these Char Siew Pork Ribs are so finger-licking good . Basically, the marinate is the same, the only difference is the choice of meat, one is just shoulder/belly pork while this are Ribs be it Spare or Baby Back..

Easy Popiah

Now that i have made Fresh Popiah Skin, i can't wait to try tasting them.  Can't have a traditional Popiah Meal without the necessary ingredients and a good Popiah Meal require a long lists of fresh ingredients,  I found a huge round cabbage, a pack of snow peas, 2 carrots in the fridge.  There was pork loin in the freezer.  I have been noted to fill my freezer or freezers with food, so if we are to be snowed in for a month, we will not go hungry.  The rest of the ingredients i found in the pantry and i was eating Easy Popiah in a Jiffy.  Do not allow the lack of fresh ingredients hinder you to have a good popiah meal.  Look into your pantry, canned bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, etc are good ingredients, let your imagination run wild, it can even be the kitchen sink and it will taste good.  Make it a vegetarian meal, forget about the pork, and if you want it to be more nutritious, sliced egg omelette is a good ingredient and it brightens the vegetables and kick it up a knotch.

Garlicky Belly Pork

Have you ever eaten or cooked with pork belly? Pork belly is usually referred to the belly region of a pig which is from the underside. Pork Bellies are more commonly known as Bacon and now, when you think of all the delicious bacon recipes, you know where it comes from  Eating Belly pork gives you an amazing textural experience, a feeling of flavor oozing in  mouth  You have a nice layer of meat, a nice layer of fat, another nice layer of meat, another nice layer of fat, and when you cook it properly,  this combination of textures together with its rich, juicy loveliness will satiate your palate.

This cut of meat is enormously popular in chinese and korean cuisine.


Not many pork cuts can withstand long braising like the belly and roasting is popular, giving The Chinese Siew Yoke/Roast Pork no introduction.  You will know that i am an ardent fan of this cut by the list of recipes i have cooked.





Dongpo Rou

Lo Sam Chung Yoke/Red Cooked Belly Pork

Mui Choy Kau Yoke

Homemade Streaky Bacon/Lap Yoke

Claypot Belly Pork With Salted Fish

Tau Yue Bak

Roast Belly Pork

Hakka Char Yoke

Braised Belly Pork With Salted Fish and Tofu

Woo Tau Kow Yoke

Red Cooked Pork

The recipe below has the least of ingredients but full of flavor.  Use more garlic if you wish and adjust taste with more sugar if the light soya sauce used is too salty.

Dongpo Rou

The dish is named after the revered Song Dynasty poet, artist and calligrapher Su Dongpo. The meat which is a slab of pork belly which has to be extraordinarily fatty (around a 50-50 fat-meat ratio), and thus extraordinarily flavorful. A good Dongpo rou is not greasy, but rather melts on the tongue. and it is so tender due to the lengthy cooking time (3-1/2 hours) that you can quite easily pry it away in small pieces with chopsticks. A pressure cooker shortened the cooking time tremendously.

We should join the Hangzhou people of "Su Dongpo's' era and cook this dish in honor of him.

This is my version of the popular dish "Dongpo Rou"