The Food Canon : Chinese New Year

Cooking for Chinese New Year 2022

Chinese New Year Monday, January 31, 2022

Another CNY is here and here are my cooking notes. This will be the third celebration happening under the shadow of the pandemic. This means that, sadly, I won't be able to celebrate with the Wongs for the third year running at our family home in Petaling Jaya. And with the restriction to 5 unique visitors per day, this will be a quiet CNY here in Singapore.

With limited guests, this also means that we can plan for sit-down dinners and lunches. The concession is that there will be a lot cooking and trying out various festive dishes.

What am I planning to do?

As you will know, the plans have to be made weeks ago and the marketing done beforehand. The menu will keep changing, even up to today. Tweaks being made to ensure an efficient (and delicious) laying out of dishes for successive meals. At the same time, I hope to recreate some our family traditions as CNY meals. Chai Buay or Choi Keok is a must by the 2nd day, the famous Hokkien leftover dish which I have blogged about here.

Chai Buay

I have already start preparing the stocks. The "supreme stock" is for the sauces and the general stock for the soups. The supreme stock is cooked from a whole kampung chicken, half a kg of lean pork and a piece of Chinese or Jinhua ham. It went straight into the pressure cooker and simmered for 2 hours. Then it was finely strained and put into the fridge. The layer of fat will congeal on the top nicely and I will just scoop it up (reserve the lard/fats for other dishes). See the photo below. From here I have the base stock to make the sauces I need.

The congealed fats can
be easily removed

I was given some giant mushrooms and after a day of dehydrating, it was braised with other smaller mushrooms. I only use some salt and sugar. This gives me flexibility to use the mushrooms for dark soy-based or clear dishes. I plan to serve the large mushrooms in various dishes, including abalones, braised pork belly and broccoli. I will blog the mushroom dish later.

I have grown some beautiful and tasty Japanese Tang-oh (see photo below) in my hydroponic set up. I will blog about how one may grow vegetables at home in another article. I plan to use them in a clear soup. Tang-Oh hardly needs any cooking. Add them when you are about to serve the soup.

Tasty Japanes Tang-oh

I have some large prawns in the freezer. Some of them are gifts. I also bought 2 kg of some large ones in the market where prices seem to be least affected by CNY: the Geylang Serai Market. They went for $18 per kg! Following my Mum's tradition it will be cooked "Har Lok" style. I have blogged the recipe here.

As for the chicken dish, the usual steam chicken (45 minutes) is simple to do. Use a "corn-fed free-running" chicken. I have made the chilli sauce and ginger sauce. My Mum's version for the ginger sauce: pound the garlic and gingers coarsely (I use 3 types: blue, normal and young). Heat up some oil and in a small flame cook the ginger paste for about 5 minutes. Add some sugar and oyster sauce. Switch off the fire and add some chopped coriander leaves.

Another chicken dish will be the green curry chicken. Yes, this is Nonya and follows my wife and mother-in-law or the Teos' tradition. I will blog the recipe but it is very similar to Nonya curry chicken. Green chillies will be used along with lengkuas (blue ginger) and daun limau perut (kaffir lime leaves).

And of course, last but not leat, the old favourite, Lo Hon Chai or Chap Chai. Following my mums style, it is cooked in white fermented beancurd (fuyi). Check the recipe here.

I hope to put up an article with photos of the dishes. Stay tuned.

And whether you are buying in or cooking your own CNY dishes, do enjoy those moments with you family and God's richest blessings be with you!

This multilevel steamer is very useful.
You can cook the stock below and
steam stuff at the same time

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Roast Pork (Cantonese Style) using the Anova Precision Oven

Chinese Wednesday, November 10, 2021

I have been making roast pork Cantonese style from time to time (check the posts here) and I have settled into a method which I have found to be easy and consistent. My aim is to have the meat cook just right and juicy while the skin is crisped. There are various ways of roasting pork belly and of course, a regular oven can be used.

My mother-in-law bought an Anova Precision Oven recently. This oven suited this method to the tee. I won't need to use vacuum bags and I can do everything from start to finish in the oven. I will share here my cooking notes. Down the line, I will be experimenting different ways of using this oven to cook, for example, using the SV probe and so on.

The steps in a nutshell -

blanch

poke holes

add marinate

sous-vide cooking (72˚C , 5 hours)

grilling (200˚C, 10 minutes)

Blanching removes impurities and make it easier for the skin to be poked. The SV stage serves to purpose: cook the pork and dry out the skin. The Anova oven allows for cooking in stages. This means I can set the grilling stage to start immediately after the SV stage. But the oven does not stop after the timer goes to zero. So, I prefer to initiate the grilling stage manually and be around to watch over it.

Ingredients

Slab of pork belly, skin on of course, 2 kg

3 tbsp of table salt

1 tbsp of sugar

1 tbsp of white pepper

1 tsp of five-spiced powder

1. Blanch the slab of pork in boiling water for 10 minutes.

2. Using fork, poke holes. I slant the fork at an angle so that I don't accidentally poke all the way through. If this happens, water will ooze out of the meat during the grilling process, making skin crisping harder.

Move the fork into the skin at an angle

3. Lay a foil on the tray. Put the pork skin side down and rub the marinate into the meat.

4. Put the slab of pork, skin side up, on the tray and fold up the foils. Place tray at the lowest rack. You can set the oven using the app or on the panel. Set: Sous Vide On, 72˚C, No steam, Heating from rear, Timer: 5 hours (see below).

Sous Vide Stage

4. Then grill at 200˚C for about ten minutes. Use a spoon or chopstick to tap the skin. Some burned black spots are okay as you can scrap them off later with a knife.

Grilling Stage

After the grilling stage

Let the meat cool off, slice and enjoy. If you did it right, the meat should look intact (not breaking apart). I normally slice of the underside meat which is firmer. Use the sliced meat to cook with veg for another disk. Your roast pork pieces should be flat at the bottom and able to stand upright, making for a nice presentation.

This roasted pork should be eaten at room temperature. It keeps well. If eating it one or two days later, just grill it again to warm it up or to crisp u the skin.

You can also stay fry it with garlic using the recipe here.

You can use the roast pork to stir fry in garlic and black sauce.

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Auntie Ruby's Jiu Hu Char

Chinese New Year Sunday, February 21, 2021

Growing up, we use to have a pair of pet rabbits. I can still remember the smell as the rabbits gnawed away the lettuce. Sometimes, these lettuce became rotted in parts. I grew up with some aversion to the smell of lettuce.

That unchanged very quickly when I realised how delicious ji hu char is when wrapped in iceberg lettuce. It is a match made in heaven, especially when a bit of sambal belachan is added to it.

Jiu Hu Char always make an appearance during our reunion dinner. I use to wonder why my Mum only cooked it as a festive dish. After all, turnip (or "bangkwang") was very cheap and still is. When I start cooking it, I realise that it needs work in the cutting and the frying. It is truly one of those recipes where cheap and ordinary ingredients are elevated into a gourmet dish through careful preparations and good cooking techniques.

I have here below a scribbling of my Mum's recipe which my cousin passed to me. Her "secrets", if you can call it as such is to add the fried shallots and a combination of stir-frying and braising the turnip. If you are experience with this dish, you can figure out what she is saying. In any case, I will give my experimented recipe below. I have simplified some steps.

By the way, the same method can be used for Popiah or Kueh Pie Tee filling, minus the jiu hu (cuttlefish).

Some scribbles of my Mum's recipe. I usually skip the step where the minced meat is seasoned as I reckon that it will be well seasoned when cooked with the rest of ingredients in the wok.

Ingredients

2 medium size or 1 large turnip
20 shallots or equivalent amount of store bought fried shallots
dried cuttlefish strips (from two pieces of cuttlefish if you are cutting it yourself)
1 carrot
6 dried Chinese mushrooms or fresh shiitake mushrooms
1/2 tsp dark black sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp of soy sauce
200g minced pork
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp of white pepper
300 ml water or more

Serve with:
Coriander leaves
Fresh iceberg lettuce

Slice the shallots thinly and deep fry till crispy. You can also buy ready-made fried shallots. Choose those which looks crippled and fresh.
Rehydrate the dried mushrooms. Cut into thin strips.
Cut the turnip and carrot into thin strips. If you have a good mandolin, use it. See photos. Slice into thin slices (about 2 mm thick) and then use a good knife to cut the strips.
Heat up a wok with the oil. Add the minced pork meat, mushroom strips, cuttlefish strips, soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark sauce and pepper. Stir fry for about 2 minutes.
Then add the turnip and carrot strips. Add half of the fried shallots. Increase the fire and stir fry till the turnips caramelise (turnip has a lot of sugar) and the wok feels sticky. This will take at least 20 minutes or more.
Then add the water in batches, stir-frying all the time. Lower the flame and simmer for another 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. The turnip should be soft and moist.
Serve it warm. Garnish with the rest of the fried shallots and coriander leaves.

This dish needs some effort but it is very delicious. Serve it with ice berg lettuce.

Lead photo: This is a fanciful way if serving the Jiu Hu Char on some special wasabi lettuce grown in my hydroponic system.

Using mandolin to slice the turnip evenly and thinly

Then use knife to slice into strips

Patiently stir-fry the turnip before adding water and leaving it to braise in a simmer

A wonderful batch of Jiu Hu Char

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Braised Boneless Pork Knee (Yin Tai)

Chinese Tuesday, February 16, 2021

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Lo Hon Chai (Chap Chai)

Chinese New Year Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Lo Hon Chai is a regular feature at our Chinese New Year reunion table. I remember that, being a vegetarian dish, it was prepared in the past for those who were abstaining from meat during the first two days of the new year.

I used to pity those who took this option, considering all the other delicious meaty dishes on the table. As I grew older, I have come to appreciate how satisfying a bowl of this can be – all on its own – accompanied by a steaming bowl of rice and a small plate of Sambal Belacan.

My Mum's version involves a braised cabbage dish, using wong bok (Napa cabbage). It will be better to use the smaller younger cabbage, which is less green in colour and sweeter. The recipe can be simplified for daily dinners or enriched with protein added through fried bean curd, mushrooms, and lily buds to become a standalone vegetarian dish for Chinese New Year. The Nonya version includes tau cheong (salted soy beans) and Hokkiens will add fermented bean curd.

My mum used the milder-tasting white fermented bean curd or fu yee instead of the reddish nam yee, though, as a general rule, the red one is for cooking and the white is for eating as an accompaniment. She also added shredded carrots for its sweetness and bean curd skin and vermicelli, both deep fried.

I prefer the wok for cooking this dish as the heat is more even, I can stir easily and see what is going on. If you use a deep pot, it is likely that the heat will be higher at the bottom and the stuff there will be overcooked unless you stir more frequently. Look to see that the cabbage is soft enough, and use your taste buds as a guide.

While this dish is easy to make, it can be difficult to master. Flavour balance is important as too much of one ingredient can change the taste. Dried oysters and mushrooms have strong flavors. Soak and wash your oyster carefully.

Texture is another challenge as the cabbage can be too soft when overcooked. The cabbage pieces should not break apart. Remember that even after you switch off the fire, the pot of food is still cooking.

This dish is suited for ‘all day long’ eating, as you can continue to add ingredients to the first lot and cook new batches.

Serves 6-8
Ingredients
1 large Chinese long cabbage, cut into broad strips
1 liter (4 cups) water or stock
100 g bean vermicelli (fun see), deep fried
4 dried sweet bean curd wafers (tim chok), deep fried and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 dried bean curd sticks (fu chok), cut into 7½-cm (3-in) strips and deep fried
8 Chinese dried mushrooms, soaked and sliced
15 small dried oysters (hou see), soaked
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp salt
3 tbps vegetable oil
2 thin slices of ginger
4 cubes (2 cm, 0.8 in) white fermented bean curd, mashed finely
15 small black fungus, soaked and cut into pieces
12 dried lily buds, trimmed, soaked and knotted
2 carrots, shredded
30 g (1 oz) black moss (fatt choi), (optional), soaked

For garnishing - Coriander leaves

Method

Lightly deep fry separately the bean vermicelli, bean curd wafers and bean curd sticks and set aside.
Braise mushrooms and dried oysters together in some water with the oyster sauce and soy sauce over a low fire for about 30 minutes.
Heat the oil in a wok and fry the ginger till golden brown.
Add the white fermented bean curd and stir fry briskly until aromatic.
Put in the black fungus, dried lily buds, carrot, cabbage and stir fry briskly for 2 minutes. Add the stock or water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the braised mushrooms, dried oysters, bean curd sticks and wafers, and simmer for 10 more minutes. Taste and adjust, adding some light soy sauce if you wish.
Finally, add the deep fried bean vermicelli and the black moss. Stir a bit more and switch off the fire.

Serve hot in a bowl, garnished with coriander leaves and accompanied by a small plate of Sambal Belacan and a bowl of steaming rice.

Editor's note: I have blogged an earlier recipe for this in this link.

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Cooking for the coming Chinese New Year (2021)

Chinese New Year Tuesday, January 26, 2021

So, what are you cooking for this coming Chinese New Year? With the guests restrictions, the menu should be paired down, either in variety or quantity. Added to that, crossed-causeway family reunion is also not possible and that may change your plans.

The reunion dinner will still be special, especial for the older folks - as each reunion dinner continues a chain of tradition that stretches back as far as they can remember.

Eating out will not be a practical option for larger families. Remembering these may help as we prepare our cooking. The reunion dinner is always about family favourites. Each family have their own "festive dishes" that everyone grew up with. These will be in line with your heritage; may it be Hakka; Nonya or Hokkien. In fact, when I ask a family what is usually tabled for their reunion dinners, I can guess the cultural background of the matriarch of the family.

I detail here some of the dishes I am planning to cook for our reunion dinner and the rest of the CNY.

Stir Fry River Prawns in Black Bean Sauce

I can hardly think of a Wong Reunion dinner without this dish. This is one early recipe which I have posted on my blog. In the earlier days, river prawns were wildly caught and it is sweeter compared to farmed ones. These days, we have to make do with the latter. Try to buy them as fresh as possible and put them into the freezer immediately once you reach home. NTUC do sell them too during this period along within some wet markets. If you can get river prawns, sea-farmed ones like crystal prawns or wild-caught Angka will worked well too. Or the large imported frozen ones.

Lo Han Chai or Chap Chye

This is a family favourite. There are different versions of this, depending whether you are Nonya, Hokkien or Cantonese. My mum like to use white fermented bean curd (Fu Yi) and wongbok instead of cabbage for this. Wongbok has a firm texture which holds well and won't absorb the stock the way cabbage will do, which makes for a soggy dish when eaten the next day.

This is an all-day dish and you can easily cook new batches by adding fresh ingredients to the leftovers. You can find the recipe here. Best eaten with sambal belachan on the side.

Steamed Chicken

Rub into the whole chicken with some salt and steam for about 40 to 45 minutes. Then served it with fresh red chilli sauce and a beautiful ginger garlic sauce (recipe here). Get the best chicken you can lay your hands on. Anxin or another type of "Kampung chicken" will work. The fattier and meatier large chicken broiler will work too. If you have leftovers, fry it up with some garlic, soy sauce and thick black sauce. If there is still leftovers after this, add to your Chai Buay. :) You can see why my Mum always make this for reunion.

Treasure Dish or Pencai

While it is easier to just order this in from restaurants, it is not difficult to prepare this at home if you are an experienced cook. It will also cost a lot less. You will have better control over the freshness and assemble it a la minit and serve it warm. I will normally steam my own egg tofu (recipe here) and to that add mushrooms, clams, abalone, sea cucumber and green veg. Some prawns will a nice orange hue to the dish. Be flexible and use your imagination.

As for the stock or sauce, prepare it beforehand a few days before the dinner. Use one whole chicken and some lean pork to prepare the stock. Check out this post on preparing the superior sauce and how to prepare the abalone.

Prepare each ingredient beforehand. Then just before dinner, assemble and pour in the warmed sauce.

Jiu Hur Eng Chye (Braised turnip with dried cuttle fish)

This is another favourite reunion dish. It pairs very well with fresh iceberg lettuce and sambal belachan. It also keep very well for the next few days when fridged. I will be blogging the recipe soon.

Deep fried Hakka Pork ("Char yoke")

This was another perennial favourite and is probably the only dish that reveals our secondary Hakka roots. For some reason, Hakka culture is normally eclipsed when it collides with Hokkien or Cantonese and it was certainly our experience of that living in West Malaysia. Check the recipe here.

Waxed Meat Platter

Cantonese waxed meat is easy to prepare, whether steamed or pan fried. It keeps well for nibbles in the next few days.

Chai Buay (lead photo)

No CNY is complete in our family without Chai Buay or Choi Keok. It is the essential "leftover dish" cooked with the Mustard Green veg which is rare and expensive come CNY. And so, please book your mustard greens early. It may be hard to find fresh ones given the difficulties of this season. An alternative is to used the salted mustard greens ("Ham Choy"). You need to soak them a few times to remove the salt.

Check my recipe here.

Nonya Curry Chicken

Curries are also family favourites for the 1st and 2nd day of CNY. Curries keep well and cna be served all day.

Check the recipes for Curry Chicken and Beef Rendang.

_____
Another of my Mum's favourite dish is Braised Pork Knuckles (Yin Tai). Check out this post.

Have fun planning and cooking and may you have a wonderful family reunion and a great CNY celebration in the midst of the restrictions.

Photo from a previous CNY Reunion in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

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Auntie Ruby's Nonya Curry Chicken

Auntie Ruby Tuesday, January 26, 2021

I know I am biased. Every boy grows up loving the curry his Mum made and I am no exception. Mum’s version is the best. I have memories of eating it with white bread, sucking clean every bone and wiping up every bit of the curry. Hers is a Nonya version and it is sometimes called Curry Kapitan.

These are the reasons why I like it:

The meat is cooked just right; firm and yet tender to the bite. If you see the meat falling off the bone, it is a clear sign that the curry is overcooked and that won’t be my mum’s.
There is sufficient oil in the curry which adds to its smooth mouth-feel. It is supposed to be a curry, not soup. Her curry is drier and not swimming in coconut milk. Note that spices are oil-soluble.
The wonderful fragrance of spices and herbs is a clear sign that the curry was made from fresh spices and herbs.

Let’s start with some basics about what makes for a good curry.

You need a good-tasting chicken. I normally get the fresh ones from the wet market and avoid the frozen variety from the supermarts. Free-range chicken will, of course, taste better. Spices need to be fresh. Use fresh spice powder mix or toast and grind seeds. As for chilli paste, I will normally make paste from dried chilies or buy ready-made fresh paste from the market. Shallots or onions are essential to give body to this curry.

As for potatoes, get the yellow fleshed ones, please. They are tastier and have a nice, crumbly texture.

A wok or a wide-mouthed, traditional curry claypot will work well for cooking this dish, ensuring even cooking throughout and a curry that’s thickened through condensation.As you can imagine, if accompanied by a veg like cucumber and bread or rice at the dining table, this chicken curry is a complete meal.

In this recipe I will omit adding spices like cumin or coriander seeds as these take it towards the Indian direction. My mum's lean towards the Nonya version which allow the lemon grass and turmeric to shine through.

Auntie Ruby's Curry Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:
1.5 kg (3.3 lb) chicken

1 kg (2.2 lbs) potato

Paste

3 lemongrass bulbs

20 shallots (or 3 large onions)
10 cloves garlic
1 tbsp chopped turmeric (or 1 tsp turmeric powder)

10 candlenuts (buah keras)

Dry Spices

1 cinnamon stick

2 star aniseeds

30 dried chillies or equivalent chilli paste

240 ml (1 cup) cooking oil 2 tbsps salt
1 tbsp sugar
240 ml (1 cup) water
200 ml coconut milk
1 sprig curry leaves

Preparing the paste

Clean out the inside of the chicken thoroughly. Cut the chicken into small to medium pieces. Keep the skin and fats on.
Blend the bulbs of the lemongrass, shallot, candlenuts, garlic, and turmeric finely.
Soak the dried chillies in warm water for 15 minutes and blend finely.
Peel the potatoes and cut into about 21⁄2-cm chunks.

Cooking the curry

Heat up the oil in a wok or wide, deep pot, then add the paste, dry spices and chilli paste.
Simmer on low flame for 20 minutes. Stir to ensure there is no bottom burning. If needed, add some water to bring down the heat and add moisture to the simmering paste. Add half the salt and sugar.
Put in the chicken and stir. Add the 240 ml of water and simmer. After 10 minutes, add the potatoes and curry leaves. Stir occasionally to ensure there is no bottom burning.
Then, add the coconut milk. Taste and adjust with salt and sugar according to what you like.
After about 40 minutes of cooking, the chicken meat should be done.

If the chicken has lots of fat, there may be too much oil for your liking. Just remove some and keep it for use on another occasion.

You can add salt according to taste along the way but be careful as the curry gets saltier as the water evaporates. The safe bet is a conservative amount right at the beginning and a final adjustment towards the end. A red layer of oil should surface during the last phase. Use a shallow spoon to remove some of it.

The end result is a tasty curry sauce, dry, nicely textured, slightly oily and certainly not watery. The meat does not fall off the bone.

This dish can take different ethnic directions according to the spices you use (e.g. cumin and fenugreek for a more Indian taste), adding ingredients like tomatoes, ginger etc. I have a curry cookbook and it is amazing to read about the many types of curry chicken one can make.

This dish goes well with fried bee hoon, white rice, yellow rice (nasi kunyit), naan, prata and of course, white bread.

The members of the one big happy curry family. Cheap and easily available at your local market.

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Braised Pork Knuckles (Yin Tai)

Chinese New Year Wednesday, January 20, 2021

I have promised that I will post some braising recipes. Check it out for tips for the home cook.

Slow poached Yin Tai (Cantonese for Braised Pork Knuckles) was a regular feature at our Chinese New Year reunion dinners. It was one of my mum's favourite festive dish.

Unlike the German Roasted Pork Knuckles, where the skin needs to be crackly and crispy, this Chinese version goes the opposite direction. The skin and fats need to be soft, creamy and yet firm enough to be picked up with a pair of chopsticks.

If you are trying to diet (and that is a forbidden word during Chinese New Year), knuckles done this way will literally bring you to your knees. It is spectacular as the skin and fats are the first things you see. In fact, cooked and presented correctly, it should be the only thing you see at first. And when it is placed on the table, the whole thing shimmers. No kidding. Like the shimmering glass of water on the car's dashboard in the movie Jurassic Park, it will make for a spectacular effect as the dinosaur approaches.

If you look carefully, you can also see an image of yourself after the shimmering stops. You dig in with your chopsticks, shattering your portrait. You let it melt in your mouth. The flavor and texture hits you as the unmentionable swirls in your chops – rich, creamy, fruity, spicy and aromatically complex.

Swine can be better than wine, as they say.

The key is to a braise it very slowly on low fire.

This dish may look complicated at first sight but just think of Toyu Bak and that you are cooking one large lump of pork belly. Pork knuckles is not something you can just walk up to the butcher and buy, especially during the CNY period. You must order it beforehand. I heard that turkeys ran out last Christmas because no one travelled anywhere and more were cooking at home. I won't spread rumours that pork will run out but it is not difficult to figure out that pig knees may be in short supply. I know there are wild boars running around but...perish that thought. Just go to your butcher early.

Try to use the best soy sauce you can lay your hands on. You can also braise some dried mushrooms alongside.

Ingredients
1 pork knuckle, skin on
3 tbsps rock sugar
3 slices ginger
6 cloves garlic

10 white peppercorns (crushed)
240 ml (1 cup) light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsps Chinese rice wine
580 ml (2 cups) water
Salt and sugar to taste
2 tbsp oil
2 tsps cornflour made into a slurry with 2 tbsps water

For garnishing

Butter lettuce leaves or iceberg lettuce
Coriander leaves

Method

Add the rock sugar and simmer over low heat till it melts. You are caramelising the sugar.
Add the ginger, garlic and spices and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the pork knuckle (skin up) and the rest of the seasoning. Pour in the water to cover the knuckle. The whole knuckle need to be covered.
Simmer for 2 hours or till it is soft enough. The meat should not be falling apart on its own. To test for doneness, the fork should go smoothly into the skin.
Add the cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce.
Adjust the taste with salt or sugar if needed.

Place the pork on some lettuce leaves and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve it hot with chili sauce on the side.

For Thermomix users:

This is recipe is great for Thermomix because the pork knuckle will fit nicely. But you need to use the blade cover or find a way of keeping the blades from moving if you do not want to end up with shredded pork.

Follow steps 1 to 4 to stir fry the ingredients and make the sauce. Put the knuckle skin up into the TM pot. Braise it at 98˚C for 1.5 to 2 hours. Note that the heat transference in TM is more efficient than the wok. Check periodically. If the fork go into the skin smoothly, you know it is done. At some point, I will shoot a video on cooking this in the Thermomix.

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Soy Braised Dishes and Braising Tau Kwa

Chinese Monday, January 18, 2021

With CNY round the corner, I thought I should start blogging a bit more actively again. Actually I am doing this more for my own sake as blogging, like journaling, help me to keep track of my cooking journey.

I will be releasing a few post on braising recipes. For the CNY table, if you are a Sinma person, you are likely to be braising a dish or two.

When you think about it, Soy Sauce Chicken, Braised Duck ("lor ark"), Dong Po Pork, Braised Pork Trotter, Braised Pork Knuckles (Yin Tai), Toyu Bak etc uses the same ideas or techniques of soy sauce braising.

The thing I like about these recipes is that they always come with a company of side dishes. Along with the braised meat, you can use the same sauce to braise Tau Kwa ("hard" tofu), hard-boiled eggs, mushrooms, peanuts and so on. They fill up the dining table nicely for a family dinner evening. Add some chilli sauce or sambal belachan and fresh cucumber or lettuce to complete the dinner. And rice of course. You won't need much else.

Master your braising dishes and you will have a plethora of recipes to work with.

For starters, you do need to use good soy sauce. I have tried various types here. Unless you are willing to pay more for a good local one like Kwong Woh Hing's (it is really good), my favourites sauces are those from Malaysia. They are good and more importantly, cheap. This way your heart won't hurt so much when you pour your soy sauce in generously for the braises. Good soy sauce brewing simply needs land and sun. Like golf, you simply must be willing to pay more if you go local. I have wrote a post describing the soy sauces I normally use. I have also mentioned how they were favoured in some blind tasting events and trumped the local brands.

The good news is that even if you can't travel up country, you can buy their sauces online here or here.

I have blogged aplenty about these braising recipes.

I return to my family favourite Toyu Bak. Please read up on this and also some tips here on "slow and low" braising. I will add here some notes on braising good Tau Kwa.

By Tau Kwa I mean the firmer tofu which is suited for braising or stir-frying. If you want it firm and fresh, the supermarket variety just won't do. From the images and videos here, you na se that the tau Kwa I'm using here has a smooth texture which is a sign of freshness. You have to buy them from wet markets for those that were made in the same morning. As the seller will advise, just soak it in water in a bowl (or plastic which ain't green!) and leave it in the fridge if you are cooking it later in the day. Even if you are cooking it the next day, it should still be fresher than those which are found on supermarket shelfs.

You braise your pork belly first of course. Scoop from the surface some of the oil onto a heated pan. Place the whole Tau Kwa gently on the pan. After about 5 minutes, scoop some sauces from the ToYu Bak into the pan. You are searing and steaming it at the same time. Drizzle some dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. Place the lid and gently braise it for about 15 minutes (check video below). After that, leave it in the sauce and heat it up again before you slice and serve.

Trust me, if you have done it well, the sliced tau kwa will vanish in no time.

I will be blogging other braising recipes soon. Stay tuned.

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Planning notes for CNY 2019: Braised Pork Ribs with Mushrooms and Broccoli

Chinese New Year Saturday, January 26, 2019

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Planning notes for CNY 2019: Wok Cooked Char Siew

Char Siew Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Char Siew from UK pork belly

We will be going back to Petaling Jaya this year to celebrate Chinese New Year.

The planning is already in progress as we plan to recreate some of my Mum's specialities or family favourite dishes that we grew up with. As much as possible, we want to keep to "tradition."

This means there will be dishes like Chai Choy (Vegetarian), Roast Pork, Steamed Chicken, Wok-Cooked Char Siew, Curry Chicken, Beef Rendang, Har Loke (River Prawns), Hakka Char Yoke, Chai Buay, Braised Pork Knuckle, Assam Prawns and so on. If you click on each of the dish, you will notice that I have blogged most of the recipes.

Being the year of the pig, the pork dishes will receive some special attention. No surprises here.

Let me start with the usual favourite: Wok-Cooked Char Siew. I have blogged the recipes here ad nauseam.

I cooked it again recently when I was in London.

I had to use whatever ingredients there was in my daughter's small apartment in London. Char Siew is a funny dish: I may have cooked it countless times but I sometimes have doubts myself as I have to manage variables such as the type of pork, pan, fire, thickness of the pork strips, type of cuts etc. The advantage I have is that I am not stuck to a recipe.

For example, timing. Should it be 45 minutes or 60 minutes? There is no answer to it. You have to cook the Char Siew until it is cooked. How do I know it is cooked? When it looks like cooked Char Siew! It can be hard to describe but you can tell from the softness of the meat, how "limp" the strip is when you move it around etc. It is similar to how we test the doneness of the steak, whether by tapping or just looking at the meat.

The ingredient list included sesame oil, honey, dark soy sauce, salt and cinnamon powder. I won't recommend this list but it was all I could find in the larder. The dark soy sauce is not of the thick Malaysian type. Why cinnamon powder? I vaguely remembers that it was one of the spice used in 5-spice powder, which was not available in that apartment.

But all I need essentially is : sweet, salty and sticky for Char Siew.

I mix the ingredients first and satisfied that it tasted good enough as Char Siew sauce, I proceeded with the cooking. In a simple pan and using an induction hob, I laid out the pork belly pieces (about 1 kilo) and poured in the sauce. I added some water and got it braising, turning the pieces around ever so often.

The distribution of the heat on this pan using a induction hob was unpredictable and something I am not familiar with.

After about 60 minutes, I increased the heat and the thickening and caramelisation of the sauce being to happen. This is the "magic phase" of a wok-cooked Char Siew. The result was version of Char Siew which the diners found satisfying. I can't say it is the best wok-cooked Char siew there is, but we were very happy with it.

This I think should be the aim of home cooks. It lies less in learning more recipes, but in mastering the recipes you already know through learning to adapt to whatever ingredients and tools you have.

Having succeeded in cooking it again in this London apartment, I am looking forward to th eversion I can cook in PJ. I will be using Malaysian pork: my favourite choice as it has the right sweetness, texture (never too hard and dry) and taste. Maybe one should say it is simply the version I grew up with. The rest of the ingredients will be a no brainer including the ubiquitous thick dark sauce. I will also be using my favourite iron work.

Yes, a good plate of freshly made Char Siew done my Mum's way will be great on our CNY table.

Stay tuned for my CNY 2019 planning notes for other Wong Family recipes.

P.s. I do hope to do a cooking demo soon on Wok-Cooked Char Siew. If you are inserted, do indicate on my Facebook post here.

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The Food Canon

Cooking for Chinese New Year 2022

Roast Pork (Cantonese Style) using the Anova Precision Oven

Auntie Ruby's Jiu Hu Char

Braised Boneless Pork Knee (Yin Tai)

Braised Boneless Pork Knee (Yin Tai)

Lo Hon Chai (Chap Chai)

Cooking for the coming Chinese New Year (2021)

Stir Fry River Prawns in Black Bean Sauce

Lo Han Chai or Chap Chye

Steamed Chicken

Treasure Dish or Pencai

Jiu Hur Eng Chye (Braised turnip with dried cuttle fish)

Deep fried Hakka Pork ("Char yoke")

Waxed Meat Platter

Chai Buay (lead photo)

Nonya Curry Chicken

Auntie Ruby's Nonya Curry Chicken

Auntie Ruby's Curry Chicken Recipe

Braised Pork Knuckles (Yin Tai)

Soy Braised Dishes and Braising Tau Kwa

Planning notes for CNY 2019: Braised Pork Ribs with Mushrooms and Broccoli

Planning notes for CNY 2019: Wok Cooked Char Siew

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