Steamed Pork Patty With Dried Squid - 鱿鱼蒸肉饼

Growing up, my Mother was a stay-at-home Mom. So almost everyday, we enjoyed delicious home cooked meals. When I grew up, I noticed many people mentioning things like, "my Grandmother makes the best dumplings..", "my Mother makes the best chicken curry.." etc. But many wonderful homecooked recipes were lost because somewhere down the line, the recipe was not learnt, and thus lost forever. Such a waste!

I created a YouTube channel, CoKohKitchen comprising of me recreating my Mother's recipes and also some of my own recipes. Hoping that the trial and errors that we went through would not be lost. Hoping that someone, anyone, would be able to benefit from watching the videos. Maybe, one day, my own children would be able to learn a thing or two from there even if I'm not around.

My brother surprised me by asking me to make this dish for my YouTube channel. I didn't even know that he was subscribed to it. This is such a simple and humble dish that even I had forgotten all about it. But I did remember that it was one of his favourite dish growing up.

So I had to go ask the guru (a.k.a. Mommy) how to cook it. The problem with "Mom's recipes" is that it's always very vague. She can tell you the recipe, but because everything is agar-agar (estimated), it just doesn't turn out the way you want it to be. So a seemingly simple dish took me a few tries to master it, and to finally write it down.

Here are some things to take note for this recipe.

1. Buy big pieces of dried squids.

You can smell them. They should have a strong aroma. Smaller ones doesn't have any flavour. After soaking them, peel off the cuttlebone. This is a bone of the squid. It looks like a long piece of plastic. Use your fingers to feel the squid. If there's a lump in the middle, remove it. It's the eye or beak. Honestly I can't tell. It's tough and not for eating. Gross, I know. Sorry.

2. Pork
For best results, go to a butcher, choose a nice piece of pork belly. I find that meat that is darker pink have better flavour and more tender than the light pink ones. You can decide how fatty or lean you want it to be. At least 40% fats please. Ask your butcher to mince the meat to save you the effort. My Mother would go home and chop up the meat herself. You can do that too. DO NOT buy pre-minced meat. Yup, those packets of minced pork have no flavour and way too lean. The meat patty would turn up super dry and tough. Don't.

3. Always check seasoning
Don't blindly trust how other people season their food. When you are cooking for yourself, always, always check the seasoning. Everybody have different taste, so always under-season, taste it, and then gradually adjust according to your liking.

That said, here is the recipe.

half a piece of dried squid
2 pieces of dried scallop (conpoy)
280g Minced fatty pork
1/4 tsp salt
a dash of pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Chinese cooking wine
a pinch of Chicken powder (optional)
5 tbsp water

1. Rinse the dried squid and dried conpoy and soak it in cool water until it's soft. About 30-40 minutes.
2. Remove the squid bone and eye. Chop the squid and scallop finely.
3. Add chopped seafood into the pork and mix in all the seasoning.
4. Check seasoning by cooking a little of the meat and tasting it.
5. When you are happy with the seasoning, spread out the meat onto a plate and add in the water. (use the water from soaking the squid and scallop)
6. Steam for about 5 minutes.
7. Serve!

For a better understanding, check out the video for this recipe.

Brinjal with Minced Pork - Oh So Purple

Growing up I never liked vegetables, and brinjals would be pretty high in the ranks of vegetables I detest. But when I grew up I learnt to like many vegetables. My Mum's spicy yong tau foo with dark soya sauce made me fall in love with brinjals again. But like it's name suggest, the whole dish, along with all it's ingredients is dark brown.

Experts say you should eat your colours, like red, orange, blue, green and purple. But it seems inevitable when cooking brinjal right? Whenever you cook it, it turns into a sad, greyish brown shade. Recently I stumbled upon a few videos on YouTube that showed how to keep the brinjal purple even after cooking. One suggest you coat it with vinegar first, but it would also require you to fry the brinjal first. I hate frying. All the oil needed is so troublesome and messy! The other method is this, super high heat with a minimum amount of time. The only way to achieve that is to use the microwave.

I've had my microwave for such a long time that I actually don't know what model it is or it's maximum voltage. I do know how to cook under maximum power though, and it really works! The brinjal is actually cooked, but the colour remains a pretty purple! Amazing!

Minced Pork gravy
75g Minced pork
1 onion (diced)
1 garlic (minced)
Seasoning:
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp fermented soya bean paste
water

1. Brown the minced pork (you can use any type of meat) with a little oil. 
2. Add onion, garlic with a small pinch of salt and pepper. The salt will make the onion sweat, so it will soften rather than brown. Stir fry until onions turn slightly translucent. 
3. Add enough water to cover all the meat. Add in the seasoning, mix well and cover up to let the meat braise for a few minutes. 
4. After 5mins, check the flavour before thickening gravy with a little cornstarch slurry. Set aside. 
5. Cut brinjal into bite size pieces and place on a microwave safe plate skin side up. 
6. Coat the skin in oil. 
7. Cover with a microwave safe cover and cook in the microwave at the highest heat setting for 3 minutes. 
8. Take out the brinjal, pour the meat gravy on top. Cover and microwave under full power for 1 minute. 
9. Serve!

Looking at those shades of purple reminds me of the recently departed singer, Prince. Rest in peace!

Stir Fry Long Beans with Pork - 乱棍打死猪八戒

乱棍打死猪八戒 This was the name my Mum used for this dish and it stuck in my head for years! It's a clever name as the string beans were the poles while the pork was Zhu Bajie, one of the characters in the story Journey to the West.

Names aside, this is a simple home-style dish that is easy to whip up and it goes nicely with a bowl of rice. I cooked the long beans a little more softer because of the kids, but you can cut the cooking time if you prefer it more crunchy.

Long beans
Pork shoulder
Seasoning:
1 tsp Bean paste with garlic
1 tsp Sugar
a dash of pepper

1. Slice pork shoulder into thin slices. Marinate with seasoning for 15 to 20 minutes. 
2. Wash the long beans, cut into segments. 
3. Add a teaspoon of salt and oil in boiling water and cook long beans until desired texture. Drain and set aside. 
4. Stir fry marinated pork slices. 
5. Add a little water until just half of meat level. Bring to boil, cover up and simmer in lowest heat for 10 minutes. 
6. After 10 minutes, stir in cooked long beans and thicken sauce with corn starch and water slurry. 
7. Serve.

See video here.

Prawn Noodles Soup with Prime Ribs - 虾面排骨汤

I've been "collecting" prawn shells for a couple of weeks now. Each time I cook a prawn dish like my sambal prawn I would keep the shells in a plastic bag and chuck it into the freezer. So when my little freezer compartment is running out of space from all the little bags of shells, I know it's time to try out the prawn noodle recipe! The original recipe is from My Wok Life, but I tweaked it a little here and there.

20 medium – large prawns

Section A
Minimum double the amount of prawn shells and head (the more the merrier!)
50 grams of dried anchovies aka ikan bilis (Chinese translation: 江鱼仔)
2 teaspoon of brown sugar

Section B
300 grams of prime pork ribs
3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of salt
1 star anise (八角)
4 dried cloves (丁香)
1 teaspoon of ground white pepper
5 cups of water (about 1000 – 1200ml)

Seasoning
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
3 tablespoons of light soy sauce

yellow noodles, kway teow
Kangkong vegetables, bean sprout and sliced fish cakes (optional)

Garnish:
Fried shallot
Fresh chillies, julienned

TO MAKE THE SOUP
1. To make the pork ribs nice and tender, boil Section B for about 30mins.
2. While the ribs are cooking, stir fry Section A with a tiny bit of oil in a deep wok. Alot of juices would come out of the shells. Just keep tossing them until they are fragrant and all the juices have dried up.
3. Pour everything in the wok into the ribs soup. There will be a layer of dried up prawn juices coated on the wok. That where all the flavours are so don't waste it! Ladle some pork rib soup back into the wok, stir the wok clean and pour the liquid back into the pot of pork and shell soup.
4. Boil the pot of soup. I use a pressure cooker, so 45mins to and hour would be fine. For regular pots, boil the soup for at least 1-2 hours in low heat. Make sure the soup don't dry out.
5. When the soup is done, season the soup accordingly. It's ok to over season just a little because the noodles are bland. Blanch the prawns in the ready soup and set aside for later use.

Assembly!
1. Blanch the preferred amount of noodles and vegetables in a pot of boiling water and put into a waiting bowl.
2. Add other ingredients like prawns and fish cakes and pork ribs.
3. Ladle soup from the pot and pour into bowl through a sieve to catch any shells.
4. Garnish with fried shallots, garlic and fresh cut chillies!

Steamed minced pork with mushrooms 香菇蒸猪肉

On a typical weekday I was cracking my head on what to cook for dinner, so I looked to the web, hoping I could get some inspirations. Unfortunately there seems to be plenty of western recipes but hardly any simple recipes for a home cook dinner, or what I like to call, 家常便饭. So I'm going to start one myself by cataloging my simple, daily home cooked dishes, recipes passed down from mother to daughter for generations. Hopefully, I could inspire another Mom when she ran out of ideas, or perhaps encourage a young wife to try cooking these simple dishes for dinner instead of eating out all the time? :)

As a kid I would mix the minced pork together with hot steaming rice and gobble down in huge spoonfuls. :) A simple, child friendly dish!

130g minced pork*
60g dried mushrooms - rehydrated and diced
1/2 tsp chicken powder
1 tsp soya sauce
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
1 pinch of sugar
4 tbsp water from rehydrating mushrooms

1. Dice rehydrated mushrooms according to liking
2. Mix mushrooms with meat and seasoning
3. Steam in low-medium heat for about 10mins, or until surrounding liquid turns clear

*pre-minced pork from the supermarket is more lean and fine, suitable for smaller children or the health concious. If you like more bite and flavour, you can buy same amount of shoulder butt (五花肉) and either chop it up yourself or ask the butcher to mince it for you.

Sticky Pork Ribs

This recipe is from my new favourite cooking show, Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course. I love how chef Gordon would teach not only simple, easy to follow recipes, but also give useful tips around the kitchen. This recipe is from episode 7, based on what I scribbled down while watching.

Like I said, this is based on what I scibbled down while watching, so it may not be 100% accurate. Besides, I didn't have some of the ingredients, so I substituted accordingly. But the end result was AWESOME! My hubby loved it, so this is definitely one of those dishes that I will make again. It's a little peppery, so my baby girl can't eat it, but adults will love it!

1. Salt and pepper prime ribs
2. Brown ribs in baking tray over stove top
3. Add:
• a few thinly sliced ginger and whole garlic cloves
• a few star anise, szechuan pepper corns and a sprinkle of chilli flakes
• about 3 tablespoons of honey, soya sauce, a splash of japanese vinegar (I used balsamic vinegar), and enough chicken stock to just cover the ribs
• diced spring onions, a good splash of rice wine
4. Roast in oven 180 celcius for 30mins, turn ribs and roast another 30mins
5. Reduce remaining sauce over stove top until sticky, flipping ribs occasionally