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Archive for Recipes: Pork
June 2, 2008 at 2:26 am · Filed under Recipes: Quick & Easy, Recipes: Pork
Pork with Basil? Sounds familiar? That’s right, a particular Thai dish may have come to your mind, minced pork with thai basil, a common dish in Thailand. In order to try cooking my first dish with my flourishing home-grown basil, I immediately thought of this thai dish. But my version doesn’t have any fish sauce in it as I didn’t have any in my pantry. Fish sauce seems to be an important ingredient in most Thai dishes. I figured that they use it like how we use soy sauce? I’ve been wanting to buy a bottle but not sure which brand to get. I’m not sure if the taste of basil differs from thai basil. Can anyone enlighten me on this?
Since I only had some pork loin in my freezer, I’ve decided to just cook the pork my way (with just some soy sauce), with basil and some pine nuts. I’ve seen NoobCook cooked one of her dish with pine nuts. In another occasion, I had a nice deep fried yam ring at a restaurant, topped with pine nuts instead of the usual cashew nuts. Pine nuts are really delicious. I bought them solely for my hamsters. And I thought I should put them into better use before they expires. I had wanted to make some pesto sauce with my basil and pine nuts, but have yet to make it as B didn’t really like basil that much.
Stir Fry Pork Strips with Basil and Pine Nuts
Serves 2
200g pork loin
1 tsp garlic, chopped
1 tbsp cooking oil
10 to 15 basil leaves
20 to 30 pine nuts, toasted
Marinade
½ tbsp light soy sauce
½ tbsp hua teow wine
1tsp corn flour
Use the back of the knife to ‘chop’ the pork loin evenly throughout, this is to make the meat thinner. Then cut the pork loin into ¼ inch strips. Marinate the pork loin strips with the above marinade and set it aside for about half an hour in the fridge.
To start cooking, heat oil in pan. Fry the chopped garlic until they starts to brown. Add meat to stir fry for a few minutes or until the meat is cooked. You do not need to fry the meat for too long as it might gets too tough. Add in the basil leaves and pine nuts. Stir fry for another 1 or 2 mins until the basil leaves wilt. Serves hot with rice.
You can add more basil and pine nuts if you like. Or try out the authentic thai minced meat with basil, by adding fish sauce. Paw paw has got some nice Thai recipes on her blog. Do try them out. It’s definitely tastier with some fats in the minced pork. Gosh.. me and my pork fats. Haha..
May 25, 2008 at 1:07 am · Filed under Recipes: Quick & Easy, Recipes: Pork
Have I enticed you enough from the title of this post? It’s not just any parts, it’s my favorite part, the pork belly meat. Sinful and gross as the pork belly may seems to some of you, especially girls, but it’s heavenly to me.
In my younger days, there were 2 different parts of pork in our frequent braised pork dish (卤肉) that Mum cooked for dinner. They were lean meat（瘦肉）and pork belly meat(三层肉). I love the pork belly, while my brother flicks them away. Be it braised or roasted, it doesn’t matter. I like them anyway. I love how chewy the pork skin are for my braised pork belly meat, but they can’t be too soft, which can be a bit gross to swallow. Mum used to cook them with bittergourd but she has now replace pork belly with chicken wings, which are more well-loved by my nieces. And not forgetting, my favorite bun of all buns, the kong bak bao (扣肉包).
When it comes to roasted pork belly (烧肉), the crispy crackling skin is a must. 三层 means 3 layers. I am guessing the 3 layers means the skin, the fats and the meat. So I detest those with just skin and fats, but no meat at all. There should be a balance, crackling skin, with some fats and meat. Whenever there are leftover roasted pork belly we bought for dinner, they are stir-fried the next day with lots of garlic, mum’s chilli paste and dark soya sauce. B had learnt to enjoy this leftover dish since I brought him home for dinner a few years ago.
Growing up from a family that eats pork almost daily, I find it hard to comprehend the fact that some of my friends do not eat pork. They hate the porky smell and worst of all, the fats. Give me pork any time, I’d take it. I prefer it to chicken, which I get sick after eating too much. The feeling of eating a perfectly cooked pork belly and pig trotters makes me contented. I really enjoy eating them.
As much as I love them, I must say it’s sad that I’ve started controlling the intake these 2 years. When I say “Pork Belly, come Dance to my Belly”, it not as rejoicing as it is 10 years ago. Donkey years back, everyone tells me, “Hey, you skinny bamboo, you can afford it.” I never seems to put on weight since I started schooling. And I really think that it was a blissful thing to not put on weight even when I like eating fatty stuffs. But NOW, people who have never met me for a long time are shocked that I CAN actually put on so much weight. Pants are getting tighter now, metabolism has slowed down A LOT. I don’t think I can afford it now. *chuckles*
However, I still love my pork belly. Everything in moderation should be fine. Below is just a simple dish B taught me. I never had pork belly eaten this way. It’s one of the 陈家私房菜. You can replace them with lean meat. It is light and simple to whip up, yet still satisfying for me.
Pork Belly with Black Dipping Sauce
Serves 2
250g pork belly meat (or any portion you would like to cook)
1/3 chicken stock cube
Dipping sauce
1tbsp dark soya sauce
½ tsp homemade chilli paste or chopped chilli padi
a dash of sesame oil
Boil the whole strip of pork belly with the chicken stock cube for about 10 to 15 mins in a pot (depending on the amount of meat, you need to gauge this yourself).
Once cooked, turn off the heat, remove pork belly from pot. Cut the pork belly ½ inch thick.
Mix ingredients for dipping sauce together in a saucer.
Serve meat with dipping sauce and rice.
Easy enough?
Few months ago, ovenhaven was really nice to pass me the Nice Matters Award. I’ve forgotten to mention it till now. Thanks, dearie.
April 5, 2007 at 6:43 pm · Filed under Recipes: Pork, Recipes: Noodles
Zha Jiang Mian (炸酱面), a northen chinese dish, is a bowl of flat white noodles with a warm, thick and sweet minced meat sauce over it. It’s so simple to prepare, perfect for a busy afternoon. I like it with oodles of cucumber shreds for the nice crunchy feel. Some people like to add carrots shreds too. So it’s entirely up to your own taste buds. For the extra punch, mix the minced meat sauce with some chilli paste or chilli flakes. I love it with my mum’s chilli paste.
The recipe below are from Chng Kee. Peking Dip Sauce, 甜面酱 are easily found at the sauces section in supermarkets. Yes, it’s the same sauce that restaurants use for Peking Duck Skin, wrapped in crepes. I use Shanghai Handmade noodles which can be found at the noodles section. B eats them with instant noodles.
We were doing our marketing at a chicken stall and the stall owner gave us a very useful tip when thawing meat. Usually you will buy a whole chicken at the market and get the uncle to chop into pieces for you. For the 2 of us, we can’t finish the whole chicken at one go. So we separate them into a few bags before freezing them. Try to pack the chicken pieces into a single layer instead of a whole big lump, reason being, they will thaw alot faster. And this freezes the meat faster too, thus more fresh. We did the same for the minced pork. It’s really a breeze to thaw them.
Sweet Minced Meat Noodles, 炸酱面
2 tsp garlic/shallots, chopped
½ cucumber, shredded
200g minced pork
1¾ tbsp of Peking Dip Sauce, 甜面酱
½ tbsp oil
1 tsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
190g flat white noodles
30ml water (optional)
- Cook noodles in a pot of water. Drain and leave them aside.
- Remove core and seeds from the cucumber. Cut into thin strips.
- Heat wok, add the oil.
- Add garlic/shallots and stir fry until slightly brown.
- Add the minced pork and stir fry till the pork is cooked.
- Add Peking Dip Sauce, light and dark soya sauce.
- Add water and simmer if you prefer more sauce.
- Serve this meat sauce over noodles.
Serves 2. Happy Lunch!
