Steamed Pork Ribs With Soybean Sauce

This was really fast and easy to do. Very little mess as well. I bought a book a few weeks back from a Popular Book Sale at the Curve titled 'Fun With Pork'. I love pork. There's no other meat as good and versatile as pork. Think of roast pork (siu yok), BBQ pork (char siu), bacon, ham, pork knuckles... Need I say more?

I've never actually tried cooking ribs before. The thought of BBQ Pork Ribs has crossed my mind but never really got down to trying it so I was going through this book when I came across a recipe that looked pretty easy. Tried it out and it tasted a little bit like the ones that you get from dim sum stalls.

Ingredients
Group 1 - The Pork
200g Pork Ribs
10g Ginger
6 Cloves Garlic
1 Stalk Spring Onion
2 tbsp Soybean Sauce
1 tbsp Red Chilli (Diced)
2 tbsp Celery (Diced)

Group 2 - The Marinade
3 tbsp Plum Sauce
2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 tsp Sugar
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
2 tsp Sesame Oil
1/2 tsp Pepper
2 tbsp Oil
1 tbsp Corn Flour

Method
Rinse pork ribs, cut into pieces. Mix with marinade and set a side for 1 hour. Peel ginger and garlic, chop and mash. Place all ingredients into steaming tray and steam for 20 minutes over high heat. Serve. Now if that's not fast and easy, I don't know what is...

Grilled Chicken With Curried Celery & Mushroom Sauce

Was playing badminton while at the same time trying to figure out what to eat for dinner and had a sudden urge to cook up a surprise for Bao Yi. Some time back I bought some meatballs and she didn't like them so I buried them in a curry gravy which she said made the meatballs palatable. Well... not just palatable... she said they tasted great... :-) I then experimented further... Bao Yi (like a few other people I know) didn't like celery. Well, she would eat them but she doesn't like them.

Thing is, I don't have any like or dislike for celery but it's basically a base ingredient for a lot of sauce/ stock base due to its fragrance so I do use them. Anyway, I chopped the celery finely and threw them with some garlic & shallots then sautéd them till they were soft then threw in the same meatballs, some seasoning and again the curry powder. Voilà, she was eating the celery like they were chocolate… Ha Ha.. ok… ok… that’s an exaggeration but anyway, was thinking of a curry gravy of some sort with grilled chicken so dropped by Cold Storage on my way back so here goes…

Ingredients
Group 1 – The Meat
2 Chicken Breasts
Cajun Seasoning
Garlic Salt
Olive Oil
Black Pepper
Fresh Thyme
5 Spice Powder
Port Wine/ Red Wine (To deglaze the grill)
Group 2 – The Sauce
1 tsp Curry Powder
Shitake Mushrooms (Sliced)
Shallots (Chopped Fine)
1 Garlic (Chopped Fine)
2 Celery Stalks (Use as much of the stems with leaves)
Low Fat Milk
Group 3 – Potatoes
2 Potatoes
Dried Rosemary
Bolognaise Seasoning

Alright, firstly wash the potatoes then cut them into small little cubes. This is to help them cook faster. You want them bigger, that’s fine. These potatoes will eventually be stirred into the sauce but you can either fry them or steam them first… The latter would probably be healthier. The seasoning’s there because I was watching Chef at Home and he actually dumped some herbs into the water used for steaming the potatoes so I tried that as well… Damn fragrant the air after that… Didn’t do much for the potatoes though… Maybe all buried within the curry gravy as well. Anyway, just chuck all the dried herbs into the water and let them boil. I actually steam the potatoes so the nutrients don’t get leached out into the water (which happens when you boil the potatoes).

While the potatoes are steaming, season the chicken breasts. Where the chicken’s concerned, you want to leave the skin on cos’ that’s the best part. (The heck with cholesterol) but remove as much of the fat as possible then pat dry. Sprinkle some olive oil and basically chuck all the seasoning, herbs & spices in and rub well. Chuck the thyme under the skin and rub the spices underneath that as well. When the remaining fat renders on the grill it’s going to absorb the flavours.

The potatoes should be done by now so take them out and brown them in the oven with some olive oil while you heat up the grill. I use a grilling pan instead of an actual grill.

Once the meat is done, scoop them out then deglaze the grilling pan with some Port wine. I love this cos’ it actually absorbs the flavour seared onto the grill into the wine so the flavour doesn’t go to waste. Add some water then let it reduce for about 3 mins.

In the meantime, sauté the shallots & garlic till soft then chuck in the celery. Sauté for about 3 mins then pour in the reduced meat liquid then let it simmer for about 3 mins then chuck in the mushrooms. Mix well then chuck in the potatoes and again, mix well. Sprinkle some black pepper, Cajun seasoning and curry powder. Mix well then pour in the low fat milk (this is a substitute for coconut milk/ cream) then chuck in the potatoes. You can add some fish sauce/ salt to your taste.

You’re done. It looks like a long process but all it took me was about 30 – 45 mins and it didn’t really create a big mess. The cost for two persons? Only about RM 30 and I have lots of celery to spare. You can actually add more milk so you get more gravy in which case you need more curry powder as well and trust me… Get some garlic toast and dip ‘em in. Have fun.

PA's Homemade Pasta

My girlfriend suddenly had a craving for pasta last night while I was getting the stuff for my siu yok & cookie recipe so got some Tagliatelle, some portobello mushrooms and pasta sauce. I normally make my own pasta sauce but in this case, was kinda lazy and wanted to do it fast so what the heck... got some mushroom (I have this thing for mushrooms... yum yummmm) pasta sauce.

Anyway, went shopping this morning and got some minced pork as well... can't do without meat, can we? I mean... vegetarians are good and all that but I don't see myself as a vegan... Nooooo way...

Anyway, marinated the minced pork, chucked it in the fridge and went about my business... When it was time to prepare dinner, I took out the ingredients and suddenly felt that the pasta was gonna be kinda empty so started scrounging around for more ingredients... I guess I kinda like it this way... looking around for what I have and tinkering around the kitchen... You'd probably notice that my kitchen is the nicest part of my house too... :-)

Anyways... it's pretty easy to prepare... Try it out...

Ingredients:
Tagliatelle (You can use whatever you like)
Olive Oil
Pasta Sauce
Garlic (Chopped Roughly)
Gourmet Chicken Sausage (1 should suffice... sliced)
Minced Meat (Marinated with cornstarch, soya sauce & fish sauce)
Portobello Mushrooms (About 5 Pieces)
Bacon (2 - 3 slices... cut as you like)
Port Wine (Optional)
Spices (Basil, Oregano, Thyme, Parsley) This is optional as the pasta sauce would already have it but I like spices in large quantities so what the heck

Directions:
Start boiling the Tagliatelle or whatever it is you prefer as it'll take the longest. About 10 - 15 mins...

In a wok/ pan, splash some olive oil and saute the garlic, spices, sausages, bacon & minced meat until it's golden brown and crispy...

Dump in the mushrooms... saute for about a minute and pour in as much pasta sauce as you like.

Turn up the fire and wait till it bubbles, let it boil for about a minute then add a splash of the Port wine to give it some zing... Stir, wait for it to bubble then turn off the fire.

Once the pasta's done, heat up the pasta sauce, drain the water from the pasta and chuck it into the sauce, stir & serve. Voila... shouldn't take you more than 20 mins.

Roast Pork From Hell @ Siu Yok

I bowed to the temptation of Babe In The City's 'Siu Yok' (Roast Pork) recipe... Partly to try it out and partly to impress my girlfriend. Well.. it worked to a certain extent. She was impressed... :-) Unfortunately I was expecting better... To be honest, I doubt that any respectable chicken rice restaurant would serve it... Why? Cos' from the picture prior to cutting it... it honestly looks like it came fresh from the ovens of Hell... hence, I christen thee the Roast Pork From Hell... Looks aside, it was quite okay. Europeans may like it though... I could possibly get employed as an assistant chef at Deutsche Haus or maybe Bavarian Bier Haus... :-) Ok! Ok! Enough self flattery...

At any rate, the taste was not too bad but it was kinda salty at the bottom. I wasn't quite happy with the crisp factor as well... Overall, I'd give it a 6 or 7 out of 10. I told Babe In The City that if anything I try fails, it's the fault of the recipe... ha ha... But oh well... I probably just need more practice... I suspect that it's due to the thickness of the piece of pork belly (too thick) that I purchased and also the uneven distribution of the meat.

What's interesting though is that I tried 'grease-proofing' my oven cos' trust me... once the fat starts cooking... it's not a pretty sight... And anyone who likes his oven clean as a whistle will be groaning in agony... Anyway, I lined my oven with aluminium foil and it helped that pretty much every part of my oven could be taken apart. Fortunately. it pretty much worked...

Well... hope whoever tries it has more success than me... You can get the recipe from Babe In The City's Siu Yok.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies a.k.a Choc Chip Cookies

Bao Yi: Wah... The cookies nice oh... Got chocolate chip summore... Wah got so much summore...

P.A.: Niceleh... Follow friend's recipe wan. Can taste the banana or not?
Bao Yi: Huh? Banana? What banana? I don't taste any banana...
P.A.: Hmmm... Sure boh?

Well... that pretty much explains why there's an a.k.a Choc Chip Cookies... ha ha... Anyway, it tastes okay but I think I probably should have put more bananas or maybe I should have used some other type of banana.

I got the recipe from Yozora's Website but I doubt I did it justice. I actually increased the quantity as her recipe made only 2 dozen and I was trying to make more so I roughly doubled the ingredients. But all the same, it was relatively easy to make... and yes Yozora... I have seen the light... I need to get an electric mixer...

Almond Chocolate Torte

This no-bake thingie is catching... I suppose the convenience of not having to use the oven and the cleaning that follows. Unfortunately, for an amateur, it seems that whether I use the oven or not makes no difference cos' it takes more time than it says... :-)

This is actually the 2nd time I'm trying this recipe. If I remember correctly, the taste is pretty much similar as the first time but the first time I did not have a springform pan and I had difficulty getting the finished product out of the pan... Erm.. it pretty much looked like mush after I got it out. And having had this 'experience' maybe I should have deviated from the recipe a little... maybe a little more gelatin... Not sure if it would have made any difference in terms of firmness. Anyhow, I think it tastes great. Girlfriend thinks so too... sooo... pass lah... keh keh keh... Self praise is no praise but who the heck cares...

Well... try it out yourself and if you have suggestions how to make it firmer apart from chucking it in the freezer, do drop me a line... and by the way, how do you actually weigh 7 gm gelatin powder ah? My weighing machine (no I did not use the Ikea weighing machine).. it's a proper weighing machine and it doesn't give me that low a weight... Maybe I need a digital one... Erm... hint! hint. Anybody? My birthday's coming up soon... :-)

The following is what you need:

Ingredients:
Set 1
65 g sliced almonds, toasted. (Feel free to use as much as you want... It adds a great crunch to the finished product so I used quite a lot partly to give it a thicker base)

Set 2
224 g semi-sweet chocolate

Set 3 448 g cream cheese, softened
200 g sugar

Set 4
7 g unflavoured gelatin
60 ml cold water

Set 5
475 ml whipping cream

Directions:
You can do either one of the first 3 instructions as it's not affected by time. When you are playing with the whipped cream, you have to use it immediately so do that last.

1. Set aside as much almonds as you want as garnish. Chop the rest and use them to line the bottom of a greased 9 in springform pan.

2. In a microwave or heavy saucepan, melt the chocolate (Set 2) and stir until smooth. If using the hob, what you should do is have a pan filled with water and set another bowl with the chocolate into the pan of water and melt it that way. This way the chocolate will not burn. If you are using big chunks of chocolate it may take you awhile. Take the entire thing off the fire and let it cool a little.

3. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar.

Note: Once the first 3 are complete, start work on the following. 4. In a small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over cold water; let stand for 1 minute. Cook and stir over low heat until gelatin is completely dissolved then beat into the cream cheese mixture (instruction no 3 above). Add the melted chocolate and beat until blended.

5. Lastly, start whipping the cream. Reason why I left this last is the first time I attempted this recipe, I kinda did this somewhere at the beginning and left it while I did the rest. What you end up with is mush... ha ha... You also can't beat it too much... just as long as the texture changes and is firm, you should stop and move on to the next step... Otherwise, the cream separates from the milk after some time and I think you will have low-fat milk...

6. Fold the whipped cream into the mixture.

7. Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle with reserved almonds. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. I left it much longer as with the last time, it didn't really firm up very much except the surface. I'm not sure if it would help if you add more gelatin. Perhaps some of you can try it out.

If yours turns out like mush as well don't fret... It tastes better than it looks... at least, I think so. The original recipe says it takes a prep time of about 20 minutes and it will be ready in 20 minutes... For me, all in, it took me slightly over an hour. And this doesn't include the cleaning that followed. But again... it was worth it. Good Luck!!

Recipe courtesy of Rhonda Lanterman, downloaded from allrecipes.com.

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies

Was tinkering around with chocolate yesterday and dug around my list of recipes and came up with no-bake chocolate cookies. The name kinda' intrigued me so gave it a shot.

The following is what you need:

Wet Mixture
2 Cups Sugar (You can probably reduce this a little if you think it's too sweet)
1/2 Cup Fat-Free Milk (I couldn't find this so I substituted with low fat milk)
1/2 Cup butter/ Stick Margarine

Dry Mixture
3 Cups Quick-Cooking Oats
1 Cup Flaked Coconut (I used dessicated coconut... Not sure if it's the same)
6 Tablespoons Baking Cocoa
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Combine the wet mixture in a large saucepan and bring to boil stirring constantly. Boil for 2 minutes and remove from the heat.

2. Stir in the dry mixture. You probably want to pass the cocoa powder through a sieve cos' it may have lumps... Anyway, once the mixture is well combined, drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper. You'll have to do this quickly as the mixture thickens fast due to the drying sugar. I used aluminium foil in the place of wax paper which would do the job as well.

3. Let stand until set, this takes about 1 hour ++.

The cookies doesn't take that much time to make actually. The bulk of the time was spent cleaning up and also placing the cookies onto the aluminium foil.

The Verdict:
Personally, I liked the outcome... It was kinda gooey though... Probably because of the oats & dessicated coconut so not crunchy like traditional cookies. Or maybe I did it wrong... ha ha.

Recipe courtesy of Carol Brandon, downloaded from allrecipes.com.