Braised Lemonade Pork Belly

As most of us are locked down at home, there's only so much we can do. Eat, sleep and repeat. It is bad for our health really! To de-stress, I will normally cook or bake else I'll turn into couch potato! Luckily I'm not into any TVB or K-drama...

One night, a friend was following this live cooking show on FB and asked me to check it out. It was Maria Cordero, a popular HK celebrity cooking live from her kitchen. The dish she cooked that night was this rather easy to follow pork belly dish using 7-Up. Pretty interesting and best part is, it is so easy as she literally just dump everything in and boil! No mess and no oily kitchen!

Kids love it knowing they get some soft drinks in their food! Yes, it uses 7-Up or any lemonade to tenderize the meat. It has a sweet savoury taste and kind of appetizing. As I do not have the required fresh chili, I substitute with some dried chilies which worked out better as I get a little kick of spiciness in the gravy. Kids practically flooded their rice with the gravy!

Ingredients

1 kg         Pork belly (cut into big cubes about 1.5")
4 pcs       Shallot (cut into big slices)
2 pcs       Garlic (cut into big slices)
1 - 2         Bay leaf
1 pc         Cinnamon stick
2 pcs        Star anise
1 pc          Fresh chilie (use 2 dried chilies if you prefer a tinge of spiciness)
350 ml      Lemonade (7-Up/Sprite)
2 tbsp       Dark soy sauce (dark caramel)
2 tbsp       Light soy sauce
1 pc          Rock sugar (can omit if you prefer less sweet)
1 tbsp       Vinegar (or rice vinegar)
1 tsp         Salt
½tsp         Black pepper

Methods

1. Place all the dry ingredients into a deep pot (best if you have a cast iron casserole pot).
2. Rinse the pork with some water added with 2tbsp of vinegar to get rid of smell.
3. Drain and arrange pork cubes on top of dry ingredients.
4. Pour in the lemonade. Add a bit more if you prefer to have more gravy.
5. Put in the sauces, rock sugar, vinegar and seasoning. 
6. Switch on medium fire and let it come to a boil. Stir every few minutes.
7. Cover and let it simmer for 45 minutes on small fire till pork pieces are tender.

Braised Pork on Rice (Lu Rou Fan)

It has been a while since I have any Taiwanese food and believe it or not, I am actually craving for some of them! One of them is the braised pork on rice which I used to have each time I dine in Fong Lye in KL (Gardens) or Xian Ding Wei (Queensbay Mall) in Penang. This fatty looking braised chopped meat that tasted so damn nice (though sinful!) kept popping in my head after someone shared the Youtube video on Facebook and I just got to give it a go!

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Adapted the recipe from here which showed the step-by-step via Youtube. I added slightly more dark soy sauce as I like it in a darker tone.

I can attest that this is a rice killer! I can wallop 2 or more bowls of rice with this fragrant pork in no time! :D

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Ingredients

• 1kg Pork (I used a mix of pork belly and pork shoulder)


• ½ cup Soy sauce


• ¼ cup Dark soy sauce


• 1 Large piece rock sugar


• ½ cup Fried shallots


• 2 Star anise


• 2 tbsp Fried garlic


• 2 tbsp Dried shrimps (soaked and chopped up)


• ½ tsp Five spice powder


• ½ Cup Shao Xing wine


• Hot water


• Pepper to taste

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Methods

1. Cut pork into 5 mm square chunks


2. Heat up the wok and dry fry the pork chunks (use a little oil or lard if the meat is not too fatty)


3. When the juices from the meat has dried up and turned brown, add the dried shrimps, stir and add in rock sugar and star anise, stir


4. Add in the 5 spice powder, continue to stir


5. Add the rest of the ingredients and half of the wine


6. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes then turn the heat to low heat and continue to simmer.


7. Add in some hot water until just cover the meat, cover and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes or so or until your meat is soft and tender.


8. Add the other half of the wine, cover and cook for 2 more minutes

Braise Two Beans Pork Belly

Sometimes I just don't know what to cook especially when I am in my 'lazy mood'. If the dish required some additional ingredients and I do not have them at home, I'll just forget about it. Since my Ah Beng is getting more 'health conscious' lately, he has requested that I do minimal frying if I could help it and have steam fish everyday... Don't think I can eat steamed fish everyday though!

Come to think of it, if a dish is 'healthy' it is usually not so flavorful as 'sinful' dishes... :P What do you consider as healthy except salad or maybe a bowl of oatmeal? I really can't think. So, what I do best is to think of all the not so healthy food when I am trapped in such situation! Call me evil if you like! :P

Here is one such dish...

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Ingredients

• 4oog Pork belly (cut into 1" cubes together with skin)


• 1 Red chili (sliced strips)


• 2 Shallots (sliced)


• 1tsp Fermented black beans


• 1tbsp Taucu (fermented soy beans)


• 1tbsp Black sauce


• 1 cup Water


• Light soy sauce (optional)

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Methods

1. Heat up wok (best if using a non stick) and pan fried the pork cubes until 50% cooked. Lift up and set aside.


2. Heat up a medium corning ware or a clay pot with at least 3tbsp of oil and saute the shallots chili till fragrant.


3. Add in the fermented black beans and soy beans and continue to stir. Toss in the pork cubes and add in black sauce, stir and add water. Cover.


4. Once it boils, turn to low heat and simmer for another 30 minutes or until meat turn soft. Add in some light soy sauce if it taste bland.

Braised Chicken Wings with Sweet Potatoes

I have not been doing a lot of creative cooking of late as Darrius is eating the same food as we are so I only cook dishes that are suitable for him to consume... less spicy and fried stuff on the table. The other thing to consider when cooking with toddlers in mind is, to have lot of sauces if there is no soup accompanying that particular meal. Sauce will helps to soften the rice so it is easier on the kids to chew and swallow.

Here is another very easy to cook dish that suits the kids since sweet potatoes are full of vitamins and nutrients. What I like about this dish is, the sweetness from the sweet potatoes penetrate into the chicken as well as the sauce making it so appetizing! :)

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Ingredients

• 1 Sweet potato (medium to large size - chunk)


• 6 Chicken wings (cut the drumplets and wings into 2 parts)


• 3 cloves Garlic (minced)


• Snowpeas/Snap peas (a few pieces - optional)


• 2 tbsp Light soy sauce (or according to preferred taste)


• 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce (or according to preferred tone)


• 1.5 cups Water


• Dash of pepper


• Corn flour solution (to thicken sauce)

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Method

1. Heat up wok with a little oil and gently pan fried the sweet potato chunks. Lift them up.


2. Add some more oil and pan fried the chicken wings till they turned brownish. Lift them up.


3. In the same wok, saute the minced garlic till fragrant and toss in the chicken wings, stir, add dark soy sauce and light soy sauce, stir and add in water. Covered and turn on low fire for and simmer for10 minutes stirring occasionally.


4. Toss in the sweet potato chunks, stir and continue to simmer on low fire for another 10 minutes.


5. When you are about to turn off the fire, toss in the sweetpeas/snap peas, stir, add in corn flour solution and stir till well mix. Cover and switched off the fire.

Braised Chicken Rice in Sesame Seed Oil

I love One-Pot dish not only they are convenient and easy to prepare but full of flavors.

This is another one-pot dish that I often cook as the ingredients can be easily purchased. In fact I have most of them stuffed in my freezer! How convenient is that right? :)

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Ingredients

• 3 Chicken drumsticks (cut into about 4 pieces each)


• 2 cups rice (wash and sieve dry)


• 6-8 Dried mushrooms (soaked and sliced)


• 1 Chinese pork sausage (Lap cheong)


• 1/2 bulb Garlic (minced)


• 1" Old ginger (sliced)


• 2tbsp Sesame seed oil (1tbsp to marinate and 1tsp for frying)


• Dark soy sauce


• Light soy sauce


• Fish sauce


• Pepper to taste (optional)

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Methods

1. After cutting chicken, prop them into a deep bowl and marinade with dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, fish sauce, pepper and sesame seed oil.


2. Heat up wok with some oil + sesame seed oil, saute the ginger till brownish then add in the minced garlic and saute till fragrant. Toss in the rice, stir and add in the chicken pieces (together with the sauce) and continue to stir till all well mixed.


3. Add in the mushroom pieces and Chinese sausage slices and mix well. Lift them up and put into rice cooker, add sufficient water (cover all the rice mixture) and cook like normal.


4. Alternatively, you can put into the steamer and steam till the rice cooked.

Braised Chicken with Chinese Mushroom

Here is another easy and yummy chicken dish. I've always like braised chicken dishes as they are just so simple to cook and great for toddlers. Previously I'd put up a similar recipe but instead of chicken I used pork.

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Ingredients

• 3pcs Chicken drumsticks (cut into smaller pieces)


• 4-5pcs Chinese Mushrooms (soak and cut into half)


• 4-5 pips Garlic (coarsely chopped)


• 1x1" Old Ginger (sliced)


• Dark soy sauce


• Light soy sauce


• Oyster sauce


• Water

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with oil (2-3 tbsp) and saute the ginger slices and chopped garlic till fragrant.


2. Put in the chicken pieces and stir fry for 2 minutes then add in mushroom and dark soy sauce. Continue to stir before adding in water (around 1 -1.5 cup), stir and cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes.


3. Add in light soy sauce and oyster sauce (depending on your taste) and continue to stir.


4. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes or so before serving.

Braised Peppercorns Pork

I was having a few slabs of pork belly as I intended to cook something else but ended up not cooking them as the time I have to prepare them is too short so has to abort that idea. So, I have to come out with alternative ideas....

Well, I will always go for easy to prepare dish and using the least amount of ingredients if possible. Therefore, I remembered my MIL used to cook this dish which all she do is just dump everything in! And voila! Hot yummy dish on the table.

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Ingredients

• 300g Pork belly (best with those that has a few layers of fats and with skin intact)


• 3 cloves garlic - chopped finely


• 1tsp Peppercorns - crushed


• Black sauce


• Light soy sauce to taste


• Water - for sauce

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Methods

1. In a medium saucepan, heat up 2tbsp oil and lightly saute chopped garlic till fragrant.


2. Add in the pork belly (cubed) and stir till they are about 50% cooked. Pour in dark soy sauce to desired tone. Add in water (ard 3/4 to 1 cup), stir and cover.


3. When the water begun to boil, add in the crushed peppercorns, stir and cover and let it simmer for at least 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally on low heat.


4. Add in light soy sauce to taste and simmer a further 10 minutes.

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Dong Por Yuk (Braised wine pork)

During one of our trips to KL, we went to eat at this very old je-char stall which has just moved to a new shop unit in Queens Park. This used to be my dad's favourite haunt many years ago and when I was younger we used to dine there on many occasions.

However, we did not order this particular dish until that day.  Hubby was hooked after that! So, I decided to look for the recipe. I searched for quite a while but couldn't find any until I saw a link to Babe in the City's site. And I was so happy to see she has the recipe!

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As I only have half the amount of ingredients required (just nice for 2 person share), I twisted them a little. If you want her version, click here. My verdict on the dish, nice and fragrant and not too sweet. The meat was tender but I should simmer longer so it will be softer. The fats were still intact and cooking longer may give it a melt-in-the-mouth feel.

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Ingredients

• 300g Pork belly with skin intact - recommended to get those with more layers of fats


• 3/4 cup Shao Xing Hua Dioa (Chinese cooking wine)


• Water - enough to cover the pork


• Dark soy sauce - enough to rub on the pork


• 1 Star anise


• Brown sugar to taste (I used 1 tbsp) or Rock sugar


• Corn flour - mixed with a little water to thicken the sauce

Method

1. Blanch the meat in hot water to get rid of the scums, then wash with tap water to clean it further. Dry the meat with paper towels before rubbing with just enough dark soy sauce to coat the meat thoroughly and let it marinade for 10 minutes. In a non-stick pan, add in some oil and sear the meat on all sides except the skin quickly. Watch the heat as the dark soy sauce will caramalised.


2. Let the meat cool down a bit before slicing them into smaller pieces (you can tie the cut meat together with a thick thread so it can maintain some form). Place meat in a pot, pour in the wine (1/2 cup) and add in enough water till it covers the meat pieces. Throw in the star anise and boil/simmer in low heat till soft.


3. In a small bowl, mix a bit of oyster sauce (1.5 tbsp) and sugar and continue to boil/simmer until the meat is really tender (around 1.5 hours) then add the remaining 1/4 up wine before stirring in the cornflour mix (I did this as I want to have the fragrant smell of the wine).


4. Stir in corn flour+water to slightly thicken up the gravy. Serve hot with plain rice or some plain mantou.

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* Some paragraphs are borrowed and edited from Babe's site.

Braised Pork with Chinese Mushrooms

Another braised dish for the table! :)

Yeah, sometimes when I get hyped up with one style of cooking, I will do it over and over again just to test out the different taste using the same style but different ingredients.

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Ingredients

• 300-400g Pork Belly (Not too fatty ones cut into small chunks)


• 5-6pcs Dried Chinese mushrooms (pre-soaked)


• 4-5 cloves Garlic (chopped)


• 2tsp Bean paste (Tau-chu)


• 1tsp Dark soy sauce


• Some peppercorns (crushed)


• 1/2 Cup Water (more if you want more sauce)


• 1tbsp Glutinous rice wine

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Methods

1. Heat up a medium saucepan with a little oil, saute the chopped garlic till fragrant.


2. Pour in the pork belly chunks and stir till half cooked, add in the dark soy sauce, stir and add in the mushrooms (cut into halves) and crushed peppercorns then continue to stir for a while.


3. Add in the bean paste, stir and add in the water, stir and simmer for 25-30 minutes till meat is tender.


4. If you have glutinous rice wine, add in before serving.

Braised Pork with Black Fungus

I have wanted to cook something with black fungus as I like their chewiness. If I'm not wrong, these black fungus have some nutritional value as well but I'm not sure what they are... got to google it and find out :P

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Ingredients

• 300g Pork (recommended to have both mixed pork belly and loin)


• 30-40g Black fungus (pre-soak)


• 3-4 Dried chilies


• 6-7 cloves Garlic (coarsely chopped)


• 5-6pcs Shallots (coarsely chopped)


• 2 tsp Bean paste


• 3/4 cup Water


• Dark soy sauce


• Light soy sauce or salt

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Methods

1. In a sauce pan, heat up 2-3tbsp oil and saute the chopped garlic and shallots till fragrant.


2. Add in dried chilies, stir, add in pork pieces, stir, add in dark soy sauce and stir till meat is 50% cooked, add in bean paste, stir, add in black fungus, stir, add water, stir and simmer on low fire for 30-45 minutes stirring occasionally.


3. Add light soy sauce or salt to taste.

Note: The bean paste is salty so if you don't fancy salty food, can omit the soy sauce or salt.

Braised Spare Ribs with Preserved Black Beans

Almost every week I will buy some spare ribs for soup. Then I realised, besides using these ribs to boil soup, I can use them for other dishes too! Though they are not the 'correct' part of the ribs but the meat texture is almost the same.

I love this yummy dish as it's so good to go with rice... extremely appetising! Also, I can use up the remaining preserved black beans I bought previously. An easy dish to prepare.


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Ingredients

• 200-300g Spare ribs (get the butcher to chop them into small pieces of 1.5")


• 2 Red chilies (chopped finely)


• 1 Chili padi (optional)


• 7-8 cloves Garlic (chopped finely)


• 1tsp Preserved black beans


• 1/2-2/3 cup Water


• 2tsp Corn flour (to marinade the ribs prior to cooking)

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Methods

1. Marinade ribs with corn flour for 1/2 hours.


2. Heat up saucepan with some oil, saute the chopped garlic and chilies till fragrant. Add in the washed preserved black beans and stir.


3. Add in the ribs, stir, add water, stir, cover and simmer in small fire for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Note: If you like garlic, you can put in the entire bulb as it fragrant up the dish.

Braised Asam Pork

I always crave for sourish dish! I just don't understand but the sourish taste give me good appetite for sure!!

It has been some time since I cook this dish and I just love it especially if it's cooked by my mom. Since I don't stay with her now, I will have to prepare this myself. It turned out quite ok - I guessed! However, it will taste even better if I had used some pork belly instead of all pork pinic shoulder for this dish. Pork belly will get soften more easily and the oil will give the sauce more aroma.

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Ingredients

• 400-500g Pork belly or pork picnic shoulder - cut into cubes


• 3/4 bulb Garlic - chopped finely


• 7-8 Shallots - chopped finely


• 2pcs Dried chilies


• 1pc Fresh red chili


• 2pcs Asam pieces (asam Gelugor)


• 2tbsp Glutinous rice wine (optional)


• Dark soy sauce


• 1tbsp Tau-chu (preserved bean paste)


• Water (around 3/4 - 1 cup)

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Methods

1. In a separate sauce pan, boil some water for removing the porky smell from the pork cubes. When water is boiling, pour in the pork cubes and keep stirring for about 1 minutes, drain and put aside.


2. Heat up wok or casserole pot with 2-3 tbsp of oil, saute garlic and shallots till fragrant. Add in dried chillies and sliced fresh chili, stir for another minute.


3. Add in the boiled pork cubes, stir, add in dark soy sauce, stir and add in the glutinous rice wine (pour at the side, around the wok or casserole pot) while continue to stir for a minute. Cover for a few minutes.


4. Add in the asam pieces, stir and add in the tau-chu, stir for a minute, add in water, stir and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Braised Longbeans with Pork

Guessed some of you knew that I loves to eat beans. It's yummy, nutritious and easy to cook. Steam, stir-fry, deep fried, grill and braise.

I'm going to share this recipe which is one of the all time favourite in my family (my own family, not PiggyBeng's). In fact I have a cousin who only want this dish everyday! So, when he was staying with us at one time, my mom just cook this dish almost every other day!


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Ingredients

• 12 strands Longbeans - cut to 2" long


• 150g Pork loin - cut to strips, marinade with corn flour and soy sauce and pepper


• 3 cloves Garlic


• Dark soy sauce


• Light soy sauce


• 1 chili padi (optional)


• Water (1/2 cup)

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with a little oil and lightly fry the longbeans till light brown, lift up.


2. Add another 2tbsp oil into wok and sautee chopped garlic then chili padi.


3. Fry the pork until about 50% cook, add in the longbeans, stir, add dark soy sauce, stir, add water, stir and cover for 5 minutes on slow fire.


4. Add in light soy sauce, stir, cover till the water starts to thicken (about 15 minutes).


5. Serve.