Braised pork belly in dark soy sauce, aka Lor Bak

I've got to say that I am utterly pleased with this dish which I made yesterday.  Actually I've cooked "lor bak" quite a number of times in the past, but there was not once that I could so wholeheartedly approve of the outcome.  My past "lor bak" making experiences were always plagued by the followings, all of them interconnected, all of them working against me.

1. meaty part of pork belly becomes too dry in an effort to soften the skin

2. braising liquid always dry up quickly, need to top with water so often 

3. as a result of 2, braising sauce tasted diluted or not well flavored, appearance of liquid is not dark enough

4. by the time skin is soft, not enough liquid again to braise the firm beancurd (taukwa) and eggs, so add more water

5. if more water is added again, need more dark soy sauce and salt, so add more of these, braising sauce taste artificial

6. braised taukwa and eggs for too long just to make sure both are evenly coated with the dark brown sauce, taukwa and eggs are tough, the white portion is not bouncy but hard, the yolks are so dry and powdery the kids refused to eat them

Yes, all these problems were there every time I make "lor bak".  I could not believe it when my two kids refused to eat the "lor neng" (braised eggs)!  The two of them are really suckers for eggs of any kind, so it was quite a devastating shock when they announced that they do not like my "lor neng" anymore, but they love my hard-boiled eggs!  What sort of logic is that, I ask you.  And yes, recently, the two of them had become more accomplished in critiquing my cooking.  It used to be anything goes for them, as long as it is prepared by Mummy.

I did try using the slow cooker to prepare this dish.  Even though it produced really succulent pork belly, I felt that the meat tasted more porky than when it was prepared over the stove-top. Perhaps the gentle heat of the slow cooker had worked too well at locking in the flavors of the ingredients?  I am not sure, but it was just too porky for me.  And using the slow cooker did not solve the problem of my kids rejecting my "lor neng".

The techniques I used to put this dish together yesterday drew inspiration from the Japanese.  The "lor bak" was braised using a method that calls for "otoshibuta" (落し蓋), or simply the "drop lid" method.  This cooking method requires a lid to set loosely inside the cooking pot used, such that it sits on the ingredients inside the pot and almost touches the sides of the pot.  Because it is so close to the ingredients (but not tight fitting) that pressure can be released along the small gaps, so that liquid does not boil over and spill.  Secondly, steam will be caught onto the drop lid, condense and flow back into the ingredients, so liquid does not dry up so quickly.  For me, this method worked marvelously for making "lor bak".  The skin was adequately softened, the meaty part wasn't dry.  See the beautiful shine, feel the bounce!

  

For once, I did not have to top up with water so often.  Throughout the whole cooking process, I topped up only twice (compared with at least 4 times previously).  The first time was because the pork belly was still a little tough and the liquid was running a little low, though still enough to braise the meat completely.  I topped up, just in case anyway.  The second time was to have a little more braising liquid to cook and color the taukwa and prepare the "lor neng".

Yes, the "lor neng", the shock that I could not recover from until last night.  Well, this is how my "lor neng" looked like last night.

Does it resemble that moist looking braised egg so strategically placed in the centre of a bowl of ramen that beckons you to take a bite?  I had always been fascinated by the braised egg Japanese ramen restaurants can offer.  And I've always wondered at how is it that their egg yolks can stay so moist, some even still oozing when halved, golden yellow yolks trickling thickly into the hearty ramen stock.  I suppose I can say that the mystery was solved when I borrowed this book, "Harumi's Japanese Cooking" by Harumi Kurihara, from the library.  Basically, you just marinade well prepared hard-boiled eggs in a sauce, no cooking (that no more heating) is required.  That is how the eggs are coated with savory looking brown sauce and yet boast of moist looking yolks in the middle.

For the first time, I could relax and enjoy the process of making "lor bak".  There were no worries of a burnt pot and burnt food, there was no tough taukwa and I could solve the mystery of a succulent "lor neng" all in one pot.

Of course, there is no point in me singing praises about my own cooking, unless those I am trying to please are genuinely pleased with the food I put on the dining table.  Members of the food tasting squad were of course the Hubby and the two kids.  

"It's good!  Umm, it's good!"  That was from the Hubby.

The Tiny Man took two halves of the "lor neng", that's a 200% increase from not taking even one bite.

The girl asked if she could have the last half on the plate; she had three halves.  

Need I say more? ^_^

Braised pork belly in dark soy sauce, aka lor bak

(basically my Mum's recipe but methods inspired by the resilient Japanese)

Ingredients

(Serves 4, two big and two small)

300g pork belly, as lean as you can get hold of

4 eggs

2 small taukwa (firm beancurd), quartered

5 cloves garlic

1 large shallot

3cm stick of cassia bark (or cinnamon stick)

2 star anise

3 tbsp good quality rich dark soy sauce

2 tbsp good quality light soy sauce

2 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine

1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce

400ml water

some cooking oil (about 1-2 tbsp)

cornstarch solution to thicken braising sauce later

Method

1. Clean the pork belly skin thoroughly, blanch the whole piece in boiling water.  Pat dry and set aside.  There is no need to cut into bite size.

2. Heat about 2 tbsp of cooking oil in the pot that you will be using to braise the pork belly.  Brown the pork belly on all sides.

3. When the pork belly is lightly browned, add the dark soy sauce and let it bubble gently for about 30 seconds.  Add garlic, shallot (both skin on), star anise and cassia bark.  Do place these 4 items into a soup stock pocket if possible as it will prevent your guests from biting into spicy star anise or pick up a piece of garlic or shallot skin.**

4. Add 200ml of water and bring to boil.  Add light soy sauce and 1 tbsp of Shaoxing cooking wine.  Once it comes to boil, lower the flame to medium-low, simmer the pork belly until it is softened to your preference.  When braising, use a drop lid*.  You may need to add another 100ml of water half way through the braising.  Do so if necessary. 

5. In the meantime, prepare hard boiled eggs.  Eggs MUST be at room temperature.  Place the eggs in a pot, add water (room temperature) and bring the whole thing to boil.  Once the water starts boiling, continue to let it bubble for about 1.5 minutes.  Off the heat immediately after 1.5 minutes and let the eggs sit in the hot water for another 1 minute.#  Shell the eggs and set aside.

6. When the pork belly is adequately softened, dish it out and set aside.  If the braising liquid is running too low to cover taukwa and eggs, do top up.  Another 50-100ml should be enough.^

7. After topping up with water, add the taukwa and remaining 1 tbsp of Shaoxing wine, 1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce and let it bubble gently for about 15 minutes.  Drop lid is not necessary from this stage onwards.  After 15 minutes, the taukwa will be evenly coated in a dark brown hue.  Before turning off the heat, thicken the sauce with cornstarch solution.

8. Off the heat, add the hard boiled eggs, pushing the eggs to the bottom of the pot.  Return the pork belly to the pot and cover with the lid of the pot.  No more cooking is required now. 

9. Let the eggs sit in the braising sauce, marinating up to 4 hours.

10.  When ready to serve, dish out all the ingredients.  Halve the eggs, slice the pork belly into bite size.  Warm up the braising sauce and drizzle over all the ingredients.

Notes

**Such pockets are available from Daiso.  These are really handy items to have in the kitchen.

*There is no need to buy a drop lid small enough to fit into your pot.  A drop lid can be prepared using aluminium foil.  Just wrap the foil around the lid of the pot you are using.  It will make correct size to drop it comfortably into the pot and sit snugly on top of the ingredients.

#Hard boiled eggs prepared this way will give me the kind of bounciness I like for the white part, and the moist slightly chewy texture that I like for the yolks.  You may need to experiment with the timing a little to get the kind of texture preferred.  But the main points are both eggs and water must be in room temperature, and both eggs and water must be heated up together.

^Even though a total of 400ml of water is specified, not all will be used as this depends on the size of the pot chosen.  Basically, the braising liquid should almost cover the ingredients during braising and simmering.  Experimentation, play-by-ear (or rather eye in this case) is the key.

Have Fun!

Pandan chiffon cake

Baked this pandan chiffon cake last week.  It was not my first experience making chiffon cakes.  My first chiffon cake debuted about a year ago, some time in the last quarter of 2010.  It was a pandan chiffon cake and it took quite a few days of self-persuasion before finally gathering all the necessary utensils and ingredients and most importantly, chiffon cake recipe, to make this cake.  

I love chiffon cakes, especially pandan chiffon cakes.  That's because it is something that has intimate associations with childhood memories.  I remember Mum making pandan chiffon cakes, sometimes with success (which I will bring to school for Children's Day party), but quite a number of times, her chiffon cake attempts ended in failure.  At that time, there seemed to be some sort of superstition that you cannot mention "kueh" when making chiffon cake else it will really turn into "chiffon kueh".  In my family, this is the curse of the "chiffon kueh".  And you were supposed to keep your mouth shut when Mum was busy whisking up the egg whites furiously.  But the problem, especially on those occasions when her chiffon cake failed, was that Dad would be around and would casually comment "Oh you are making kueh today!"  Eeeeeeek!  Dad, you just chanted the cursed incantation!  At that point, the clanking of the whisk against the bowl would stop and we would see Mum turn around, with that "I am going to kill you for saying that cursed word" look, a quick argument on the inappropriateness of word choice would ensue, Dad would retreat to the living room and the clanking of the whisk would resume.  Unfortunately, Mum's mood would be totally spoiled, she lost concentration as she got consumed by the fear of the curse of the "chiffon kueh", the egg white meringue would not be whisked to the right stiffness and finally the self-fulfilling prophecy worked its magic.  She produced the pandan chiffon keuh, all blames were served to the unsuspecting poor Dad.

When I had decided to try making pandan chiffon cake, the possible curse from the "chiffon kueh"(though I know very well that it was not true) still lingered at the back of my mind.  But I had told myself that it is after all a superstition and the real reason for Mum's failure (despite the fact that those failures always coincided with Dad's casual cursed incantation of "Oh you are making kueh today") lies in the fact that the meringue was not whisked properly.  As for the recipe, Mum did give me hers but there is a problem with it.  The measurements were in soup spoons, cups and bowls.  My standard for measurement differ very largely, I work in the grams, millilitres and litres mode.  So of course I turned to the net for some recipes to refer and I found this, from the much acclaimed blog ieat.ishoot.ipost.  It is a fantastic start for those interested in trying out chiffon cakes as this particular post spell out observations in many areas of chiffon cake making, from impacts of ingredients used to techniques in preparing the meringue, mixing the batter, when to take the cake out of the oven and overturning the cake to let it cool.  I tried out two of the four variations offered and found that I loved the last one best, the one that says "Extra whites".  The curse of the "chiffon kueh" never caught up with me, and I had went on the try out variations in flavors, made more tweaks to the basic recipe until I am happy with the sweetness, firmness and springiness of the chiffon cakes. 

Having said all that, I am still very far from claiming success at making chiffon cakes.  The usual problems with chiffon cakes would be the cake shrinks upon removal from the oven.  I do not have too much of the problem.  Yes, my cake will shrink, but just a little and the dome will still be there, like this.

The other problem is that the cake would not be appropriately browned or too burnt.  Yes, my chiffon cake does show signs of the former problem.  But a word of defense is necessary here.  I like it this way actually.  Not too browned on the sides and the bottom.  I always felt that those chiffon cakes with an all-rounded copper tan, beautiful there is no denying, tended to taste slightly dry.  I like mine moist.  And so my chiffon cake would always look like a silly little thing  spotting a successful tan on the face but is pale every where else!  Like the one above and the one I am showing now.

Finally, a problem that I am still facing, and almost happily resigned to and accepting, is the large and beautiful smile my chiffon cakes would always greet me with.

The cake would rise... ...

And rise... ...

And finally present me with a cracks of smiles... ...

Pandan chiffon cake

(adapted with modifications from ieat.ishoot.ipost)

Makes 1x16cm tube pan and 2x12cm tube pans

Ingredients

Group 1

3 egg yolks
50g castor sugar
50ml corn oil
70ml thick coconut milk
100g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp pandan juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pandan essence


Group 2
5 egg whites
50g castor sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar


Method
** Preheat oven to 160deg C.  I use a small Tefal Crousty oven, hence the low temperature.
1. Sift cake flour, baking powder together and set aside.  Add salt to the sifted mixture.
2. Whisk sugar and egg yolks from Group 1 until creamy.
3. Add coconut milk and oil, whisk together until well incorporated. 
4. Add pandan juice, vanilla extract and pandan essence and quickly whisk together until well incorporated.
5. Add sifted flour mixture in 3-4 batches, whisking quickly at each addition and finally until all flour is combined and a smooth flowing mixture is achieved.
6. Using a very clean and dry whisk, whisk egg whites from Group 2 until foamy.  Add sugar and whisk for about 30 seconds, then add cream of tartar.  Continue to whisk until STIFF peaks are formed (like the picture below).  This step is the spell that can break the curse of the "chiffon kueh".  But be careful not to over whisk the egg whites as the cake may end up dry.

7. Add 1/3 of the meringue in Step 6 to the batter mixture in Step 5.  Fold the meringue in gently, the mixture should appear slightly foamy.
8. Add the rest of the meringue to the mixture in Step 7, folding very gently until a uniform batter is achieved.
9. Pour into chiffon cake tube pan until 80% full.  Drop the tube pan onto working surface from a low height of 3-5cm.  This is to get rid of large air bubbles that may be caught into the batter when pouring.  
10.  Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes (if a pale looking chiffon cake is preferred) or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  For a well tanned cake, of course stretch the baking time longer for about 5-10 minutes.
11. Take the cake out of the oven (I did so at exactly 40 minutes for a pale cake) and immediately turn the tube pan upside down.  Let the cake cool completely before delicately extracting the cake from its tube pan casing. 


Note:
* When chiffon cake is not fully browned around the sides and bottom, there is a risk of the cake dropping out from the tube pan when overturning the cake to cool!  ^_^  That was what happened when I baked this chiffon cake.  Well, what I did was to pop the cake back into the tube pan, let it rest right side up for 30 seconds before turning it upside down again.  Stayed put in the pan!  Strange though really funny, as this is the first time it had happened.  All my previous pale looking cakes were not this enthusiastic about leaving their warm casing!