Just some pictures: Fried rice, the packing experiment

It's been ages since the last time I performed a controlled experiment.  It was a Science experiment, in a laboratory, during my "O" Levels examination;  and I hated it.  It was Chemistry, and we were supposed to test for acidity or was it alkalinity in some form of liquid mixture after boiling a solid sample into a liquid sample.  Anyway, the litmus paper test was the final stage.  The litmus paper was supposed to change color, and I really do not remember what final color was my litmus paper.  I just remember having problems lighting up the bunsen burner and sucking that odd liquid up using a pipette.  I am lucky to be still alive, for this meant that I had not used the pipette as a straw, swallowing the odd liquid that was colorless and odorless.  I think by now I can conclude with doubtless clarity that I am absolutely not inclined to Chemistry.  I am totally not adept at performing anything that requires precision.

I prefer experimenting in the kitchen.  Not that kitchen experiments lack precision, it is less darn precise than scientific experiments; at least for me.  So I am willing, and in fact, excited about testing out my theory on how different ways of packing leftover rice would affect the taste and appearance of fried rice ^_^  

I've mentioned my suspicion in an earlier post, and I think I have confirmed my kitchen theory, as I labored in the kitchen over an enthusiastic wok.  I was practically peering down into the wok that I could bury my face into grains of rice dancing and popping around on hot metal.

I had prepared two samples of leftover rice.  The rice was cooked all at the same time, done-ness and dampness of the cooked leftover rice were basically held constant.  The ingredients added to the rice were the same: garlic shoots, cubed fish cake, cubed Japanese sausages, eggs.  The seasoning was also the same, enough good quality light soy sauce for the saltiness, pepper and sesame oil to lift the aroma. 

The first sample of leftover rice was loosely packed in a microwavable container, those transparent container normally used for takeaways in food courts and hawker centers.  The other sample was firmly, or rather compactly packed using brown packing paper (those types normally used for economical rice takeaways in the past before styrofoam boxes took over the job).  Both samples were left in the fridge overnight in the same compartment, at the same time, for the same amount of time.

There were no variation in the way I fried up the two samples of rice.  The sequence and the timing in which I added the ingredients and seasoning were exactly the same.  In other words, all variables were held constant.  The only thing that differed was the packing method of my leftover rice samples.

The result confirmed my "theory"; this was important for me.  Even the Hubby noticed the differences in the two plates of fried rice I presented to them.  

This is the fried rice made from the sample of leftover rice loosely packed in microwavable container, let's call it Sample A.

Sample A

This is fried rice from the sample compactly packed using brown paper, and naturally, this would be Sample B.

Sample B

Can't tell the difference?  

Okay, here's the difference.  

Observations

Appearance

Sample A is a little more clumpy than Sample B.  If you look at Sample A carefully, there are about 4 tiny clumps of rice near the center forefront of the picture. The biggest clump is situated near the top left portion, sandwiched between a red cube of Japanese sausage and a piece of yellow egg.  Sample B on the other hand presents properly separated grains of rice, and no clumps could be found.

Taste

Sample A was less fragrant, a mouthful of fried rice tasted rather moist or damp, a little stickiness was detectable as you chew.  Sample B on the other hand offered a fuller aroma, the texture of the rice grains was firmer, and a mouthful of fried rice tasted drier and more aromatic.  The sort of stickiness present in Sample A was not detectable.  

Conclusion

In an earlier post, I had theorized that leftover rice loosely packed in a container still retained moisture, or dampness.  I think this is due to the pockets of space not taken up by the rice.  Even though it was left in the fridge to "dry out", the moisture basically condensed onto the walls of the container and fell back onto the rice, hence the moisture retention.  The moisture retention thus caused difficulty in separating lumps of rice, therefore resulting in clumps of rice seen in Sample A.  Moisture retention also resulted in the end product being more damp tasting than Sample B.  Moisture retention in the rice also seemed to affect the amount of aroma each grain of rice can absorb, thus resulting in less fragrant fried rice as observed in Sample A.

On the other hand, leftover rice compactly packed using brown paper has little space left for moisture to condense and return to the rice.  I suppose this means the leftover rice in Sample B retained lesser moisture in comparison to Sample A.  Lesser moisture retention means drier rice, which makes it easier to separate the lumps of rice when frying.  It also reduced the number of clumps, in fact, there were no rice clumps in Sample B.  Because each rice grain is drier, the ability to absorb aroma is heightened, otherwise Sample B wouldn't have tasted richer in aroma.

This is the end of my fried rice experiment.  I wonder if it would be useful to anyone.  Maybe those who prefer moister fried rice can consider packing your leftover rice loosely in a container.  Those who like to experience a little difficulty swallowing your aromatic fried rice might want to consider leaving your leftover rice to "dry out" more in the fridge compactly packed in paper.  


One more thing.  I didn't bring the leftover rice back to room temperature.  I find that this also affects the texture and taste of the end product, clumpy, damp and lacking a lively saltiness even though enough seasonings have been added.


As for me, I think I need to stop making fried rice for a while.  We had been having fried rice on every weekend for the past 4 weeks even though there are only 3 entries here.  The kids and Hubby may still want to enjoy a fried-up fare but I think I need a break from it...

Just some pictures: More fried rice

I'd suggested making Sundays our fried rice day in a previous entry, and I delivered, sort of.  We had this version of fried rice yesterday, a Saturday.  

Frankly, I was a little disappointed with this result.  The Hubby shared my sentiments.  The kids, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it very much.  

The kids loved the bright yellow corns, which tasted really sweet and bursting with juice.  These were freshly plucked from the cob, not those from frozen packaging.  My vegetable seller's wife suggested this to me at my last trip to the market.  I have to admit it definitely tasted better than frozen corns.  

The rest of the ingredients included some shredded carrots, Taiwanese chicken sausages which were cubed and some char siew pieces (courtesy of my Mother-in-law).  Judging from the ingredients, I guess this fried rice should turn out pretty fragrant but unfortunately it wasn't how I had expected it.  


It paled so much in comparison to the previous version, in terms of the "dryness" and the amount of aroma each grain of rice had absorbed.

Previous version

The way I made this fried rice is the same, using leftover rice from the previous night, chilled in the fridge.  Yet, this version ended up much wetter (though not soggy).  There were also a few clumps of rice, which I did not manage to loosen, no matter how much I pressed against them or tossed them about in the wok.


I have a feeling it has to do with the way I packed those leftover rice.  The earlier version was packed in those brown paper that were used by economical rice seller.  It was packed rather compactly, and sort of left in the fridge to "dry out".  The leftover rice for this version was loosely packed in a container and similarly left in the fridge.  Perhaps it was not packed compact, and the container had a lot of space left, so the moisture in the rice could not "dry out" completely.  That was how I ended with clumpy and wet/sticky fried rice.  

Are the clumps noticeable?

This calls for an experiment.  I think it can be done next week.  One lot of leftover rice to be compactly packed in brown paper, and another lot loosely in a container.  This should be fun!  


Oh yes, my fried rice always have eggs in it.  It is either added right from the start, or it will be included as garnish in the form of scrambled eggs, like how we have it this time.

Homemade quick tomato sauce (on meatball spaghetti)

I remember coming up with various defenses against making my own tomato sauce for pasta.  Let me eat my words and feast on this homemade quick tomato sauce too!

I must have been blind all this while!  I was going on and on about not having quality fresh tomatoes to make a sauce from scratch, and how I would refuse to splurge on gourmet tomatoes from gourmet supermarkets in a previous post.  The recipe for a homemade tomato sauce that's quick and not requiring even the skin of a gourmet tomato had been silently appealing for my attention from the corner of my book shelf.  It was on Page 32 of a particular book I bought that offered 100 ways to make pasta. 

This is the picture of quick pasta sauce from my pasta recipe book.
And the canned tomatoes & tomato puree.

Having seen enough of how canned tomatoes, be it chopped or whole, had been put to good use in a stew or sauce of some sort, I guess I was ready to abandon the purist idea that tomato sauce for pasta must be made with fresh tomatoes.  I shopped for canned tomatoes and tomato puree yesterday.  I thought it would be easier than hunting for fresh gourmet tomatoes.  It was definitely not.  

The recipe says "400g can chopped tomatoes".  But in the first supermarket I went to, I found canned but diced tomatoes.  Maybe "diced" and "chopped" would be different.  Maybe the next supermarket would have canned chopped tomatoes.  So off I went to the next location.  It was worse than the first.  There wasn't any canned tomatoes in sight!

Fret not!  There is a third location, the last one near home and definitely would offer something not costing a bomb.  It was my "get the food supply for the whole week" day yesterday.  So I was running from wet market to supermarkets in two locations up in the central-north and northeastern part of Singapore; just for that can of chopped tomatoes.  ^_^  I still maintain the unwillingness to splurge on tomatoes, fresh or processed.

At the last pit-stop, I dashed straight for the canned food section and stared at the shelves in disbelief.  No canned tomatoes.  After spending 30 seconds cursing under my breath and another 30 seconds feeling upset and stupid about the rush to satisfy my curiosity in homemade tomato sauce, I decided to walk over to the bottled pasta sauce corner to get my trusty Leggo's Napoletana sauce.  I felt worse.  The Napoletana sauce is out of stock!  How about Prego?  Didn't have the flavor I liked.  *Sigh*  Yes, I could give up and make something else for dinner.  But the kids wanted pasta, and more importantly, I wanted to try making my own sauce.  

Turned on my heels to leave the place and there they were, just right behind me, rows of canned diced tomatoes and tomato puree loomed into my sight! It was placed together with bottles of jams and spreads for bread.  Who in the first place would group canned tomatoes and tomato puree with jams and spreads?!  Anyway, I was simply too overjoyed to question too much about the supermarket's logic or philosophy in their product display.  And it is diced tomato instead of chopped tomato.  At that point, I really could not be too bothered about the nuance anymore.  Diced or chopped, it is tomato processed into small pieces and stored in a metal can which you need to open with a can opener.  Period.


Those are the cans of tomato puree and diced tomato I bought in the picture above.  Just to illustrate how happy I was, I took another picture from another angle. 

The two cans are sitting on Page 32, the recipe to my homemade quick tomato sauce.  I don't think it is so visible in this picture, but if you look at the first picture, you can see that the sauce is really thick, almost dry looking.  Mine on the other hand looked like this.

I wanted the sauce to be slightly more watery, so that every strand of spaghetti is awash with sauce.  Like this...

I had to agree that it is really a quick tomato sauce.  In fact, it was so quick that I managed to shape and pan-fry those meatballs, put together ingredients for the sauce and simmer it, getting the whole pasta sauce ready in 45 minutes flat, including washing up and mopping the floor ^_^.  Well, I had to be quick as I only had 1.5 hours left before rushing off to pick my girl up from her CCA.

The verdict?  
The Tiny Man was first in line to taste it.  He had came sauntering into the kitchen claiming that something smells good, like pasta sauce.  I gave him one meatball covered with many mushrooms and tomato sauce to try.  And he came back asking for seconds ^_^ (So happy!)
The girl protested at the mushrooms, as usual, gingerly picking these out and dumping them into her brother's bowl, as usual.  But she said it was good.  She had a second helping, of which, she took only a couple of mouthfuls.  This is quite confusing.  Did she really like the sauce?  Was it really that good?  But I think I have faith in my end product.  She must have been quite filled up from the first helping, which was quite big for her usual appetite.  
And finally, the chief food taster.  It is a little sour.  Okay, I can rectify that.  Add a little more sugar to mellow out the tang.  But what came next sort of took me off guard.  "It doesn't taste like homemade", that was what the Hubby offered.  Huh?  After clarification, I knew what he meant.  It tasted as good as those commercial ones that I always use.  Phew!  But on hindsight, how does homemade tomato sauce taste like anyway?

Homemade quick tomato sauce
(adapted from "100 great recipes: Pasta", Jacqueline Bellefontaine, Silverdale Books, 2005)


Ingredients (makes enough for 4)
2 tbsp olive oil (I didn't have any, so used peanut oil, purist don't scream)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and freshly ground black pepper (I used my usual white pepper instead)


Method
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and saute onion for 3-4 minutes until softened.
2. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree and oregano and bring to the boil.  I deviate a little for this step and the rest of the steps that follow are what I did.  
Before adding canned tomatoes, puree and oregano, I added mushrooms and saute for a further 2 minutes.  Then dunk the whole can of tomatoes into the saucepan, swirl the can holding the chopped tomatoes with hot water, and fill it up to half a can.  Empty the water into the saucepan.  Bring to boil.  Once it starts to boil, add tomato puree.  
4. Let the mixture boil simmer for about 5 minutes.
5. Add oregano and continue simmering for another 5 minutes.  
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.  If the sauce is too sour, add sugar to mellow out the acidity.  
7. Let the mixture simmer for another 3-5 minutes and that's about it.  


One last shot to savor.  Yummy!

Just some pictures: Fried rice

We had fried rice for lunch yesterday.  Overnight rice courtesy of my Mum.  

It was not intended for my blog.  However, when I placed it on the dining table, I could not resist taking a shot at it.  

The sun was blazing hot yesterday, and rays of sunshine came pouring into my living/dining area.  The light bounced off the food, illuminating each and every grain of rice, sausage and crisply fried small fish.  We seldom get such good lighting into the house, and so the opportunity should be embraced.

There is no recipe to share.  I believe every Mum can make lip-smacking good fried rice in their own style.  I like to drizzle mine with light soy sauce instead of seasoning it with salt.  I feel that the saltiness from the light soy sauce is a better match for fried rice compared to salt.  Before dishing out the rice, give a generous dash of white pepper and a light drizzle of sesame oil.  This combination always work magic for my fried rice.

The Hubby kept nodding his head in enjoyment as he worked his way into the fried rice.  It seems he really enjoyed every morsel, every grain of it.

We had fried rice two weeks ago, on a Sunday.  The Hubby and the kids loved that version too.  And so I whimsically commented that we should make our Sundays fried rice day.  They agreed except the Tiny Man.  "We should make everyday fried rice day!" he said.  No, my dear child, you will end up with severe nose-bleed from heatiness resulting from excessive fried rice.  Once a week is quite enough.  

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!

Friday's Special #6: Char beehoon

"Char beehoon" is such a common dish here.  Everyone has their unique style, must-have ingredients, and probably some must-have accompaniment, like savory chicken curry to drench the vermicelli or crispy hot spring rolls, to go along with their plate of "char beehoon".

Mum's "char beehoon" is always a colorful platter of green, red, black and white.  Generous strips of green cabbage, red carrots and dried black shiitake mushrooms are carefully tossed so that these can be evenly embraced by thousands of threads of bouncy yet softly crunchy white beehoon.  Mum's char beehoon is usually vegetarian.  No meat will be added.  We are not vegetarian, but whenever we have "char beehoon", there will be chicken curry.  These two go hand-in-hand.  They are inseparable in my family.  Vegetarian "char beehoon" offers a clean, crisp and refreshing taste when eaten with dollops of savory chicken curry.  Adding meat to the "char beehoon" tends to laden the palate with excess richness, especially if chicken curry is offered at the same time. 

My version of char beehoon

The first time I had non-vegetarian "char beehoon" was at my boyfriend's house.  It was a plate of culture shock.  Firstly, there was meat.  Secondly, it was dark brown and had a shine that I was not accustomed to.  And lastly, most importantly, there were no vegetables in sight!  How can you not have greens, I thought to myself.  For someone who grew up with more greens than meat in her plate, it was an amazing sight at that time.  It wasn't polite for me to refuse even a small bite.  But I never regretted that first bite.  In fact, I was totally smitten.  My boyfriend's mother, who is now my Mother-in-law, had used canned stew pork, thick black soy sauce and generous sprinkles of oil to create that plate of shock.  It was such a marvelous jolt that I happily surrendered to its repeated assaults.  To put it in simple language, I stuffed myself with it.

The Hubby undoubtedly adores his Mum's "char beehoon".  He asked me to recreate it shortly after we got married.  I did, but it definitely was not Mummy's "char beehoon".  For one, there were vegetables.  It was not the full meat version Mum-in-law normally makes.  I just had to ensure some form of crispy greens accompany every pop into the mouth.  The Hubby was rather forgiving and supportive; he said it was almost there and that I just needed a few more practices.  A few more practices, as advised, dutifully performed, until this final version was reached a couple of years back with resounding approval.  Of course, not without adding a touch of my own, making this my children's "Mum's char beehoon".  For them, Mum's "char beehoon" is a colorful plate of green, red, black, white and brown strips.  The final touch, the crowning glory I suppose, is strands of golden yellow omelette, for without it, Mum's char beehoon is incomplete. 

My char beehoon with garnish

Char beehoon

(A product from the marriage of two Mums' "char beehoon")

Ingredients

400g dried vermicelli, softened by soaking in water, drained

cabbages as much as you like, julienned

carrots, ditto

dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked, ditto (keep soaking water as seasoning)

1 large can stew pork ribs (or use stew pig's trotters if preferred)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

4 shallots, thinly sliced 

Seasoning

3 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

350ml water

Garnish, my crowning glory

3 eggs (or more if kids are crazy about eggs) 

dash of soy sauce

pepper

dash of sesame oil

Method

1. Prepare seasoning by mixing all the ingredients together.  If soaking water from shiitake mushroom is added, just top up with plain water until 350ml is reached.

2. Canned stew ribs/pork must be processed ahead of time.  This means that meat has to be de-boned, excess fats removed, excess oil floating on top of the sauce scooped out.  Set the sauce aside for use later.

3. Prepare garnish.  Beat the eggs together with the rest of the seasoning.  Heat wok with some oil, wait till the wok is slightly smoking before adding the egg mixture.  Swirl the wok about to spread the egg mixture.  Quickly flip the omelette to the other side and brown it slightly.  Dish out and cut into strands, or any other sizes preferred.  Sometimes, I just chop the omelette into small bite size before dishing them out.

3. Heat up about 3 tbsp of oil (depending on the amount of vegetables used, discretion is necessary here), fry chopped garlic and sliced shallots until lightly browned and fragrant.

4. Add the shiitake mushrooms, fry for about 1 minute.  

5. Add the carrots and cabbage and fry until slightly softened.  Season lightly with pepper and salt.

6. Add 2-3 ladles of seasoning mixture (Step 1), bring to gentle boil, add the whole lot of softened vermicelli.  Toss all the ingredients together slowly and gently with chopsticks.  Toss until moisture has dried up.

7. Continue to add seasoning mixture, a couple of ladles each time.  Repeat Step 6 until vermicelli is almost cooked.  

8. At this point, add the sauce from canned stew ribs from Step 2.  

9. Continue to toss until all liquid dries up.  Can be served immediately, garnished with omelette. 

Notes:

- using chopsticks to toss the ingredients together keeps the strands of vermicelli long and intact.  Frying with a wok spatula only tends to break the strands up.  Usually, I use a combination of wok spatula in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other.  I find this a good combination as the spatula works at scooping those vegetables at the bottom of the wok, while the chopsticks works at loosening the vermicelli gently so that the vegetables can be incorporated evenly.

- seasoning liquid control for this one pot dish is important.  Though a total of 350ml of liquid is specified, sometimes more is required, while at other times, not the full amount will be used.  It differs from time to time really, so testing the done-ness and softness of the vermicelli nearing the final stages is important.  

- the same discretion is necessary when adding the canned stew ribs sauce.  What I found is that the vermicelli should be about 90% cooked/soft before adding the sauce.  The effect of adding this sauce is to increase the flavor and richness of this dish, and complete the cooking and softening process for the vermicelli.

- It really takes a few practices before finding that right amount of liquid to incorporate to achieve the level of softness you like.  So have fun trying and failing until you can say "Bull's eye"!

Friday's Special #4: Slow cooking cidered pork with pasta aglio olio

Slow cooking cidered pork with paster aglio olio

We had a simple affair for dinner on a Friday two weeks ago .  I'd chosen a slow cooking one pot dish to make just so that I get a little more time to relax and maybe catch up on my television watching.  From "The Complete Slow Cooker" book, I'd chosen a pork dish with an ingredient that I am totally not familiar with; it is dry cider.  I had no idea how it would taste, or what it looked like.  I had wondered if it had anything to do with apple cider vinegar.  Of course I turned to the net to find out what this was.  It's practically the one and only help I turn to every time a strange looking ingredient made me stumble and hesitate in attempting a recipe.

And so what is dry cider, and does it have any slightest connection with apple cider vinegar?  Well, yes and no.  Yes, because apple cider vinegar is made from cider, which in turn almost always comes from apples.  And no, because dry ciders are not vinegar, simple as that.  Dry ciders just meant that the natural sugar has been fermented out, which means it is not sweet, or for some brands, not that sweet.  Pardon my ignorance, but to my surprise, dry ciders actually has an alcohol content of between 5%-7%.  I'd also found out that dry ciders are usually used as a beverage rather than an ingredient in cooking.  These bits of information really aroused my curiosity about this slow cooking dish and how it might taste.  Just in case I could not find dry cider in the supermarket I had in mind to visit, I'd also found out that apple cider can be used as a substitute but there is a need to cut back on the sugar in the recipe.

I went to the supermarket which boast of its selection of imported international food products.  That means there is a high chance of finding dry ciders there.  True enough, I found it.  It came in a large glass bottle, 1 litre to be precise.  The bottle was green in color, making it look like a bottle of beer.  Naturally, I procured one bottle, got back home, poured myself a glass and took a sip.  Pondered on the taste.  Not very fruity as I thought it might be.  No subtle taste of apples, maybe my tongue was not sensitive enough for delicate things.  Bubbly, yes.  Like sparkling wine, but not sweet.  So much for my anticipation; mystery demystified.
On with putting my slow cooking cidered pork together.  I bought a large chunk of pork shoulder butt weighing about 750g from my favorite butcher in the wet market.  I love to use shoulder butt as mince meat.  I find them more juicy then using lean meat, but of course there is the fats to get rid of before using them.  For this dish, I had to curve out the fats and sinews (a bit of a tricky knife job) before cutting it into cubes for cooking.  One of the best ways to curve out the sinews is to slide the knife as close to the sinew as possible and run it along the sinews.  Something I picked up from watching Jamie Oliver cook. 

Curving out the sinew

Next is to chop up all the vegetables into bite size chunks, even though the recipe calls for the vegetables to be diced.  I didn't want the vegetables to end up losing their shapes.  Apart from cutting the vegetables and processing the meat into roughly 1.5 inch chunks, there really is nothing much to prepare to get this dish together.  The only thing left to do is to brown the meat and fry up the vegetables before chucking the whole mixture into the slow cooker.  The rest of the job, my trusty slow cooker will take over for the next 9 hours.


Slow cooking cidered pork   
(Recipe from "The Complete Slow Cooker: Packed with recipes, techniques and tips", Sara Lewis, Hamlyn, 2010)
Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable sunflower oil (I used corn oil)
750g pork shoulder steaks cubed and any fat discarded
1 leek, thinly sliced; white and green parts kept separated
2 tbsp plain flour (to thicken the liquid)
300ml dry cider (substitute with apple cider, reduce sugar)
300ml chicken stock
200g carrots, diced (I just chunk them into bite size)
1 dessert apple, cored and diced (I used red Fuji apple from China, chunked)
2-3 stems sage
salt and pepper


Method
1. Heat oil in frying pan, add the pork a few pieces at a time until all the pieces are in the pan, then fry over a high heat until lightly browned.
2. Lift the pork out of the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer it to the slow cooker pot.
3. Add the white leek slices to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes or until softened.  Stir in the flour, then gradually mix in the cider and the stock.

This is the appearance of Step 3 before adding liquid.  After liquid is added,
need to stir continuously as lumps will form.

4. Add the carrot, apple, sage and some salt and pepper.  Bring to the boil, stirring continuously.  Stirring continuously is necessary as I find that the flour formed quite a number of lumps when liquid is added.  I used a whisk to help in breaking up the lumps.

This is how Step 4 looks like.  I love the colors!

5. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker pot, cover with the lid and cook at LOW for 9-10 hours.  In the last 15 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste, add the green part of the leeks and cook until softened.


I made pasta aglio olio to go with this slow cooking meat dish.  I had intended to spend a bit of time catching up on my television programmes, I had opted for a simple carbohydrate dish to accompany this meat dish.  The ingredient for this accompaniment is very basic and easy to gather.  Olive oil, good quality, if it can be afforded.  I just use extra virgin olive oil bought from my neighbourhood supermarket.  Garlic, chili (I used chili padi) and pasta.  Actually, so much being said about wanting to keep things easy to give myself time to stay attached to the goggle box, I just wanted to try out a recipe in another of my list of cookbooks ^_^  For the pasta shapes, I used a mixture of two types of pasta: fusilli and spaghetti.  The Hubby likes spaghetti and the kids love fusilli, they think spaghetti is boring.  The pasta tasted okay, the chili gave it a bit of heat which proved a little too spicy for the kids.  And after eating the pasta, I think salt has to be added in the process of making the olive oil sauce.  It tasted too bland and the amount of salt added to the water to cook the pasta was not enough.  


My Pasta Aglio Olio
(adapted from "Pasta with garlic, chilli & pine nuts" in "Pasta: 100 Great Recipes", Jacqueline Bellafontaine, Silverdale Books, 2005)
Ingredients
400g pasta (mixed shapes)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 red chillies, seeded and chopped 


Method
1.  Cook the pasta in plenty of lightly salted boiling water according to cooking instructions on the pasta packaging.  I like mine al dente, so I normally cook my pasta for about 8 minutes.
2. In the meantime, heat the olive oil and saute the garlic for 2-3 minutes.  Before turning off the flame, sprinkle in the chilli and stir around a couple of times.  I do it this way to prevent releasing too much heat from the chilli, I just wanted a hint of heat but this is still a little too spicy for the kids. 
3. Keep about a small cup of cooking liquid before draining the pasta.  Add the pasta into the frying pan of garlic and chilli infused olive oil, toss to coat evenly.  If it is a little dry, add 1-2 tbsp of the cooking liquid.  
4. Serve immediately.

See the mixture of spaghetti and fusilli?
Just to satisfy the Tiny Man, the girl and the Hubby.

Notes:
* Next time I make this pasta again, remember to add in some salt to the oil as it tasted pretty bland apart from the garlic and chilli.