Pork Belly and Daikon Stew 萝卜焖猪肉

I love this dish from Mixed Rice Stalls.
Found a recipe online and made it few years back.
Can't quote the source because the link I copied from years ago seem to be broken now.

Hokkaido Soup Curry (video)

*All pictures and video taken with my Iphone 7 because my camera was in repair*

Last year, I went to Hokkaido for a road trip. I had a wonderful time driving 1200km around the island together with my husband. We ate a lot of local delicacies and one of it is Soup Curry.

Frankly, when I read about this dish, I was skeptical about it. I thought it's a sweet spiced broth with no punch. I was wrong, so wrong!!

We went to Samurai Soup Curry, it was one of the nearer ones to our hotel in Sapporo. Out of 10 levels of heat, I ordered heat level 7 and my husband ordered one at level 4. I thought... oh what... it's just Japanese standards, how hot can it be for a Malaysian?

Bean Paste Pork Belly 豆酱爆猪腩肉

I'm back to staying home as a full time mother and wife. Left my life-long paying job. This is my first post after quitting but I guess I can't blog at the same pace as I did years ago.

Back in 2011, After I won Blogger’s Masterchef, we had a dinner with his side of relatives at SuperTanker somewhere in TTDI the same night itself. We ordered this plate of pork belly and my hubby loved it.

My man is a belly lover.

Pork Stewed in Coconut Juice ~ Thit Kho Tau~ The Asian Kitchen BookReview and Giveaway

The second book I received from Tuttle Publishers.
I went through the book a a few times.. and I needed to convince myself that there is something good in there.

I've never been to Vietnam. My experience of eating Vietnamese food depends on the restaurants. The more variety it offers, then only, I get to try something new.

Dangshen Pork Rib Stew 党参焖排骨 - Pork Ribs #3

Today.... is my first day back to work.
After 5 years of staying home, my child care leave has ended and I'm back to my teaching career.
There are many concerns, particularly about my kids, and my in laws are currently taking care of them while I'm at work. It's going to be tiring as I might work 6 days a week at times.

Cooking will be greatly reduced at home, probably to once or twice a week, as I only reach home by 7.15pm. But this blog will still be running with new recipes weekly. As some of you know, I always have too much back logs to clear. I hope I can still bake in the morning before I leave for work. The blog goes on... as this blog was born back in 2007, when I was teaching.

Black Vinegar Ribs 排骨醋- Pork Ribs #1

A dish that I made on impulse.

Initially I wanted to make sweet vinegar ribs 糖醋排骨. I bought a bottle of sweet vinegar and thought of experimenting with this. I tasted some, it wasn’t too sour and so I daringly used 250ml of it. In the end, the whole dish was sooo dark, I chose to leave it soupy and tadah… it became this dish

Pork Panang Curry - Thai Curries AFF #2

We seriously love this!

If you avoid consuming coconut milk, then it's hard for you to make this because I used 350ml coconut milk to cook this plate of curry. Personally, I love coconut milk for it's health benefits with all the short and middle chain fatty acids that used to be confused as BAD. Rich with lauric acid that benefits the heart. It helps with weight loss and I will need it desperately if I ever get Alzheimers. Read here . 

If you have never drank freshly squeezed coconut milk, you don't know what you're missing. That's why you always see coconut trees in places that people nickname as Paradise! Joking.

Buta Kakuni - AFF Japan Butakakuni # 3

My husband loves buta kakuni. He will order this whenever possible during out dine outs at his current fav Japanese restaurant in Ipoh. Of which is why I wanted to cook it.

I went through a few recipes and found Nami's recipe to be quite similiar to what we ate as I knew the meat was once fried.
The preparation take a lot of time, as said by Nami herself, the result is worth it.

Fly Head Stir Fry 苍蝇头 - Flowers #1

Fly swatters, keep at bay. Don’t worry.

There aren’t any Drosophilas  used here. Nothing flies or has wings in this recipe. That is unless the pig can fly, LOL.

Penang Nyonya Hong Bak (Braised Pork with Aromatic Spices) - MFF Penang #6

Hong Bak is a dish common among the Hokkiens. Somehow I do get confused with the Hokkien's version of Tau Yew Bak and Hong Bak, what's the difference? Please let me know because they do look similar to me. Hope to learn more :)

From what I know the East Coast Chinese descendants in Kelantan and Terengganu makes another version and they combine pork with chicken and the ingredients are different too.

Sweet Sour Pork, Koo Lou Yoke 咕嚕肉 - Jolly Belly #3

Seriously.... I don't know how the Cantonese pronunciation should be.... is it, koo loo yoke, or koo lou yoke.
I even hear some calling it, gou lou yoke, as in tall guy meat. Whatever the name is... it's Lydia's favourite dish. The first dish she learnt to call by name, and order at the restaurant.

Braised Chicken with Pork Belly - Jolly Belly #1

This is a dish from Terengganu MFF.
Introduced to us by Phong Hong and further elaborated by Daphne Chua, both whose ancestors stayed in Kampung Tiong Kuala Terengganu.

I was very curious about the taste of having chicken and pork belly together in one dish and the use of soooo much shallots. Few other bloggers tried out the recipe and everybody raved about it. So, I didn't want to lose out, hehehe, and so I tried it too!

Pig Stomach with Pineapple and Chillies - MFF Sarawak #3

I don’t eat innards of the pig, except the stomach. It’s chewy and nice to eat.

There are three ways that I have eaten the pig’s stomach, in pepper soup, in Bak Kut Teh and in porridge. This method will be my 4th and give this a try of you like the idea of hot and spicy, sourish and yet sweet pork stomach.

Easy Char Siew Filling

This is my previous char siew filling recipe. It involved cooking the char siew in whole pieces, dice and cook them a 2nd time with the gooey gravy.

I was thinking... it seems stupid to make proper char siew, dice them and then prepare the filling. Is there any other way that the restaurants are doing it? Any express way?

Palm Sugar No Bake Char Siu - Bellygood # 3

My husband's family are big Char Siu lovers.

Last year early in October, I organized a dinner over at my home for some close relatives who missed our house warming party and cooked 5 dishes 1 soup. I had no help this time, so I must plan my menu carefully. Since this pork dish is the favourite of many who will be coming and I can cook this ahead of time, I decided to make this. It's perfect because I will  have time for other dishes that needs to be cooked as near to dinner time as possible.

Sometime ago I saw two bloggers (Lena and HKChoo) making char siu with palm sugar with the same recipe from a local magazine. I wonder how is the taste like..

So I substituted the regular sugar in the recipe that I have been using all the time to palm sugar and added in pandan leaves in place of Chinese rose wine for the smell factor.

Pork Stew 卤猪肉 - Bellygood # 2

This is a popular home cooked dish. After blogging I got to know that Hokkiens call this Tau Yew Bak, but my family being Cantonese, calls this Lou Chu Yoke 卤猪肉. As in Pork Stew.

My mom cooks this so often that I almost got sick of it when I was in my teens. Being her, using just one pot and being able to cook this in advance makes this one of her favs. So often that we eat this almost weekly.
Sometimes she'll throw in some dried chilli, sometimes none. But basically she goes with the same few ingredients. My mom will saute the aromatics in the clay pot and then throw in the pork and seasonings, cook it for a while and then pour in the water to simmer. I on the other hand, prefers to cook the pork with seasonings until the meat is browned and oil starts to ooze out. Then only I put in the water. I don't own a clay pot, so I just cook this either in the wok or in a small pot.

Sichuan Twice Cooked Pork 回锅肉 - Bellygood # 1

I saw this dish demostrated on TV and it looked sooo tasty. I remembered some of the ingredients but forgot some.

Is there sweet bean paste sold here? I don't know what is that and hence skipped it.  I used hot bean paste because I want it to be hot. I also skipped the preserved black beans as not all recipes uses it.

I sliced the pork a bit too thick and so, it's a bit tough. Plus I think I overcooked it. But nonetheless, this dish went very well with lots of rice! Yummy :)

Ribs and Bean Paste Stew 黄豆酱炖排骨 - Pork Ribs # 3

My hubby asked for more rice with this.
I could almost drink the gravy like soup and drenched my rice with it, of which something I rarely do except with curry.

Tomato Braised Ribs 番茄焖排骨 - Pork Ribs # 1

This recipe is a true keeper. Very delicious.

I tried to follow Peng's version as closely as possible, except for the tomatoes. I split the portions to two, one to cook until it melts and the other to be added in later so that it stays as chunks. I also made it drier than hers. The rest, I followed to the dot. I trust Peng. I love her recipes, and by going to her blog, it gives me inspiration for dinner.

Turmeric Stir Fried Pork - Confinement Month # 10

A dish I created during confinement. But suitable for any occasion.
My confinement lady prepared everything I told her and I cooked this myself.

Some may say, don't consume turmeric right after delivery, as the baby's jaundice might get worse. My mom told me to wait for 2 weeks.
Yellow = Jaundice. ????  The myth is due to the colour. Is is true??
Well, turmeric is a type of ginger and doctors here do tell, not to consume too much ginger as it effects the baby's speed of recovery from jaundice.  So, believe the doctor to reduce consumption of all gingers or believe old wives tale due to the colour of turmeric and continue with all gingers. I don't believe the latter. But I am quite moderate in ginger consumption and turmeric is good for you and good for expelling wind.