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 :)

Apricot Lemon Jam - Let's Jam # 3

The type of apricots we get here varies in quality. Some are sooour but fragrant after baking. Some are sweet but lose out on fragrance. Some are total flops, bland and dull.

This batch that I've got are total flops. Brings no sensation to the tongue and nose. Baking with them will not enhance them, eating raw is torturing. Making them into jam will be the perfect solution. With some help from the lemon, the jam becomes a pleasure to eat.

My MIL took one jar and my FIL enjoyed it a lot. He asked my MIL to check with me and asked her to get the same brand that I did. My MIL told him, it's Wendy brand. LOL.

Apricot Lemon Jam

Recipe source; WendyinKK

500gm apricot (flesh weight, skin on)
350gm sugar (just use granulated sugar, it’s cheaper!)
1 lemon, zested and juiced

1. Mix everything together and let it sit for 30 minutes or until the sugar melts and the apricots soften.
2. Place a ceramic saucer/plate into the freezer.
3. Bring to a boil on medium heat and reduce heat to medium low or low. (the jam should be still be bubbly)
4. Cook until the apricots turn mushy.
5. Place a drop of the jam on the frozen saucer and put it back into the freezer. Check the drop of jam after 2 minutes. If it forms soft wrinkles when pushed, the jam is ready. (I usually don’t wait for 2 minutes to push for wrinkles, but when I feel the jam is gel like enough and feels cushiony, I stop cooking. I know it’ll further set when totally cooled.)

Refer to this post on how to remove the stone

Actually I do have more jams or spreads in my collection.... let's wait for the next round  :)

Apple Butter - Let's Jam # 2

Made in Jan 2012

I bought some freaking cheap but ugly looking apples from the night market. They have streaks of brown on their skin, but when cut they look perfectly fine. And I have to clear the fridge or at least shrink my stock to make way for Chinese New Year. I didn’t really need these apples, but I can’t help but buy them because they were really cheap.

Sweet Orange Marmalade - Let's Jam # 1

I love the smell of oranges and all things citrus. But I hate it when it’s bitter. Store bought marmalade are always bitter, unless you buy orange jam.

Err.. orange jam and marmalade . Aren’t they the same stuff?

Well, marmalade is JAM with fruit peel in it. And it’s the peel that causes it to be bitter, which is why you can hardly get non bitter marmalade, except for Smuckers or some other brand that I don’t know of. Maybe they have something to remove the limonin from the peel. I wonder if rubbing the peel with salt do the trick of removing the bitter compounds(limonin)? I’m wondering. Wait, I’ll try that next time. : )

How to Remove Stone from Stone Fruits

Stone Fruits are fruits with a stone inside, as in 1 seed only, and the seed is hard like stone.

Fruits in this category include cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, pluots and nectarines.

Mangoes, avocadoes, red dates, coconut or Lychees are drupes, although they have a stone in the middle too. Stone fruits are part of drupes but drupes are not stone fruits.

Below is a pictorial guide on how to remove the seed nicely.. and retain 2 beautiful halves of the apricot.

Apricot season is here already.... Check out your local supermarkets. I saw US grown apricots last week.

If the seed doesn't come off nicely from the other half, you have to do this.

Check out all my stone fruit recipes here.