Tag: pork

A recipe of caramelised potato and beef with onions.

This dish is another one that I grew up eating. In fact, it was a childhood favourite! My mom used to cook it with either minced pork or pork fillets but this version that I’m blogging about uses beef steak cut into strips. You can even use chicken, or whatever meat you fancy, except perhaps seafood.

The main star of the dish however, is not the meat. It’s the potatoes. They’re soft in the middle and slightly crispy on the outside. And they’ve got a very appetising sort of smokiness to them, derived from the chinese dark caramel sauce.

# – Caramelised potato and beef with onions

Now that I’m older, I realise how fattening it is to eat potatoes with rice but hey, we all need some comfort food now and then ;)

The ingredients:

  • 2-3 potatoes, sliced
  • 1- 2 onions, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing or chinese rice wine
  • A couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of chinese dark caramel sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of ordinary chilli sauce or Tabasco sauce (I used Sriracha hot chilli sauce)
  • 150 ml of water
  • 1 tablespoon of salt
  • 200 grams of beef steak, sliced and marinaded with a bit of corn flour and salt (you can use minced meat too. And switch to pork or chicken)

# – Of course, heat up a wok or pan with oil :)

# – When oil is hot, throw in the chopped onions. Ah, the sound of sizzling oil…

# – When the onions have turned a bit translucent, throw in the potatoes. Stir around for a bit till they’re a bit browned.

# – Pour in about 150 ml of water…

# – A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce.

# – Drizzle over the dark caramel sauce.

# – A good tablespoon of salt.

# – Followed by a tablespoon of chinese rice wine.

# – And lastly, a tablespoon of chilli sauce. Mix till all are combined.

# – Then cover the pan with a lid, turn the heat down to medium and let the spuds cook for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

# – After that, push the potatoes to one side in the pan, and throw in the beef.

# – Drizzle a wee bit of dark caramel sauce over the beef. Stir to combine. You don’t have to cook beef too long but if you’re using chicken or pork please make sure you cook them through.

# – Mix everything up, and garnish with chopped chives or spring onions. Errr, I used Rosemary because that’s what I had…

You can add chopped chillies for some kicks or more caramel sauce if you like the dish darker. You can also slice the potatoes thinner or thicker, depending on your preference. Sometimes I pan fry the potatoes first without adding any water for a much more crispier taste.

Eat together with rice or do I what I used to do when I was little….eat everything and save the potatoes for last.

Have fun cooking!

Rosemary and garlic pork chop recipe.

This was thrown together quite last minute and I was so glad it turned out delicious! I used two different cuts of pork; chops & fillets because I had very little of both so decided to use all to make a substantial dinner.

The pork was flavourful and juicy and the caramelised garlic slivers were to die for! I wish I had sliced up more garlic to be honest! Also, it’s important to season the pork properly with salt otherwise the taste of the rosemary and garlic would be too faint.

# – Rosemary and garlic pork chops.

Without further ado, lets get onto making this dish..

The ingredients:

  • Pork chops, enough for two (you can use fillets too for a healthier alternative, but not as tasty as there’s hardly any fat)
  • Few sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • 8-10 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • Salt

# – First of all, pound the chops till they’re thinner. Not too thin till the meat disintegrate though. This makes the meat more tender!

# – Pounded meat vs original state of meat. Season with salt on all surface (Forgot to take picture of this!).

# – Now, slice up the garlic cloves and rub them all over the meat. Make sure all surface are covered.

# – Remove rosemary from stalk and throw them in.

# – I rolled up the pork with rosemary and garlic inside cause I felt that they marinate better this way. It is probably psychological. Stick it in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.

# – Heat up some oil in a griddle.

# – Lay the meats onto the griddle for about 4 minutes. Flip to cook the other side for the same time. Don’t discard the garlic, cook everything! You will thank me for this.

# – Serve with roast vegetables and the most awesome layered potatoes.

By the way, I’m so totally into roasted carrots these days. It’s amazing how being in the oven for just 40 minutes at 180 degrees celcius with some garlic cloves and a dash of olive oil could make them so caramelised and so, so, so sweet and delicious!

These carrots are addictive. I recently bought a few more bags of carrots just so I could eat more roasted carrots. I am obsessed. I will turn orange.

Chinese Steamed Pork Ribs with Salted Soyabeans.

This is a dish that I grew up with and one that I’d always wanted to recreate since getting my own kitchen. Absolutely easy to make and so delicious, it’s no wonder that my mum served this for dinner at least once every week when I was younger.

The pork is juicy, tender and succulent. The salted soyabeans, or “taucu” makes a distinctive and delicious savoury sauce that goes extremely well with piping hot plain steamed rice. You can add more chillies for kicks but if you’ve got children at home, they can be omitted for a milder version.

Ingredients:

  • 400-500 grams of pork ribs
  • 2 tablespoon of salted soyabean paste or “taucu” (if they’re still in bean form, mash it with a fork or pestle & mortar or food processor)
  • 2 medium sized chilies or dried chillies, seeded and roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons of minced shallots
  • 1 ginger about the size of a thumb, julienned
  • 5 tablespoons of water
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped spring onion (for garnish)

For marinating the pork:

  • 2 tablespoon of corn flour
  • 1 tablespoon of chinese rice wine
  • 1.5 tablespoon of sesame oil

If you don’t quite fancy visiting the morning market, it’s quite easy to get pork ribs at places like Tesco, Cold Storage and Jaya Grocer. The ones that I bought were about 400grams for just under RM12 from Cold Storage. I believe it’s probably slightly more expensive than the wet market but I guess you pay more for convenience.

# – Pork ribs from Cold Storage.

# – The ingredients for the sauce. Ginger not in picture thanks to my carelessness.

Lets begin…

# – Clean the pork ribs and cut them into more or less equal sizes then marinade with chinese rice wine, cornflour and sesame oil for at least 5 hours. Overnight is even better. So yes, adjust your timing as you don’t need to deal with the pork till about 1/2 hour before serving time.

# – When you’re ready to cook, heat up a pot with some cooking oil.

# – Throw in the marinaded pork ribs and brown them. No need to cook through. Remove them from the pan as soon as the pork changed colours from pink to patches of white.

# – Lay the pork out on the plate that you want to steam them in. Set aside. In my case, I used aluminium foil because I do not have plates that could fit into my steamer -_-

# – In the same pot, heat up a little bit of oil. Throw in the garlic, chillies and shallots. Fry till fragrant.

# – Next, throw in the ginger and fry it till you can smell the fragrance.

# – Put the salted soyabean paste and stir.

# – Add 5 tablespoons of water and stir. Let it simmer for a bit.

# – Remove the mixture from heat and pour it all over the pork ribs.

# – Steam for 20 minutes. If you don’t have a steamer, put a wire rack in a wok or very deep pan and fill it up with water. Make sure the wire rack is not submerged in water. When water starts boiling, put the plate of pork ribs onto the rack and cover with lid for 20 minutes. And if you’re using this makeshift steamer, remember to always check for water level and top up when it’s low.

After 20 minutes….

# – Garnish with spring onions. Delicious and very appetising chinese steamed pork ribs with salted soyabeans. DONE!

Be warned as it will makes you wolf down rice like a teenager!