* this biscotti is not the traditional hard type but the crumpier and softer type. Feel free to replace pistachio and cranberries with almonds or your favourite dried fruits.
Ingredients:
Sugar x 1 cup
Unsalted butter x 100g (1 small stick) - soften at room temperature or melted
Almond extract x 2 tsp
Vanilla extract x 1 tsp
Pistachio x 100g - remove shells and roughly chopped
Cranberries x 100g - roughly chopped
Eggs x 3
All purpose flour - 2 and 3/4 cups
Baking powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
How to Make:
1. Put sugar, butter, almond extract, vanilla extract to a mixing bowl and mix well with an electric mixer.
2. Then add the eggs and salt and beat well.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the egg batter using a spatula.
4. Add the chopped pistachio and cranberries and mix evenly using a big spoon or fork.
5. Wrap the mixing bowl wig cling wrap and chill in fridge for 30 min.
6. Preheat oven to 180'c.
7. Take out dough from fridge, using moistened hands, divide the dough into 4 loaves on an un-greased baking sheet on top of a baking tray.
8. Lengthen each loaf into a long rectangular shape with the height not more than 1 to 1.5cm. Shape them up using some flour on your hand or your spatula.
9. Bake for 30 mins or until golden.
10. Cool on rack before slicing them with a bread knife.
Store in air tight jars and enjoy with your favourite coffee or tea!
* recipe adopted from 鼎爺厨房
Ingredients:
Belly Pork - approx 2000g
Five Spices Powder - 5g
Coarse Salt (for marinating meat) - 50g
Coarse Salt (for marinating skin) - 7g
white vinegar
How to Make:
1. Wash and dry pork. Preferable to cut away the most bottom part of the belly pork which is tougher and save it for other uses.
2. Use lighter fire to burn against hair on pork skin, then use back of knife to scrap off burned hair.
3. Mix well the 5 spices powder with the coarse salt for the meat and marinate the meat evenly - leave the skin un-touched!
4. Use the coarse salt for the skin to marinate the skin evenly.
5. Leave the marinate on the skin and meat for 8-10 hours (if winter time, in room temperature is fine. But if it's summer time, best to put back to the fridge).
6. Once marinate time is up, blanche the pork in hot water for 10 mins.
7. Preheat oven to 200'C.
8. Drain water away from pork and use pork needles to punch against pork skin. Dry the pork using towel or kitchen napkins.
9. Turn the pork upside down so that the skin is facing down. Pour vinegar to a tray which can hold the whole piece of pork and soak the pork (skin side down) in the tray with only the skin touching the vinegar - for 10 mins.
10. Remove pork from vinegar and wipe it dry.
11. Use foil paper to wrap around the bottom and side of the pork, leaving the skin upwards unwrapped.
12. Put pork to oven for 1.5 hours. Then turn the heat up to 230'C and cook for another 30 mins until skin becomes golden red.
13. Remove pork from oven. Pour oil on the foil to a bowl. Can let the pork rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting. The oil can be used to mix with soy sauce for steamed white rice!
14. Be sharp and precise at cutting to avoid the crispy skin from coming off the meat.
Serve it when it's piping hot and crispy and enjoy with a glass of nice white wine!
