Sous Vide Belly Pork

Ingredients:

Belly Pork of your choice
Spring onion
salt, pepper, five spices, soy sauce, honey
BBQ sauce (optional)

How to Make:

1. Prepare water bath to 68.5'C.

2. Clean and wipe dry belly pork. Cut into 1'5" thick slices.

2. Marinate pork with salt and pepper gives spices, some soy sauce and honey, add a sprig or two spring onion or even herbs of your choice. Vacuum seal the bag with the pork and marinate.

3. Drop the bag to the water bath when it reaches 68.5C and cook for 14 hours.

4. Take out bag after cooking is finished. Pour liquid inside and save it to cook with BBQ sauce later. Wipe clean the pork. If time allows, let it sit in fridge without wrapping overnight to dry out skin.

5. On the day of cooking, then out pork to room temperature to warm up. Preheat Grill (at oven).

6. Heat up a steak pan until it is very hot. Seared the belly side (meat) of the pork, then remove from pan. Use a puncher and poke holes onto skin. Soak belly pork (skin side down) on a flat tray filled with say around 1cm high of white vinegar, so only the skin is touching the vinegar - for 5-10 mins.

6. Remove pork from vinegar and wipe dry. Place to Grill for 10-15 min until skin looks golden and crispy. Take out, carve and serve.

7. For the gravy,  reduce the liquid from the vaccum bag when slow cooked the pork which you have strained. Adjust consistency by boiling more or add corn starch solution to make it more thick. Check tasting and adjust accordingly. Otherwise, just serve with BBQ sauce.

Enjoy!

Chorizo and Prawn Pasta

Ingredients:

Fresh Sea Prawns, with heads and shells removed (can keep for other use)
Sliced Garlic 
Chorizo, blizz in food processor 
Parsley, minced
Pasta of your choice
Parmesan Cheese - grated
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

How to Make:

1. Clean prawns and remove intestines. Wipe dry and marinate with sea salt and black pepper. Remember to save the heads and shells for other use by keeping them in freezer.

2. Heat up a pan with olive oil, then pan fry the sliced garlic until golden. Remove the garlic to a dish lined with kitchen napkin to drain some oil.

3. Using the same pan with garlic oil remaining, pan fried the prawns on both sides, then add the blizzed chorizo until all cooked and fragrant. 

4. Cook the pasta as per packet's instructions or al dente. Add pasta to the frying pan and mix all together. 

5. Top the pasta with the golden garlic slices and minced parsley. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and grated parmesan cheese and ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Kale, Spinach and Pea Soup

Ingredients:
Chicken Stock **
Kale
Spinach
Peas (frozen one will do)
Milk or Whipping Cream

** for Vegetarian version, replace chicken stock with vegetable stock or plain water.

Optional:
Pumpkin Cream - pumpkin and milk or cream.
Sour Cream with minced mint leaves

How to Make:

1. Make your chicken stock 1 day ahead of your dinner by using old chicken and chinese ham, carrot and onion. Once boiled, cook for approx 3 hours in medium fire. Drain the soup and once cool, store in fridge. You can remove oil on top once the soup is cool down.

2. On the day of dinner, wash and spin dry kale and spinach. Remove hard stems of kale and cut away bottom white stems of spinach. Cut them into small pieces. 

3. Bring chicken stock to boil, then turn to medium heat and add kale and peas for 5-8 minutes, then add spinach for another 3-5 minutes. Check taste and season accordingly.

4. Switch off fire and blend them in a food processor batch by batch. Best to put more veggies inside food processor first then the soup, then blend. In this way, you can control consistency of the soup, i..e how thick you want the soup to be. When the blend is a bit too thick, you can always add more soup.

5. Re-boil blended soup in a pot. You can finish it by adding a dash of milk or whipping cream. If you want to garnish it a bit, consider adding pumpkin cream (as shown below) or add a spoonful of sour cream on top of soup on bowl with some minced leaves on top.

Pumpkin Cream:

Cut pumpkin into chunks. Steam until soft. Add them to food processor and add a bit of milk or cream. Blend until it reaches the consistency you desire. re-heat in a pot. You can spoon this to the veggies soup bowl the way you like it. Make the otherwise green soup a bit more colorful and provide another taste in the same soup.

Enjoy.

Chilled tomatoes in Plum Sauce

* a very appetizing dish in the summer and very easy to make.

Ingredients:
Cherry Tomatoes or tomatoes of your choice
話梅 1 to 2 packs (you can buy from supermarket, qty depends how many tomatoes are you preparing)
Brown Sugar
梅粉 (optional)

How to Make:
1. Remove skin of tomatoes by: (1) light cut a cross at the bottom or top of the tomatoes. (2) put them in boiling water, then turn off heat, for 1-2 minutes. You should see the corner of the skin peeling off a bit. (3) remove the tomatoes to ice cold water. (4) peel off skin gently and keep shape of tomatoes.

2. Prepare plum marinate sauce by: boiling a pot of water with the plum side for 5-10 minutes, then add sourness and sweetness by adding 1-2 tbsp of brown sugar and the 梅粉. Let it cool down.

3. Place all tomatoes inside the cool down plum marinate sauce in a food container box and close the lid and place in fridge overnight.

4. When you are ready to serve, just remove tomatoes from the marinate and garnish with a piece of mint!

Enjoy, perhaps with a glass of plum wine!

Japanese Style Braised Beef Shin

Ingredients:

Beef Shin - cut into slightly bigger than bite size pieces
1 onion - quarter
a few pc of pressed garlic
1-2 carrots - cut into bite size pieces
1-2 turnips - cut into bite size pieces
1-2 potato - cut into bite size pieces
4 cups dashi stock (or water or beef stock)
4 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
3 tbsp cooking sake
3 tbsp mirin
rock sugar
minced spring onion to garnish

How to Make:

1. After washing and drying the beef, marinate them with rock salt and black pepper.

2. Heat up a pot which can hold all ingredients with olive oil.

3. Brown the beef and remove them to a side dish first.

4. In the same pot, add some more olive oil and then stir fry the garlic and onion until soft and fragrant. Then add the carrots, turnips and potato, then return the beef to the pot, then add the dashi and the seasoning.

4. Bring it to a boil and turn heat to medium low and stew for 90 to 120 minutes. Skim the scum from the surface. Check from time to time the taste then adjust seasoning as per your desired taste. After 90 minutes, if the beef is not soft enough, then braised a bit longer until the texture reaches your desired softness.

5. Lastly, remove all ingredients and keeping only the stock at the pot. Skim the fat if any. Then bring to a boil to reduce it and add cornflour solution to thicken it.

Pour sauce back to the beef and ready to serve with a bowl of hot rice!

Enjoy

Braised Sea Cucumber, Fish Maw and Chinese/Japanese Mushrooms

Ingredients:

Dry Sea Cucumber
Dry Fish Maw
Dry Chinese/Japanese Mushrooms
Ginger, Spring Onion, Garlic
Chicken Stock, Oyster Sauce, dark and light soy sauce, raw sugar, sesame oil.


How to Braise Sea Cucumber:
1. Rinse the sea cucumber clean under the tap.

2. Soak them in a pot of clean water overnite (at least 12 hours)

3. Boil a pot of water, put the soaked sea cucumber inside and cook for 15 mins covered. Once time is up, just switch off heat and keep the pot covered until water inside becomes cool. In winter times, this maybe around 3-4 hours. In summer time, this may take 5-6 hours. Test with your finger! :)

4. Pour away water inside pot. Add new water. Reboil the water with the sea cucumber for 15 minutes covered. Once time is up, switch off heat and keep the pot covered until water becomes cool.

5. Drain all water, rinse the sea cucumber, then clean the intestines. Principle is the inside surface of the sea cucumber shall be free of any black stuff and 
smooth.

6. Last step: boil a pot of water with sliced ginger and spring onion, then add the cleaned sea cucumber and boil for 15 mins covered. Once time is up, switch off heat and keep covered until water becomes cool.

7. Remove sea cucumber for water, dry them with a clean cloth and pack them in zip-lock bag and store at fridge when you are cooking in the next day or so. Or keep them in freezer.

How to Braise Fish Maw:
-> this really depends on which type of fish maw you are buying. Assuming the regular ones for braising and soup, then here's my method:

1. Rinse the fish maw clean under the tap.

2. Soak the fish maw in a pot of water overnight.

3. Boil a pot of water with sliced ginger and spring onion, then add the fish maw and cook for 10 minutes. When time is up, switch off heat and keep covered under water becomes cool.

4. Drain all water and the ginger and spring onion. Add new clean water and soak the fish maw for another 5-6 hours.

5. Remove fish maw and dry them with a clean cloth and pack them in zip-lock bag and store at fridge when you are cooking in the next day or so. Or keep them in freezer.

How to Braise dry Chinese or Japanese Mushrooms:
1. Rinse them clean under tap.

2. Soak them in a pot of water and add a small dish on top, so as to press down the mushrooms under the water.

3. Change water for around 2-3 times until you can feel the mushrooms have became soft.

4. Then remove all water, wash the softened mushrooms with some corn flour under tap. Then wipe them dry with a clean cloth. Pack them in zip-lock bag an store at fridge if you are cooking in the next day or so. or keep them in freezer.

How to Cook:

1. Cut up the mushrooms and fish maw in a size which you desire. Sea cucumber can be cooked in whole piece or cut up to a size you like.

2. Heat up a wok, add oil an stir fried the slice ginger, pressed garlic and spring onion until wok is fragrant.

3. Add the mushrooms to the wok, mix them well with the ginger etc, then add sufficient chicken stock to keep the mushrooms underneath stock, add oyster sauce, soy sauce etc. Check tasting, once boiled, turn down to medium heat and cook for 30 minutes.

4. Add fish maw to the pot. If chicken stock and sauce not sufficient to keep the ingredients under sauce, add chicken stock and other seasonings. Cook for another 10-15 minutes under medium heat.

5. Add sea cucumber to the pot and cook for another 10-15 mins. Like above, you need to see if the stock/sauce is sufficient to keep all ingredients submerged. If not, adjust yourself. Check tasting from time to time. 

6. Lastly, add cornflour solution to the pot to thicken sauce. Add your favourite vegetables to the dish!

Enjoy!

P.S. in addition to using chicken stock, you can use abalone sauce, etc. Or add braised abalone to the dish.