Slow Braised Pork Ribs

Don't you just love a stew with a gravy that's so good that you'll be more than happy just to eat that with rice? With tender meat literally falling off the bone? If you answered YES and YES, this dish is made just for you!! ;)

It's easy to put together but it has a cooking time around 2 hours to allow the ribs to cooked till it's so so tender. Flavoured with warming spices such as ginger, cinnamon and star anise, it's definitely one that's well worth the wait!

Adapted from Cheat Eat

Ingredients(Serves 4)

800g pork ribs or soft bone (cut into 5cm pieces with fats trimmed off)

2 tbsp oil

40g galangal (cut into chunks)

40g ginger (cut into chunks)

1 tsp coriander seeds (pounded)

2 cinnamon sticks

2 star anise

1 tbsp bean paste

12 cloves garlic (leave skin intact and crushed)

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp light soy sauce
1tsp five spice powder

2 tsp sugar

water

2 tbsp corn flour

Method

1) Place pork ribs in a colander, pour boiling water over it and drain well. The purpose here is to clean the pork ribs and gets rid of any gaminess.

2)Heat up oil in a heavy bottom pot. Add the galangal, ginger, coriander powder, cinnamon, star anise and bean paste. Fry the aromatics over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Bring up the heat, add the pork ribs to the pot and continue frying for 5 more minutes. If it gets too dry and the spices are starting to blacken, sprinkle some water in the pot.   

3) Add garlic, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, five spice powder and sugar to the pot and mix well. Pour in enough water or stock to just cover the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to very low, cover and cook for about 2 hours until the meat is tender and falling off the bone. Remove any scum that might appear.

4) Mix corn flour with some water and stir it into a paste. Add this mixture into the pot and mix well. This helps thicken the gravy. Bring the gravy to a boil and add more dark soy sauce and/or sugar according to taste. Serve with rice and green vegetables.

Pork Adobo (Filipino Pork Vinegary Stew)

When I was working in Singapore, I had my first taste of Filipino cuisine when my Filipino colleagues brought me to a cafe in Lucky Plaza along Orchard road. It sure was tasty and a few of my faves are Sinigang(Tamarind Soup), Sisik(Hot plate minced pork and other parts of the pig.:P), Bicol Express(Coconut Pork Stew) and of course the very appetizing Pork Adobo. It's essentially a pork slowed cooked in a vinegary marinade. Other variations of Philippines National dish, Adobo include chicken, pork and chicken as well as squid.

 I haven't yet found a Filipino restaurant in London but will definitely be on a lookout for it. In the meantime, I shall just have to cook some of the dishes myself and hopefully do them well -ish. :)
It could have done with more browning(totally my fault as i should have waited a little longer when sautéing the pork) but it still tasted fab!

Recipe adapted from Pinay in Texas

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

800g pork shoulder, cubed

9 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium-sized onion, sliced

3 shallots, sliced

3 pcs whole bay leaves

3/4 cup vinegar

1/3 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup of water

1 Tsp black peppercorns

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Procedure:

1. Marinate pork in soy sauce, vinegar, honey, bay leaves, 6 cloves minced garlic, and  sliced onion for at least 30 minutes. 
2. Remove pork from marinade and gently heat marinade.

3. In a large saucepan over medium heat, sauté remaining garlic and shallots in oil until shallots are translucent.

4. Add pork and sauté until juice starts to come out. Add the marinade, water and peppercorns. Mix well. Simmer for about 45 minutes or until pork is tender. 

Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky)

One item that most people can't do without during Chinese New Year is the awesomely tasty Bak Kwa. Moist, marinated meat barbecued to perfection. There are many out there who wouldn't think twice about queueing 1 or 2 hours under the hot sun to get a box of these salty, sweet delights from some of famous brands around Singapore and Malaysia, even with the price hike during this festive period. I've found out that making it at home isn't as difficult as I thought it would be so when I came across it on Just as Delish, I decided to give it a go since I haven't gotten myself a box this Chinese New Year. It came out really well and my only complaint was that it wasn't sweet enough. However, this was totally my fault as I used brown sugar instead of caster sugar. Brown Sugar is not as sweet as castor so I should have increased the proportion. Lesson Learnt!!!


May the Year of the Dragon be a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Year for everyone! 
Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!

Ingredients (Adapted from Just as Delish and Singlish Swenglish)

1kg fatty(about 20) Meat Mince – either Chicken, Beef or Pork 

120g Caster Sugar

2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice Powder

3 tablespoon Fish Sauce

4 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce

3 tablespoon Honey

15ml Light Olive Oil

1/2 tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce

A few drops of Sesame Oil

Method

1. Thoroughly combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl or container. Cover and marinate overnight in the fridge.
2. Preheat oven to 100°C. Place mince onto the tray then spread and press down to form a thin sheet over the surface of the tray to a thickness of about 3mm. You can either use wet fingers/spoon to manually press it or you could lay a sheet of plastic wrap over it and roll it thin with a rolling pin. 
3. Place the trays in the oven for about 45 minutes with the door ajar or until the meat has dried out – the surface is dry to the touch, most of the liquid has evaporated and is holding together without breaking (It’s fine to be a little moist underneath the sheet). Do the same with the rest of the pork.
4. Cut the dried meat sheet into squares with a kitchen scissors.
5. Heat up your charcoal bbq, oven grill(Preheated to 230°C) or broiler and grill each square until darkened and caramelised. It’s totally alright to have the tiniest hint of charring but keep your eyes on them because they burn quickly and easily.
6. These Bak Kwa does not have preservatives, so it’s better to keep them in an airtight container in the fridge with sheets of greaseproof baking paper between each slice of Bak Kwa. When needed, reheat Bak Kwa in grill or microwave.
7. You can also store and freeze the bak kwa after you have dried it out in the oven. Once cooled, place sheets of greaseproof baking paper between each slice of pork. Wrap very well with plastic wrap and place in a container to freeze. When ready to use, defrost in refrigerator and grill as normal.

Stir-fried Ginger Pork

Ginger is a flavourful spice that's useful not only in cooking/baking. It's also has many health benefits such as lowering cholesterol, prevents the formation of blood clots, calm an upset stomach, relieves nausea, has anti viral and anti inflammatory properties etc. It's definitely one spice that we always have at home even if we don't plan to cook with it as it comes in real handy when we want to brew some Chai!       


Stir-fried Ginger Pork is also one dish that we cook quite often as it a very fragrant and appetising dish. It's especially good if the ginger used is young and spicy! Chicken can also be used if preferred.

Ingredients (Serve 2)
250g of Pork fillet or shoulder (sliced)
2 big thumbs of ginger (julienned)
2 tbsp of oyster sauce (or vegetarian oyster flavoured sauce)
1 tbsp of corn flour
1 tsp of sesame oil 
1 tbsp of sunflower oil


Method
Marinate pork slices in oyster sauce and cornflour for at least 30 mins.
Stir in sesame oil once you are ready to start cooking. If sesame oil is used earlier, it'll coat the pork and prevents the marination from working it's magic.
Heat sunflower oil in a wok.
Add in ginger and stir fry over a medium heat until the ginger is pretty dry (about 10 mins)
Add in pork and stir fry over a high heat until cooked. (about 3-4 mins)
Serve immediately with rice. Some blanched tenderstem broccoli goes well with the dish too!
Enjoy!!