Chap Chye (Mixed Vegetable Stew)

I'm so excited! Every Grain of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop has just been delivered and I can't wait to start cooking from it! I've only heard nothing but rave reviews so it's definitely going to be fab!
I'll also be doing some recipe testing for the up and coming plussixfive cookbook due to be out some time at the end of the year if i'm not wrong so keep a lookout for that as I've tried their cooking and it sure is awesome!

Anyway, back to the Chap Chye recipe, a vegetable stew so flavourful that you won't believe it's vegetarian. It's made with mostly store cupboard essentials (alright... I should say Chinese store cupboard essentials) as well as Red fermented beancurd which adds a nice depth of flavour to the dish. If red fermented beancurd can't be found, just replace this with soy bean paste(taucheo) and it'll still be just as delicious!

Top - Beancurd sticks Middle - Black fungus,dried chinese mushrooms Bottom - Glass Noodles,dried lilybulbs

Ingredients (Adapted from Noob Cook)

(Serves 3-4)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 5 slices ginger
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 50g red fermented bean curd (aka ‘nam yee')
- 250g sweetheart cabbage, cut to smaller pieces
- 1 carrot, peeled and sliced
- 50g bean curd sticks
- 15g dried lily buds
- 40g Dried Chinese mushrooms
- 30g cellophane/glass noodles (aka ‘tang hoon’)
- 30g dried black (wood ear) fungus
-1 green chilli

Sauce (A)
- 2 tbsp vegetarian oyster-flavoured sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2/3 cup vegetable stock

Directions
1. Soak Chinese mushrooms, black fungus and lily buds in individual bowls of hot water. When softened, drain the water. Remove mushrooms stems, squeeze out excess water and cut to half. Remove the hard portion on the underside of the fungus. Then, cut the rest of the fungus into smaller pieces. For the lily buds, tie each bud in a knot (to prevent fraying).
2. Soak bean curd sticks and tang hoon in individual bowls of water till softened. When the beancurd sticks turn soft and paler shade, cut to smaller pieces.
3. Heat oil in wok. Stir fry chopped garlic & ginger till fragrant. Then add nam yee and mash/chop it to smaller pieces with the spatula.
4. Add cabbage and stir fry till softened (a few minutes).
5. Add Chinese mushrooms, black fungus, lily buds, beancurd sticks and green chilli along with the Sauce (A). Bring to a boil then cover with lid and let the vegetables simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Anytime the stock runs dry, top up with hot water.
6. When the vegetables are cooked and the stock is reduced, add tang hoon and stir the pot to allow the tang hoon to absorb the sauce. Serve with steamed rice.

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. 

Ayam Pongteh (Nyonya Chicken Stew)

Peranakan or Nyonya cooking is a marriage of Chinese and Malay ingredients as well as techniques. So who are the Peranakans? Well, they are descendants of Chinese Migrants who inter-married with local Malays in mainly Penang, Malacca, Indonesia and Singapore.  Malacca is a haven for Nyonya cooking so be sure pay this town a visit when you are in Malaysia! 


Ayam(Chicken) Pongteh or Babi(Pork) Pongteh is a famous Nyoyna dish, one that's always cooked during festive occasions such as Chinese New Year, Birthdays etc. It's always a good idea to cook a big batch of this as the flavours developed even more after being kept overnight.


Recipe taken from Secrets of Nyonya Cooking by Florence Tan but I made a few changes such using a food processor to chop up the shallots and garlic as I was lazy. I would have probably taken a while day if i tried pounding them! I also drastically reduced the amount of oil required as 180ml just sounds very scary! haha The amount of light soy sauce was halved too. The following recipe is the exact one found in the cookbook, for those who are daring enough to use that much oil. :)

Ingredients
180ml cooking oil
30 Shallots, peeled and finely pounded 
15 cloves garlic,peeled and finely pounded
150grams soy bean paste (tau cheong)
1kg chicken,cut into bite-size pieces
10 dried chinese mushrooms, soaked in water and stemmed
1litre water
3 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 teaspoons thick soy sauce
50g sugar
1 sprig coriander leaves


Method
1) Heat cooking oil and fry pounded shallots and garlic until fragrant. Add preserved soy bean paste and saute until oil surfaces.
2) Add the chicken and mushrooms. Stir-fry until well mixed. Add water.
3) Bring to a boil and add potatoes. Season with the 2 soy sauces and sugar. Lower the heat and simmer for 25 mins until potatoes and chicken are cooked.
4) Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.