My Mum’s Penang Loh Bak

My mum’s Penang loh-bak – Chinese five spice pork rolls

It’s actually my granddad’s recipe, which my grandmother used to cook with my mother, but this was the first time I had ever made these delicious strips of pork, marinated in Chinese five-spices, rolled in beancurd skin and then deep fried. Served with sliced fresh cucumber and chilli sauce these tasty, crispy morsels are totally more-ish.

Loh bak is a very traditional Penang Nonya dish and as with most of these types of dishes, the actual cooking is minimal – it’s all in the preparation.

As with a lot of traditional Nonya recipes, my mum cooks like my grandmother – everything is to taste, and I was so enjoying spending time with her in the kitchen that we both forgot to even try to guesstimate the quantity of the ingredients. Ah well, it just gives me more reason to do this again with her in the future and make sure this recipe is recorded for posterity.

Pappardelle with braised pork belly

A slight variation on my usual pork belly in red wine, this just takes a few hours on the stove. I finished the sauce with a few nobs of butter to give it a silky texture that coats the pappardelle.

Ingredients for two

1. 200g pork belly
2. 1 onion, finely diced
3. 1 small carrot, finely diced
4. 2 stalks celery, finely diced
5. 1 tomato, roughly diced
6. 2 glasses red wine
7. 2 cups chicken stock
8. fresh thyme
9. 1 bay leaf
10. couple of nobs butter
11. Pappardelle pasta

Method

1. Brown all edges of the pork belly in a hot pan. You want to get the natural sugars in the meat caramelising. Remove from pan and set aside
2. In the same pan, add some oil and gently sweat the onions, carrots and celery until they are tender
3. Add the pork belly back into the pan along with the wine, tomato, herbs and enough chicken stock to just cover the meat
4. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the temperature to a simmer. Let lightly bubble away for 2 hours. The liquid will reduce a bit so you may need to check now and then that the pork is still covered. I started to shred the pork after about an hour so that ever bit of the pork gets to release its flavour, and also  take on the flavours in the pan. Season to taste
5. After a couple of hours the liquid in the pan should have reduced by about a half and the pork tender enough to shred into meaty chunks.
6. Cook pappardelle until just cooked in salted water. Reserve some of the cooking water before you drain the pasta – that starchy salty water helps to make the sauce loose and helps the pasta from sticking
7. While the pasta is cooking, add a few nobs of cold butter to the sauce. It really gives another dimension to the sauce, making it silky and helping to coat the pasta
8. Pop the pasta into the pan with the sauce, adding a few tablespoons of the cooking water to help the sauce really coat each ribbon of pasta
9. Serve hot with a good handful of freshly grated parmesan

Pork sausage and puy lentil casserole

As I didn’t get to finish my main course from Latteria Mozzarella Bar, I thought I would make something from the leftovers/doggy bag the following night. I had bought some lovely puy lentils which my supermarket just started stocking, and adding them to a casserole with my sausages made perfect sense.

I also had leeks and swiss brown mushrooms in my fridge, so in to the casserole they also went, to make a good earthy, warming meal.

You can just as easily use fresh sausages for this dish, but I would then add a garlic to the casserole (see recipe below).

Ingredients for 2 servings

1. 4 good quality pork sausages
2. 1 glass dry white wine
3. 4 cloves garlic (optional, see note above)
4. 1 large onion, sliced
5. 1 cup swiss brown mushrooms, halved
6. 2 large leeks, rinsed and sliced
7. 1 cup puy lentils, rinsed
8. 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
9. 2-3 sage leaves, chopped if fresh, or 1 tsp dried sage
10. 1-2 bay leaves

Method

1. In a heavy-based saucepan, heat some oil and brown the sausages – they don’t need to be cooked through at this point if you’re using fresh sausages. Remove from pan and set aside. When cool enough to handle, cut into 1” slices
2. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, pour into a jug, set aside
3. Heat more oil in the pan and gently sweat the onions until translucent
4. Add garlic next if you are using them
5. Add leeks and mushrooms and fry until soft
6. Add the sausages and white wine
7. Add lentils and sage and bay leaves and enough stock to cover all ingredients and bring to a boil
8. Lower heat and gently simmer for 1 1/2 hours till lentils are cooked through
9. Serve with crusty bread

Hokkien soya sauce braised pork belly

I have no idea how I ended up cooking this for dinner tonight, but gosh I’m glad I did. This dish (in hokkien is called tau yew bak – literally translated, soya sauce pork) is one I haven’t had for maybe 20 years and the cool thing is eating it took me right back to when I was a little girl and my mum made it for me.

I think I just fancied some comfort food, and this dish, which is essentially pork belly that is stewed for 2 hours in a combination of soya sauce and spices like cinnamon and star anise, is warmingly melt-in-your mouth tender and is yummy served simply with rice.

Living in Singapore, I also tend not to cook Chinese food because access to top notch Chinese food is so easy here. And there is also the variety of different Chinese cuisines, from Hokkien or Peranakan (which is my heritage) to Cantonese (which is what I grew up with in Sydney), to Hakka, Peking, Hainanese…you name it.

The problem with eating out is that it’s tough to get brown rice unless it’s at some organic, vegetarian, peace-loving-type restaurant, and the most authentic food is just not served in places like this. My palate has been trained to like white rice with Chinese dishes, so my recipe below might be ridiculously simple, but it was a way for me to enjoy eating rice, with a 50% good component with the mix of brown rice. I just had to get over one of the basics of cooking rice – not to stir it around, ending up in mushy rice – and working out the logistics of different water and time ratios of cooking the two types together.

The recipe below is my rough guide on measurement – it’s a forgiving dish and doesn’t need to be precise so add more or less to taste

Ingredients makes enough to serve 4

1. 300-400g pork belly, cut into 2cm strips
2. 4-6 cloves garlic
3. 1 stick of cinnamon
4. 1 star anise
5. 1 tsp black peppercorns
6. 1 tbl Chinese five spice powder
7. 1/4 cup dark soya sauce
8. 2 tbl light soya sauce
9. 2 tbl sugar (or to taste)
10. 1-2 cups water
11.  1-2 hard boiled eggs

Method

1. Blanch pork in boiling water and cook for 5 minutes to remove any impurities. Drain well. Discard the water
2. In a claypot or a saucepan, heat up some oil and add the pork, garlic, cinnamon, star anise, peppercorns and five spice and fry until fragrant and the pork has browned
3. Add the soya sauces and sugar and bring to boil for about 5 minutes until the sauce thickens and the sugar begins to caramelise
4. Add the water, bring to boil, cover and reduce heat to a gentle simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Again the amount of sauce is personal. Some like it sticky and almost dry (me), some like it with quite a lot of sauce
5. About 30 minutes before serving, add the boiled eggs
6. Serve with rice and vegetables
7. For my mix of 50/50 white/brown rice, add 2 cups boiling water to 1/2 cup of brown rice and simmer for 25 minutes. Then add 1/2 cup of rinsed white rice, stir, cover and simmer for an additional 20 minutes

Sausage rolls – with added newness !

Sausage rolls with onion, sage and chestnut stuffing

I made two small changes to my standard sausage roll recipe today. First, I added chopped cooked chestnuts, which I can luckily find in my supermarket in vacuum-sealed packs, and used the puff pastry that comes in blocks rather than sheets. It means that there is a touch of sweetness in the sausage mix, and you can control the thickness of the pastry. I think the pastry:sausage ratio with thicker pastry = the best sausage rolls I’ve made. Our maths lesson for today is brought to you by my Mother in law’s awesome sausage rolls she always bakes loads of when we visit.

Ingredients

1. 6 good quality pork sausages (or about 350g sausage meat from the butcher)
2. 1 large onion, finely diced
3. 1 handful sage leaves, chopped
4. 150g cooked chestnuts, roughly chopped
5. 1 block puff pastry, thawed at room temperature
6. 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 200C/390F
2. Combine the sausage meat, onion, sage and chestnuts together in a large bowl
3. Roll out the pastry to about 1/4 inch thick
4. Place lines of the sausage meat along the length of the pastry, roll over and seal edges lightly
5. Cut into 2 inch thick slices and place on to a wire rack over a oven-proof tray and brush with the beaten egg
6. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown

Roasted rolled pork belly – it’s all about the crackling

I bought an enormous pork belly from the supermarket yesterday morning. Like, huge – I think it was over 2 kilos (and remember there’s just the two of us). In my mind the thinness of the cut justified a larger piece but clearly it doesn’t work that way.

The skin was not as dry as I would have liked (dry skin=good crackling) so I salted it liberally and then popped it in the fridge in the hope that it would help to dry in the few hours I had before it needed to go into the oven. When I took it out later, it still wasn’t dry enough, so I decided to improvise and roll the cut to help get the best crackling possible.

I had nothing suitable for me to roll the pork with – it would have been lovely with some chopped dates or even just some fresh thyme. Luckily the cut has those lovely layers of fat that help to keep the roast tender and juicy. It’s also the first time I’ve rolled pork myself – usually the butcher does it for me. And to be totally honest, I made enough of a mess without addditional help from trying to add stuffing. We had so much left over we had pulled pork sandwiches for lunch and have a roast pork dinner again tonight (sans crackling boo).

Roasting was quite daunting for me at the beginning, but I have found over the years that if you follow some basic rules you can’t really go wrong – it’s very forgiving, unlike a pastry, for example.

My usual gauge for roasting pork (I almost always use pork belly because I love the layers of fat) is to simply season with salt and pepper, then pop into a preheated oven at 220C for 30-40 mins to get the crackling going, and then either 1 hour for every kilo of meat at 180C or 2 hours for every kilo of meat at 160C. This has worked for me every time, but you can also always use a thermometer – the last thing you want is to have to your apartment (or house) smelling of that delicious roast and then carve it only to find it needs more time in the oven. I couldn’t bear to delay the gratification!  Let the meat rest for a good 20-30 minutes before you carve it up.

I serve my roast pork with roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, leeks, onions and garlic (which goes all mellow and sweet after you roast for an hour).

Oh, and if the crackling is still not up to crispy par, then once you take the meat out, carefully take a knife and cut the skin off, and while the meat is resting, pop the crackling back in the oven on high or even grill it, although I find the oven gives better results – it seems to go puffy when you grill it.  Watch the crackling like a hawk, particularly when grilling – you don’t want any burned bits because they are uneatable.  And who can take that risk when crackling is such a premium??

Pea and ham soup

I love pea and ham soup. I find it so hearty and comforting and I love the vibrant green colour with the pink specks of ham (which really shouldn’t work as food) and was always a traditional post Christmas dish from the left over ham. I don’t have a proper butcher near me so I don’t have easy access to ham on the bone, but I have found a substitute which works well. Bacon bones can easily be found at Cold Storage and I use these as well as supplement with normal shaved/sliced ham.

Ingredients to make 6 -8 servings (make lots and freeze the leftovers for a quick dinner or snack later)

1. 1 onion, diced
2. 200g bacon bones
3. 100 g finely sliced ham
4. 200g split green peas (I’ve also used yellow when I couldn’t find green)
5. 2 bay leaves

Method

1. Sweat the onion over low heat until translucent
2. Turn the heat to medium and fry the bacon bones, stirring occasionally for 10 mins
3. Add the peas and bay leaves and enough water to just cover the peas
4. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours
5. Take out the bacon and let cool before shredding/slicing
6. Remove the bay leaves and discard
7. Blend the pea soup (without the bacon) until it’s the consistency you’d like.  Add more water if it’s too thick
8. Add the bacon and the ham to the pureed soup and season if necessary

Home made sausage rolls from scratch

Homemade sausage rolls in puff and shortcrust pastry

I knew there was something odd about my shop in the supermarket that day – asking for that much minced pork struck me as strange. On auto-pilot, I carried on, paid and got home only to realise that I was trying to make sausage rolls with just minced pork and not sausage meat. Feeling a tad dusty from a few too many drinks the night before, the last thing I wanted to do was head back to the supermarket again, so I did a bit of research online hoping that I would have everything I needed already in the pantry or fridge.

I also found that night that I had just one sheet of puff pastry and decided to do half the mix with puff and the other with shortcrust pastry, thinking it might be just as good.  Final verdict – stick to puff – it had a better texture and flavour that worked better – with my sausage meat, anyway.

Essentially anything goes with sausages in terms of flavouring, but you need to ensure that you have sufficient fat in the sausage – apparently a minimum of 10%, to ensure that the sausage meat stays moist (I’d go for more, around 25%).

Here’s the recipe – measurements are estimated, my suggestion is that you fry a small pattie of the mix to check for flavour/seasoning before you commit to wrapping the entire lot in pastry.  But just have fun with what you have available and/or what you think will work together !

Ingredients – makes about 8 individual sausage rolls about 10cm in length

• 400g minced pork – don’t pick the lean pork mince if you have a choice
• 100g fat – pork fat if you can get it, I had duck fat which I used and it added a nice gamey flavour to my sausage meat
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 tbls dried sage (or handful of fresh if you have it)
• 2 tbls maple syrup
• Generous pinch of salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C
2. Combine pork, fat, sage, maple syrup, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper together in a large bowl and mix well with your hands.  You can test for flavour and seasoning by frying off small patties
3. Shape into 4 round logs about 5cm in diameter and about 1 cm short of the length of the pastry (this allows some space for the meat to expand as it cooks)
4. Place on the pastry about 3cm from one side and roll the pastry over the sausage meat, cut the pastry so that you have an overlap of about 2-3cm
5. Brush some of the beaten egg along the edges and seal
6. Continue until you finish all the sausage meat, you should have four long sausage rolls.  You can leave it there or I cut each in half to make them a bit more manageable to eat
7. Arrange on a roasting rack over a tray and brush the rest of the beaten egg over the pastry
8. Bake in oven for 20 – 25 mins or until golden brown

Sausage and bean casserole

I had sausages.  I had beans.  What to make for dinner ?  Why, a sausage and bean casserole of course !  Add in bacon and leeks and I had a casserole that’s pretty quick and easy to make and a delicious way to end a Monday. (I do wish that I lived in a country with seasons.  The subtle heat of the cayenne pepper and the comforting casserole would make it a perfect winter warmer)

Ingredients (makes a big pot that would serve 4-6)

1. 6 good quality sausages
2. 2 large leeks
3. 5 rashers bacon, chopped
4. 1 tin mixed beans (you could easily accommodate another tin if you like beans) rinsed until the water goes clear
5. 1 glass of wine
6. 1 cup chicken stock
7. pinch cayenne pepper
8. handful fresh parsley if you can get it, chopped

Method:

1. In a large casserole dish, brown the sausages, take out, slice into pieces and set aside
2. Fry the bacon pieces until nice and crispy.  Take out and set aside
3. Reduce the heat and fry the leeks for about 3-4 minutes until soft
4. Turn up the heat and add the wine and bring to the boil.  Let boil for 2-3 minutes for the alcohol to burn off
5. Add the stock and then put the sausages and bacon (leave a few of the crispier pieces as a garnish) back in the pot, with the beans and cayenne pepper and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the beans are warmed through – don’t bring it to boil or the beans will go mushy
6. Serve, topped with chopped parsley and bacon bits, and with some crusty bread

 

 

Din Tai Fung

xiao long bao – steamed pork dumplings

I’d never really understood the obsession with xiao long bao - steamed pork dumplings .  I’d only ever tried it during yum cha and I think it was the dough which I always thought was too thick.

Then I discovered that Din Tai Fung – the celebrated Taiwanese restaurant awarded one Michelin Star and ranked as one of the world’s Top Ten Best Restaurants by the New York Times – was in Singapore.

My friends back in Sydney used to trek to Ashfield to Din Tai Fung and always waxed lyrical about them – so I decided to visit the outlet at Raffles City.  And now I realise what the fuss is all about.

Everything is hand-made on the premises, from the dough to the filling(s) and I watched in wonder at the chefs all rolling out the individual dumpling skins to almost paper thinness but thick enough to hold the dumpling filling which is minced pork and soup (created by wrapping a piece of aspic inside the skin alongside the meat filling. Heat from steaming then melts the gelatin-gelled aspic into soup).

You have to time eating your dumplings well – too soon and the hot soup might burn your mouth.  Too late and the soup becomes too cold.  But at just the right time, when you break the skin in your mouth (you have to put the dumpling whole into your mouth) releasing all the ingredients and flavours to mix, it’s just heaven.

The “replacement” dumpling for the broken-skinned one from our original order (look carefully at the photo above, you can see it !)

I’ve been often enough now to know that the rest of the food on the limited menu is also very good, but go for the hero of the show.  They are clearly passionate about perfection – the last time I went they even sent over a single dumpling because one of our original order had a broken skin.

Be prepared to wait though, the place is almost always packed, to the point where at peak times they won’t even seat you unless your entire table are present.  I think it’s worth the wait though.

Din Tai Fung
Raffles City Shopping Centre
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-08 (there are 6 outlets in total throughout Singapore)
Tel: 6336 6369