Spiced Sweet and Sour Cauliflower

Ingredients
1 cauliflower (about 500g), 1 carrot (sliced), 2 tomatoes (thinly sliced), 1 onion (coarsely sliced), 8 tbsp tomato ketchup (you can opt for a can of tomato puree), salt and pepper to taste, 1 tbsp thyme, 1tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 4 tbsp butter.

Method
1. Clean the cauliflower thoroughly, cut off the stem, remove the thick skin and slice to thin pieces. Steam the cauliflower using steamer until it is soft, literally 'melts in the mouth'. (you can use a pot of water to braise if you really cannot find a steamer big enough.
2. Remove the cauliflower from heat, brush 3tbsp worth of butter all over the cauliflower while it is still warm, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Melt the remaining butter in a pan or work, saute the onion until golden brown, stir in the carrots and the cauliflower stem, saute over high heat, add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Stir in tomato ketchup at this point, add 1/4 cup of water, mix well and bring to boil, turn to low heat, stir in thyme, sugar and lemon juice, braise until the sauce thickens. Done.
5. Place most of the ingredients on a plate, top with the cauliflower, pour remaining sauce on top of cauliflower. Garnish with tomatoes and coriander.

Tags: Cauliflower, tomato, tomato ketchup, tomato puree, thyme, lemon juice, butter

Rasberry Jam and Rosemarry Soy Roasted Pork

Ingredients
1kg pork belly (or pork roast), 230g raspberry jam, 2tbsp dried rosemary, 1 tbsp hot paprika, 1 cup Chinese shao xing cooking rice wine (feel free to use any sweet red wines if you want), 4 cloves garlic (finely chopped), 400g button mushroom (sliced), 8 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2tbsp freshly cracked sea salt and black pepper each, 2 tbsp corn flour, coriander to garnish, 1tbsp butter, extra 2 tbsp raspberry jam for the sauce.

the freshly-roasted pork sliced on the cutting board, I personally thought it would better if the meat was a bit more raw, or red-ish.

Method
1. Clean and score the pork belly on both faces with a sharp knife, rub it fresh cracked sea salt and black pepper.
2. In a mixing bowl, bring together 200g of raspberry jam, 6 tbsp light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, dried rosemary, hot paprika, sugar and cooking wine, mix well and rub thoroughly onto the meat, coating much of coarse ingredients onto the top skin layer, leave aside to marinade for at least 3 hours (overnight preferably).

3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Wrap the pork with aluminium foil, pour in all the extra marinade sauce as well, seal tightly. Roast over a layer of water in the oven for about 1 hour.
4. After an hour, loosen the seal of the wrap, exposing the skin layer of the pork to direct heat, roast another 20-30 minutes at 220-240 degrees Celsius to get a crisp skin layer. Remove from oven and leave in room temperature to cool.

5. To make the sauce, pour all the sauce from the roasting pan into a heated sauce pan, add in the sliced button mushrooms and bring to boil over medium heat, add the extra raspberry jam and light soy sauce when it starts to boil, make sure everything is well dissolved, add some black pepper powder if desired.
6. Dilute the corn flour with 4tbsp of water, stir in the sauce so that it thickens up, toss in the butter right after turning off the heat. Done, pour sauce over meat to serve.

*Note: feel free to add in fresh rasberry to the sauce, I just couldn't find them from the nearby store the other day.

Tags: pork, raspberry, rosemary, soy sauce, roast, wine, button mushroom

Spicy Leaf-Mustard Cabbage and Peanut Soup

Ingredients
1 large onion(chopped into large 8 pieces), 4 pc dried chili (de-seeded, coarsely chopped), 300g peanuts, 200g leaf-mustard cabbage (known as Mui Choi in Cantonese), 1 tbsp oil, 500g pork bones, water, fresh salt and cracked black pepper corn.

Method
1. Saute the onion, chili and peanuts in a heated pot with the oil, add the bones, saute for another 3-5 minutes, add fresh sea salt and cracked black pepper corn, saute for another 3 minutes.
2.Add water to almost fill the pot, turn to high heat, bring to boil with lid covered. Remove lid after the pot of water boils, add in washed and chopped leaf-mustard cabbage, wait till boil again, turn to medium-low heat, cover with lid and braise for 2 hours or so, the longer the better.
3. Season again with salt and pepper to taste when serving, garnish with chopped coriander.

Tags: peanut, mustard, chili, spicy, soup

Japanese Curry Bread Box

Just before I get to occupied with assignments and forget how I made this, I thought it would be a good idea to publish this one. Unfortunately I do not have much time to do much explanation, so I will just get to the point with the recipe, hopefully everyone is fine with it, and another thing, this is going to be the first of a series of recipes without much write-ups, I only have time to get them published with a little spare time off my assignments, ARCHITORTURE... =(

Ingredients
1 loaf of fresh Cumin herbed bread load (or any bread), 8 pc chicken drumstick, 100-150g prepacked Japanese curry mix (use more if desired), 1 red Spanish onion (diced), 5 cloves garlic, 2 tbsp butter, 2 tomatoes (1 diced, another sliced into 8 pieces), 4 pieces large potato (skinned and coarsely chopped), water, 1 tbsp oil, 3 tbsp turmeric powder, 2 tbsp light soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste, coriander for garnishing.

Method
1. Wash the chicken drumsticks thoroughly, lightly score with a sharp knife, rub in with oil, light soy sauce, turmeric powder, salt and pepper, leave aside to marinate for 10-15 minutes.

2. Preheat grill or oven to the hottest temperature, roast the marinated drumsticks for about 20-30 minutes, turning them in between to make sure they are thoroughly roasted.

3. Meanwhile, heat a large pot, melt butter, throw in garlic and diced onion, saute until slightly brown by adding salt and sugar in between. Add in diced tomato and saute for another 3-5 minutes.

4. Add in Japanese curry mix, saute until fragrant and add water to cover half the pot, add salt and pepper, bring to boil, add in chopped potatoes and turn to low-medium heat, simmer with lid covered for about 35-45 minutes (the longer the better).

5. Remove drumsticks from oven or grill, leave aside to cool for about 5 minutes, pour everything in the roasting/ grilling pan into the pot of curry, leave it to simmer for another 10-15 minutes, season with salt, pepper and sugar (Japanese curry should be sweet) to taste. Throw in the remaining tomatoes now as well.

6. While waiting for the curry to be ready, carve a rectilinear hole out of the bread loaf, pack the carved-outs into the bottom of the bread so it doesn't melt away easily later when the curry is poured inside. Used the extras to thicken up the curry (the potatoes should already have done this job anyway).

7. Done, pour the curry and ingredients into the bread box and enjoy peeling the bread off to match the curry's gravy!

Tags: poultry, cumin seed, bread, Japanese, curry, potato, tomato, sweet, chicken

Chick Pea Salad with Buttered Five Spice Dressing

It's week 11! All the assignments are coming in and at times it just feels like my brain is going to blow off! Nevertheless, I chose to procrastinate tonight by updating my blog with a couple of dishes that I tried last few days, or maybe last week...

The idea of cooking chickpea the Malaysian way would easily revoke the idea of those chickpea stalls run by Indian hawkers at night markets, found throughout Malaysia. The strong smell of fresh chick pea, Yum! Yum! With this dish however, I decided to let the taste of chick pea to sit secondary to the taste of the five spice sauce and fresh coriander, I think the taste was not bad, but could be better if the sauce was thicker, hence the improvised recipe provided here...

Ingredients
800g chick pea (preferably fresh ones, otherwise canned ones will do), 500g fresh bean sprouts, a generous bunch of fresh coriander, 2-3 tbsp butter, 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped), 3 tbsp five spice powder, 8 tbsp water, 1 tbsp hot paprika, fresh salt and pepper to taste.

Method
1. Boil a pot of water, add a pinch of salt, add in the chick pea, cook until the water boils again. Remove chick pea from water, mix with 1 tbsp butter while hot, leave to cool.
2. Cook bean sprouts for no more than 3 minutes in the same pot of boiling water, rinse in ice cold water immediately, leave aside.
3. Melt 1tbsp butter in a saucepan, add five spice powder and hot paprika powder, saute over low heat while adding water bit by bit, make sure the sauce is considerably thick, melt the remaining butter in sauce after adding all water.
4. Mix chick pea, bean sprouts and chopped fresh coriander in a salad bowl, add in the buttered five spice sauce, toss well to dress, add salt and pepper to taste. Done.

Tags: salad, chickpea, five spice powder, dressing, bean sprouts, coriander