KY cooks – Chinese Corn & Spare Ribs Soup

It’s been a while since I posted the last recipe, so here’s another simple to make soup dish that anyone can make at home – Chinese corn and spare ribs soup. If you want it without pork, feel free to substitute spare ribs with chicken wings or bones.

I use a pressure cooker for this, but a normal pot would work too if you just increase the cooking time a factor of 2-3. Preparation time for this dish is less than 10 minutes.

corn, red dates, dried cuttle fish

The ingredients are fairly simple to source, and they aren’t expensive either. This is good for 4 small bowls of soup

• 2 x sweet corns (best if you get those from Cameron Highland, they are extra juicy)
• 600 grams of spare ribs
• half a dozen dried red dates
• 1 x dried cuttle fish or some dried scallops

boil the spare ribs for a while to remove impurities

Now the cooking instructions:

• boil the spare ribs separately for 1-2 minutes to remove impurities
• cut the corn in 2 and put all ingredients with 4 bowls of water in pressure cooker (6 bowls if you are using normal pot to account for evaporation)
• bring to boil and cook in pressure for 45 mins to an hour
• add salt to taste (about 1.5 teaspoon for me)
• add pepper to taste
• additionally, sprinkle some chopped spring onion before serving

just boil everything in pressure cooker for at least 45 minutes

The result is a clear soup that has the taste of sweet corn and spare ribs infused in it. It goes well with steamed rice or even just on its own.

Easy, healthy, and delicious, try it!

add a sprinkle of spring onion and you’re done – corn & spare ribs soup

KY cooks – Nam Yu Pork Chop recipe

Nam Yu (red fermented tofu) is one of my favorite ingredients to marinate meat. I’ve used it for deep fried chicken wings and pork slices, and thought I’d give it a try in a recipe that has East meeting West - Nam Yu pork chop.

The idea is simple, using the Western cooking method utilizing griddle and oven, but marinate the pork with nam yu. The result turned out rather well, with the pork acquiring that sweet and salty flavor of nam yu, while not having to use oil (as with deep frying) and be able to retain much of the natural juice in the meat.

nam yu pork chop, a griddle is preferred

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces of pork chop at 150-200 grams each (I prefer the cut with a layer of pork fat)
• 2-3 cubes of nam yu
• 2 cups of mushroom
• 1 bulb of garlic
• lettuce for granish

Haze enjoying the nam yu pork chop, with some mushroom & lettuce

Cooking instructions:

• using a pestle (or back of chopping knife), pound and flattened the pork to half it’s thickness. This is to make the pork more tender
• spread the nam yu on pork and left marinate for at least an hour
• heat up the griddle, and saute the pork until brown (2-3 minutes each side)
• add mushroom and garlic to the griddle, and place in oven at 175 Celsius for 10 minutes
• remove from oven and let the meat sit for 5 minutes before serving

The garlic and mushroom should be cooked in the oven with the fat coming off from the pork. The lettuce serves as a garnish as well as something refreshing between the bites. Give it a try!

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KY cooks – Nam Yu Pork/Chicken Wings Recipe

Nam Yu is one those simple marinating ingredient that is quite rather, magical. Not only it can single handedly make your meat extra tasty, it is also very cheap, easy to store, and versatile (you can use it for porridge).

For the uninitiated, nam yu is the older cousin of fu yu (check out my fuyu pork recipe) – with the distinction that this fermented tofu is red in color instead of white. Nam Yu carries a stronger flavor and is a better candidate for marinate.

nam yu fried pork on a bed of lettuce (for presentation la)

Today lets look at one of my favorite beer foods you can make with nam yu, a recipe that is applicable to both pork and chicken (I prefer chicken wings, but any type of chicken cut will work)

marinate, dip in egg white, dip in flour, deep fried, done

Ingredients:

• pork belly (or ribs, or chicken wings, etc)
• 3-4 cubes of nam yu
• black or white pepper to taste
• 2 egg white
• flour
• oil for frying

the same recipe works great with chicken wings too

Instructions:

• marinate pork or chicken with nam yu and pepper for at least 1 hour, the longer the better
• heat up cooking oil
• dip the pork/chicken into egg white, then flour (or corn flour) before deep frying

That’s it! The dish is really this simple. The chicken wings you see below is slightly over fried, I suggest frying with medium heat for longer instead of high heat fast to avoid burning the skin.

For those who are too lazy to cook, you can find pretty decent nam yu pork at Pan Heong, near batu caves, they serve some pretty awesome big prawn noodle and wat tan hor too.

Happy eating!

KY cooks – Fried Pork Belly with Fermented Tofu recipe

This recipe is a result of available ingredients in the fridge. I love pork belly, and quite enjoy the taste of fermented to tofu, which got me thinking, if pork belly works with salted fish, why not with fermented tofu? So I did just that, an experimental recipe of fried pork belly with fermented tofu.

Luckily, this turned out quite a success, the combination of succulent, savory pork belly and the salty yet slightly pungent fermented tofu worked well. The spiciness added by ginger and dried chili gave it a bit more character too, if you are thinking of something slightly out of the ordinary, do give this a try.

fried pork belly with fermented tofu

Ingredients:

• 300 gram pork belly, thick slice, cut into 1-2 inches per piece
• garlic and ginger, thinly sliced
• 2 cubes of fermented tofu
• 1 teaspoon 5 spice
• 4-5 dried red chili (or according to taste)
• a small bunch of cilantro
• 1 tablespoon soya sauce

ingredients: pork belly, fermented tofu, 5 spice, garlic, ginger

Cooking instructions:

• mix pork belly, 5 spice, soya sauce, and fermented tofu together in a bowl
• heat up 1 tablespoon of oil and cook garlic & ginger till fragrant
• add in the meat mixture and dried chili, stir fry till pork is brown
• add cilantro and stir for another minute
• serve while hot

add some dried red chili & cilantro for colors & heat

Remember to not put too much oil while cooking the garlic & ginger, the pork belly naturally will produce more fat while cooking, you don’t want the dish to end up too oily. For those who love it even more spicy, some chili padi will be lovely too!

Happy cooking!

KY cooks – Peanut soup with pork ribs in pressure cooker

Not long ago my mom gave me a brand new pressure cooker that she’s kept with her for the last 10 years or so after knowing that I’ve started cooking a bit. It was a godsend, suddenly cooking soup become way faster and easier, and I think everyone who loves any sort of Chinese style soup should invest in one.

Today I’m going to share with you a very simple peanut soup with pork ribs recipe. A dish that I always love as a kid but never did get to have them very often due to the time it takes to cook using a conventional pot.

chinese peanut soup with pork ribs

With a conventional pot, you’ll have to boil the soup for at least 3-4 hours to make the peanut soft, but with the pressure cooker, 30-45 minutes is all you need for the same results. This is possible because with the increase in pressure (usually at around15 psi), the water will boil in much higher temperature at 122 Celsius compared to the usual 100 Celsius, and this make a world of difference.

Ingredients:

• raw peanuts (a small bowl is enough)
• some pork ribs or pork bones (chicken carcass if you prefer it to be pork free)
• 5-6 dried red dates
• 5-6 small dried scallops for added sweetness

ingredients for peanut soup – raw peanuts, red dates, dried scallops, pork ribs

Instructions:

• boil the pork separately for a few minutes to remove impurities
• put all ingredients in the pressure cooker (including the pork after removing from pervious pot)
• add just enough water for amount of soup you want (eg: 3 bowls for 3 bowls, this is because with pressure cooker very little water is evaporated, they are kept as steam within the system instead)
• boil in pressure cooker for 30-45 minutes

pressure cooker working, check out the little bronze stem

Pressure cooker consume quite a lot less cooking gas compared to a conventional pot too. After bringing the water to boil and the cooker to working pressure (indicated by the bronze valve being “erected”), usually achieve within a few minutes, the fire can be turned down low to keep the same pressure. I believe with this you’ll save at least 3-4 times the amount of cooking gas needed.

The result is old fashion peanut soup that is good for the soul. The peanut is soft, and the pork ribs even more tender, you should really try this for yourself.

p/s: it is also said that boiling the soup with a clay soup spoon will speed up the “softening” process of meat/peanuts too as clay will serve as a catalyst of sort. I haven’t try that yet, but if you do, let me know how it works out.

Happy cooking!