KY cooks – Braised Pork Belly with Yam recipe (芋头扣肉)

After cooking regularly for a better part of a year now, I thought it’s about time we try dishes that is a little bit more challenging, and since Haze has a thing for braised pork belly with yam (芋头扣肉), we decided to give it a go.

The following recipe is perhaps the simplest formulation for a good braised pork belly with yam, but that being said, it still requires at least 3-4 hours of cooking time to complete. The result though, if done properly, is a serving of yummy succulent pork with buttery soft yam good enough for 4 person.

braised pork belly slices with yam

The ingredients:

• pork belly – 600 gram
• one small/medium size yam
• 2 tablespoon dark soya sauce
• 6-8 shallots
• half a bulb of garlic
• 2 cubes of namyu (fermented bean curd)
• cooking oil
• 2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon soya sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon five spice
• pepper to taste

a big slab of pork and yam, enough to feed 4 pax

Cooking method can be divided into 4 major steps, pork preparation, yam preparation, frying, and steaming. Divide and conquer make things easier now isn’t it?

step 1 – yam preparation:

• cut yam into thick slices (same thickness as pork)
• heat up frying pan with 2 tablespoon of oil, then fry yam for 3-4 minutes

dark soya sauce is used in the second stage of pork preparation

step 2 – pork preparation step:

• boil the whole slab of pork for 10-15 minutes
• remove pork from water, pat dry, then cover the whole slab with dark soya sauce
• heat up frying pan, then fry pork till brown
• remove pork from frying pan and cut in thick slices

shallots, garlic, and namyu to bring out the flavor

step 3 – frying:

• heat up a couple tablespoon of oil
• fry chopped garlic and onion till fragrant
• add pork, yam, and namyu
• add oyster sauce, soya sauce, five spice powder, and sesame oil
• stir fry till even (try not to break the yam, or meat)

finally, arrange pork/yam and steam for 3-4 hours

step 4 – steaming:

• arrange the pork and yam alternately in a bowl (or in this case, a metal plate)
• steam for a minimum of 2-3 hours

And you are done! Do always keep an eye to ensure that your steamer don’t run out of water in the process. If a pressure cooker is used, the steaming process can be cut short considerably (20-30 minutes, I will try this method next time).

Do check out more recipes on this site, and happy cooking!

KY cooks – Thai Minced Pork Cucumber Soup

This Thai minced pork cucumber soup is something that we came across while staying over at Khaolak for degassing purposes after a satisfying live-aboard diving trip at Similan Islands.

The soup was so good that when we came home, Haze and I tried to re-create the same dish at home, and I think she got it pretty close. Here’s the resulting soup that is somewhat healthy, simple to make, and may I say, quite delicious.

Thai Minced Pork Cucumber Soup

Ingredients:

• big fresh cucumber
• fish sauce (or salt)
• white pepper
• minced meat (300 gram or enough for stuffing)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

ingredients are simple, we use fresh cucumber

Instructions:

• While heating up 3 bowls of water, remove cucumber skin, cut in halves, then into bite size, remove the seeds
• mix minced meat with generous amount of pepper, a teaspoon of fish sauce (or a dash of salt), and a teaspoon of sesame oil
• apply minced meat on cucumber where the seeds used to be (you can 1/2 teaspoon of corn starch to make the mixture more sticky)
• carefully put the cucumber into boiling water with meat side on top
• boil for 15-20 minutes or until cucumber is soft
• serve while hot

minced meat and cucumber is a great combination

This soup usually comes with tong fun (glass noodle) so if you wanna add that, do go ahead. For even more flavorful soup base, feel free to add chicken/pork bones too.

Happy cooking!

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!