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:
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:
dark soya sauce is used in the second stage of pork preparation
step 2 – pork preparation step:
shallots, garlic, and namyu to bring out the flavor
step 3 – frying:
finally, arrange pork/yam and steam for 3-4 hours
step 4 – steaming:
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!
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:
the same recipe works great with chicken wings too
Instructions:
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!
Hidden within Fahrenheit 88, also known as the re-branded KL Plaza, is a little Japanese ramen restaurant that has it’s origin in Singapore.
The island republic does not usually have the upper hand when it comes to food, but Japanese ramen is one of the rare exceptions. Here in Malaysia we have been stuck with trying to make ramen halal for way too long while our neighbor kept it real and true to the origin – with pork, like how ramen should be.
Marutama Ramen is located on first floor of Fahrenheit 88 (old KL Plaza)
Local eateries have since realize what diners really want and it is good to see that there are a lot of ramen places that serves the dish with the right ingredients.
Marutama was introduced to me by Timothy, who got to know the place from his girlfriend Audrey, who in turn got the recommendation from Ringo. The two of them must be the most “Japanese” lookalike and act alike Malaysian in the country, so if they say it is good, it must be good.
chasiu ramen, I love it with plenty of fried garlic
I always measure a ramen place by its most essential dish – the good old chasiu ramen.
Marutama’s version is unpretentious, four slices of chasiu (not to be confused with BBQ pork, the Japanese version is slices of rolled pork shoulder), 3/4 boiled egg, seaweed, spring onion, and ramen noodle in pork chicken broth.
check out the glorious 3/4 boiled egg
The broth at Marutama is one of the thickest and most flavorful I’ve had from anywhere, very savory and absolutely brilliant. They also have the egg boiled just right, and the chasiu were fatty and tender like they should.
Best of all, there’s free flow deep fried sliced garlic on the side to be added to your ramen.
I went with timothy and david on separate occasions
Other than ramen, they also serve some side dishes like grilled pork belly, fried rice, gyoza and so forth. Their gyoza was just alright, and I wouldn’t recommend anyone to try their fried rice (it was quite lousy). Stick to the ramen and you’ll have a wonderful experience at Marutama.
Prices are around RM 20 including taxes. Another good pork ramen place nearby is Ton Chan at Wisma Cosway.
Address:
Marutama Ramen
Fahrenheit 88
Lot Flr. 27.01, 1st floor
Buking Bintang, KL
GPS: 3.14748, 101.71283
Tel: 03–2141 1573
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:
ingredients: pork belly, fermented tofu, 5 spice, garlic, ginger
Cooking instructions:
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!
One of my favorite dishes out of mom’s kitchen is undoubtedly the tau eu bak, or braised pork belly with soya sauce. While I’m not sure of it’s origin, this dish seems to be quite common among Hokkien/Nyonya people from Penang, Melaka, and even Singapore.
the finished product – tau eu bak (braised pork belly with soya sauce)
Before having a proper kitchen, I usually get my fix for tau eu bak at Champs, Centrepoint (and they do cook up a fine dish). However, it is RM 20+ a pop and I thought wouldn’t it be nice to give it a try ourselves.
This is actually the dish that prompted us buy pastle and mortar and made the sambal belacan.
the ingredients for a bowl of proper tau eu bak
Surprisingly, tau eu bak isn’t really hard to cook at all. Everything you need can easily be obtained at any wet market (or properly stocked grocery store) for less than RM20, and the resulting bowl of goodness can feed 3-4 people.
The ingredients:
mushroom, pork, dark soya sauce, the essentials
The steps:
To prepare the eggs
Johnny & Haze, Johnny really liked the dish, despite his facial expression here
There it is, pretty straight forward recipe isn’t it? It was lucky that Johnny joined us for dinner that night as the dish was really too much for just two of us. We had it with plenty of sambal belacan, was a pretty fine dinner, I think mom would be proud
