30 Sep 17 (Sat) - Pad Krapow Moo and Stir-fry Potato Pork

Had a pack of frozen minced pork in the freezer for a while and didn't know what to cook with it until I bought a pack of sweet basil last week. Then the idea of cooking the Thai dish "pad krapow moo" struck me. Search the Internet for recipe, read a few and the method was about the same. So chose the one from "Genius Kitchen" and made a couple of modifications such as using dried chili padi instead of Thai chili, replacing fish sauce with light soy sauce, Thai basil with sweet basil and omitting the pork stock.

The result was great! Looked good and tasty too.

Ingredients:

500g minced pork 4 tbsp oil 4 garlic cloves, minced 4 shallot, minced small bunch of fresh sweet basil, chopped

2.5 tbsp oyster sauce                    1 tbsp light soy sauce                    1 tbsp sugar                    6-8 dried chili padi, deseed, cut into 3-4 pieces each

Method:
1.  Heat up the oil in a frying pan.
2.  Add garlic, shallot and dried chili padi and stir fry till fragrant.
3.  Add minced pork and continue to stir fry* on medium heat until almost ready.
4.  Add oyster sauce, light soy sauce and sugar and continue to stir fry till well mixed.
5.  Increase the heat to high, add fresh sweet basil and continue to stir fry for few seconds.

* Use the spatula to break the chunks into small bits in cutting manner continuously at the same time.

Had some leftover baby potatoes so search the Internet for a recipe to cook them in Chinese-style. Found one by Noobcook and adapted it to my requirements.

The result? Very tasty, guessed it was partly due to the used of pad krapow moo. Heh.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp oil 2 shallot, minced 2 garlic cloves, minced

1-2 tbsp pad krapow moo                    8-10 baby potatoes, sliced to 1/2cm thick                    1/2 cup frozen vegetables (carrot, corn, pea & long bean), thaw before use

Sauce:

1 rice bowl of water 1 tbsp oyster sauce

1.5 tsp light soy sauce                         1.5 tsp black sesame oil

Method:
1.  Heat up the oil in a frying pan.
2.  Add garlic and shallot and stir fry till fragrant.
3.  Add potato slices, stir fry for three minutes then add pad krapow moo.
4.  Add sauce, stir to coat everything evenly, then cover with lid and simmer for six minutes.
5.  Add the thawed vegetables, mix them up, cover with lid and simmer for another eight minutes.


Finally, as for lunch of the day, I decided to make something simpler - beef brown rice bee hoon soup.

The government has been urging the consumers to eat healthier by switching to brown rice and whole grains. So producers also became creative and came up with brown rice bee hoon, brown rice pasta and so on.

10 Sep 17 (Sun) - Crispy Pork Chop

Caught episode 7 of Hey Chef! Season 2 on Channel 8 back in July. The episode was on cooking the crispy pork chop also known as Chinese roast pork. Copied the recipe by watching the dish recap on Toggle for a few times and finally made it today.

The result was not too far off but there is still room for improvement. For example, instead of brushing extra oil to the skin, I could have drained the oil accumulated on the aluminium foil to a small dish and used it to brush the skin. By draining the oil, I could also have prevented the bottom of the pork belly from getting burnt. Given that the size of the pork belly I used was significantly smaller than what was required, I reduced the cooking time from 90 minutes to 80 minutes. I probably should have reduced a bit more to perhaps about 60 minutes instead.

Nevertheless, the roast pork tasted great with really crispy skin. Yataa!

Roast pork after 60 minutes.

Roast pork after 80 minutes.

Close-up shot of the roast pork.

Crispy Pork Chop Recipe (Credited to Hey Chef! Season 2)
Ingredients:

1.5 - 2kg pork belly with skin 3 tbsp salt 1 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp five spice powder 1 tbsp cinnamon powder

1 tbsp chicken stock powder                    1 tbsp rhizoma (sand ginger) powder                    Some white pepper                    80g white vinegar                    10g baking soda

Method:

1)  Combine salt, sugar, five spice powder, cinnamon powder, chicken stock powder, rhizoma powder and white pepper in a bowl

2)  Clear small bones and excess fats from the pork belly

3)  Make shallow cuts on the flesh of the pork belly

4)  Marinate* the flesh of the pork belly with the dry mixture in (1)

5)  Combine white vinegar and baking soda in a bowl

6)  Brush the skin of the pork belly with the wet mixture in (5)

7)  Refrigerate the pork belly for 3 hours

8)  Remove the pork belly from the fridge and steam it for 10 - 15 minutes

9)  Air-dry the pork belly with a fan for about 1 hour

10)  Rub the skin of the pork belly with some fine salt, then lightly poke the skin with a meat poker

11)  Line a baking tray with aluminium foil with the edge slightly folded up

12)  Bake the pork belly at 220 degree Celsius for 1.5 hour

13)  Take the pork belly out after 20 minutes to poke the skin, repeat this step for 2 more times**

* Remember to marinate the inside of the shallow cuts
** After poking the skin, brush some oil onto the skin before putting back into the oven