Braised Pork On Rice (Lu Rou Fan) 滷肉飯

Braised Pork On Rice (Lu Rou Fan) 滷肉飯

Recipe source :  Taiwan Duck

Accordingly to Joanne of Taiwan Duck, Lou Rou Fan is a traditional meal of the Taiwanese farming families. Over the years, its popularity has spread to become so popular that Lou Rou Fan is almost synonymous with Taiwan. 

I remember seeing hawkers at the Shihlin night market in Taiwan doing  brisk business selling this simple and very delicious rice. They were served in tiny bowls with just braised pork on top. Eggs are optional at additional costs. The tiny bowl of braised pork on rice can be quite filling and makes a very satisfying meal. I remember my two sons were crazy over it and ate several bowls of this braised pork on rice with other delicacies that the Shilhlin night market has to offer.

Joanne stressed that the slab of pork must be cut into tiny cubes instead of taking the easy way out by using minced meat. So I diligently followed her instructions for I believe there must be a difference since she had stressed that her instructions be followed.

The health conscious might be put-off by the excessive oil. I suggest you eat this with a ready pot of Chinese tea at hand to neutralise the fat.  

Lu Rou Fan tastes terrific!

Ingredients ( serves 4 to 5 people)

600g pork, cut into tiny cubes of 0.5cm square

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp dark soya sauce

1 large piece of rock sugar, or use about 3 tsp of sugar

4 shallots, minced

5 pips garlic, minced

5 eggs, hard-boiled and remove shells

3 tbsp shao hsing wine

2 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked until soft and coarsely chopped

2 star anise

1/2 tsp five-spice powder

some cooked  rice

 Pork cut into tiny cubes

 Dried shrimps - need to soak until soft and coarsely chopped

Left : star anise. Right : five-spice powder

Method

1.  Heat a wok until hot. Add the pork cubes and dry-fry until water has evaporated and oil oozes out.
2.  Add in the minced garlic and minced shallots. Continue to stir-fry until fragrant.
3.  Add in the coarsely chopped dried shrimps.
4.  Then add in five-spice powder and star anise. Continue to stir-fry.
5.  Add in hot water to cover the pork pieces. Add in half the amount of shao hsing wine.
6.  Add in the rock sugar, soy sauce and dark soya sauce.
7.  Add in the hard-boiled eggs to the pork and gravy. Turn the eggs to ensure they are evenly coloured.
8.  Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes or until the gravy is almost dry.

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest #10 August 2014 : Taiwan 

Hosted by Alan Goh of Travelling Foodies

Dried Shrimp Sambal Sandwich 辣椒虾米酱三明治

Dried Shrimp Sambal Sandwich 辣椒虾米酱三明治

 

Ingredients

4 pieces of bread
4 tbsp dried shrimp sambal
some butter or margarine to spread on the bread 

Dried shrimp sambal

 

Instructions

1.  Spread butter on the 4 pieces of bread
2.  Add 2 tbsp of  dried shrimp sambal  on one piece of buttered bread
3.  Top up with another piece of buttered bread
4.  Cut the set of sandwich into triangles
5.  Repeat the steps to make another set of sandwich.

Yummy!

Bamboo Leaf Dumpling With Dried Shrimps Sambal 辣椒虾米粽子

Bamboo Leaf Dumpling With Dried Shrimps Sambal 辣椒虾米粽子

These dumpling are hot and spicy. 

Not the conventional Chinese bamboo leaf dumplings. 

But in Malaysia, we have the flair to blend the different types of food to our best advantage!

Ingredients

500g glutinous rice, soaked overnight and drained
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 portion dried shrimp sambal 

130g dried bamboo leaves, soaked overnight to soften the leaves before cleaning them.
Strings to tie the dumplings

Mix the glutinous rice, oil and salt thoroughly

Dried shrimp sambal
Please refer to this link on how to prepare the dried shrimp sambal

Instructions

1.  The method of wrapping the "pillow" or the "nasi-lemak" packets is the same as  wrapping the alkaline dumplings with red bean paste.

 2.  Please refer to my previous post which showed the step-by-step instructions on how to wrap bamboo leaf dumplings

Dried Shrimp Sambal (Paste) 辣椒虾米酱

Dried Shrimp Sambal (Paste) 辣椒虾米酱

A hot and spicy dish of dried shrimps. This is commonly eaten with rice. It is popularly used as a filling for sandwiches, buns, dumplings and a host of endless possibilities. You can adjust the amount of chili paste to suit your taste buds as some people like hot and spicy food while others cannot take the heat of hot chillies.

Ingredients

100g dried shrimps, soaked and chopped
80g shallots
40g garlic
10g belacan or dried shrimp paste
100g chili paste
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
2 1/2 tsp sugar
4 tbsp cooking oil
100 ml water

Instructions

1.  Remove the skin from the shallots and garlic. 
2.  Put them into a food processor and mince together with the belacan.
3.  Heat wok. Add cooking oil and heat until hot.
4.  Add in the minced shallot paste and stir-fry until fragrant.
5.  Add in the chili paste and mix evenly.
6.  Add in the chopped dried shrimps and stir-fry to mix well.
7.  Add in water, salt and sugar. 
8.  Continue cooking and stirring until the water dries up.
9.  Dish up and serve.

Stir-Fried Bok Choy With Glass Noodle 小白菜炒粉丝

Stir-Fried Bok Choy With Glass Noodle 小白菜炒粉丝

 

Simple home cooking

It's always crowded in the wet market on Sundays, so crowded that we could not find a space to park our car. SK had to stop at the roadside while I went across the road to buy something to cook for lunch and dinner. The stalls were jam-packed with people, one could hardly squeeze through. Not wanting to get stuck in the crowd of people, I decided to cook simple food today. I bought bok choy, chicken, spring onion and parsley, all readily available along the edge of the market close to the roadside. 

I decided to cook the bok choy with glass noodle and dried shrimps. 

Ingredients

150g bok choy
30g glass noodle
30g dried shrimps
1 1/2 bowls water
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp cooking oil
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

 Soak glass noodle in water until soft. Drain dry and set aside

 Wash bok choy and cut into sections of 6 cm

Soak dried shrimps in water for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain dry and set aside

Instructions

1.  Heat a wok until hot. Add in cooking oil.
2.  Saute the minced garlic until fragrant and add in the dried shrimps. Stir-fry for 1 minute.
3.. Add in the bok choy and fry over high heat for 2 minutes.
4.  Add in 1 1/2 bowls of water and add in glass noodles. Let it simmer for about 4 to 5 minutes.
5.  Add salt and sugar to taste.
6.   Switch off the flame and dish up.

Long Beans & Dried Shrimps Pancake

Long Beans & Dried Shrimps Pancake

 

 Tastes good

This pancake is the result of a comment by Rose, who is one of our readers who had read and commented on our post,  " Mixed Vegetables Pancake".

Thank you Rose, for your comment and suggestion. And yes, this long beans and dried shrimps version is rather similar to my mixed vegetables pancake.The long beans are crunchy and the dried shrimps fragrant. We ate it by dipping it in chili sauce.

Ingredients

100g long beans, 

50g dried shrimps 
250 ml water
80g glutinous rice flour
80g plain flour
20g rice flour

Some cooking oil for pan frying the pancakes

 

 

Seasoning Ingredients

 
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/ tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp cooking oil
dash of pepper

Instructions

1.  Wash the long beans and cut them into very thin slices
2.  Wash the dried shrimps and chop them up 
3.  Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl to form a batter
4.  Heat up a non-stick frying pan and ladle a few spoonfuls of the batter into the frying pan
5.  Flip over to fry the other side of the pancake once the edges of the pancake start to curl
6.  Fry until both sides are golden brown
7.  Dish up onto a plate 
8.  Continue to fry more pancakes until all the batter is used up

Mixed Vegetables Pancake

Mixed Vegetables Pancake

 

 Mixed vegetable pancake

 

This pancake is my youngest son's favourite. It has been a long time since I last made this. In fact I had almost forgotten about this pancake until my youngest son reminded me to make it for him for breakfast. So here it is.

 

Ingredients

50g dried shrimps, soaked and chopped
4 mushrooms, soaked and chopped
80g carrots, diced
1 stalk Chinese celery, chopped
80g flour
160g glutinous rice flour
50g rice flour
30g tapioca flour
450 ml water

Seasoning Ingredients

 

1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
3 tbsp cooking oil

Top left : Chopped Chinese celery. Top right : dried shrimps

Bottom left : chopped carrots. Bottom right : chopped mushroom

Instructions

1.  Combine all the chopped vegetables and mix them together with the four types of flour, water and cooking oil.
2.  Add in the seasoning ingredients and stir to mix everything together evenly.
3.  Heat a small frying pan and ladle 2 to 3 spoonfuls of batter into the heated frying pan. Make sure the whole base of the frying pan is coated with the batter.
4.  Once the edges starts to curl, flip over to fry the other side until both sides of the pancake are golden brown
5.  Repeat the process until all the batter is used up
6.  Serve the pancakes with chili sauce

Steamed Pumpkin Pudding 南瓜糕 （金瓜糕 )

Steamed Pumpkin Pudding 南瓜糕 ( 金瓜糕 ) 

Steaming hot and delicious

Ingredients

 

300g pumpkin ( net weight )
40g dried shrimps, soaked and roughly chopped
4 dried mushrooms, soaked until soft and cut into thin slices
250g rice flour
4 small shallots, remove skin and thinly sliced
600 ml water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp cooking oil

Garnishing

1 chili padi (remove the seeds and chop it up)
1 stalk spring onion, use the green parts only (chopped)
Shallot crisps ( see instructions below )

Instructions

1.  Remove the skin, seeds and pulp of the pumpkin. Use a grater to grate the pumpkin into fine shreds
2.  In a large bowl, mix the rice flour, water, salt, sugar and pepper together. Mix well
3.  Heat a wok until hot, add in the cooking oil. Fry the sliced shallots for about  three minutes until golden brown. Remove half of the shallot crisps and set aside to be used as garnishing. 
4.  Leave the oil and half of the shallot crisps in the wok, add in the sliced mushrooms and stir-fry for a minute or two.
5.  Add in the dried shrimps and fry for another minute
6. Add in the shredded pumpkin and stir-fry until the pumpkin is softened
7.  Add in the rice flour mixture and mix all the ingredients thoroughly.
8.  Keep stirring continuously to prevent the bottom from getting burnt. As it cooks the flour mixture will thicken to form a dough-like mixture
9.  Cook and stir until the mixture becomes like dough.
10. Switch off the flame and transfer the mixture into a square cake tin ( 21 cm x 21 cm )
11. Use the back of a spoon to smoothen the surface of the mixture.
12.  Place the cake tin with the mixture in it and steam over boiling water for 40 minutes on high heat. Sprinkle the garnishing on the pumpkin pudding and steam for a further 5 minutes.
13.  Switch off the flame and remove the cake tin from the steamer.
14. Let it cool completely before cutting into smaller pieces.

Sure looks scrumptious

Steamed Soft Tofu With X.O. Sauce 水豆腐铺X.O.酱

Steamed Soft Tofu With X.O. Sauce 水豆腐铺X.O.酱

The spiciness of the X.O sauce complements the bland tofu

What a great combination !

Ingredients

1 piece soft tofu ( cut into two halves, and cut further into 16 bite-sized pieces )
1 tbsp of  X.O. sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp shallot oil
1 tbsp chopped spring onion for garnishing

Note :  You can read up on my post on how to make X.O. sauce,  here 
Note :  You can read up on my post on how to make shallot oil

Method

1.  Put soft tofu on a plate and steam over boiling water for 5 minutes
2.  Take it out of the steamer, pour away the excess water collected in the plate
3.  Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce
4.  Add 2 tbsp of shallot oil
5.  Add 1 tbsp of X.O. sauce
6.  Garnish with chopped spring onion


Note :  If you do not have X.O. sauce just leave it out because without the X.O sauce it is just as good but the X.O sauce will further enhance the tofu dish

It's so easy to make this dish.

X.O. Sauce （X.O.酱）

X.O. Sauce （X.O.酱）

For those who like spicy sauces

X.O. sauce is spicy and fragrant, it is very well suited to South East Asian palates. I usually make a substantial batch and store them in little jars with tight lids in the refrigerator. You can add a spoonful or two of X.O sauce to your plain noodles and instantly your noodles will be transformed into spicy and tasty noodles. You can use X.O sauce to fry rice. The possibilities are endless. X.O. sauce is very versatile.

Ingredients

200g dried scallops
100g minced garlic
100g minced shallots
4 tbsp dried shrimps ( soak and minced )
10g dried chillies ( soak and pound or grind them )
200 ml cooking oil
7 tsp sugar
5 tbsp of Shao Hsing wine

Instructions

 

1. Wash the dried scallops. Add Shao Hsing wine to the scallops and steam them for 30 minutes
2. When the steamed scallops have cooled down, shred them into tiny strips
3. In a wok, add in the 200 ml of cooking oil and heat until hot
4. Add in the minced shallots and minced garlic and saute until fragrant
5. Add in the dried shrimps and dried chillies and stir-fry until aromatic
6. Add in the dried scallops, sugar and continue to stir until dry and fragrant
7. Dish up and let it cool down
8. Store them in little jars in the refrigerator