Braised Pork Bellies with Tofu and Egg

Looks like kway chap too!!

If you are a fan of pork bellies, this mouth watering dish will certainly win you over! And the best thing is it is very easy to prepare and it goes well with rice!!

Star Anise

One of the main seasoning that is used for this dish is star anise and five spice powder (五香粉).  Star anise is normally used in slow cooked dishes that characterize Eastern Chinese cuisines. And coincidentally, the five spice powder we are using for this dish contains star anise in it as well. Be careful not to put too much of the spice blend into your dish as the food gets bitter if too much of it is being used. Both of these seasoning are easily available in either Chinese drug store or dry good shop.

Ingredients: (For 4~5 person)
500gram of Pork Bellies (pan fried first - optional)
5 ~ 6 pieces of Tofu (sliced)
6 Hard Boiled Eggs
1 liter of Water (use stock if possible, it will enhance the taste of the whole dish!)
Caixin (pan fried with garlic)
Can choose to add in meat balls, fried bean curd or even pig intestine.

The seasoning

Seasoning: (rough estimation, do taste it to adjust to your taste preference)
4~5 cloves of Garlic
6~7 slices of Ginger
1 and a half tsp of Five Spice Powder (五香粉)
2 tsp of Sugar
1 tsp of Salt
4 pieces of Star Anise
2 tbsp of Black sauce

Once you have all the ingredients needed, you are ready to cook!!

Directions:
1.Heat up a pot under low heat and put in the sugar. (beware not to burn the sugar, it will turn to black color)
2. Melt the sugar until it turn brown.
3. Add in water/stock.
4. Add in the remaining of the seasoning and turn on high heat.
5. Taste the sauce and add in salt accordingly to your liking.
6. Let it boil before adding in the pork bellies.
7. Add in the tofu thereafter and follow by the eggs.
8. Let it simmer under low heat for around 90 mins to 120 mins depending how soft you want your pork bellies to be.
9. If you prefer the sauce to be thicker, add in some corn flour mixture (mix with water).
10. Scoop up and topped up with some cooked Caixin at the side.
Serve with plain white rice~~!! Yumeee~!!

This dish goes very well with the special chili sauce that was prepared by my dad which is quite similar to those you eat with beef noodles. I will be featuring the recipe for that chili sauce soon!!

Penang Assam Laksa (Cooking)

 Directions:

Ginger, torch ginger & Lemongrass

All the spices grinned

Spice Paste:
Pound or grind all ingredients into a fine paste preferably with a food processor or blender.
Add in the water to ensure that the paste is ground efficiently.
Heat up wok without oil and cook the spice paste for about 4 ~ 5 mins until fragrant.
Set aside to cool.

Assam Laksa Soup:

Boil the fish in a big pot

Boil the water in high heat and cook the fish in it.
Remove the fish when it is cook. ( Roughly around 15 ~ 20mins)
Allow the fish to cool and remove the flesh from the bones.
Return the fish bones and simmer for another 20 mins.
Add in the spice paste into the soup.
Add in assam, laksa leaves, and prawn paste.
Add in salt and sugar to taste.
Reduce to low heat and let it simmer for another 30 mins.
Lastly, add in the fish and bring it to boil again. (remember to break the fish to smaller pieces)

Separate the meat from the bones

Noodles:
Blanch the vermicelli in hot boiling water for 7~ 10 mins.

Garnishes are nicely sliced!

Assembly:
Place a serving of vermicelli in a bowl
Spread garnishes on top of the bowl depending on your preferences
Add in the soup (make sure the soup must be hot!)
Squeeze in lime juice
Top up with a spoon or two of Heh Ko according to taste
Serve~!!

Add another tbsp on heh ko to complete your bowl of assam laksa!

Penang Assam Laksa

Home Cook Penang Assam Laksa

Assam laksa which originates from Penang, a small town in Malaysia is not like those ordinary laksa you find in Singapore which uses coconut milk. It uses tamarind (assam) to give this bowl of noodle the distinctive sweet and sour taste with a hinge of spiciness. It is healthier too in the sense that it also uses fresh fruits and vegetables like pineapples, cucumbers, onions and mint leaves / laksa leaves (aka Polygonum leaves) as garnishing.

Ikan Kembong (Mackeral)

One of main ingredients for this bowl of noodle is the fish. Various fishes are used in making Assam Laksa such as Wolf-herring, Mackeral and Shad. According to my mum, the authentic fish for Assam Laksa is Ikan Kembong which is Mackeral.

Cooking a bowl of Assam Laksa is quite a task because there it requires lots of preparation work for the ingredients and some are not easy available in our nearest FairPrice or even wet market.

So, I was pretty excited when my mum told me she will be cooking Assam Laksa for the family and there I am with my camera and notebook taking down all the important points for this delicious bowl of noodle!

Ingredients: Serves 4 to 5
(all the measurements are rough estimations, you can gauge according to how you prefer your bowl of Assam Laksa taste like)

Thick Rice Vermicelli

Noodles:
1.5kg of thick rice vermicelli

Belacan

 Spice Paste:
20~ 25 Dried chillies
3~5 Chilli Padis
2 tbsp of Belacan
4 stalks of Lemongrass
3 stalks of Torch Ginger
1 small piece of Ginger
3 Shallots
3 cloves of Garlic
200ml of Water (for the paste to be ground efficiently)

Assam

Garnishes:
1 Cucumber (thinly sliced)
3 Onions (thinly sliced)
1/2 Small Pineapple, preferably ripped (cubed)
10 Limes (sliced at the top)
4 tbsp of Heh Ko (prawn paste), 1 tbsp for a bowl
4 petals of Mint Leaves (thinly sliced)
A handful of Lettuce (thinly sliced)
4 petals of Laksa Leaves

Lemon Grass & Torch Ginger

Soup:
1kg of Mackeral, including the bones
3 litres of Water
6 large stalks of Laksa Leaves (Polygonum)
4 pieces of Assam phoi (Tamarind)
3 tbsp of Heh Ko (prawn paste)
3 tbsp of Sugar
2 tbsp of Salt to taste

Continue to my part 2 of my Penang Assam Laksa...