One Wok Fork Roast (Char Siew)

A universally beloved BBQ meat, The Char Siew is simply irresistible! There are many proven char siew recipes, secret recipes and family recipes. Each and everyone of us has a distinct preference as to how the taste, the texture, the degree of char, the level of moistness of our favorite char siew. But the bottom line is all so common, it is basically a roasted piece of pork that is slightly sweet.

Of recent, my foodie friends got into a Char Siew craze mode. Sharing their discoveries and even their attempts on making the Great Fork Roasts on Facebook drove me to attempt it recently. I thought, since I have a huge Char Siew Princess with me for the whole week, who would be a more better critic than her? My 9 year old niece, KX is my worst critic. She will tell you as it is, no holds barred and her worst reaction will be displayed on her face and the reflex reaction of the food cannoning out of her mouth confirms one's failure! It is disheartening but I am learning to appreciate her honest feedback but I still think she could have a better way to feedback.

Anyhow, the reason why I am sharing this recipe which I got from the many comparisons from the Internet, its that she gave it a thumbs up and polished off far too many pieces of Char Siew than she was allowed to have!

  

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo Pork Collar Meat/Belly or if you can find "Suet Fah" Meat, this is the best cut for Char Siew as per our interview with Char Siew Chai of Paramount Gardens (my friend's Meeko's Knight in Shining Armour)
• 5T Cooking oil
• 2T Honey or Maple Syrup
• 2T Maltose
• 2T Palm Sugar
• 2T Oyster Sauce
• 1T Miso paste/crushed yellow bean paste
• 1T Shio Tsing Wine or Rose Wine
• 1t White pepper
• 1t Five Spice Powder
• 1t Dark Soy Sauce
• 1t Sesame Oil
• 1t Salt or Fish Sauce
• 1t Garlic Paste (optional)
• 1 cup room temp water

Method:

1. Marinate the pork in a plastic or ziplock bag with all of the above ingredient except for oil, maltose & water.
2. Stash the bag of marinating pork in the fridge for at least 4 hours, overnight is best.
3. Remove from fridge to bring it back to room temp before cooking.
4. Heat a large wok/pan and add in oil. 
5. Lower the meat into wok/pan and reserve the marinate juice for later use.
6. Sear all sides of the meat. This process should take about 8-10 mins. We want some colour on the meat.
7. Once you are happy with the seared colour, pour in the remaining marinate juice and a cup of water.
8. Bring the sauce to a boil and lower to medium heat and put on the lid to simmer for about 15mins.
9. Turn the meat over 2-3 times within these 15 mins.
10. After 15mins, take off the lid and continue simmer for another 15mins.
11. Turn the meat over 2-3 times within these 15 mins.
12. We need to reduce the sauce. At this 2nd half of the simmering, you will need to keep a watchful eye at the wok, we do not want to burn the meat. 
13. You know you are happy when u see slight stickiness and char on the meat and whats left at the bottom of the wok/pan is oil.
14. Remove the meat from wok.
15. Heat up your oven to its highest or grill mode.
16. Thinly coat the meat evenly with maltose.
17. Stick it in the oven/grill for 2-3 minutes on each side to char it further. Remember to turn the meat in order to char both sides.
18. Leave to cool completely before consuming.

Images:

Searing the Meat

After 30 mins simmering

Grilled to perfection

I like them thick!

Happy KX!

Assam Laksa!! No.7: World's 50 most delicious foods by CNN Go, 2011

Assam Laksa is a sour, fish-based soup spiced with lemongrass, chilies, daun kesum, belachan & shallots. The sourish flavoured soup is usually contributed by Assam Jawa which is the Malay word for tamarind and/or assam keping, also known as assam gelugor. The simmering broth is served over thick fresh & lightly blanched rice noodles which in chinese, they are called " Lai Fen ". To compliment the entire dish, a selection of garden fresh greens, herb, lime and most importantly, the SOUL of the dish, Hae Ko (蝦羔), a thick sweet prawn/shrimp paste is a must. There will be no excuse if Hae Ko is not available. If you do not have it ready, there is really no point in going through all the trouble as the Hae Ko rounds up the Assam Laksa flavour, it is the binder, the link, the SOUL of Assam Laksa.

Last weekend (Nov3 2012), our Masterchef Aunty Mayyee graciously showed us her recipe & method for her Kedah styled Assam Laksa. We asked her the difference between Penang Assam Laksa and Kedah Assam Laksa and the reply was that Kedah Assam Laksa do not use pineapple as an ingredient. I read somewhere that Kedah Asam Laksa has hard boiled eggs as one of the complements.

Ingredients: ( 20 ~ 30 servings ) 

• 2 kilos Ikan Kembung (Mackerel)
• 4~5 litres water
• 7 teaspoon of salt (to taste, it takes alot of salt to lift up the assam flavour)
• Thick Rice Noodles (Lai Fen)
• A bunch of Daun Kesum (Vietnamese Mint)
• 8-10 piece of Assam Keping
• To Blend (Rempah):
• 6 red chilies
• 4 stalks of serai (Lemongrass)
• 4 tablespoons of belachan (the more the merrier)
• 12 shallots
• Galanggal
• Accompliments:
• Finely sliced chili padi (bird's eye chili)
• Mint Leaves
• Finely sliced Red Bombay Onions
• Finely diced Bunga Kantan (Ginger Torch)
• Finely sliced Lettuce
• Finely julienned cucumber
• Limau Kasturi halves (Lime)
• Hae Ko (Thick Sweet Shrimp Paste) - thinned out with warm water to a syrupy consistency

Method:

1. Poach the fish in 4~5 litres of water for about 5 minutes
2. Remove fish to cool before removing the deboning
• top half of fish will be easier to be removed in a whole, keep some as such for garnishing
• bottom half where most bones are found will naturally break as you try to pull off the bones, leave them to another bowl to be mashed and return to the stock
3. Return the heads & bones to poaching liquid and simmer for another 10-15mins to extract the sweetness
4. Strain the liquid and discard bones
5. Add in the blended ingredients (rempah) to the liquid together with mashed fish meat, daun kesum and assam keping. Let it simmer for another 15-20 mins
6. Add in salt & taste, you may be surprised but it takes quite alot of salt to bring out the assam flavour.
7. Add in more assam if you like it more sourish.
8. While waiting for the aroma to reach your guests sitting 15 feet from the kitchen, bring a pot of water to boil & prepare the accompliments.
9. Blanch the noodles but do not overcook them, we do not want soggy noodles, we want lively al-dente noodles
10. When you begin to hear hungry noises being emitted from your guests from the living/dining area, chances are that your stock is ready.
11. Arrange noodles onto a bowl/plate.
12. Stir the broth to distribute the fish evenly and scoop broth over noodles.
13. Allow your guests to decorate their own assam laksa with their favourite accompliment as they like
14. Walk around and watch them oooo, arrrrrr, slurpppp, sweat and flap their burning tongues!

Images:

Ingredients for the Rempah

Blended ingredients

Gently poach the fish

Daun Kesum or Vietnamese Mint

Assam Keping

Simmering the broth gently

The accompliments

This is the SOUL of Assam Laksa. Shrimp & Boy Brand is recommended

All dressed & ready to rock n roll!

Lip Smacking, Tear Jerking, Tongue Rolling Assam Laksa

Hakka Yong Tau Foo Master Class

The Making of Hakka Yong Tau Foo (YTF)

Delicious Home Made Hakka YTF

By MasterChef Aunty May Yee

The day has come where Lyn & I dutifully reported ourselves on the dot at Aunty May Yee's house, all geared up to absorb the teachings of a Masterchef. There will be no measurements and we will post to our best abilities based on our experiences and tips & hints dropped by the Master.

 Ingredients 

• Minced pork - 1 kilo
• Whole Tenggiri - about 1 kilo
• Fried Mui Heong Salted Fish - as much or as little as you wish (remove bones and crumble)
• Chinese Shitake Mushroom - as much or as little as you wish (soaked & diced finely)
• Water - about 2 cups
• Salt - about 6 tsp
• Sugar - about 3 tsp
• White Pepper - large dash
• Sesame Oil - about 3 tsp
• Shiao Hsing Rice wine - a dash
• Corn Flour - about 2 tbsp
• Dark Soy Sauce for colouring

 Method for the stuffing 

1. Only the species of Tenggiri without STRIPES but with 'Mui Fah' Spots makes best fish paste.
• Get fishmonger to fillet the fish
• Scrape the meat off the skin gently with a spoon. Its easily removed
• There is no need to chop the hell out of the meat, just squish it with hands will be good enough
• Add a couple tsp of salt and 1 cup of water and squish the fish meat to form into paste
2. Add minced meat to fish paste and continue squishing with hand.
• Add more water once paste feels slightly hard, you will need to add water bit by bit. You will need to add in close to about 2 cups of water
• Add the rest of the seasonings
• You will need to squish the paste till you feel the bounce. Take a small handful of paste and if you are able to see the bounce when you throw the handful of paste back to the rest, you are set! It is quite a workout as the paste will tend to go hard as you squish, keep adding water little by little until you reach a gluey consistency ('hei gau') 
• Taste and adjust seasonings
3. Leave to stand for a while while you prepare the ingredients to be stuffed.

 Ingredients for Superior Stock 

• Large Pork Bone
• Pork Ribs
• Tenggiri Bones, Skin & Head

Boil the above together to make a stock for later use. Season to taste.

 Ingredients to be stuffed 

We prepared several favourites of ours : Soft TF, TF Pok, Brinjals, Bittergourds, Chilies & Ladies Fingers. Some tips we got:

1. Cut TF lengthwise and make slits with a chopstick. Do not use knife as we need the rough edge at slits to hold the stuffings better
2. Pre - blanch the bittergourd disks in order for even cooking time
3. Slit Brinjals at the sides for easier stuffing 
4. Tear the TF Pok instead of cutting it as the rough edge hold the stuffings better.

 Method - cooking stuffed YTF 

1. Pan Fry all the stuffed items
2. Arrange them in a deep serving vessel
3. Add prepared superior stock 3/4 way full
4. Arrange some dried beancurd on top
5. Steam for about 5-8 minutes
6. Sprinkle lots of spring onions and coriander and steam for another 2 minutes
7. Serve!

 

Crumbled Mui Heong Salted Fish

Tenggiri without stripes

Scrapping the Tenggiri

Ready to be stuffed

Ready to be steamed after panfried