Unker Cooks : Abundance Prosperity Pork Belly with Abalone Sauce

It's Saturday again! That means it's time for Unker Ho to get busy in the kitchen again. Woo hoo~! I tell  you hor... being in the kitchen really makes me happy, as long as I'm the only person in the kitchen. Ha ha...

So anyhow, today I'm going to post the recipe for a very nice pork-based dish:

Abundance Prosperity Pork Belly with Abalone Sauce

(多富鲍鱼汁花肉)

LOL... I have no idea where the name came from... it just appeared somewhere...

So what you need lah?

(1) Pork Belly (about half a kilo) from Tesco

- I just happened to do my shopping in Tesco and saw that the pork belly was quite nice. So I just buy. End of story.

- If you want to, choose a pork belly that has more meat than fat. Some pork belly has more fat.

(2) A bottle of Abalone Sauce from the morning market uncle

(3) One lemon

- Wash the lemon clean and put it in the freezer. You can use it for many other dishes so just keep on frozen lemon at your convenience at all times

(4) Sesame oil

(5) Two slices of ginger

So what do you do with them?

(1) Wash the pork belly and pat dry with paper towels

(2) Cut it into half inch chunks. Remove the skin.

(3) Season the pork belly with a pinch of salt and also some pepper. I'm using some grounded black pepper. Black pepper tastes nicer :D

(4) Heat up about 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. Keep the flame low at all times. High flame produces mega smoke which will cause your husband / wife to mop the floor after cooking.

(5) When you start to smell the sesame oil, put in the two slices of ginger

(6) Let the ginger sizzle in the oil for a while.. it will turn brown slightly starting from the edges. Then add all the seasoned pork belly into the pan. Remember to continue keep the flame low.

(7) Toss and turn the pork belly around so that they're completely covered by the ginger-smell sesame oil. You will notice that more oil will be produced in the pan. It's from the fat!

(8) Continue stir frying the pork belly. You know you're ready for the next step when they turn slightly brown like this:

(9) Pour two tablespoons of abalone sauce into a bowl and mix with 1 tablespoon of water. Stir them well then pour it into the pan.

(10) Continue stir-frying everything until the pork belly is covered with the abalone sauce. It will thicken very fast as one of its ingredients is corn starch! This is also the time you switch off your stove. 

(11) Dish out everything onto a plate. Using a grater, take out the frozen lemon and grate a little bit of lemon skin on top. This is really an ultra-powerful flavour enhancer.

(12) Abundance Prosperity Pork Belly with Abalone Sauce... DONE!!

Unker Cooks: Chinese Cough Syrup (Meatless version)

So hor... after I posted my recipe for the Chinese Cough Syrup ... some people has feedback that cooking luo han guo together with pork is actually quite strange as those two things seems like not something you would mix together in a pot.

Yes I do agree as I was taken by surprise initially when I first saw the recipe. Well, I'm more adventurous that why I dare to tried it out.

But anyhow, for those who doesn't want to try it yet want to have something similar, I have another Chinese Cough Syrup (meatless version) recipe for you!

What you need?

• Luo Han Guo (罗汉果）  x 1
• Bit Cho （密枣）－ 4-5 depending on your taste, the more you put the sweeter the soup)
• Bei Xing （北杏）
• Nan Xing  (南杏)

The combination of both bei xing and nan xing should be about 1 big tablespoon. However, try to keep the ratio of Nan Xing to Bei Xing to 3:1 ratio. This is mainly because Bei Xing is the more bitter cousin and also it contains a very small amount of natural poison. So better don't over-poison yourself. LOL !!!

Last but not least, one candied dried orange peel (桔饼). 
The candied dried orange peel is a very good item that helps with preventing thirst and also in dissolving 
phlegm in the throat.

As an overview, here are the ingredients you need in a nutshell which is able to boil for 2-3 persons:

What do you do with them la?

It's easy!!!

1. Wash all the ingredients with water and rinse them to remove any sand or dirt.
2. Punch the luo han guo until it breaks.
3. Boil a pot of about 1.5 litres of water.
4. Throw in everything and boil for 10-15 minutes in high heat. 
5. Cover the pot and turn heat to lowest and simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Serve hot!

The main difference between this version compared to the previous one is that this is much more sweeter and has a distinct tangy flavour thanks to the candied dried orange peel.

If you feel that it's still not sweet enough, throw in more bit cho or a lump of rock sugar. 

Here's to self-healing using strange Chinese herbs!  :)

Unker Cooks : Chinese Cough Syrup

So hor.. lately UltraBen™ (that's my son if you just know me yesterday) has been coughing with lots of phlegm in his throat. Well, that little 3 year old boy still doesn't know how to spit out the phlegm and that makes things worst. For example, occasionally he would vomit the food due to discomfort, making things worst.

Aiya... as a father... what can I do? Well, besides giving him cough mixture (for kids), I've decided to boil a very good soup just for coughs and phlegm that's originated from some big oriental village in China.. LOL

This recipe is enough for 2-3 persons.

What you need lah...:

So... head over to Eu Yan Sang (or your nearest Chinese pharmacy and get these stuff:


Nan Xing + Bei Xing (南杏 ＋ 北杏）

In non-potent sacred power soup from the oriental century old hidden secrets terms.... these are actually the seeds of the apricot fruit from northern and southern China. 

Nan Xing is sweeter while Bei Xing is more bitter. That doesn't really matter because I can't tell which is which when it's in the mouth. What really matters is that these powerful seeds of the 18-style Tiger Claw fist is very very helpful in curing coughs and also lubricating the lungs (LOL). 

You can be sure to find these seeds in any Chinese soups that helps to cure coughs.

For this soup, you just need about a spoonful of both seeds. It's okay to include more.

Bit Cho (密枣)

These are dried honey dates. 

They are also good for the lungs and assist in reducing coughs. 

Use 5-7 biji for this recipe.

Luo Han Guo (罗汉果）

This is no stranger to many people, it is also known as the Monk's fruit. This is grown in Southern China and exported worldwide in its dried brown form. Each one costs about RM1.00 to RM1.50 depending on size. It is also an extremely sweet fruit. 

Luo Han Guo is excellent for heatstroke, sore throats, cough or any other respiratory problems.

Use 1 biji for this soup.

of course, lastly....

Some pork shank or ribs depending on what you like lah.

So what do I do with them lah?

• The very first thing you need to do if you have pork or chicken in your recipe is to wash them. Boil a pot of water, add some salt as catalyst (LOL). Throw in the pork and let it boil for 5-8 minutes. 
• Remove pork ribs from the dirty water. Throw water away or give to the project engineer tomorrow morning in office.
• Soak nan xing, bei xing and bit cho in some lukewarm water for few minutes. Throw away water and put everything into a fresh pot of water. Add the pork ribs.
• Wash luo han guo and hold it with your left hand, then using your right hand, punch it real hard until the shell cracks and the insides are exposed. 
• Throw the injured luo han guo into the pot and let them boil for 20 minutes at medium flame.
• Reduce flame to the lowest and simmer for about 1 hour.
• Serve!!!

I'm double boiling the soup because my kitchen stove's flame is so POWERRRRR that the lowest flame is still boiling the soup and not simmer it. Ha ha... well.... as long as it works.

You can just drink the soup and throw away the rest. For me, I like to chew on the nan xing and bei xing. 

And that.... is how you make Chinese Cough Syrup. 

LOL!!!

Photos on the wall

So there's this request by the Employee Communications team in opis.... asking for employees to submit photos of Penang places & food. The selected photos will then be used to decorate our new NI building.

It was not stated how it's going to be used though. I mean, the size they asked for is a 10 x 8 inch which, IMHO, is very SMALL to be hung on a wall. 10 x 8 feet would be so nice... but I don't know who will be so free will go print on canvas for you. LOL!

So.. cut long story short (I'm not supposed to write blog using office equipment and office time anyway).. here are my selected top three which I plan to submit (employees are required to submit ONE only):

Anjua? Which one nicer?

Unker Ho Cooks: Black Vinegar Pig Leg

So hor, I have been eager to cook this super power extremely non-Halal Chinese dish for a long time. Personally, I can't even recall when is the last time I've eaten this meal. So, after referring to a few source of knowledge here and there and talking to my mother, I put on my chef hat and got down and dirty today.

So... here's the story (morning glory):

What you need:

You know hor... most engineers (especially the hardware ones) only work when they have all the specifications and data sheets. But in today's cooking, sometimes all you need is some gut feel and a sense of 'agak-agak', which means an uncanny ability to know how much is enough. Well, cooking is nothing hard lah hombre. It's not like asking you to suddenly go in front and present an analysis of boot time performance of a Canon calculator over 15 samples of solar radiance intensity.

Oh well... so after spending 9 hours of your precious life sitting in front of the company laptop, shut it down and get your car keys and head straight to the nearest Tesco or AEON or Giant or MyDin or Kedai Runcit Ah Seng & Anak-Anak (3 orang sahaja) or whatever is convenient to you lah. For me... I choose the one where I don't have to pay for parking. LOL!! Kiamsiap™ is a virtue.

Hence, tap this down in your iPad's "note" app:

For a meal for 4 adults (the type where you are just filled, not until everyone is bloated like balloons filled with water):

1. ONE bottle of black vinegar 
2. ONE old ginger (To be sure, ask for its age)
3. ONE cylinder of Gula Melaka 
4. ONE pig leg (the front ones are called 'hands' by the butcher and it has less fat)
5. ONE whole bulb of garlic
6. Water from Pejabat Bekalan Air
7. ONE bottle Sesame Oil

See? Only 7 stuff to buy. Nothing hard for a Bayan Lepas engineer.

What you do with them:

First, you need to prepare the stock 1 day in advance:

• Remove skin off the old ginger and smash it until it's broken. Cut into small pieces.

• Put some sesame oil in frying pan and use low heat. Put in the ginger and fry till you smell what The Rock is cooking.
• Don't remove skin of garlic, we need to use the whole thing. Wash it clean and use your knife and poke it in various places just for fun. 

• Heat up a pot with some water, empty the whole bottle of black vinegar into it, add the fried ginger and garlic and let it boil for a while. Turn off the fire and put the whole thing aside and let it cool down. Remember to cover the lid because Penang got flies. If flies go inside the pot and drown then you will have Black Vinegar Pork Leg with Dead Flies. You want that don't you?

The next day.....

• Make sure the butcher shave the pig leg before you bring it home. It's gross to have hair in your mouth. Even if it's animal hair, it's just gross. I'd rather eat a mouthful of sand than hair. Yucks.
• Get the butcher to chop up the leg is smaller pieces too. It's hard to insert one whole leg into a slow cooker, unless if you have a slow cooker that size.

• In a large pot, pour in enough water and add a tablespoon of salt. When it's bubbling (a.k.a boiling), insert pig leg chunks into the pot and watch all the dirt and fat float! OH YEAH~~! You don't want to use this water. It's full of dirt and fat. Pass it to your colleague instead.
• Continue boiling for about 7-8 minutes then turn off the flame.

• Get another pot or big bowl, fill with normal water or cold water and transfer the pig leg chunks into it. I have no idea what does this step do.
• Bring back the black vinegar stock from yesterday. Pour it into a slow cooker and set it to auto mode.
• Insert some Gula Melaka chunks and also all the pork (minus the cold water). Add some water and make sure the slow cooker does not overflow.

• Close the lid and let the slow cooker does its magic. After many many hours when the pork is so tender it disintegrates the moment you touch it, the dish is ready to be served. 
• This is optional but if you like, you may add Chinese Mushrooms or boiled eggs into the pot. 

Anjua? Not too hard maa..... if Unker Ho can do it, so can you.

Btw, this is the must-have meal for ladies who have just given birth. It helps nourish the body, removes dead blood cells and provides warmth. Awesome~!

Hello World!

Ei... hello everybody! How are you lah?
So I guess I am back to blogging again. LOL! :D

Anyhow, I've decided to start this blog as a personal diary but most of it is related to a few things lah..

1. My endeavours in the kitchen
2. My home
3. IKEA™ stuff
4. Some other stuff as I see fit

Ha ha ha.. how?

So I will try not to be one of those oh-so-familar "this is my blog I post what I like if you don't like you go die" types lah... Unker Ho likes to make everybody happy. If I happy, you also happy lah. Heheheh...

Okay kamsiah..

p/s: If you're not a Chinese Malaysian, some of the words I use here will be totally strange to you. Well, you ought to learn some Malaysian culture / language / dialect anyways :D