Spiced Pork Loin with Apples

Started cooking again ever since I came to USA in May. The last post was like 3 years ago! The combination of a change in environment, having too much time on hand and having a oven makes me feel happy all the time. I don't come up with recipes but I do adjust them according to preference and ingredients available in the refrigerator.

Ingredients (for 2)

1lb Pork Loin
1 Apple (Chopped)

For Marinating

1 tsp Canola/Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Salt
1 bulb Garlic (Minced)
1 tsp Parsley Flakes
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Cumin

For Cooking

1 tsp Canola/Olive Oil
3 tbsp Dry White Wine
1/2 bulb Onion
1 cup Chicken Broth

Steps

1. Mix ingredients for marinating together and spread them evenly on the pork loin.
Leave the meat in the refrigerator for 2 hours or more.

2. Preheat the oven to 425.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Pour 1 tsp of olive oil onto it and sear both sides of the pork loin for 2-3 minutes each.

4. Add chicken broth and white wine to the skillet and let it bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

5. Transfer the pork loins onto a chopping board and cut into strips.

6. Add chopped apples and onions to the chicken broth and wine mixture. Saute till apple turns slightly brown.

7. Serve with spinach salad and spaghetti.


Recipe modified from myrecipe.com

Tau Yu Bak (Braised Pork in Soya Sauce)

I hyperventilated when I saw the fats. Since young, my mum removed all visible skin from any type of meat at every meal so I practically grew up not eating chicken skin, kong ba bao etc etc.

When  I made this and I saw the frightening jelly-like skin, I got so turned off but the sauce is not bad lah. Of course I removed the skin before eating.

This when served hot with rice, is amazing. The sauce is like.. undescribable. I think every family cooks this dish differently but noone in my family made this before so I don't have a secret recipe or whatever.

Well, I like the saltiness of the sauce to overpower the sweetness.

Ain't a healthy dish but..... I kinda like it. The best thing is, it goes so well with rice.

Some people add potatoes to the dish. But I thought the amt. of carbs is mega overpowering already.

Ingredients

1. 500g pork belly
2. 4 eggs
3. 10 dried chinese mushrooms
4. 1 block of firm tau kwa
5. 4 stripes of tau pok
6. 2 tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
7. 3-4 tbsp dark soya sauce
8. 1 litre of water
9. 2 star anise
10. 1 cinnamon stick
11. 5 cloves 
12. 1 garlic bulb (skin unremoved but slightly bruised)
13. 1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
14. 1 tbsp white peppercorn

Directions

1. Mix dark soy sauce and kecap manis together. 
2. In a pot or wok, brown pork belly and sauce on each side. 
3. Add water, star anise, cinammon stick, cloves, garlic, 5 spice powder, peppercorn and mushroom. When it boils, lower fire and simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Cook eggs till they are hard boiled in another pot. Peel egg shell.
5. After 30 minutes, add tau kwa, tau pok and peeled eggs. Simmer for another 30 minutes. 
6. Taste and adjust accordingly. 
7. Serve hot. 

Sweet and Sour Pork

I love sweet sour pork. It's one of my must order when I buy cai fan. I love the combination of all the colours!

I made this the other time but I wanted to try out Rasamalaysia's sauce.

It's yummy but the batter is still a little weird. As in it's not what we would find at the usual zi char stall. I  think it would taste better with more sauce though. 

Anyone has another recipe for this?

Ingredients

1. 200-300g pork tenderloin
2. 1/2 of a green bell pepper
3. 1/2 of a red bell pepper
4. 1 pc pineapple ring (cut into small pieces)
5. 1 clove garlic (minced)
6. 2 stalks scallion (only the white part, chopped diagonally)
7. Oil (for frying)

Marinate

1. 1 tsp light soy sauce
2. 1/2 tsp corn flour
3. 1 tsp hua tiao jiu

Batter

1. 1/2 cup water
2. 4 tbsp plain flour
3. 2 tbsp corn starch
4. 1/2 tsp baking soda
5. 1/2 of an egg
6. 1 tsp cooking oil
7. Pinch of salt

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1. 1 1/2 tbsp tomato ketchup
2. 1 tsp plum sauce
3. 1/4 tsp rice vinegar
4. 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
5. 1 tsp oyster sauce
6. 1 tsp corn starch
7. 1 tsp sugar
8. 2 tbsp water

Directions

1. Mix ingredients for sauce and leave aside.
2. Cut pork tenderloin into bite sized pieces and marinate for half an hour.
3. Mix dry ingredients for batter then add in egg, water and oil to form a thick batter.
4. After pork is well-marinated, transfer them into batter and ensure that they are well coated.
5. Add cooking oil for deep frying into wok and wait till it heats up.
6. Deep fry tenderloin till it's golden brown.
7. Remove pork and drain oil using paper towels.
8. Heat up wok, add cooking oil and add in chopped garlic and stir fry till they are light brown.
9. Then add bell peppers and pineapple pieces. Stir fry till there is a peppery aroma.
10. Add in sweet sour sauce, pork, scallions and fry.

Tenderloin with red pepper

Ingredients

1. 200-300g tenderloin
2. Red bell pepper (half)
3. 1/2 tsp of Crushed black pepper
4. 2 Dashes of grounded white pepper 
5. 1 tsp corn flour
6. 3 cloves of Garlic (minced)
7. 1 tsp corn starch
8. 1 tsp hua tiao jiu
9. 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
10. 5 tbsp water
11. 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Directions

1. Chop the tenderloin into pieces and marinate with rice wine, corn flour and white pepper. Leave for 30 minutes.
2. Heat up 1tbsp of cooking oil and add in garlic. Stir fry till garlic turns light brown.
3. Add in tenderloin and stir fry till half cooked.
4. Add bell pepper and continue stirfrying until there is a peppery aroma. 
5. Add in water, hua tiao jiu, oyster sauce and sesame oil. Mix well or you can premix the sauce before hand.
6. Sprinkle black pepper on top of the dish.
7. Serve hot.

Black Pepper Bacon wrapped Asparagus

Chanced upon many sites that raved on the combination of bacon and asparagus but all gave me recipe for roasting.

I decided to try deep frying since I don't have an oven and it tasted surprisingly nice so I started wrapping all my left over bacon strips from the previous Twister recipe. 

This kinda reminds me of Tori Q.

Ingredients

1. 5 strips of bacon
2. 5 thin asparagus (cut into halves)
3. 1 tbsp Black Pepper Sauce (I use Woh Hup's)
4. 2 tbsp Teriyaki Sauce
5. 1 tbsp water

Directions

1. Chop asparagus into halves
2. Wrap each strip of bacon around 2 stalks of asparagus and fasten using a toothpick
3. Deep fry till bacon turns brownish, drain oil on paper towels and place on serving plate.
4. Mix black pepper sauce, teriyaki sauce and water together. Bring to a boil and coat onto bacon.

** you can choose not to put any sauce. The bacon is salty!

Sweet and Sour Pork

This is one of my must-order dish whenever I order caifan. I liked it so much I wanted to eat all of 'em up.

Got the recipe from rasamalaysia.

Ingredients

1. 200-300g pork tenderloin
2. 1/2 of a green bell pepper
3. 1/2 of a red bell pepper
4. 1 pc pineapple ring (cut into small pieces)
5. 1 clove garlic (chopped)
6. Premix sweet sour sauce

Marinate

1. 1 tsp light soy sauce
2. 1/2 tsp corn flour
3. 1/2 tsp hua tiao jiu

Batter

1. 1/2 cup water
2. 2 oz plain flour
3. 1 oz corn starch
4. 1/2 tsp baking soda
5. 1/2 of an egg
6. 1 tsp cooking oil
7. salt

Directions

1. Cut pork tenderloin into bite sized pieces and marinate for 15-20minutes.
2. Strain dry ingredients for batter then add in egg, water and cooking oil to form a thick batter.
3. When pork is well marinated, transfer them into batter and ensure that they are well coated.
4. Add cooking oil for deep frying into skillet.
5. Dish pork out and drain on paper towels.
6. Heat up wok, add cooking oil and add in chopped garlic and stir dry till they are light brown.
7. Then add bell peppers and pineapple pieces. Stir fry till there is a peppery aroma.
8. Add in sweet sour sauce, pork and fry.

Rasamalaysia provided a recipe for the sauce but I didn't use that. Shall try this again some other time.

Apple Pork Ribs Soup

Apple Pork Ribs Soup

Came across this recipe some time back but only tried this out today. It's a refreshing soup and the onions tasted nice too. (I hardly eat onions!)

Great for people who like sweet stuff.

This isn't really my cup of tea as I don't really like my soup to taste this sweet.

Ingredients

1. 4 red apples
2. 1 onion (cut into chunks)
3. 200-300g spare ribs
4. 6 red dates
5. handful of gou ju zi
6. Salt(optional)

Instructions

1. Blanch the spare ribs.
2. Pour 1.5l of water into the pot and throw all the other stuffs inside. 
3. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours.

Old Cucumber Soup

Old Cucumber Soup
I didn't know what the hell was old cucumber and how it tasted like so I decide to boil this instead of the usual ABC soup.

recipe from noobcook but I tweeked the recipe a little. 

I like my soup to be boiled longer.

Ingredients

(Serves 3)

1. One small Chinese old cucumber
2. 1.5 litres of water
3. 10 red dates
4. 6 dried scallops
5. 200g pork ribs
6. 1 sweet corn, cut to small pieces
7. 1 medium carrot, peeled and cut
8. Salt

Directions

1. Scrub the skin of the old cucumber clean and cut it in half, length-wise. Scoop out the seeds using a spoon. Cut into small pieces.
2. In a small pot, blanch the pork ribs in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. In a pot, add all the ingredients and simmer the soup over low heat for about 2 hours. Season with salt if desired.

Notes:

1. The reason for leaving the skin on is to prevent the flesh from turning mushy after cooking.
2. Some people like to consume the seeds so if you do, then you don’t have to scoop them out.

First attempt

My first attempt in whipping up 3 dishes and a soup.
Am mad tired after that but I am bored of my granny's steamboat style way of cooking. She cooks that every single day since 2 years ago. 

The tofu looks quite disappointing here but mum thought that the soup and the tofu tasted the best of all the dishes.
I liked the cashew chicken though.



Braised brocolli with scallops

Cashew Chicken

Steamed tofu

Old Cucumber Soup