Best Homemade Roast Pork Belly Char Siew! 秘制叉烧

When I first started this blog,  it was with a simple mission - to share baby friendly recipes with my friends. I did not expect it will grow to over 1000 fans on Facebook and attracted over 230,000 visitors to this site. I'm humbly thankful.

To show my appreciation, I'm sharing this Best Homemade Char Siew, a family recipe as taught by my mother in law, who is truly a great chef!  I also included the special hot sauce recipe as taught by my late mom, and they are simply perfect match..

Preparing time: 25 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

This recipe makes 3 slices of roasted pork belly. 

A) Ingredients

3 blocks of pork bellies, about 30cm each. 3层肉，中段，大概30公分

Sea salt 1/2 bs per meat 海盐 半大匙

White pepper few dashes 白糊椒 适量

Cinnamon powder few dashes桂末粉 适量匙

B) Marinate Sauce 腌酱

Dark soy sauce x 1 tablespoon 黑浆油 一大匙

Soya sauce x 2 tablespoon 生抽 两大匙

Shao yin wine x 2 tablespoon 绍兴酒 两大匙

Sesame sauce x 2 tablespoon 芝麻浆 两大匙

Sugar x 2 tablespoon 糖 两大匙

C) Chili dipping sauce 辣椒酱

5 large Red chili 红辣椒5瓣

3 small chili padi (only if like it extra spicy) 小辣椒3瓣 (不嗜辣的话，可免）

1 whole Garlic, removed skin 蒜头一棵

3 lime, juiced 酸甘3粒

1 teaspoon rice vinegar 白醋一茶匙

1 thumb young ginger  嫩姜拇指般大

1 teaspoon sugar 一茶匙糖

1 tablespoon Thai chili sauce or Maggie chili sauce 一茶匙泰国/美极辣椒酱 

The Making:

1. Rub seasoning in A) over meat evenly in listed sequence 把调味料A)依序均匀搽在猪肉上。

2. Mix ingredient B) in a sauce bowl and stir evenly. Rub all over the meat using your hand. 用一个小碗，把材料B混均，搽在猪肉上。

3. Wrap the meat with polyester foam and keep refrigerated for 3 hour.把腌好的猪肉用保鲜纸包着，放在冰箱里三小时以入味。

4. Cook in oven/broiler at 245°c / 475°f. Ensure rest the meat on a rack to let the oil drip from the meat as it cooks. Cook for 30 min on top then turn the meat over, cook for another 15 min. Place a sauce plate beneath the grill pork to collect the dripped gravy. 把炉火预热到摄氏245度，猪肉烤半个钟头后，反过来继续烤15分钟左右即可。在下方放一个盘子以收集烤肉汁。

5. To make the sauce, just add all ingredient C) together and blend till fine. Good to keep for a month as the added chili sauce contains preservative. 把辣椒酱料C)混在一起用果汁机打碎即可，可以收藏一个月左右（记得要收在冰箱！）

6. Once the meat is ready, removed from oven immediately and let it cold.

叉烧肉烤好后离开熄火，取出，要吃的时候后才切片。

7. For the Char Siew sauce, drip away all the oil and add hot water to mix to remaining of the meat gravy. Keep aside to use as meat gravy. 

把收集的肉汁加入一点烧水，混合后即可当酱汁淋在叉烧或饭上。

Char Siew is best serve with a plate of steaming white rice, simply satisfying! 

香喷喷的叉烧送 热腾腾的白饭，人生一大乐！

Rolled Eggs & Ham

This is one easy breakfast and it's even suitable for lunch box, you shall try this if your kids love cheese or ham, or both. :)

I wish I have better pictures to share, but the kids started grabbing and eating before I could snap any picture... 

 

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 8 minutes

Make 3 egg rolls of 7" long each

Ingredients:

• 100gm hams of your choice, cut to about 2mm each

• 1 slice cheddar cheese, cut into 3 strips of equal size

• 4 medium eggs, beaten

• few fresh basil leaves, chopped  

• 1 tablespoon fresh milk

• a dash of pepper

The Making:

1. Heat up pan, add a slice a bacon to lightly cook on both side for about 10 seconds then set aside. The bacon will coat the pan with oil so there is no need for additional cooking oil.

2. Add milk, basil leaves and pepper into the egg, beat to mix well and add one large scope into the hot pan. Spread out to form a perfect circle.

3. Place the bacon over the egg omelette, and a slice of cheese in the middle. Using the spatula and a spoon/chopsticks, slowly roll the omelette from one end to the other. In the half way while rolling up, I added half a scope of egg omelette to make it into an oblong shape instead of circle, this makes a bigger egg roll.

4. Cook the remaining egg omelette rolls using step 1-3 and cut into thick slices of about 1.5" each only when they have cold down (it will crack easily if cut when hot)

Serve with your favourite sauce or just eat directly, either way they are delicious.. 

Meat Free Version

Not a meat lover? Just replaced ham with carrots, potatoes and raisins, and you have one healthy vegetarian meal. You can even add a seaweed sheet. Seen here, I used purple carrots so the rolls looked kind of mouldy. LOL.

Sweat free breakfast that anyone can make.. Enjoy!

Chicken Enoki Mushroom (copy cat recipe!)

One of my favorites when visiting Japanese restaurant is the beef enoki mushroom roll, I have been wanting to try it at home but always forgot (but not this time..). Since my mother in law does not eat beef and so does my old pa, I though to replace the beef with chicken fillet instead. Besides, as my duo are not fancy of mushrooms, I made some with cucumbers instead of the enoki... Both versions turned out great & we had a really enjoyable lunch.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serving for: approximately 10 wraps

Ingredients:

• 300gm chicken fillets

• a packet of enoki mushrooms (remove roots portion)

• 1/2 cucumber, cut into long strips

• 1 tablespoon white sesame seeds

For marinate:

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce 

• 1 tablespoon Japanese rice wine (or replace with shaoxin wine)

• a dash of pepper

• 2 garlic, smashed

For Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce

• Few drops of sesame sauce

• 1/2 tablespoon of Japanese / Shaoxin rice wine
• 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce

The Making:

1. Marinate the chicken fillets at least an hour before cooking (I bought chicken cubes, so I used a meat tenderizer to flatten them). Wrap about 6 enoki mushrooms or cucumbers with each chicken fillet. 

2. Heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the non stick pan, once the oil is hot enough, gently place the chicken wraps into the pan, keep some space between each piece. Cook each side for about 3 minutes. 

3. Dish out the cooked wraps, continue cooking the remaining wraps (no need to add oil). When all is done, add the sauce mixture into the pan and toss in all chicken mushroom wraps, mix well. Close the lid and let it simmers for about a minute.

To serve, arrange the chicken enoki mushroom wraps nicely then pour the sauce all over, and sprinkled with some white sesame seeds.

This dish is best eaten with some steaming white rice, but since the duo requested for stir fried noodles, so perhaps next round and I will use beef fillets instead...

Itadakimashu!

Tips!

• The enoki mushrooms will release some water when cooking, so really no need to add any water into the sauce.

• Cucumber is quite an ideal veggie for this dish as it absorbs all the sauce and became really tasty. 

• Whether you are using enoki or cucumber, make sure you cut them at least 2" longer than the chicken strips for better presentation. 

12 Simple Party Food for Little Ones (and Big Ones too!)

The little ones love party (who doesn't?!). I often invite closed friends and family to come for gathering. Considering I only have myself and the duo, I have to resort to quick and simple party food (I am not too fancy of ordering take away).

I have combed through the party food I had prepared in the past and sharing the top 12 with you here. Most of them require only 15-30 minutes of preparation time, except some that require longer baking time.

So here's the Top 12 Party Food List, there shall at least be one that suits your little ones... 

Main Dish
Something to fill the tummy....

• Roasted Veggie & Grilled Chicken on Sticks
• Octopus Spaghetti in Homemade Tomato Sauce (Kids love this!)
• Easy Peasy Thin Crust Pizza (Various variety!)

Finger Food
Something fun and bite size...

• PH's Crispy Popcorn Chicken (Absolutely delicious...)
• Honey Sesame Chicken Cutlets
• Roasted Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes & Cheese

Cookies & Cakes
Something cute and perfect for give-away...

• Cloudette & Star Cookies
• Cupcakes in Ice Cream Cones (Super Cute!)

Dessert
Something yummilicious and keep you cool!

• Mini Non Bake Oreo Cheesecake (Must try!)
• B&W Soy Milk Pudding (Too easy not to try)
• Frozen Chocolate Banana Popsicles 
• Non Bake Mango Cheesecake

Enjoy & feel free let me know which is your favourite! ;)

Roasted Veggie & Chicken on Sticks

It's Mother's Day! 

Since we had celebrated last night with a big lobster feast, I thought we may stay home for a simple lunch today. I found some organic purple carrots and sweet potatoes given by my sister in law few days back, so I thought they will be perfect for making roasted veggie with balsamic vinegars. Added with some herbs grilled chicken, we could make some really yummy satay sticks.

So I did, and the entire family loved it!

I love mine with lots of lime and firely chili sauce from oz.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 600gm chicken fillet, cut into cubes

• 2 fresh limes

• 1 purple carrots, cut into big chunks

• 1 carrots, cut into big chunks

• 2 sweet potatoes, cut into big chunks

• 1 Japanese cucumber, cut into big chunks

• 1 yellow onion, cut into wedges

• 1 orange bell pepper, cut into long strips

• 12-18 cherry tomatoes (i used half for roasting and the remaining served fresh)

• some fresh basil leaves

* you may replace the purple carrots with potatoes.

Marinate for the Chicken:

• a dash of pepper

• 1.5 teaspoon of salt 

• 1 table spoon of shaoxin wine

• a dash of paprika powder

• a dash of garlic powder

• a dash of dried basil & fresh basil leaves (chopped)

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Seasoning for Vegetables:

• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

• a dash of pepper

• a dash of salt

• a dash of black pepper

• a dash of garlic powder

• a dash of dried basil & fresh basil leaves (chopped)

* adjust all seasoning according to your preference, I did not really measure them, just drop about 4-6 dabs per seasoning.

The Making:

1. Wash and marinate the chicken cutlets at least 1 hour before cooking. Make sure you rub the salt and pepper evenly.

2. Preheat the oven at 220°c, then start preparing yor vegetables.

3. Cover the baking tray with a layer of alumnion foil (this is for easier washing later so you don't have a sticky tray!), toss the veggie into the tray and add all the seasoning. Mix them with your hands to make sure all seasoning are evenly coated.

Love the beautiful color combination...

4. Cover a layer of alumnion foil over the grill bars, poke some holes using fork and place the chicken cutlets on top (refer to pic below). 

5. Put the tray in middle section of the oven and roast for 20 minutes. On the 20th minutes, remove them from oven and turn the veggies & chicken over to the other side. You may brush some honey over the chicken for a sweet and richer taste now or just leave them as-is. Continue roasting for another 10 minutes. 

6. Once done, let the roasties cold down before arranging them onto the sticks.

7. To serve, squeez some lime juice over the sticks and serve with your favorite hot or sweet sauce... Enjoy!

Lastly, happy Mother's Day to all the great moms out there.. ❤️

Orange Teriyaki Glazed Salmon Steak

Salmon is the absolute favorite with my kiddos, whenever we have salmon served on dining table they will be asking for more and more till there is none left in the plate. 

My usually style is teriyaki sauce, but today I decided to make something tangy instead, I'm in the mood for citrus. So I decided to add some fresh orange juice into it.

The taste? Absolutely delicious, even big guy approved.

Making is really simple, just make sure you have some fresh salmon steaks, or blocks, either way they taste good and contains the omega 3 oil which is good for brain development. So happen Aeon Big was having promotion for Alaskan salmon and we managed to get 3 blocks for only RM33+.

  

  

I added some omelette with salmon flakes. Delish!

Serving for my little boy, he shared half of the steak with the younger sister.

 

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serving for: 4 pax

Ingredients:

• 3 salmon steaks of approximate 150gm each

• some white sesame seeds for garnishing 

For Marinate:

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 3 tablespoon teriyaki sauce

• 1/2 orange, juiced

•  a dash of pepper

For Glazing sauce:

• 1/2 orange, juiced

• 1 teaspoon of brown sugar 

• 1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce

• 1 tablespoon water 

The Making:

1. Rub the salmon steaks with salt and marinate them for at least half an hour. Keep them in a ziplock bag and place in the fridge, turn them around occasionally so the marinate is well absorbed into the steak.

2. Spray cooking oil over the non stick pan (or use a tablespoon of oil, and lightly coat around the pan), slowly place the salmon steak into the pan and let them cook for about 3 minutes on each side. Dish out and set aside to drip away the excess oil. (You may need to increase cooking time if the salmon steak is thick)

3. To make the sauce, just mix them up and pour into the pan, shimmer on high heat for about a minute until it's thicken, then scoop over the salmon steak right away. 

4. Sprinkled with some white sesame onto the salmon and serve hot. 

Absolutely no dipping sauce is required as this dish is so tasty to eat just as-is!

Bon appetite..

{Breadmaker} Super Easy Banana Cake

I had some left over banana that were overripped, none of us was interest with it anymore. Instead of chucking them into the dustbin, I recalled my breadmaker can make cakes too, so why not give it a try with banana cake?

It turned out fabulous. I added some almond nibs and they gave an extra nutty aroma to every bite. 

My machine made a real small cake, just double the ingredient if yours is of a larger capacity (this is 500gm).

Simply soft and aromatic, love the texture.

Preparation Time: 10 Minutes
Baking Time: 1 Hours 30 min
Serving size: 500gm loaf / 6 slices

Ingredients:

• 100g unsalted butter cut into small cubes

• 80gm granulated / brown sugar

• 2 tbsp /30ml fresh milk 

• 2 medium / 100gm egg, evenly mixed

• 50gm / 1 medium banana, cut into small chunks of 1" each

• 180g super fine flour (can be replaced with equal amount of self rising flour if you are without baking powder)

• 7gm baking powder 

• 30g almond nibs 

The Method:

1. add all ingredient into bread pan according to listed order.

2. Select menu "12" (for Panasonic BM) or Cake recipe on your bread maker. Press "start".

3. When you heard the beep sound (12  minutes later), open the lid (DO NOT PRESS STOP!) and use a spatula to scrap off any excess flour on the sides. Then closes the lid and press "Start" to continue baking.

The cake shall take another 1h15m to complete. Let it cold on a rack for about 10-20min before eating.

Isn't it easy peasy? Breakfast is a breeze now with the help of my bread maker. What I like most is that washing is minimal and it's so easy that even my boy can handle with ease.

Some Useful Tips, Just so you know...

• A friend once complained to me it's taking her a long time to measure all ingredients one by one. Not a problem if you take the shortcut like me.

I place my bread pan over the electronic scale and pour all ingredient directly into it without using any extra container. You can reset it to 0 each time before adding next ingredient, or just keep summing up the weight yourself, whichever you prefer. This way, I get precise measurement and very little utensils to wash.

• I precut all my butter into cubes and store them in an airtight container in the fridge. Each time I need the butter for bread/cake baking just drop a few cubes, each cube is approximate 10gm if you cut your butter block into 20-22 equal size.

{CNY Special} Fried Prawn in Sweet Sauce 干煎明虾

This is a traditional Chinese New Year dish that my mother in law cooks every year. This time I'm determined to learn from her, who knows one day it may be my turn to prepare the CNY eve dinner. :P

It is unbelievably easy and but is absolutely delicious!

Preparation time: 10 minutes 

Cooking time: 10 minutes 

Ingredients:

• 12 large fresh prawn, cleaned 

• 2 glove garlic, thinly sliced

• 1 thumb ginger, thinly sliced 

For garnish:

• 1/4 Red chili, thinly sliced 

• some parsley leaves 

For sauce:

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce 

• 1 teaspoon sugar 

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon Shao Xin wine 

• 1 tablespoon corn flour, diluted with some water 

The Making:

1. Heat up 3 tablespoon of cooking oil in the wok, put the prawns into the wok and cook for about 3 minutes till cook (turns red). Dish out the prawn and place them on a dish.

2. Using remaining oil in the wok, sautée the garlic and ginger till fragrance, then add in the rest of the ingredients for sauce (except the corn orb starch).

3. Boil the mixture on high heat till thicken, then add in the corn starch and stir to mix well.

4. Toss the prawn into the sauce and mix them up. Serve them on a plate and add some parsley & red chili for garnishing.

Ready to serve. Look at the complete 8 course dinner made by my amazing mother in law.. Simply irresistible!

Here's wishing you a happy Chinese New Year, may you and your loved ones be blessed with abundance of good luck and always in great health.

Friendly Reminder...

• ensure your little one is not allergic to prawn or crustaceans, my little E will have rashes after eating prawn so he would have to pass on this dish.