Recipe: Peppery Pork Tenderloin Stir-fry with Mushrooms

Pepper has been cultivated by native farmers in Sarawak for many generations, and constitutes an important cash crop for the local economy

Pepper is probably the most widely used spice throughout the world, and no wonder. Just a dash of freshly cracked pepper over the top can liven up pasta, add balance to a sweet or salty dish, and bring assertiveness to an otherwise plain sauce. Whether its white, black or pink, most of the dishes I make  at home come with a hefty dose of pepper. Having recently traveled to Sarawak, I managed to see the pepper plants (yes, they come from plants, not mines, B), cultivated by Iban farmers, along the Kuching-Serian stretch.

Pork and pepper are a match made in heaven. Growing up, my mother often made Teochew porridge for lunch. As those of you know, paring dishes with the plain porridge is absolutely key. My mother always served the right mix of savoury dishes that made for a great Sunday meal (followed by a short nap in the afternoon). One of them was a simple stir-fry of pork slices or liver with slivers of ginger and pepper. This is an adaptation of this dish with a slight Thai touch.

Ingredients:
1 pork tenderloin (about 350-500g), sliced into wafer thin pieces
1 small carrot, sliced thinly diagonally
125 g button mushrooms, sliced thinly
2 slices young ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 spring onion stalks, sliced thinly diagonally into 2 inch pieces
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp corn starch
1 tsp Shao xing wine
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste
1/4 cup water
Drizzle of sesame oil

For the sauce:
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp freshly cracked white pepper

Marinate pork tenderloin with Shao xing wine, a dash of salt, pepper and sugar. Add cornstarch to the bowl and mix well. Set aside for half an hour.

Heat non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and add oil. Swirl to coat. Add ginger and garlic and fry gently until fragrant. Add pork tenderloin and stir-fry until it changes colour, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and carrots and fry for another 3-4 minutes or until mushrooms release their liquid. Sprinkle in water, add in sauce ingredients, lower heat and simmer, covered for another few minutes or until pork is fully cooked. Add spring onions and a drizzle of sesame oil, if using, and mix well. Serve hot.

Malaysia is among the top 5 pepper producers in the world. Sarawak black pepper in particular is famous for its distinctive flavour.

Recipe: Thai Red Curry with Pork and Pineapple

This is a beautiful dish, served inside a Pineapple "Boat" which you can make at home. It is mildly spicy (in fact not as spicy as Green Curry), sweet and sour. You can either use store-bought or homemade red curry paste. 

For the Thai Red Curry Paste:

13 small dried chilies, deseeded, soaked in water
3 tbsp chopped shallot
4 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp chopped galangal
2 tbsp chopped lemon grass
2 tsp grated kaffir lime rind (or substitute fresh lime peel if not available)
1 tbsp chopped coriander root (or substitute fresh coriander stems)
20 white peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp ground roasted coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds
1 tsp shrimp paste
1 tsp sea salt

To make the curry paste, grind the ingredients up in a mortar and pestle. It freezes well and can keep for several months.

For the Pineapple Boat:
1 medium-ripe pineapple (you want to make sure the flesh is still firm)

Cut the pineapple in half, and chop the stems. Using a paring knife and spoon, scoop out the flesh, taking care to leave about 1/2-1 inch border around the edges so that the curry doesn't flow out. Cut flesh into bite-size chunks. Rinse the shell and pat dry. Reserve the other half of the pineapple for other purposes.

For the curry:
300 g pork from the shoulder, with a little fat, sliced thinly
A handful of young asparagus (substitute french or long beans), cut into 1 inch pieces
Flesh from half pineapple (see above)
1 tbsp oil
1 stalk lemon grass, smashed lightly to release flavour
5 shallots, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp red curry paste
200 ml pure coconut milk
200 ml water (About 3/4 cup)
3-4 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fish sauce
Sugar and salt to taste

To garnish:
A handful of Thai basil
Chopped coriander leaves

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add oil. Add lemon grass, shallots and garlic and stir-fry for about 3-4 minutes until fragrant. Do not brown. Add red curry paste and fry until fragrant. Working in batches, add pork to the pan and fry until meat just changes colour. Pour in coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves followed by water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Lift cover, add asparagus and simmer for another 3-4 minutes or until tender but crisp. Stir in pineapple chunks and stir well. By this point the gravy should be fairly thick. Add fish sauce and lime juice. Add sugar and salt to taste. Serve inside the Pineapple Boat and garnish with basil and coriander leaves. Serve immediately with fragrant Jasmine rice.

Recipe: Pork Vindaloo

Me and me mum and me dad and me gran and a bucket of Vindaloo

I was at a dinner party recently where we were arguing about the origins of Vindaloo. My two friends from India vehemently insisted that the dish is not in fact Indian at all; rather, it was brought by the Portuguese to Goa and other colonial outposts. (See wiki entry here) Certainly, it is served in most Indian restaurants these days and it's couched as a Goan curry. Interestingly, in Malaysia, Vindaloo is more frequently thought to be a Eurasian dish rather than an Indian dish. As a result, it is very popular in Malacca, where Malaysia's last Portuguese enclave exists. It is usually made with pork (although lamb and beef are used as well) and it is very spicy, slightly sour and garlicky. It pairs best with a bowl of hot, fluffy rice.

Ingredients:
500 g pork from the shoulder, cut into 1 inch cubes

4 tbsp of vegetable oil
2 stalks curry leaves
1 cup water
1 large red onion, sliced
1 teaspoon salt or to taste

Spices (grind together in spice grinder or mortar and pestle):
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
3 teaspoons black peppercorn
1 cinnamon stick
4 cardamoms

3 tbsps chilly powder (the redder the better)
1/4 cup white vinegar

To be blended together:
3 onions, sliced and fried
6 cloves garlic
1 2 inch ginger root

Clean pork and drain well. In a bowl, mix together ground spices, chilly powder, vinegar and the mixture of blended onions, garlic and ginger to make a paste.

Heat oil in a non-stick skillet. When hot, add paste and fry till oil rises to the surface, about 7-10 minutes. Add pork and fry well over high heat for about 8-10 minutes. Add curry leaves and water. Mix well.

Cover, lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes or until pork is very tender. Lift lid and stir occasionally to prevent mixture from sticking and burning to the bottom of the pan.

Remove lid, add red onion and salt. Simmer until the gravy thickens. Serve hot.

p.s. For all you England footie fans, check out the Fat Les song titled, "Vindaloo" on you tube, although shouldn't it be a pot of Vindaloo?

Recipe: Stir-fry Pork Tenderloin with Mushrooms & Potatoes

Serves 4 as part of a multi course dinner

400 g pork tenderloin, sliced into wafer thin pieces

150 g button mushrooms, sliced

1 large potato, sliced thinly

1 brown onion, sliced thinly

3-4 slices young ginger

5 tbsp. minced garlic

1-2 spring onions, sliced into 2 inches length

Cooking oil

1/2-3/4 cup water

Marinade:

A couple of dashes Maggi seasoning

1 tsp Shao Xing wine

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 tsp corn flour

Sauce:

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp white pepper

1 tsp Shao Xing wine

1/2 tsp white sugar

1 tsp sesame oil

Corn starch slurry (optional):

1 tsp corn flour

1 tbsp water

Marinade pork for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. Pour cooking into skillet until it reaches about 1/4 up the height of the pan, and heat over medium-high heat. When hot, add potatoes in batches and fry until lightly brown and soft. Drain on paper towels and repeat as necessary. Drain oil, reserving about 2 tbsp. of oil in the pan. Over medium-high heat, add ginger and garlic and stir fry until fragrant. Lower heat and fry onions until wilted and soft. Turn heat up, add button mushrooms, and fry until they just release their liquid. Add pork, stir briskly until the meat begins to change colour. Add water and sauce ingredients, cover and lower heat. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Adjust seasoning and add cornstarch slurry if desired. Stir well and dish up.

Ugly Duckling & the Swan - Recipes: Steamed Meat Cake and Salmon with Black Bean Sauce

In the food world, the story of the Ugly Duckling and the Swan is also often played out. There are just some dishes which do not stand up particularly well presentation-wise, but are nonetheless delicious. Take the Chinese steamed meat cake, which is a staple in most Chinese homes. Simple ingredients, clean in taste, it used to be one of the dishes I would ask for as a kid when I was sick. Unfortunately, it also happens to look...well, like a pale, diseased lump of clay. I promise you however that it tastes much better than it looks.

Ingredients:
500 g of minced pork, with a little fat
1 tbsp tung choy (preserved vegetable) or spring onion, minced
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tsps sesame oil
2 tsps Shao Xing wine
Dash pepper
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp corn starch

1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup water

Combine minced pork with the seasoning ingredients and mix well with your hands. Press mixture into glass pie or steaming plate. Add in egg and pour in water to cover. Steam over high heat for about 10-15 minutes. Serve hot

And then you have dishes such as pan-fried salmon, with its lovely pink colour and crsip skin. Garnish it with a couple of springs of coriander and the whole thing looks pretty elegant and dinner-party ready. Seems rather unfair doesn't it, that some dishes are just "born beautiful" (haha), regardless of the chef.

I made a black bean garlic sauce to accompany the fish.

Ingredients:
Sesame oil to glaze
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsps minced spring onions
3 tsps sherry or Shao Xing wine
1 tbsp black bean garlic sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
2 tsps sugar
1/4 cup water

In the same pan used to fry your fish, drain off excess oil and drizzle sesame oil to glaze the pan. Stir fry ginger, garlic and spring onions until fragrant, add wine, black bean garlic sauce, oyster sauce and sugar. Add water and boil for a couple of minutes until the sauce reaches the consistency you like. Serve over fish or on the side.

Recipe: Braised Pork with Wood Ear Fungus

Elephant ears?

I'm sure you are quite familiar with the story of the annoying tag along - the younger sister who wants to go everywhere, do everything, and meet everyone that her older sister knows. Well, I used to be quite the pesky little rodent.

Truth is, my older sister Elaine has always been incredibly sisterly, she took me under the wing the moment I popped out. When we were kids, she tolerated my incessant appetite for trying just about everything that she had acquired, whether it be piano, or ballet or tae-kwan-do. I was so impatient to grow up. We shared so many things together back then - not just extra curricular activities, but space as well as friends, and I realise now that I never thanked her for being so generous in letting me be part of her world.

Do you know how memories from your childhood are often a collage of blurred images, sounds and emotions. In response to something you may see or feel, the mind sharpens a particular image from the past. I was thinking about my sister the other day as I was taking the MRT to Sommerset. Well, for whatever reason, I have this memory of me tagging along to one of my sister's play dates at her friend's house. I must have been only 8-9 years old. Up to that point the kitchen had always been somewhat of a forbidden place. But on this particular occasion, I snuck into the kitchen and found my friend's mother cooking.

The Chinese pepper their food with a play of imagery, symbolisms and analogies, perhaps more than any other cuisine that I know....Buddha jump over the wall, ants climb a tree, pock-marked lady's tofu, etc. It sparks the imagination. I asked her what she was making and she told me that she was making a dish of elephant ears. I went home that evening and tried to ask my mother whether I had really eaten elephant ears. While she assured me that I hadn't, I wondered for many years about what that chewy, rubbery thing I had eaten was. Turns out, it had been wood ear fungus, a common ingredient in Chinese cooking and one that lends itself well to braised dishes because of its neutrality and texture. It is a vegetable rather than an animal, and I love it to this day.

Here is a recipe that I made yesterday called "Hakka char yoke." The critical step in this dish is making the sauce from scratch and marinating and deep frying the belly pork first to retain its moisture. I adapted it from Lily's Wai Sek Hong.

Ingredients:

Nam Yue Red Sauce

8 pieces fermented red bean curd (nam yue)

3 tbsp chopped garlic

3 tbsp chopped shallots

1 tsp chopped ginger

2 star anise

5 cm cinnamon stick

3 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp shao xing wine

500ml water

4 tbsps oil

Heat oil, sauté chopped shallot and garlic until fragrant. Add in the remaining ingredients and bring to boil on low heat until thick. Remove the whole spices and keep bottled, in the fridge for up to a week. I used half the portion and froze the rest.

Braised Pork with Wood Ear Fungus

Ingredients: 

400g pork belly, sliced thickly

A handful of wood ear fungus, soaked in warm water to soften. Remove hard bits and cut into large pieces

2 tbsp Hakka Nam Yue red sauce

2-3 cloves of garlic, smashed

2 shallots, sliced

1 tbsp oyster sauce

Soy sauce and pepper to taste

2 cups water

Marinade:

2 tbsp Hakka Nam Yue red sauce

1 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp corn flour

1/2 tsp pepper

1 egg

5 cups of oil for deep frying

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flours. In separate bowl, beat your egg till lightly mixed. Add to the flour and beat until combined. Add your pork belly and marinade, preferably overnight. 

Heat oil in deep-fat fryer or wok. When oil is hot, add a few pieces of pork belly,  and deep-fry until golden brown. Make sure you shake excess marinade before adding the pork to reduce spluttering. Fry in batches. Dish and drain on paper towels.

In a claypot or skillet, heat 2 tsps of oil, add the garlic and shallots and fry until fragrant. Add Nam Yue sauce.

Add  pork belly, fungus and water and bring to a boil. Add oyster sauce and stir well. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, on low heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the pork is fork tender. 

Adjust seasoning and add additional soy sauce and pepper, if necessary.