Pork Tenderloin in Sha Cha Sauce

There are sauces and sauces - endless selection and there are many more that i have not encountered with or have the opportunity to try cooking with them. Walk down the  Sauces'    aisle  in  any asian market and you will know what i mean.. I have not heard of Sha Cha sauce until my friend Belinda used it as a dipping sauce for her hot pot. She told me to add an egg yolk with the sauce and it was so delicious that i had to get a can. Not only is this versatile sauce good as a condiment, it can be a base for soups , as a seasoning for stir-fry dishes and as a rub for barbecued meats.

Ingredients:

2 pieces pork tenderloin (about 12 ozs each)
4 heaped tbsp Sha Cha Sauce
1/2 lb french beans
Cilantro for garnishing











Method:

Trim pork of any visible fat and membrane/silver skin.

Cut off 12 inches or so of butcher’s twine, and put the thin end of the tenderloin in front of you.

Fold the thin end back on itself so that the entire length of the tenderloin is uniformly thick.

Slide the butcher’s twine underneath the tenderloin, and tie the folded thin end with a simple loop and surgeon’s knot.

Cut off the excess string with kitchen shears, and you're ready

Rub on the Sha Cha Sauce on to the pork tenderloin and let it marinate for at least 1 hour in the fridge.

Heat a 12 inch skillet with 2 tbsp oil and brown the pork tenderloins on all sides.

Put in a preheated 425f oven for 10 minutes to finish the cooking.(10 minutes is only a guide, try not to overcook, since overcooking will cause the meat to dry out. It's a good idea to use a meat thermometer to test for doneness; cutting into the meat to test for color will cause too many good juices to run out. A range of 150° to 165° is usually recommended  but i like to take it out at 140 - 150.. This should produce tenderloin that's juicy, tender, and safe. Rest for 5 - 10 minutes, remove the butcher's twine before slicing, )

For the french beans, remove the ends, wash and wipe dry.

Heat about 1/2 cup of oil in a skillet and when oil is hot, deep fry the french beans until crinkly and soft.  Do not fry all the beans at once, fry by batches.

Put the fried french beans on a platter and top with sliced pork tenderloin.  Garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy

Serves

If Yan Can Cook, Do You Think I can?

Last saturday was a very exciting day for me.  Fancy me, meeting Chef Martin Yan in person.  He was  in town giving a cooking demo and i get to go to see him cook live.  I really enjoyed the demo as he was so good with the knife, a real pro, I think i will have to be reincarnated several times before i can come to his level - especially how he garnished a dish.  I tried and here were my results - what do you all think, can i garnish or cook like Yan?

 Ingredients:

Pan Fried Pork

1/2 lb of pork loin  - sliced thin
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp soya sauce
1/2 tsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp shaoxing wine
1/4 tsp 5 spice powder
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Method:

Place a slice of pork in between a plastic wrap, sprinkle some water on to the pork and pound the pork to make it thinner and tenderizing it at the same time.  Repeat with all the slices.

Marinate the pounded pork with the rest of the ingredients for at least 1/2 hour.

Heat a pan with enough oil just to coat the pan.  When oil is hot, put in 3 slices to pan fry, do not overcrowd..  Fry until both sides are nicely browned and crispy.  Repeat with the rest of the marinated pork.

Leave fried pork to cool for 10 minutes before cutting into bite sizes.

Garnish the platter with a tomato rose and cucumber slices(Martin Yan demostrated how they were done)  This Pan Fried Pork was my dinner last night.

Enjoy

Barbecue Pork Ribs

This weekend, sit back, and savor America's freedoms with the simplicity of time-honored traditions and have a Barbecue. A July 4th Barbecue is not the same without ribs and this recipe is simple producing tender and juicy ribs without the long hours on the grill.  Although prep is tedious, it is worth the effort.  This recipe is adapted from  Bobby Chinn - Wild, Wild East.  The recipe calls for steaming the ribs and i used the pressure cooker which cut the steaming time by half. I did not brine as the ribs were fatty enough and the meat would not dry out besides like the saying goes - the nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat and don't need any brining.. 

Ingredients:

2 1/4 lb baby back pork ribs or St Louis Cut Pork Ribs

Dry Rub:

1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp ground paprika
1 1/2 tbsp garlic salt
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp ground dried sage
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Vinegar-based Barbecue Sauce:

1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 cup apple juice
5 tbsp tomato ketchup
5 tbsp molasses
2 - 3 tbsp crushed red pepper(to taste and optional)
Freshly ground black pepper

For the smoking:

Raw Rice
Sugar
Black Tea

Method:

To make the dry rub, combine all the ingredients well.  Store in an air-tight container for use as required.

To make the sauce, combine the ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. While the sauce is cooking, throw in about half the dry rub.  It is pretty much up to you how much you use.

Clean the ribs and trim off excess fat.  Cut each rack in half. 

Put in about an inch of water in the pressure cooker and place a steamer rack on it.  Place the ribs on top of rack and close lid of pressure cooker.  Pressurized for 15 - 20 minutes until ribs are cooked through and tender.  I cook them until tender enough to pull the bone from the meat freely. 

Rub the surface of the ribs with the remaining dry rub - ready for smoking.

To smoke the ribs:

Line the wok with aluminium foil to prevent ingredients sticking and burning against the wok's surface
Arrange the smoking ingredients on the bottom of the wok.
Place a circular wire rack on top of the smoking ingredients
Place the tender ribs on top of the wire rack
Place the wok lid on top of the wok and seal with damp towels.
Heat the wok. As the wok commences to heat,  the rice, sugar and tea will begin to burn, filling the wok with flavoured smoke. The ribs will bake and at the same time become flavoured by the smoke.
Smoke for 20 minutes.

To grill:

Heat the grill and cook smoked ribs for about 4 minutes on each side.


To Serve

Place the cooked ribs on a cutting board, sprinkle about a tablespoon of dry rub over them and chop through every 2 ribs.

Drizzle some sauce on top of the ribs and serve.

Enjoy and have a Good July 4th Weekend!!!!!!

Steamed Ground Pork With Cuttlefish/Yau Yee Cheng Gee Yoke

Before i proceed further with this text, i would like to apologise for my absence and would like to thank all the well wishes and prayers for my mom.  My Mom is now resting in peace and my daughter and me are glad that we get to spend a few days with her before she passed on.  My Mom was such a considerate person and she had never ever wanted to 'mah fan' her children especially me.  She must have wanted me to know that she is now in peace.  Thank you Mom for being such a lovely mother and bringing us up to be meaningful human beings, may you rest in peace.  I would like to thank all my siblings, their better half and children, and relatives who came from far and near and giving me an opportunity to connect to you all. Although we may be thousand of miles away, you all are always in my thoughts and have a special place in my heart.

This dish is one of the dish that my mom would cook and i would like to share this simple and yet so delicious served with white rice.  In the good old days before meat grinder or food processor, my mom would chop the pork with her cleaver, the one and only knife in the kitchen. Somehow pork chopped with a chinese cleaver tasted so much better when steamed, perhaps it is the love put in.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb/8 ozs ground pork
1 piece of cuttlefish(tieu pean) - washed, soaked until soft and then shred.
2 tbsp light soya sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp tapioca starch/cornstarch
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp sesame oil
2 - 3 slices of ginger - shredded

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in  ceramic dish/plate which can fit in your rice cooker and put the shredded ginger on top.. Alternatively, you can use a regular steamer or a wok to steam this dish.

Put in this prepared dish on top of the rice when the rice is  not cooked totally and the rice cooker's cooked function is not done. You must put this dish in time so that the residue heat from the rice will cook the pork.

Remove from rice cooker and serve hot.

Serves

Homemade Streaky Bacon/Lap Yuk

Historically, Lap means "ritual" in old Chinese, it was very often that surplus meat after the ritual would be cured for use in times of scarcity. These preserved delicacies are called "Lap-mei" in Cantonese and are often mistaken that they are waxed because of their waxy appearance and the word "lap" which also means wax in that dialect. There are three types of "Lap-mei"and they are preserved Chinese sausages, preserved pork, and preserved ducks.

In Chinese tradition, they are usually prepared around the time of December of lunar calendar, as one of the delicacies to celebrate the 'Spring Harvesting Festival'. They are traditional gifts during the festive seasons, especially during the Chinese New Year.


It has been found that 'Lap-mei' prepared commercially, has nitrite/nitrate and coloring which are not very desirable, therefore this gives me a reason to prepare 'Lap-mei' at home - preservative free.

I have to thank Claire, my dear friend, who came with the special Rose Wine and Dark Soya Sauce.





 Ingredients:
5 lhs belly pork
5 ozs sugar
1/4 cup Mui Kwai Lo (Rose Wine)
1/2 cup light soya sauce
1/4 cup thick dark soya sauce
3 tbsp table salt

Marinated.

First day of drying












Second day of drying or airing
















Method:

Cut belly pork into 1 1/2 - 2 inch strips.

Rub in sugar and salt into meat and pour in the remaining ingredients to marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Turn meat often to marinade evenly. I kept them in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Drill a hole on top of a strip of meat with the sharp point of a boning knife and pass a piece of string through the hole and tie string with a knot.
Hang up to dry in the sun for 1-3 days and move to a windy place to dry for another 2-3 days. I had sun for only a day but managed to get 2 windy days.  Took them in and hang them near the ventilation vent and the heat was good, it dry the meat pretty good.

Steam air dried pork(lup yuk) for 8 minutes over high heat. Slice thinly and serve with rice.


Serves

Oyster Sauce Char Siew Pau

I was very surprised and happy that my Miss Picky Eater, ate 2 char siew paus, filling and all.  Usually she would just eat the pau and leave the filling.  She must be getting older and eating alot more, variety that is, like green leafy vegetables and fish.  I will go to any lengths to make or cook the food she likes to eat and looking at her devout that 2 paus made me go looking for this recipe which has been with me for more than 30 years.  I had been lazy and depended on the premixed cos pau flour is not readily available here and i have even asked the dim sum restaurants to sell me some of their stock but the reply is that they are always short.  Anyway, the bleached all-purpose flour and wheat starch made pretty good paus - perhaps not as fluffy or perhaps it is not the flour, it is that i do not have the expertise to make them as fluffy.  Even the folding of the paus, has an important part to play when it comes to making them smile.  I noticed that more dough should be on top of the pau and don't be like me, leaving the knob behind.  I must remember to break that knob away.

Ingredients:

Yeast Dough:
300 g pau flour/260 g bleached all-purpose flour and 40 g wheat starch
1 tsp instant yeast
150 ml water




To make pau dough:
150 g pau flour/130 g bleached all-purpose and 20 g wheat starch
3/4 tbsp double action baking powder
130 g sugar
1/2 tbsp lard/shortening
1 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp ammonium bicarbonate
2 tiny drops kan sui

FILLING:

300 g char siew(recipe is here
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup water
1/2 tbsp soya sauce
2 3/4 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp dark thick soya sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp waterchestnut powder diluted with 2 tbsp water
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp roast sesame seeds
1 tsp sesame oil


Method:

To make YEAST DOUGH

Mix flour yeast, yeast and water together.  Knead well and leave for at least 15 hours.

To make FILLING

Cut char siew into tiny dices.

Heat wok with a little oil and add in the minced garlic.  Saute until fragrant and add the diced char siew and the water and sauces.  Mix well and thicken with waterchestnut solution.  Cook until sauce comes back to the boil.

Add in chopped cilantro and roasted sesame seeds and drizzle with sesame oil.

Leave to cool.

To make pau dough after 15 hours:

Sieve the baking powder with the flour.

Mix ammonium bicarbonate, kan sui and water and mix until ammonium bicarbonate is dissolved.

Tear up the yeasted dough into small pieces and place in an electric stand mixer bowl,, add in the sugar, lard and the ammonium bicarbonate solution.  Using the dough hook, knead until well mixed,  Add in flour and knead the dough until it is smooth.

Remove dough and spread dough out into a rough rectangle.  Mix 1/2 tsp of baking powder with a little water and spread it over the rectangle.  Roll it up and knead until smooth and not sticking to your hands.

Divide dough into portions (i like to weigh them 35 gms each).  Line the divided dough up.  Start from the first portion, cup the dough portion with your palm and round it.  Repeat with the rest of the portions, lining them up in order.

While making the paus, fill steamer pot with water and bring to the boil.

Roll the first rolled portion dough out into a circle and fill with a tablespoon of cooled filling.  Pleat the circle up and seal well.(i roll the circle bigger, so that i can have more dough on top of pau.  I find that more dough is good for the pau to smile.  Remove the last pinch from the top).  Put a piece of paper at the base of pau and leave in a steamer rack, covered with a damp cloth while you prepare another 6 more paus.

Make sure water is in a rolling boil before putting the steamer rack with the prepared paus to steam for 10 minutes(if you are making bigger paus, then steaming time will be longer).

Continue to wrap paus with the char siew filling and steam.

These paus cannot be consumed yet as they stink from the ammonium bicarbonate.  A second steaming of 10 minutes is required to allow the ammonium to dissipate.

Enjoy the paus warm.

 Serves