What I like most about noodles is the versatility of this staple food. You can cook fry noodles, stew them or even cook them in soup. Recently, I had with me a couple of slices of pork loin and some french beans and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out something new again. Hence, Pork Chop Noodles was created. In Melaka, there is this famous Taiwanese Pork Chop Noodles but that is different from what I have cooked here. Whereas the Taiwanese Pork Chop Noodles uses soya noodles, I have used the dry noodles bought from Sitiawan instead.

This dish is pretty due to the use of french beans and carrots for the contrast in colour. It is also healthy as it contains carbohydrate, protein, fat and fibre. The french beans and carrots lend a crunchy bite to the otherwise springy noodles whilst the aromatic pork chop (which is cut into strips) becomes the highlight as far as the taste is concerned. Give this dish a try. You can use all kinds of noodles really. I would suggest soya noodles, instant dried noodles (eg. Vit Mee) and even soba for this dish.

This is my recipe for Pork Chop Noodles Read the rest of this entry »

I know some of you might squirm at the thought of eating something fermented but fermented beancurd is something of a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. Also known as “tau zhu” in hokkien, the fermented beancurd comes in many varieties - red fermented beancurd (which is usually used in the marinating of meat), fermented beancurd with sesame or plain spicy fermented beancurd.

Local chinese eateries here serve leafy greens stir fried with fermented beancurd amongst other styles. The fermented beancurd gives the vegetables a slightly spicy (owing to the use of chilli in the fermentation process) and salty (salt is also used in the fermentation process) taste. Usually, a small piece of fermented beancurd suffice. You can use “yau mak” or any suitable lettuce to cook this or you can follow me by using the tender sweet potato shoots (“fan shee mew” in Cantonese or “fan soo chai” in Mandarin).

This is my recipe for Stir Fried Sweet Potato Shoots with Fermented Beancurd Read the rest of this entry »

I was cooking Long Bean Rice over the weekend when I had excessive belly pork (or is it pork belly?) to use. So, I fooled around by experimenting with it to see if I could churn out a simple snack with it. Tastes not too bad and my daughter loved it to bits (pun intended). What I did was to chop the belly pork into really small pieces and marinade them primarily with worcestershire sauce. Then, I fried them till golden brown. My next quest is to find a way to tenderise the pork. Any suggestions?

Meanwhile, this is my new recipe called Worcestershire Fried Belly Pork Snack Read the rest of this entry »

Frankly, I don’t know what kind of seaweed is this that I cook. Since young, I have always known it as “Chi Chai” meaning “seaweed” in Hokkien. It is something sold in grocers in Malaysia and usually imported from China. The seaweed is nicely dried up to a round shape which you can cut to your preferred amount prior to cooking.

Mum used to cook this every now and then as it is such a simple soup to cook, not to mention the mineral-packed properties of the seaweed. Don’t quote me but I heard that it is supposed to be good for those who are deficient in iodine. Anyway, this soup can be cooked in about 15 minutes time. Most of the preparation goes towards mincing the pork with a cleaver but if you buy the pork ready minced, you only need to take a shorter period to cook this soup.

This is the recipe for Seaweed Soup with Minced Pork Read the rest of this entry »