Stir-fried Pork Liver and Kidney with Ginger is a fear-factor dish for some, confinement food for many chinese mothers and delicacy for some like me. This dish is supposedly “heaty” in nature and helps to expel “wind” after mothers have gone through labour. The liberal use of ginger helps in this cause and the liver and kidney provides much needed nutrients.

Pork Kidneys being soaked

Preparation of the kidneys can be a trying task for those who are inexperienced (including me!). If your butcher can help, so much the better. If not, you will need to slice the kidney into half across the middle part, which will give you two equal looking kidney. Using a sharp knife, slice and remove the whitish middle part of the kidney. Then, cut the kidney into smaller portions, cut criss-cross patterns on the outer side of the kidney and then, soak it in water (add ginger slices if you want). My mum will, prior to the actual cooking, further give the kidney “treatment” by frying the kidney in a wok without any oil. It is quite a process because the smell can be offensive to some. After the kidneys have been thoroughly cooked through this process (when it becomes dry and no more juice / water oozes out of the kidney), it will be removed from the wok. Then, wash the wok thoroughly and begin cooking proper.

Ingredients (clockwise from top) : Kidney, sliced pork,
egg, spring onions, ginger, garlic, liver

This is my recipe for Stir-Fried Pork Liver and Kidney with Ginger

Ingredients

• 2 pork kidneys (prepared as per paragraph above)
• Equal amount or less of pork liver (sliced)
• 50 grammes of sliced pork (marinate with 2 teaspoons light soya sauce and 1 teaspoon corn flour)
• 1 or 2 eggs
• 3 cm of ginger (julienned finely)
• 1 1/2 whole bulbs of garlic (chopped)
• 2 to 3 stalks of spring onions (cut to 6 cm lengths or so)
• 1 tablespoons cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• Warm water

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dark soya sauce
• 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
• White pepper powder (to taste)
• 2 teaspoons brandy

Method

Heat cooking oil and sesame oil in wok on high heat and saute garlic and ginger till aromatic. Push garlic and ginger slices aside and fry an egg till semi-done. Add sliced pork and mix well with egg, garlic and ginger till pork is cooked.

Add kidneys, seasoning and warm water enough to cover the ingredients and bring to boil with lid closed. Add liver and break another egg on top of ingredients. Stir gently and add spring onions.

Once liver is cooked (no more blood oozing out), dish up and serve.

This is a healthy dish to eat and fairly simple to cook. The ingredients are kept to a minimum for simple cooking and it is delicious eaten with plain white rice or porridge. As I have mentioned before, tofu (beancurd) comes in many textures and for this recipe, I use the firm white tofu which comes in a size of 6cm x 6cm x 2 cm (W x L x H) blocks.

You can whip up this dish in 30 minutes wherein the majority of the time spent is actually towards marinating the minced pork. You can substitute the pork with chicken. I have not tried minced beef or minced lamb though. If you wish to spice up the dish a bit, you can add a little (perhaps 1 teaspoon) of chilli oil when you start frying the minced pork for that added kick.

This is my recipe for Tofu with Minced Pork

Ingredients

• 3 pieces firm tofu (quartered)
• 100 to 150 grammes of minced pork
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
• Spring onions (cut to 6cm lengths or thereabouts for garnishing)
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil (palm oil preferred)
• 50 ml water or more
• Cornstarch (mix 1 tablespoon corn flour with 4 tablespoons water)

Marinade for minced pork

• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Seasoning

• 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon dark soya sauce
• salt to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper powder

Method

Marinade minced pork for about 30 minutes.

Heat oil in wok and stir-fry garlic till beginning to brown. Add minced pork and stir-fry till cooked. Add tofu, water and seasoning and lightly stir to mix well. Close lid and let it cook for another 2 minutes (add more water if gravy drying out).

Before serving, and sprinkle spring onions evenly and add cornstarch bit by bit if gravy too runny for your liking.

Lately, Dwarf Bok Choy is commonly sold in markets. Bok Choy or Pak Choy is a commonly cooked vegetable in chinese cuisine. Generally, the vegetable has dark green leaves and white or greenish spoon-shaped stems. Siew Pak Choy (Small Pak Choy) is a favourite to many and has greenish coloured stems whilst the Tai Pak Choy (Big Pak Choy) has a darker green leave atop white coloured stems. Dwarf Bok Choy, I believe, is a miniature version of the Tai Pak Choy, which you can see in the picture.

I find the Dwarf Bok Choy sweeter in taste rather than the more bitter Tai Pak Choy. That is not to say that it tastes sweet but rather, bitter sweet. I usually cook this vegetable with garlic and dried prawns. Somehow, I find the combination of garlic and dried prawns bring out the nice bitter sweet flavour of the vegetable. I also understand that cooking with dried prawns enable the vegetable to cook faster. You will notice that I do not use any seasoning as I prefer the original flavour from the garlic and dried prawns. The dried prawns are in itself, slightly salty.

This is my recipe for Stir-Fried Dwarf Bok Choy with Garlic and Dried Prawns

Ingredients

• Approximately 200 grammes of dwarf bok choy (wash and rinse to remove dirt)
• 5 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 30 grammes of dried prawns (rinsed for a couple of seconds, pre-soaked in 50 ml water for 20 minutes - retain water for cooking)
• 1 tablespoon of cooking oil (palm oil preferred)

Method

Heat oil in wok and stir-fry the dried prawns for about 10 seconds. Add garlic and continue stir-frying till garlic begin to brown. Add dwarf bok choy and stir-fry for another 15 seconds or so. Add the water (previously used to soak dried prawns) and close lid.

Cook dwarf bok choy according to how soft you want the stems to be. Add a little water if you wish to have more gravy and add salt to taste (if not already salty).

Ingredients

• 100 grammes sugar snap peas (about 20 pieces, remove tip and fibre which runs across the pod)
• 8 pieces of baby corn (sliced lengthwise to quarters)
• Carrots (sliced - amount to your desire)
• 5 pieces chinese dried mushrooms (pre-soaked till soft)
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil (palm oil preferred)
• 30 ml of water or more
• Corn starch (prepared using 1 tablespoon of corn flour mixed with 5 tablespoons of water)
  

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• salt to taste
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 2 teaspoons chinese cooking wine

Method

Heat oil in wok and stir fry the garlic together with the mushrooms till garlic begins to brown. Add baby corn and carrots and continue to stir fry for another 30 seconds while adding 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.

Add seasoning and semi-cover vegetables with warm water and close lid to allow vegetables to cook. Periodically check for drying out. After about 1 1/2 minutes or when gravy almost dried out, add sugar snap peas and another 3 tablespoons of water, stir well and close lid again. Sugar snap peas are done when the pod is breaking and has turned darker green in colour. Add a little bit of corn starch is gravy is too runny for your liking.

Serve hot with white rice.