Gu Lou Yuk 咕噜肉 Cantonese Style Sweet And Sour Pork

For many non-Chinese a good Chinese meal is incomplete without the ever popular sweet and sour pork, beef in black bean sauce and lemon chicken.... oh one mustn't forget the compulsory yang zhou fried rice (or better known as the special fried rice, recipe next).

The bastardised versions served at most Chinese restaurant simply do not reflect how wonderful these dishes actually are. Having shared with you the superior versions of beef in black bean sauce (豉汁牛肉) and lemon chicken (檸檬雞) , it is time to give this wonderful dish a much needed redemption.

No thick and soggy batter nor the familiar starchy dyed red sauce in this family recipe of mine. Instead you'll be getting crispy and light battered pork in a delightful sweet and sour sauce flavoured with ginger, vinegar, tomato ketchup, sugar and Chinese cooking wine. The crisp vegetables and pineapple add crunch and colours to this wonderful Cantonese classic

If you are not a fan of pork belly, do feel free replace it with pork neck or loin instead. For a northern version, please check out sweet and sour pork spareribs (糖醋排骨)

recipe from the tummies' kitchen
serves 6 to 8 as part of a Chinese meal
you'll need;
1 kg of pork belly, removed rind, cubed and flatten with a kitchen mallet
5 cm knob of ginger, grated
1 spring onion (white part only), minced
1.5 tbs of light soy
2 tsp of sesame oil
a splash of Chinese cooking wine
a dash of white pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
corn flour for coating
peanut oil for frying
1/2 a red onion, cubed
1/2 a red pepper, cubed
1/2 a green pepper, cubed
1/4 of a pineapple, skinned and cut into chunks
1 small cucumber, cubed (treatment see below)
3 spring onions, cut into 2 cm lengths

for the sauce;
2 tbs of cooking oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
a small knob of ginger, minced
120 ml of tomato ketchup
6 tbs of sugar
300 ml of white vinegar
100 ml of chicken stock
a dash of Chinese cooking wine
corn flour solution to thicken

Prepare the vegetables and pineapple.

Cut cucumber into chunks, rub in a tbs of salt and allow to stand for 10 minutes, squeeze out excess water and rinse well.

Marinate pork with ginger, spring onion, light soy, sesame oil, Chinese cooking wine, white pepper  and beaten eggs for at least 30 minutes. 

Coat pork pieces with corn flour and deep fry pork in batches until golden and crispy. drain well and set aside.

Saute onion and peppers with a little oil in a very hot wok for a minute, remove and set aside.

Heat up 2 tbs of cooking oil  and saute garlic and ginger over medium heat until fragrant (~ 1 minute). Add tomato ketchup, sugar, vinegar, stock and Chinese cooking wine, stir well and allow the sauce to come to a boil. Return the sauteed vegetables to the wok together with the pineapple and cucumber, stir and mix well.

When the sauce return to a boil, thicken the sauce with a little corn flour solution. Finally return the fried pork to the wok, turn off the heat and mix well.

Serve with plenty of steamed rice and enjoy!

Punjabi Spiced Cabbage

We continue our culinary journey through India; from the deep south to the far north state of Punjub.

Not much I can say about this popular everyday punjabi vegetarian dish except it is so delicious I serve it with all my Indian meals at home.

It makes a great side dish to go with any meat or fish dishes, or you might want to team it up with a few other vegetarian dishes and have a very satisfying vegetarian feast instead.

recipe from The Food Of India
serves 4 to 6 as part of an Indian meal
you'll need;
1/2 an onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, bashed
3 cm knob of ginger, roughly chopped
2 green chillies, seeded and chopped
4 tbs of oil
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
hafl a cabbage (~500g), finely shredded
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp of cumin powder
1/4 tsp of chili powder
20 g unsalted butter

Finely shred the cabbage and set aside.

Finely blend onion, garlic, ginger and chili in a food processor.

Heat up the oil in a wok and saute the blended ingredients over low heat until soften, be careful not to burn or brown the mixture, add the cumin seeds and turmeric powder and continue to saute for a further minute.

Mix in the cabbage and stir thoroughly until cabbage is well coated with the yellow mixture.

Season with salt and pepper, cumin powder, coriander powder, and chili powder, stir to mix and cook for 10 minutes with the wok partially covered, stirring from time to time until the cabbage is soft. If the cabbage becomes too dry, sprinkle a little water. Finally stir the butter through and check for seasonings.

Serve the simple but delicious dish as part of an Indian meal.

Spicy Kerela Eggplant

I am a doer not a talker, so I really resent wasting my time with endless, meaningless chats or meetings. I say let the action do the talking, instead of sitting around idly waiting for the elusive pot of gold or in this case a beautiful pot of eggplant to appear.... no it won't!

After my opening rant, I am not going to write a long post about this favourite vegetarian dish of ours except it is bloody delicious! If you are an eggplant lover, you might want to try making it at this very moment.

Happy cooking and have a marvelous Sunday!

recipe adapted from The Food Of India
serves 4 to 6 as part of an Indian meal
you'll need;
2 large eggplants (~1kg), cut into wedges
400g tin chopped tomatoes
4 cm knob of ginger, chopped
8 garlic cloves
1.5 tsp of fennel seeds
1/2 tsp of nigella seeds
1 tbs of coriander powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1/2 tsp of chili powder
1/2 tsp of crushed black pepper
salt to taste
oil for frying

Soak eggplant for 20 minutes and drain well.

Blend ginger and garlic with half of the chopped tomatoes until fine.

Nigella seeds and fennel seeds. Crush the fennel seeds lightly if you are not a fan of bitting into whole spice.

Fry eggplant in batches until golden brown, remove and drain off excess oil.

Add 4 tbs of oil to a large pan or pot and add in the whole seeds. Cover and allow the seeds to pop for a few seconds. Add the blended ingredients, the rest of the chopped tomatoes and spices and cook until the mixture becomes thick and oil starts to 'split'.

Return the fried eggplant to the pot and gently mix through the sauce, cover and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Season well with sea salt before serving.

I served this beautiful dish with chicken masala, punjabi cabbage (recipe up next) and plenty of steamed basmati rice on the side.

Kari Ikan Mamak, Mamak (Indian Muslim) Style Fish Curry - "Malaysian Monday 97"

I know it is already Wednesday but it is better late than never right? 

This is a popular Indian muslim style fish curry that can be found at every corner of our beautiful country. It is extremely simple to recreate this delicious dish at home especially if you are able to obtain some Malaysian fish curry powder (look for burung nuri brand curry powder for fish). I made this in just under 40 minutes during my afternoon break, just to give you an idea of how easy it is.

Spanish mackeral is the fish of choice and cutlet is preferred rather than fillet, if your are unable to find Spanish mackeral, snapper is a good substitute. With the added eggplant and okras means you can save yourself from making another side dish, just make sure you have plenty of steamed rice or roti to mop up the delicious sauce!

P.S remember to check out my prawn version (kari udang mamak) and if you are after Nyonya fish curry (gulai ikan) please click here.

serves 6 to 8 as part of a Malaysian meal

you'll need

1 kg of spanish mackeral cutlets

oil for cooking

1 tsp of funegreek seeds (halba)

1 small eggplant, cut into wedges (optional)

10 okras

2 long green chillies, sliced

2 tomatoes, cut into wedges

1 brown onion, chopped*

6 garlic cloves*

5 cm piece of ginger*

4 tbs of Malaysian fish curry powder (I used burung nuri brand)**

1 tbs of chili powder**

500 ml of coconut milk

500 ml of stock cup stock

2 stalks of curry leaves

4 tbs of tamarind concentrate

Blend ingredients * in the food processor, set aside

Mix ingredients ** with a little water to form a paste, set aside

Blend or chop onion, garlic and ginger and set aside.

Brown eggplant with a little oil until half done and set aside.

Heat up a little more oil in the pan, add funugreek seeds and curry leaves, be careful as the oil might splits, after 30 seconds add the blended ingredients and mix well. Cook the spice mixture on low heat for another 30 to 60 seconds.

Add in the curry paste and mix well. Continue to stir until oil starts to split.

Add coconut milk and stock and let it simmer for 10 minutes before adding the eggplant and tomatoes and green chilies and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add fish cutlets and cook for a further 3 to 5 minutes or until the fish is done. A minute or two before the fish is ready add in the okras and tamarind concentrate. Check for seasonings before serving.

Serve with plenty of steamed rice or some flaky homemade roti canai.

The crazy season has started, we decided a combined Nov/Dec roundup should work better for everyone during the busiest period of the year. I will be hosting the next event, so please send all your entries to me at sureshchong@yahoo.com . To find out more about MMM and on how to enter please click here