Kong Bak Pau

The secret to a good kong bak is the dark soya sauce.  It should be very dark and thick.  I use the sauce from our homegrown Kwong Woh Hing.  It is more expensive than the usual brands but worth it.

Ingredients

2 kg indonesian pork belly

200gms gula malacca

1 tablespoon five spice powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 bottle of KWH dark soya sauce

1 pkt of stewing spices (contains cinnamon bark, cloves and aniseed)

10 pcs garlic with skin

Method

Blanch pork belly in boiling water for 5 mins

Wash under tap and wipe dry

Cut into 1/4 inch thickness

Marinate with five spice powder, salt and a little dark sauce

for about 20 mins

Heat pan and 1tbsp cooking oil

Pan fry pork slices on high heat on both sides. (this is to extract the oil from the pork fat)

Boil half a pot of water in stew pot, add in gula malacca, 1/4 bottle of dark soya sauce, garlic, spice packet and then the pork belly

Cook on medium fire till meat is tender. Test with a fork.

Remember to stir the bottom of pot to prevent sticking.

If liquid is reduced, add more water

Add a bit of salt if required.

I prefer to buy the buns from supermarkets as they keep them in the chillers.  The ones from wet market are not fresh

AUNTIE DOLLY IS BACK

Hello Everyone, Auntie Dolly is BACK.

Why? Several people have been bugging me to start sharing recipes again. Truth is,
after seeing all the beautiful pictures posted by other bloggers, I got embarrassed as mine were so badly taken.  Secondly, I kept forgetting to snap pictures before the food disappeared in a flash.

This Chinese New year especially, one niece in law of mine came after me and said "Auntie Dolly!
why your blog got no recipe for kong bak pau huh? " Another niece who recently returned from Hong kong for good said " Jee gor, why your blog so long no update?"

SIGH, OK OK,  I will start blogging again. During the last few days of festivities, I cooked

Prawn paste chicken
Yoke lan kai
Mengkabo
Kong Bak Pau
Ngoh Hiang
Duck Noodle
Roast Pork
Curry Chicken
Chicken Abalone Porridge
Cantonese Chai with Nam Yu
Sweet and Sour Garoupa
Yu Sheng
Char Siew
Nian Gao with Sweet Potato and Yam
Nonya Mee
Crab Meat Ball
Fish Maw Soup
Battered Prawn

I will be posting recipe for Kong Bak Pau once I get the photo taken.  Till then, let me know if you want recipe of any of the above that is not already in the blog. If nobody wants anything, I go back to sleep again.

Tong Cho Pork Ribs (Sugar Vinegared Pork Ribs)

I have been slacking I know.  What woke me up?  A nice lady by the name of Rosalind Choon commented on my blog.  She said that my blog has all her favourite food. You see I need you to post comments to let me know that someone is reading my blog.  So here's a simple recipe for sweet and sour pork ribs done the original traditional way.

Ingredients

1 kg premium pork ribs (I always buy indonesian pork from wet market)

Season with salt, pepper and oyster sauce for at least 3 to 4 hours

Cornflour for coating pork just before frying

For sauce - Mix in a bowl

1 teaspoon chinese wine

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon each of light and dark soya sauce

2 teaspoons of brown sugar or 2 small pieces of rock sugar

3 tablespoons water

Method

Heat oil in frying pan and deep fry pork till nicely brown (do not overcook or meat will be tough)

Remove from pan

Heat a little oil in pan and pour in the sauce mixture

Boil gently and keep stirring

When sauce thickens, do a taste test and adjust according to your liking

Put in the pork and stir till evenly coated with the sauce. Do not have too much gravy

Traditional Hokkien Noodles with Venus Clams

Sorry for the long absence.  Auntie Dolly has been travelling.  I went to Switzerland, London and then Kyoto and Osaka. Now back to cracking my head for new recipes.  Actually, I have cooked this before but what made me decide to cook it again was when I saw these huge clams at Sheng Siong Supermarket.

Ingredients - for 3 to 4 persons

Venus Clams - steam till cooked (do this just before noodle is ready so as to keep warm)

11/2  kg flat yellow noodles

6 to 8 big prawns peeled leaving the tail

2 squids washed and cut into rings

Roast Pork, sliced

Long cabbage

Ikan bilis for stock

Chicken stock - buy the Swanson chicken stock

Oyster Sauce

Pepper

Black Soya Sauce

Sugar

Salt

Cornflour mixed in a little water

Garlic minced

Method - Preparing the stock

Heat oil in wok, fry garlic and then add ikan bilis

Add water to make stock.

Cook on slow fire for about 15 mins.  Drain the soup and discard the rest

Pour stock in pot and bring to a boil

Add cabbage and boil till soft

Heat oil in wok,  fry minced garlic till golden brown and remove including oil (this is to garnish the clam)

Heat oil in wok, fry some garlic, add prawns and then squid. (do not overcook)

Remove from wok.

Heat oil in wok, pour the ikan bilis stock and vegetables

Add some chicken stock

Add in oyster sauce, pepper, black soya sauce, salt, sugar

Add noodles and simmer for about 10 mins

Taste and adjust seasoning

Add cornflour mix, then the prawns, squid and roast pork

Dish out.  Sprinkle the golden brown garlic and oil onto each clam and place on top of the noodles.

Note:  You can also sprinkle fried shallots on top of noodle. Refer to http://auntiedollylovesfood.blogspot.sg/2014_03_01_archive.html)

Vinegar Pork Trotters

This is a traditional dish served to  mothers who have just given birth to a baby. The vinegar and ginger help to expel wind.  Nowadays, we do not have to wait for someone to have a baby to savour this. My friends, men and women rave about this dish after eating at my place.
In the old days, the traditional way of cooking this dish is to boil the vinegar and ginger over and over again for a few months.  The pork trotter is only added on the day it is served.
Why not try the short cut way and still achieve the same results?

Ingredients

2 Pork forehand trotters with some lean meat attached. cut into bit size
Old and young ginger
one knob of garlic leave skin intact
1 bottle of Chan Kong Thye vinegar (Bulldog logo)
2 pieces of gula malacca (palm sugar)
hard boiled eggs
sesame oil


Method

Skin the ginger, cut into medium sized stubs.
Smash it lightly and put it in the sun to dry for a few hours
After ginger is fully dried,
Heat sesame oil in pot and fry ginger and garlic till fragrant
Add gula malacca and fry till dissolved
Pour in whole bottle of vinegar and another bottle of water
Let it boil for 2 hours on low fire
Turn off fire and let it steep in pot overnight
Boil water to blanch pork
Add pork trotters to vinegar and boil till soft. Add eggs
Adjust taste to your liking, depends if you like it sourish or sweet

Achar (nonya salad)

Just came back from Europe and craving for local food. Here's my achar recipe, its sweet and sour, a great appetiser. It  goes well with chicken rice, nasi lemak, fried bee hoon, fried rice and lots of other local food. The degree of sweetness and sourness is up to your own liking. How much of each ingredient you use is also up to you.

Ingredients

Cucumbers with skin on

Carrots

Cabbage plucked into pieces

Pineapple

Lots of grounded peanuts

Lots of toasted white sesame seeds

Rempah (look for recipe in earlier post)

White vinegar

sugar and salt

Cooking oil

Method

Cut the cucumber, carrot and pineapple into thick strips (see picture)

Dry cucumber and carrots in the sun for 2 to 3 hours. This is to make it crunchy.

Heat oil and fry rempah till fragrant

Add vinegar, sugar and salt. Adjust according to your taste

Fry till well blended, then turn off fire

Put in all the vegetables, mix well

Lastly add peanuts and sesame seeds

Cool and store in glass containers

Place in refrigerator for future use

Auntie Dolly's Mee Siam

There are many versions of Mee Siam, Malay, Indian, Peranakan and now Auntie Dolly's.

I have tried and tested different recipes and tweaked it to my family's liking.  When you have a party and there are more people, you can do the dry version.  Basically you just reduce the amount of gravy and make it thicker.  Here is the wet version. Always remember the measurements are agak agak (estimated). After you've tried it, you will know how much to use.

 

Ingredients for frying bee hoon

 

1 pkt of bee hoon soaked in hot water for about 3 mins then drained dry.

300 grams bean sprouts, tail plucked

2 tablespoons of chilli rempah (look for recipe in earlier post)

6 pcs small red onions, pounded.

chinese chives for garnishing

Hard boiled eggs, quartered for garnishing

Oil for frying

 

Method for frying bee hoon

 

Heat oil, fry onions and rempah till fragrant

Add bean sprouts, fry a little while and then add bee hoon

Using a pair of long chopsticks, keep tossing till evenly coated with rempah

Add salt and light soya to taste, then dish out

 

Ingredients for gravy

 

6 pcs red small onions pounded (you can use big onions too)

300 grams dried prawns, soaked and pounded till half fine

200 grams tau cheong pounded (fermented soya beans)

3 tablespoons chilli rempah (recipe in earlier post)

300 grams assam (tamarind pulp) soaked in 1 bowl of warm water to extract juice

200grams coconut cream (kara brand)

4 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

6 pcs dried Taupok (bean curd puff) cut in to broad strips

Water - about 300 ml

Oil for frying

 

Method

 

Heat oil, fry onions till aromatic, add dried prawns and fry for about 2 mins

Add chilli rempah and continue to fry till fragrant

Add pounded soya bean paste and fry again

Using a sieve. drain the assam juice into pot

Add water and boil for about 20 mins (adjust amount of water accordingly)

Add coconut cream and stir till dissolved

Add sugar, salt and do a taste test.

Lastly add in taupok and boil for another 5 mins

 

Dish a handful of bee hoon onto plate

Spoon gravy onto bee hoon

Garnish with eggs and chives

You can have additional chilli sambal at the side (can be bought from glory at east coast road)