Steamed Minced Pork With Cauliflower

Steamed minced pork is a much loved dish where I come from. This is something I made weeks ago but haven't had the time to blog about because I was gallivanting in and out of town.

Steamed Minced Pork With Cauliflower

The busy bee gathers more honey - equating honey with sweet life experiences. I went to Kajang for a holiday, and then zoomed to Penang the following week for Cheng Beng (Tomb-Sweeping Day). In between, a flurry of visits from relatives kept me occupied with touristy activities.

Now that things have settled down, I'm back to blogging again.

Here's how I prepared this simple dish.

Steamed Pork With Cauliflower
- 1 cup minced pork
- 1 cup cauliflower florets (slice away bigger stems*)
- 1 medium-large red onion (chopped)
- 1 tbsp chopped spring onion
- ¼ cup Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing)
- ¼ cup water
- Salt to taste
- White pepper (less than ¼ tsp)
- Fresh coriander (the garnish)

How-to:
1) Mix minced pork with onion, spring onion, cooking wine, salt and pepper.

2) Spread pork mixture onto steaming plate. Drizzle water all around.

3) Arrange cauliflower florets in the center. Sprinkle a little salt over.

4) Steam for about 10 to 15 minutes in a pre-heated cooker (I use an electrical cooker).

5) Serve garnished with fresh coriander.

*Note: I sliced the cauliflower stems thinner (or away), so that it takes a shorter time to cook. 
 

1) Gather ingredients into a bowl. 2) Mix ingredients together.
3) Place pork mixture onto steaming plate. 4) Steam!

Taste-wise, a pleasant deep (but not strong) savoury flavour due to the addition of wine. Cauliflower has a natural sweetness that compliments the overall dish. Best eaten with rice!

Steamed Minced Pork With Cauliflower

 Easy-peasy?

Read more...

Pumpkin Chicken With Razor Shells and Cauliflower (Slow-Cooker)

'Tis the season for giving, as it is with a number of festivals in Malaysia. This includes Chinese New Year!

Before traveling back to the husband's home town, I gave each of my friends a box of mandarin oranges. It was a Fedex same day delivery thing. We zoomed to several homes on the Sunday we had purchased it, dropped the festive-looking box off and greeted friends with 'Gung Hee Fatt Choi ' in advance.

Senior citizens hold a special place in my heart, so I usually pack a red bag of goodies for them. This may include canned mushrooms, dried food, nian gao, a packet of nuts, festive cookies, essence of chicken, bird's nest - typically food which carries good meaning or is said to contain health improving properties.

I'm sure those who celebrate this occasion would have received a little something from friends and family. My home is laden with goodies from food hampers. I am always grateful and excited to get these because it helps me save on grocery shopping.

Tips for sorting out food hampers
1) Group similar items together.
2) Arrange by expiry date.
3) Plan the week's menu to include hamper items. 
Begin with items that will expire first.

This is one of the dishes I cooked last week where I have cleared off a food hamper item. I can now mark canned 'Sea Asparagus' (Razor Shell) off my list!

Pumpkin Chicken With Razor Shells and Cauliflower (Slow Cooker)

Pumpkin Chicken With Razor Shells and Cauliflower (Slow Cooker)
Ingredients:
- ½ chicken (685g)
- 1 large garlic clove (sliced thinly)
- 1 cup cubed pumpkin
- 1½ cup cauliflower florets
- 425g canned sea asparagus/razor shell (rinsed)
- 1 sachet Kee Hiong Chicken Soup Spices
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- Handful of fresh coriander (roughly chopped)
- 3 cups hot water + 2 cups room temp water
- Additional water for boiling
 
How-to:
1) Brush 1 tbsp oyster sauce all over the chicken.
2) Add 5 cups water into the slow cooker. Set on high. Stir the remainder of the oyster sauce and white pepper in.
3) Place spice sachet in, along with garlic and pumpkin. The chicken goes on top. Cook for 2½ hours. Never open the lid in between.
4) At the 2-hour mark and in another pot, boil cauliflower until cooked and sea asparagus for a couple of minutes. Set aside in a colander or a strainer to drain away excess water.
5) Arrange the boiled ingredients onto a deep plate, along with the chicken and pumpkin. Pour the soup over.
6) Serve garnished with fresh coriander.

Note: Equipment used for this recipe : 3.0L capacity Faber Slow Cooker.
Cooking time and results may vary between slow cookers.

Best eaten on its own or with rice. For added oomph, complete the meal with a soy sauce-sliced chilli dip.

1) Pumpkin and garlic slices. 2) Brush chicken with oyster sauce.
3) Adding fresh ingredients into the cooker along with seasoning and spice sachet.
4) Place chicken on top.

Arrange all the ingredients on a deep plate.

I will try to give an idea how this tastes like - the soup has a pleasant sweet-savoury flavour with a hint of Chinese spice aroma. Cauliflower is blessed with a natural mild sweetish flavour so it compliments this dish although it was boiled only in plain water. The razor shells, on the other hand, are mildly saltish. Combined together, it's all thumbs up for me!

Garnish with fresh coriander.

Pumpkin Chicken With Razor Shells and Cauliflower (Slow Cooker)

Out of curiosity, what kind of items would you prefer to receive in a festive food hamper?

Read more...

Cauliflower Pumpkin Curry

Frequent rains and gloomy clouds, the days have been really chilly at my summery corner of the world. I would never have turned down an ice cream treat, but ...brrr!

These are days I cuddle up with hot tea, chocolates and meals that bring warmth to the body, like curry.

Curry has been playing on my mind. I was on my sofa nicely tucked under a blanket. I hadn't really wanted to do anything but I had to eat. Heh! So, off I went to see what was in my fridge. And that's how I landed myself with a cauliflower curry.

I had both cauliflower and pumpkin to clear off. I got into the groove once the cutting and chopping started. An hour later, my curry dish was ready and I was gleefully scooping huge spoonfuls onto my plate of rice. This, to me, is comfort food!   

Cauliflower Pumpkin Curry

Here's how I made this.

Cauliflower Pumpkin Curry
Ingredients:
- 3 cups cauliflower florets
- 1 cup cubed pumpkin
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 3 star anise
- 3 dried bay leaves

Mix together into wet curry paste
- 2½ tbsp curry powder
- ½ tsp coriander powder
- 2 tbsp dried red chilli paste
Note: Add a bit of water to the curry paste, if too dry.

- ½ cup coconut milk
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup cooking oil
- Salt to taste and pinch of white pepper
- 1 tsp finely chopped fresh coriander

How-to:
1) Heat oil in pan. Saute onion and garlic until lightly browned. Add curry paste, bay leaves and star anise. Stir-fry until paste is a darker shade of red or until oil separates.

2) Add pumpkin and cauliflower. Pour the coconut milk in. Season with salt and pepper, and stir until all the ingredients are well coated.

3) Add water. Simmer covered on lower heat until pumpkin is smashed and the cauliflower is cooked.

4) Switch the heat off. Stir fresh coriander in and serve!

1) Ingredients 2) Sauteing onion and garlic.
3) Adding in the spices and curry paste.

1) Adding pumpkin and cauliflower into the mix. 2) Mixing the coconut milk in.
3) Add water and cook until pumpkin is smashed.

There you have it, served with fresh coriander.

Cauliflower Pumpkin Curry with Fresh Coriander

It's great with rice and oh-so-perfect with roti.

Cauliflower Pumpkin Curry ..dig in!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Read more...