Sweet & Sour Pork Chop

Today is another "no rice" Sunday for us. Too bored of having dishes with brown rice. I want to cook something new but not so tedious. Finally, I made up my mind to cook Western food, the sweet & sour pork chop. I know, the cooking process will mess up my kitchen. What to do? Let it be!

I have no idea which type of pork meat I should use, so I just informed the butcher to cut me some soft lean meat for my pork chop dish. Then, my experiment started...

Sweet & Sour Pork Chop
Serves 2

Ingredients:

380gm of pork chop cutlets

1 small yellow onion, diced horizontally

1/2 yellow capsicum, diced

Canola oil to cook

Seasoning for pork chop cutlets

Sprinkling of salt and pepper

Sauce ingredients
4 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp chili sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar

1/3 cup of water

Method

1. Marinate pork chop with seasoning for 1 hour.

Tips: Lightly chop the pork cutlets across the top & bottom surfaces with the back of knife.

2. In a non stick pan, fry the marinated pork chop until golden. Drain oil and set aside.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil and saute onion until fragrant. Pour in the sauce ingredients. Bring to boil.

4. Return pork chop pieces to the pan and Add capsicum. Cook for 1–2 minutes.

5. Serve the pork chop with stir-fried cauliflower & broccoli and peach slices (from can).

Mom's Chili Flower Crabs

I was so happy last afternoon when I had my lunch at my parents place. Yuhoo!!! I spotted a mouth-watering dish! Mom cooked my favourite flower crabs. Yummy Yummy!

Now a days, flower crab is no longer cheap. 1kg of flower crab cost for RM19. Dad bought 4 big crabs from our nearby wet market for RM22. We normally buy our raw seafood directly from fishermen. But sometimes, you just can't find any supply of flower crab at all the stalls due to lack of harvest. But, if they have a good catch, they will offer better price.

Crab meat is an excellent source of high quality protein, vitamins, and minerals that are needed for good nutrition. Crab meat is an good source of phosphorus, zinc, copper, calcium, and iron and is very low in fat, especially saturated fat. However, it is also somewhat high in cholesterol which can also raise your blood cholesterol level. Ah.....forget about it la, I just enjoy it once in a blue moon, shouldn't have much issue.

When hubby studied in Perth, Australia, he stayed with his brother and sister in law. They used to have outings during the weekends. One of the activities was catching blue crabs (here we called flower crabs). However, only adult crabs were allowed to catch. If not, will be summoned by the rangers ha...I shall experience the crab catching when we visit there in future. :)

Compared to mud crab, flower crab has softer shell. It's easier to consume as the shell comes off easily. I don't know how to cook it, I just know how to eat, haha...My mom stir fried the crabs with ginger strips, lots of chopped garlic, chili paste, and seasoned with light soy sauce and sugar. It tasted so yummy. The flesh is fresh and sweet. Hmm...just that this time dad got all male crabs, so no roe lor.... If not, the dish will be more tastier. I don't mind to spend my time to slowly enjoy the crabs. Fingers licking good! :D

Chicken Stew With Carrot & Potato

Thanks to Ming & Ling for sharing their recipe with me. I requested for the recipe from Ling, and she passed the task to Ming to supply me the recipe. ",)

The main reason I asked for the recipe is that I've been wanting to cook something similar to this, but was not really sure the method. So for the first time, I followed the recipe but with the ingredients cut down for just 2 of us. The method is simple, and most importantly it won't mess up the kitchen. We love the taste of this dish, and I found that it is a suitable dish for toddlers.

Chicken Stew With Carrot & Potato
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 boneless whole chicken leg, cut into cubes

1 potato, cut into cubes
1 small carrot, cut into cubes
1 small onion, sliced

Seasoning:

2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
dash of sesame oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
Water
Corn starch

Instructions:

1. Marinate chicken cubes with sesame oil and light sauce and leave aside.

2. Boil carrot and potato until soft and leave aside.

3. Fried onion until slightly brown.

4. Stir in chicken and fry until half cooked.

5. Stir in potato and carrot and stir fry for 3 minutes.

6. Add in oyster sauce and dark soy sauce.

7. Add in water enough to fill dish.

8. Add in corn starch to thicken.

9. Add in salt to taste. (I skip this as I found with the soy sauce and oyster sauce, it was just nice)

10. Serve hot.

Fish Porridge and Noodle @ Restoran Her Pian

Last Saturday after our morning walk session, we went out for breakfast with FIL. Of course, he is very familiar on where to go for cheap and delicious local food. ;) This time he brought us to River Side for fish porridge.

There's only one stall operating in the morning. Fish porridge (RM4.50), fish vermicelli soup (RM4.50), pork porridge (RM3.50), and koay teow th'ng (RM2.50) are available.

FIL ordered his fried fish fillet porridge. Hmm...old folks really love porridge. :) But hubby and I quickly responded "no" when he invited us to order porridge. We prefer smooth and soft porridge, rather than "rice soaked in soup".


Hubby ordered fresh fish fillet bee hoon soup. I tried the fish fillet. It's very fresh. No fishy smell at all.

For me, I ordered bee hoon soup with fried fish fillet. The serving consisted very generous portion of fish fillets, chinese cabbage and celery. The soup base is not overly sweetened by Ajinomoto. I would say it is a good choice for breakfast.

Restaurant Her Pian (River Side) is located near the traffic light turning into Patani Jaya.

Japanese Tofu With Enokitake

Enokitake, the fungi in a sproutlike appearance with small caps and thin, long, stems. I personally like its crunchy mouthfeel. It is excellent when served raw in soups and salads. Also, cooked Enokitake is an excellent source of niacin ( vitamin B3, a water-soluble vitamin which prevents the deficiency disease pellagra) and riboflavin ( vitamin B2, an easily absorbed micronutrient with a key role in maintaining health in humans and animals).

I found that Enokitake goes well with Japanese tofu. Another fact that enlightens me is that the cooking process is very simple. Total preparation and cooking time just less than 20 minutes. :)

Japanese Tofu With Enokitake

Ingredients:
1 tube of Japanese tofu, cut into 1.5cm thickness
A packet of Enokitake, cut off the root, washed and drained
2 crab meat sticks, cut into strips
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp of corn flour mixed with 2 tbsp of water
Some water
Canola oil

Seasoning:
1.5 tbsp of oyster sauce

Instructions:
1. Heat some oil in a pan. Pan-fry the tofu slices till golden yellow. Arrange the tofu on a plate.
2. With the balance oil in the pan, stir fry the garlic till fragrant. Add in the Enokitake and stir fry for a while.
3. Add some water and oyster sauce. Leave it simmer for 30 seconds before add in the crab stick.
4. Pour in corn starch and mix well. Off the fire.
5. Pour the gravy over the tofu slices.

Note: Served hot to prevent the fishy smell when it’s cooled.