Roast Pork or Siew Yoke -- feast to die for?

Crackling all the way.

There is nothing like a good "Siew Yoke" roast pork! When we were growing up in Klang, there was a man on motorcycle who came to peddle Siew Yoke and Char Siew (BBQ Pork). We called him "Char Siew Sok" or Uncle BBQ Pork. Sometimes relatives would buy us roast and BBQ pork from other places but we never quite liked them the way we liked Uncle BBQ Pork's.

For many years, I have wondered how to get the crackling to be really crispy, and mom didn't have an oven, so we never made roast pork at home. Our old neighbour whom my mom endearingly calls "Si Lai" knows how to do BBQ pork over a tin can mounted on top of a charcoal stove. We never did have to learn as she always gave us some as a treat.

Lately my friend M has given me some lessons on how she does her roast pork. M has perfected her pork down to a fine art, so she is rightly my "sifu" in this dish. My past experiences with roast pork have always been dissapointing as the crackling never quite crackled and bits and pieces of the crackling would be rubbery.

The trick, M says, is in the salting process. Throw in heaps of salt, and keep the skin dry before putting the meat in the oven.

Something wicked, something divine!

So here's my version of Roast Pork, done with reasonable success according to M's instructions. Roast pork is perfect with apple crumble (if you are doing a Western-style meal). If it is Chinese meal, chop up heaps of chilled cucumber to go!

1) Get a reasonably good size piece of pork belly. Have the butcher score the top of the belly (doing it yourself can be hard if your knife is not sharp), more is better here.
2) Rub sufficient 5-spice powder all over the piece of belly. (This is optional).
3) Throw in heaps of rock salt and rub it all over the belly (both sides).
4) Throw more rock salt on top of the belly. Set aside with a teatowel on top. Keep in fridge for a few hours.
5) Set oven temp to 250 (highest) (for 15 mins).
6) Place pork belly, skin side up, in heated oven for 20-25 minutes on top most rack. Wait till skin starts to crackle. Move the meat around occasionally to get all sides covered.
7) After 25 minutes, turn your oven's heat down to 150 and roast in the middle rack, for 1.5 hrs (this is for a 1.5-2.5 kg piece of belly). Place a small metal bowl with water, on bottom rack, to keep the pork moist.
8) After 1.5 hrs, take meat aside and rest for 15 minutes before cutting.

You can use the drippings to make a gravy if you have roasted potatoes and other veggies to go with this. Otherwise, a good old combination of dark soy sauce and chilly is perfect.

(Health warning: Not a dish to be had too often!)

Obsession with Huat Kuih or Steamed Rice Cakes

My 5th Aunt and her passion for making Huat Kuih got me researching the internet for ways to do the rice flour version of this little steamed cupcakes that have a light feathery texture. It is a perfect wheat-free alternative to normal muffins without the fat content.

There are many variations to this steamed rice cake. Sometimes they come in multi-coloured hues. Mostly, they come in white or pink. While I was growing up, we used to buy dozens of these rice cupcakes as an offering at our annual grave-sweeping journey, or Ching Ming, as we call it. After a hard morning of chopping weeds and clearing the graves, my clan members would offer the cupcakes with an assortment of other food offerings. When our “ancestors” have had their go, we end up chomping these delicious cupcakes to refuel. They are perfect with kopi-o!


My mom hasn’t had much success fermenting these cupcakes so I have the benefit of the worldwide web to beat her to this! After my recent visit to Malaysia, and having seen my 5th Aunt’s success at making her Huat Kuih (made using wheat-flour and normal yeast), I trawled the internet and found some easy enough recipes to follow.

I have never made these rice cakes before so it was all a bit of a touch and go. It started with the fermentation process. Using dried yeast cake (Chou Pang in Cantonese or Ragi Tapai in Malay), I did exactly as what the recipe told me too.
The fermentation took longer than expected; I left the rice-yeast-sugar-water mixture to ferment for about 3.5 days before the rice started getting watery (sign of fermentation?).

I think the baking powder gave it the lift it needed to “smile” (the Chinese see these as an auspicious sign). I added a bit of lemon essence to lend a bit of lemony flavour to it. I suspect it would work well with a coconut milk or pandan flavour.

Credit must be given to these two blogs where I found most of the information I needed to proceed.
http://sakura-lovebaking.blogspot.com/2008/01/huat-kuih.html
http://mykitch3n.blogspot.com/2010/04/steamed-rice-cake.html

Mine turned out pretty well – blasting forth like fresh petals off a new bloom! My friend M was the first to try it – I was really excited by how these cupcakes turned out so I texted her to come for morning. They went well with Japanese bancha!

My recipe is a variation/combination of the two plus a bit of innovation.

(A)
1) one bowl (Chinese rice bowl) of leftover rice
2) one fish-ball size piece of dried yeast/crushed
3) 4 tbsp of sugar plus 4 tbsp of water

Let the above mixture sit for 36-48 hour in a covered plastic container (Wrap with a tea towel and keep in a cool dry place.)

(B) 1) 2 bowls of sugar (can be reduced if you want a low sugar version)
2) 2.5 bowls of rice flour
3) 200 ml to 250 ml of water (mix the two and leave to cool overnight)
4) 2 teaspoons of baking powder



Once the rice is fully fermented, blend it in a blender. Add sugar syrup and rice flour. Add lemon essence if you wish or pandan essence. Mix well and let sit for another 6 hours at least. Add baking powder, let it sit for 15 to 20 mins, and scoop the mixture into muffin tins or smallish cups. Your mixture should look like a version of a pancake batter (not too thick though). Steam at high heat for 20 mins. Remember to have enough water in the steamer so you don’t need to replenish midway.

Mee Hoon Kway - making use of leftover roast dinner

We had roast chicken dinner today. To accompany the chook, we had a platter filled with roasted veggies -- Jerusalem artichokes (courtesy of my friend), parsnips, potatoes, carrots and onions. Some steamed brocolli and peas made up the rest, and of course some gravy.

The leftover carcass -- with scent of five-spice, garlic, sesame and lemon -- will make a perfect stock. I skimmed whatever leftover meat there was from the chicken (enough for either a small pie or a chicken sandwich perhaps?) and put the bones to boil for 10 minutes. Tomorrow, I will make a simple flat noodle dish which mom used to make and which most Chinese homes would have made, one version or another. In Singapore this noodle dish is called pan mian.

When we were school kids, mom used to allow us to spend some time at her sister's place. At my aunt's we had really nice food. For supper, (round 9pm at night) we may get lucky and have fried kway teow (rice noodles). And other times, my cousin sister would dish up mee hoon kuay for us kids.

Mee hoon kuay is a sort of flat Chinese noodle made from wheat flour. It is exceedingly easy to make and a perfect comfort food during winter. You can make it in less than half an hour if you are efficient. If you don't have chicken or pork stock, you can fry a bit of dried shrimps until they are nice and crispy and add four to six cups of water to it, to make a quick stock -- seasoned with salt, pepper and sugar. If you like the scent of garlic, add a pip of garlic to it.

The noodle or dough is really simple to make.

1. Measure about 1 cup (this is enough to feed two people) or 2 cups of all-purpose flour. Add about 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and half a teaspoon of salt to the flour.

2. Add enough water to make a soft dough. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes. If you have a longer lead time, let it sit for about half an hour.

3. Dust dough with a bit of flour, and start pinching the flour into little pieces of flat bits, and drop it into your stock (the stock should be simmering). Stir occassionally to prevent these little bits of noodle from sticking to each other.

4. Add heaps of green leafy veggies half way before you finish pinching the rest of the dough. Finish off the rest of your dough, and voila, you have a nice noodle dish. Garnish with fried shallots or spring onion/coriander for more flavours. Eat this dish with a little sliced red chilly soaked in soy or fish sauce.

5. As with most noodles -- you can add whatever you want to the stock -- ie, pieces of pork or chicken. The best stock for this noodle is ikan bilis (little white bait-like fish which is found in Asian grocers) stock. Check my previous blog on a variation of this noodle soup using a very thin Chinese wheat flour noodle.

Noodles for longevity - Mee Suah anyone?

Mom's birthday is coming up next week, after Mother Days. Mom used to tell me that on my birthday, I should cook her a bowl of noodles. This was the traditional Chinese way -- you cook your mom a bowl of noodles as an extension of your gratitude, for the 9 months she carried you in her womb, and for the years she spent caring for you.

Truth is I have never made mom a single bowl of noodles for her birthday. The closest I have come towards making her any noodles was when she was ill, and I made her a bowl of "mee suah" (very fine wheat flour noodles). It is a simple dish, made with egg, a bit of pork, and whatever veggies you can find in your fridge.

Noodle is comfort food. Noodle is cheap and a good budget food, which is why the Chinese and most in Southeast Asia have many noodle dishes. At most Chinese birthday parties, a noodle dish is compulsory. There is a superstition attached to cooking noodles -- you never cut or chopped it -- especially when you are cooking it to celebrate longevity (on birthdays). The longer the noodles, the longer your lifespan.

In its simplest form, "mee suah" can be made in 15-20 minutes from scratch. It doesn't cost anything. I bought a pack of "mee suah" which literally translate into thread noodle (for the fineness of the noodles) from Lim's Grocer at Glen Innes for $1.80. The packet can easily make up enough to serve 3 persons. You can find this noodle in most Asian grocers.

The way I learnt it, the trick to making the stock is to have a couple of eggs as the base. If you have more time, you can make proper stock from pork bones, chicken bones or your favourite stock material. So here's what mom used to do:

1. Have a pip or 2 of garlic. Chopped. If you are lazy like me, just crush a pip or 2 with your palm.
2. Get your wok/pot ready. Drizzle 2 or 3 tablespoons of oil, and wait for it to smoke.

3. Prepare your pork/chicken (a small fistful should be enough). Chopped it and marinate with a bit of salt/sugar and cornstarch.

4. Wash whatever veggies you want to use (best to use Chinese leafy greens or even iceberg lettuce). Chopped some spring onions for garnishing later.

5. Crack 2 eggs, whisk it gently. Add a bit of white pepper and a dash of soysauce or salt.

6. When the oil is hot enough, add it the egg. Wait for egg to foam and sizzle/crinkle on side, then slide your spatula in the middle and tip the runny bits so they all form a nice omelet-like piece. When egg is nice and crispy, mash them up.

7. Add 2 or 4 cups of water to make a broth. Use chicken or beef dry stock to season. Add salt and a bit of sugar to taste.

8. Add the pork/chicken and veggies.

9. When the soup is boiling, and the meat is cooked, add the noodles. Because "mee suah" or these thin noodles get stodgy and sticky very quickly, boil the noodles in the stock for a quick few minutes. (Warning: Do not overcook or this noodle will "bloat" very quickly).

Your noodles should be now ready. For garnishing you can add a sprinkle of fried shallots, and green onions. In Malaysia, the folks there add dried "ikan bilis" (little white bait-like fish which has been dried then deep fried). Mom adds a bit of salted cabbage to her version of "mee suah". I omit this as it is hard to justify salted veggies when we can get fresh veggies so easily.

May all beings enjoy this!