Braised Pork Hock

Ben and the boys like fatty pork. Me, not so much.

Ben made the above Braised Pork Hock in a pressure cooker.

Ingredients

  • 2 pieces of cinnamon bark
  • 2 pieces of star anise
  • 1 teaspoon of white pepper corn
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cloves
  • 1 bulb garlic with skin on
  • 4 slices ginger
  • 10g of rock sugar
  • 1 piece of bay leaf
  • 2 cups of Chinese white rice wine
  • 1/2 cup light soy sauce
  • 1 cup dark soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons cooking oil
  • 2 pork hocks, hair removed

Source: this recipe is from spicenpans.com

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Ants Climbing Tree

I love this dish called Ants Climbing Tree. So, Ben made it for me one day.

Ingredients

  • 4 oz mung bean noodle/glass noodle
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 tablespoon finely minced ginger
  • 1 tablespoon spicy fermented bean sauce
  • 4 oz ground pork
  • 1 can (398ml) chicken broth
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
  • 2 stalks green onion, chopped
  • 2 Thai chili, finely chopped (optional)

Source: The woks of Life

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Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly

Ben made this Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly for dinner.

Everyone at home loves it. It is saucy and the pork belly has the right amount of fat and lean meat which gives it the great texture.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound pork belly, cut into small strips
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil, optional
  • 4 to 5 medium shallots, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 8 pieces of dried shiitake mushroom, re-hydrated (reserved soaking liquid), diced
  • 1 teaspoon five spice powder
  • a few dashes of ground white pepper
  • 1/2 cup of white rice wine (Chinese cooking wine)
  • 1/3 cup light soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup dark soy sauce
  • 15g rock sugar
  • 1 can (395ml) chicken stock
  • 300ml mushroom soaking water
  • 4 hard boil eggs – as complement
  • blanched green vegetable – as complement

This recipe is adapted from spicenpans.com

Serves: 5 to 6

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Japanese Style Mah Poh Tofu

For this South Arm Community Kitchen, the participants shared their favourite recipe.

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Junko shared a Japanese style Mah Poh Tofu served on germinated brown rice. Junko preferred germinated brown rice as it’s not as tough as regular brown rice and yet still has some chewiness to it.

Ingredients

  • 1 package of smooth soft tofu, cubed
  • 100 grams ground pork
  • 3 stalks green onions, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 inch ginger, minced
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1/2 tablespoon miso paste
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon mirin
  • 1 tablespoon soy bean paste (or substitute with miso paste)
  • 1/4 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon corn starch

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Source: Junko

Serves 2 (we made enough for 12)

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Ian Lai’s Asian Inspired Mah Poh Tofu with Multigrain Rice

Ian Lai made a simplified Mah Poh Tofu to be served with some multigrain rice during the Healthy Eating and Fun Cooking demonstration.

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Mah Poh Tofu is a popular Szechuan dish. The name came from the old lady with pocked marked who sell this dish along the street.

Ingredients

  • multigrain rice
  • 200g ground pork
  • salt to taste
  • 1 package of soft tofu
  • 1 package of Mah Poh tofu seasoning

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 Source: Ian Lai

Ian bought the above ingredients from T&T

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Pork Lettuce Wrap

For the main dish, Michelle prepared a Pork Lettuce Wrap for the Chinese New Year celebration at the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors.

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You can use ground turkey or chicken for this recipe.

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Michelle served the meat mixture, lettuce cups, cashew and cilantro separately.  The diners will help themselves with the assembly of the lettuce wrap by spooning the meat and vegetable mixture into the lettuce cup and garnish with cilantro and chopped cashews if desired.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 teaspoons minced ginger
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
  • 1 cup finely chopped button mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup water chestnuts, finely chopped
  •  1 lb ground pork or chicken or turkey
  • 8 to 10 iceberg lettuce leaves, washed and edges trimmed
  • handful of cilantro, chopped
  • 1/4 cup chopped cashews

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Source: this recipe is adapted from Epicurious.com

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Pork Skin in Laksa Broth, with Rau Thom in Moderation

I know. This is not exactly the healthiest of breakfast.

When I was young and growing up in Malaysia, I used to always walk to the open air wet market near my house to buy breakfast. There are a lot of choices but there is one thing I like to buy most of the time is the curry with pork skin. I like it so much that in my last trip back to Malaysia a few years ago, the first place I headed to for breakfast is exactly that.

For some reason, back home in Vancouver, I completely forgot about it.

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The reason was because I did not come across pork skins until now. So with the help of Suanne, I made the pork skin in laksa broth above. Maybe the proper word to describe this is not made, but rather assembled.

For those of you who love laksa and pork skin, this will be something you will like a lot. I am sure. The pork skin does a great job in absorbing and holding the laksa making it bursting with flavour.

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There are not many places where you can buy pork skins like these above. Or at least I have not paid much attention to it until recently.

What really excites me is that it is really cheap. It is just $2.99 a pound. Not knowing how much is a pound, I told the shop that I wanted $5.00 and they ended up giving me $7.00 worth of it. That makes it well over 2 pounds. Actually it is not really what it is weigh because it also holds some clear jhup which I figure makes up the bulk of the weight.

The owner of the shop told me that not many places will “bow” (translated as explode in English), these pork skin but they do make it themselves. I am wondering if any of you knows of other places who also “bow” pork skins in Vancouver.

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Marinated Baked Pork Chops

For the main course, Marian prepared a Marinated Baked Pork Chops for the seniors. It is tricky to make a tender pork chop as it usually ends up tough and dry.

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This Marinated Baked Pork Chops are moist and quite tender as there is no complain from the seniors.

Ingredients

  • 6 pork chops, trimmed
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons ketchup

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Source: unknown via Marian

Serves 6

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Pork Neck Bone with Corn Soup

In the Caring Place Community Kitchen, Joanna shared some very homey Chinese dishes.

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The first recipe is a simple Pork Neck Bone with Corn Soup. You may use pork rib to make this soup for a meatier cut of meat. Pork neck bone is very cheap, 99 cents per pound.

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds pork neck bone
  • 4 corns, cut into chunks
  • 3 to 4 slices of ginger
  • 8 to 10 cups of water
  • salt to taste

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Source: Joanna;  Serves 6 to 8

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