Century Egg And Pork Congee

My parents moved to Tuen Mun for a while when I was small. It is a town near the sea in the North West of Hong Kong. I have quite a few childhood memories from there, as it was the place where I first went to school, learnt how to ride a bike and owned my first pair of roller skates. Like many other Asian parents, my mum would arrange extensive activities for me to attend after school - singing, ballet, swimming, pretty much everything I am not good at now. Sorry mum!

There was a congee breakfast place that my dad used to take me to almost every day before school.  I would always share a bowl of century egg and pork congee, and a plate of deep fried dough with him. The owner’s wife recognised us as regulars so she would always give us a bit more century egg in our portion. Sometimes we would also have a small plate of soy sauce fried noodles with beansprouts instead of the fried dough, but only if I was very good. 

This is a cheat congee recipe as I used frozen cooked rice to speed up the cooking. The proper way (according to me) of cooking congee, is to marinate washed rice grains with sesame oil and salt the night before, and then boil in water or stock for at least 1.5 hours until the desired consistency is achieved. I like mine thick and heavy.

I used pork shoulder in this recipe because I like to have a bit of fat in my meat. Traditionally we use lean pork (瘦肉), like loin, which is poached until tender and then shredded to mix into the congee.

Century egg and pork congee

Serves 2

2 Century eggs

250g Pork shoulder

300g Cooked rice (frozen)

1.2l Water

Thumb sized piece of ginger, cut into short and thin strips 

1 Stalk spring onion, roughly chopped

For the pork marinade:

1 tbsp Soy sauce (this will make the congee looks a bit brown, you can use 1tsp salt instead)

1 tsp Sesame oil

1 tsp Cornflour

0.5 tsp Sugar

Pinch of white pepper

Cut the pork into small slices and then mix with the marinade, set aside for at least 30 minutes.

Put the rice and water into a medium saucepan, bring to the boil. Keep boiling at a medium high heat for around 10 minutes. Do not leave the pan unattended as it may overflow. Add the pork and a couple of ginger pieces to the pan, and then turn the heat down to medium low. Put the lid on but leave a small gap between the lid and the pan by using a wooden spoon or chopstick. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove shell of the century egg, and then cut it into small pieces. Add half of the century egg pieces to the congee. Simmer for further 15 to 30 minutes, depending on what consistency you are after. The longer you leave it, the thicker the congee will become.

Use a ladle to serve the congee in a large bowl, and then put the rest of the egg and the spring onion on top to finish.

Tofu With Century Egg

凉拌菜 - literally means cold-mix dish, and they are very popular in the summer. They are normally appetisers consisting of blanched vegetables or cooked meat, which are mixed together with nuts and herbs, to be served at room temperature. Both jellyfish with sesame oil and "bang bang chicken" are types of 凉拌菜.

Soft tofu is perfect for making these cold starters. It can taste great by just adding ingredients as simple as chopped preserved vegetables, spring onion, a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce and sesame oil. I am using century egg as the main topping in this recipe, and adding extra crunch with some celery. Soft tofu generally does not require cooking, but I would always blanch it whole in hot water for a few minutes before using it. You can also steam it.

Tofu with century egg

Serves 2

1 Century egg

300g Silky soft tofu

1 stalk of celery, cut into short and thin strips

A couple of Celery leaves

1 stalk of Spring onion, roughly chopped

1 tsp Toasted sesame seeds

2 tbsp Soy sauce

1 tbsp Sesame oil

2 tbsp Vegetable oil

Remove shell of the century egg, and then cut it into 8 segments. Place tofu on a serving plate. Carefully arrange 6 segments of the egg on top of the tofu. Chop the rest of the egg into small pieces.

Place the celery on top, followed by the chopped century eggs and sesame seeds. Add soy sauce and sesame oil, and then sprinkle the spring onion and celery leaves to decorate. Heat vegetable oil over a high heat, and then add a splash to finish.

Spicy version: Add 1 tsp ground toasted Sichuan peppercorns and 1 chopped red chilli on top of the century egg. Add 1 tsp of chilli oil together with the soy sauce and sesame oil for extra heat.

Steamed Eggs With Century Egg

Steamed egg (蒸水蛋) is one of my favourite comfort foods. It only takes little time to prepare, yet is so satisfying. To me, the perfect wobbly steamed egg has an egg to water ratio of 1:1.5. The easiest way to measure this is to use the egg shells so you do not have to use scales. I use warm water in the recipe, as this is the way I was originally taught, and the result is always better (more smooth) than using water at room temperature. Boil a kettle full of water and then leave it to cool. Put your finger in the water, if it is warm but not painful then it is good to use.

Steamed eggs with century egg

Serves 2

4 Medium eggs

1 Century egg

12 Half egg shells of warm water

Pinch of salt

1 tsp Sesame oil

1 stalk Spring onion, roughly chopped

2 tbsp Soy sauce

2 tbsp Vegetable oil

Remove shell of the century egg, and then cut it into 8 segments. Arrange the slices evenly in a steam proof dish (at least 3cm deep).

Beat the eggs in a bowl until the white and yolks are fully combined. Add warm water and mix well. Add sesame oil and a pinch of salt, give it a stir. Pass the egg mixture through a fine sieve to get rid of any bubbles, and then pour it onto the century egg slices. Cover with cling film.

Place the dish on a rack over a wok of boiling water. Put the lid on and then turn the heat down to medium-low. Steam for 15 minutes. If the centre is still runny, steam for further 3 to 4 minutes.

Add soy sauce to the steamed egg and then sprinkle some spring onion on top. Heat vegetable oil over a high heat, and then add a splash of the hot oil to finish.

Variations: add salted egg (金銀蛋) , or replace century egg with soaked dried scallops (瑤柱), or just simply plain steamed egg. Best served with rice.

Purple Sweet Potato Mochi

One of my favourite Asian desserts is mochi - glutinous rice cakes with a sweet filling. In particular, there is a Japanese company called Mochi Cream, who sells a wide variety (15+) of flavoured mochi. My favourite ones are peach/blueberry yoghurt, green tea and cherry blossom. A few years ago they went global and opened a branch in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. But unfortunately on my last trip to Hong Kong I found that it had closed, so I do not think I can have mochi cream again any time soon…

So I have decided to make my own, using the purple sweet potato puree recipe from my last post. Making the mochi dough is very straight forward, but shaping is not. You have to seal the opening while the dough is still warm, so the sides stick together without leaving a line. The ones I made tasted good but they were certainly not as pretty and neat as those by Mochi Cream. More practise is needed!

Purple sweet potato mochi

Makes 10

220g Glutinous Rice Flour

15g Glutinous Rice Flour (for dusting)

110g Caster Sugar

200ml Full Fat Milk

150g Purple Sweet Potato Puree

1 tsp Icing sugar

1 tsp Vegetable Oil

Combine 220g glutinous rice flour and the sugar, and then gradually add the milk. Mix until the batter is smooth. Oil a plate with vegetable oil, and then evenly spread the batter on it. Steam the mixture on a medium heat for 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, divide the potato puree into 10 portions. Cook 15g glutinous flour in a microwave on full power for 50 seconds. When the dough is nearly done, dust your hands and work surface with the cooked flour.

Leave the dough to cool for a couple of minutes so you can handle it with your hands. Use a circular cookie cutter (I use 68mm diameter) to cut the dough, and then gently pull the side of the skin outwards so it is thicker in the middle.

Place a portion of the puree in the middle of the skin, fold it in half without squashing the puree. Repeat on the other side. Seal the opening by grabbing the four corners together, then twist and cut off the end. The closing should face downwards. Dust the mochi with icing sugar to finish.

Purple Sweet Potatoes And Green Tea Swiss Roll

When I was small, my family used to take me and my brother for barbeques in a country park in 'Tai Mo Shan' (literally 'Big Hat Mountain'), Hong Kong. Barbeque is a very different affair over there. There are stone barbeques and benches in the park, where people sit around, skewer the food on special metal forks, and grill them over a bed of charcoal. I would always start with two Frankfurter sausages (with a coat of honey) and end with a roast sweet potato. Since purple sweet potatoes are more rare and expensive than the normal ones, my parents would buy a mixture of both and then wrap them in tin foil. And if I was lucky, I would get a purple one.

There are not many Chinese sweet potato desserts. The most common one we eat in Hong Kong is called 番薯糖水 (sweet potato sweet soup) – boiled chunks of sweet potato in ginger syrup. However, cakes made from sweet potato are very popular in Japan, and that is where the influence for this recipe came from. A few weeks ago I got hold of some purple sweet potatoes. I baked them in the oven until soft, and then added... erm... condensed milk. I know it is not very conventional, but it tasted damn good. So trust me on this one.

I used the puree as a filling for a green tea Swiss roll, which I made for last month's Band of Bakers ‘Vegetable’ themed event. The green tea is quite subtle in this recipe, just enough in the background to complement the earthy taste of the sweet potato.

Sweet potato puree

Makes around 300g

3 Purple Sweet Potatoes (around 420g)

4 tbsp Condensed Milk

2 tsp Full Fat Milk

Preheat a fan oven to 200C. Bake the whole purple sweet potatoes (skin on) for at least 50 minutes. Use a fork to poke the potatoes to check that they are soft enough.

One by one, cut the potatoes in half, and then use a teaspoon to scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Use the back of a fork to mash the potatoes. Add the condensed milk and full fat milk. Mix well.

Use cling film to shape the puree into a long tube, twist to tighten both ends and then keep cool in the fridge.

Green tea Swiss roll with purple sweet potato puree

Serves 8

Sponge:

6 Medium Eggs (separated)

100g Caster Sugar

50g Self-Raising Flour

10g Matcha Powder

10g Ground Almond

40ml Full Fat milk

1 tsp Icing Sugar (for dusting)

Filling:

250ml Double Cream

30g Icing Sugar

160g Purple Sweet Potato Puree

Sugar Syrup:

20g Caster Sugar

60ml Water

Preheat oven to 200C. Line a 25cm x 38cm tin with greaseproof paper. Make the sugar syrup by dissolving the sugar in the water, and bring to boil until reduced by half. Leave it aside to cool.

Beat the yolks with 50g caster sugar until pale and creamy. Add half of the flour, mix well. Repeat for the remaining half. Add the ground almond, then slowly sift in the green tea powder, add the milk to loosen the mixture in between.

Using an electric whisk, beat the egg whites at a medium speed until you see lots of small air bubbles. Switch to high speed, and then add the 50g caster sugar, spoon by spoon, into the egg whites. Stop mixing when stiff peaks form. Do not overwork it.

Mix a quarter of the egg white into the cake batter. Fold in the remaining egg whites, a quarter at a time, until fully incorporated. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, and gently spread out with a spatula. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

Remove the sponge from oven. Cool it in the tin for a few minutes, and then cool (with the greaseproof paper still in place) completely on a wire rack. Place a piece of greaseproof paper (a bit bigger than the size of the tin) on a work surface, turn the sponge upside down.

Carefully remove the paper on the top. This 'smooth' side is the outer layer of the Swiss roll. Turn the sponge over (i.e. 'rough' side up). Brush the sugar syrup onto the sponge, including the edges.

Whip the fresh cream with icing sugar until soft peaks form, and then evenly spread it onto the sponge. With the shorter side facing you, line the puree around 6 to 8 cm from the bottom of the sponge. Roll the sponge over the puree and carry on until it is done.

Use the greaseproof paper to wrap around the roll, twist to tighten both ends and then put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Cut both ends off when ready, dust with icing sugar and serve.

Cocktail Buns

So I went to Hong Kong and Seoul for three weeks in October, blog posts coming soon(ish) I promise. But before that I want to tell you how I coped with nasty homesickness and post-holiday depression - I made bread.

A few months ago I joined Band of Bakers - a south east London baking club. We meet up at one of the local restaurants or cafes for a monthly themed baking gathering. From green tea Swiss roll to strawberry and cream choux buns, it soon became an essential event that I look forward to attending every month. There was a special event in October where the theme was enriched breads i.e. breads that have butter, sugar and eggs. I have never been very good at making bread, me and yeast just do not get on very well… So in order to hide my weakness (not competitive at all), I baked cocktail buns – a Hong Kong classic that no one from the BoB would be familiar with, therefore not knowing how they are supposed to taste. Genius? Yes.

A cocktail bun 雞尾包 is a sweet bun with a coconut filling, topped with sesame seeds and two pastry lines made from butter, flour and sugar. Originally local bakers mixed up leftover ingredients to create the filling, hence the name ‘cocktail’. It is one of the must-eat Hong Kong bakery items alongside egg tarts 蛋撻 and pineapple buns 菠蘿包.

I adapted the recipe from Christine’s blog (an excellent site for various Chinese recipes). She uses a special bread starter called Yudane 湯種, a mixture of hot water and flour, which apparently gives extra sweetness and softness to the bread. I have not tried making the bread without it so I cannot tell you the difference, but the result was very close to the texture I was aiming for. I used my bread machine to knead and raise the dough before shaping.

Cocktail buns

Makes 10 buns

Yudane:

50g Super Strong White Bread Flour

250ml Water

Dough:

350g Super Strong White Bread Flour

55g Caster sugar

5g Salt

56g Egg (beaten)

125ml Full Fat Milk

120g Yudane

5g Instant Yeast

30g Butter (room temperature)

A few drops of vanilla extract

Filling:

60g Butter

60g Caster Sugar

60g Egg (beaten)

80g Sweetened Coconut (shredded)

Sugar syrup:

1 tsp Caster Sugar

2 tsp Water

Toppings:

20g Egg (beaten)

5g Caster Sugar

15g Butter (room temperature)

10g Plain flour

To make the Yudane, mix the flour and water in a saucepan until fully incorporated. Put the pan over a medium heat, keep stirring to prevent any lumps. Remove from heat as soon as the liquid starts to thicken.

Place the Yudane in a bowl and then cover it with cling film. Set aside until it reaches room temperature.

To make the dough, place all the ingredients (except the butter) in a bread machine in this order: milk, egg, Yudane, vanilla extract, salt, sugar, flour and yeast. Set and start the ‘dough’ function of the bread machine, and then add the butter when a rough dough is formed. Let the machine continue the kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Use the ‘raise’ function of the bread machine for proofing (see your bread maker’s instructions for the exact timing). Or you can place the dough in a greased glass bowl, cover it with a damp towel and then proof until it doubled in size.

To make the filling, beat the butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the egg followed by the coconut. Place the mixture in a square/rectangular container, and then put it in the fridge until the first proofing is done.

Transfer the dough onto a floured surface. ’Punch’ the dough to release air, and then divide it into 10 small portions, around 75g each. Cover them with cling film and then rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, take the hardened filling mixture out of the fridge, and then cut it into 10 strips.

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough (away from you) to a long flat shape, place 1 strip of filling on the top of the dough, and then roll inwards into a tube shape.

Place the filled dough, seal side down, on a greased baking tray (I use a Swiss roll tray). Cover it with cling film and a wet towel on top for second proofing. It normally takes around an hour for the dough to double in size.

Preheat a fan oven to 180C. Make the pastry lines by beating the plain flour, sugar and butter together. Spoon the pastry mix into a small piping bag.

Make the sugar syrup by heating water and sugar in a saucepan. Boil for 2 minutes until the sugar dissolves completely. Set aside to cool.

Brush the dough with egg. Pipe two lines onto the dough using the pastry mix prepared earlier, and then sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

Bake the bread in the oven for 30 minutes until golden. Brush the sugar syrup onto the buns, then return to the oven for further 2 to 3 minutes. Rest on a rack to cool down.

Best served while still warm! Enjoy!

Takoyaki

Takoyaki (たこ焼き) is a kind of Japanese street food, originally from Osaka. Tako means octopus and yaki means grill or fry. They are hugely popular in Japan, especially at festivals. I simply adore the fresh-off-the-grill ones, and the tongue burning centre together with the mayo and bonito toppings make Takoyaki the most delicious ball-shaped food known to mankind.

These super-cute octopus balls have recently landed in London, I have recently had them at The Long Table and from Pom Pom Takoyaki. They are actually very easy to make, provided that you have the right pan. I bought one for my husband a few years ago as a Christmas present, although I am the one who uses it the most ;)

Besides octopus, traditionally pickled ginger, shredded seaweed and tenkasu (deep fried flour batter) are also used as the fillings of Takoyaki. The recipe below is adapted from a Japanese website. I used kimchi in half of the batch to vary the flavours, they were pretty amazing!

To make Takoyaki, first you need to pay a visit to a Asian supermarket for some essential ingredients. Mostly importantly, a Takoyaki pan:

You will also need Okonomi sauce. I called it Japanese brown sauce, which can also be used for Okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancake). Mine looks like this:

Katsuobushi (bonito flakes) is the onion skin look-alike stuff that ‘dances’ on top the of the mayonnaise:

I am using frozen small octopus that I bought from a Korean supermarket:

Takoyaki

Makes around 20

10 Tentacles from small octopus (the ‘fat’ end only)
5 stalks of Chives, chopped
1 tbsp Kimchi, chopped
3 tbsp Vegetable oil

Batter:
140g Plain flour
2 medium Eggs
500ml Fish stock

Other:
Katsuobushi, around 10g
Mayonnaise, as much as you like
Okonomi sauce, as much as you like

Fill a small saucepan with water then bring to boil. Simmer the tentacles for 2 to 3 minutes, and then put them in iced water to stop the cooking. After they have cooled down, pat dry with kitchen towel then cut in chunks, around 8mm each.

Beat the eggs in a bowl, add the fish stock and mix well. Add the flour to the mixture in batches, mix until fully incorporated.  The resulting batter should be thin.

Coat the Takoyaki pan with oil, and then heat it over a high heat. Pour the batter into the pan, followed by the octopus, chives and kimchi.

Turn the heat down to medium. When the batter begins to solidify, use a bamboo/metal stick to divide the batter into individual square portions. Tuck the corners into the middle of the octopus balls, there should be no batter left on the side when done.

Use the same stick to turn the ball upside down (or at least 90 degrees). You have to be patient to wait for the ‘moment’ where the ball become turnable, if you turn the ball too early, the outer crust will not form properly. It normally takes a good 3 minutes on my gas hob for the first turn. Run a stick along the edge of the ball, it should easily become unstuck when ready.

Repeat the turning process until a beautiful golden crust is formed on each octopus ball. The centre of the ball should be a little runny. Due to the circular ring on a domestic hob, the heat distribution is not even, so you may have to move the pan around to cover all of the balls.

To serve, place eight octopus calls on a plate, then add Okonomi sauce and mayonnaise on top. Sprinkle the chives and katsuobushi on top. Eat immediately!

おいしいたこ焼きを作りましょう!

The Tang's Seafood Feast

October is a special month for the Tang family. My birthday, my younger brother’s birthday, and my parents’ wedding anniversary all happen to fall in the same month. Before my brother and I came to live in the UK, we used to celebrate this very special month together every year. It is a shame we cannot get together as often as we would like because of the distance, but we still try to do something special whenever possible! We were not able to celebrate together this year, but as this is the first year my little brother is living on his own, I decided to cook up a seafood feast to celebrate his birthday.

There are so many different ways of cooking seafood, but I love the Chinese way - Get the freshest ingredients from the market, then grill or cook at a high heat with aromatic seasonings. Steaming is also a brilliant way to cook seafood if you prefer to keep it light and delicate. It is not easy to get live shellfish in London, there is a good selection in some fish mongers, but the markup - in my opinion - is excessive. Luckily we have Billingsgate Market, the biggest fish market in London, where you can buy the freshest seasonal shellfish at wholesale prices. After haggling for around half an hour, we had bought - a Scottish lobster, half a dozen clams and tiger prawns, a monkfish tail, a fillet of red snapper and a grey mullet, all for £60. BARGAIN!

For the meal, I cooked four dishes using the lobster, clams, tiger prawns and grey mullet. All the shellfish were cleaned, gutted and patted dry. They were all fried at a high heat (on the shell) briefly - in Chinese we called it ‘run oil’ (過油) - then set aside before adding back to the wok towards the end of the cooking process. This is to prevent the flesh from becoming mushy when cooking with other ingredients.

Lobster in a Chinese-Western style cheese sauce. Check out the size of the claw!

Steamed huge clams with glass noodles, garlic and spring onion. Seasoned with a splash of hot oil, soy sauce and sesame oil just before serving.

Stir fried tiger prawns with red chillies, garlic, ginger and spring onion.

Grey mullet is a speciality of my hometown, Yuen Long. For a typical home cooked  meal, we would usually have a whole steamed fish, a plate of vegetables, and a meat dish. My dad used to buy grey mullet from the local market, and he still does it whenever we go back to Hong Kong. So when I saw the grey mullet in the fish market, I could not help but buy one, even though I absolutely hate gutting fish...  luckily it was not my first time, so I managed to do that quite quickly. I laid slices of fresh lemon (supposed to use pickled lemon but I did not have any) on the top and bottom of the fish, before steaming it in a wok for around 15 minutes. I then added a splash of hot oil and soy sauce just before serving. I remember that I used to mix the remaining fishy soy sauce with the rice, after all the fish was gone.

For my own birthday, I was very lucky to have a warm day in mid October, so I could enjoy a wonderful picnic in Victoria Park with my great friends. We then headed to Viajante Bar for cocktails, followed by a Vietnamese feast on Kingsland road. Turning 30 is the start of a new page of my life, and I'm sure it will only get better :)

Pan fried sea bass with squid

I am in Hong Kong at the moment, surrounded by thousands of Chinese restaurants, which serve amazing yet cheap dishes from different regions of China. I think I have only eaten-in once since I arrived a week ago... I am going to write a post about my favourite things in Hong Kong when I get back to London. So stay tuned!

As much as I love eating out, I do miss home cooked food after a while, just something nice and simple. It is always fun to try something new, adding a little twist to a classic combination. In this recipe, I am used squid to add an extra texture to the sauteed potatoes. You can get the fresh squid from the fishmongers or the frozen from Asian supermarkets.

Pan fried sea bass with spinach, chorizo, squid and sauteed potatoes

Serves 2

2 Sea bass fillets, descaled

3 Small squid, cut into small chunks (I used tentacles only, the rest went into fishcakes :P)

1 Thumb sized chorizo sausage, cut into small chunks

1 Medium sized potato, cut into small chunks

Handful of spinach

1 Red chili,cut into small pieces

1 Clove of garlic, cut into small pieces

4tbsp Olive oil

1 knob of butter

Salt and ground black pepper

Descale the sea bass fillets, pat them with kitchen towel, and leave them to dry at room temperature for 10mins. Do the same for the squid tentacles. Meanwhile, chop the chorizo and vegetables as required.

Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, cook the chroizo for a couple of minutes, followed by the squid and the chili. Fry them for around 30 seconds, or until the squid is just cooked. Remove from the pan and put to one side.

In the same pan, heat 2tbsp olive oil at high heat, brown the potatoes, then saute with medium heat until cooked. Add some butter to keep them going. Once done, add the chorizo and squid back to the pan, stir fry for a minute. Season with salt and pepper.

Season the fillets with salt and black pepper, rub them with a little olive oil, then dust them with cornflour. Heat 1tbsp olive oil in another frying pan over a high heat, carefully place the fillets skin side down, then cook for 2 minutes, or until the skin is crispy. Turn and cook the other side for further 2 minutes, When the fish is done, take them out and set aside. Heat 1tbsp in the same pan, cook the garlic and spinach over high heat, cook until the spinach is soft.

To serve, place a spoonful of the sauteed potatoes, squid and chorizo on one side of the plate. Try to get rid of the water released from the spinach using kitchen towel, then put them on the other side of the plate. Place the bass fillet on top of the spinach, season with salt and pepper if needed.

You can replace the bass with any white fish, or use octopus instead of squid. A perfect dish for a summer night!

Big Fat Pig Sunday - Part 2

Braised pig's trotters with Shanghainese noodles

Pig's trotters are very popular in the Far East. They are braised for a long time, until the texture becomes soft and slightly elastic - almost like eating a mochi (Japanese glutinous rice cake). In Taiwan, they call this "Q".

Apparently pig's trotters contain a lot of collagen, which is good for the skin and hair. Traditionally Chinese women follow a special diet featuring braised trotters in sweetened vinegar after giving birth. I was told that the women who had the trotters recovered faster than the ones do not. I'm not sure if the effect is exaggerated, but if it tastes good and it makes my skin and hair look good, it sounds like a pretty good deal to me :)

There are many different ways to braise the trotters. You can braise it with sweetened vinegar, oyster sauce, or with dried plum etc. For this recipe, I'm cooking it in a soy sauce based stock called "Lo Sui". 

Braised pig's trotters with Shanghainese noodles

Serves 4

2 Pig's trotters

1 Spring onion, cut in 4

Thumb sized ginger root, cut into thick slices

For the Lo Sui

2 Star anises

Half of a small cinnamon stick

Thumb sized ginger root, cut into thick slice

2 Spring onions, cut in 4 each

2 Gloves of garlic

1 tbsp Whole black peppercorns

1 tbsp Brown sugar

80ml Light soy sauce

20ml Dark soy sauce

50ml Chinese rice wine

600ml Water

Wash the trotters, remove any visible dirt (especially under the toe-nails) and hair. If you have a blow torch, use it to burn the hairs if necessary, this will make them easier to remove. You can ask your butcher to cut the trotters into chunks, or you can run a sharp knife down the middle to split it in half.

Fill a wok or a big saucepan up with water, around 3/4 full. Bring it to boil. Put the spring onions and gingers into the boiling water, followed by the trotters.

Bring the water to boil again and then let it simmer for 5 minutes. This will help to get rid of the blood, and the earthy taste of the trotters.

Take the trotters out of the wok, then put them straight into iced cold water. Let them cool down. Pat dry with kitchen paper.

Put all the Lo Sui ingredients in a medium sized saucepan. Add the trotters, bring it to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Cover it then transfer to the oven at 150C for 2 hours, or continue to simmer for at least 2 hours at minimum heat.

Remember to taste the sauce to adjust the flavour to your liking. The sauce should thicken up, and get richer in taste. Take the meat off the bones when ready, and cut it into chunks.

You can buy Shanghainese noodles in most of the Chinese supermarkets - I am using the thin ones. Put the soup base into a bowl, then add boiling water until half full. Add the cooked noodles. Lay the trotters on top, and use a big spoon to pour the sauce over the trotters. Deliciously Q! 

Big Fat Pig Sunday - Part 1

Roast Loin Of Pork With Crackling

Last Sunday was the Wimbledon men's final, so I thought I would prepare a Sunday roast to go with some quality tennis.

I bought a beautiful piece of pork loin from a local butcher, and also picked up a couple of trotters. I had never cooked trotters before, so it was quite an interesting experiment. You can find out more in part 2 :)

Roast pork is actually quite simple to cook: herbs + salt + pepper + rub + roast. The key is the crackling. In this recipe, I took the crackling off while the meat was resting. Then cooked it in a high temperature oven to achieve the perfect crunchy texture. I feel like cheating a bit taking the crackling off... I remember seeing the perfect crackling in the roast hog dish made by Tom Kerridge from this year's Great British Menu - it was perfectly intact with the meat. One day... hmmm... maybe I can do it as well.

Roast Loin Of Pork With Crackling

Serves 2

For the pork

1kg Pork loin, at room temperature

1 tbsp Rapeseed oil

A couple of sage leaves

1 tbsp Freshly ground black pepper

Lots of sea salt

For roasting

2 medium onions

2 medium carrots

A handful of sage leaves

Preheat oven to fan 220C. Use a sharp knife to score across the skin diagonally. The scoring has to be quite deep, but without cutting the meat.

Pad dry the pork with kitchen towels, it has to be absolutely dry. After drying, I normally wrap the pork in kitchen towels, and then leave it by the window for 20 minutes before seasoning. 

Drizzle the rapeseed oil on the pork, give the meat a gentle massage all over with some salt and pepper.  Tear the sage leaves in half to release the flavour, continue to massage the pork until you can smell the sage from the meat itself.

Get a handful of sea salt, rub it into the skin where the scoring is. Be generous with the salt. Sprinkle some more on top when done.

Peel the onions and carrots, then cut them into chunks. Put them in a roasting tray together with the sage leaves, a bit of oil, salt and pepper. Place the pork on top of the vegetables, then put into the oven for 20 minutes, or until the skin turns golden and starts to crisp.

Lower the temperature to 150C, then roast for further 2 hours.

When the pork is done, run a knife between the crackling and the meat, the crackling should come off easily. Move the meat to a plate/tray, cover it with foil, then rest it for 20 minutes. 

Turn the oven up to 220C. Turn the crackling over, then cut the thick layer of fat attached to the the skin. Don't remove it all, leave around 1 to 2mm of fat to ensure the texture is crunchy yet slightly chewy. Place the crackling on a tray, and return to the oven for 20 minutes.

You can make a gravy from the roasting vegetables and juices while waiting for the crackling to cook. 

Perfect with some apple sauce.

Enjoy!