Taiwanese Noodles with Meat Sauce

I had something like this the other day at a restaurant and it totally made me want to make this. It's pretty nice in the hot weather because the cucumber is so refreshing.

Apparently this is something that most Taiwanese families have in their arsenal and it's different for every family. This is how I made mine and I like it.

Don't worry if the meat sauce seems salty; it's supposed to be that way so it doesn't taste bland against the noodles and cucumbers. The cucumbers are truly awesome (as you can tell from the abundance of cucumber we like to put in our bowls).


Taiwanese Noodles with Meat Sauce
(serves 6)

Ingredients: 

• 6 packs udon/don don noodles/ramen
• 1lb lean ground pork
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup sweet thick soy sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp Chinese five spice
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• Water
• 1 English cucumber, julienne

Directions:

1. Prepare noodles as directed on the package. 
2. Heat a sauté pan on medium high heat. Brown pork. 
3. Stir in onion, both soy sauces and five spice. Mix well. 
4. Add enough water to just cover the meat. Bring to a gentle boil. 
5. Meanwhile, mix cornstarch with about 1/4 cup of cold water into a slurry in a small bowl. Add to meat mixture and turn off the heat. 
6. Divide noodles into 6 bowls. Top with meat sauce and garnish with cucumber. 
7. Serve immediately. 

Fish Tofu & Veggies Stir Fry

There's nothing quite like a simple stir fry to stretch your protein. In this case, it's a half pound of fish tofu. Okay, fine. So fish tofu doesn't really have that much protein, but still. It's protein-ish? Meh, you can always just sub the fish tofu with any protein. Chicken or pork slices are always my go to (marinated with soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch and oil). It's what I grew up with...but I think fish slices would go nicely too. Just gotta brown them, take them out and then add them back in at the end so that it's not overcooked.

To make this totally vegetarian, just add some marinated firm tofu and you're good to go. :D


Fish Tofu & Veggies Stir Fry
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup toasted/roast cashews
• 1/2 - 1 lb fish tofu, sliced (or 1 marinated chicken breast, sliced/1 package marinated tofu, cubed/ 1/2 - 1 lb marinated pork tenderloin, sliced; etc.)
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
• 3 celery ribs, thinly sliced
• 3-5 slices ginger
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 green onion, cut into 2 inch long pieces, white parts separated from green parts
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp canola oil

Directions:

1. Heat up a wok over high heat. If your cashews aren't roasted, toast them in the dry wok and then set aside in a clean bowl.
2. Add oil and let it heat up until the oil shimmers. Add in ginger, garlic and white parts of the green onion. Cook until fragrant.
3. Add protein and cook until lightly browned.
4. Toss in onions, carrots, celery, salt, sugar and soy sauce. Mix well. Cover and cook until protein is cooked through and veggies are tender crisp.
5. Stir in green parts of the green onion. Transfer everything onto a serving dish. Top with toasted/roast cashews.
6. Serve with rice and soup.

Stir Fry Eggplant with Minced Meat

So I love eggplant when it's stir fried or deep fried. I just love it. Hubby can't stand it so I almost never have it unless we're out at a restaurant. This is probably only the second time I've bought eggplant to cook at home. I'm so glad I did. This was so yummy.

I made it spicy just cuz I'm just in love with this garlic chili that I bought on a whim from the grocery store a while back. If I don't have any chilies at home, I just use this. It's crazy spicy and SO GOOD. Probably cuz we love garlic so much in our household...I dare say that it's better than Sriracha for stir fries and that sort of thing. Anything that requires a dipping sauce or something like that, Sriracha is still king. ;)

Honestly, you can turn this into a vegetarian dish if you don't add the meat. It doesn't really matter whether you do it or not. I just don't like making too many different dishes at night (read: lazy) so I add the meat to ensure I get some protein. :P


Stir Fry Eggplant with Minced Meat
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium Chinese eggplant (about 8-10 inches in length), cut in half lengthwise and then 1/2 inch half moons or into 2 inch long strips
• 1/4 lb lean ground pork
• 3 Tbsps soy sauce, divided
• 3 tsps canola oil, divided
• 2 tsps cornstarch, divided
• 1 tsp sugar, divided
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 inch knob of ginger, cut into slivers
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1/4 tsp garlic chili
• 1 green onion, finely diced

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, marinate the pork with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of canola oil, 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar for about 15 minutes.
2. Heat up remaining oil in a wok over medium high heat. Swirl it around so that all the sides are coated with a thin later of oil. Add marinated pork and cook until browned. Add in eggplant, garlic, ginger and cook until eggplant starts softening.
3. Stir in oyster sauce, remaining sugar, remaining soy sauce and garlic chili. Toss until well coated.
4. In a small bowl or cup, make a slurry out of the remaining cornstarch and water. Add to the wok and toss. Cover the wok and cook until eggplant is fully cooked.
5. Turn off the heat and toss in green onions.
6. Serve with rice.

Wonton in Hot Chili Sauce

My mom makes the best wontons. Her filling is different all the time, depending on her mood and what's available at the moment, so I've taken to doing that as well. K only likes the wonton wrappers and Hubby likes it all meaty with some shrimp. I love them with shitake mushrooms and pork or pork and shrimp. Sometimes my mom will even put in some diced choy.

Hubby probably loves his wontons best this way rather than the traditional wonton noodle soup. I can't blame him. The man does love his spice.

There are so many ways to wrap a wonton. I've always wanted to wrap it the way my mom does it with her chopsticks, but I can't. I just end up smushing the thing into something totally unrecognizable. It's crazy awesome though. She just uses her chopsticks to put the filling in the middle of the wrapper, and then use it to help pinch the ends together to make it into a tiny meat pouch that looks so pretty too. It's similar to how this person does it.


Wonton in Hot Chili Sauce
(makes about 100 wontons)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs lean ground pork
• 1 lb raw shrimp, finely diced (or 7 rehydrated shitake mushrooms, finely diced)
• 1 Tbsp ginger, grated
• 6 garlic cloves, minced and divided
• 6 Tbsps soy sauce, divided
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 4 tsps sugar, divided
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce paste
• 2 tsps canola oil
• 2 tsps sesame oil
• 1 tsp chili oil with some of the chili
• 1 red chili pepper, finely diced (optional)
• 1 green onion stalk, diced
• 1 1/2 lb (about 100) wonton wrappers

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine together pork, shrimp/mushrooms, ginger, 4 cloves of minced garlic, 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, cornstarch, 3 teaspoons of sugar, canola oil and 2 teaspoons of sesame oil until mixed well.
2. Line 2 large plates or baking sheets with wax paper. Set aside.
3. To make the wontons, hold the wonton wrapper in your left hand so that it's diagonal (e.g., each corner pointing top, right, bottom & left). Spoon 1 teaspoon of filling into the middle of a wonton wrapper. Bring the bottom corner up to meet the top corner with your left thumb and middle finger. Then using both index fingers, push the left and right sides up, squeezing out all of the air from the pocket and lightly scrunch the top to make a neat little meat pouch. Lay the wonton down on the wax paper lined plate. Continue until you run out of either wrappers or filling.
4. At this point, you can freeze all the dumplings for 2-3 hours before transferring them into bags for easier storage until you're ready to eat them.
5. To cook, bring a pot of salted water to boil. Gently drop in 16 or so wontons into the pot of boiling water and cook for 8-12 minutes until wontons are cooked through. You'll know they're done because they'll float up to the surface.
6. Meanwhile, make the sauce in a small microwaveable bowl by mixing together remaining soy sauce, remaining sugar, remaining minced garlic, remaining soy sauce, soy sauce paste, chili oil and red chili (if using). Cover with saran wrap and heat on high for 30 seconds. Uncover and mix in green onions.
7. Using a slotted spoon or spider ladle, transfer cooked wonton to a shallow rimmed plate. Spoon sauce over wontons.
8. Serve with tea.

Note: If you want to turn this into a meal, just use the salted boiling water after cooking the dumplings to cook some wonton noodles and then mix them into the remaining sauce after you've finished eating the wontons. Or mix the noodles in with the wonton and sauce to eat together.

Smoked Sausage, Tomatoes & Mushrooms Penne

I haven't really wanted to cook pasta for a while. It's mainly cuz now I'm in this frame of mind where I feel like it's a chore to dirty another pot and strainer JUST to cook pasta and sometimes it takes longer for the pasta to cook than it does for me to make the sauce. Weird and probably very lazy, since it's almost the same as just making rice for any other dishes. HAH.

Regardless, I had the ingredients to make a pretty easy pasta dinner, so I made myself do it! I'm glad I did though. It was pretty good. :)

Surprisingly it wasn't that filling though. I ended up having to have some leftover lasagna as an "after dinner snack". Lol. Maybe I just needed to have a bigger portion. :P


Smoked Sausage, Tomatoes & Mushrooms Penne
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups dry penne pasta
• 1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 smoked Italian sausages, sliced
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 red chili pepper, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium to large pot, cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente.
2. In a large skillet, heat up oil over medium high heat. Add in mushrooms and cook until they start to get some colour.
3. Toss in onions, chili pepper and sausage. Cook until onions soften and sausage starts getting browned at the edges. 
4. Add tomatoes and garlic. Use the tomato juice that secretes out to help scrape off any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Season with salt and pepper.
5. When pasta is cooked, drain, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water.
6. Toss in cooked pasta and stir in Parmesan cheese. If the pasta gets dry, add a little pasta water to loosen up.
7. Serve with a side salad and soup.

Smoked Sausage & Peppers

I really love smoked sausages. Probably cuz I love hot dogs...but I didn't feel like heating it up with some jar pasta sauce with pasta.

I actually wanted to have some rice. I haven't really had white rice with a side dish for a while and I was totally going through withdrawal. That being said, I just made this quick sausage and peppers to go with my rice. I could've just had canned fried dace with black bean sauce (drool) or pan fried spam (more drool) but Hubby doesn't like either one, so I had to make real food. (K already had steamed egg to go with his rice, so I didn't really have to worry about him.)


Smoked Sausage & Peppers
(serves 3)

Ingredients:

• 3 links smoked Italian sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 bell peppers, any colour, cut into strips
• 1 medium onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Heat up a large skillet with the extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat. Toss in smoked sausages and cook until the edges start to brown.
2. Add in onions, peppers and garlic. Cook until sausages are browned, onions and peppers are fork tender, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Serve over rice or with plain pasta coated with extra virgin olive oil.

Kimchi Fried Rice

One of my favourite foods in the world for sure! I love a runny egg with almost anything. Seriously. And I love fried rice. And have you TRIED kimchi paired with rice and a runny egg? OMG it's to DIE FOR.

You could make this vegetarian or with any kind of protein. I made mine with leftover diced deli ham, but I've tried it with diced spam. HELLO...loving it. But I do love my spam, so meh! :P

This really is an awesome dish to use up leftover kimchi and leftover rice. You can even make it using leftover fried rice, which makes this dish even easier than it already is. :D


Kimchi Fried Rice
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup kimchi, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups leftover cooked rice
• 3 Tbsps kimchi juice
• 1 heaping Tbsp gojujang
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 lb diced spam/ham/cooked chicken/beef strips/bulgolgi/firm tofu etc.
• 2 green onions, finely diced
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 tsps sesame oil
• 2 eggs
• Toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large pan, heat up 1 teaspoon of canola oil. Add mushrooms and cook until caramelized. Add kimchi and stir fry until heated through.
2. Add in protein and rice. Using a spatula, break up the clumps of rice, while stirring everything so it doesn't stick to the pan too much.
3. Pour in the kimchi juice, gojujang and water. Stir until well combined. 
4. Drizzle in the sesame oil and add in green onion. Stir to loosen up everything. Take off the heat and place into 2 bowls. Set aside.
5. In a small skillet, heat up the remaining canola oil over medium low heat. Gently break the eggs into the pan and cook until almost cooked through. Season with a little bit of salt and continue to cook until all the whites are cooked through. Cover the pan with a lid if you want to cook it faster.
6. Slide one egg each over the bowls of kimchi fried rice. Garnish with sesame seeds, if desired.
7. Serve with a side of seaweed salad, pickled radishes or alone as is.

Ham & Egg "McMuffin"

I do love my breakfast sandwiches. I especially love the sausage and egg mcmuffins from McD's (fast food wise). It's not hard to make, so sometimes I just make them at home when I make my breakfast sausage patties. But when I don't have those, I just use ham from the deli or bacon. To make my life easier though, I'll make the sandwich with a plain omelette rather than frying an egg the way McD does it. I don't have a ring mold and don't feel like cleaning it anyway. :)


Ham & Egg "McMuffin"
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 English muffins, split and toasted
• 2 slices process or Cheddar cheese
• 4 slices black forest ham
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Salt, to taste
• 2 tsps canola oil

Directions:

1. In a skillet or omelette pan, heat up oil over medium low heat. Pour eggs into the pan, shifting the pan so that the eggs cover all of the bottoms. When almost no longer runny, sprinkle a pinch of salt and flip. Split round omelette into two. Fold one of the omelette halves into half and put it on top of a toasted English muffin slice. Repeat with the other half of the omelette.
2. Place the ham slices onto the pan to warm up.
3. To finish assembling the sandwiches, place 1 cheese slice on top of each of the eggs. Then top with heated ham, then the top of the English muffin.
4. Serve with coffee or milk.

Pork & Cabbage Gyozas with Soy Dipping Sauce

I used to make these and wontons ALL the time before K. It was something that I could do while watching TV rather than snacking. Ever since K, I hadn't really had much time to do it. It didn't occur to me that Hubby may actually be craving it. Plus it's nice to have dumplings in the freezer ready to go whenever you want to make some for breakfast before work or a quick snack or lunch or even dinner!

Best part of all was when I found out something new about Hubby; I almost never find out anything new about him anymore after over a decade of being together. Apparently he knows how to fold these little guys. And he's pretty good at it too. Very impressive. <3

I learned how to wrap these little guys when I was working in a Japanese restaurant after high school. Hubby learned from his mom.


Pork & Cabbage Gyozas with Soy Dipping Sauce
(makes about 100 Gyozas)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs lean ground pork
• 6 cups loosely packed napa cabbage, minced
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 Tbsps soy sauce, divided
• 3 Tbsps grated ginger
• 2 Tbsps Shaoxing wine
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil, more for dipping sauce
• 100 round Gyoza wrappers (about 3 packages of the Double Happiness brand)
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp honey
• Chili oil, to taste
• 2 Tbsps canola oil
• Water

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix cabbage with salt. Set aside and let sit for 15 minutes to draw out all the water while you prepare the meat mixture & prepare your work surface.
2. In another large bow, mix ground pork with 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, grated ginger, wine, sugar and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil until well combined. Set aside.
3. Line 2 baking sheets or some large plates with wax paper. Set aside.
4. Fill a small bowl with water. Set aside.
5. After 15 minutes, use a cheesecloth or your hands to squeeze out all of the excess liquid. This will prevent the dumplings from getting soggy.
6. Transfer drained cabbage into the meat mixture. Mix well with hands.
7. Lay a dumpling wrapper on a dry work surface, and place a heaping teaspoon of the meat mixture in the center of the wrapper. With a fingertip moistened with water, trace a line along half of the edge of the round wrapper. Fold the wrapper over to enclose the filling, and pinch one end of the half circle to seal the edges together at that spot. Pinching the one end between your index finger and thumb in your left hand, use your right index finger to push the top fold to the left. Use the left index finger to pinch the new pleat down to seal and repeat until the dumpling has been sealed all around. Set the stuffed dumpling with the pleated wrapper edge up on the wax paper lined plate/baking sheet. Repeat until all the meat and cabbage mixture or dumpling wrappers are gone. (Click here if you need a video visual. This person does it very similar to the way I do it but with way more filling; I use less filling.)
8. At this point, you can freeze all the dumplings for 2-3 hours before transferring them into bags for easier storage until you're ready to eat them.
9. To cook, heat up canola oil in a large skillet with a tight fitting lid over medium high heat. Gently place frozen (or fresh but never defrosted or it'll be a soggy sticky mess) dumplings flat side down in the skillet; don't worry about crowding the pan, as the dumplings can touch each other. Arming yourself with the lid, quickly pour 1/3 cup of water into the skillet and quickly cover. Let cook until the water has almost all evaporated. Uncover and cook until the water is evaporated and bottoms are golden brown, gently shaking the pan occasionally to keep the dumplings from sticking to the pan. Transfer to a plate, golden brown bottoms up.
10. Mix together remaining 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, vinegar, honey, a couple of drops of sesame oil and a few drops of chili oil in a small bowl for the dipping sauce.
11. Serve Gyozas hot with the dipping sauce.

"About to Get Sick" Soup

The weather here has just been horrendous. It gets warm, and then the week after, it's below freezing. This makes for a lot of people getting sick and spreading their germs around. Yuck. A friend of mine had told me about this soup and swears that it keeps her and her family from getting sick every time they feel something coming on. Since I was feeling it coming on and K was already feverish for a couple of days, it was only a matter of time before I'd be down for the count as well. May as well give it a go, right?

It's pretty darn good. It's a pretty sweet soup because of the corn and carrots. I have no clue why K didn't drink more of it, but he just didn't care for it. I loved it and just drank it like water throughout the day. TEEHEE. And sure enough, I only had a mild cough for a week (usually my coughs last at least 3 weeks) and then I was ALL better. Hubby didn't get sick at all either. So I'd say it's pretty good stuff.


"About to Get Sick" Soup
(makes about 2 1/2 liters)

Ingredients:

• 2 small corn on cob with 1 layer of husk
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 1/2 lb pork sirloin (or any cut of boneless meat)
• 10 whole chestnuts
• 2 inch knob of ginger
• Salt, to taste
• Water

Directions:

1. Throw everything into a large 5 quart dutch oven. Fill with water until about 1 1/2 inches of space is left from the top of the pot to the top of the water. Bring to a boil. Lower to the lowest setting and simmer, covered, for 2 hours. Season with salt and skim off any excess fat.
2. Serve hot and drink as you would water throughout the day.

You can eat the veggies. They're still pretty good. I usually make a soy dipping sauce to eat the meat with when making soups like this. Nothing goes to waste!

Boxed Dressing with a Twist

My grandma is very cute. She's super conscious of her weight, even though she's so thin the wind could probably blow her away. It's not like I try to fatten her up, but every time I make anything fattening, she'll just love it. I won't tell her what I used to make it taste so good but she'll always love it and eat "lots" of it. She doesn't eat very much and eats well, so I don't worry when she eats all the "bad" stuff once in a while.

I was tired and starting to get sick over Xmas so I didn't do my usual shopping trip required for a big Xmas dinner. Luckily, we do it potluck style where everyone brings a little bit of something. Maybe not so luckily since we had lots of leftovers. ANYWAY.........I didn't buy some things to make a "proper" stuffing/dressing, so I just used box. I needed to make it with a twist since plain old box stuffing is so bleh. Hence this little concoction. Tada! :P


Boxed Dressing with a Twist
(serves 8-10)

Ingredients:

• 2 boxes of Uncle Ben's Stuff N Such for Turkey with Vegetables & Cranberries (or any other flavour)
• 1 lb lean ground pork
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 2 1/2 cups water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. In a medium pot, brown pork with the 2 seasoning packets. Stir in onions. Cook until translucent. 
3. Add in dried cranberries, the 2 bread packets and water. Stir until the bread is moist, everything is mixed well and heated through. Add more water if needed.
4. Transfer dressing to a 8" x 8" pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the top is crispy and golden. If you want a soft dressing, don't bake it. Just cover the pot and let it stand for 5 minutes or so. Stir to fluff up and then serve.
5. Serve with ham, turkey, pork chops, etc., and soup or salad.

Ham & Pepper Fried Rice

OMG we always have so much leftovers after a Christmas dinner. Same for Thanksgiving too. Maybe next year I'll just make turkey for Thanksgiving and ham for Christmas. I really actually only like the ham. Hubby used to love turkey but he prefers ham now so really it's just the extended family that likes turkey.

I gotta say though, it's pretty amazing when you present a nicely cooked turkey to a big group of people. Makes you feel accomplish. ^^

Anywho, I used deli ham for the picture cuz I forgot to take a picture of the one with real ham and sometimes I need to get rid of deli ham quick. But who cares. It's still the same recipe. Only it tastes way more amazing with real ham that you've cooked using a picnic shoulder. Drool....


Ham & Pepper Fried Rice
(serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cold leftover white rice (1-3 days old)
• 1/2 lb ham (or any cooked meat or medium firm tofu), finely diced or crumbled
• 1 bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 - 2 Tbsps ginger, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 green onion stalks, finely diced
• Salt or soy sauce, to taste
• 2 Tbsps canola oil

Directions:

1. Heat a wok on high heat to warm up canola oil. Add in ginger, garlic and ham. Stir fry until ham starts to caramelize/brown. Add in eggs, stirring vigorously so that it doesn't burn and scrambles into tiny pieces.
2. When egg is still a little runny, add in bell peppers and rice. Stir to break up all the rice. Season with salt or soy sauce. 
3. Once the rice softens and is no longer in clumps, turn off the heat. Stir in green onions.
4. Serve with soup.

Maple Bacon Jam

This is the best spread for a ham sandwich. EVER. In place of mayonnaise, I'll use this if I have some at home. I could even eat it by the spoonful.


Maple Bacon Jam
(makes 2 1/2 cups)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2  medium onions, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 cup strong coffee or espresso
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions:

1. In a medium pot, cook bacon pieces until all the fat has been rendered. Transfer to a paper towel lined dish. Set aside.
2. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of bacon grease from the pot. Stir in onions and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent.
3. Stir in coffee or espresso, vinegar, brown sugar and maple syrup. Bring to a boil, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom. Add bacon and stir to combine. Lower heat and simmer uncovered for 1 1/2 hours.
4. Transfer everything to a food processor and pulse until slightly chunky.
5. Cool and store in mason jars in the fridge for up to 4 weeks. Use as a spread on sandwiches, or on toast.

Baked Pork & Rice

OMGOMGOMG. You know the baked pork chop rice you can get at Hong Kong style cafes? I LOVE that dish! I've always gotten it whenever I go to these little cafes and I love it. Absolutely love it. It can be a little annoying because the pork chop is cut into strips so you still have to cut them smaller or use your teeth to tear them apart. Kinda neanderthal-ish. But I'm used to it so it doesn't really bother me that much. Just a little inconvenient but easily solved by slicing everything up on a side plate. :)

So my sis and I were talking about our love of HK style cafes and how our spouses don't care for them at all (the horror), and she suggested that I just try making this dish on my own. So I did.

I wouldn't call this a fail, since it's so yummy. But it's definitely not as sweet and tangy as the dish we'd get at the restaurants. This sauce is much more meaty. And I cut the pork chop up into bite sized pieces before baking. Then I don't need to do any extra cutting. Just shovel the food into my mouth. My favourite way to eat things. LOL.


Baked Pork & Rice
(serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups day old cooked white rice
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 boneless thin pork cutlets
• 2 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 2/3 cup ketchup
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 Tbsps sugar, divided
• 2 Tbsps soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 4 Tbsps canola oil, divided
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a Ziploc bag or shallow dish, mix together 1 tablespoon of sugar, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Add in pork cutlets and marinade for 15-30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375F.
3. In a wok or frying pan, heat up 2 tablespoons of canola oil on medium high heat. Stir in eggs and mix around, breaking it up into small pieces of scrambled egg. When egg is half cooked, add rice and stir. Season with salt and pepper. Stir fried rice until rice is heated through and eggs are cooked. Transfer to a 1 1/2 quart oven safe dish. Set aside.
4. In a frying pan, heat up remaining canola oil on medium high heat. Place pork cutlets in hot pan, reserving marinade. Cook 2 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
5. Add onions and tomatoes to the pan and cook until tomatoes and onions have soften. Add in garlic, ketchup, water, remaining sugar and reserved marinade. Scrape up any brown bits on the bottom and lower heat to medium low. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes.
6. While sauce is simmering, cut up pork cutlets into bite sized pieces. Transfer the pork cutlet pieces, along with any juices that have leaked out onto the plate into the sauce mixture. Stir to combine. Season with salt, pepper and sugar (if too tangy) to taste.
7. Turn off heat and pour pork and sauce mixture over the fried rice. Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is nice and bubbly.
8. Serve with a side salad and/or soup.

Update: Corrected a typo. Sugar should've been divided otherwise it'll burn the wok or pan when cooking the pork chops. I made this again and just cubed the pork chop first to make it cook a little faster and have more seared surface area. Easier and just as yummy. :)

Mexican Meatloaf

So meatloaf reminds Hubby of dog food. WOW. Seriously? This delicious piece of meat. Dog food?! AIYA.../facepalm

He still ate it so it's all good and this means more leftovers for K and me! :D

I had no ground beef in the house so I had to make do with some ground pork. Good thing cuz I think I like it better when it's with ground pork. It reminds me of the "meat cookie" that my mom always made when we were kids. My mouth is salivating just thinking of it. Yum yum yum.

I assure you that this definitely didn't taste like "dog food". I liked it quite a bit and so did K. I can tell cuz he doesn't usually eat meat but he ate this and ate it for daycare the next day. Yes! /pumps fists


Mexican Meatloaf
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground pork
• 2/3 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (I used a pre-shredded Mexican blend)
• 1/2 cup fresh salsa
• 1/2 rolled oats
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp chili powder
• Salt and pepper, to taste (at least 1/2 tsp of each)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F and line a baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine everything and mix well.
3. Transfer meat mixture onto the pan and shape into a loaf. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 160F. If the top starts to burn, just lightly cover the top with aluminum foil.
4. Take the meatloaf out and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
5. Serve with rice and soup or salad.

Steamed Spareribs with Black Bean Sauce

This dish totally reminds me of home (except my mom would always put leftover plum sauce from take out into the marinade). I used to love eating these spareribs and then using the sauce to douse my rice. Heck, I can just have mostly rice and sauce with a couple of pieces of the spareribs. Childhood memories are pretty awesome, eh? Somehow mine just always revolve around food. I guess maybe I've always been addicted to food...


Steamed Spareribs with Black Bean Sauce
(serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs pork spareribs, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1-2 packets of plum sauce from Chinese takeout places (optional)
• 2 Tbsps black bean sauce
• 1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 Tbsp ginger, minced or grated
• 2 tsps cornstarch
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp canola oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 pinch black pepper

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix everything together until every piece of sparerib is covered in sauce/marinade. Transfer into a shallow, heatproof pan or plate with high sides (like a pie plate that you bake pies in or a cake pan). Let marinade at room temperature for half hour or cover and marinade overnight in the fridge.
2. Set a steamer rack on the bottom of a large pot or wok with enough water so that the dish is suspended above the water surface. 
3. Bring water to boil. Place dish on the steam rack and then top it with a flat plate. Cover and cook for 20 minutes on medium high heat.
4. Serve with rice and some steamed/stir fry veggies.

Andouille Sausage and Linguine

Pasta pasta. I always used to have lots of pasta. It was one of the easiest things to make for dinner after work. Somehow I just stopped making pasta and eating more rice. Meh. Rice is pretty darn awesome. I can eat it all day every day. As long as there's something to eat with it of course.

Well I had andouille sausage and no clue what to do with it. Brain fart. So I went with my old stand by when it comes to a quick pasta dinner.


Andouille Sausage and Linguine
(serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb linguine
• 2 Andouille sausage links, sliced
• 4 bacon slices, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, cut into strips
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Boil salted water in a pot and cook linguine while you get the rest of the dish ready. Make sure linguine is cooked just under al dente.
2. In a large skillet, cook bacon. Transfer bacon pieces to a towel lined bowl or plate. Set aside.
3. Toss in sausage, onions, bell peppers, garlic and chili flakes. Cook until sausage is golden brown and veggies are tender.
4. Using tongs, transfer just under al dente linguine from pot to skillet. Stir in bacon pieces, salt and pepper and mix well. If the pasta seems dry, just add a bit of pasta water to loosen things up.
5. Serve with a side salad and/or soup.

Braised Pork with Apple & Onion Gravy

First time ever combining apples with pork. It's pretty good. It's weird that I've never tried this before, but it was pretty good. I think I prefer the roast pork from Hong Kong style BBQ places though.

This made a lot of gravy (could've used more flour to make it thicker, but meh), which I then stored in the freezer for future pork chop uses. I wouldn't call this a traditional gravy though. More like a sauce? Oh the identity crisis...


Braised Pork with Apple & Onion Gravy
(serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

• 5 lb pork shoulder, cut in half
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 3 medium (or 2 large) apples, cored and sliced into wedges
• 4 cups apple juice
• 1 cup beef broth
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tbsps canola oil (or bacon grease)

Directions:

1. Heat up the bacon grease or canola oil in a large Dutch oven or pot on medium high heat. Rub a generous amount of salt and pepper onto the pork shoulders. Carefully place one into the Dutch oven and sear all sides. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the other one.
2. Transfer the second piece onto the same plate as the first. Stir in onions and apples to the Dutch oven and sauté, scraping up the brown bits as the apples and onions start releasing its juices.
3. Return the pork shoulders back into the pot, cover with apple juice, broth and two bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat to the lowest setting simmer for 2 1/2 hours.
4. After 2 1/2 hours, transfer pork shoulders onto a plate to rest. In the mean time, crank up the heat to full blast and let the sauce reduce to half. In a small bowl, mix the flour and water to make a slurry. Once the sauce has reduced to half, whisk in the flour slurry and heat thoroughly. The oniones and apples should've disentegrated by now. If not, just use the whisk or a spoon to smush it all up.
5. To serve, slice pork shoulders and pour gravy over the slabs of meat, accompanied with some wild rice.

Pork Dressing (Stuffing)

So I found out that apparently stuffing isn't called stuffing unless it's stuffed in something while it cook...and if you don't do that it's called dressing. How strange. I suppose it makes sense to not call it stuffing, but it's weird to call it "dressing". Am I supposed to use it to "dress" the food on my plate? Hmmm...English can be such a funny language sometimes.

It's yummy though! Especially if you "dress" it with gravy. HAHA. Or I suppose you can. >_>


Pork Dressing (Stuffing)
(serves 10-12)

Ingredients:

• 2 lb lean ground pork
• 3 apples, cored and diced
• 1 onion, sliced into strips
• 1/4 loaf of bread, cubed (I used Cheddar & Jalepeño)
• 2 cups bread crumbs (I grounded up the Cheddar & Jalepeño bread)
• 2 Tbsps fennel seeds
• 2 tsps dried oregano
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• 2 Tbsps canola oil (I used bacon grease)
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat up oil over medium high heat. Brown ground pork wish fennel seeds, oregano, cumin and red chili flakes.
3. When the pork is no longer pink, add in apples and onion strips. Cook until onions are soft and meat is cooked through.
4. Stir in bread and season with salt and pepper.
5. Transfer to a casserole dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the top layer is golden and crispy.

Brussels Sprouts & Bacon

People are weird. Or maybe I'm the weird one. Yes, I'm sure that's it. But I love brussels sprouts. Sure they've got a cabbage-y taste. But that's really what they are - tiny cabbages. They're even better when deep fried and sprinkled with Parmesan. Yum. I don't deep fry stuff at home, so I'll go out for that.

In any case, I made some brussels sprouts with bacon for Thanksgiving. I think it was a hit. At least people ate it. So that's a win, for sure.


Brussels Sprouts & Bacon
(serves 12-14)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs brussels sprouts, washed and cut into halves
• 1 lb bacon, chopped
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• Water

Directions:

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, throw in the chopped bacon and cook on medium heat until bacon bits are crispy. Transfer bacon bits onto a towel lined bowl or plate. Set aside.
2. Drain off all but 1/4 cup of bacon grease and return pot to the stove. Turn the stove up to medium high and add brussels sprouts. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they're tender crisp (about 10 minutes). Season with lots of salt and pepper.
3. Take the pot off the stove, or just turn off the heat. Mix in bacon bits and lemon juice.

I like to dump my bacon into a cold pot and then turn on the heat. Starting with a cold pot ensures that I'm not gonna get splashed with grease the moment raw fat touches a hot surface. You can also add a splash of water to start the cooking process.