Tau Yu Bak (Braised Pork)

Ingredients 

• Pork Belly (五花肉) Get a cut with about half fat and half lean meat.
• 8-10 Hard boiled eggs or more.
• 5-10 whole pieces of firm bean curd (Tau Kwa) cut into halves
• 2 whole garlic (smashed)
• Dark soy sauce
• Light soy sauce
• 5-6 star anise
• 3-4 tablespoon sugar
• 4-5 tablespoon five spice powder
• 10-15 pieces of dried red chili (may adjust depending on how spicy you want it to be)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tablespoon white pepper

Directions

1. Cut the pork belly into chunks that are not too small because it will be braised and will shrink. In a big bowl, marinade the pork belly with half of the sugar, five spice, dried chili, and garlic. Add a pinch or two of salt, some dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. If possible let it marinade overnight or at least for an hour or two in the fridge.
2. In a large pot, heat up some oil until it gets just a little smoky and then toss in the remaining sugar, five spice, garlic, dried chili, cinnamon stick and star anise. Cook for about 15-20 seconds and then quickly add the marinated pork into the wok. Add more oil if necessary.
3. Let the pork cook for about 5-10 minutes or about a quarter done and then fill the pot with water until it completely covers the meat. Add dark soy sauce until it becomes a dark brown. 
4. Let it cook on high heat and once it boils for about 5-10 minutes, reduce heat to medium and add the hard boiled eggs and bean curd. Make sure all the ingredients is completely immersed, otherwise add more water.
5. Stir every 10-15 minutes or so to make sure the bottom doesn't stick and burn. Let it cook on medium heat for about 3-4 hours or until the pork belly meat has become tender. Add salt and soy sauce to taste. Serve hot with white rice.

Stir Fry Vege Basics

When cooking green vegetables such as cabbages, bok choy, choy sum, spinach, and even kang-kung, there is a simple and great way to do it. You can use this one style to cook almost all the veges and achieve a pretty decent dish. Here are the basic ingredients I use,

• Garlic
• Salt
• Chicken Broth / Bouillon

With these three ingredients (cooking oil included of course), I am able to stir fry any or most vegetables quick and easy but at the same time flavorful. The reason is really because sometimes I'd like to taste the flavor of the vege. When you add an extra ingredient that has a stronger flavor, it takes away the "freshness" and "refreshing" feel out of eating vegetables. Now, I absolutely hate salad or anything uncooked, but to be a fair judge, I'm starting to pick it up and see if I can make it into something that would fit my palette. Back to the recipe, I of course usually add a little extra ingredients here and there to my veges so that it seems more "complete" or maybe it doesn't look so plain. So I always look into my fridge and add everyday things that I like such as tofu, shrimps, pieces of meat, anchovies, ginger, mushrooms, etc.

However, just with the basic ingredients, here is how I cook my veges.

1. Heat up a wok or frying pan with some cooking oil. Allow wok to be really hot before adding anything and the reason is so that you can cook the vege quick and retain the freshness and texture.
2. Add some garlic (chopped, minced, sliced or however you like it) and because the oil is hot its going to cook really fast so be be careful not to let it burn.
3. Once the garlic turns a  very light brown which only takes a few seconds, quickly toss in the vegetable (your vege should be cut into smaller sizes and soaked in water) of your choice into the wok  / frying pan. Now, if you plan to add say ground meat or any other the extra ingredients into your vege dish, cook those first before adding your vege.
4. Take a lid and cover your wok / frying pan. Since your vege has some water on it when you soaked it, it will help with your garlic and vege not burning because all the water will continue to drip towards the bottom of the wok/frying pan. 
5. About maybe 30 seconds later, start tossing and turning the vege around. Add some salt and chicken broth/bouillon to taste.
6. Once the vege is done, quickly serve on a plate. I sometimes turn off the fire just before the vege is cook and let the residual heat from the wok to cook it just a little so that the vege is not overcooked and turns soft. 

Cold Tofu with Minced Pork

Ingredients

• 1 pack soft tofu
• 1/4lbs ground pork
• 2 stalk green onion chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• light soy sauce
• dark soy sauce

Directions

1. Drain the water from the tofu and using a parry knife cut the tofu in its box at about 2cm width all the way across creating like a tofu slab. Drain remaining water and place tofu in a plate and let the individual pieces fall onto each other like fallen dominoes (picture below). Keep refrigerated.
2. Heat up some cooking oil in a small skillet on high heat. Once oil is hot, add garlic and half of the green onions. Cook garlic until golden and then add ground pork.
3. Add salt and light soy sauce to taste. Once pork is cook, add about 1-2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce to give it a little color.
4. When ready to serve, remove tofu from fridge and drain excess water. Pour the cooked minced pork over the tofu and garnish with remaining green onions.

Chicken Porridge

Ingredients

• 3-4 cups of rice
• 2 carrots cut into small cubes
• 2 whole garlic
• 4-5 table spoons chicken broth
• 3-4 chicken quarters (cut into 6 pieces) or 2 chicken breast cut into small bite size
• Sesame oil
• Fried Shallots
• White Pepper
•  3-4 stalks green onion chopped

Directions

1. Fill a medium size pot with water halfway and boil it on high heat. Once water boils, add garlic, chicken and chicken broth.
2. Once chicken is halfway done, add carrots and rice. Continue boiling in high heat and add water if it starts to dry up. Stir the content every once in a while so it stick and burn on the bottom.
3. Once rice becomes mushy and porridge-y, add salt to taste and several dash of pepper. 
4. Serve in a small bowl and garnish with a dash of pepper, few drops of sesame oil, some chopped green onions and fried shallots. 

Can store for several days if stored properly and kept in fridge. It will dry up the next day because the rice has absorbed all the water. Just add some water, nuke it and add the same garnish again.
 

Spicy Black Mushroom Chicken

Ingredients

• 8-10 dried red chillies
• 4-5 clove garlic
• 10 pieces black mushroom (soaked overnight for best texture) and cut into halves
• 3-4 chicken quarters
• Light and dark soy sauce
• Corn starch

Directions

1. Cut each quarters into about 6 pieces and marinade in 4-5 table spoons light soy sauce and 2 table spoons dark soy sauce. Add a dash of pepper during marinade
2. Heat up a skillet or wok at high heat. Once oil is hot, add garlic and red chillies. Cook until its fragrant or the garlic slightly golden and then add mushrooms. Allow the mushroom to cook for a few minutes in the hot wok to allow all the flavors to be released. 
3. Add the marinated chicken and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes or until its about 1/4 way done. I like to have the chicken to have a little "burn" on the skin/meat for a nice flavor.
4. Add 1-2 cups of water depending on how much sauce you would like. Add salt and light soy sauce to taste. If you like it to be a little darker, add more dark soy sauce. It really depends on you how dark it wants to be but go easy on dark soy sauce cause it can get bitter.
5. Mix everything around a little and put a lid on the skillet/wok and let the chicken braised with the mushroom and garlic flavor. If you like it a little spicier, add more red chillies.
6. Once the chicken is cooked, add a cornstarch and water mixture to thicken the sauce. You can also continue cooking at medium heat to reduce the sauce but expect a softer chicken meat. Serve hot

A little history....

Here are some pictures of where I started cooking "professionally" at a Chinese buffet restaurant in Iowa somewhere around year 2006.

Honeydew Sago Pudding

This is a recipe that I learned from a friend back in college and have also throughout the years found the best way to make this. The pudding itself takes the most time and it needs to be prepared at least 6 hours before serving. The topping that goes on top of this pudding can be as creative as you can be but in this recipe, I would stick to the first sago pudding that I've made with honeydew.

Ingredients

• 1 packet of sago (1/2 the size of a BB pellet)
• 2 honeydew (best during summer because sweetest then)
• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 1 pack of pandan leaves
• Sugar

Directions

1. Fill a big pot with water and let it boil on high heat.
2. Once the water starts boiling, add the packet of sago and let it cook.
3. Stir occasionally so that the sago will not stick at the bottom.
4. To test if sago is cooked, use spoon and pick out a few of the sago and let it cool down for a few seconds. If the sago turns transparent, its done. 
5. Pour the contents of the pot through a sieve to pick up the sago and allow the water to drain. Run cold water to cool down the sago and you will see sago slowly turned transparent. 
6. Do not allow the sago to be completely cold as it would stick to the sieve BADLY! Pour the drained sago into a bowl or plastic container and store in the fridge . If you do not have a big enough pot, divide the portions of the sago and repeat the steps above.
7. Cut your honeydew into half and using a spoon clean out the seeds. Use a small ice cream scoop or a measuring spoon to grate out the honeydew. You may use the halved honeydew as a bowl to store the grated honeydew "meat". If honeydew is not sweet, blend the grate honeydew with some water and sugar.
8. In a small pot, make a syrup with sugar and pandan leaves.
9. Once the sago has chilled for at least 3 to 4 hours, scoop a small portion out into a serving bowl.
10. Add 2-3 teaspoons of coconut milk, syrup and a few slices of the grated honeydew. 

KFC

Ingredients

• Car
• Cash
• Ability to speak

Directions

1. Drive to nearest KFC location
2. Order whatever you like
3. Pay
4. Drive home
5. Enjoy!

Chicken Rice Ginger Condiment

Ingredients

• 1 pack green onions (about 10 stalks) finely chopped
• 1/2 white or yellow onion
• Ginger (about 5-8 inches) finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic finely chopped
• All the above ingredients can be blended in a food processor too. Just make sure its really fine
• 3 cups of oil

Directions

1. Heat up oil in a medium size pot to about 250F. The hotter the better. Turn off the fire.
2. Add all the chopped/blended ingredients into the heated oil and use a long spoon or ladle to stir quickly. The oil will splatter all the liquids coming out of the blended/chopped ingredients, so be careful!
3. Add salt and chicken stock to taste. 

This condiment can be stored for a long time if kept sealed properly and cooled in the fridge.

Chicken Rice Rice

Ingredients

• A small tub of butter
• 2 slice of ginger (3-4 inches long) chopped finely
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped finely
• 4 cups of rice (uncooked, DUH!)
• 2 stalks of pandan leaves
• Left over stock/soup from cooking the chicken rice chicken

 Directions

1.  Heat up the chicken stock/soup that you have from making the chicken rice chicken and add a good amount of salt. When you taste the soup, it should be salty enough to make you squirm. You may add chicken bouillon to it. 
2. Heat a wok or nonstick pan on high heat and add about half the small tub of butter and let it melt. 
3. Add ginger and garlic and cook till fragrant then add the rice.
4. Turn fire down to about medium and keep stirring to let the rice to absorb all of the butter, garlic and ginger flavor. Add more butter progressively as you stir. 
5. Once all the butter has been soaked up and the rice is yellowish and fragrant, turn off the fire and add the pandan leaves. Stir for a little bit to let the pandan flavor to be released.
6. Pour all the rice into a rice cooker and add the salty chicken stock/soup just like how you would normally cook rice. 
7. Turn on rice cooker and let it cook. It will cook faster than you would normally cook steam rice because the rice has already been half cooked and the stock/soup that you add is at a high temperature. 

Chicken Rice Chicken

There is two ways that I like to make it. One is the regular steam chicken with a light soy sauce glaze while the other is also steamed but with my glaze that I created/stole/found/stumbled. I'll write down both ways so that you can try both and see which you liked better.

Style 1 (Steam)
There is two ways of "steaming" a whole chicken. One is to actually put it into a steamer with a drip pan to get all that juices from the chicken as it cooks or boil it. Steaming a whole chicken takes a long time but will almost always get it done perfectly. Boiling on the hand takes about 45 minutes to an hour sometimes 75 minutes depending on the size of the chicken. Here's my boiling method.

1. Find a pot big enough for the whole chicken to fit inside completely with about 3-4 inches on the top to spare.
2. Fill the water halfway or you could put the chicken in first and fill it up to see how much water is needed to completely immerse the chicken. Remember to remove chicken before boiling the water.
3. Add a whole clove of garlic, 1 stalk of green onion, 2 slices of ginger and if you want to some yellow egg coloring. The coloring is really not necessary unless you want to open a restaurant and make the chicken look really pretty. Go easy on the coloring, about a drop or two is sufficient if you decide to add it
4. Let water come to a boil and then turn off the fire. Slowly add the whole chicken in and let it cook for about 45 minutes. Its better to have the lid on to retain the hit. Now if you like the chicken to have a little redness on the bone, 45 minutes is good otherwise I suggest an hour. 
5. DO NOT turn on the fire at this point and trust the boiling water to cook the chicken. There is no need to constantly remove the pot lid and poke the chicken with a temperature gauge. It will cook in 45 minutes to an hour UNLESS you have a really fat chicken. You MAY if however uncomfortable with you at the thought of the chicken not getting cook to have the fire going on at "low" and I mean really low.

The reason not to boil the chicken with the fire on is to have a nice smooth skin when the chicken is done. Otherwise you may get a thick and maybe gross to some chicken skin. Once 45 minutes or an hour has passed, remove chicken from pot and cut into size-able portions(I'll do a write up on how to cut the chicken next time) and serve on a plate. Add the glaze below and cilantro/parsley for garnishing. Keep the water that you cook the chicken in for later use.

Glaze 1
Heat up a small pot with cooking oil. Add soy sauce, green onions and chicken stock. Stir until fragrant and pour over the cut chicken.

Style 2
I started out making my hainanese chicken this way when I first started cooking and through out the years tweak around until it became how I liked it best. The difference between this style and the previous one is that when I "boil" the chicken in this one, I boil it in high heat. In a way, I'm kinda making a chicken soup out of this one.

1. Fill a pot with water about halfway and add 2 whole garlic and 2 stalks of green onion and boil over high heat. Once it boils, leave it for 10 minutes or so to allow garlic to really cook and the flavors to be released.
2. Cut 3-4 chicken quarters into six pieces each and add into boiling water.
3. Add about 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and cooking rice wine and allow chicken to cook.
4. Once chicken is cooked (make sure not to overcook), use a sieve to remove the chicken from the pot. Leave about 3-4 smaller pieces of chicken and continue to let it cook on high heat. 
5. Put the chicken that was removed from the pot into a bowl and run cold water to cool the chicken down immediately. This allows for the skin and meat to have a little tenderness and texture. You may add ice to cool it faster. Once it reaches room temperature or colder if you like it, drain water and let it dry.
6. Turn off fire on the boiling water and remove remaining chicken in the pot and add it to the "chilled" batch.
7. Keep the "chicken soup" a side for later use.

Glaze 2
Put the chilled chicken in a bowl and add sesame oil, soy sauce, cooking rice wine, a couple dashes of white pepper and chopped green onions. Toss the chicken in the bowl and serve it on a plate.

Note: In both glaze, the portion as to how much sesame oil, soy sauce or cooking wine really depends on you. If you like one more than the other, feel free to have it at different ratios. If you are unsure, I'd start with a 1-to-1 ratio of each and progressively add more of each and see which you like better.

Ginger Chicken

Ingredients:
Whole Garlic smashed / chopped
8-10 cm ginger julienned
1/4 cup cooking wine (Hsiao Hsing brand)
3 stalks green onion cut into 4-5cm length
Sesame oil
Light soy sauce
Thick soy sauce
4-5 chicken quarters cut into 4 pieces each and let dry

Directions:

1.  Heat up a wok with sesame oil and cooking oil at 1-to-1 ratio
2. Add garlic, ginger and three quarter of the green onions. Make sure oil is hot enough to cook garlic and ginger immediately. Toss the wok around a little and let garlic turn golden or ginger becomes fragrant.
3. Add cut chicken and allow time for chicken to cook before stirring.It's okay to let it burn just a tiny little bit so you get the "wok flavor". If unable to manage too much chicken, its alright to put half first and let it cook a few minutes before adding the rest of the chicken in. The key is to keep the wok hot.
4. Once chicken is about halfway done, add salt, light soy sauce and thick soy sauce. The thick soy sauce is mainly for coloring and if you like your chicken black, feel free to put more but less on the salt and light soy sauce. Another important part when adding liquids is to slowly add it so as to not reduce the heat of the wok too quickly and then loose the "wok flavor". Keep stirring and add soy sauce little by little
5. Once chicken is done, add about 1/4 cup of cooking wine and stir fry for a few minutes to let the flavor soak in.
6. Serve hot and add remaining green onions as garnish.

Note: You may add dry red chillies in the beginning with the ginger, garlic and green onions to spice it up a little.