Jokbal (Korea Briased Pork Trotters)

 

I always loved braising dishes but always been doing Chinese Lor Bak. After my family went to Korea last December, my kids been asking if i can try cooking korea dishes. Decided to challenge cooking this Korean dish - Jokbal (Braised Pork Trotter)! I took reference from a Korean YouTuber and made some adjustments to the dish! Instead of slow cooking it, decided to braise using my thermal pot. Bring to a rolling boil and leave it to continue to cook till the texture of the pork is just nice! 😋😋

It’s my first time buying pork trotters from Fairprice and surprisingly, it’s very fresh and no porky smell! The pork sold at Fairprice is from Borneo, Sarawak. The butcher can also help you to cut and customize the pork you order. And, I’m so happy that I can get fresh kimchi from FairPrice and I don’t have to buy those bottled kimchi! 😍😍

Ingredients:

1 large pig’s trotter

10 cups water

2 tablespoons doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste)

¼ cup mirin

½ cup soy sauce

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons salt

3 tablespoons Korean rice syrup (I replaced with maple syrup)

1 tablespoon peeled ginger, thinly sliced

1 stalk of spring onion, chopped for garnishing

½ teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Coriander leaves for garnishing

 

For the seasoning pouch (to braise together with the trotter):

1 apple, cleaned, cored, and cut into chunks

8 large red dates

12 garlic cloves, washed

1 tablespoon peeled ginger, thinly sliced

1 medium size onion, cut into chunks

2 big red chilies

4-5 stalks of spring onions, cleaned, fold and tied

2-3 stalks coriander, cut half to separate roots

1 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

 

For the dipping sauce, I made Ssamjang, which can be used for other korean dishes for grilled meat. Prepare all ingredients and mix well and set aside:

 

¼ cup doenjang (fermented soybean paste)

1 tbs gochujang (hot pepper paste)

1 stalk spring onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

¼ cup chopped onion

2 tsp honey

2 tsp roasted sesame seeds

2 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon water

 

Method:

(A)   Preparing the pig’s trotter:

-        Wash and rinse the pig’s trotter in water several times until the water is clear. Fill a large pot with water and soak the pig’s trotter for 12 hours, changing the water 3 to 4 times.

-        Strain and squeeze the pig trotter in cold water to remove any leftover blood. Squeeze and change the water a few times until no more blood is seen.

-        Pat dry with a kitchen towel. Check if there are any remaining hair on pig’s trotter, if so, remove with a razor/tweezer. The pork trotter Fairprice is clean and very little hair, so I skipped this step.

-        Bring a large pot of water to a boil (I used thermal pot as I will be using it to cook the trotter). Add the pig’s trotter and 1 tablespoon of thinly sliced ginger. Cover and boil for 20 to 25 minutes over medium high heat.

-        Remove from the heat and wash trotter in cold water and clean off the scums. Wash the pot and put the pot back on the stove and put the pig’s trotter inside.

 

(B)   Fill the pouch and cook:

-        Add the ingredients to the pouch, tie the end tightly and add it to the pot next to the clean trotter.

-        Add 10 cups of water to the pot along with doenjang, mirin, soy sauce, dark brown sugar, salt, and maple syrup. Once boiling, continue to boil at medium heat about 40mins. Periodically turn over the trotter to ensure it is evenly braised. Press the pouch down a couple of times with a wooden spoon. Around 35 mins, turn up the heat again to a rolling boil for a min, off heat and transfer the inner pot to the outer pot. Leave to pot for about 4-5 hours.

-        After 5 hours, remove inner pot and heat up to a boil for 10 mins. Remove the trotter and let it cool for 10 to 20 minutes.

-        Slice the meat off the bones and cut it into bite size pieces. Arrange it on a plate and sprinkle chopped green onion and sesame seeds over top. Heat up some braising sauce and thicken with corn flour slurry and drizzle on pork. Serve with dipping sauce, lettuce, sliced raw garlic, green chili pepper, kimchi, and more side dishes.

 

-        For those who don’t have thermal pot, you can simmer and braise this over stovetop. Cover and cook 1 hour over medium high heat, turning the trotter so that it can be braised evenly. Press the pouch down a couple of times with a wooden spoon.

-        Reduce to medium heat, cover, and cook another hour. Open cover to check to see if the meat is well cooked by poking it with a stainless steel chopstick or a long wooden skewer. If it goes through smoothly and the meat is almost falling off the bones, it’s well cooked. If not, cook longer and add more water as needed. Turn up the heat to high heat and cook another 10 minutes with the lid off.

-        The braising sauce will evaporate a little and the trotter will get browner and shinier, as you boil longer. Remove the trotter and let it cool for 10 to 20 minutes.

-        Slice the meat off the bones and cut it into bite size pieces. Arrange it on a plate and sprinkle chopped green onion and sesame seeds over top. Heat up some braising sauce and thicken with corn flour slurry and drizzle on pork. Serve with dipping sauce, lettuce, sliced raw garlic, green chili pepper, kimchi, and more side dishes.

Airfry Cheese-Mayo Prawns 🦐

 

Ingredients: 

700g Jumbo Grey Prawns (around 15-16 pieces) 

120g Mozzarella cheese

Japanese Mayonnaise

2 stalks of fresh parsley (minced) 

A dash of freshly cracked black pepper  

Method: 

1. Use scissors/ knife to cut away the prawns’ legs, feelers and the sharp end of the tail. Snip open prawns’ back and remove the veins. Ensure the back is open big and flatten. 
2. Rinsed the prawns and pat dry with kitchen towels. Lay prawns on baking paper. 
3. Squeeze Japanese Mayonnaise on the open back of prawns.
4. Spread mozzarella generously on top of mayonnaise.
5. Squeeze mayonnaise on top of mozzarella cheese.
6. Pre-heat airfryer at 180 degrees for 5 mins. Airfry prawns for 5-7mins till cheese melts and top is browned.
7. Sprinkle some chopped parsley and cracked black pepper and it’s ready to serve.

Braised Seafood with mushrooms 海鲜焖香菇🍄

Second boy decided to come home for dinner from hostel today! 🥰 We haven’t had much time to have dinner as a family as he’s been staying in. Decided to quickly whip up a dish for dinner. 

Fretting over the hassle of preparing CNY reunion dishes? Sharing an easy dish that you can dish out for this Chinese New Year quickly and family would love! 

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

• 5 pieces of Fish Maw 
• A can of Abalone
• 8 pieces of Scallops 
• 5 pieces of Mushrooms 
• One piece of Broccoli 🥦
• A piece of thumb-size ginger sliced

Seasonings: 

• 2 tbsps Woh Hup Abalone sauce 
• 1 tbsp Light Soya Sauce
• Half tbsp Dark Soya Sauce
• A dash of Pepper 
• A dash of Fish sauce
• Corn flour slurry (2 tbsps of Corn flour mix with 1 tbsp of water to thicken sauce) 
• 250-300ml of hot water (depending on how much sauce you like and adjust accordingly) 

Method: 

1. Soak dry mushrooms till soften. Squeeze out water, remove stem and set aside. 
2. Soak fish maw till soft. Boil a pot of water with two pieces of ginger and slightly parboil fish maw to remove oil. Drain and set aside. 
3. After scallops defrost, rinse well and add a dash of shaoxing wine and mixed. 
4. Heat wok with 2 tbsp of oil. Add two slices of ginger and sauté till fragrant. Panfry mushrooms on both sides for few minutes. 
5. Add fish maw and stirfry. 
6. Add scallops and Stirfry. 
7. Add seasonings and mix well. 
8. Add hot water and cover to braise for about 8mins. 
9. In the meantime, cut broccoli into pieces and blanched with some salt and oil. Placed on plate. 
10. Add abalone to braise for about 1-2mins. 
11. Thickened with corn flour slurry and off heat. Plate together to with broccoli and Served hot with rice !

Seafood Broth (海鲜羮) 🦐🦀🥣

 

Seafood Broth (海鲜羮) 🦐🦀🥣 

[recipe serves 6pax] 

1. 200g Cooked Shrimps, thawed, drained
2. 12 pieces Frozen Hokkaido Scallops, thawed, drained
3. 1 packet  Cooked Crab meat, thawed, drained and squeeze out the water 
4. 3 pieces Frozen Imitation Jumbo Snow Crab legs, shredded 
5. 8 pieces of fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
6. 4 pieces of picnic ham, sliced into thin stripes 
7. 1 beaten egg
8. Coriander (for garnishing) 
9. 50g of dried Ikan Bilis (without head & bones)  
10. 2 pieces of ginger 
11. 2.5 liters of water 
12. Potato starch water (mix 3 tbsps of potato starch powder with 5-6 tbsps of water. Try to adjust to a thicker texture.) 

Seasonings: 

1.5 tbsp of oyster sauce 

1 tbsp of light soy sauce

Half tsp of Salt

A dash of white pepper to taste

A dash of Chinese cooking wine 

Instructions: 

1. Bring to a boil a pot of water. Add rinsed ikan bilis and 2 slices of ginger to pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15mins. Discard ikan bilis and ginger. 
2. Add sliced mushrooms, ham, cooked crabmeat, cooked prawns, scallops and shredded imitation snow crab legs. 
3. Bring to a boil. Add seasonings and adjust accordingly to your taste. 
4. Continuously stirring the soup and slowly pour in prepared potato starch water and stop when the consistency of the soup becomes thick to your liking. Off heat. 
5. Add beaten egg by pouring round the soup. Leave for 5 seconds before stirring it to allow egg swirls to set. Serve soup 🥣 hot with coriander as garnish. 

𝗧𝗶𝗽𝘀: 

• Thaw frozen seafood fully and drain away excess water
• Squeeze water out from cooked crabmeat 
• You can use other stock as base 

Trio-eggs spinach (三色蛋)

Ingredients: 

• 2 packets of baby spinach (苋菜) , remove the fibrous layer from the stalk, wash and set aside. 
• 1 cup chicken stock (homemade or store bought is fine. 
• 2 cloves garlic (thinly sliced) 
• 2 slices of ginger 
• 1 century eggs (cleared and cut into small pieces. Can add one more if you like) 
• 1 salted duck eggs (hard boiled and cut into smaller pieces) 
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar 
• A dash of sesame oil and hua tiao wine (optional) 
  

Instructions: 

• Boil a pot of water with some salt and oil. Blanched the spinach quickly, meaning add spinach into boiling water, give it a stir, remove and set aside. In this way, spinach will not be overcook. 
• Add a bit of oil in wok. Add sliced garlic and ginger and sauté for half a minute. 
• Add chicken stock to a wok/ pan and bring to boil. 
• Add sugar, century eggs and salted duck eggs. Give it a stir and bring to boil for 1 min. 
• Add blanched spinach, mix well 
• Add a little salt if require  and adjust taste accordingly. 
• Add beaten egg. Put a little sesame oil and hua diao wine (optional l) 
• Off heat and serve hot. ☺️ 

Fried Hokkien Meatballs

Ingredients: 

• 1 kg minced meat (best to have a mixture of lean and some fats) 
• 300g de-shelled prawn (minced) 
• $2 of Fish paste
• 6 pcs Water chestnut (chopped)
• 1 small carrot (chopped)
• 3 stalks of spring onion (chopped) 
• 6 pcs cream crackers (crushed)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 3 tbsp sweet potato / potato flour
• Oil (deep frying)

Steps: 

1. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and up mixture and hit against the bowl. This is to get the meat mixture to become sticky. Then set aside for 1/2 hr in chiller. 

2. Roll the minced meat mixture into bite size meatballs with wet hands (so that they won't stick to the palms).

3. Ensure sufficient oil in a small pot and heat up till it’s hot. Deep fry in batches till golden brown and drain on kitchen towel. Serve with some dipping sauce or just eat in its own! 

Note: You can make more and freeze these meatballs and heat up using airfryer for quick meals. Just the meatballs till it’s cooked but not golden brown on the outside. Pack in ziplock bag when it’s cooled and freeze.