Sweet and Sour Pork (咕噜肉)

Ingredients:

• 500g Pork with fats (I get the butcher to give me the cut of meat for this)
• 1 yellow capsicum , sliced into wedges 
• 1 red capsicum, sliced into wedges 
• 1 Japanese cucumber, cut into pieces 
• 1 yellow onion, cut into wedges 

Sweet and sour sauce:

• 1 tbsp plum sauce
•  3 tbsp tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp chili sauce
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 oyster sauce
• 100ml water

Method:

1. Cut Pork into 1/2 inches thick and pound with back of knife till tender. Then sliced into cubes. 
2. Add in marinade: 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp oyster sauce, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 1 egg, 1 tbsp cooking wine, 1tsp bicarbonate of soda, 3 tbsp water. Marinate for an hour or longer.
3. Mix 1.5 cups of sweet potato flour and 0.5 cup of plain flour together. Place mixed flour into a ziplock bag. Transfer marinated pork cubes into ziplock bag, zipped and shake to coat pork cubes with flour mixture. This method helps to coat the pork cubes well and won’t dirty your hands or tabletop.  
4. Heat up oil in pot. Once oil is hot, remove pork cubes from flour and deep fry until golden brown. Remove and set aside. Once all pork cubes are done, increase heat in pot and do a second frying to crisp the pork cubes. 
5. Prepare sauce in a bowl. 
6. Heat wok with 1tbsp oil. Stirfry onion for a minute, add capsicum, cucumber or other vegetables. Fry till fragrant. Pour in sauce and bring to a boil. Add a little cornflour water to thickened mixture. Add deep fried pork and mix well. Dish up and serve hot

Note:
- You can have other variations to the sides, e.g. Green capsicum, pineapples or tomatoes
- To ensure pork is crispy, you can do double-frying before adding to cook with sauce.
- Normally, I'll set aside some sauce and deep fried pork cubes separately for my hubby who have his dinner later. In this way, the Pork will not be cold and soggy.

Homemade Char Siew

Ingredients: (Serves 2 adults and 3 kids) 
1.5kg Pork shoulder Flap/ Plane meat (飞机肉) 
* You can also buy 五花肉. The pork you used for char siew has to have some fats so that it will not be dry. 

Seasonings: 

• 2 tbsp light soya sauce
• 2 tbsp dark soya sauce
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce 
• 2 tbsp honey 
• 2 tbsp shaoxing wine
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• * For brushing on char siew when browning in oven, prepare 2 tbsp maltose, mixed with 1 tbsp water and dissolve. You can replace by honey if maltose is unavailable. Dissolve one tbsp of honey with 1 tbsp of water. 

Method: 

1. Mix seasonings in a bowl. Placed pork in ziplock bag and pour seasonings. Zipped and ensure that pork is well coated with seasonings. Marinate in the fridge for two days (if not at least overnight). 
2. Bring pork out to room temperature 30 minutes before cooking. 
3. Heat up non-stick pan with medium heat. Place meat inside and pour all the marinate together. Let it boil and then simmer. Flipped the pork in-between to let it coat with the marinate evenly. Remove when it's almost done. Once you see the marinate becoming lesser and thicker, you can remove it and set it on cooking paper. 
4. Transfer char siew to preheated oven of 180deg to brown it further and crisp on the outside. Remove and brush some maltose/honey over pork to glaze it and pop back oven for about two mins. Sliced and serve. 

** Special thanks to Ms Alice Lau as recipe is adapted and modified from hers. 

Chicken Baked Rice

Ingredients: (Serving for 4)

• 1.5 cups uncooked rice
• 2 boneless chicken thigh 
• 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables 
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 big onion, diced 
• 1 packet cooking cream
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon salt (adjust according to taste)
• some black pepper
• some grated mozzarella cheese
• dried parsley

Method:

1. Wash and cook rice with rice cooker. 
2. Diced chicken thigh. Marinate with a tsp of salt and dash of pepper. Marinate for about 15mins. 
3. Heat up a pan, with 2 tbsp butter. Add diced onion and minced garlic, sauté till fragrant. Add in the marinated diced chicken. Stir fry till no longer pink. Add mixed vegetables and mix well. 
4. Add in the cream, stir well. Add in chicken stock. Bring to a gentle simmer for few minutes. Season with black pepper and salt. 
5. Add in the cooked rice. Stir and mix rice with sauce. Let rice coat with sauce and absorb the sauce. Off heat after 2 minutes. 
6. Transfer rice into a heatproof baking dish. Cover top with grated cheese. 
7. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 degC, till the cheese turns golden brown. Sprinkle with some dried parsley. Serve immediately.  

Revised recipe (dated 19 July 2019): 

Made some modifications to my previous recipe and it works wonders! 😁😁😁 

Modifications to recipe: 

• During cooking of rice in rice cooker, add about 1.5 tbsps of garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder and 1 tsp of salt. Add 1.5 tbsp of butter into rice when it’s cooked mixed well. You can choose to use water/chicken stock for the rice.  I tried using pearl rice to cook for this time and it tasted great! 
• If you have overnight rice to clear, you can fry rice with butter and add  garlic powder and salt also. 

Method: 

1. Rinsed and pat dry chicken thighs. Marinate chicken thighs, both sides with some salt and black pepper.  
2. Heat pan st medium heat. Place chicken thighs, skin-down and let it fry for about 5mins, till it’s brown and crispy. This is to render the oil from the chicken skin. Flip over to the other side and panfry for 3mins. Remove and set aside. Sliced into bite size when it cooler. 
3. Using the same pan with the chicken oil, add diced onions and garlic. Sauté till fragrant. (You can add some butter if there is little chicken oil. Add 5 pieces of Swiss mushrooms (sliced), mixed vegetables and chopped chicken. Fry for few mins. Add a packet of cooking cream, half cup of milk and chicken stock. Simmer for 5mins. Seasoned with dashes of salt and pepper (adjust taste accordingly). Sprinkle a tbsp of plain flour over sauce and mix well to thicken the sauce slightly. Off heat. 
4. Transfer rice to heat-proof baking dish. Pour cream sauce onto rice. Topped with grated mozzarella cheese over rice. I added some Parmesan cheese too. 
5. Drizzle a little olive oil before baking in preheated oven about 190 degrees for about 15-20mins or till cheese melts and and turns golden brown. Garnish with chopped fresh coriander or dry parsley. Serve hot. 

Chicken midwings with potatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken midwings 
• 3 medium size potatoes 
• 4-5 slices of ginger 
• 5 cloves of minced garlic 

Seasonings:

• 1 bowl of water 
• 2 tbsps dark soya sauce (KCT brand) 
• 2 tbsp light soya sauce 
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce 
• 1 tbsp sesame oil 
• 1 tsp of sugar 
• 1 tbsp cooking wine 
• A dash of white pepper 

Method:

1. Add 2 tbsps of salt to chicken midwings and rub onto wings. This is to remove smell and any dirt on chicken. Washed and drain dry chicken midwings. Add a tbsp of light soya sauce and sesame oil to wings. Mix well. 
2. Peeled and cut potatoes into chunks. Heat oil in wok, lightly fry potatoes. Remove, drain oil and set aside. 
3. Leave some oil in wok. Add ginger and minced garlic. Fry till fragrant. Add chicken midwings. Stirfry till half-cooked. Add potatoes and all the seasonings. Stir well and bring to a boil. Then lower heat and simmer for about 10-15mins or till chicken is cooked. Prepare cornflour water and thickened gravy. Served hot with rice ☺️

*Pls adjust seasonings according to your taste. I tend to add more water as my kids loved the gravy with rice. You can adjust the taste before you thickened the gravy.

Simple Panfry Chicken Legs (香煎去骨鸡腿肉)

One of the simplest dish my mother taught me! Only chicken legs and 4 sauce condiments! ✌️ And it’s so flavorful! ☺️

Ingredients:

• 5 chicken boneless legs (bought fresh from market) 

Marination:

• 1.5 tbsp light soya sauce 
• 2 tbsp dark soya sauce (Guang Xiang tai brand) 
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce 
• 1 tbsp sesame oil 

Method:

1. Add 3 tbsp of salt on chicken legs. Rub all over chicken legs. Rinsed off salt and pat dry. 
2. Add marination onto chicken legs. Use hand to massage and ensure chicken legs are well coated with sauce. Alternatively, you can place chicken legs into a ziplock bag. Add marination and zip bag. Massage chicken legs to ensure that it’s well-coated with marinate. Marinate overnight or at least 4 hours. 
3. Bring chicken legs 30minutes out of fridge before frying. 
4. Heat non-stick pan, medium-heat. When pan is hot, place two pieces of marinated chicken legs, skin-down on pan. Cover with lid and let it cook for about 4-5 minutes. Flipped to the other side and cooked for 4minutes, then flip back to skin-side again to Char the skin. If you like the chicken more char, fry it for longer period of time. Do the same for the rest of the chicken legs. Serve chicken with hot steamed rice. 

Note: Do not need to oil pan as chicken skin will emit oil upon frying.

Fish Fillet with ginger and spring onion (姜葱鱼片)

Ingredients:

• 300g   Fish fillet, sliced 
• 50g     ginger , sliced thinly 
• 3/4      stalks spring onion, cut into 3 cm long, separate white and green parts 
• 2 tbsp minced garlic 

Marinate for fish slices:

• 1    egg white 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1    tsp sugar
• 1    tbsp light soya sauce 
• 1    tsp corn flour 
• 1    tbsp ginger juice 
• Dash of pepper and sesame oil 

Seasonings:

• 2    tbsp oyster sauce 
• 1    tbsp light soya sauce 
• 1/4 tsp dark soya sauce (optional: for colour) 
• 1/2 sesame oil 
• 1/2 Chinese cooking wine 
• 3     tbsps hot water 

Method:

1. Mix fish fillet with marinate and season for 30monites. Heat oil in wok and fry fish slices about 30 seconds on each sides, taking care not to break fish into small pieces. Drained and set aside. 
2. Mixed seasonings in a bowl and set aside. 
3. Remove oil, leaving approximately 1 tbsp of oil in wok. Sauté ginger till fragrant. Add mixed garlic and white part of spring onion and fry for 1/2 minute. 
4. Add in fish slices, rest of the seasonings and green part of spring onion. Stirfry at high heat till well-mixed. Thickened with corn flour water and served hot with white rice. 

Today’s bento 🍱: Simple stirfry macaroni

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup elbow macaroni
• 2 tbsp mixed vegetables
• 1 tbsp imitation crab meat  
• 1 piece of ham, diced 
• 1 beaten egg 
• 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tbsp ketchup
• 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce 
• 1/2 tsp light soya sauce 
• A dash of white pepper and sesame oil

Method:

1. Boil water in a pot with some salt.  Boil elbow macaroni till al dente. Set aside. 
2. Reserved 1 tbsp of water from boiling macaroni in a bowl. Add in the seasonings, ketchup, oyster sauce, light soya sauce, sesame oil and pepper. Mix well and set aside.
3. Heat a saucepan with a tbsp of oil. Scrambled beaten egg into smaller pieces and set aside. 
4. Add another tbsp of oil in the pan. Saute minced garlic till fragrant. 
5. Add mixed vegetables and stirfry for half a minute. Add imitation crab meat and ham. 
6. Add elbow macaroni and mix well. 
7. Drizzle in the prepared sauce and stirfry quickly to combine with macaroni.  
8. Lastly, add in scrambled egg, mix well and off heat. 
9. Transfer into thermal lunchbox immediately or pack into lunchbox when it cooled slightly. 

#kidsluncbox