Claypot Pork Belly With Salted Fish 咸鱼花腩煲

Finally it's something Southeast Asian. I've been mostly cooking up Taiwanese, Japanese, and some western food recently, and now it's time for a popular dish around Malaysia and Singapore area, claypot pork belly with salted fish. 

Traditionally this recipe calls for pork belly, either thicker slices or chunks of meat. However, I find it a bit too fatty for my liking, so I switched up half of the meat to pork jowl, the so called Matsusaka pork.

Claypot pork belly with salted fish 咸鱼花腩煲 - 

Ingredients?

• 250 grams pork belly slices (1mm to 2mm thickness)
• 250 grams pork jowl slices (1mm to 2mm thickness)
• 1 small chunk salted mackerel fish 梅香鹹魚
• 1/2 medium onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 dried red chilis
• 1 small chunk ginger
• 1 stalk scallion
• 1 tablespoon potato starch
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon aged Shaoxing wine
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon crystal sugar
• 1/2 cup hot water
• Some olive oil

How?

Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of aged Shaoxing wine, 1 teaspoon of dark sesame oil, and 1 tablespoon of potato starch to marinate the pork. Do this step first then move on to prepping other ingredients.

Peel and slice the onion to wedges. Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves. Slice the dried red chilies to shorter sections, also shake-off the seeds inside. Scrape and roughly chop the ginger. Destem and slice the scallion to shorter sections, separate the green and white parts.

Try to remove the skin from the salted fish if possible, also pick out the bones if any. Tear to smaller pieces.

Have a claypot ready and drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Switch to medium heat and wait till the pot warms up. Add in pork along with the marinade. Stir-fry till just about cooked-through. Scoop out and set aside for later use.

There should be some oil remain in the pot but do drizzle more oil if needed. Add in salted fish, stir-fry till slightly browned and breaks apart.

Add in garlics, ginger, scallion white sections, onion, and dried red chilies. Mix and cook till aromatic, maybe slightly golden brown on the edge for the onion wedges.

Transfer the pork back to claypot. Mix and season with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce. Flip around till evenly blended.

Pour in some hot water, and the amount of water added should be below the top of the ingredients. I used 1/2 cup of hot water here. Bring to a boil and let it cook for couple more minutes.

Add in the green part of scallion sections. Continue to cook for another 30 seconds. Add about 1 teaspoon of crystal sugar and cook till fully melted. 

The claypot can prolong that heat for quite a while even after you switch-off the fire. Just bring the entire claypot to dining table. This dish should be a crowd pleaser and goes really well with some rice.

The Chinese salted fish I'm referring to is usually made with mackerels. The fish needs to go through fermentation, salt-curing, and sun-drying processes. Usually and maybe the most commonly seen is that you'll find salted fish being used in fried rice in fancier Chinese restaurants.

However, consuming salted fish in small amount once a long while is fine. But don't be like too addicted and include salted fish in your regular meal often. It might be packed with umami and works like a wonder as a flavoring ingredient, but definitely not an ideal item and healthy thing to enjoy on a regular basis. 

Other recipes using claypot:

• Aged Shaoxing wine and soy sauce prawns 花雕醬油大明蝦
• Braised chicken with abalone 鮑魚悶雞

Mentaiko Soft Scrambled Eggs (Japanese Spicy Pollock/Cod Roe)

Often you'll find mentaiko being used in noodles, rice balls, or even as a spread on bread. Some also serve it straight, kind of like a salty side dish accompanying rice or even just with a few drinks (don't drink and drive).

Last time I used some mentaiko in a rice ball recipe and was left with one unused roe. So why not utilize that as a salty seasoning for scrambled eggs? Sounds like an easy yet delicious idea, and here's the result.

Mentaiko soft scrambled eggs - 

Ingredients?

• 6 eggs
• 1 medium small mentaiko fish roe
• 1 stalk scallion
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon drinkable water
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

How?

Destem and chop the scallion, separate the white and the green sections. Remove the mentaiko from the membrane, some call it the sac. I simply doing so by cutting a small opening on the end then squeeze out the roe inside.

Break six eggs to a bowl. Also add in 1 teaspoon of drinkable water along with 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise. You can use either the western style mayonnaise or the Japanese kewpie mayonnaise. 

Beat till the eggs have been mixed evenly. Don't worry about blobs of mayonnaise floating on top. As long as the mayonnaise has been breaking into smaller chunks then it won't be an issue later on.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to a non-stick pan and switch to medium heat. It's easier to cook soft scrambled eggs with a non-stick pan. However, if you're using stainless pan, just remember to bring up the heat first before adding oil.

Add in chopped scallion whites and 1/8 teaspoon of salt. Stir-fry till aromatic but not over-browning the scallion.

Pour in the egg mixture. Cook it like you are making a French style soft scrambled eggs, but it doesn't have to be super velvety. Just aiming for semi-soft texture instead of fully-cooked eggs in the end.

Also try to keep the eggs in bigger chunks. Do not over stir-fry the eggs, otherwise you might end up with tiny bits of cooked eggs in the end.

Once the egg mixture starts to set a little, mix in the mentaiko. Gently flip around the ingredients till about evenly blended together.

Quickly plate the eggs and garnish with some chopped scallion greens. The actual cooking time for this egg recipe happens really quickly, especially eggs get cooked and hardened very fast. A few minutes the most I would say.

Note that I only added small pinch of salt here, since mentaiko can be quite salty already. It's totally up to you though, if a lighter taste is preferred, omitting the use of extra salt should work fine also.

By the way, I served this scrambled eggs as one of the side dishes to eat along with some rice. However, I suppose adding that with soft white toast could be a great option too. Perhaps also slice some avocado on top to make it an even better fit with the bread.

Extended reading:

• Mentaiko scallion and sesame seeds onigiri

Steamed Clams with Smoked Bacon in White Wine Parsley Sauce

My initial plan was to use chorizo for this clam recipe, but somehow all the imported chorizo were banned in Taiwan. So I guess I won't be seeing imported chorizo for a long while. Good thing that the substitute - thick cut smoked bacon worked really well too.

Steamed clams with smoked bacon in white wine parsley sauce - 

Ingredients?

• 380 to 400 grams clams 
• 100 grams thick-cut smoked bacon
• 1 big bulb shallot
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 small bundle flat leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 yellow lemon
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Some salt
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

How?

First let's "clean" the clams first. Rinse and roughly clean the clam shells. Fill a medium pot with some room temperature water, mine was about 600ml of water with 3 teaspoons of salt added.

Add in the live clams and just let them sit there, don't go peeping too often in the beginning nor moving the pot. These movements might disturb the clams and then will have their shells tightly shut. 

The image I have here was only like 10 minutes into the soaking process. I would suggest wait for one hour, and make sure you do see the clams purged out the sand. It's actually quite fun to watch them doing that. Once all set, drain out the liquid and the clams will be ready to use.

When the clams are about ready, let's prep other ingredients. Slice the bacon to medium size chunks. Peel and chop the shallots and garlics. Separate the stem and leafy part for the parsley, chop the leafy part and section the stems. Slice the lemon into wedges.

Have a stainless pan ready, the reason why I specifically said stainless is that we will be adding in the clams, and the stainless material won't be damaged by the clam shells moving around.

Turn to medium or medium small heat. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and add in the bacon chunks. Sear till some fats have been rendered and the meaty part turns a bit browned.

Add in shallots and cook for about 30 seconds. Then add in chopped garlic, parsley stems, 1/8 teaspoon of salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Toss and cook for another 30 seconds.

Add in the clams and give it a quick mix. Pour in 1/2 cup of dry white wine.

Swirl a little then cover the pan with a lid. Use medium small heat and let it "steam" for about five minutes, or till the clams just opened up.

Remove the lid, pick out parsley stems and discard any clams that are still tightly closed. This time around, add in chopped parsley leaves. Squeeze in some lemon juice, about 1 tablespoon. Give it a quick mix.

Plate and add one or two extra lemon wedges on the side.

Note that I only posted the clam dish here. But there is definitely one other thing you can do to boost up the dining experience. Serve the dish with some toasted baguette. You can enjoy the clams and bacon chunks with the bread, also further soak up all the juice on the plate using the bread.

Nothing goes to waste, especially all that juice was like the essence from the clams, super flavorful and packed with umami. Even if you don't have any bread on hand, at least cook up some pasta or rice, just pour the sauce all over. It might sound weird but once you took a few bites you'll know what I'm talking about.

Other wine-friendly recipes:

• Nectarine and Serrano ham crostini
• Less oil fried cream cheese wontons
• Crostini with Serrano burrata and hot honey

Salted Duck Egg Shrimps 鹹蛋蝦仁

When you see salted egg out there, most likely it's salted "duck" egg. The reason is that duck egg has more fat compared to chicken egg, also less water. In addition, the duck egg shells are tougher with bigger yolk size. All that making duck egg a more ideal candidate to go through the brining process.

Salted duck egg shrimps 鹹蛋蝦仁 -

Ingredients?

• 20 to 24 shrimps
• 2 salted duck egg
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 stalk scallion
• 1 small chunk ginger
• 1 to 2 red chilies (optional)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine
• 2 tablespoons sweet potato starch

How?

Peel and devein the shrimps. Use 1 tablespoon of Chinese rice cooking wine to gently massage and marinate the shrimps. A short marinate time should be enough, just do this step first then move on to prepare other ingredients.

Peel the salted eggs, separate the yolk and the white then chop to smaller pieces.

Destem and chop the scallion, separate the green and the white parts. Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Destem and chop the red chilies if using. Scrape then finely chop the ginger.

When it's time for the actual cooking part, use about 2 tablespoons of sweet potato starch to mix in and coat the shrimps. Only do this step last minute. 

Quickly get a pan ready and drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Switch to medium heat. Once warmed up, add in the shrimps and sear till colored and about 70% cooked-through. After that, scoop out and set aside for later use.

Still using the same pan, drizzle more oil if needed. Use medium low heat this time. Add in chopped yolk and sear till the consistency becomes more paste-like and a bit bubbling.

Add in all the chopped scallion white and most of the chopped greens along with garlic, red chilies, and about 1/2 teaspoon of chopped ginger. Sear till aromatic. You can adjust to medium heat here.

Add back the shrimps and give it a quick stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Add in the egg white and cook for another 30 seconds. Taste and see if additional salt is needed. I didn't add any this time.

Once the seasoning has been checked, drizzle a round of white sesame oil, about 1 teaspoon. Add in all the remaining scallion greens and toss till evenly mixed in. Plate and serve.

Note that I didn't use any extra salt in this recipe. The reason is that "salted" duck egg can be quite salty already. So in general, by using the salted duck egg alone should be enough. However, if you prefer heavier flavor, just add a tiny pinch of salt should do. Just a tiny pinch.  

Other recipes using salted duck egg:

• Steamed pork patty with salted duck egg
• Salted duck egg and salmon fried rice 鹹鴨蛋鮭魚芥蘭炒飯

Eggplant Cold Dish in Flavorful Chinese Seasonings 中式涼拌茄子

When you Google eggplant cold dish or any sort of eggplant salad, usually you'll find a lighter version of Japanese recipe. No doubt, the Japanese version of eggplant cold dish recipes are quite popular online. But this time around we are talking about the Asian aromatics-filled eggplant recipe instead, with spicy chilies and kicking garlics.

Eggplant cold dish in flavorful Chinese seasonings 中式涼拌茄子 - 

Ingredients?

• 2 long or 1 big round eggplant
• 1 small bundle cilantro
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 to 4 red chilies
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 1/2 tablespoons black vinegar
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon black sesame oil

How?

There is no need to peel the eggplant, simply steam till softened but not soggy, about 15 to 20 minutes. Once done, remove from heat and wait till cool enough to handle by hand. Squeeze out the liquid first. You'll be surprised how much water these eggplants will hold. After that, tear the eggplant into strips and set aside for later use.

Prepare a big serving bowl that can withhold the heat from sizzling oil. To there, add in destemed and chopped red chilies, 4 peeled and chopped garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of red chili powder, and 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds.

Have a small pot ready and pour in 1/2 cup of olive oil. Bring up the heat and make sure the oil gets hot, pour that right on top of the aromatics prepped earlier in the bowl.

I actually put the bowl inside the sink before pouring in the hot oil. If the oil splashes out, at least it'll hit the sink wall and that means easy cleaning job for me afterwards.

So once the hot oil touches these aromatics, it should start sizzling, which will help releasing the aroma and flavors. Let's add some seasonings too, 2 1/2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 1/2 tablespoons of black vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of black sesame oil.

Give it a good mix then transfer the eggplant strips over. Mix till evenly blended too.

Lastly, chop some cilantro and mix together with the eggplant. Adding the cilantro last will help preserving its refreshing aroma, also a bit vibrant green color pop.

With all the ingredients listed here will give you a very flavorful result. However, there is one extra ingredient that you can add to the bunch, to further enhance the somewhat already heavy seasonings. That is, the century egg.

Basically it's Chinese preserved duck egg, the black colored kind. So if you don't mind such distinct ingredient, simply peel-off one preserved egg and smash into the whole eggplant bunch. It'll help binding all the seasonings, giving you a smoother touch yet with added depth of savory note. 

Other eggplant recipes:

• Seared eggplant with dried shrimp and garlic 醬燒蝦米茄子排
• Cubed eggplant and ground pork stir-fry with spicy fermented bean paste 炒辣豆瓣醬茄子豬肉丁

Make-Ahead Chicken Nanbanzuke (鶏肉の南蛮漬け)

If you like sweet and sour chicken, then this might be your cup of tea. Think of it as a "cold" version sweet and sour chicken, in a more refreshing way too.

Make-ahead chicken nanbanzuke (鶏肉の南蛮漬け) - 

Ingredients?

• 90 grams chicken tenders
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon rice wine
• Some potato starch
• 3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 packet Japanese vegetable dashi
• 150ml water
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1/2 medium carrot
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 5 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce

How?

Remove the tendons from the chicken tenders. Slice the chicken to small bite size chunks. Use 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of rice wine to quickly massage in and marinate the chicken. Set aside and rest for about 10 minutes.

Once done marinating, pat dry the chicken with paper towel then dust with some potato starch all around.

Have a pan ready and drizzle 3 to 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, or just regular olive oil. Switch to medium heat and wait till the oil warms up a bit.

Add in the chicken and don't move the meat early on. Wait till the bottom seems to set, ideally slightly golden before flipping and continue to sear the other side. Once both sides are golden and the chicken has been fully cooked-through, scoop out the chicken for later use.

Have a medium small pot ready. Pour in 150ml of water and add one dashi packet. Once drawing out the flavors, pick out the packet and turn-off the heat. You can simply use vegetable stock if available, just heat up 150ml of the stock but not up to the boiling point. Once warmed up, turn-off the heat too.

When the stock is still warm, add in 4 tablespoons of sugar, 5 tablespoons of rice vinegar, and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce. Which till the sugar has been fully dissolved. Pour that to your choice of storing container that can be sealed tight with a lid.

Peel and thinly slice half of the onion, peel and julienne half of the carrot. Destem, pithed, and slice half of the bell pepper to thin strips. Transfer all of them to the container.

Add the seared chicken to the container too. Mix and make sure everything in there has been coated with the sauce. You can enjoy the dish as it is if really wanted to, otherwise seal tight and store in the fridge for at least 2 hours before digging in, preferably overnight.

It's absolutely fine if you would like to enjoy the chicken nanbanzuke right away. However, this dish usually served cold. Once taken out of the refrigerator, rest under room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.

And that means chicken nanbanzuke is an ideal dish to prep ahead and enjoy later. Especially during hot summer days, the cold serving temperature pair with sweet and sour seasoning, quite an appetizing combo we got there. 

Other Japanese side dish recipes:

• Baby sardines in Japanese sweetened soy sauce いりこの佃煮
• Japanese burdock root and pork stir-fry
• Kinpira gobo きんぴらごぼう
• Seared corn and seaweed fritters

English Tea Style Cucumber Sandwich

Not related to recipes at all, just want to share that recently I've been watching some bird-related live streams while doing chores or playing with my phones at the same time. Like when washing dishes, I'll have my laptop on the side with live streams on. Here is one of the channels I've been watching Big Bear bald eagle live nest. It's actually quite therapeutic if you ask me.

English tea style cucumber sandwich - 

Ingredients (about 6 servings)?

• 6 slices white toasts
• 1 yellow lemon
• 2 to 3 English cucumbers 
• Small bundle dill
• Small bundle chives
• 8 oz or 226 grams cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• Some salt

How?

Remove the cream cheese from the fridge first and transfer 8 oz to a medium bowl. Wait till it softens. Chop the dill and chives, we will only need the leafy part for this recipe.

Trim-off both ends for the cucumbers. You can shave the cucumbers or thinly slice it. Doesn't matter which direction to slice into because in the end I'm going to chop the cucumber into smaller cubes for the sandwich. Not the typical way to prepare English cucumber sandwich but I kind of like it.

So transfer sliced cucumber to a bowl and use 1 teaspoon of salt to massage and marinate it. Rest under room temperature for about 20 minutes, until some moisture has been drawn out.

Once time's up, really squeeze hard to get all the liquid out from the cucumber. Dice into mini cubes and set aside for later use.

As for the cream cheese bowl, also add in 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon of chopped dill, 1 tablespoon of chopped chives, zest from 1 lemon, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Mix till evenly blended. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.

Spread the cream cheese mixture to one side of the toast for all 6 square white toasts. Arrange chopped cucumber on top for 3 of the toasts. So for every one toast with the spread and cucumber, top with another toast with the spread only, making sure all the seasoned side facing the inside, the center direction.

Trim-off the toast edges. You can just use a knife and press down, don't saw back and forth since it might rip the edges and ruin the shape of the sandwich.

Slice the square sandwich in half, so it'll either become two rectangular sandwiches or two triangular sandwiches, whichever shape you prefer.

About the mayonnaise used in this recipe, I used the English style mayonnaise, not the Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise. However, if you only have the Japanese kind available, the flavor shouldn't be off too much in the end. 

So back to the bird-related live streams, the Big Bear Lake bald eagle channel seems to be on all the time, and it's been on for a long long time already.

Hope such live stream will raise some awareness in regards to animal's natural habitat and preservation topics. Meanwhile, seeing these wild life prosper is such an amazing feeling, a cheerful boost while doing the daily routine chores. 

Other sandwich recipes:

• Cured ham open-faced sandwich for two
• Roasted tomatoes Serrano ham and burrata pesto sandwich
• Food I love and miss back from high school years - sloppy Joes