Honey Pork w/ Tofu Skin

Last 2 posts have been pastas, so I guess I have to post something different.. 

Okay, chinese food this time. This is called Honey Pork with Tofu Skin. This is actually an accidental recipe that I made, since I figured that I have just bought some pork, tofu skin and... honey. 

Therefore, I started browsing recipes on what I could do with the honey, and I ended up with this famous Chinese recipe! However, the original recipe does not include tofu skins. It was just my initiative to put it in, so if you guys don't like tofu skins, feel free to skip them. 

And again, the picture is not in a good quality.. Did not have time to grab my camera since bf was already too hungry...

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 chicken breast/pork
• dried tofu skins (put it in hot water for about 15mins until they're all soaked wet, drained the water then) 

Directions

1. Whisk together honey, soy sauce and garlic
2. Coat the meat with the sauce
3. Leave it in the refrigerator for about 30mins-1hr
4. Cook the meat over medium heat until half cooked
5. Stir in and cook the wet Tofu skins w/ the meat until all of them are well cooked (don't forget to taste while cooking) 

Simple Baked Penne

Pasta pasta pasta! who can get enough of this amazing Italian dish? It is delicious, and easy to make. I had an idea of making Baked Penne, cause we usually order it from the local Pizza delivery here, which tastes good. Bf's favorite too. Then I wondered, why don't I make it by myself? Should be simple, right? I asked my bf to accompany me to buy the ingredients in the supermarket, and made it the next day. The result is fortunately satisfying! Bf likes it so much. He said that he likes the sauce so much. Obviously gonna make it again next time, and will make sure that the cheese on top should actually melt even more!!

I know that this is not the best picture I could get. I even have to crop the background! :(

 

Ingredients

• drizzle of olive oil
• 1 pound dried penne
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 3-4 tomatoes 
• ketchup
• sugar, salt, pepper 
• parmesan cheese
• cheese slices 

Directions

1. Heat oven to 200° C.  
2. Oil your baking dish with 2 teaspoon of oil. 
3. Cook penne (according to the package directions)
4. Heat oil in saucepan in medium heat. Cook garlic for 1 minute. 
5. Add tomatoes, ketchup, sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, pinch of pepper. (I know I don't have the exact amount of the ketchup sugar salt and pepper. I forgot to measure, cause usually I just depend on my tasting skill. So I suggest you to taste EVERY SINGLE TIME. Don't pour too much, if you're not convinced!)
6. Bring to boil
7. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened (+/- 15 mins)
8. Stir in the cheese slices (I used 3-4 slices)
9. Put half of the cooked penne into the baking dish, top them with parmesan and cheddar again if you want. Repeat this step with the remaining pasta, but not the cheddar (to prevent it from burning)
10. Bake it for 10-15minutes before bubbling, then put the cheese slices on top and let it bake until bubbling for another 5 minutes

 

Vie's Notes: You could actually changed the penne into someting else. Fusilli, macaroni, ziti, farfalle could work too, don't you think? 

Spaghetti with dried chilli and pangritata (from Jamie Oliver book)

original recipe and text from Jamie Oliver - The Return of The Naked Chef book

Pangritata is great, It's basically fried or toasted breadcrumbs in garlic oil. In Italy, pangritata was once used as a substitute for Parmesan, which some people couldn't afford. It gives a dish an excellent texture and crunch and, if made well, great flavour. 

Ingredients:

serves 4

455g/1lb dried spaghetti, the best you can get

6 tablespoon extra virgin oil

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

16 anchovy fillets (I didn't use thism substituet it with mushrooms)

juice of 2 lemons

2 small dried red chillies, crumbled

for the pangritata

8 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove of garlic, sliced

1 good handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked

200g/7oz fresh breadcrumbs

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

First make the pangritata. Put the olive oil into a hot thick-bottomed pan. Add the garlic, thyme, and breadcrumbs; they will fry and begin to toast. Stir for a couple of minutes until the breadcrumbs are really crisp and golden. Seaon with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper and drain on kitchen paper.

Cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water until al dente. While it is cooking, put the oil and garlic in a pan and heat gently. As the garlic begins to soften, lay the anchovy fillets over the top. After a minute you will see them begin to melt. Squeeze in the lemon juice and sprinkle in the dried chillies. Toss in the drained spaghetti and coat it in the sauce. Taste a bit of pasta - it may need a little more lemon juice and a little extra seasoning. Serve straight away, sprinkled really generously with the pangritata. 

Vie's Result :

Vie's Notes: This is pretty much an easy yet delicious dish to make. It has this wonderful sensation of the crunchiness of the pangritata and in the other hand the chewy and moist from the pasta.

Salty and Crispy Roasted Chicken Thighs

Feeling like eating roasted chicken at that time, so I decided to make them. This is pretty easy, all you need to do is just season them with salt and pepper, put them in the oven (around 200 degrees celcius for about 20mins), then voila! 

A salty and crispy roasted chicken ready to be eaten! :)

Vie's Result :  

Vie's Notes : Sorry for the poor quality of picture, I took it with my blackberry because I forgot to charge my camera's battery...

Roast Pork Ribs

This was my first time dealing with ribs, and thankfully it turned out great! I would totally make more someday with different marinade ;) you guys should definitely try!

I've made this ribs with BBQ sauce that I bought in Parkson supermarket. I thought it's gonna be like a normal western BBQ sauce. But it turned out to be a 'Chinese' BBQ sauce. LOL But I didn't mean that it doesn't taste good, it's just really out of my expectation you know :p I was shocked

Ingredients :

2 Pork Ribs

marinade sauce (Bbq/honey/sweet soy sauce/etc)
salt

Method :

Cook the ribs in water with salt for approximately 30 minutes. When the water boils, turn down the heat. Take the ribs out of the pan and dry the ribs with kitchen paper. Rub them with the marinade sauce that you prefer, and refrigerate them overnight or at least 2 hours. Then put them in the oven (225 C) and roast them until they are crusty. Always watch them out while roasting to prevent burning!

Vie's Result :

Vie's Notes : Sorry for the bad plating!! Because the thing is, I couldn't take more time to decorate or clean or whatever it is and then take pictures. My food always gets cold easily (because it's winter) and I feel bad for my housemate staring on the food too long waiting for me to take photos first. lol!

Bakwan Jagung (Fried Corn)

(In Indonesian)

original recipe from wonosari

Bahan :

5 buah jagung manis diserut (sebagian di tumbuk kasar, sebagian dibiarkan bulat2)
1 butir telur ayam
3 - 4 sdm terigu segitiga
seledri cincang (kalau suka)
1 batang daun bawang (diiris agak tipis, baru dicuci biar lendirnya keluar)
100 gr udang kupas

Bumbu halus :
garam
3 - 4 siung bawang putih
1 siung bawang merah
1 butir kemiri
1/4 sdt ketumbar
3 buah cabe merah (jika suka), ditumbuk kasar

Cara :
campur jagung, bumbu, telur, seledri, daun bawang, terigu, udang jadi satu. panaskan minyak goreng. ambil adonan 1 sdm trus masukan ke minyak panas goreng hingga matang (coklat kekuningan).

(In English)

original recipe from tasty-indonesian-food

Ingredients

- 150 gram canned corn

- 1 egg

- 50 gram plain flour

- 1 stalk of celery

- 1 stalk of spring onion

Spice Paste

- 3 shallots

- 2 cloves of garlic

- 2 red chillies

- 2 bird's eyes chillies (optional)

- 1 tablespoon of coriander

- 1 cm Kaempferia galanga L (kencur) - optional

- 1 kaffir lime leaf

- salt and sugar to taste

Directions

1. Blend or grind all the ingredients for spice paste. Then add the corn, and continue blending (grinding). I like to grind the corn roughly, not so smooth.

2. Put the mixture into a bowl, and then add the flour, celery, spring onion and egg. Mix it well.

3. Heat the oil in deep wok, and fry 1 tablespoon of mixture until slightly brown.

Tips : you can add some fresh small prawn into the mixture to give it more flavour.

Vie's Result :

 while frying... (that was my housemate's hand, that's why I could take the picture!)

Vie's Notes : Put in more sugar inside the mixture if you like it sweet.. But if you like it salty, then don't. Don't fry the fried corn/bakwan jagung in a really hot heat to avoid burning.

Black Pepper Pork Belly w/ mushroom

Ingredients : 

pork Belly 

jelly fungi (jamur kuping)

green vegetable 

1 tbsp oyster sauce

ground black pepper 

spring onion

garlic

shallots

onion

salt

water 

Method :

Saute the onion, shallots and garlic together. Cook in the pork belly until it changes color. Pour in the oyster sauce and ground black pepper, then the mushrooms. Mix well. Pour in a little bit of water, not too much, this is not going to be soup. Wait for it until boiled then put in the vegetable. Stir again until they all combined well. Taste. Serve while hot.

Vie's Result :

Vie's Notes : This is again, a non-recipe based dish that I made for dinner tonight, so feel free to substitute the meat into chicken or beef, and also the mushrooms and vegetables!