Monthly Archives: October 2019

Steamed Spareribs with mildly spiced black bean sauce

Make sure that you have extra rice cooked when you prepare this dish. The tender pork and savoury sauce goes well with your bowl of rice. You definitely would have to fight with your diet as you find yourself reaching for your spoon or chopsticks to dig in.

Ingredients

  • .1 kg spare ribs
  • 2 tbs cooking wine
  • 2 1/2 tbs spicy black bean sauce (Lee Kum Kee)
  • 1 tbs black sesame oil
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 4 tbs potato starch
  • bird eye chili or 1 long red chili (optional), kindly note that this dish spiciness level is subtle.

Other (for rinsing the ribs)

  • 1 tbs potato starch

Method

  • Add the potato starch and mix evenly to the ribs and massage. Rinse off the spare ribs with running water twice to remove impurities. Drain and pat dry
  • Add all the seasoning together except the starch. Mix well and pour it onto the ribs. Ensure that everything is well coated with the sauce.
  • Add the starch, and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  • Pour the ribs onto a dish. My steamer is quite small so my ribs are overlapping each other. If you have a big steamer, you can spread it out to avoid overlapping, This will help soften the meat faster when steaming. Sprinkle some chopped chilis if you like.
  • Steam for about an hour at high heat, or until the meat becomes tender. The bigger meat chunks the longer you need to steam. If you want the meat to easily fall off from the bone, steam it for another 20-30 minutes though this is my preference. Rest assured that the meat will not toughen up because of the starch coating.
  • Serve hot.

Note that since my ribs are overlapping, I turned the ribs every 30 minutes to coat the sauces onto each piece as it cooks.

Prawn with Salted Egg Yolk

Any dishes that has salted egg yolk can never go wrong. For me prawn with salted egg yolk is a perfect dish for me. How about you? This is just so finger licking good, that even my eldest son who doesn’t like prawn was be ready to get his hands dirty just to gobble the prawn one after another.

Ingredients

  • 500g prawn (cleaned, trimmed, slit from the back and deveined, marinate with 2 tbs cooking wine for 20 mins, rinse off then pat dry. I prefer the whole shell intact), slitting will allow the sauce to coat the prawn meat .
  • 2 minced garlic clove
  • 3 red bird eye chili, chopped (for less spicier, use long red chili)
  • Some curry leaves
  • 5 salted egg yolk ( steamed a mashed )
  • 1 egg white (big egg, lightly beaten)
  • 3/4 cup potato starch
  • 50g butter
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 1/4 cup chicken broth
  • salt to taste (if chicken broth is unsalted)

Note that I did not season the prawn. Fresh prawn should be sweet, so for me I feel that it doesn’t need seasoning anymore, this is just my preference. The salted egg yolk sauce is good enough to bring out the full flavour of the prawn.

Method

  • Dip the prawn with egg white, then coat it with the potato starch, shake off excess starch. Set aside. Do the same for the rest of the prawn.
  • In a heated wok, drizzle enough oil to fry the Prawn. Do not overcrowd the wok. Fry it in several batches. Ensure that the oil is very hot before frying. Use a wooden chopstick to test, when the oil surrounding the chopstick bubbles, it means it is ready. Put the fried prawn on a kitchen towel to drain excess oil. Set aside. Do not overcook your prawn, frying it between 20-25 seconds is enough.
  • In a heated pan or skillet, melt the butter
  • Add in the mashed salted egg yolk, stirring constantly to combine the yolk well with the butter in a medium low heat fire. The mixture will become frothy
  • Add in the garlic, chili and curry leaves. Stir fry til fragrant
  • Add in the broth and sugar. Stir well until the mixture becomes creamy.
  • Turn off the heat, toss in the fried prawn. Ensuring all the prawns are well coasted with the sauce.
  • Serve hot.