Chinese Roast Pork (Siew Yoke)

We had this piece of  roasted 'siew yoke' for dinner today.  This is my 1st attempt at making this Chinese roast pork (siew yoke).  I saw it on a TV food programme and since it looks quite easy, I have decided to give it a try.  The taste was right though the skin is not  100% crispy and I would need to roast it a bit longer the next time. I added in one piece of  'lam yue' and 5-spice powder which are not in the original recipe.

Ingredients

1  piece of pork belly - 750gm (more or less up to you)
a piece of ginger and some spring onions

Shao Shing wine (Chinese wine)
a bit of salt
1 piece of red bean curd (lam yue)
1/2 tsp of 5 spice powder


Coarse salt  -  4 tabsp or more, enough to cover the whole skin

Method

1)      Boil some water in the wok and add in the ginger and spring onion. This is to take away the
         'pork' smell in the meat.   Put in the piece of pork belly for  about 10 mins.  Take out and
         put it into a bowl of cold water.
2)     Take out the meat and pat it dry.  Puncture the skin with a fork or any sharp object.
         Rub a bit of salt, lam yue and 5 spice powder onto the meat.  Add in the Shao
        Shing wine.  Cover it with cling wrap and leave it in fridge overnight.
3)     Take out the meat and put it onto a piece of foil paper in the baking tray.
4)     With the skin facing up, cover the top of skin with the coarse salt.  Bake it in the oven at 150 deg. C
        for 1 hour.
5)    Take out the tray and remove the hardened piece of salt from the meat. Discard the salt.  Put back the
        meat into the oven and roast for another 45 mins. at 200 deg. C.
        Just make sure that the skin is all 'blistered up'  otherwise that part will be tough.
6)   Remove siew yoke from the oven and rest it for 15 mins. before cutting it.

Peanut Porridge

This peanut porridge recipe is for my daughter.  No hard and fast rules about the ingredients.  It is up to you to add whatever you like.  The recipe can serve 5 portions. The basic ingredients are:- 

1 1/4 cup of  rice

1)      A cup of  raw peanuts 
2)      Some dried anchovies  (washed)
3)      A piece of  preserved 'tai tau choy' -  about 3" (washed and cut into strips or cut into 6 pieces)
4)     1/2 cup of dried shrimps  -   (soaked for 10 mins. and washed .. set aside)
5)     5 medium size dried Chinese mushrooms - (soaked until soft, wash and cut into strips)
6)     Optional :    cuttlefish strips,  small dried oysters

Method

1)     Boil the peanuts in a pot of water for at least 1/2 hours.  Set aside.  Wash them after that.
2)     Wash the rice and put in a slow cooker.  Add in about 2 lit. of water.
3)     Put some soil in the pan/wok and fry the dried shrimps and anchovies.  Dish out.
4)     Put all ingredients into the slow cooker.   Turn on to high and cook for 5 hours.  Most of the time
        there is no need to add salt as the preserved salted 'tai tau choy' is enough to flavour the
        porridge.

French Riviera/Northern Italy Holiday

Sorry for the long absence from this blog.  Just came back from a 17 days French Riviera/Northern Italy trip with my good friend, Rosalind.  We had a wonderful time.  Here are some of the beautiful photos and of course not forgetting pictures of the food.

                              One of the beautiful alpine mountain top of Jungfraujoch, Switzerland.

                                                       Lakeside City of Lugano, Switzerland

This is the Monte Carlo F1 Racing track in Monaco. 

                                                People playing chess in the park, Geneva

                            Delicious roast chicken dish at a restaurant in Florence.  Very crispy skin.

I have forgotten the name of this beef dish.  This is raw beef which is thinly sliced, topped with cheese and salt. I shall call it beef shashimi.  Quite nice considering I hardly take raw meat. 

                                          Roast pork dinner at Interlaken, Switzerland.  Yum2.

The famous German Pork Knuckles which we had in Munich. I didn't like the yellow rice ball which is something like the glutinous rice.

                                         Fish fillet dish at a restaurant in Munich.  Very delicious.

                                     Another delicious pork chop dish from the same Munich restaurant. 

Seafood platter from the chef  who owns  this nice little Chinese restaurant in Zurich.  He is the brother-in-law of my good friend, Rosalind and the family took care of both of us during our extended stay.  Thank you very much the Teng family.

                                      Vegetable and mushroom crepe at restaurant in Florence.

Are you hungry now!!!