Pork Chop La Mian-排骨拉面

I always like to eat the 排骨拉面 from Crystal Jade Noodle House. So when I saw this similar recipe from one of the cookbook, I decide to give it a try. I bought the Fresh La Mian(拉面) from NTUC supermarket which can use to serve 3 - 4 person. This dish is very simple, just need to marinate the pork chop then deep-fry it and serve with soup noodle. It cost about $3.00 per bowl base on the ingredients used.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 Pieces of Big Pork Chop With Bone
1 Packet of La Mian(拉面)
A Few Stalks Of Xiao Bao Cai/Cai Xin(小白菜/菜薪)
600ml Of Soup Stock
Some Shallot/Sesame Oil
2 Tablespoon Sweet Potato Flour + 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

Seasoning:
1 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
3-4 Cloves Crush Garlic
1/2 Teaspoon Five-spice Powder

Methods:
1. Wash and chop the pork chop with the back of the knife to make it tenderize.
2. Marinate it with the seasoning for at least 30 minutes or more in the fridge.
3. Before deep-frying, coat it evenly with the flour mixture and set aside for 2 - 3 minutes.
4. Preheat the oil and deep-fry the pork chop in medium heat one at a time until golden brown and crisp.
5. Blanch the noodle in boiling water, then rinse with tap water to remove the starch on the noodles.
6. Then cook the noodles accordingly to the packet instructions.
7. Wash and blanch the vegetables in the boiling soup, remove and set side.
8. Place the cooked noodles in a serving bowl, top with blanch vegetables and deep-fry pork chop.
9. Pour over the soup stock and sprinkle some dried shallot, sesame oil and spring onion then serve.

Notes: You can use any types of noodle that you prefer. Or you can change the pork chop to pork ribs.

Pumpkin & Assorted Bean Soup

Remember the Cranberry Bean(click link for more details) that I had used for some of the soup recipes before. Today we are going to have another soup using these beautify peal bean together with some kidney beans and pumpkin to stew a wonderful soup of the day.

Kidney Beans-红腰豆
A dried kidney shape bean that is reddish brown in color, strong flavored and has a slight mealy (powdery) texture. The beans can be cooked as their own dish or can be added into other dishes, such as chili, casseroles, refried beans and salads. They are available dried or in cans, precooked. Kidney beans also provide large amounts of foliate and tryptophan. It also benefits the Spleen and invigorates the Stomach, expels Heat and Dampness. As with all dried beans, they should be sorted and washed before cooking. Soaking ahead of time reduces cooking time.


Ingredients:
1/4 Pumpkin(南瓜), about 300g
20 Pods Cranberry Bean(珍珠豆)
100g Kidney Beans(红腰豆)
300g - 350g Pork Ribs(排骨)
1 Medium Fresh Huai Shan(鲜淮山), about 200g
1/2 Tablespoon Gou Qizi(枸杞子)
1 Piece Of Dried Tangerine Peel, 陈皮

Methods:
1. Wash, trim and blanch the pork ribs in boiling water. Rinse and set aside for later use.
2. Wash, peel and cut the pumpkin into 4 large pieces.
3. Wash and soak the kidney bean for about 30 minutes, drain and set aside.
4. Soak dried tangerine peel till soft, then scrape off the pith.
5. Remove the cranberry bean from the pod, wash and set aside.
6. Bring a pot of 1.2 litre of water to boil, then add in all the ingredients except the cranberry bean, reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 1 hrs or until the kidney bean is tender then add in the cranberry bean and continue to simmer for another 20 minutes.
7. Or you can transfer the boiled soup to a slow-cooker and simmer on LOW heat for 2 hours then add in the cranberry beans and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes season with salt and serve.

Kapitan Chicken Curry

This Ayam Kapitan is a very special curry paste that I had not try before and it actually used Fresh Turmeric Leaves as one of the ingredients. It has a very refreshing and special aroma when the dish is done. When you taste the curry sauce, it has a lemon scent of the turmeric leave taste and it make the curry less greasy which I find is a new taste for those curry paste that I had tried before.


Ingredients:
1 Packet Ayam Kapitan Curry Paste
500g Chicken Wings
10 Baby Potato
1 Brown Onion, finely chopped
1/2 Cup Coconut Milk
1 1/2 Cup Water
1 Tablespoon Finely Shredded Fresh Turmeric Leave

Methods:
1. Wash and trim the chicken wings then set aside for later used.
2. Mix the coconut milk with 1/2 cup of water and stir well.
3. Preheat a pot with 1 tablespoon of oil and saute the brown onion until fragrant then add in the curry paste and stir till well mixture.
4. Next add the chicken wings and potato then stir till well coated with the curry paste and let it cook for a few minutes then add in the coconut milk mixture.
5. Stir well and when it boil, add in the water and let it simmer until the sauce is almost thicken then add in the shredded turmeric leaves and simmer for another 5 minutes and serve with bread or rice.

My mum got these instant Maggi Curry Paste from one of those shopping mall in Malaysia. So I think for those who usually visit the shopping mall over there, maybe you can try to take a look at these products and give it a try... it's very special and you don't find it in Singapore.

Apple Yakult Cake

Got this very interesting Chilled Yakult Yogurt Cake recipe from one of my new blogger's friend Tazz(click link for her original recipe). You might be wondering... Wow.. since when Yakult(it is a kind of fermented milk drink ) can used to make cake as well..... From her recipe, I change two of her ingredients which I had some left over from making a Cheesecake. So it's kind of adventure when you got something new in the original recipe because you might not know what can goes wrong.......

But luckily the cake turns out well and everyone enjoys it so much. The texture of the cake is sort of like Lily's(Hugbear) Peach Marshmallow Cake, but as usual some of the ingredients had being recipe for a different favour and texture. For my version of Apple Yakult Cake, I used the new Konnyaku Apple Favour Jelly for the topping instead...

Ingredients For The Base: (6"/7" cake pan)
7 Pieces Of digestive Biscuits
40g Melted Butter
Ingredients For The Filling:
100g Plain Natural Yogurt
150ml Yakult, apple flavour
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
150ml Thicken Cream
1 Tablespoon Gelatin
3 Tablespoons Sugar
150ml Water

Method:
1. Crush the digestive biscuit in a zip-lock bag until fine crumbs then mix with melted butter, and press firmly to the base of the cake pan, set aside in the fridge for later use.
2. Dissolve gelatin and sugar in 150ml of water in a saucepan over low heat, then set aside to cool.
3. Whisk plain yogurt, yakult and lemon juice until well blended then pour in the cooled gelatin mixture and mix well.
4. Whip the thicken cream till soft peak form.
5. Slowly fold in the yogurt mixture into the whipped cream and mix well.
6. Pour the combined mixture onto the chilled biscuit base and leave it in the fridge for about 2 hours or more to set.

Jelly Topping:
1 Teaspoon of Kiwi Seeds
1/2 Packet Of Konnyaku Jelly Powder, apple favour
250ml Water

Methods:
1. Soak kiwi seeds in 1 glass of water for 20 minutes and remove those that are floating on top. Drain and rinse on the sieve.
2. Fill a saucepan with 250ml of water, pour the jelly powder and soaked kiwi seeds in.
3. Switch on the heat and gradually stir the mixture until boil, upon boiling, remove from stove and stir till bubbles disappear.
4. When the cake is set, spoon the cooled jelly solution on the cake and refrigerate again.
5. Keep in the fridge for about 2 hours or overnight then remove from cake ring and cut into slices and serve.

Notes:
1. You can add some fruit slices on top if you prefer.....
2. You can used any favour of yakult and jelly powder that you prefer.
3. Even for the biscuit base, you can change to chocolate biscuit instead of digestive Biscuits.
Just try to explore and be creative with your end-products.