What Life could be Expecting

Sweet N’ Sour Pork Ribs 
生炒排骨

Sweet and Sour - What life one could be expecting, but that is what made us an unforgettable one!
My mother-in-law taught me how to manage the crispy yet juicy deep-fried pork ribs. Her tips are soooo good that the dish became a zero failure. There is no need to crave for sweet n’ sour pork from restaurants anymore.

1lb pork ribs (一字排), cut in 1½ inch cubes n pat-dried
1 cup of corn starch

1 egg, beaten

½ pepper, yellow and orange, sliced in big diamond shape

½ pineapple, sliced in trunk

vegetable or canola oil for deep fry

pinch of sea salt and sugar to season

The Sauce

3tbsp white vinegar

3tbsp water

2tbsp ketchup

1/2 - 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

sugar (at your taste)

1tsp corn starch

• Marinate ribs with pinch of salt n sugar.
• Whisk 1 egg. Soak ribs in the egg wash briefly. Immediately coat the ribs with a thin layer of corn starch. You can do that by shaking the powder onto the ribs within a plastic bag so the powder will stay thin and evenly.
• Deep-fry the ribs in a good amount of canola oil until the oil is no longer bubbling.  Take the ribs out and set aside. At this point, the ribs should be cooked but not crispy enough. Leave the oil to cool down in the pot to prepare for the 2^nd frying process to follow.
• Meanwhile, stir fry the peppers. Add in pineapples. Remove from heat and set aside.
• After the frying oil came to a cooled down, reheat the oil in high fire. Once the oil is bubbling hot again, deep-fry the ribs once again until the color gets more golden and became crispy. Drain out the ribs and set aside.
• Prepare the mixed ketchup sauce in medium heat and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce thicken a bit.
• Toss the ribs, peppers and pineapples into the ketchup sauce quickly until well blended. Serve immediately.

Tips from mother-in-law: 
The oil must come to a complete cooled down after the 1st round of deep-fry and reheat the oil for the 2nd round in order to attain full crunchiness even after blended in with the sauce.

An Ideal Lunch

Egg Sandwich, my way!

I invented this sandwich with one idea in mind, “availability”. Who said we are bounded by recipe? Simply check what is available from in fridge and voila!

few endive leaves

2 hard boiled eggs, smashed

caviar

mayonnaise

sprigs of dill (optional)

olive oil

sea salt n pepper to season

white toasts

• Break and blend the eggs with forks. Mix with mayonnaise and season. Add in dill if available.
• Drizzle olive oil and season the endives.
• Spread a generous layer of egg mayonnaise onto a piece of endive and toast. Add a good dash of caviar on top if you are a fan of it. Season with pepper n yum!Egg Sandwich, My Way!

The Lemony Snow White

our little Snow White

 Lemon 
Curd 
Meringue 
Tart

Even you may not prefer the taste of tangy and tart, the acidic sharpness of the lemon balanced with the sweet fluffiness of the meringue actually turn out to be quite a blissful marriage!

When I asked my husband to guess how I would name the tag line of this tart, he said “Volcano” while I named it a “ Lemony Snow White”. There is obviously not only the contrast of tartness and sweetness, but also man and woman!

Preheat oven to 180C

Pastry Dough

125g butter, diced

100g icing sugar

1 egg yolk at room temperature

vanilla seeds

zest of ½ lemon

a pinch of salt

250g unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tbsp water

• Mix the butter, sugar, egg yolk vanilla seeds, zest and pinch of salt gradually with fingertips over a well of flour until it comes together into coarse breadcrumbs foam. Add the cold water. Pat the mixture together to form a dough. Minimize the movement of the dough o keep it flaky. Wrap it with a clingfilm and refrigerate it for an hour.
• Roll the pastry out into an 11-inch circle or cut it into slices of your desired pastry thickness. Line the pastry over a loose-bottomed flan tin. Gently press the pastry up against the sides of the tin and trim the excess dough over the edge. Use a fork to prick the bottom of the pastry shell.
• Place the pastry in the freezer for 1 hour to avoid it from shrinking.
• Fill the pastry mould with dried beans over a greaseproof paper in between. Bake the pastry blind over 180C for 12 minutes until cooked.

Lemon Curd

1 cup of fresh lemon juice

zest of 4 lemons, grated

1 cup of caster sugar

5 eggs and 4 yolks

60g unsalted butter, softened

• Fold in lemon juice, zest, sugar, eggs and yolks into a thick-bottomed pan and whisk over a very low heat or on a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly for about 5 minutes or until the mixture start to thicken then stir in butter. Continue whisking until the mixture nicely coats the back of a wooden spoon like thick custard. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool down a bit.
• Give the curd a final whisk when it is still lukewarm then pour it through a fine sieve into the pastry mould. Spread the curd out evenly with a spatula and shake gently so the mixture stays nice and flat.
• Bake the tart for 10-12 minutes or until the filling is well set but not browned.
• Leave it cool down on a wire rack on the side while proceed to prepare the meringue topping.

Meringue Topping

5 -7 egg whites

150g caster sugar

• Beat the egg whites to peaks with the sugar.
• Pour the meringue over the tart and peak it with a fork. Caramelize it with a blowtorch or back into the oven for 5-7 minutes until it turned lightly golden.

 Here’s truly a paradise on earth for the summer!

Tips from Jamie Oliver on the pastry: 

Once the tart shell is baked blind, brush the inside with a little egg white and bake it again in the oven for another 30 secs. This will give the tart shell a nice waterproof layer and protect it from a moist filling.

Painting with Soya

鼓油雞（家教雞）

Soya Sauce Chicken

My dad said his grandpa named this chicken as 家教雞, a chicken based on a cooking method transferred from generation to generation. At least now I have picked it up and obviously Cheriann has managed to follow the fundamental as well...

My dad did acquire quite some good tips from the commercial side and was able to bring them into practice with his own recipe transferred from his great grandpa or grandpa.

1 quality Kaimei chicken (the cockerel) 嘉美雞

The Sauce

½ bottle Dark Soy

3-4 piece medium sized rock sugar or ¾ piece of cane sugar (片糖)

½ bottle Quality Light Soy Sauce

1 anise star

1 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp of juice of ginger

2-3 tbsp of Shaoxing wine (紹興酒)

1 tsp mei kuei lu chiew – Chinese rose wine (玫瑰露酒)

• Air-dry the chicken by hanging it or on a chicken chair over night.
• Dissolve rock sugar with the dark soy sauce at your desired taste. Paint the chicken with the dark soy sauce and leave it air-dried again. Continue this process 3 times. The chicken should have a nice glossy dark skin.
• Fold in the rest of the sauce ingredients together with the dark soy painting sauce and bring to a boil. Check the taste and adjust with more soy sauce or sugar as desired. 
• Pour the sauce preferably in a tall slim cooking pot that can fit in the chicken in an upright position. The chicken should be completely submerged in the sauce. Add extra water and further adjust the taste of the sauce if needed.
• Cook the chicken based on the below timing:

• Cook a small sized chicken in the boiling sauce for 3-4 minutes then off fire. Leave it covered and soaked in the sauce for another 35 minutes to continue the cooking process.
• Cook a large sized chicken in the boiling sauce for 4-5 minutes then off fire. Leave it covered and soaked in the sauce for another 40-45 minutes.
• Take out the chicken from the sauce and leave it cooled down before cutting it so the meat will stay intact and firm in texture.
• To serve, reheat the sauce while cutting the chicken. Pour the sauce all over the chicken then drain the sauce out. Repeat this process for 3-4 times till the chicken became warm. Serve the chicken with some sauce or on the side. 

Tips: 
If you are a soy sauce chicken fan, it's worthwhile to invest into a chicken chair and a tall slim cooking pot.