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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Braised Stewed Pork Ribs Meehoon (rice vermicelli) 红焼排骨米粉

My mom used to cook this version of traditional Hokkien braised stewed pork ribs meehoon (rice vermicelli) when we were young. I love this simple and great taste of braised meehoon, by simply pour a canned of stewed pork ribs 红焼排骨 or pork belly (much oily than use pork ribs) into meehoon, don't need to add much seasonings.

Just realized that this type of canned pork ribs not cheap anymore...

Separate out the gravy and meat..don't need much seasonings since the gravy itself already very flavourful..

I like to enjoy this meehoon with a bowl of sweet soup, like this time we enjoyed with a bowl of boiled tapioca sweet soup.

The other day, I saw my bro Chef and Sommelier also" Hokkien lang" did cook a similar braised mee hoon but he used pork trotters.

Braised Stewed Pork Ribs Meehoon (rice vermicelli) 红焼排骨米粉
*serves 5
1 can of stewed pork ribs or pork belly

400g meehoon (rice vermicelli), soak till soften
150g mustard green, sliced
150g cabbage, sliced
50g carrot, shredded
3 shallots, sliced
3 garlic, chopped

Seasonings
1tbsp light soy sauce
1tsp sugar
1tsp salt or to taste
2tbsp dark caramel soy sauce

1 cup water

Method

Separate the liquid and pork ribs from the can of stewed pork ribs.
Heat 3tbsp cooking oil in a wok, sauté shallots and garlic till aroma.
Add in liquid (from the can ) and water, add in mustard green, cabbage and carrot, bring to boil.
Add in soaked meehoon and all seasonings, keep frying and stir well. Cover the wok with a lid and braised the meehoon for several minutes, toss the meehoon in between, do not let the gravy dry up (add hot water if necessary). Add in stewed pork ribs and mix well with meehoon, continue cook till slightly wet. Dish out and serve hot with porridge or sweet dessert soup (like sweet potato soup, red bean soup or etc).

Recipe by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Fraisier Eclairs (Eclairs with Pistachio White Chocolate Ganache and Strawberry) 闪电泡芙

An éclair is an oblong French's pastry made with choux dough filled with cream.The word comes from French éclair 'flash of lightning', that's why Chinese also named as 闪电泡芙. And a traditional Fraisier is crème mousseline (pastry cream with extra butter) and strawberries sandwiched between two sheets of heavily imbibed sponge (genoise) cake, you can read more here. When Fraisier and Éclair combine together, it became an awesome pastry !!
When I read this post talking about Christophe Adam (a French patissier who specialises in eclairs) creation of Fraisier Eclairs, I immediately decided to create this pastry at home.

Eclairs with Pistachio white chocolate ganache that topped with roasted pistachio, strawberry jelly and fresh strawberry, they are simply awesome!

I especially love this pistachio white chocolte ganache, yum!

I still use back the choux recipe which I learnt from Academy Pastry Arts Malaysia..and don't forgot to also make the crunchy Craquelin that put on top of choux.

This Fraisier Eclairs is perfect to serve during Christmas time, but I have to warn you that it take quite some time to make this..

Frasier Eclairs (Eclairs with Pistachio White Chocolate Ganache and Strawberry) 闪电泡芙(开心果白巧克力酱和草莓)

For the Craquelin
75g butter
75g brown sugar
90g plain flour, sifted (I use cake flour this time)

Method
1. Beat butter and brown sugar till light and creamy.
2. Add in sifted flour, mix to combine.
3. Keep in fridge to harden.
4. Place dough in between two sheets of plastic sheet, roll into thin sheet (1-2mm).
5. Cut into small square and place on top of the pastry.

For the Éclairs pastry
*makes about 15pcs
125g milk
125g water
125 salted butter (add 5g salt if you are using unsalted butter (original recipe))
5g sugar
250g egg ( 5 medium eggs ), lightly stir
163g plain flour, sifted (I use cake flour this time)

Method
1. Boil together milk, water, butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium high flame.
2. Remove from heat, using a wooden spoon, quickly stir in sifted flour until combined and mixture comes together into a ball. Return to low heat and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture leave the sides of the saucepan and film forms on the bottom of the pan (3-4mins).
3. Transfer the dough to a clean mixing bowl and stir the dough till reach room temperature(no steam).
4. Gradually add in egg mixture and stir to incorporate (you may use wooden spatula to stir or use a mixer with paddle attachment to beat). Mix thoroughly until desired texture ( to check-scooping it up using a wooden spoon, the batter should hang down about 20sec before drop down).
5. Spoon batter into a piping bag fitted with a 2cm star piping tip. Pipe 5” lengths on a baking tray line with non-stick baking paper, allow 2"-3" gap in between each batter. Place a small piece of Craquelin on top.
6. Bake at preheated oven at 200c for 20mins (to cook and puff it up) at middle rack, reduce temperature to 180C and continue to bake for another 15mins or until brown ( to firm up ).
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For pistachio-white chocolate Ganache
*enough to decorate 10pcs Eclairs
150 ml whipping cream(dairy)
125 g white chocolate
30g pistachio (roasted)
A drop of green food colouring, optional

Method
1. Bring whipping cream to scalding (steaming) point in a heavy base pan or in microwave. Once you start seeing small bubbles appearing along the sides, turn the heat off and add chopped chocolates into it. Leave it for couple of minutes and then stir well until combined.
2. Grind pistachio into fine powder and mix it well into the Ganache.
3. Leave it in fridge until it the mixture is really cold. Then whip it up to form stiff peaks and firms up enough to pipe or spoon. It should not be runny and should be stiff and easy to spread. White chocolate may take few hours to harden, but if it gets too stiff, place in the microwave and warm for few seconds until spreadable. you can also whip the Ganache once the mixture is really cold.

For the strawberry jelly
100g strawberries, chopped
2tbsp sugar
2tbsp water

1tsp gelatine powder
1tbsp hot water

Method
1.Place chopped strawberries, sugar and water in a small pot, let it cook for 2-3 minutes or until thick.
2.Mix gelatine and hot water and stir till it turned melt (or you may melt it over a pot of simmering water).
3. Add into strawberry compote, mix well.
4.Let it set in the refrigerate.

To assemble Frasier Eclairs – pipe pistachio white chocolate ganache on top of the éclair, then top with roast pistachio, fresh strawberry and strawberry jelly.

Reference
Eclairs – choux pastry adapted from Academy Pastry Arts Malaysia
Pistachio white chocolate ganache- adapted from here
Strawberry jelly- modified from earlier macaron recipe here
Recipe by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover

I am submitting this to the "Baby Sumo's Christmas Recipes Collection 2013" event which is hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out.

Asahiyama Zoo 旭山動物園, Hokkaido 北海道 2013

My son Desmond has been chasing me to update this post, his favourite place of Asahiyama Zoo at Hokkaido. This zoo is beautiful and fun, even my mother also really impressed with this zoo. We purchased the JR Asahiyama Zoo Pass which included return train tickets from Sapporo to Asahikawa, bus ticket transfer from Asahikawa to Asahiyama Zoo and also tickets enter to Zoo, valid for 4days, it was a kind of good deal. You may refer to more details here.