Braised Pork Belly

Ingredients:

1 lb Pork Belly
1 bulb of Garlic
3 slices of Ginger
2 whole Star Anise
2 tbsp Cane Sugar
1 tsp whole Peppercorns
4 whole Dried Red Chillies (or more if you prefer a spicier taste)
1/2 cup of Soy Sauce (according to taste)
2 tbsp of Dark Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Chinese Shao Xing Cooking Wine
White Pepper (to taste)
3 cups of Water
2 Hard Boiled Eggs (or more according to preference)


Instructions:

First pan sear the pork belly for 10 minutes (make sure it's already dry, pat with kitchen towel to remove excess water from washing) Add in the ginger and garlic into the pan and stir fry for another 1 minute before adding in the remaining of all ingredients. Braise for around 2-3 hours or more until the pork belly becomes tender and the eggs have absorbed the sauce and turns dark brown in color. Continue to braise until the liquid is reduced to a thicker consistency.

Garnish with chopped spring onions and it's best served with hot steamed white rice!

Spicy Pad Thai

Commonly found in most Thai restaurants or eateries, Pad Thai is definitely a no-fail when it comes to authentic Thai food. Know what? It was listed as number 5 on World's 50 Most Delicious Foods reader's poll compiled by CNN Go in 2011.

It's the ultimate street food with an exotic fish sauce flavour, hints of lime zest and
mild spiciness to it. For a vegetarian version, you can substitute the shrimps and chicken with fried firm tofu.

Ingredients:

   1/2 package Thai Flat Rice Noodles (pre-soaked in water or boiled according to instructions)
   1/2 cup Chicken Breast (sliced)
   6-8 Shrimps (de-shelled with tail attached)
   1 Egg
   2 tbsp Tamarind paste (mixed well in water)
   3 tbsp Fish sauce
   1 tsp Dark Soy Sauce
   2 tsp Lime juice
   2 tsp Sugar
   1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
   Garlic (minced)
   Scallions (chopped into 2 inch strips)
   Bean Sprouts
   Crushed Roasted Peanuts

Instructions:

Heat the pan or wok with cooking oil and stir fry the minced garlic for a while before adding in the chicken strips and shrimps. Continue for about 15 more seconds with high heat and then add in the flat rice noodles and begin to add in the fish sauce, dark soy sauce and sugar and mix everything well. Continue to stir and add in the sugar and tamarind paste juice.

After that, just toss in the bean sprouts and scallions and stir fry again under high heat. Push the noodles aside on the other half of the pan and crack an egg on the wok surface. When the egg is still runny, mix in everything together and finally add in the crushed red pepper flakes according to how spicy you want it to be.

Serve immediately with crushed peanuts and drizzle with lime juice!

Black Pepper Beef and Tripe

As a student staying away so far from home for so long, sometimes by listening to Home by Michael Bublé won't help much. One of the best ways to ease homesickness is still by eating home comfort food. Hotplate Black Pepper Beef and Tripe is a popular dish that my family would order in a restaurant we frequent once a fortnight back at my hometown. The succulent beef combined with crunchy tripe taste so good in hot black pepper sauce especially when the tripe soaks up all the flavourful gravy, making it the perfect combination!

You can find the pre-washed beef tripe from Asian food stores and if you are not a big fan of offal, just with the beef alone taste very good as well.

Ingredients:

Tripe (pre-washed and soaked in cold water)
Beef (sliced across the grain)
Scallions (chopped finely)
Ginger (chopped finely)
Parsley (chopped finely)
2 tbsp of Oyster sauce
2 tbsp of Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp of Cracked Black Pepper (ground black pepper is fine)
White Pepper Powder (according to taste)
Sea Salt (according to taste)
Corn starch (to thicken the gravy)


Instructions:

First, stir-fry the ginger with high heat to bring out the flavour, then add in the beef slices and spread it evenly on pan and wait until you can see it's slightly burned and caramelized. Flip it over to another side and repeat the process.

After that, add in all the oyster sauce, soy sauce, black and white pepper and continue to stir-fry under high heat for a few seconds before adding half a cup of water and then followed by the tripe, chopped parsley and scallions. Cook until the gravy is slightly reduced and then add in the corn starch (dissolved in cold water) to thicken the gravy. Bring it to a quick simmer it's ready to be served.

Serve over steamed white rice with a drizzle of red chili oil for an extra zing of spiciness!

Spicy Thai Basil Beef with Pandan Rice

Coming back home late in the afternoon after a series of morning classes would sometimes make me feel dreaded to cook, but we still got to eat no matter what. So here's a simple foolproof recipe if you feel like having something flavourful but not time consuming. If you do not consume beef, you can substitute it with pork, chicken or turkey. With the ingredients readily available, you would be enjoying your meal already by the time your take out Chinese or greasy pizza arrive!

Preparation & Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

   20  x Basil Leaves (depends how strong you want the flavour)
   2    x Red Bird's Eye Chillies (chopped finely)
   3 cloves of Garlic (chopped finely)
   1/2 a bulb of Onion (chopped into fine strips)
   1 pound Choice of Meat (ground or cut into small slices)  *I used Sirloin Steak for its tender texture

For the sauce:

   1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
   2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
   3 tbsp Fish Sauce
   1 tsp   Cane Sugar

Instructions:

   Stir-fry the chopped onions on high heat and then followed by the garlic and chillies until golden brown but make sure the garlic is not burned. Add in the beef and spread evenly without stirring constantly to get a 'caramelized' coating on the meat.

   Start to add in all the sauces (you can pre-mix it in a small bowl but not really necessary) and stir fry for another one minute on high heat. Finally toss in the basil leaves and continue for another 1 minute until you see all the leaves have wilted.

   Serve over hot white rice for a lazy laid-back late lunch.