Korean Spicy Ribs

Korean sweet chilli paste is newly introduced to me and I'm starting to like it's versatility.

Click on photo to enlarge and read chilli paste ingredients. I can't read Korean so I read the ingredients to make sure it's the sweet chilli paste.

I usually don't measure ingredients when cooking, so recipe below is just a guesstimate. Please exercise judgment and adjust according to taste.

Korean Spicy Ribs:
2 lbs pork or beef ribs, cut up into individual ribs (can also use chicken wings or legs)
2 tablespoons Korean sweet chilli paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
2 cloves minced garlic
honey for brushing on top

Marinade overnight, bake 350 deg for 40 min (shorten time if they are short ribs).
Remove from oven, brush top with honey, return to oven and broil for 3 min  or till top is bubbly.

Roasted Pork Belly 烧肉

Wash pork with water and dry with paper towel.
Scour skin side with a knife making criss cross light cuts, or poke with a meat tenderizer all over. 
Brush meat side with a marinade of salt, five-spice powder and Chinese wine.
Marinade overnight.

Preheated oven to 400 deg, then switch to broil and broil pork skin-side up until skin is crispy, about 30 min, and meat is cooked.

Baked Ham

Buy an unsliced ham with the bone in and with layer of outer fat. Remove ham from wrapping and wash to remove excess salt.  Score the fat on the ham with a knife in criss-cross pattern.  Brush with a mixture of Dijon whole grain mustard and brown sugar (1:2 ratio) brought to a boil.  Bake uncovered ham according to directions on package, basting with sauce .  Serve ham with extra sauce.

Cranberry Sauce Meatballs

These taste delicious and give you a daily serving of two types of fruits - cranberries and tomatoes!  Yes, tomatoes are technically fruits.  The BBQ-like sauce is made by combining a bottle of American "chilli" sauce and a can of cranberry sauce.  The American type chilli sauce is more like a shrimp cocktail sauce and is not spicy at all.

Recipe:
One 12 oz bottle of American type Chilli Sauce found near ketchup section in stores.
One can of cranberry sauce or jelly
Optional -Asian type chilli sauce  - amount to taste (for those who want a kick in the sauce)
2-3 lbs of meatballs (I like turkey meatballs)
Bring ingredients to a simmer and cook for a few minutes till meatballs are heated through.

Spaghetti Bolognaise Sauce

This recipe is from one of my sistesr, who is a great cook. (All my sisters are great cooks!)

Spaghetti Bolognaise Sauce
1 lb lean ground beef
1 small can tomato paste (6oz)
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, grated
3 cloves garlic
4 slices ginger
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
2-3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup water
grated sharp cheddar cheese for topping

Heat olive oil in saucepan, add onions, garlic and ginger.  Stir  20 sec, add beef and brown.
Add rest of ingredients and simmer for one hour.  Adjust seasonings to taste. 
Seve with spaghetti and top with cheddar cheese.
(Note: sauce is thicker and sweeter than normal spaghetti sauce, goes well with cheddar cheese.)

Shepherd's Pie

This is my own version of Shepherd's Pie, which my kids love.  Use 90/10 or above lean ground beef for better flavor and better health.  Beef fat tastes nasty, so the leaner ground beef actually tastes better and there's no fat to drain off.

 For better health, I add shredded carrots to the beef - the kids can't even tell.
Potatoes are diced to cook faster.

 To spread mashed potatoes easily on the corn, drop large spoonfuls on the corn before pressing it down and spreading.

 

Top with some cheddar cheese for added calcium for the kids.  Omit if you're calorie conscious.

Recipe:

1 package lean ground beef (usually sold in 1 1/4 lb packages in supermarkets)

1 can Manwich Sauce

2-3 tablespoons of ketchup or tomato paste

1 onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic

2 carrots finely shredded

2 cans of whole kernal corn, drained

Your favorite mashed potatoes

Method:

Fry onions and garlic for 1 min, add ground beef and fry till no longer red. Add rest of ingredients and simmer for 30 min.

Pour into 9X13 glass pan, top with drained corn, spread mashed potatoes on top.

Ready to serve, or if using cheddar cheese, spread cheese on top and broil till melted.

2-4-6-Pork Ribs

Ribs look pale in the beginning, but as it cooks and sauce thickens, will turn brown.

This is an easy recipe to remember due to the seasonings being in a ratio of 2:4:6

2 lbs pork short ribs
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons black vinegar 折江醋
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup water
drizzle of dark soy (optional)

Simmer everything together in a pot for about 45 min until meat is tender and sauce is reduced.

Braised Pork Hocks

What a beautiful piece of meat.

 Pork hocks bought from warehouse store. This was 5 lbs, 8 pieces. Probably easier to cook with just 3 lbs.

Parboil them first to get rid of surface dirt and smell.

Put meat and seasonings in high pressure cooker. This Fabor brand cooker is a high pressure cooker/low pressure cooker/slow cooker combined, with electric timer for start and stop.

8 pork hocks (about 5 lbs)
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp Chinese wine
2 star anise
1/4 tsp five spice
2 stalks green onion, cut into 2 inch lengths
6 slices ginger
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup water

Parboil pork hocks to get rid of surface dirt and smell.  Put everything in a high pressure cooker and cook for 45 min.  Or put in a slow cooker on low heat for 7-8 hours.  Or simmer on stove for 2 hours until tender.

Salted Egg Meatloaf

Salted Egg Meatloaf Recipe:
1 lb ground pork
1 stalk green onions, diced
1 egg
1 salted egg (available from Chinese stores) with yolk cut into pieces
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
dash of white pepper
1/4 cup water

Directions:Mix everything and steam for 30 min till cooked.

Variation:  Use only salted egg white above, mix everything together, make 3 indentations in the pork and place a whole salted egg yolk in each before steaming.

Dried Scallop Meatloaf

This is an easy, delicious, appetizing dish to make for dinner and goes well with rice.

Chinese Meatloaf Recipe:
11/2 lbs ground pork
2 dried scallops, soaked in water overnight. Remove the hard tendon, shred in pieces, reserve liquid
2 carrots, shredded
4 dried mushrooms, soaked in water overnight (or 4 fresh shitake), sliced
2 stalks green onions, diced
2 eggs
1 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
dash of white pepper
1/2 cup water

Directions:
Preheat oven 375 deg.
Mix all ingredients together.
Put in large pie dish,or 8x8 glass pan, or meatloaf pan and cover with foil.
Bake for 45-50 min.

Note: Another way is the steam the pork, which will taste great also.

Soy Sauce Chicken Makeover

Sweet Vinegar Pig Trotters with Eggs

This dish is normally served during a woman's one-month confinement period after giving birth.  I love the sweet and tangy black vinegar sauce, the chewiness of the pig trotters, the nicely browned eggs and bemoan the fact that I could only get a taste when a friend gives birth, which is getting less frequent with my circle of friends getting older like me :).

Therefore I decided to take fate into my own hands and make this dish myself.  Turns out it was so easy to make!  Now I make it whenever my stomach desires.  And guess who is the biggest fan of this dish in my family?  My American-born teenager son!  He loves it so much he spoons the sauce over his rice - even I couldn't do that.  I just spoon the sauce over the eggs.

Anyway, I am so happy I can make this dish and it's so easy to make, and I'm so happy to be able to share this with any pig trotter soulmates out there!

Recipe:One 24-oz bottle of Chinese sweet vinegar (天丁甜醋)

This available in Asian stores in the soy sauce and vinegar section. Unfortunately, there are many brands with varying flavors but the more expensive ones seem to taste better.

2 lbs of pig trotters

1 inch size ginger, sliced (for confinement, you would use young ginger and add a whole lot more!)

One dozen hard boiled eggs, shelled.

Directions:

Tip: An important tip I learned from my mother-in-law is that one should always parboil pork to get rid of the nasty smell.  So just boil a small pot of water, put in a few pieces of pig trotter at a time, just as it comes to a boil again, remove the pork and repeat for the other pieces.  You will see the water turning murky and smell pretty bad, but now your pork will taste so much better for getting rid of all that gunk.

Put the parboiled pig trotters and ginger in a pot and pour in the bottle of sweet vinegar. Let it simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours until pork is almost tender.  (Optional: Adjust taste with a little more plain black Zhe Jiang vinegar, soy sauce, or sugar as desired.)  Put in the hard boiled eggs and cook additional 15 min until pork is tender.

Porcupine Balls