Steamed pork with (cincalok)

I had almost forgotten about this particular dish which my mother used to cook for us, until my sister mentioned it some years back.

Steamed and ready to serve!

Before.
Pork slices, sliced shallots & red chillies
mixed with enough paste.
Let it marinade until the steamer starts boiling.
Steam until cooked; Do not stir.

Mum used to call the paste "harm har" - this I remembered! - My sister and I went around looking for it.  The one that we found most nearest to the taste (remembered) is from Lee Kum Kee... Fine Shrimp Sauce.

However, I found this paste to be rather salty and thus, only very little is used for the dish.

I have not tried cooking this with Cincalok - sold in bottles and the fine shrimps mixture is pinkish in colour. Maybe I will one of these days, to see if it tastes the same!

Recently, my sister managed to find homemade "harm har" and bought some.

This is homemade and you can see the little shrimps,
like Cincalok.
But the colour (slightly purplish) is similar to that of
LKK Fine Shrimp Sauce,
which is more a finely ground paste.

It was not as salty as the commercial one and so I had to use more.  However, with less salt, the taste of the fine shrimps was more pronounced.

An easy dish to make for dinner, especially on a working day!

In Search Of....... Fresh Food & Stuff!

Fresh produce... direct from source to kitchen. Something not all of us, especially city dwellers, can have easy access to. 

Growing your own vegetables may be possible, but then again, how many varieties can one grow?

Rearing animals? I'm very sure your urban neighbours won't take too kindly to clucking chickens, bleeting goats etc etc ETC! (psst... I'm talking about the "smell"!)

Hah! Now, if you know your way around the city where you live, it is still possible to source for fresh produce.

Fresh seafood, for instance.... one of the places KL city folks go to would be to Kuala Selangor (about an hour's drive away via the new highways). You can dine there at the many restaurants available and buy fresh seafood home.  The fishmongers even have ice ready to pack the "goodies" for you.

Fresh vegetables?... Cameron Highlands is a little too far (and tiring!) for a day's outing from KL.  But wait a minute! Now we have a little of Cameron Highlands brought to us.... at Gohtong Jaya.

Recently some friends and I went on such an outing, to Gohtong Jaya.  Just less than an hour's drive away from the city, Gohtong Jaya is (about) midway between the Karak Highway and Genting Highlands (top). 

We had lunch at one of the many restaurants there, visited a vegetable farm, where we selected the kind of vegetables we wanted before it was harvested direct off the land for us. (How more fresh can fresh get?)

We went to the Strawberry Farm where a Mushroom Farm is also located.  We walked passed a number of little shops where one could browse for souvenirs or other foodstuff.

On our way home, we stopped at a hydroponics farm which also sold vegetables brought in fresh daily from Cameron Highlands!

By the roadside, along Karak Highway, we spied Orang Asli youths selling Petai by the bunches.  Haggling with them was fun and we bought all 6 bunches left!

We had 4 dishes for lunch. This one is Braised Pork & Yam slices.

Dish number 2 is Pork with Dried Chilis & Salted Fish.

                          

Stir fried Sweet Potato Leaves with Garlic.
(One of my favourite veges. Just love the texture.)

Steamed Tilapia Fish in Ginger/Garlic Sauce.

                           

Looking at the Strawberry Farm from the bed of roses above.

Walking through the Mushroom Farm.

Abalone Mushrooms - Simply love these! The mushroom is succulent and "meaty". Does not become soggy like Oyster Mushrooms. Stir fried with bell peppers.... yummy!

The vegetable farm where we chose what we wanted.

 

Watercress (Sai Yong Choy)
before harvesting

Kai Lan (harvested)

Romaine Lettuce (harvested)

                             

The famous Bentong Ginger
 (available from the shops in Gohtong Jaya)

Hydroponics Farm

Fresh tomatoes from Cameron Highlands

Fresh bell peppers - just look at the colours!

Bought to take home!

 

Reminds you of a rose, doesn't it?

 

Some of what we got from the Orang Asli youths!

 

Made soup with some of the watercress I bought.

Sambal Udang Petai;
with the petai from the Orang Asli youths and
fresh prawns from Kuala Selangor.

 

Within the compound of the Strawberry Farm, we saw the signage indicating LAVENDER and we followed the signs to it. 

These were what we saw.

 

 

It was a fun day for the four of us.  The air was cool and fresh.....The food we had for lunch was delicious..... Lots of greenery all around us.

 

I look forward to our next outing, In Search Of......

Pork Vindaloo

The butcher at the pork stall I patronise always greets customers with a cheerful smile and a "Good Morning"! Most of his regulars do not mind standing in a queue because they know that when it is their turn, 100% service will be theirs!

Also, conversing in local dialect to select the various cuts of meat is definitely out of my depth, so it is a good thing he speaks good English as well! Phew!

The recipe for this Pork Vindaloo is really simple; Again another recipe from my mom-in-law....  Never mind the more complicated ones given in cookbooks, the thing is, although the ingredients are so "simple", it tastes really good! I remember the first time I tried it... I could not stop eating it!

You can eat it "straight" (with a glass of cold beer!), eat it with steamed rice, bread or "apom". Simply delicious!

Pork Vindaloo, ready to serve.

 

Ingredients for the marinade: Mustard seeds, Garlic, Ginger (all pounded separately), Turmeric powder, Chili powder

Pork (use half-fat meat) cut into cubes, mixed with ingredients above. Salt and white vinegar to be added during cooking.  Simmer till meat is tender.

 

 

Homemade Apom (made from rice flour, toddy, coconut milk, salt and sugar to taste); Excellent served with Pork Vindaloo.

 

Pork Leg in Black Vinegar

How do you make this ........

into this?

Yet again, this is another "short cut" method of cooking. (Refer to my previous post on the Fish Curry). When I first learnt how to cook this dish, I had to mix the vinegar sauce myself and many times, it comes out missing some flavour!

Recently, a friend of mine recommended this "mix" and so I tried it out. 

Wow! Not bad at all! All I had to do was add in ginger slices (I fried it first in some sesame oil) and some gula melaka (depends on how sweet you want it to be).

Simmer until the meat becomes tender (it took more than 2 hours for a 3 kg leg).

Okay, so it is easy to prepare this BUT it takes time and if time is what you do not have, then...

You could use the crockpot (slow cooker) ... I tried that before... it still works, but put in less water!

Famous Raub Curry

I know I've said many times that I prefer to cook any dish up from scratch, but there are some dishes that I would prefer the shortcut way!

Why not? When you know you would get it tasting right most times and the bonus is, it saves your time!

One such item on my menu would be Fish Curry from a ready-mix curry paste, claimed to be the "Famous Raub Curry".

Of the various brands I've sampled, this one is my family's favourite. And on top of that, I like it too!




Never mind that it says Fish Head Curry Paste, if you don't have any, just use fish fillet.


When I first tried it out, I followed the cooking instructions given on the package.  But it is just a guide (and not a rule!) and now, I deviate a little and do it my way!



Cooking guide at back of package.

Before I add in the paste to the earthern pot (I think curry tastes better cooked in such pots), I saute finely sliced shallots, halved garlic, sliced ginger and whole curry leaves in a little oil till fragrant.

Then I add in the curry paste mix, straight from the package... stir a little, before adding in some water (the family likes the curry thicker, so I put in less water than instructed).




This is how the paste looks like in the pot before water is added.



Once it starts to boil, I add in sliced tomatoes and when it starts to boil again, I add in some evaporated milk (if santan/coconut milk is not available).

Before (whole) After (sliced)

Into the pot then goes the sliced brinjals (for curries, the best to use is the round kind; they hold their shape longer).

Today, I managed to buy some drumsticks from the market and so I'm adding this in too (this is not mentioned in the cooking instructions of the curry paste package).





(Above): Drumstick Tree in Mum-In-Law's garden.
(Not fruiting yet!)
(Below): Drumsticks or Buah Kelor

 As I said, I am not following the instructions per se, so instead of using fish only, I am adding in prawns as well.  You can also add in some squid, if you like.

After a few minutes of boiling with the lid closed, I add in the fish. (Today, I used Ikan Tenggiri - the head and tail portions. I bought a whole fish and have kept the mid-section of the fish for another recipe.)

After a few minutes, in goes the prawns and finally, just before all is thoroughly cooked, the lady fingers are added.

Serve this with steamed rice or bread! It goes very well with roti canai too!