putting the chinese back into the lunar new year with bak kwa! :)

Homemade Chinese Pork Jery (Bak Kwa) 肉干

(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*makes 9pcs, perfectly for a tray size 13”x13” (4mm height)

450g minced pork (at least with 10% fat)
100g sugar

1tbsp light soy sauce
1/2tbsp Chinese rice wine
1/2tbsp fish sauce
1tbsp oyster sauce
1tsp dark caramel sauce
1/8tsp Chinese five spices powder
A dash of Pepper
1/2tsp-3/4tsp salt or to taste
2tbsp honey


Method
1. Put all ingredients in a big bowl and start mixing them with a pair of chopsticks. Blend and stir the mixture in one direction until the meat becomes gluey (Latest update on 18 Jan-very important to stir till gluey otherwise meat will break out). Store in the fridge for several hours.
2. Spread the marinated minced pork thinly onto the baking tray (using fingers to spread).
3. Bake at pre-heated oven at 160C for 20mins (Latest update on 18 Jan-15mins also good enough). Remove from oven. Increase the oven temperature to 240c.
4. Wait to slightly cool, cut into your desired size and shape using scissor, knife or pizza cutter, place them in the same baking tray.
5. Grill (top heat only) one side at 240C for 10mins, remove from oven, flip over another side, wait oven back to 240C and grill for 7mins or until golden brown with slight burnt.
6. Once done, let it cool and enjoy!

http://nasilemaklover.blogspot.sg/2012/01/homemade-chinese-pork-jerky-bak-kwa.html

Now that's the recipe and here's our adaptation.

Mix minced meat with seasonings as stated.

We found 100g of sugar too much so if you're trying this out,

probably 80g would be enough.

The caramel sauce and honey would be more than enough to impart the sweetness

We let this bake in the oven at 100 degrees celcius on a baking sheet held down with coins for about twenty minutes or till solid.

Then carefully remove from the baking sheet and cut into desired pieces.

And here comes the fun part.

Setting up the BBQ pit and barbequeing these with a glazing of honey till the edges are browned.

Keep watch because you wouldn't want them to turn charcoal!

And after all that mayhem,

we finally settle down to a thick slab of 500g Australian wagyu.

Perfectly panfried with a deliciously pink interior.

Just the way we like it.

:)

Togi @ Mosque Street Chinatown

Oh banchan.

Loved the stewed potatoes

blanched green vegetables with minced garlic

ikan bilis

pickled cucumbers

kimchi

and beancurd strips.

In that order. :)

An order of a casserole for two on a rainy, cold and wet afternoon.

And a squid that's ALIVE!

Well it -was- alive.

Spicy sour.

Pure addiction. :)

Deja vu. It's already been a year.

Every October,

we report for national service.

Some of us as markers.

Others as recorders.

Our yearly marking exercise sees the breaks for markers getting longer

but conversely, shorter for the recorders.

What's to do for a 2.5 hour lunch break?

N.Y.D.C tucked away in a corner at Novena Square.

Perfect chill out for a long lazy lunch break.

Citibank's running a one for one promotion on mains

and that was brilliant news for us all. :)

Anything from pastas, pizzas, baked rice to mains.

And it's been a while since.

Grilled new york strip.

Medium well just like I ordered.

Except that it wasn't as marbled as I wished it would've been, following the description on the menu.

But it was a hearty serving of beef.

Even the fat on the rind was good.

I was also suitably impressed with their serving of fish and chips.

Two generous pieces of pacific dory.

Hand battered and served fried to a golden crisp.

And accompanied by a side salad and these deliciously seasoned wedges.

When was the last time you were at nydc?

At Novena, it isn't filled with the younger crowd unlike the scene at Wheelock Place.

I'm in the older generation already and I feel right at home with the working crowd at this outlet.

Just saying. ;)

Mushroom Beach

Map's with me.

But let's just ride like the wind.

And go where the road leads.

We took a while.

Made a wrong turn from the start but that was our round the island trip completed.

Say hello mushroom beach! :)

Prices looked good hey.

But all those meats listed were options not a selection of all.

You couldn't blame us for trying to comprehend.

Beachfront.

But let's just do the ordering first.

We've gotten used to waiting for hours on end for our meals.

And this time the power supply was out.

Kitchen's still good to go since it worked on gas.

But that meant juices were from cans so let's just stick with water.

Mmm.

But we skipped all that.

Had a certificate ceremony and a dive video appointment to keep. :)

beached girls.

Leaving our footprints in the sand.

Same sized feet.

:)

oh so tiny!

crystal clear waters.

shiny happy people. :)

Every bit worth the fall.

I can now ride!

Kinda.

Caesers.

The dressing was weak.

But the cheese and mayo add on made up for it.

Finally.

Some good salad.

Avocadoes, crunchy cucumbers and salad leaves, their version of croutons, juicy tomatoes and an overcooked poached egg.

Seafood chowder.

They don't do seafood very well here to get rid of that fishy taste.

But this was an amazing bowl of comfort.

With tuna chunks, squid and prawns.

Mmm :)

Special of the day- chicken.

This was tender and juicy.

The pesto pasta was a little past al dente and the mushroom cream sauce was too weak for any real flavour.

Special of the day- beef

This was very well done.

They don't do beef well here either hey.

But it was a satisfying portion and for that kinda prices?

We were happy campers.

Ikan Pepes.

Spicy sweet achar side of onions.

The sauce accompanying the fish was a little too unique for our palate.

But otherwise, it was moist and had a slight sweetness to testify to its freshness.

Going back to pondok baruna was a lot easier this time.

Taking only 15 minutes. 

This was a fraction of the time we took to get to mushroom beach.

Freshly fried peanuts sprinkled with salt.

The perfect muncher. 

Once you start.

I darn well couldn't stop.

Congrats to you both.

I'm so awesomely proud of you. :)

Of molas and memories to keep me high on life.

Keep diving!

going for gold! best beef noodles.

guess where?

finally.

Thai milk tea :)

tom yum.

oh yum.

good sized prawns, fish slices, seafood and lots of sweet onion bulbs.

chicken was good and went well with the black sweet sauce

but lacked the pandan flavour.

and hello.

going for gold.

this was good.

the beef broth was thick and fully infused with beefy goodness.

ingredients were ample

and guess what,

you'd wish there was more noodles in this.

so go ahead, order an extra portion of noodles.

or another bowl of this.

:)

yumyum for my tumtum.

random coffeeshop @ queen street

Dinner after classes at functional training institute.

Food for thought?

Nope.

Didn't feel like it.

So we walked a little farther down to a coffeeshop that only had one stall.

But that one stall had everything.

Roast meat rice, boiled soups, mixed vegetables rice and cze char.

I didn't harbour high hopes for just one stall that had such a mind boggling variety of food choices.

And boy was I right.

Flat rice noodles were stir fried in soy sauce for its black colour.

The gravy was thick and heavily laden with salt and seasoning.

The beef slices were tender though but there were only a few measly slices of it.

Check out that gloop they call gravy.

They totally ruined the dish.

And the fish wasn't fresh anyway.

this was the best dish of the night.

clear soup.

chewy squid rings.

and some other random seafood items.

and no it wasn't stellar.

just simple.

nursing a heartache.

[when in hongkong] wonton noodles

when lunch has been overshadowed by mission: shopping.

we finally stop for a tea break.

and randomly walk into a cafe with a teatime special on their signature noodles.

what a treat! :)

checking in with the brother on his wishlist.

what an awesome sister.

the signature shrimp dumpling noodles.

and a beef option that i chose.

with no regrets.

thinly sliced.

and ohsotender.

chewy.

and the chilli was an awesome accompaniment.

almost like an xo sauce.

was it?

a superbly thick barley brew.

boiled with red date.

there's a certain je nais sais quoi about this barley drink that left such an impression.

mmm :)