Tahini Roast Pork

I have been using the oven quite abit recently. It have always enjoyed using the oven to cook- it's clean and simple.

This was actually taken from Nigella's website. I did have some tahini paste and wanted to use it. I was also curious to know how sesame will taste like with pork- should be good I imagine. Sesame goes well with most things!

I didn't use pork belly- but used a leaner cut of pork roast instead. I also did marinate it overnight as instructed but added more lemon juice instead hoping that the acid will help tenderise the lean cut further.

The result is a rich roast. I didn't think it was that rich! The taste was strong- so less is more for tahini paste I think. It's a different type of roast- one that is very easy to do.

Tahini Roast Pork
1 kg of pork shoulder or pork belly
3-4 tablespoon of tahini paste
3-4 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 whole lemon juiced

Marinate pork with everything overnight.

Preheat oven 160C. Roast for 2.5 hours till done! Serve with veges.

Pulled Pork with Mashed Cauliflower and "BBQ sauce"

I have only recently discovered the beauty of pulled pork. Slow cooked melt in your mouth shredded pork served in a sandwich or by itself. The best thing about this dish is that it's simple to cook, and all it need is a good slow cooker or the use of the oven.

You can choose to cook the pork in the sauce but because I am oven roasting it, I chose to make my own sauce, simmering it for 30 minutes or so. It is definitely a Sunday "weekend" kinda of meal as the meat took 4-6 hours to cook! Nonetheless, I squeal in delight when the pork pulled away.

The other dish that I love was mashed cauliflower. No one told me that mashed cauliflower could taste so good!! I blitz it up in the food processor and had it with the pulled pork and "bbq" sauce. It's nearly like mashed potato-only better.

Pulled Pork with Mashed Cauliflower and "BBQ sauce" (Serves 6-8)
1.8kg of pork shoulder
1/2 cup of stock
2 tsp of salt, pepper and olive oil

Preheat Oven 230C.
Pat dry the pork shoulder. Season with oil, salt and pepper. Place on baking tray. Pour stock into the base of the pan. Roast on high for 2 hours. Then change it to 150C and slow cook for another 2-3 hours preferably as long as you can till the meat tears away.

"BBQ sauce"
2 cans of tomato sauce
2 tsp of grainy mustard
1 tsp of honey
1/2 cup of white wine
1 cup of stock

Simmer everything for 30 minutes till it thickens.

Mashed Cauliflower
2 heads of cauliflower
salt pepper
olive oil

Cook cauliflower in boiling water till done. Drain and blitz it with salt and olive oil. Serve with the above.

Roast Pork

I'm so excited to share this with you. I made roast pork with CRACKLING! I know!! Proper crispy crackling.  I have always thought that roast pork with crackling is difficult to do, but having do some research, I realised it's not too difficult but just time consuming.

Having spotted some good looking pork loin all rolled up, I decided to give it a go in making pork roast myself. Scoring the skin, pouring some hot water over it, patting it REAL dry and then sprinkling it with generous amount of sea salt, olive oil and pepper.. I stuck it into the oven for a good 30 minutes on high 230C. Then I slow cooked it for another 1.5 hours before blasting it in the hot oven for another 45 minutes for a real crisp skin.

The result was so worth it. The pork was tender, the skin was crispy. I think we found our favourite roast dinner now!

Pork Roast
1.8 kg of pork loin roast
heaps of olive oil
sea salt
pepper


Preheat Oven 230 C.
Score the skin. Pour hot water over it. Pat very dry with paper towels. Season with generous amount of olive oil, salt and pepper on the skin and meat. Roll and tie it up with kitchen string.

Stick in a hot oven for 30 minutes. Remove and season with a little more olive oil. Reduce heat to 170C for around 1 hr to 1 hr 30 minutes.

For the last 30mins -45 minutes, increase heat til 230 C. See the skin crack!! Enjoy with vegetables.

Thai Pork Larb Salad

It's coming up to the long weekend and I am glad. Nothing like an extra few days to rest up and recharge. At the same time, it's also a time to reflect and thank our wonderful Lord for sacrificing for us.

This is another low carb recipe that I love. Mince is so easy to use and reasonably priced that it's hard to resist. I'm embracing lemongrass, ginger and garlic in this one. I wish I have some mint on hand and basil because I am sure it will add more flavours in the salad. I added some cashew for the added crunch factor.

I usually have my doubts on Asian salads. I mean, growing up, we rarely have salads. The first salad I had was Mum teaching me how to make egg mayo sandwiches-if that is even considered as a salad (the egg bit I mean). But then, we rarely had thai food either.

My neighbour gave us some limes and I am going crazy about them. It's not often that we have limes because they are quite pricey at the markets. I tend to use lemons instead. However, I have to admit that limes still win in terms of adding the zing to this dish!

Thai Pork Larb Salad (serves 4)
400 grams lean pork mince
2 stalks of lemongrass white bit chopped
2 tsp of garlic
2 red chill chopped
4 cm knob ginger grated
few mushrooms-shitake if you have, I used button chopped
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 tsp of sugar if you like, but I did not add any

Fresh salad leaves
avocado
4 limes-for each meal.
handful of cashew nuts

Heat pan till hot. Saute garlic lemon grass, chill and ginger. Brown pork mince. Add in mushrooms. Stir through fish sauce. Taste. Season if needed. Top on salad leaves with lime and cashew nuts.

Pork and Pear Pecan Salad

I did promise you heaps of salads this summer didn't I? I do not think I have EVER ate so much salads before. But with our change of schedule and focus on our health and future, it just seems so right to do. Not only that, I am starting to enjoy the 5-10 minutes on the stove grilling a meat and then assembling veges together.

I am slowly learning how to vary these salads though. Not just grilled chicken on veges. Turns out that pork pairs very well with pear just as well with apple. The sweetness of pear, and texture of pork- yum yum.

Best of all, did I mention it takes like 15 minutes altogether?

Pork and Pear Pecan Salad (serves 4)
4 pieces of pork loin chops
1 tablespoon of olive oil
sprinkle of chill and turmeric
1 pear sliced
5-6 cups of salad leaves
cherry tomatoes or 2 large tomatoes sliced
1 avocado chopped
handful of pecan nuts
2 green chili pad chopped
2 tablespoon of soy sauce

Marinate pork with oil, and spices. Grill both sides once for around 3-5 minutes. Cool and sliced. wash all salad, assemble, and place slices of pork on it. Mix soy with chill. Then sprinkle on pork slices.

Pork Chops with Baked Apples

Sometimes, the simplest combination of ingredients is what works. Nothing too fussy, but just pork, apples and a roasting tray. I mentioned before that I have an unjustified fear of combining fruits and savoury dishes together. In my head, it just doesn't make sense. I like savoury savoury and sweet sweet. Looking back, it could be what I was used to as a child- where our food is really simple. Plain rice with two dishes, sometimes three. I never knew savoury rice even existed.

Pork chops in my household were those that resembled what was cooked at the local food court. The greasy delicious fried pork chops with heaps of grilled onions. In fact, that was how I knew western food- usually greasy and appealing to my young tastebuds.

One thing I love about this dish is that it is really dead easy AND little mess. Everything in a roasting tray. How good is that? I did serve mine with some lightly fried asparagus on salad leaves. The only comment is that the apples are still crunchy which is fine by us, but if you want it softer, you may want to cook it first before adding the pork. It's a good lazy Sunday night dinner.

Pork Chops with Baked Apples (serves 4) adapted from Taste.
4 lean pork chops trimmed
3 apples peeled, cored and sliced.
1 stalk of rosemary -leaves chopped
seasoning salt and pepper

Pan fried pork till cooked on the outside. Probably around 2 minutes on each side. Preheat Oven 180 C. Toss apple with some oil and rosemary. Lined on roasting tray. Place pork on top of apples. Cook it in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Season.

3 Eggs DOM Pork Stir Fry

They say that ideas appear at the most unexpected time. If you see that I have been relatively quiet lately, that was because we travelled back to Singapore and KL to spend some time with our families. Since we arrived back on a Sunday evening, I had to rummage the pantry, freezer and fridge for some tucker till I do my proper grocery shopping!

We bought some fresh eggs so that was one ingredient. I found a century egg and a duck salted egg in my pantry . I knew I had some pork in the freezer. Using those ingredients, some soy and DOM for its sweetness and taste, it became a dish.

I had some fresh spring onions on hand because that was what my local market had (not alot of variety! but it could do!). To my surprised, they added a bite of freshness to the dish.

Oh hindsight, it actually looked like the dark version of stir fry carrot cake! ;p

So ideas that occur the most unexpected time can be terrific too. What fantastic dishes have you created when you were short of time/ingredients?

3 Eggs DOM Pork Stir Fry
200 grams of pork fillet sliced
2 chicken eggs
1 salted duck egg diced
1 century egg diced
2 tablespoon of light soy sauce
1/4 cup of DOM or dry sherry
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of garlic

3-4 stalks of spring onion chopped

Fry garlic till fragrant. Add pork and cook till nearly brown. Add the salted duck and century egg. Toss throughly. Add soy, sesame and DOM. When it starts to boil, add chicken eggs. Fry everything together for another few more minutes and serve with chopped spring onions, rice and veges.


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Spicy Bean Paste Tofu and Pork Mince/ A version of Mapo Tofu

A simple humble jar of Soya Bean Paste (Tau Cheo) seats in my fridge. Before chatting with my girlfriend from KL/Singapore, I would have never guessed there are so many ways of using this sauce. Together, I have used this paste to create at least 4 dinners (which means 4 lunches too!).


Most people would have heard of Mapo Tofu. This is pretty much it except I did not add any sichuan chili to it or black beans to it. It's just as simple and quick to cook though and I certainly enjoyed the slight saltiness/nutty taste to it.

I'm pretty amazed by how versatile this sauce is. I wished I would have discovered it earlier! Still, it's never too late than ever is it??

Spicy Bean Paste Tofu and Pork Mince/ A version of Mapo Tofu
500 grams of soft tofu
250 grams of pork mince
2 chili padi chopped
1 red onion diced
1 generous tablespoon of garlic
3 tablespoon of tao cheo sauce
1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce
pepper
1/4 cup of water if needed

Saute onion, garlic and chili. Cook pork mince. When it is done, add tofu and bean sauce. Cook and simmer for around 10 minutes, adding water if needed. Season with dark soya sauce and pepper. Serve with rice and vegetables.

Pork Apple and Fennel Sausage Rolls

 I always have abit of fear in mixing fruit in savory dishes. I thought my Asian palate might not like it. It's not the first time that I heard wonderful things about apple and pork being together and of course fennel, a spice and pork.

So I gathered my courage and thought I could experiment and make a sausage roll using all three ingredients. I was surprised by the result. The apple just gave it a tinge of juice and sweetness but not too much that it is overpowering. The fennel provided it abit of a hit in taste on your taste buds.

It's super easy, and come to think of it, will be a winner for a cocktail party. Hubby took them to work and toasted them in his grill. He said most people commented the beautiful fragrant and how "real" it smelt.

I didn't even know store bought sausage rolls smelt "fake"?

I feel like I'm tooting my own horn here, but seriously love this and will be doing experimenting with more ways of making sausage rolls again!

Pork Apple and Fennel Sausage Rolls (Makes 24 mini rolls)
2 puff pastry defrosted

500 grams pork mince
1 apple finely chopped or grated
2 tsp of fennel seeds
1 egg
1 cup of bread crumbs (Package or fresh)
salt and pepper

Sesame seeds

Preheat oven 200 C. Line baking trays with baking paper.

Combine mixture together. Cut each puff pastry into half. Place filling in the middle and roll up. You might want to use egg wash to seal the edges. Cut into 6 mini rolls. Place on baking tray. Repeat. Egg wash all the sausage rolls and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes till golden brown!

Pine Nut Pork Mince and Zucchini Rice Noodles

I have been suffering for digestive issues for some time now, and last year, I decided to reduce my intake of milk products. Since then, I find a big improvement in reducing the bloat and gluggyness.

This year, I decided to take it one step further and reduce intake of sugar, wheat and vinegar for a month. Just for an experiment to see how I go. I must admit though, that I'm not really good at keeping to it as sugar is EVERYWHERE. I'm so glad I'm not allergic to it! Vinegar pops out in unexpected places as well, such as beef stock. I was also told to avoid soy sauce.

This is my first attempt in making a dish that has no sugar. I pan fried some pork mince with pine nuts which gave it flavour. However, I couldn't resist and put a teaspoon of oyster sauce in that. Oops. Well, it was only day 1! So I could ease myself into it right? I had some lotus root left in my freezer so pan fried that also with garlic and salt. Grated a zucchini and mixed it up with carrot and chilli.

All this together makes this a simplified version of dan dan noodles. It's so simple that I'm going to have to call it... Pine nut Pork mince and Zucchini Rice Noodles. I guess my trick here was to create lots of different texture to make this dish more interesting.

Ps- did you notice the purple little bag at the background? Thanks to Tigerfish for my win on her blog! It's an awesome lunch bag that I have been using daily.

Pine Nut Pork Mince and Zucchini Rice Noodles
200 grams pork mince
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup of pine nuts
1/2 tsp of oyster sauce

Grated zucchini and carrot- 1 each water squeezed from vegetables

Lotus root
garlic
water

200 grams of rice noodles

Boil water, cook rice noodles and drain. Set aside and dish out in bowls. Cook garlic in pan. Fry pork mince till nearly all done. Add sesame oil, salt, pine nuts and oyster sauce. Taste. Serve on noodles.

In a separate pan, hit garlic up and fry lotus root till done. Season with salt and pepper. Dish on bowls.

Then gently heat up zucchini and carrot using same pan. Again, dish on bowl, Mix it all up and serve.