Tonkatsu (Deep Fried Pork Chop)

This is one of my mum's recipes that I brought along to my home here in Sydney. She often served Tonkatsu for dinner when I was young. I remember my dad put so much sauce on his pork chop while I refused to have any on mine. However, I love Tonkatsu sauce now and wouldn't cook this food without having the sauce sitting in the fridge. I believe that our taste buds could change their minds as we grow. Who knows I will be keen on eating raw oysters or sashimi in the future?!?

Ingredients (6 serves):

• 6 pork chops
• 1 bulb garlic (put into a juicer to make a garlic paste)
• 5 tbs soy sauce
• Korean bread crumbs
• 1/4 cabbage (cut very thinly)
• Tonkatsu sauce (Vegetable & Fruit sauce Bull-Dog brand)
• vegetable oil for deep frying

Preparations:

Tenderize each pork chop piece on chopping board.

Make the marinating sauce (garlic paste and soy sauce).

Apply marinating sauce into each pork chop using a spoon. Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Apply bread crumbs generously to each pork chop.

Deep fry pork chop for approx. 5 mins each side or until it turns golden. Drain on paper towel to get rid off excess oil. Serve with cut cabbage and Tonkatsu sauce.

Wonton Noodle Soup

I made wonton noodle soup to celebrate Chinese New Year last weekend. It was a long process as I tend to make 80-100 wontons in one go and freeze them in small containers (10 wontons/pack). These supplies will be very useful during busy days when I don't have time to cook or not in the mood of cooking. I usually feel so exhausted after wrapping 80-100 wontons but it is worthwhile to do so.

People add different ingredients in their wontons. Mine has minced pork, prawn, shiitake mushroom, garlic, spring onions and coriander. This is my mum's version. Very simple and tasty!

Ingredients (for 80-100 wontons):

• 500 gr minced pork
• 500 gr prawns
• 15 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked in water overnight)
• 5 cloves of garlic
• half bunch spring onions (cut thinly)
• half bunch coriander (cut thinly)
• 1 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp white pepper
• 1tbs sesame oil
• 1 tbs tapioca starch
• 2 packs of wonton skins 

 Noodle soup (for 2 people):

• half pack of egg noodle
• 1 tsp hondashi powder
• 2 cups of water
• 5 tbs chicken stock
• salt and pepper (based on taste)

Preparations:
Peel and de-vein prawns. Wash and drain them. Cut into small segments (1 cm long).

 

Put garlic and shiitake mushrooms into food processor. Process until they are cut into small pieces.

Add all ingredients together (except wonton skins). Mix well.

  

Add 1 tsp of wonton filling in the centre of wonton skin. Wet with small amount of water along the edges and fold into a triangle. Wet two triangle corners and meet them together (as shown in the picture).

 

Boil egg noodle based on instructions given on packet. Serve noodle in the bowl and garnish with spring onion and coriander leaves.

 

Boil wonton for 7 mins with a small amount of oil added to it. Drain and wash with cold water quickly to prevent wonton sticking together.

 

Prepare the noodle soup. Add any green veggies once the soup is boiling. Finally, wonton noodle soup is now ready to serve!

Pastel Tutup (Indonesian Potato Pie)

I remember that my mum used to take me to different cafes as our resting points during a long day of shopping. I often ordered an ice cream or a chocolate drink or "pastel tutup". Any of them was just perfect after we shopped around. I hardly can find "pastel tutup" in Sydney. Not many Indonesians know this food, it seems to be popular only in Surabaya.

I recently got an idea to make pastel tutup faster and easier to prepare. I separated the potato top layer and made them as mashed potato balls. It tasted the same as the original "pastel tutup" when you served the pie filling and mashed potato balls on a plate. You need quite a bit of patience to prepare this dish as there are a lot of chopping required. If you got some helpers, this won't take you long at all. 

Ingredients:

 

Pie filling

• 3 pieces chicken thigh fillet (cut into cubes)
• 3 thin frankfurts (cut into cubes)
• 2 carrots (cut into cubes)
• a handful of dried black fungi (soak in cold water for 2 hours, then slice thinly)
  
• 1 can of garden peas
• 2 small packs of green bean threads vermicelli (soak in hot water and then drain)
  
• a few cloves of garlic (minced)
• a few cloves of dried shallot (slice thinly)
• 3 tbs of margarine
• 1 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp white pepper
• 1.5 tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup of soy milk
• 0.5 cup water

Mashed Potato Balls

• 6 medium sized potatos (peel, cut into big chunks, boil in hot water until cooked but not too soft, drain)
• 0.25 cup soy milk
• a pinch of salt 
• 1 tsp freshly ground blackpepper
• 1 egg 

 

Decoration

• 1 hard boiled egg
  
• parsley

Preparations:

1. After finished chopping the pie filling ingredients, prepare mashed potato balls. I used food processor to soften the boiled potato chunks. Alternatively, you can use a wooden spoon. Either way works fine. Add soy milk, salt and ground blackpepper. Shape into balls and brush with egg. Bake in the oven at 160 deg C for 30 mins or until they turn golden in colour. 
2. While you are baking the mashed potato balls, start cooking the pie filling. Heat the wok, then add margarine, garlic, dried shallot. Stir until they are aromatic, add the cubed chicken thigh. Keep stirring until the chicken is fully cooked. Add water, soy milk, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
3. Add carrots and frankfurts, keep stiring for 3 mins. Then add black fungi, garden peas and finally vermicelli. The pie filling shouldn't be too dry. If they look dry add a bit more of milk.
4. Serve the pie filling and mashed potato balls on a plate. Add a slice of boiled egg and parsley on the pie filling. Garnish the pie filling with chopped parsley.
   

Szechuan Eggplant with Pork and Tofu

I recently found the recipe for spicy szechuan eggplant from About.com Chinese Food. I read the reviews and thought that it would be good to try as I had 1 eggplant wandering in my fridge. I don't even know what to cook with this lonely eggplant. As you may have guessed, I got very excited and bought all the ingredients needed to make this dish. I added tofu to this dish to give more different texture. I think this dish turned up perfect and very good for lunchbox.


Ingredients:

• 0.25 gr pork minced
• 2 big eggplants
• 1 small pack of classic tofu (diced and pan-fried)
• 1 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1.5 tbs chilli bean sauce (Lee Kum Kee)
• 1 tsp chilli paste with garlic (Indonesian sambal bawang)
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• spring onions (cut thinly)

Sauce:

•  0.5 cup chicken broth (Campbell's)
• 3 tbs kikkoman soy sauce
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp sugar

Marinade:

• 0.5 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp black pepper
• a pinch of cornstarch

Preparation:

1.  Dice the tofu into medium squares and pan-fry with olive oil for 5 mins each side (until they turn golden brown).
2. Marinate the pork minced with the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Leave it while you are preparing others.
3. In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients and mix well.
4. Cut the eggplant into long strips and pan fry with a very small amount of olive oil until the strips go soft and floppy. This can take up to 15 minutes.
5. Add olive oil to the wok and stir fry the minced garlic and bean sauce until fragrant. Add the marinated pork minced. Keep stir-frying until the pork is cooked.
6. Add the prepared sauce from step 3, the chilli paste with garlic and eggplant. Keep mixing them and add tofu last.
7. Cook for a few more minutes and stir the sesame oil.
8. Add a pinch of spring onions before serving.