cat versus pig

Sometimes even the best laid plans can go awry… What to do when you’ve planned to make lasagne and then found your pasta machine is broken? And I thought I was so organised! I had made fresh dough that morning, prepared my sauce in advance, and was all ready to go to make lasagne for dinner that evening, but then…

I tried to roll the dough through the machine and found that the machine was just plain broke. Damn :(

So how do you go from little round dough cakes to something edible? I did try old-school, believe me I did, but I just didn’t have the skills (or muscles) that our ancestors did. Every time the rolling pin left it, the damn thing would spring back into a little round cake!

What to do? With a little prodding from a hungry little Piggy, I improvised instead…

Enter… Italian meehoonkueh! So this is basically meehoonkueh, boiled in water instead of stock and then served with pasta sauce.



Prepare your sauce as usual.
Cook the meehoonkueh in salted boiling water, then drain well.
Gently stir the meehoonkueh through the sauce and then dish to serve!

This ended up working really well! The texture of the pulled dough ranges from velvety thin to pleasantly chewy, making it a little heartier than spaghetti, but lighter than lasagne. The rough texture also allows the sauce to stick really well to the dough.

Disaster averted!




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Nothing goes to waste! The last course is a soup made from the bones of the duck. This is super simple to make and its slightly sour taste cleanses the palate from the oily pancakes and the rich sang choy bao.

Ingredients
- Duck Bones, chopped in large pieces
- Pickled mustard greens
- 3-4 tomatoes
- Fresh tofu
- Dash of white pepper
- 1-1½ litres of water

The duck bones should be hacked up into roughly eight sections. Heat up a large pot and fry the bones in a little bit of oil for about a minute, and then add the water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes with the lid on.



While the stock is simmering away, rinse the mustard greens to remove any possible dirt between the leaves. Roughly chop the greens into bite sized pieces and set aside. Cut each tomato into about eight wedges and set aside.



Slice the tofu into small cubes, roughly half an inch, and set that aside as well.

Once the duck bones have simmered for roughly 15 mins, you can remove the bones from the stock if you wish. However, you may wnat to leave the bones in as they are likely to have some meat left on them and will continue to add flavour to the soup while in the pot.

Add the mustard greens and simmer for another five minutes. Then add the tomatoes and cook for another five minutes. Add in a dash of white pepper, then taste and add in salt and sugar if necessary (this may not be required as the duck, mustard greens and tomatoes have plenty of flavour).

Finish the soup off by placing in the tofu cubes and stirring them through gently so as to keep them intact. Simmer for one last minute and it is ready to serve.

A great way to finish off three courses. The duck bones make a great tasting stock; the tofu is silky smooth; and the slight sourness from the mustard greens and tomatoes cleanses the palate and brings back your appetite.



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This next course is juicy and full of flavour on the inside, and fresh and light on the outside. They can be a little messy to eat but are a very popular dish because they taste so delicious!

Ingredients
- Roast duck meat
- 1 iceberg lettuce
- 2 brown onions (or 1 large one)
- 3-4 stalks of celery
- 2 carrots
- 2 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- Dash of white pepper
- Dash of dark soy
- 1-2 tsp corn flour (in some water)

Let’s tackle the lettuce first. At the shops, make sure you pick a fairly solid iceberg lettuce. When you hold the lettuce, the leaves should be fairly firm and should not compress like a sponge. However, it also should not be too solid either; no bounce in the leaves means it is heavy and tightly packed, making it difficult to separate.

Flip the lettuce upside-down and remove the base with a small knife (be brutal here and really cut into the core of it). The base part of the leaves (the whiter end) are firmer, so work from there when separating. Discard the outer-most leaves as they are likely to be wilted.

Under a running tap (with cold water directed into the core of the lettuce), remove each leaf carefully. You will find the inner-most leaves very difficult to take apart as they are small and brittle. I usually don’t bother separating them and use them for something else like a salad. Gently shake off as much excess water as you can and stack them on a plate.

Tip: Soak the separated lettuce leaves in water for a few minutes to rehydrate and make them super-duper crispy. Having fresh, cold running water is best. You can also use scissors to trim the leaves (from the white end) to give them a neat and tidy appearance.

Remove the meat off the duck. Most of us would have done this before with roast chicken for sandwiches. You can chop up the duck in sections; it may help with removing the meat. Roughly chop the duck meat and set aside. Reserve the bones as they are required for the final course!

Finely dice the onion, celery and carrots. The carrot and celery should be in fairly small pieces as they can take longer cook.



In a wok or large pan, heat up a little oil on high heat. Add the onion to stir-fry for a little while, then immediately add in the celery and carrot. Stir-fry for another minute or two before adding the duck meat.

Mix in the oyster sauce, salt, sugar and pepper to season. The dark soy is optional, but a dash or two does give it a nice caramel colour. Add the diluted corn flour into the mixture and stir thoroughly and quickly to prevent lumps. This will thicken the mixture, making it easier to wrap up and eat. The filling is complete, so remove from the heat and dish it up.



To eat, place in a couple of tablespoons of the filling into a lettuce leaf and wrap up. You can add in some Hoisin sauce, or other things like nuts and fried noodles to give it some texture. I think they are nice without any additions, savoury and fresh.

Tip: It is easier to eat if you fold the softer, greener ends up and together to form a pouch and start eating from the crunchy white end.



You can make this whenever you want as a stand-alone dish, rather than as part of a Peking Duck course. Chicken works well as a substitute meat.



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Peking Duck in China traditionally uses a freshly roasted duck and served with the meat and skin on plain pancakes. Generally, outside of China it is eaten differently, with only the skin eaten with pancakes and the rest of the duck served over another course or two. Here is my easy way to get a decent tasting three course meal from a roast duck. Continue reading for the first course!

Ingredients
- 1 whole roast duck
- 2 cups of oil
- 1 packet of Peking Duck pancakes
- 1 cucumber
- Hoisin sauce

The first thing to do is buy a nicely roasted duck from a Chinese BBQ restaurant. Remember to tell them you want it whole, not chopped up.

Prepare the cucumber by cutting it into little finger sized pieces. This will be wrapped up in your pancakes. You can put whatever you like, but I recommend you stick with refreshing ingredients so as to balance out the richness of the duck skin. Popular fillings include spring onion (the white part) and chilli.

Fan out the pancakes into a bamboo steamer and steam for a few minutes to warm. While the pancakes are steaming, heat up the oil in a wok. This will take a couple of minutes but a quick test is to stick a wooden chopstick into the oil; if it bubbles away the oil is ready.





Place the duck firmly on a bamboo frying ladle (or dangle on a meat hook) and hold over the wok. Then pour the hot oil over the skin of the duck, making sure to cover all areas a couple of times. This will puff up the skin and make it crispy. Turn the duck over and repeat.



Place the duck onto a chopping board. At this stage, you can also remove the pancakes from the steam if they have been warmed through (they can be left in the steamer though). Using a sharp knife, slice the skin off the duck according to how many pancakes there are (usually 10-12) and place on a plate.

To eat: grab a pancake, smear some Hoisin sauce along the middle of it, add filling ingredients and duck skin and wrap it up!



The next course is a crowd pleaser, promise.



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One of my favourite foods is this variation on a noodle dish, Meehoonkueh. I'm not quite sure where it originated from, but I know it can be found in Malaysia and parts of China (which makes sense since all Chinese originally came from China anyway).

So to make it? First off, start with the basic dough recipe, slightly wetter for stretch-ability. Let the dough sit for 30mins or so.

In the meantime, prepare your stock. This is similar to the wonton soup base, but dried ikan bilis (a type of anchovy fish) is used to provide the flavour. I've seen it sold in some Asian supermarkets, but if you can't find it you can always substitute with bonito flakes (from the wonton soup recipe). To make the stock, add a handful of the ikan bilis to boiling water (about 1L); simmer for at least 30mins before use.
Note: you can boil the stock with the ikan bilis in a cheesecloth bag or strain it before using for a clear clean soup!



In a separate pot for cooking, bring some of the stock to the boil. Start pulling the dough, stretching it between your hands to a thin sheet. Tear off pieces at a time, dropping into the boiling soup. Add vegetables and fish balls, boil for another minute or two and then serve.

Meehoonkueh can be eaten with an array of condiments - fried ikan bilis, belachan, etc. - but I like it best with just a bit of fried onion and cut chilli.



Enjoy!



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The classic Chinese dumpling we’re all familiar with. They offer a light burst of flavour in your mouth, just as the name suggests (literally meaning cloud swallow). I can’t quite get the same taste as the ones you get in Hong Kong, but these are pretty darn close.

Ingredients - Wontons
- pack of thin wonton skins
- 250g pork mince
- 6-8 prawns
- a few Chinese mushrooms
- small tin of bamboo shoots
- couple of spring onions
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- ½ tsp cornflour
- ½ tsp salt
- dash of white pepper

Ingredients - Soup
- dried fish powder / flakes
- chicken stock



Firstly, work the pork mince by chopping it for about a minute. This rough chopping works the gluten/protein in the meat and you will notice it becomes stickier.

Peel and de-vein the prawns, then chop up along with the mushrooms, bamboo shoots and spring onion. My family likes the ingredients on the chunkier side (except for the spring onion, which should be finely chopped). This way you can feel the different textures and get that burst of sweetness when you chomp down on a lump of prawn. However, I know Cat prefers to mince everything up well.



Mix all the ingredients (except wonton skins) in a bowl and combine well. If your mixture is not combining and holding together, it is probably because your pork lacks gluten/protein - this can happen if the pork mince is overly lean or has been frozen. You can solve this by introducing extra protein with a little bit of raw egg.

Wrap your wontons by placing a lump of the mixture into the centre of the wonton skin. Then fold in half so one set of corners diagonally across from each other meet. Seal around the lump of filling, trying to get as much air out as possible (leaving too much air inside can burst your wontons during cooking). Finally, gather up the other two corners so they all meet in the centre, crimping and pinching firmly to seal.



Now to make a soup to go with the wontons. In Hong Kong, the soup served with wontons is nearly always made from a dried fish powder. Boil a few cups of water and add in a couple teaspoons of dried fish powder. Add in a cup of chicken stock to the boiling fish stock. This will round out and mellow the flavour of the soup; otherwise you may find it can be a little fishy.

The powder in the photo above is mum’s homemade stuff, which she grinds herself. It is made from the dried flesh of a fish similar to flounder. Alternatively, use dried bonito flakes, which are available at supermarkets these days (most likely along with the other Japanese goods).

Now in a separate pot (separate from the soup), boil water and cook the wontons for roughly 5 mins. Alternatively, cook until the wontons float to the top and then boil for another minute (the wontons sink initially but float as they are nearly done).

Serve the cooked wontons with the soup.

Here I’m having it with noodles, char siew pork and snow pea sprouts.





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These pearl-like dumplings, literally translated as soup balls (glutinous rice balls), are a traditional dessert that I grew up eating. They are usually served with a syrup-based broth and their sweet gooey centres are hidden by a soft chewy shell.

Ingredients
200g glutinous rice flour
½ cup black sesame mix
1½ tbsp sugar
a few slices of ginger
2 tbsp of brown sugar

This should make up 15 to 20 balls, depending on how large you make them.



The first step is to mix the black sesame with the sugar and a little water. Mix until a dry playdoh-like consistency is formed. The black sesame can be purchased in most Asian grocery stores. Roll the sesame mixture into balls, roughly the size of a small marble (you may want to use rubber gloves for this as the mixture is sticky).

Next mix the rice flour with water to form a dough. Unfortunately there were no instructions on the packet as to how much water, but the resulting consistency should be smooth and not too wet (start with a couple of tablespoons full of water and go from there).



Separate the dough into equal portions, roughly the size of large marbles. For each portion, squash out the dough to about a 5mm thickness (too thin and they may break during cooking) and place a black sesame ball in the middle. Then wrap the sesame ball with the dough and roll between your hands to form a ball shape and seal it.



Boil 2-3 cups of water and add in the slices of ginger (a couple of thin slices will suffice). Add in the brown sugar and then gently place the dough balls of encased sesame filling into the sweet broth. The balls will take roughly 3-5 minutes to cook (depending on the size).



Presto! Ladle the little beauties into bowls, along with some of the syrupy broth and enjoy.



If black sesame isn’t your thing, then you can try other fillings like chocolate, crushed peanut or red bean for some variety.



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This is more on the vegie patch. Here’s a look at the Chinese vegies we have growing in the garden...



Choysum is a common Chinese vegie. I think of it as a bit of a staple veg because it’s easy to find and quite versatile in use. It looks a little bit like bok choy, but has a greenish stalk while bok choy has a white stalk. Choysum and bok choy are both common vegies, but I don’t think they are all that good for you – high water content, no great nutritional value. They do turn up quite a bit though; go to any ‘roasting house’ and you’ll get a little bit of choy sum or bok choy with your ‘roast duck noodle soup’ or ‘bbq pork rice’.



If you've ever had 'Such and such with salted vegetable' at a Chinese restaurant, then you've most likely eaten this. Kai choy can be eaten fresh – Piggy makes a soup of it with a dried scallop base – or preserved to make salted vegie (or haam choy, lit. salty vegie). You can buy cans or sealed packets of salted vegie from your local Chinese shop for cooking with.



Tong ho is another vegie good in soup, very popular for steamboat. It’s generally eaten quite ‘raw’ and only needs about ½ minute (or less) in boiling soup as it is pretty much all leaf.
I find tong ho has a faint bitter taste, which is perhaps why I think of it as one of the more Asian vegies. Asian vegies to me are vegies which are good for you and taste good for you, but don’t necessarily taste good. I remember being told tall tales when I was younger to try to get me to eat my Asian vegies – “It’ll make your hair long and shiny”, “It’ll make your hair curly”, etc. Rubbish!



Watercress (sae yong choy, 西洋菜) is really lovely in soup; actually I’ve never had it any other way. I especially like it with meehoonkueh (I’ll leave this a mystery for now because I’m planning on doing a post on it in the near future).



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Garlic prawns are absolutely yummo! This version has loads of garlic and a clean, fresh taste.

Ingredients
1 doz prawns
6 cloves of garlic
2-3 spring onions
little bit of coriander
½ tsp of cornflour
½ tsp salt
dash of white pepper



Let’s tackle the prawns first. With a pair of scissors, snip the legs off the prawns. Then split them in half with a sharp knife, along the back and belly. It is easier to start from the tail-end and to use the back of the prawn as a guide. Finally, de-vein the prawns, wash out any dark goo out of the prawn heads (this brown stuff can taste a little funky) and lay them out on a plate (flesh side up).

Finely chop the garlic, spring onion and coriander. Mix these, along with the cornflour, salt and white pepper in a bowl. Add a little bit of water (~1 tsp) if the mixture looks a little dry. This will look similar to the ginger dip here.



Bring water up to the boil in a wok (or steaming pot). Spoon the mixture onto the prawns and steam them for three minutes only as over-cooking the prawns will leave them dry and stringy.

As an optional step you can heat up some oil and drizzle the hot oil over the prawns after they are cooked. This will make the garlic mixture sizzle and release its flavours.

A tasty dish with impressive looks, but really easy to make.



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We love our sauces and condiments. They are so tasty and can give a dish that extra oompf! This one is so tasty with a dish like steamed chicken (the sort you get with Hainanese chicken rice) and it's straight forward to make as well.

Ingredients
- 1 shallot, very finely chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
- 3 spring onions
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp of oil

Finely chop the shallot, ginger and spring onions and place in a small heat proof bowl. Add the salt and mix everything together thoroughly. Heat the oil up on the stove to a high temperature (but not so high that it starts to burn and smoke). Then pour the hot oil all over the mixture in the bowl. You should be greeted with a satisfying sizzling sound and a wonderful aroma.

That's all there is to it. The hardest part (or rather most tedious) is chopping the ingredients finely. Alternatively you could use a food processor to chop it up. Don't over do it though, as it could turn out more like green slime, rather than having a nice crunchy texture.

I always eat this as an alternative to chilli sauce when we have steamed chicken. Variety is the spice of life, so mix it up with some tasty dips and sauces like these.



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MP's mum makes me lovely lo mai kuen (loh-mai-gewn), which is glutinous rice cooked with dried prawns, coriander, chinese mushroom and lap cheong (chinese sausage), covered in bao dough (same dough as for char siu bao), steamed as a roll and then sliced up for eating. I'm not usually a fan of dried prawns, coriander or chinese mushrooms but I'll happily eat my lo mai kuen. The other day, Papa Cat tried some of the fresh ones (while Piggy's mum was over for a cooking lesson – she was the teacher!) and was extremely dismayed to find the glutinous rice inside (as if it was hiding or something!). You see, Papa Cat does not like sticky rice of any sort. For some unknown reason he was expecting pork inside. Anyway, here are the pork buns that Papa Cat was after…



For the dough mixture, basically follow the instructions on the back of the pack. It’s pretty straightforward: add milk and sugar (I cut down on the sugar to 1tbsp for the 400g pkt because the pack suggests half a cup!), mix to dough and knead, add oil, knead some more, then let sit for 30mins. The dough does end up being just a little bit sticky!

For the filling we basically used the gyoza mixture, see here.

After the 30mins of sitting, separate the dough into golf ball sized lumps (for small buns, about the size of a child's fist). The easiest way to do this is to roll the dough into a log and then cut into even portions. Take a portion of dough and roll out into a circle (probably about 10cm in diameter). It's okay if the circle is a little on the larger side as they tend to shrink after rolling.



Working quickly (remember, the circle is shrinking!!), place roughly 2 tablespoons of the filling mixture in the middle and gather up the dough from the edges to meet in the middle. Make sure the dough is sealed properly together at the top.

Place the uncooked buns in a bamboo steamer and steam in a wok, steam the buns for roughly 20mins.
Enjoy!!

p.s. I’ll try making lo mai kuen next time!!



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