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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Mr Piggy (MP) really enjoys a good lasagne. You can always go the quick and easy way by buying pre-made sauce, pasta sheets, even pre-made lasagne, but I think if you have the time then fresh homemade lasagne is worth the effort.

Total time required: ~ 2hrs
- 10mins dough time (with a magimix, probably 20mins by hand)
- 30mins sauce time
- 30mins assembly
- 30-40mins baking

I would normally make the dough (slightly dry) first then, while it's sitting, make the sauce. I like to start with a basic tomato sauce (or you can use a couple of cans of tomatoes) then add lots of meat to it. The Flower Lady (my Italian friend) recommends using three different types of meat to get a really good flavour. I find that leftover roast and bbq meats work really well, but if you don't have any handy, then any meat will do (try to get at least one meat on the bone for added flavour)! Add the meat to the tomato sauce and simmer for at least 20mins; season to taste. Finally, remove the meat and chop finely. Blend the sauce (if you haven't already) before adding back the meat. The sauce is now ready for use!

Tip: keep the sauce on the slightly watery side so that the pasta has something to cook in while baking.



By the time the sauce is done, the dough should be ready for rolling. The last time I made lasagne, I rolled the sheets as I needed them and I found that worked pretty well. This way you won't have any danger of the sheets sticking to the table or each other! On my pasta machine I go to #7, but basically the thinner the sheet, the more layers (and MP likes his layers)!



So the layering process involves alternating sauce, pasta sheets and cheese (I mix fresh mozzarella, parmesan and cheddar). You could also chuck in other things like mushrooms, chorizo, hard boiled egg and whatever else you like to make it interesting. The first layer on the dish should always be a sauce layer, as saucy as can be, to make sure your first sheet doesn't get stuck to the baking dish. Then continue with layers of dough, sauce, cheese (I sometimes don't cheese every layer so it's not too cheesy). Put extra cheese on top of the last layer before baking in a pre-heated oven of 180deg C. If you like white sauce, chuck a layer of white sauce on top of the last cheese layer before baking.

That’s it, eat up!



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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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As far back as I can remember (and no, I’m not one of those people who can remember things from when they were two years old, my memory extends back to 6 or 7 years old, but I digress…), Mum would make fresh noodles and meehoonkueh (literally noodle flour cakes in Hokkien, also called Pan Mee). We would ‘help’ her make the noodles – she’d make the dough – and somehow the whole thing would occupy us for hours. Nowadays the process is a lot faster (I think the ‘too many cooks’ saying definitely applied to us as kids).

So the basic recipe for dough is: 3 cups of flour, 4 eggs. That’s it! Simple, huh? You can use that recipe for any dough thing: wonton mee, meepok, dumpling skin, spaghetti, fettucini, ravioli, lasagne sheets, the list is endless!! For Asian recipes I tend to use the recipe as is, but for Italian dishes I have on occasion added herbs (fresh and dried), salt and pepper, and vegies (spinach, beetroot juice for colour). You can either mix by hand (I prefer this myself, but it can be time consuming) or use a magimix or something similar.



When mixing by hand:
1. make a well in the flour
2. add eggs
3. combine the flour into the eggs with chopsticks (or a fork)
4. knead until smooth
5. separate into small fist sized balls to rest



When mixing with a magimix:
1. add flour and eggs to mixer
2. whiz to a crumbly texture
3. remove crumbs from mixer and knead until smooth
4. separate into small fist sized balls to rest

After leaving the dough for at least 30mins (this allows the moisture from the egg to work its way into the flour), you can make it into whatever you like. For noodle-y dishes, make it quite a dry dough so that the noodles don’t stick to each other (if you poke it and it sticks, then it’s too wet). For meehoonkueh it can be a little wetter because you’ll be pulling the dough with your hands. Same goes for dumplings, ravioli and other similar dough ‘packages’ – since you’ll be wrapping things inside, you’ll want the edges to be sticky enough to stay together!



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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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Ever had salt and pepper squid at a Chinese restaurant? Or the squid tentacle version at yum cha (dim sum)? Have you tried cooking it but just doesn't taste the same? This mixture is probably the missing link.

Ingredients
2 tbsp salt
1 tsp five spice powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp msg
a dash of white pepper

You can omit the msg if you have an aversion to it or you don't have any lying around, however I don’t think it tastes the same without it. Mix all the ingredients together and heat a pan on medium heat. Place the mixture into the pan and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

The cooking process is not necessary but it does develop the flavour and helps prevent the mixture from becoming one solid mass (memories of clogged salt shakers anybody?). Also make sure the pan is scrupulously clean, free from any water or oil.

Just toss through dishes like salt and pepper squid and fried chicken for the taste you’ve been looking for!



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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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