No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

A very appetising dish with tangy and robust flavour of tamarind juice, red and green chillies added more oomph to the dish.  This dish will surely whet your appetite and you'll go for second helping of rice to soak up the tangy gravy.  This is a Peranakan dish but as always, there are many varieties to this delicacy.  I tweaked the recipe a bit to suit what I have in my pantry and the end result is a very yummy dish that I will not hesitate to whip up again and again. Tamarind Pork Belly (Babi Assam)  ~   亚参 五花肉 Ingredients 450 gm pork belly, cut into bite size 5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 3 shallots, finely chopped 30 gm tamarind pulp (Assam paste)  + 250 ml water 3 green chillies 2 red chillies 2 tsp tau cheong (preserved bean paste) 2 tsp dark soya sauce 1 Tbsp brown sugar or to taste 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp fish sauce 1 onion, sliced Method Mix the tamarind pulp with a cup of...

The tamarind juice in this recipe adds a sweet and sour flavour to the meat along with the aromatic kaffir lime leaves.  Besides adding flavour, the natural acidity of tamarind helps to tenderise the meat and makes the pork fillet more succulent and tender.  The marinade makes a delicious sauce when reduced and this goes very well with plain white rice. Tangy tamarind pork fillet ~  亚参猪肉片 Ingredients 500 gm pork fillet, cut into bite size 5 Tbsp tamarind juice 1 Tbsp brown sugar 1 Tbsp dark soya sauce 2 tsp light soya sauce 1 onion, sliced 1.1/2 tsp cornflour + 1 Tbsp water to thicken Kaffir lime leaves, cut thinly Salt to taste Method Season the pork fillet with the tamarind juice, brown sugar, salt, dark and light soya sauce for a few hours. Pour all the above into a wok and add 3/4 cup water Cook on high heat, then switch to medium to simmer till meat is cooked through. Add in the sliced onions Add in c...

Hi folks, I'm back from a most enjoyable vacation but as I need time to sort out the pictures taken during my holiday, I'll slot in this porky dish which I cooked before my trip. Braised pork knucke with mustard cabbage or 'Gai choy chee sou' is a dish which I've tasted in one of the Chinese restaurants during the Chinese New Year and immediately fell in love with it. 'Gai choy' or mustard cabbage is an Asian vegetable, generally pickled, braised or used in soups and has a strong bitter taste.   I tried to replicate this dish at home and it was well received by my family members. 

This porky dish tastes and resembles somewhat like 'char siew' or BBQ pork except  that it's got a slightly tangy taste and I find it rather unique.  The tangy taste comes  from the effect of adding tamarind aka Assam Jawa and other sauces into the meat.  This dish does go well with white rice and it can be very appetising indeed.