Bah..As Ny has been 'studying' VERY hard for her exams, I have been domesticated and brain-washed into a male version of the Stretford Wives..
Instead of cooking Ny's favourite dishes, I will be enhancing my culinary skills for the next two weeks with dishes that I have never tried..Let's call it the "Two Week Food Challenge"
I started my experiments with duck fried rice.. Have any of you ever tried it before?Basically I got the idea from one of the dishes served at a local Hongky restaurant close to home. The dish is called Hokkien fried rice and it is basically plain egg fried rice with thick gravy poured on top of it. Now in that thick sauce there are bits of duck, celery and sliced carrots. This is one of Ny's favourite dishes. Hence I attempted to recreate it MY WAY..
I bought half a roast duck and dumped it in a pot of water.
I added a little bit of chicken stock and boiled it for 2 hours.. I then added in carrots, kai lan and corn starch..Once I had a relatively thick sauce I poured it over the fried rice and presto..DUCK FRIED RICE..
Well kangkung belacan is not really a new recipe that I've never tried but it is the first time I actually made it by myself (with a certain control officer breathing down my neck).
Vietnamese pork chops on the other hand is a whole new different ball game. This is the first time I have ever tried to make these EVER! Well basically it did not turn out the way I expected..I guess what I am trying to say is that it was a failure..Not a catastrophic failure but a failure none the less.It was way too sweet compared to what we normally have at the Vietnamese restaurant close to Ny's uni..
The trick with this recipe is to actually keep the meat dry before putting it in the oven if you do not like frying. The marinade for this dish is also important as it determines how the outcome of your dish would taste like. It is pretty simple to make this..All you need is a stalk of lemongrass, a bit of sesame oil, peanut oil, soya sauce, chinese rice wine and garlic for the marinade..Blend all the mentioned ingredients together until it becomes a pasta..Finally, marinate the pork overnight before frying or grilling..For those of you who like your pork chops sweet add some sugar into the marinade..
Ny tends to give in whenever it comes to food as I am a picky eater. Prior to being with Ny, I never ate vegetables in my life..I was a certified meat-only-person..Therefore, I decided to reward her for adapting to me by preparing a veggie based dish.
This dish is basically stir fried spaghetti with broccoli, carrots, shitake mushrooms, bits of leftover luncheon meat and boneless chicken wings..The sauce was made with chicken stock, oyster sauce, soya sauce, black caramel sauce and pepper.. Basically it was just normal stir fried veggies with spaghetti..That's it..LOL..
Those are the dishes that I have attempted recently..There will be more to come hopefully..LOL..I hope the girl in the picture below likes the dishes so far..All the best for your finals Ny..
