Lately I found myself craving for chinese food. Like chinese chinese food! Noodles, soup especially! Nothing I can get from the chinese restaurants in my area. I would have to drive about 40 miles to get to the closest “real” chinese restaurant. This is when I beat myself up for not living closer to Monterey Park. Anyway, with no close resources around me, I turned to google for help. I have a couple food blogs that I follow closely. I mean, there are a tons of blogs that have very good chinese/ malaysia food recipes out there. I was overwhelmed with the all the chinese/ malaysia recipes I found on the internet. Finally I narrowed it down to 2 blogs which I have bookmarked for future reference.
I browse to find recipes that I think I can try at home. Or sometimes, when I crave for something, I turn to their blogs for recipes. They have all the recipes I am looking for and more!
June, a friend of mine that lives in MA, has tons of recipes on her blog as well. I sometimes turn to her for help when I am stuck with something.
For 2 weekends in a row, I have been making lotus root soup, one of my favorite soups! I already know how to make this soup and have been making this soup for awhile. This is probably the only chinese soup that I know how to make aside from ABC soup.
I should have taken the picture of the soup when it was full, not when it is almost empty. So now you see all the leftover stuff I used to make this soup. If you see something that you don’t recognize, they are probably the cuttlefish.
Then on Monday night, I tried to make roast pork (char siew). I was craving for kon loh mee or wantan mee, whatever you call it. I still beat myself up for not having that dish when I was in malaysia in May. Anyway, again I turned to their blogs for help and came up with my pathetic looking char siew. Noodles wasn’t bad. I like it alot actually. Pork was a little on the dry side. I didn’t realize my size of pork was much smaller and roasted in the oven longer than it should. Nonetheless, it satisfied my craving for the night. Will definitely make this again in the near future. I felt like a professional chinese chef when I was preparing the noodles. Soaking it in the hot boiling water, and then to the cold water and back to the boiling water using my spider that was purchased long time ago but never used it.
That looks like a lot of noodles. In case you are wondering, no, I didn’t eat the whole thing. I shared it with John. ;P Yes, I know, there is no green vege with this meal. I am still working on balancing my meal with some vege. Work in progress, work in progress…
Okay, so Tuesday night, I made siew yoke (roast pork). This is my second attempt of trying to make siew yoke using the same recipes. Again, the skin didn’t turn crispy like it should. I really have no idea what I did wrong. I followed the recipes to the “T” and still didn’t come out quite right. The meat was delicious but the skin was disappointing. However, I think this batch was definitely an improvement from the first time I made it (about 6 months ago). I love siew yoke, and will definitely try this recipe again until I get it right!
To go with my roast pork, I made brussel sprouts. Some vege in my meal! I usually roast them in the oven but since my oven was busy roasting my pork (and I do not have the privilege of owning a double oven), I was forced to find a different alternative of preparing these guys. I found this recipe online somewhere and it seemed easy enough to follow.
Anything tastes better with bacon! I cooked some bacons and used the fat from bacons to cook my brussel sprouts. Then I steamed them in the water for a few minutes until it was soft. With some salt and pepper, it’s good to go! It would have been tastier if I had some parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top.
Next time, when I have perfected my skills, I will definitely invite some friends over to enjoy these with me. Tonight, on Wednesday night, John and I are working on finishing my char siew, and siew yoke leftover. I am taking a break from the kitchen until we clean up the leftovers in the fridge. I am exhausted from cooking anyway. 3 days in a row is too much for me. Now I just wish we can make it to Monterey Park this weekend for some real chinese food to satisfy more of my cravings!
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