Hubby and the gal totally enjoyed it! Actually I have bought a few packets of the Szechuan Preserved vegetables to try. I told my mother we can’t buy them in big brown jars anymore. We used to get them like that in the olden days. Nowadays they are all prepacked and sealed. I can’t read much Chinese. I have trouble picking which to buy. So I bought one of each of the lot. I tasted them all before using and only 1 packet went into the bin.

All these packets were were all right except for the seaweed one. Terrible especially when I am used to the Japanese wakame salad. This was the only packet I binned.

TIP1 – I have never done this stage before and my mother said ‘why are you not hygiene conscious?’ She said must do this stage to ‘clean’ them. Yup, that is my mother. She don’t mince her words! She then insisted I must fry shallots and garlic in oil. I should keep frying until I can smell them. Only then should I add in the drained preserved vegetables.

TIP2 – You must give the preserved vegetables a good toss. Adding the sugar is also essential. This gives the preserved vegetables a much nicer extra crunch!

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I wanted to cook crab meat fried rice for awhile now. Luckily on my trip back to Devon a fortnight ago I managed to get some live crabs. Some were cooked chilly crabs immediately and eat with Man-tao bun and some I steamed and picked the meat and freeze.

It is extremely satisfying for me to do everything from scratch as I know I am eating real crab meat and not mixed with the fake ‘crabsticks’. Devon crabs are wonderful.

A guide to how I fry my butter crabby rice with TIPs.

Firstly gets everything ready. Use as much crab meat as you like. Don’t forget the brown meat as that’s where the taste is! I used 3 eggs, 2 chillies, a bulb of garlic, same size ginger as garlic bulb, 2 banana shallots, half bowl of green peas, 2 stalks of spring onions and a lot of love thrown in. Seasoning was only salt and pepper freshly ground. No condiments and no sauces, just crabs.

TIP – First add in half the eggs and let them set a bit before adding rice and the rest of the beaten eggs. This ensures that your fried rice get some nice bits of set eggs and some colour to the rice.

TIP – Only add the red chillies and spring onions at the last minute before serving as cooking them will make them soft, soggy and lose the fresh taste. (in my opinion)

TIP – I boiled my rice last night and let dry in the fridge and I make sure I separate each grains before using.

TIP – The seasoning I used was only salt and pepper as I wanted to taste the crab. There is a hint of ginger at the back; is what I like with my seafood. Although I would prefer a whiter rice, my Devon eggs yolks were extremely red! Next cometh the most difficult part. Plating.

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Hakka Kau Yuk芋頭扣肉 with Cantonese Crispy Roast Pork Belly 脆皮烧肉

Ingredients

For the Yam (1kg)

• 2 tbsp Red fermented beancurd juice only
• 2 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp Five spice powder (I only like a hint of 5 spice myself)
• 1 tsp Freshly ground pepper (My family loves freshly ground Sarawak pepper)

For the Sauce/marinate

• enough Oil
• 3 cubes Red Fermented Beancurd + 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp Five spice powder
• 1 bowl Garlic (minced and fried) save some for toppings
• Half/One bowl Shallots (sliced and fried)
• half cup Rice wine/Rose wine
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 tbsp Sugar (optional)
• half cup water

Instructions

For the Yam

• slice your yam to match the size of your Cantonese Crispy roasted pork belly.
• Mix the soy sauces, the nam yue juice, the five spice and the pepper.

For the Sauce/marinate

• Heat oil and fry the shallots and garlic. Then add in the fermented redbeancurd (nam yue)
• Then add your water, nam yue juice, rice wine/rose wine and turn heat off before adding five spice powder and season with freshly ground pepper. Pinch of salt (optional) as some wine are sweet enough.
• Add in half cup water for the sauce.
• Do not add salt as the nam yue (fermented red beancurd) are salty

The post Hakka Kau Yuk芋頭扣肉 with Cantonese Crispy Roast Pork Belly 脆皮烧肉 appeared first on Just Julie.