I finally found a very good looking bittergourd with no blemishes. Was so difficult to find good ones nowadays and the shops are very clever or sneaky, depending on how you look at it. They will pair a not so good one with a good one and sometimes they turn the rotten bits to the back and tightly wrapped with cling film on a black tray so you can’t see! It is definitely not like in Malaysia’s market where you can pick and chose.

I decided to fry my bittergourd with yellow bean sauce and added tau-pok because hubby loves them and they taste so good when soaked up with the sauce. I am using sui yuk (Chinese roast pork) that a friend gave me and as hubby don’t eat fat pork he can have the bittergourd, tau-pok and sauce. Settled. We the family have decided this dish is a keeper. Simple easy and taste not too bad.

Note – I am happy to be able to get my favourite yellow beans here in UK. I only buy the whole beans because I prefer to mince myself whenever I need to use. This is so I can control the fineness.

When I was doing my shopping at the Chinese supermarket, the butchery section had a huge stack of piggy trotters and I was tempted. Luckily I stopped myself from buying more than 1 packet. It has 3 trotters inside. We Chinese do not like the number 4 you know.

I was thinking hard of what to cook with them because I don’t fancy cooking Sweet Sour Vinegar. However I wanted to cook something hubby will eat, if not the trotters then at least the sauce. I decided to cook the trotters braised with fermented red beancurd instead. Hubby loves fermented red beancurd sauce. So he will be happy with an omelette dosed with sauce.

But……….. but I would be in heaven ‘cleaning’ all the collagen off the sexy bones. Also because I wanted to blog this recipe because I get older and more forgetful. I have to admit I was a bit tired after being on my feet for a good 3 hours cleaning and cooking this dish but I ate it for 2 days in total enjoyment and with every mouthful I felt my wrinkles disappearing. – kekekekekeke

However I do wonder if I dare to order or eat trotters not clean by myself after this!

Note – No soy sauce, oyster sauce etc were used. I wanted the ‘clean’ taste of fermented red beancurd. Please season to your own taste.

My family loves yellow bean sauce and recently I am able to get the brand that my mother has been using since I was a child. I only remember her using this brand and Yeo’s brand and not any other. She also always used the whole beans and she insisted that it is not actually hard work to roughly chopped the beans and they taste much better.

Now that I am all grown up I have decided there is logic in what she said and so I followed suit since. Today I cooked cod cheeks with yellow beans sauce as both the hubby and daughter are a big fans of fish without bones.

As usual I always said my recipe is a guide so make the dish your own with my TIPs. Enjoy.

TIP – When cooking fish and seafood always incorporate ginger, in slices if you don’t like to eat ginger, so you can easily remove them; julienned and fried crispy if you like to eat them like we do.

TIP – Bring the cleaned cod cheeks out from fridge to room temperature before cooking. Do not overcooked.

TIP – Please add a pinch of sugar to balance the taste.

TIP – Add the red chillies at the last minute, the spring onions and served topped with the earlier fried ginger, shallots, garlic slices and coriander.

TIP – After you added in your cod cheeks, at high heat your cook should be just about 5 minutes to dishing up.

I was wondering for days what to do with the balance of the eggs I got from Devon. Last week my son came back from a visit to his Nanny and he brought me a dozen eggs from Okehampton town. He asked the vendor if they are fresh and the vendor took him to look at his chickens – kekekekeke

Actually I was thinking of the Thai’s son-in-law eggs dish but I wanted to use some of my daun kesum (laksa leaves) before the frost gets to them in the winter. So this dish was born and it tasted not too bad.

My daughter is on holiday from work and as soon as she saw me frying the eggs she knew what I was cooking and immediately asked if she should boil more rice!!!

She loves this dish. However normally I added curry leaves. Today it is daun kesum. I think I much preferred daun kesom. Unique taste.

Well I hope you try this very simple dish. It should be sour enough to make you blink, spicy enough to make you sweat a little and just a slight cane sweetness from the jaggery – Enjoy

p/s boil more rice.

p/s You can use this sauce for fried eggs as well.

p/s Frying the eggs so the wrinkled skin absorb the sauce it very important to the taste. It’s give an extra layer of texture and taste.

This is a dish I have a craving for few times a year. Cincalok Pork belly. I was so blessed to be the recipient of a beautiful jar of this goodness from a friend. I almost want to put it by my pillow and sleep with it. kekekekeke

Cincalok this jar that I have is from Malacca so the pinkish shrimp used is called udang geragau. Cincalok are readily identifiable and the taste is salty. Therefore when cooking this dish do NOT add salt.

I am sharing what I used in cooking this dish but the proportions is entirely up to you.

Warning – This dish is very moreish. Boil more rice!

p/s I like mine with lots of onions. How do you like yours?

Kiam Hue Bihun is a dish i cook a few times a year. The hubby and I both love it. Provided I have ready fried salt fish of course, it is an easy 30 minutes cook and perfect for a quick lunch. I always add extra beansprouts as I love the extra crunch and texture then give.

The last time I fried my salt fish from Kuching, I saved some in a glass container infused with the oil and placed into my fridge for the time when I want to use it like today. They would happily sits in the fridge for a long time, months.

My very British hubby is a weird Mat Salleh who loves salt fish He always wears a happy face when he opens the front door and smell salt fish, udang kering (dried shrimps) and belacan.

Back in the days of my youth my mother said kiam hue (salt fish) was once known to be a poor man’s food. Same goes for beansprouts too but nowadays salt fish is not cheap. Their prices seems to go up and up each year! Nice salt fish in UK is definitely not cheap at all.

TIP – Please add in any other protein you like. Pork belly, chicken etc.

TIP – Do not attempt to overly season the noodles as the taste should come from the salt fish, the omelette and the sambal that is served with it.

TIP – The beansprouts gives it that extra crunchy texture and adding kangkong would be very good idea too. Just make sure you do not overcooked them. They must stay fresh.

TIP – Calamansi lime is is a must too to balance the dish.

Enjoy

I have not cooked asam jawa aka tamarind fish for ages. Just last month I was talking with a friend about this dish.

She had bought some amazingly fresh mackerels and I suggested to her this is one of the dish she can cook with her mackerels. This dish must be sour, sweet and spicy. All you need is a big pot of rice.

It is an extremely simple cook and the most difficult thing to do was to clean the kitchen after frying!

Actually I have made a mistake. I should not have bought such a big wild seabass as it was so big my biggest wok 36 cm can’t fit! Thus frying the fish crispy was not so easy. It’s just that the seabass was so fresh and winking at me yesterday at the fishmonger.

In the end, however the dish prevails.

p/s Taste and adjust to your taste. I prefer mine more sour, follow by spicy then sweet. The touch of soy sauce also adds that bit of extra depth of flavour. Season it to your taste.