Prawn and Iberico Pork Siu Mai 鮮蝦伊比利豬肉燒賣

A month ago I bought Iberico pork belly and prawns from my local butcher and I asked on Stories for cooking suggestions. Then @jchli7 kindly advised me to make siu mai, I never made dumplings or any Chinese wrapping things before so I really doubted myself if I can make it... However, I have been craving dim sum for so long (still need to get my dim sum fix sorted), I decided to make it myself, and the result was…WHOA! Just the taste of dim sum restaurant, and look at what I've turned it out!

 

INGREDIENTS

-Dumpling skins.

-12 x Prawns (200g), peeled and deveined, then pat dry and chop into small pieces.

(Keep 3-5 prawns to top on siu mai)

-Iberico pork belly (270g), chop into small pieces.

-5 x Shiitake mushrooms, soak in water until soften, then drain and cut into fine bits.

-Trout caviar and chives for decoration.

 

FOR MARINADE

-1/2 tsp salt

-1 tbsp soy sauce

-1 tbsp rice cooking wine

-1 tsp sugar

-1/2 white pepper

-1 tbsp sesame oil

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-1/2 tsp plain flour

 

METHOD

1. Mix chopped pork belly, prawns and shiitake mushrooms thoroughly with marinade sauce together in a large bowl, leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes to let the ingredients absorb the sauce.

2. Scoop the meat fillings onto the centre of dumpling skin, use your hand to bring up the sides of wrapper around the fillings to make a cup shape. Put more fillings if needed.

3. Gently squeeze and stick the fillings together into dumpling wrapper with the opposite end of spoon, keep using both hands to straighten it and form a better shape.

4. Put the prawn on top of each siu mai, steam for 15-18 minutes. (my siu mai is HUGE, otherwise the traditional bite-sized ones take about 7-10 minutes to steam.)

5. Garnish with Trout caviar and chives before serving.

 

I didn’t manage to get wonton or siu mai skins so I used dumpling wrappers, and it turned out with 10 super huge and chubby siu mai. (I’ve never seen that big siu mai in my life.) All the process was actually easier than I thought, just needed to chop and prepare the ingredients, stuff the fillings into wrappers and steam, that’s it. And these homemade ones were so so tasty that I was happy to make it.

 

@jchli7 put a very useful step-by-step siu mai wrapping tutorial on his instagram highlight, I followed his steps and it’s easy to understand, defo worth checking it out if you are a beginner to make this much-loved Cantonese dumpling thing.

Taiwanese Soy-Stewed Pork Rice Bowl 台式控肉飯

 

Kong Rou Fan 控肉飯/Taiwanese Soy-Stewed Pork Rice Bowl is another locally loved dish that I have been craving recently. It’s very similar like Lu Rou Fan滷肉飯but Kong Rou Fan is usually cooked with large cut of pork belly that you can enjoy meaty texture with soy sauce based umami flavour. A sweet and savoury, gelatinous pork dish that would satisfy your craving. The pork is fully infused with rich flavours and the fats easily melt away when chewing. I just can’t help eating more rice than usual to extend this umami flavour and it would be also perfect to have it with some pickles and a fried sunny-side up egg!

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INGREDIENTS
-350g pork belly, cut into 4cm pieces.

-1 tbsp golden caster sugar.

-1 tbsp dark muscovado sugar.

-3 garlic cloves, smashed.

-3 shallots, finely chopped.

-2 stalks spring onions, finely chopped.

-3 tbsp soy sauce.

-3 tbsp cooking wine.

-1 tsp white pepper.

-200ml water.

METHOD

1. Place pork belly chops in a non-stick pan over medium heat without adding oil, pan fry until golden on both sides.

2. Stir in caster sugar and dark muscovado sugar to brown the meat.

3. Transfer the caramelised pork belly into a pot, add garlic, shallots, spring onions, soy sauce, cooking wine, white pepper and water, bring it to a boil then simmer over the lowest heat for 1 hour. (Check constantly in case a pot boils dry.)

4. Serve with rice and enjoy with some pickles!

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French Toast 法式厚吐司

Doesn’t need complicated ingredients, French Toast is so easy to make and looks fancy on the table to brighten up the day. Basically, you can use whatever bread you like but I particularly want THICK BREAD for this. Just get my hands on a thick cut of loaf, soak it in smooth batter, and let the pan do the work.

 

Is there anything better than having this thickest ever French Toast for breakfast?
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INGREDIENTS

-A thick slice of bread.

-1 large egg

-100ml whole milk

-1 tsp sugar

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-25g butter

ADDITIONS

-Strawberries

-Wafer rolls

-Icing sugar

METHOD

1. Whisk egg, milk, sugar and vanilla together.
2. Soak the bread into egg and milk mixture for 15 minutes, then turn over to soak for 15 minutes more.

3. Heat butter in a pan over medium low heat until foaming, pan-fry soaked bread until golden browned on each side.

4. Serve dusted icing sugar, wafer rolls and strawberries, or any fresh fruits of your choice if you like.

 

There are so many ways to serve French Toast, let me know what is your favourite addition to go with?⁠ 

Meanwhile sharing a fun fact about French Toast I found online:

French Toast was not invented in France at all! An American man named Joseph French created this savoury sweet delight in 1724 and advertised it as ‘’French Toast’’ which was supposed to be ‘’ French’s Toast’’. But actually this tasty treat has already existed with a very long history as in the age of Roman Empire, Romans dipped bread in a milk and egg mixture before frying which was the similar recipe like what we now know as French Toast.⁠

Quite interesting, isn't it?