Tuesday, October 28, 2014

SC's Birthday Dinner at the Principal, Hong Kong


SC's birthday is our annual splurge.
(Wow, that's in August!!! That's one hell of a blogpostcrastination, you lazy bum!
Please excuse me. I rant to myself a lot here)
And this one's worth every penny. Thank you for the recommendation, e_ting!
Naturally, I don't remember what these are, but I remember that we love almost everything, including the concrete sofa in front of the restaurant.
No need to thank me for this non-review. 
I really should not call myself a blogger.
#SorryNotSorry.
Heheheh.

We had quite an expedition that night. The birthday boy was really pleased. Phew!























Another thing that I love: I didn't have to make a phone call for booking (I HATE voice calls with a passion). Click here to book online.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The Grilled Pork Neck Dish That I Bring To All Potluck Parties

I don't know how to call this dish... I used to call it sate (or satay - I am not a big fan of this word, Indonesians say SATE!) grilled pork neck because I make it how I make sate, but nobody's convinced because there is no skewering involved, there is no peanut sauce and the end product doesn't look anywhere within 100m radius of sate. So, I see how sate or satay might not be a great name for it :)

So let's just call this the Grilled Pork Neck Dish That Rita Brings To All Potluck Parties. BecauseI really brought this dish to almost every potluck party I attended. People love it (or at least they pretend to), and even if people don't love it - I have no issues finishing it myself. Hehehheh. 

It's very easy to make. Idiot-proof level.
I can't think of easy ways to ruin this dish... except maybe if you're bringing this dish to a party naked, and it is not a nudist party. That will ruin the dish. Sorry - I tend to go off topic like that.

Now, to make this dish.
Recipe
Meat
- Pork neck meat (I usually buy frozen ones from Kai Bo. You can buy fresh if you want), or you can substitute this with thigh chicken fillet with skin on.
(Quantity recommendation: if this is one of the many dishes of a potluck party, 1 big slice of pork neck meat that's available in Kai Bo frozen food shop should be ok for 4 people. If you're treating this as one of the main dishes, then 1 slice serves 2. If you're serving this to a crazy greedy pork-lover, allow 1 per person)

Marinade
- Shallot, thinly sliced (1/2 shallot per 1 slice pork neck)
- Kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
- Soy sauce 
(Ratio of soy sauce : sweet soy sauce = 1 : 3)
- ground nutmeg, ground coriander seeds, cumin

Dipping sauce
- Kecap manis
- Fish sauce (just a dash)
- Lime juice (or lemon juice)  
- Lime wedges or lemon wedges
- A bit of ground nutmeg
- Thinly sliced shallot (just a bit - you can set aside some when slicing shallot for the marinade)
- Chopped fresh chillies (preferably the green birds eye chilli - cabe rawit ftw! or omit if you can't handle the heat)
Mix well & serve in small bowls with the lime or lemon wedges 

How to do
(Ideally prepare the night before serving)
Marinating
Defrost meat if you bought frozen. Pat dry, po ke the meat all over with fork (or meat poke...r?). Place meat in container, add marinade, massage the marinate all over the meat and refrigerate overnight (or a couple hours).

Grilling
Preheat oven to 250C, grill meat until the surface gets nicely caramelized. You can baste with the marinade or make more of the dipping sauce for basting. This normally takes about 40 minutes in my oven.
Charcoal grilling would be awesome too.
When done, slice diagonally and thinly, squeeze lime juice all over it and serve with dipping sauce.

And wait for the crowd to ask you for the recipe ;)