Steamed Pork with Black Beans and Garlic - Hong Kong Style, My Mom in Law's Recipe

I am so blessed with a MIL whose cooking I absolutely ADORE! She makes dishes that are tastier than those from the restaurants! Last weekend, she made us this absolutely delicious steamed pork dish and I was right by her side taking notes.

What's so special about the dish? She doesn't use pork ribs, because she raised 3 naughty boys who wouldn't eat anything with bone in them. She used "mui tao sao yuk" part, and we get juicy tender bits (daam daam yuk) with tasty sauce that could make us eat 10 bowls of rice.

Here's her recipe:
- Pork meat (about HK$15 worth from Park & Shop - sadly, sometimes cheaper than local wet markets). You can replace the pork with chicken, or tofu puffs as vegetarian option
- a handful of Chinese fermented black beans, rinsed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- a dash of oil
- 2 tsp corn starch
- a dash of light soy sauce
- chopped fresh chillies and spring onion

Throw everything into a plate like this:


Mix well.


Add chopped chillies. She added on just half of the dish, to accommodate those who can't eat hot stuff.


Steam for 15 minutes.


Garnish with spring onion.

Serve with lotsssssssssssssssssssssssssssss of rice.

Hong Kong classic flavors at its best.

Black Bean & Garlic Grilled Chicken Fillet

Weekdays. Brrffffftttt.
Mondays. Pffft.
Not in the mood for cooking.
But just in case you're tired of all the delicious fancy schmancy restaurant food you had on weekend, or simply went totally out of budget, overspent everything on food (I was really just talking about me), here's something quick, easy, won't-cost-an-arm-and-a-leg, and tasty.


"Recipe"
- Chicken leg fillet, with skin on (allow minimum 1 fillet per person)
- Black bean and garlic sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee)

Preheat oven to 200C, rub chicken with black bean and garlic sauce, place chicken in oven proof tray, grill skin up until the skin's golden brown and the meat's cooked through.

Consume with your choice of carb & veggie, I recommend the good ol' steamed rice...(err...did I have any veggie with this dish? Ahem!).

Happy almost-the-end-of-Monday, y'all!

Chicken & Long Beans Stir Fry with Fermented Black Beans

Ingredient love.
Say hello to Chinese fermented black beans. I don't know why I didn't use this ingredient more often. A bag of it sat quietly at the corner of my fridge, so close to being forgotten.

How could I?

A savory girl like me. I should be ashamed.

It's an amazing ingredient.
It's very savory.
It's perfect with garlic.
And chilli.
It gives humble old dishes, just like my chicken and long beans stir fry, the extra oomph.
Use sparingly though, a little of this ingredient goes a long way.


Recipe
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1-2 small red chilli, chopped, remove seeds to tame the heat if necessary
- a bunch of long beans, cut into about 5 cm long sections
- 2 chicken thigh fillet, remove skin, cut into bit sized chunks
- 1 tbsp fermented black beans
- olive oil, corn starch, sugar, fish sauce

"Marinate" chicken chunks with two heaping teaspoon of corn flour, a bit of oil, fish sauce and sugar. Saute garlic and chilli in hot oil, add chicken chunks, add the fermented black beans, cook until you get a bit of brownage, and the meat's cooked. Add long beans, cook until it softens a bit, adjust seasoning if necessary, cook until the long beans reach the level of softness you like, serve hot.

Perfect with lots and lots and lots of rice.

I introduced this ingredient to my helper and now she can't get enough of it ^_^'