Minced Pork in Brinjal Boat

Sometimes we need to put on our thinking cap and think of ways to make our dishes more presentable and unique and, thus, more appetising. It may not be a totally new dish. But with a unique presentation it can be. An idea which came up was to use the brinjal as a  food receptacle. Seems unique enough as I have not seen any of such food presentation before. But pineapple as a receptacle, YES! The difference is that brinjal is softer and does not hold so well as compared to the pineapple. Thus, we have to be more careful when handling the brinjal.

Ingredients:

• 1 brinjal
• 200 g minced pork
• 4 stalks of spring onion, cut into short pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• light soya sauce
• pepper
• salt
• cooking oil

Method:

• Wash and half the brinjal, lengthwise.

• Scoop out the flesh of the brinjal. (Be careful not to scoop too deep and make a hole in the skin.)

• Put the brinjal receptacle on a metal plate.

• Boil some water in the steamer.

• When the water is boiling place the metal plate into the steamer.

• Steam the brinjal receptacle for about 15 minutes.

• Remove the metal plate from the steamer when the brinjal is just soft and can hold up.

• Let the brinjal cool down.

• Heat up the wok with 3-4 tbsp of cooking oil.

• Saute the garlic.

• When the garlic is fragrant, add the minced pork and fry it till it is 3/4 cooked.

• Add in the flesh of the brinjal.

• Fry until the brinjal is soft and the minced pork is cooked.

• Season with light soy sauce, pepper and salt according to taste.

• Scoop the ingredients up into the steamed brinjal receptacle.

• Sprinkle the spring onion on top.

• Place the brinjal boat onto a serving plate.

• The dish is ready to be served.

Mee Koo

Mee Koo are buns made of flour with skin coloured pink or red; they are fluffy with a slight sweet taste. They are usually shaped in the figure eight (as shown in the photos above) and sold in pairs. Or, they can be found in the shape of the tortoise. peaches or dome. Those tortoise-shaped mee koo are usually bought to be offered to the deities on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar months. Peach-shaped mee koo are usually made to order for the birthdays of the elderly members of a household. Nowadays, we can see dome-shaped mee koo; these are also for offerings to the deities.

I love eating mee koo; most of the time I just steamed them and ate them plain or with a spread of pure butter. However, sometimes I dunked them into piping hot coffee while at other times I coated them with beaten eggs and pan-fried them. Mee koo can be easily bought from where I came from. However, when I moved to KL forty years ago, it was very difficult to buy them. Thus, whenever I went home, I would buy at least ten pairs to bring back to KL. They were then frozen and eaten slowly. Nowadays, mee koo are available in KL especially on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar months for prayers to the deities.

I have learnt to make mee koo and I would say that making them is easy. It requires few ingredients and can be made manually. The following recipe is from Ms Lisa Yip, a member of Daily Homecook Meal.

Ingredients:

• 500 g pau flour (Will produce 4 pieces of mee koo. Scale up to yield more.)
• 100 g sugar
• 1 tsp yeast
• 240 - 250 ml water
• 3 tbsp corn oil
• 4 pieces of parchment paper, 20 cm x 14 cm
• Pink/red colouring.

Method:

• Mix flour, sugar, yeast and corn oil in a large mixing bowl.
• Add water slowly to the flour mixture. Do not add all the water at one go as the dough may be too watery and sticky.
• Knead the ingredients until a smooth dough is formed and that it no longer sticks to the fingers. (Add more water, spoonful by spoonful, if the dough is dry and hard.)
• Knead for at least half an hour so that you will obtain a very fine crumb after the dough is steamed.
• Divide the dough into 4 parts.
• Shape each part according to your preference.
• After shaping, place the dough onto the parchment paper.
• Cover the dough with a towel and let it proof until it doubles in size.
• Apply the pink/red colouring on the surface of the dough just before steaming.
• Boil some water in the steamer.
• Place the dough into the steamer when the water has boiled.
• (You may wrap the cover of the steamer with a cloth to prevent water from dripping onto the dough.)
• Steam the dough over high heat for about 20 minutes.
• Remove the mee koo immediately from the steamer when they are cooked.
• Let the mee koo cool down completely before keeping them in an air-tight container.

Onion Pork

Pork is the most commonly consumed meat in my family. One of the pork dishes which I created for my family is Onion Pork. It is a naturally sweet dish with the sweetness coming from both the onions and the pork. Sometimes I maintain the crunchiness of the onions in the dish while at other times I cook till the onions are soft. Sometimes I buy pork loin while at other times I use pork tenderloin (also known as pork fillet) which is softer as compared to the pork loin. (Please refer to the diagram below for the various pork cuts. If you wish to know how to cook the various cuts, kindly visit https://modernfarmer.com.)


Ingredients:

• 300 g pork loin or tenderloin, sliced thinly across the grains
• 1 big onion, sliced into rings
• a few stalks of spring onion, cut into 1-inch length
• sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• water
• salt
• pepper
• light soy sauce
• dark soy sauce

Method:

• Heat up the wok with sesame oil.
• Saute the garlic till it is fragrant.
• Add the pork and fry till they are almost cook.
• Add 3-4 spoonfuls of water so that the meat is not too dry.
• Add the onions. (If you want them to be crunchy, add them when the pork is almost cooked. If you want the onions to be very soft, add them when the pork is half-cooked.)
• Add salt, pepper and light soy sauce according to taste.
• Add 1 quarter of a teaspoon of dark soy sauce to give the dish some colour.
• Add the spring onion and stir for 1-2 minutes.
• Dish out the pork and onions and serve them hot with white rice. 

Source: https://modernfarmer.com/2014/03/pork-cuts-101-diagram/