Pig Stomach with Pineapple and Chillies - (MFF - Sarawak)

This month is Sarawak month for Malaysian Food Fest (MFF), and .it's the final week of the month now. This is my last minute submission.

Perut babi masak nenas dengan cili. Literally Pig stomach with pineapple and chillies.

I've had crazy busy schedule this month, that is due to the house moving. But still, I wanna make at least 1 Sarawak dish! I'm persistent yea? Hehe..

I don't know anything about Sarawak cuisine. I never been there before. All I know is that Sarawak is that, in Singapore, we have a shop selling the famous Sarawak Kolo Mee, which it is not possible for me to re-create it. Singapore don't sell the dry version of this noodle. Sarawak laksa is also impossible, making Sarawak Laksa paste at home is crazy, and we don't have ready-made Sarawak Laksa paste here in Singapore. Sarawak Lapis cake is also a crazy quest, if you google it, you will know the difficulty level, it is like an edible art to me. I have no choice but to strike off these impossible dish. And I come to a conclusion that I should re-create a dish that is within my ability.

This dish isn't difficult to cook, but the preparation process is time consuming. It looks rather messy. But I can assure you, this dish is really appetizing and worth my time!

Hunters food created this dish. And then, I saw Wendy re-created this dish on her blog too. I'm totally attracted by just looking at the photo alone! It looks really delicious to me. And when I read the ingredients, it is simple and easily available at my nearest market. No stress!

According to Hunters Food's writing, this is a Dayak dish that usually can be found during Gawai festival. It sounds like a festive dish to me yea. I love festive dish!

Ingredient  (Recipe Source : Hunter's Food)

• 1 Pig Stomach, boiled till soft, sliced. Mine weight about 550g.
• 500g Sarawak Pineapple flesh (Almost ripe), cut into small piece.
• 3 tbsp Cooking Oil
• 2 tsp Sugar
• ½ tsp Salt 
• 3 Dried Chillies (For garnishing)
• Coriander (For garnishing)

Spices

• 7 Dried Chillies, seeds removed, soaked in water for 10mins
• 5 Shallots
• 4 Cloves Garlic
• 1cm Ginger
• 2cm Belacan (Shrimp Paste) 

Sauce

• 3 tbsp Ketchup / Tomato Sauce
• 2 tbsp Chilli Sauce
• 30g Tamarind pulp + rubbed with 100ml water.

Wendy is right. By just cooking the pig stomach for 2 hours just to soften it, it's a waste. So, there's no reason for not brewing pig stomach soup! Her idea is indeed brilliant. So, same like her, I'm gonna have soup and I have the dish for dinner.

Refer to here on how to prepare and wash your pig stomach.

For my soup, this is what I've got : 500g Pig Stomach, Half free range chicken (Kampung Chicken) - mine weight about 700g, 2 thick slices of ginger, 3 shallots, 1 tbsp of cracked peppercorn and 1.7L Water. And of course, salt to taste before serving the soup later.

I don't wanna over-powered the flavour of the soup by adding too much ginger and shallots this time. My intention is to boil the pig stomach till soften, and at the same time, I have soup. And I've got a very good free range chicken this time. This is good enough.

If you are re-creating this dish, ee this Pig's Stomach Soup posting if you are looking for more specific detail for the soup.

Method 

1. Prepare all the soup ingredients, bring to a boil. Reduce to medium low heat, simmer for 2 hours, and there, the pig stomach should have soften enough to use.

2. While the soup is boiling, start prepare all the spices and sauce :
     a) 10 dried chillies, seeds removed, soaked in water for 10mins
     b) 3 soaked Dried Chillies, tear into 2 part (for garnishing)
     c) Blend / pound shallot and garlic into fine paste.
     d) Blend 7 soaked dried chillies and ginger into fine paste.
     e) Rub tamarind into water, strained, discard seeds and pulp. Keep the water.
     f) Toast belacan (Shrimp paste) in a wok under low fire.

For those who haven't toast belacan at home before, here, this is what you will expect. Cut belacan into small pieces, heat up the wok, under low fire, use a spoon or spatula, stir and press on the belacan lightly, continue to stir fry, until you see the belacan turned sandy soil look, and you are there...

WARNING : If you decided to toast belacan at home, please be prepared that your whole kitchen, your whole house, your apron, your t-shirt, your body, your hair and everything will turned smelly belacan. Although toasting belacan could really bring up the flavour of the dish, but the effort of getting rid of the smell at your home is something that you may want to consider. So, the toasting part, i think this is really optional. I shall leave it to you to decide. You could just cut into small piece and cook it straightaway. No problem.

3. Once pig stomach is soft enough, fish out from the soup, leave it cool abit, and slice them.

4. Heat up wok, 3 tbsp cooking oil, saute garlic and shallot paste until fragrant.

5. Add in belacan, chilli and ginger paste, fry till fragrant.

6. Add in pig stomach, chilli and tomato sauce and fry for awhile.

7. Add in strained tamarind water and bring to a boil.

8. Add in pineapple pieces, torn dried chillies, sugar and salt to taste.

9. Once the pineapple starts to release moisture, you will then decide whether the gravy is good enough for you or not. If you wants more gravy (like I do), add more water. Like 70 to 100ml or something? Up to you. Remember to add more salt to adjust the saltiness if necessary.

10. Heat off, dish up, garnish with coriander and serve with rice. Not to forget, your soup too!

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How does it taste like? Sweet and chewy stomach, juicy tangy pineapple, cooked with spicy chilli paste, the sourish tamarind water. And the super flavour of belacan. Woohoo!!!

When you talk about pig stomach to a Singaporean, they will usually linked to pig stomach soup ONLY. No other dishes. Sounds boring yea? But for Malaysian, pig stomach is not only for soup. There are many more ways to cook this sweet and chewy intestine.

Look at this big serving of pig stomach dish! You want some? Hehe...

This dish could serve a family of 6 easily. But I'm only cooking for 4. So, I keep a small portion in the fridge for next day simple lunch. They are equally good!

If you are making this time consuming dish, even if you are only serving 2 to 3 adult, I'd encourage you to cook them based on this recipe's portion, eat half, and keep the other half portion in the fridge (or freezer if you want) for the next meal, or you could share this awesome dish with your neighbor too! With such preparation effort, you might as well cook more. Right? :)

I don't find any reason why you wouldn't wanna try this dish. My husband commented that he didn't knew pig stomach can be cooked in this appetizing way! He ate two bowls of rice! And he forgotten about the soup. My mother-in-law who can't take too hot and fiery food also loves it alot. I will definitely repeat this dish again :)

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I am submitting this to Malaysian Food Fest,
Sarawak Month hosted by Sharon of Feats of Feasts

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This dish is being featured in Asia Food Recipe

How to wash and prepare pig stomach

Earlier on, I did shared about how to wash Pig Stomach for Pig Stomach's Soup.

I'm gonna share with you MORE this time... on how I wash and prepare the Pig's Stomach, and it can be in advance. This time, pictures are included!

Now.. read on...

Face it! Everyone of us have to go thru this tedious part if we wants to enjoy this nice meaty sweet intestine.

Unavoidable. So, don't complaint :)

But..... you could do this a week or two ahead, and stock up in your freezer! No fuss!

Saké Steak and Rice (Using Koshihikari)

This is the 3rd time I cook this. I love repeating this dish as it is one of our all-time favorites.

Beautiful flank steak, with Saké Wine, and a bowl of Koshihikari rice.... Heavenly!

This recipe is from Nigella Lawson's FEAST cookbook. I love her rich and motherly recipes. Her recipe never fail to impress me.

I did some modification on Nigella's recipe to suit to my own. And here's the modified one. Fret not! My modified version is equally good. I promise!

Ingredients (Serves 2)

For the Steak and Marinade

• 260g Flank Steak / Fillet Steak
• 1 tsp English Mustard
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tbsp Garlic or Chilli Oil (Sesame Oil works too)
• Some Coriander (for garnishing)

For the Sauce

• 60ml Saké (日本酒 / Japanese liquor)
• ½ tsp Fish Sauce or Japanese Brown Rice Vinegar
• 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tsp English Mustard

For the Rice

• 200g Koshihikari Rice
• Water for cooking rice - Ratio 1 : 1

I got my flank steak from Cold Storage, 260 grams of steak cost me S$11.50. Saké cost me S$9.60 I think? I forgot the exact price. Cold Storage sells very nice steak. I always buy from there. Although they are slightly expensive, but they sell the freshest steak!

Note

1. You could find all the Steak, Marinade and the Sauce ingredients from Cold Storage. 
2. For Koshihikari rice, you could order from Momorice.
3. If you have problem getting Saké wine, you may consider to substitute with Sherry.
4. There's no reason not to use Wasabi paste for the English Mustard. Go ahead if you want. No restriction!
5. Nigella's recipe uses Basmati Rice, and cardamom pods are added in the rice. But, I personally prefer Koshihikari rice for this dish instead.

Now let's start cooking...

Method

1. In a plastic bag, combine the marinade ingredients, and add the steak in. Tie it up tightly, give it a few press to allow the marinade coat evenly to the steak. Leave it there to marinade for at least 1 hour or keep it in the fridge for upto two days.

2. Let the steak come to room temperature (if you kept them in the fridge) before you start cooking. You could cook the rice in the rice cooker while waiting for the steak to cool down.

3. Heat up your skillet or ridged griddle. If you have cast iron skillet, best! Mine is cast iron for sure. And then give the steaks out of their marinade.

4. Make sure your skillet is really hot. Sear your steak 2 minutes a side or so. If your steak is thicker and if it is more than 300 grams, you may need to cook another half minute each side. So, you just have to eyeball it yourself.

5. Use potatoes masher to give it a gentle press. This could ensure the whole steak is being seared evenly. Don't worry about the charred part. Just let it be.

6. Remove the steak, double wrapping them in foil parcels. Let them rest for 10 minutes on a wooden board or a pile of newspaper. Do take note that the steak is hot. While the steak is resting, it continues to cook.

7. Bring the Saké to a boil in a small saucepan, to let the alcohol taste evaporate. Take the saucepan off the heat and add the rest of the sauce ingredients. Stir well.

8. Unwrap the steak, removing them to a wooden board for carving as you do so, and pour the red juices gathered in the foil parcels into the pan of sauce. These are the goodness! Don't discard them.

9. Carve the steak into thin ribbon slices. Do make sure your knife is sharp enough to do the work.

10. Place the sliced steak on the plate, pour over some Saké sauce, garnish with coriander.

And serve with a bowl of really good Koshihikari rice :)

I seared the meat two minutes at each side. This makes my steak turned medium well. The steak is being sliced thinly across, and make it tender ribbons of meat. For such, it would be sad to overcooked them.

Like me, I can't wait, I just put all the sliced beef on top of my bowl of rice, drizzle the sauce over, let the rice absorb the sauce, and I'd just chomp in!

Mmmm... I love the tenderness of the juicy steak! The Umami Saké sauce goes very well with the rice!


What makes this such an easy meal for me is that, in the first instance, my rice cooker is my greatest help. I have no worries for the rice at all.

For the Koshihikari rice, you may read about my Koshihikari Rice posting here.

I hope you like it.

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This post had been featured in Asian Food Channel (AFC) Facebook

 

The beautiful pearly drops of Koshihikari

Seriously, I can eat this rice everyday without getting bored. This is how good it is! :)

After I posted my Basic Onigiri (Using Akitakomachi rice) post, I get approached by Momorice and they gave me a pack of really good Koshihikari Rice as a compliment. After I tried on the rice, I think this pack of good rice deserve my review.

I like the packaging of this rice. I was told that this character named Kanetsugu (爱之米).

Koshihikari is a very popular rice and widely consumed in Japan. Not only due to it's good glossy appearance, but they taste good too! Take a look at the grain...

 One cup is 150 grams. Usually, I cook 200 grams for two adult.

Japanese remarked that the best rice is Koshihikari, in which, it somehow makes it the most expensive rice in all of Japan. I had been eating Japanese rice for quite sometimes, and you have to trust me on that. The price for Japan imported Koshihikari is the most expensive one.

But the taste? It's worth the price!

I had a good chat with Momorice when they hand me the rice, I get to realize that, they will only polish and pack the rice when you place order, so that it stays fresh. That keeps the rice in optimal condition, in which, this is really important. Be sure to rinse several times till the water runs clear before you cook the rice. With this, I could guarantee you that you will definitely get a bowl of heavenly good rice.

Each grain of rice is perfectly fluffy and distinct. It had a wonderful bouncy and toothy bite! Oh! This one, I could guarantee you.

Take a look at this beautiful pearly drop of Koshihikari. This is really beautiful!

Rice is considered good if it is white, shiny, aromatic, sweet (becomes sweet when you chew it), sticky, and resilient. This is what I called good rice.

By just describing it in words, I just couldn't tell you enough on the wonderful after-taste sweetness that lingers in me after I scooped a spoonful of white rice into my mouth. It's like *nom~nom~nom~* .. Ohh!! This is sooooo good and it makes me wants to eat more. Even if it is just plain white rice!

For this part, I confess, I gained weight because of the existence of Koshihikari rice at home. Darn!

The texture of the rice was awesome and complemented the thinly sliced Saké Steak wonderfully. And the Sake sauce drizzled on the rice... Oh.. this is sooooo good!!!

(Click here for Saké Steak recipe here)

What can I say?

If I had to pick something to last my meal, I would want a bowl of this beautiful pearly drops of Koshihikari rice. Even tho it's my half eaten mess, I still wanna show you how good it is. *nom~nom~nom~* haha... I finished every single grain in the bowl! :)

I will never ever get bored with this. Because the feeling of chewing this rice grain in your mouth, slowly savor it. The feeling is just...just... It's really just... magically out of this world!



Do find out more about Japanese rice in these post too :

Basic Onigri - The real taste of Akitakomachi Rice

SPAM Fried Rice (Using Koshihikari Rice)

Japanese (Japonica) Rice

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This post has been featured in Asian Food Channel (AFC) Facebook

Pig Trotters Bee Hoon (猪脚米粉)

This Pig Trotter Bee Hoon has been one of the signature home-cooked dish in Singapore. It is quick, inexpensive and heavenly! Probably this is the reason why this dish has stood the test of time.

Go around and ask the adults or mothers who cook at home. I'm sure 8 out of 10 will nod their head to you as they all loves this and they cook this at home.

Max would have been very happy just having a big plate of Pig Trotter Bee Hoon. I cooked this last weekend for his lunch. He's obviously happy because I see him helping himself with his 2nd serving. That serving is like a mountain on his plate. You could figure out that? Hahaha...

I don't know about others, but for me, I usually use particular brand of Pig Trotter and Bee Hoon.

Pig Trotter : Narcissus brand (水仙花牌). It's obviously taste better to me.
Bee Hoon : Tai Sun brand (太山米粉) - The one with two big chilli. Bee hoon texture is better.

Please don't restrict yourself with these particular brand that I used. That's silly. It's okay. Although I know there will be a difference in taste and texture (this is for sure), but please just go ahead and get whichever brand you prefer.

I love to have lots of veggies in my fried beehoon. Even if it is just ordinary fried bee hoon, I will try to add color in it. Another individual preference of my own. Carrot gives me orange color, chillies gives me red, mushrooms gives me brown, spring onions gives me green.

Ahhh~ this is awesome! 

Okay... Now, let's get started...

Ingredients (Serves 3 hungry adults)

• 200g Bee Hoon 米粉 (Rice Vermicelli) - 200g is that is half packet of it.
• 1 Nariscuss Canned Pig Trotters
• 120g Choy Sum 菜心 (Literally càixīn in Mandarin)
• 60g Fresh Shitake Mushroom, cut into slices
• 2 sprigs Spring Onions, cut into 2 inch length
• 35g Carrot, jullienned
• 1 Chilli, julienned
• 3 cloves of Garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
• 1 tbsp Light Soya Sauce
• few dashes of Pepper
• 100ml Water (to give moisture during stir-frying)

Note 1 : You could substitute Fresh Shitake Mushroom with Chinese Dried Mushrooms. 

Note 2 :  The colorful veggies (Carrot, Spring Onions and even Chillis), they are optional. You can just go without them. It's really up to you.

Method

1. Soak Bee Hoon in water for 30mins and prepare all the veggies (wash and cut) accordingly.
2. Give the Bee Hoon a few scissors cut. Drained and set aside.
3. Heat wok, add a tablespoon of cooking oil, fry minced garlic till fragrant.
4. Add in Carrot and mushrooms, and give it a quick toss.
5. Add in Canned Pig Trotters, stir. Then add in Choy Sum and Bee Hoon, stir well.
6. Add in Oyster Sauce, Light Soya Sauce and dashes of pepper, stir well. Add water to give it more moisture. If you want it more wet, just add more water. When you see the Bee Hoon is soft and all the liquid are almost absorbed, add in Spring Onions, give it a quick toss, heat off and dish up.
7. Garnish and serve.

Here's something that you need to TAKE NOTE :

1 ) If you are using dried chinese mushroom, do ensure you soak them in water in advance till soften.

2 ) This dish supposed to cook under high flame. I did it. But if your hand is not fast enough, remember to control the fire. Just turn to medium heat if you are slow in adding ingredients.

3 ) DO NOT discard the oil that floating on top of the Canned Pig Trotters! The oil and the sticky sauce gives really good flavor. Just close your eyes and pour the whole can of sinful thing in the wok. And then, tell yourself that you have lots of veggies in this dish! And you will feel better. Hehe...

4 ) If more water is added during stir-fry, you might need another half tbsp of Light Soya Sauce to adjust the taste.

5 ) I didn't use all the julienned chillis and spring onions. I leave some behind for garnishing before serve.

6 ) Giving Bee Hoon a few scissor cut is to make stir frying easier to handle, easier to serve and easier to eat too.

I love seeing colorful veggies. They are good, and they are delicious. Since that Canned Pig Trotters is obviously not giving any good nutriens, veggies are important in this dish! Agree?   :)

I love this dish! I love Nariscuss Canned Pig Trotters! I love everything in the wok! Haha... And stir frying this Pig Trotters Bee Hoon using my Neoflam pan makes it much more easier!
 

With my new residential place, the stove gives me really good open flaming fire. I love em'!

I managed to spike a mild smokey wok hei (镬气) flavour. Not alot, but just abit of them, because I'm not using a seasoned chinese wok (I know I should). The wok hei infused it with an excellent fragrant! And the sticky sauce from the canned Pig Trotters blended well with the Bee Hoon which was just heavenly!

And the dish is done!

It looks pretty messy eh? But trust me, when you eat this, you will forget about the messy part. Homecooked dishes does not require fanciful garnishing. That makes it more homely feel. Right?

I hope you like it! Do try this at home over weekend! :)


P/S : For those who's not sure what does wok hei (镬气) flavour means - It is the flavor, tastes and "essence" imparted by a hot wok on food during stir frying. Particularly important for Chinese dishes requiring to cook over a high flame, while being stirred and tossed quickly for fragrance such as char kuay teow, stir fried beef and etc.

Autumn Treasure with Martin Yan (By AFC)

Seriously, I'd never thought I will have a chance to meet this legendary chef in person.

It is a rare opportunity. All thanks to Asian Food Channel who'd organized a photo contest called "Autumn Treasures with Martin Yan", and the winners get a chance to meet the Master Chef Martin Yan in person! Sounds unbelievable yea?

You see this photo, you should know lah. I'm of course, one of the lucky one! :)

How I won it? 

Seriously, I don't know. Please don't feel jealous. Hehe..

I just randomly submitted this gan-shui-joong (Lye Water Rice Dumpling) photo to AFC. And then, I forget everything, until I received the email notice from AFC.

It's ok, this is not important. 

The important is, I'm one of the chosen lucky girl to attend this exclusive dinner at Capella hosted by the man itself! Happy like bird!!! :D

To others, it might not matter. But to me, it does! I'm happy and feel privileged that I'm able to share my personal experience with Chef Martin Yan at this 'Autumn Treasures with Martin Yan' dining event. I love the way this funny guy do his cooking. His cooking show is simply entertaining. He'll never fail to make people laugh. For this part alone, I think, watching his cooking show is really therapeutic.

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The exclusive table for all the lucky winner from AFC photo contest. I'm happy to meet the rest of the winners too. We all had a great evening...

The goodie bag from AFC :) 

Waiting for the event to start.

 The technical guys behind the scene, doing some photo-shoot for the food.

Chef Martin Yan doing his amazing chopping skills and cooking demo :)

Ahhh.... Look at that! The cucumber is so thinly sliced!

I laughed so loudly when he is telling us that you can't debone a nervous chicken, and then he teaches us how to relax the chicken. And then, he debone it in amazingly 18 seconds. I took the video of it. But I failed to upload it here. Damn it! It's okay, maybe I'll try it later. 

For the cooking demo - Chef Martin Yan cooked the Dragon and Phoenix in a basket. This dish is going to a lucky guest for the night.

The lucky couple get this dish. They spent their 21st Wedding Anniversary here tonight. I think they really deserve this dish. Ah! This is lovely.

Now let's talk about what we're gonna eat. I'm mad hungry.

The 5 course dinner menu exclusively arranged by Chef Martin Yan

Seriously, I like this menu! Beef Stew!!! This is the to-die-for dish!

Crispy Beancurd Skin Rolls

Dragon and Phoenix 

in a basket

Beef Stew

with Beancurd Sticks and Chinese Chestnuts

Smoked Marinated Squab

Wine Poached Pears

The happy man eating his happy food...

I still remembered, when I was like 12 or 13 years old? I forgotten exactly how old I am at that time. There were once, I purposely skipped schooling just because I wanted to watch his cooking show! Hahaha... Absurd! I know. But...But... But I can't help it! I like to watch his cooking show! :)

Chef Martin Yan walk to every table and toast. It is a great opportunity to take photo with him and get him to sign autograph for me on my newly bought book titled MARTIN YAN'S CHINA.

 Ahhh... I love this photo so so so much!

Just side track abit, and allow me to touch on this Martin Yan's China cookbook. Just randomly browse thru this book before I purchase. And I knew this book is really good. It might not have the most fanciful looking dishes and recipes that you expect. But the dishes indicated in the book has it's cultural and linguistic differences that makes it exciting. It's probably the modern way of preparing dishes, while retain it's real Chinese flavor. It is also about how you could obtain quality, maintain consistency, and serve your dinner in a short time. Sounds interesting? I'll write review about this book next time. If you can't wait for me to write the review, I'll give you my best advise...... buy the book now! :)

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He had been drinking. His face turned red. This is when he give his closing speech. But still, his funniest pun level will never drop. Standard always there. We laughed so madly!

The autograph signed by my favorite chef Martin Yan. The special message for me...

To Annie,

The one and only

The Talented

The Amazing

The Exciting

The Gorgeous

A True Professional

Martin Yan

Did I read it correctly? Or am I wrong? His handwriting looks like a doctor! Hahaha...

Nevermind... I'm still very happy.

We even get him to sign on the rolling pin too. Special message "Wok and Roll" for me :)

Tonight's dinner is really awesome. Thank you AFC. Thank you Chef Martin Yan. It's really wonderful to be able to join tonight's exclusive event. I feel so so so happy! :)