A First Attempt at Crackling

Nobody, nobody believed it was that simple. After the incredible "12 hour cooked pork crackling" that we had at 1929 restaurant for LKP's birthday, I was determined to try making at least a basic version myself. This is a half kilogram loin that I bought raw from Espirinto, all I did was the scour the skin surface (one cm apart), pat some organic coarse sea salt on it. Then I put it in the oven at 190 degrees for about 40 minutes, and then turned up the grill in the last 10 minutes. It was served at Christmas lunch with the Book Club with some onion marmalade, and I have not seen these fussy folks so thrilled for a long time. We all agreed that it was good that we are Chinese (and not Jewish) and can eat pork.

Also tried another version with some Brazilian herbs the next day when the parentals came over lunch. My mom, who is usually not so interested in Western recipes, got extremely curious, and she is trying to make this "sio bak" herself next week. har har.

Turkish Pilav

No dairy, no pork, no lamb, no wheat. Those were the instructions for the Sedar (Passover) Supper that the Bookclubbers simulated on Maundy Thursday just past. After looking through some internet recipes for Kosher/Egyptian/Middle Eastern dishes, I decided to try something from the Turkish cookbook that I bought 3 years ago in Istanbul. It turned out to be a great hearty rice dish that I think I will be cooking quite frequently for dinner gatherings.

One thing though, whatever you do, don't use organic brown rice like I did. Even after 1 hour of soaking, 20 minutes of nuking in the microwave, 40 minutes of browning in the skillet, the rice was still a little too al dente (eventually if you simmer it for like 2 hours, it does become soft!)

Ingredients

2 cups of rice (I shall try long grain basmatic next time, or actual pilav)
3 cups of the chicken stock
2 tblsp of olive oil (or margarine if you are not cooking for Passover!)
1 medium size onion
1 can of diced tomatoes
4 pieces of chicken liver (or more! I found out that 20 of them costs only $1.30!)
2 tblsp of pine nuts
2 tblsp of currants
A dash of dill tips
2 tsp of salt
3 tblsp of sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon powder
1 tsp of marjoram
A dash of freshly ground black pepper

- Cover the rice with salted lukewarm water. Leave for 20 minutes. Wash several times and drain.
- Heat the olive oil in a deep large saucepan. Add cleaned and diced liver and saute lightly. Set aside.
- In the same pan, brown chopped onion and pine nuts. Add half cooked rice (I nuked them for a bit first) and brown on high heat fo 10 minutes.
- Add salt, pepper, sugar, currants, diced tomato and chicken stock. Mix well
- Cover and cook first on medium heat, later on low heat for 15 minutes, until water is absorbed.
- Add the various spices and simmer under cover on very low heat for 20 minutes.
- Mix in the liver with a wooden spoon and serve with a main meat dish (e.g. lamb, beef, or turkey)

Pacific Islands Coleslaw (with Lo Hei dressing!)

I found this recipe on the very good Robbie Haf website, and it is really quite an interesting way to make and eat coleslaw, even though I must admit that with all that chopping and shredding of veggies, I am usually happy enough to buy tubs of the KFC version for my own consumption. This version, however, is a great one to make for a lunch or dinner party where the mains are neither too ang-moh or chinese (okay, I am trying to avoid the word "fusion"). People are sure to be guessing why the dressing tastes so so familiar... Gong Hei Fatt Choy! :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup peanut butter (non crunchy type)
2 1/2 Tblsp. soy sauce
2 Tblsp. raw sugar
2 Tblsp. minced ginger (bottled kind is fine)
1 Tblsp. fresh minced garlic
Coleslaw mix (ready-packed or from scratch with shredded purple cabbage and carrots)
4 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup of chopped peanuts

Preparation:

- Whisk the vinegar, peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar, ginger and garlic together in a bowl. Add more or less raw sugar and ginger to taste.
- Toss the coleslaw, onions and chopped peanuts in a large salad bowl.
- Best served with dressing on the side, unchilled.

Serves 10-12. Preparation time: 15-30 minutes