Wongbok Seafood Pork Wraps

GONG HEI FATT CHOY!


hoooohooo.... so I have been busy and lazy.  Its the CNY and its also the pigging out season.  After all the shabu shabus, the luxurious abalone meals, its time to return to something simpler.  But since its still within the CNY period, lets do up something interesting using simple ingredients.

I am using pork ribs and the broth for this.  As the broth used for this dish is actually only about a small bowl worth but I do not want to waste the time and effort, I actually prepared more broth and pork ribs.  The balance meat and broth, I used them to cook porridge for the next meal.  That's like another meal/dish on its own.

Ingredients:
- Pork Ribs Broth (boiled for 1.5hrs or until pork ribs are tender)*
- Pork Ribs (you may substitute for loin meat too, but ribs meat are softer)*
- Yellow Onion (quartered and add into the broth)
- Crabsticks*
- Carrots (shredded)*
 - Spring Onion (chopped lengthwise, approx. 1inch)*
- Scallop Concentrated Sauce (1 tbsp)
- Wongbok (long white cabbage leaves) - leave the leaves in their original forms.

* for the above that I had asterisked, it is really up to you to decide what you wanted to have in your rolls.  Some suggestions: prawns, pork/chicken mince meat,fish paste, scallops etc.  The possibilities are endless.  Let your creativity flows! :)

Steps:
1. Boil the pork ribs, add in the chopped onions.  Boil till the meat are soft.  Estimated 1 hr.  Do not add salt.  Sieve out the pork ribs, remove the bones, slice the meat into chunks.  Set aside.

2. While boiling the pork ribs, set to work on the wongbok.  Using a wide pan, boil with water.  Gently add in the leaves and let it blanched for about 2-3 mins.  Sieve to dry.  Do be gentle with the leaves so as not to break/tear them as they are pretty soft at this stage.

3. Lay the leaves on a clean work station.  Add in one chunk of pork, carrot shreds, spring onion at the thickest part of the leaves, i.e. the stems.  Start to roll inwards.  Continue the next leaf with crabstick, spring onion and carrot shreds.

4. Place the wraps onto a plate and arrange nicely. 

5.  Prepare the Steamer.

6. Using another pan, scoop 1 ladle of pork broth (unsalted still) into the pan.  Add in the scallop concentrate and bring to a simmer.  When the stock starts bubbling, pour over the wraps.  You can now send the plate of Wongbok into the steamer.

7.  Steam for 6 mins.

8. Dish, garnish and serve.

Happy steaming!
Happy mum

Braised long white cabbage w/ golden mushroom

Weather has been really bad, with the dry spell and the haze coming back.  Hitting out for dinner is not exciting at all (imagine the intense heat?). That leaves me with another adventure in my kitchen. :)

So, my mum has been telling me since young that white cabbage is considered a cooling vegetable and ladies shouldn't consume too much. Well, with the heat, guess it's perfectly justifiable to be eating this. Hahaha!

Ingredients: 

- half long white cabbage

- golden mushroom 

- ikan bilis (soak, wash and dry)

- boiling water

Steps:

1. Heat 2 tbsp of oil and when hot, toss in the ikan bilis to fry till crispy. 

2. Pour in boiling water and let the broth simmer for 5 mins. Sieve and throw the ikan bilis and after that. 

3. Gently place in the whole cabbage in the broth.  If your cabbage is too long for your wok (just like mine), you can cut the cabbage into half. Retain the same arrangement. Put on the lid. Let it simmer for 5-8mins or till cabbage soften. 

4. Dish out the cabbage into a plate. taking care to retain the shape of the cabbage. 

5. Using the remaining broth, add in golden mushroom and let it boil. 

6. Add a dash of pepper and salt and half a cap of Shaoxing wine. Stir well. 

7. Using a tong or chopstick, pick up the golden mushrooms and lay them around the cabbage. Once arranged nicely, pour the broth over the cabbage and golden mushrooms. Add chopped spring onions to garnish and you are ready to serve 

Have a cooling dinner!  

Happy mum