Ngai heh hakka moi.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Hakka food is not good for those who watch their diets. On a low-carbo diet, forget it. On a low-fat diet, forget it. On a low-salt diet, forget it. On a low-cholesterol diet, forget it. Most hakka dishes are robust and flavorful, and goes extremely well with white rice. Too well, methinks.
Pork.. the favourite of hakkas. Well, the favourite of most Chinese anyway regardless of dialect. But have you noticed the most famous hakka dishes consists of those with pork? Vinegared pork trotters aka chi keok chou, Preserved vege stewed with pork aka mui choy kau yoke, Fish&Pork paste stuffed vege aka Hakka yong tau foo, Yam stewed with pork aka woo thau kau yoke.
But my favourite has got to be these. Char Yoke! Pork belly stewed with nam yee and wood ear fungus. Mum is a hokkien but after being married to a hakka for so long, she makes a mean char yoke. I always reminisce about her char yoke when I am away. So much so, that I decided to do the thing I always say I would never do - deep fry! Because in order to have good char yoke, one has to deep fry the pork before stewing.
Pork.. the favourite of hakkas. Well, the favourite of most Chinese anyway regardless of dialect. But have you noticed the most famous hakka dishes consists of those with pork? Vinegared pork trotters aka chi keok chou, Preserved vege stewed with pork aka mui choy kau yoke, Fish&Pork paste stuffed vege aka Hakka yong tau foo, Yam stewed with pork aka woo thau kau yoke.
But my favourite has got to be these. Char Yoke! Pork belly stewed with nam yee and wood ear fungus. Mum is a hokkien but after being married to a hakka for so long, she makes a mean char yoke. I always reminisce about her char yoke when I am away. So much so, that I decided to do the thing I always say I would never do - deep fry! Because in order to have good char yoke, one has to deep fry the pork before stewing.
Chunky thick slices of pork belly, marinated in nam yee, 5-spice powder, white pepper, fish sauce, sugar, Chinese cooking wine, oyster sauce, sesame oil, plain flour, cornflour and egg. Then deep-fried to fragrant perfection. Good enough to eat straightaway, but I've got other plans for these lovelies.
Wood ear fungus aka mook yee aka bok nee. Soaked for a couple of hours. Precious because it is usually airflown into the country. The last of my stock.. sigh.
This is good for enriching the blood apparently. I was encouraged to eat loads of it during my confinement period. I love the crunchy texture of it. Makes a lovely Chinese salad too.
Saute some garlic, shallots and more nam yee. Throw in the wood fungus and stir fry a bit. Then add the deep fried pork (of course I tested one piece first to make sure it tasted ok..), some water and stew until the pork is tender.
It was so worth the greasy kitchen. Soooo good. Soooo comforting. Soooo much rice went with it!!
idly mused by GFAD on Saturday, October 03, 2009, ~ 
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