Katsudon

The other day, Ah 蘇 was on TV, showing us how to make pork cutlets. I was so inspired to give it a try. Hence, I decided to make Japanese pork cutlet rice - Katsudon.

To make this pork cutlet, first, we need to buy boneless 猪栁. Make small cuts in the fats around the rim. Then, use the back of knife to hit on one side, and then use the flat of the knife to hit on both sides. Marinate the pork with salt on one side and with pepper on both sides.

Lightly floured the pork - do not dip the whole piece into the flour, just take some flour and lightly coat it. Dip it in egg mixture and then bread crumbs. Deep fry the pork and ensure that the meat is fully cooked. Then cut the pork into strips when slightly cooled.

After that, to make the katsudon, I followed the instructions from here. I made 2 versions.

This is the first version, when I followed the instructions for katsudon and put the pork cutlet to cook with the sauce.

This is the second version, where I just put the sauce on top of the pork cutlet. Of course, the more authentic one would be the first version but I think you can taste the crispiness of the pork cutlet in the second version.

Char Siew

Char Siew is one of the first few things that I learned how to cook, and able to cook it well :) The important point is to add a lot of sugar, and not be afraid to “burn” the char siew. Before I owned an oven, I actually used aluminium foil to line my wok and to “bake” the char siew in it.

Ingredients

Pork (Pork shoulder or pork collar with a bit of fat)

Marinate

Sesame oil

Sugar

Corn flour

Soy sauce

Minced garlic

Oyster Sauce

Chinese Wine

Glaze

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

1 tablespoon of honey

1 tablespoon of black soya sauce

1 tsp stock or water

Steps:

1. Marinade the pork with marinate for at least 3 hours, preferable overnight.

2. Turn the pork after a few hours to evenly marinade it.

3. Set the oven temperature to 220 degrees and bake with the foil for 15 mins.

4. Open the foil and bake till the top layer is almost cooked and then turn the meat to the other side.

5. When the meat is almost cooked, spread the glaze on both sides and continue baking until it is almost charred, but not burnt. Keep on turning the meat, glaze and bake for 10 mins.

As I didn't put in any red colourings, the char siew appears more black...

Made some cabbage soup to go with the char siew rice :) Ingredients include pork ribs, cabbage and carrots.

滷肉飯

In Taiwan, they have very big bookshops and there are books everywhere. It is amazing that the Taiwanese love reading and will hang out in the bookstores for hours. There was this bookstore that has more than 4 storeys of books and I was busy selecting the cookbooks.

滷肉飯 is one of the popular Taiwan dishes and I found this recipe in one of the cookbooks that I bought. it is really yummy! :)

Ingredients

600g pork (Preferably 五花肉)

5 shallots

Salt

Sugar

Dark Soya Sauce

Soy Sauce

1.5 litres Water

2 八角

Steps:

1. Diced the pork into 1cm cubes.

2. Add oil into wok, brown the shallots.

3. Add in pork and stir till the pork is almost cooked.
4. Add in the salt, sugar, dark soya sauce, soy sauce, water and 八角.

5. Simmer using low heat for 2 hours.