Crispy Roast Pork Belly! :9

Sorry, haven't posted here for a while... I've been meaning to but have been busy with my home education blog. Wiyot has suddenly developed a thirst for knowledge and has been keeping me very busy! :D

Anyway, back to my belly... Pork belly that is! Although I guess it was for my belly :D 

Last week, while searching for something or other, I stumbled upon some food blogs. If you would like to check them out, have a look here and here!

I'll admit, I spent a rather long time drooling over the various recipes. There are many that I am going to attempt, but this was the debut! If you would like to have a go yourself (I highly recommend it!) you can find the recipe here!

BTW the colours are a little off on these pics, hopefully you get the idea though!

Marinating

The skin cleaned and salted. 

Unfortunately the only joint available was scored on the skin side, which didn't help with the crisping process. :(

After cooking I put it under the grill to help crisp it up.

Chopped into rather large bite sized chunks.

Mmmm so juicy! :9

Verdict: Very pleased with the outcome. The meat was beautifully tender and very moist. It was also very tasty, but next time I will definitely marinate it for longer! I will also be paying the butchers a visit next time, so hopefully the skin will be intact!

Oops, just realised technically this would be the second Chinese recipe I tried... I also made steamed buns with Wiyot on the same day!

Click on the pic to see the full post!

Will be posting news on the circle skirt very soon :D

DS Dumplings :9

At the beginning of the month I set myself, and fellow blogger Courtney, the challenge of writing 7 posts in July. Courtney is doing a great job, only one more to go... I on the other hand am not doing so well :(

But, in to borrow a phrase from Johnny Smith, "There's still time!"

A few weeks ago I did a posted about the DS game Cooking Guide. Around the same time I was browsing the various recipes from various different countries. A couple of them caught my eye and I decided I really needed to try them. Only problem being I didn't have the necessary ingredients at hand. 

Fast forward a couple of weeks (and a shopping trip to the Chinese supermarket in Birmingham) and it was finally time to attempt one of the dumpling recipe's :D

I love dumplings!

I can't remember what the recipe is called on the DS game, and to be honest I can't be bothered to go look! But I'm pretty sure they are called potstickers. They can have various fillings; beef, chicken, fish, prawns, etc. these ones were made using pork mince. 

My freshly made dumpling skins... this part took a loooong time

I made a fairly huge mistake at this point... A consequence of not reading the whole recipe through! Basically, the recipe for the dumpling skins is separate to the recipe for the filling. And for some crazy reason the dumpling skin recipe is enough to make 24 skins, whereas the filling makes 48! As you can probably guess I therefore had 24 skins and 48 fillings...

Result, a second dumpling making session after the kids were in bed...

And a very late night dumpling eating session by Danny and me :D

The filling about to be wrapped

My first pitiful attempt at sealing the dumpling

The DS game shows a little video of how to fold the dumplings together. It looks soooo easy! After a while it does get easier, but I had to watch the video a few times to get the knack!

Later... A much better attempt!

I didn't realise until after I had started cooking, that you are actually supposed to sit them with the join at the top rather than lying on their sides like this... doh!

Wiyot helping to make the dipping sauce

Frying/steaming in the pan

Here you can see where I realised my earlier mistake!

All done and ready eat!

:9

They tasted amazing! Surprising since I had to make some substitutions to the ingredients. Danny was very impressed, said they were as good as the ones his aunts make! :)

Needless to say, I will definitely be making these again!

Take Away night

When I met Danny I was introduced to various new and wonderful things. Most obviously being the  beautiful differences in our cultures, as well as in our diets. My favourite dish I was introduced to being Char Siu Fan :9 

Food Heaven! *Drools*

I also got introduced to new items on a Chinese take-away menu... 

Pre-Danny, all my family and I ever ordered from our favourite local take-away (incidentally, not the one that Danny's family owned at the time... Oops! Still haven't lived that one down :/ ) was egg fried rice, chips and chicken curry.

I now know the delights of sweet and sour chicken/pork, crispy shredded beef, beef in black bean sauce, banana fritters, etc...

But still there are the times when all I want is Chicken curry, just like Mr Chan would have made in Willow house (sorry Danny, but you know its true!)

So, for a number of years I've been attempting to figure out the recipe...

And well, I am please to announce I've cracked it! (more or less)

INTRODUCING...

Just add water!

Available from all good supermarkets, aka Alfreton Tesco's, in the foreign foods section :D

I know its a bit of a cop out, but it really is good, and fast too! To be honest I did get quite close to cracking it myself... and then I found this... and that was the end of the grinding up and mixing my own spices! Maybe someday I'll return to my quest... 

Until then...

Voila! 

And quicker than ordering it by phone!

Hmmm, I'm feeling hungry all of a sudden...