Monthly Archives: October 2015

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Baked Pork Chop Rice – Hong Kong Style (焗豬扒飯)

October 26, 2015 7:31 am , Leave a Comment , Winnie N

Baked Pork Chop Rice is a much enjoyed and popular dish at Hong Kong-Western style cafés. Until recently, I didn’t know what sauce the cafés used for their baked pork chop rice. Somehow I never questioned where the smooth and pasty tomato sauce that adheres to the top of the pork chops came from. It could be béchamel sauce with tomato paste mixed in? The tomato sauce definitely doesn’t taste like the familiar tomato sauce that goes on top of Italian meatballs. I thought about it for a bit but never gave it much more thought.

Somehow when I was perusing down the canned soup aisle…eureka—canned tomato soup! Yes, food thoughts pop into my head when I least expect it. How could I not have figured this out? Based on the taste, texture and colour, they must use canned tomato soup as their sauce! Don’t quote me on it, the cafés might very well make their sauce from scratch and use their special secret ingredients. But I figure to make this Memorable Dish at home, it’s a great and easy alternative to use canned tomato soup.

This comfort food is enjoyed by many Hong Kongers. Eating out in Hong Kong is the norm because everyone is super busy and food is readily available everywhere. Some cafés deep-fry their pork chops but this homemade version is pan-fried. At the restaurants, they usually use egg fried rice as the base. If it’s too much hassle, just use plain steamed rice. Our kids really enjoyed this Memorable Dish at our home Hong Kong-Western style café! I just have to make a Yinyeung (Hong Kong style coffee and tea) to go with it next time 😉

Baked Pork Chop Rice – Hong Kong Style (焗豬扒飯)

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients

4 pieces of Pork Loin
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Cornstarch
1 tsp Chinese Cooking Wine (optional)
1/8 tsp White Pepper
1/4 cup Flour
Vegetable Oil (enough to cover your pan 1/4 inch deep)
2 cloves minced Garlic
1 small Onion, diced
1 can of Tomato soup
1-2 cups of frozen Peas, Carrots, Corn (thawed)
5 cups cooked Egg Fried Rice or Plain Rice
1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese, grated
1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese, grated

Preparation

Use a meat tenderizer or the back of a cleaver to tenderize the pork chops.
Marinate pork chops with soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, cooking wine and white pepper for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400°F before frying pork chops.
Lightly flour both sides of the pork chops.
Heat oil and fry pork chops on each side until brown. Set aside.
Drain all the oil except for 1 tablespoon left in the pan.
Sauté onions for a few minutes then add the garlic.
Pour the can of tomato soup into the onions and use a bit of water to rinse out the rest of the soup in the can.
Mix the vegetables into the sauce and turn off heat.
In a glass or ceramic dish, put rice at the bottom, then the pork chops and then top with the tomato sauce.
Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 20 to 30 minutes depending on how thick your pork chops are.
If your cheese is not brown enough, you can put it under the broiler for a few minutes.

Notes

Make sure the oil is hot before frying pork chops. To test if the oil is hot enough, sprinkle a little flour in it. If it sizzles, then it’s hot enough.

https://www.memorabledishes.com/baked-pork-chop-rice/

Recipe by Memorable Dishes | www.memorabledishes.com

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

October 19, 2015 7:17 am , Leave a Comment , Winnie N

I am beginning to enjoy this time of year. I used to dread the Fall season because the weather gets cooler and summer clothes and flip flops get put away. Now when the leaves turn orange, brown and red, I think of eating warm and nourishing foods. I love that the colours of the vegetables in season also resemble the colours of the leaves.

Butternut squashes and other types of squashes dominate the grocery store this time of year. It’s hard not to buy them and make something out of them. The kids really enjoy this Memorable Dish, but this wasn’t always the case. They were used to drinking Chinese cleansing soup which is clear, so drinking this thick soup was weird to them. Now that they’re older and their taste has evolved, they are embracing this mushy soup. I make different versions of this soup and my oldest son really likes it with cumin added in.

I have tried roasting the butternut squash with the peel on, but the results are better if you peel it first. If you leave the peel on, the flavour gets left behind on the peel. Since you scoop the flesh out after roasting, the caramelization is left on the peel where the flavour is. To give this soup extra oomph, I tossed in a few garlic cloves to roast with the squash.

This is one of the recipes that you can’t really screw up and can make on the fly with a few ingredients on hand. If you want to sauté some onions and carrots, feel free to do so. I make this soup different every time and everyone always loves it! Enjoy this super easy (except for the peeling of the butternut squash part :P) and delicious Memorable Dish while the squashes are in season.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients

1 Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
5 cloves of Garlic, peeled
Olive Oil
4 cups Chicken or Vegetable Stock
1/2 tsp Cumin
Salt & Pepper to taste

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Place butternut squash and garlic on roasting pan and put enough olive oil to coat everything. Toss and make sure all the pieces are coated.
Roast butternut squash and garlic for 20-30 minutes.
Flip them around with a spatula and roast for another 20-30 minutes or until brown.
In a pot, put the roasted butternut squash, garlic, cumin and stock.
Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth.
Bring the puréed soup to a boil.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Then drizzle olive oil on top if desired.

Notes

Use more or less broth depending on the consistency you like or the size of your butternut squash.

https://www.memorabledishes.com/roasted-butternut-squash-soup/

Recipe by Memorable Dishes | www.memorabledishes.com

Posted in: Appetizer, Main Course, Soup, Vegetables , Tagged: butternut squash, roasted garlic, soup

Thanksgiving Dinner 2015

October 12, 2015 11:25 am , Leave a Comment , Winnie N

Our family Thanksgiving dinner is always a big production. My mom thinks there’s never enough food and ends up making many different things. She is used to cooking Chinese style where we have many dishes. So making Thanksgiving dinner is not a far stretch from her usual Chinese dinner.

The dinner usually consists of a whole turkey, prime rib (this year, we had steak instead), mashed potatoes, stuffing, steamed vegetables, garlic bread, and being a Chinese family, we also have rice of course. But not just our regular steamed rice – steamed rice made with canned mushroom soup. I don’t remember how or when we started making this kind of rice. But we’ve been having it every time we have turkey.

Steak & Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Steamed Vegetables (From top left, clockwise)

My cousins also contribute to the already abundant array of dishes for Thanksgiving. This year, in addition to our usual fare, we had sweet potato casserole, mushroom risotto, tomato and cucumber salad, and lamb chops. Don’t forget about appetizers and desserts! My grandmother is a vegetarian, so I usually make a couple of vegetarian appetizers. To make it easier for myself, I made something with puff pastry. I made one with garden tomatoes and the other one with sliced mushrooms. Both have Gruyère cheese on them.

Sweet Potato Casserole, Lamb Chops, Mushroom Risotto, Tomato & Cucumber Salad, Mushroom and Tomatoes on Puff Pastry (From top left, clockwise)

Since my mother makes so many different types of food, something always gets shafted. In our household, it’s the garlic bread. Someone is supposed to keep an eye on it but somehow we always end up burning it. There are multiple things being made and everyone pitches in one way or another. So the garlic bread always gets missed. I started using the oven timer so that we don’t forget about it. This year we didn’t burn the garlic bread because I was in charge of it. But I forgot to take pictures of it! Too many people and too much action going on!

I was overzealous with the food that I forgot to take a picture of the whole uncut turkey! I also forgot to take photos of the desserts! I’m a horrible food blogger! Hahaha…I was enjoying the moment so I didn’t take as many photos as I should have. Plus, my crazy baby girl was calling for food constantly that I was tending to her on top of helping my mom prepare. For dessert, I made my Mini Fruit Cheesecake and others brought pumpkin cupcakes, apple tart, tiramisu cake, Japanese tofu cheesecake, jello, and of course fruit to balance everything out.

Overzealous with eating and forgot to take photo of whole uncut turkey and desserts!

This is a wonderful time of year to reflect and be thankful to have loved ones to share our Memorable Meals with. I know our kids are especially excited not only about eating the food but also having everyone over to share it with. I’m sure every family has their special Memorable Dishes that they make on these occasions. I hope you enjoyed eating and spending time with your loved ones on this special Thanksgiving weekend!

Posted in: Special Meals , Tagged: family, Thanksgiving, turkey

Ramen Noodles

October 5, 2015 8:02 am , Leave a Comment , Winnie N

As the weather is getting cooler, I crave for a bowl of hot ramen noodles. Ramen noodles – not the fancy kind you eat at Japanese restaurants where they brew the broth with pork bone and meat for hours. But the instant kind. Every Asian household always has instant ramen noodles stocked up in their pantry at all times. Thus, instant ramen noodles should be a Memorable Dish for all Asians.

Instant ramen noodles is a comfort food to many Asians growing up. We know it’s not the healthiest thing on earth but we just love it. Asians don’t just eat the plain ramen noodles right out of a package but have extra add-ons to make the noodles extra yummy. Plus, if you are making them for your friends and family, it creates the illusion that you made some effort in cooking this dish and not just boiling instant noodles.

I personally blanch the noodles and rinse it with cold water and then reheat the noodles with the broth. If you don’t want to do that, just cook the ramen according to the package. I happen to have some of my homemade leftover Chinese BBQ Pork so I put that, veggies and a fried egg as my toppings. Put your favourite ingredients on your ramen and enjoy!