Prawn Mee Soup, 虾面

We had this pack of Prawn Mee Paste which is suppose to give us instant Prawn Mee and i was suppose to use it.

So we went out to buy our prawns, pork and noodles.

I remember every time my mom cooks prawn mee, the fragrance would float and fill the whole kitchen from the back where she fries stuff.

I vaguely remember hows she prepares the ingredients for the soup and i decided to try.

Right before i was due to put the pre-made paste into the soup, i taste my own broth and it tasted amazing. The whole house was filled with the sweet smell of the pork and prawn broth.

My neighbor even stood outside my door asking for a plate cause i kep the door open to air the house but the smell floated over. hahaha

Ingredients
500gs Fresh Prawns with shell
250gs Pork Shoulder
250gs Pork Bones
2 Pieces of Fish Cake
1 Clove Garlic
1 Medium sized Rock Sugar
1 packet Yellow Noodles
1 packet Fried shallot oil
Pink Himalayan Salt

Boil a pot of water and when boiling, blanch prawns and keep the water.
Remove and peel, keep the shells aside.
Slit prawns into half and remove the tread at the back of the prawn.
Smash garlic keeping the skin on.
Over high fire, fry prawn shells and smashed garlic until slightly charred and very fragrant.
Put pork bones, pork shoulder and fried prawn shells and garlic back into the pot of water and boil.
in 20 minutes take out the Pork should and leave aside to cool. Slice the pork and leave aside.
Keep the soup boiling for about 2 hours.
Lightly boil fish cake in the soup and also leave aside to cool and slice.
Add Rock sugar and desired amounts of salt.
Blanch noodles in separate pot of boiling water.
Put noodles, Prawns, and fishcake then pour soup over and serve!

Bon Appetite!

PS: if you cannot finish the soup, you can use it to Fry Hokkien Noodles! Recipe up next!

Braised Pork Belly, Hong Shao Rou ( 红烧肉 )

After a month hiatus, i came back to Tucson ready and excited with many dishes in my head to try.
I started with Hong Shao Rou. i don't know if its fortunate or unfortunate what it was all snapped up before i managed to take a photo.
I snagged one off the web. But i will be cooking the dish again this week cause we simply can't get enough of it.
The melty fats in fragrant sauce simply makes one's day.
I initially thought it would be difficult to make but really, this is as simple as it gets.
Or maybe i just simplify everything.
Remember! don't throw the sauce after your done with the meat. You can always hard boil eggs and let it sit in the sauce for some nice Lu Dan ( braised egg ) !

Ingredients
300gs Pork Belly
1 packet Tau pok
2 Star Anise
1 piece dried chili
1 Cinnamon stick
1 Bay leave
1 Clove of garlic
5 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup shaoxing wine
1/4 cup White cane sugar
500ml Water
Salt to taste

Boil a pot of water and blanch pork belly.
Cut the Pork belly into bite size pieces.
Cut all the Taupoks into Halves.
In a large pot over high heart, cook the sugar but stirring constantly to prevent charring.
When all sugar is melted and starts to caramelize,
add  shaoxing wine and stir until Sugar dissolves.
Add pork, taupok, star anise, dried chili, cinnamon stick, bay leave, garlic, dark and light soy sauce.
Add 250ml of water and let it simmer 2 hours on medium heat.
Add water as needed to prevent from drying out.
Simmer as long as u wish. I like to keep it on the heat for a few hours to ensure the fats melt in the mouth when eaten.

Bon Appetite!