Steamed egg is another comforting and delicious dish that I love to cook. It’s simple and quick to prepare, and most of time I have all the ingredients needed. When I have stock (usually from soup leftover), I will happily use it in lieu of water. I however use water most of the time and it always tastes as good.

Sometimes when I’m more carefully and patient, I’ll make sure that the mixture have no bubble in the surface to create that silky smooth egg custard. To achieve a smooth surface and minimize the bubbles;

1. Stir egg using chopsticks using cutting movement.
2. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve will minimize bubbles.
3. If there are still some bubbles left, use the back of a spoon to flatten it.
4. Cover and seal the dish when steaming so no evaporating droplets will fall and cause bubbles.

Now, you can see that mine isn’t looking smooth and pretty. You can clearly see that I was tight with time and feeling hungry already… and my rice is cooked. Let’s eat!

Steamed Egg with Minced Pork

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 carrot, thinly sliced using peeler and finely chopped

For egg custard mixture:

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup of water or stock
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

For minced pork marinade:

• 150 gram minced pork
• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
• a pinch of pepper
• 1 stalk green onion, finely chopped

Instructions

1. In a bowl, combine all the pork marinade and mix well. Leave to rest for at least 10 minutes.
2. In another bowl, break egg using chopsticks. Add the other ingredients and strain the mixture through a fine sieve.
3. Heat a pan in medium heat. Stir fry the marinated minced pork and break it into smaller pieces using spatula. Ensure that the meat is cooked through.
4. Take the meat off heat and arrange it in a shallow bowl / plate. Pour the egg mixture over meat and top with the finely chopped carrots. Flatten any bubbles with the back of a spoon.
5. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap.
6. Steam the dish over high heat for about 15 minutes. To test if the dish is cooked, insert a chopstick into the middle of the mixture. If clear liquid comes out, it is cooked.

Bakut Sayur Asin (Pork Ribs with Pickled Mustard Green) is my dad’s favourite dish whenever he comes to Bandung. Not any Bakut will do and his favourite is Bakut Ahon at Pasir Kaliki. Bakut or Paikut is actually pork spare ribs, while the pickled mustard green is what the name implies. In Indonesia, pickled mustard green can be easily found in supermarkets and if you’re overseas, it can be found at Asian groceries in the fresh/chiller section.

I love to make this dish because it’s so easy to cook and always turns out yummy. I love using my slow cooker to cook this dish because I prefer super tender ribs rather to chewy ones. But really mainly because I don’t like the idea of checking on the pot every now and then. However the dish is totally doable on a conventional pot which will take about 2 hours to cook. Towards the end of your cooking, don’t forget to reduce the oil by either cooling the pot and then scrap the oil using spoon or use oil absorbing paper.

Bakut Sayur Asin

• 500 grams pork spare ribs
• 5 garlic cloves
• pickled mustard green, cut into 2-3cm pieces
• water, enough to cover spare ribs by about 2cm
• a pinch of salt, to taste

Instructions

1. To reduce the saltiness of the pickled mustard green, stir fry the pickles in a pan over medium heat. Take off heat once the pickles is a turning dry.
2. Put garlic, pickles and cleaned spare ribs in a slow cooker (or conventional pot), and cover with water up by about 2cm. Turn on slow cooker and cover for 5-6 hours until meat is tender. If using conventional pot, turn the heat to medium high until boiling then reduce the heat to simmer and cover the pot. Let cook for 2 hours or until meat is tender.
3. Reduce the oil by spooning the surface or use oil absorbing paper.

Due to my loooong holiday during the Christmas and new year period, I found it hard to get back into my cooking routine *supersigh* The last couple of weeks we’ve been eating out, justifying it with “i-miss-Bandung-food”, but I just can’t handle that much MSG anymore. And to be honest, there’s nothing exciting about food in Bandung, let alone me missing it. Meh.

So few days ago, I decided to start cooking again. To warm up the kitchen, something easy and one pan kinda meal is a must. Otherwise I might get lazy – again. Here it is, Tofu with Minced Meat! Hooray!

Tofu with Minced Meat

• 100 grams minced meat (I used pork)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon tauco / salted soya beans
• 1 tablespoon fermented black beans
• 1-2 chilli, thinly sliced
• cornstarch, mix 1 tablespoon water with 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 250 grams tofu (I used egg tofu)

To marinade meat:

• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• a pinch of pepper

Seasoning, mix well:

• 3/4 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

1. In a bowl, marinade meat for about 10 minutes
2. In a pan, heat oil and stir fry garlic, tauco, black beans and chilli for about 1 minute or until fragrant.
3. Add marinated meat and stir fry ensuring it’s cooking through (no longer pink).
4. Add seasoning, bring to boil.
5. Carefully add tofu into the pan, turn the heat to low. Let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes. Be careful to not break the tofu.
6. Thicken with cornstarch solution, mix well.
7. Take off the heat and dish is ready to serve!

I love seafood from the bottom of my heart but unfortunately seafood is not a favourite in where we currently live. FYI, Bandung is inland and approximately 750m above sea level so seafood is not in their natural palate. Fortunately though, my trusted groceries shop has a decent seafood selection that can fulfil my occasional seafood crave. Of course for a better seafood fiesta I will go to Jakarta.

Pipi clams are cheap, mistake free and quick to cook. Triple wins indeed. All you need for this recipe is a bit of butter, garlic, ginger ad chicken broth. To make it even more flavoursome, I added some celery, Oyster sauce, ginger and chilli. I then ended up with a warm tasty broth that the husband drank after we finished all the clams – a good sign of satisfaction

Garlic and Ginger Pipi Clams

• 500 grams pipi clams, cleaned and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon Oyster sauce
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 chilli, thinly sliced (I used bird eye chilli)
• 2 stalks of celery

Instructions

1. Ensure that the clams are cleaned (sand free) and rinsed. - I will post a how to later
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat
3. Add ginger, garlic, chilli and cook for 3 minutes until garlic is fragrant. Don’t burn the garlic.
4. Add oyster sauce and chicken broth, let it simmer
5. Add celery and clams and cover the saucepan and let it cook for around 4 minutes. Stir occasionally.
6. Once clams are opened, turn heat off and discard any closed clams.
7. Transfer clams and broth into a serving bowl and enjoy!