Cravings

Last night (or was it early this morning), i walked away from my laptop with a craving for something sweet. i hung round the kitchen for a while hovering above the biscuits...then i remembered i bought a pack of beh teh sors from laguna asian grocery at QV about 1 week back. yesh its a pack of glory's beh teh sor. it's packaged in a pseudo traditional style (packed in a small plastic bag and then wrapped in a white piece of paper like how it's done before...last time no plastic bag). it's small, dry and the caramel (for the lack of better word) within hardened. sad but still worth savouring at this hour (the pix has a soup spoon for comparison on size).

I don't have a sweet tooth but i do like a certain type of sweetness.
Not the rich chocolate sinful sweetness but closer to baklava and even closer still, the beh teh sor/pong piah kind of sweetness with a savoury aftertaste. Maybe cos the sweetness comes wrapped in some flaky confectionery and the latter is one of those comfort food that i'd grown up with. well, the paternal side of the family used to patronise this Hokkien confectionery Tan Hock Seng along Telok Ayer for its tau sah pia, beh teh sor and pong pia as offerings/snacks. of cos the prices now are hugely inflated and servings had largely shrunk proportionately.

it's certainly gonna be one of my pit stops when i go back to Sg in 2 weeks time!

Stirfry Pork Belly Slices with Vegemite

there'd been this jar of vegemite sitting around in the kitchen for a while now (courtesy of eric & snow). might have passed the expiry date but i reckon that it's ok if i'd used it as condiment. had tried deep fried chicken with vegemite sauce before back in sg many moons back. vegemite exudes a fragrant, bittery, saltish taste in that dish so i figured it'd be strong enough for pork too. i've added honey to give a sweet tinge to the dish.


ingredients

• 500 g of pork belly, cut to bite size
• spring onions, 3 stalks, separate stems and leaves
• ginger, 3 cm portion, sliced
• garlic, 4-5 cloves, chopped
• ground black pepper
• dash of 5 spice powder
• 2 tsp salt (moderation)
• 5-6 tbsp chinese cooking wine
• cooking oil
• dark soy sauce (3 tbsp)
• 2 tsp of vegemite (i suppose marmite will do too)
• honey (4-5 tbsp)
• warm water
• chopped chilli (optional)

recipe

• marinate pork belly with cooking wine for >30 min
• drain of liquid (keep for use later) and rub in salt and pepper
• brown garlic, ginger and pork in cooking oil
• add soy sauce, 5 spice powder and stir fry, making sure pork belly is evening coated
• add 1 cup of warm water, stems of spring onion and let simmer for 20-30 min at mid heat. stir occasionally and let it reduce (but not too dry)
• once pork belly skin is sufficiently tender and sauce reduced, add liquid (from marinate), vegimite and honey. stir occasionally so as to not let the honey burn in the pot. let gravy reduce further if need be (low-mid heat at approx 5 min)
• when satisfied with tenderness of pork, stir in spring onion leaves and chilli and serve