Are you cooking? Yes sir yes sir, 3 dishes full.

It’s lazy Sunday and having nothing much to do, I took an evening nap. And right before that, took out spare  ribs to make soup later.
640pm, Catherine called and asked, “Are you cooking?…. Are you cooking?”
“Yes, I am making soup“, I replied. OK I am coming over, then she hangs up.

Geez, initially I wanted to make just a soup for dinner, and since Cat is coming over, I decided to make more dishes. So while I have the spare ribs thawing for the soup stock, I found in the fridge that I have bitter gourd, persevered Szechuan vegetables (zha choi), carrots, tomato and pork belly cuts.

I have the the pork belly cut into thin slices and marinate them with sesame oil, a dash of salt, some dark soy sauce, a dash of light soy sauce, a teaspoon of sugar & chilly sauce and some pepper.

Then I prepared the stock for the soup using the spare ribs, dried oyster, a thumb size cut of ginger, a whole onion, and half a clove of garlic.

I sliced the bitter gourds and the carrots thinly.

Pao Far Yuk (Fried Sweet Pork)
With a hot skillet, drizzle some oil and just let the pork brown each sides about 3 minutes. Towards to end, I pour in the balance of the marinade and let it reduced.

 

Zha Choi Thong (Presevered Sezhuan Vegetables Soup)
With the stock simmering, wash off the chilly coatings and cut them to smaller pieces. Add into the soup, and since it is a salted persevere, just some pepper will do. Let it simmer for another 45 minutes in medium heat.

Now I have a sweet dish, and a soup, and I wanted to make a bitter gourd omellete, but like most of the time when I cook, I would love to have something spicy. With some improvisation, I have

Stir Fry Curried Bitter Gourd
In a hot wok, I fried some dried chillies, mustard seeds and cumin. Then I add in garlic. When everything is aromatic and getting caramelize, add in the bitter gourds and the carrots. Salt and pepper and two tablespoons of curry powder. Fry lightly, and let the curry powder coat the vegetables. Add in few slices of tomatoes for a balance. 

8pm, Catherine is here and dinner for two is served. She officially owes me a dinner now.