Chaokar is still around

Now it is coming the the fourth quarter of the year. And my last post was sometime in January.

Been occupying myself with quite a handful of activities actually. Took a change in career, moved back to the city from Penang, started a underground supper club, participated in street food bazaar and Pepper came into my life. Or more like, I bought Pepper from the pet shop.

 

Despite all these, I still cook. It is still my avenue for stress relieve. Here’s what I made last Sunday, 3 simple dishes.

 

I start with making chicken and cuttlefish stock. About 1.5 litres of water boiled with chicken carcass, ginger, coriander roots and a whole garlic. Pretty simply stock, and let it simmer for about 60 minutes and so on. The plan is to add in enoki mushrooms, grey oyster mushrooms and this leafy-seaweedy like leaf known as ‘tian qi’. The roots are usually used for herbal soup, but the leaves are great too. I add in stripes of pork shoulder cuts, marinated in soy sauce, corn starch, sesame oil and shaoxing wine. Just a quick blanch and it’s ready to be served. Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper.

 

And for the vegetable dish, stir fry kangkung with dried shrimps and sambal belachan. I always in need for a spicy dish in my meal. So in a hot oiled wok, fry the chopped dried shrimps (I soak them earlier to get it soft and to wash away the saltiness.  Then add in a chopped garlic and chilli and a teaspoon of sambal belachan (I cheat a little, using pre-prepped sambal belachan). When your eyes gets teary and the dog barks in excitement, add in the vegetables. A quick stir fry for about 2 minutes and season with some salt and soy sauce, and it’s ready.

And my last dish would be salt baked crabs. I bought two fresh live crabs and I have them cleaned and spilt into half. On a baking dish, I add in slices of ginger and a handful of Chinese parsley. Sprinkle salt and wrapped them up in aluminium foil and baked at 200’c for about 15 minutes. At the final 3-5 minutes, remove the foil to ‘grill’ it up.

 

And with a simple chilli + soya sauce dip, it’s finger licking good.

 

And, introducing Transaparent Apron Supper Club. I’ve been working on this project with my friend Nicklaus Au since late last year. Google and facebook us up for more info.