Touch of nostalgia: A simple homecooked meal

When I last cooked some Sweet Potato Rice Porridge (Congee) I made sure that I had the right nutrition balance for the rest of the dishes accompanying the meal, because a meal consisting of pure carbohydrates isn’t quite the healthy meal I strive for. Besides my sister was feeling under the weather and I was feeling slightly nostalgic for my mom’s home cooking. Here’s what I whipped up in about an hour.

3 dishes comprising Protein (Braised Minced Pork with garlic and Pickled White Radish Omelette) and Vitamins (Stirfried mustard greens – sawi). Nothing very extraordinary about each of the dishes but they make good accompaniments to plain rice porridge as they are by degrees salty and clear.

I have included here the easy way to prepare these home cooked dishes but most cooks won’t need them anyway because they are so easy!

Braised Mince Pork with Garlic

This dish is a very basic minced pork dish that can be eaten on its own or served over noodles or tofu or anything that might call for mince pork. You can add some dried or fresh mushroom as well.

What you Need:

• 200g Lean pork minced (I prefer to mince it myself)
• half a medium sized bulb of garlic (or about 6 cloves) chopped finely
• 1/2 tbsp Oyster sauce
• dash of soy sauce and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp thick dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp tapioca flour

How to:

1. Mince the pork or if you are using ready minced pork, add the oyster sauce, light soy sauce and pepper with half the tapioca flour and mix well. Leave aside to marinade for at least 15 minutes.
2. Heat your oil in a wok and add the garlic. Stir fry until fragrant but not brown.
3. Add the seasoned mince meat and stir fry to brown all over.
4. If you are using mushrooms, add them at this point and stir fry quickly.
5. When the meat is semi cooked, add 1/2 a cup of water and the thick dark soy sauce and allow it to braise. Add more water if you prefer more gravy.
6. After about 5 minutes or when the meat is cooked, mix the rest of the tapioca flour with some water to make a watery liquid and pour into the wok. Stir through to thicken the gravy and dish out immediately.

Pickled White Radish (Chai Po) Omelette

This is a dish that always remind me of being a kid and light Sunday lunches. Picked White Radish can be found in most supermarkets or Chinese grocery stores and is known as Chai Po (Hokkien and Cantonese). It is both sweet and salty and therefore goes well with plain porridge. It can be eaten fried with garlic as an accompaniment to plain porridge or in an omelette as shown here.

What you need:

• 80g of chopped pickled white radish (lobak putih or chai po)
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 3 eggs beaten and seasoned with pepper

How to:

1. Fry the chopped garlic until fragrant but not brown.
2. Add the chopped pickled white radish and fry until fragrant.
3. Add the beaten eggs and spread to form an omelette. When omelette is set, dish and serve.
4. As the pickled radish is salty I don’t recommend adding soy sauce or salt to the egg.

That’s all there is to it! Easy to prepare, fast to cook and good to eat!

Tagged as: Braise, Chinese, Easy Recipes, Eggs, Pork, Stirfry, Vegetables