Hakka Radish Ball

When I was a little I remember my grandma always make this yummy dish for the family. Besides my grandma, my dad has another version of his Radish Ball too and both tasted very delicious. And now, I'm having my own version too and hope to make it better and tastier.

Every time when I happened to visit my father he will definitely cook some of my favourites. I'm one lucky girl? Yes I do. haha


Ingredients

1 Medium Size Radish
1/4 cup of Dried Shrimps (washed and chopped)
1 cup Minced Pork
3 tbsp Corn Flour
1 Shallot (chopped)
1 tbsp Dark Soya (optional if you do not like it dark)
2 tsp Salt
3 tbsp Water

Methods

1. Peel the skin of the radish, shred radish using manual food shredder. I do not like it too coarse but not too fine neither.
2. Squeeze away the excessive water of the radish to avoid bitter taste.
3. Mix all ingredients together.
4. Use a small size metal ice cream scoop to scoop the meat and form a ball. Remember do not press the meat to hard while forming meat ball to avoid meat getting harden while steaming.
5. Laid a layer of clean banana leave at the bottom of a metal plate. Place radish balls on top of the banana leave and steam for 20-30 minutes in high fire.
6. Serve hot and eat with chili padi with soya sauce for a better taste.

Mushroom Pie

I personally is a mushrooms lover, love all kind of edible mushrooms, Shitake, Portobello, White Button and Oyster are some of my favourites. Today is the first day of school holiday and why not make lunch time more fun instead. So no rice again, and kids are so happy to know this. I decided to bake Mushroom Pies for lunch, easy and who doesn't love crispy and fluffy puff pastry stuffed with creamy mushroom?

Ingredients

2 cups of Mushroom (any of your favourite mushroom) (slice or chunks)
1 cup of Baby Spinach
4 Sheets of Puff Pastry Sheets
1 Egg for Egg Wash
1/2 cup Grated Cheese
2 tbsp Butter
1/2 cup Milk
1 Medium size Onion (chopped)
2 Cloves Garlic (chopped)
salt to taste
dash of dried oregano & parsley

Methods

1.  In a skillet, heat a little cooking and add in butter until butter melted. Add  garlic and onion, stir fry till you smell the aroma. Add in Mushroom, and baby spinach. keep stirring. Mushroom will release some liquid while cooking so its normal. keep cooking until liquid reduced.

2. Add in milk, salt and some dried spices and stir well.

3. Lastly, turn off flame. Stir in cheese, so that cheese is not fully melted, it will melt nicely when bake it in the oven. Set aside mushroom and cool down.

4. Divide puff pastry sheet into 4 squares. Scoops adequate amount of mushroom and put in the centre of each squares.

5. Apply each side with beaten egg, and place a same size square puff pastry on top of it and press down the sides with fork and sealed. You may cut some fine line on the puff pastry to release the heat in the fillings.

6. Lastly, brush the egg wash on the surface of all puff pastry before put them into oven.

7. Preheat Oven at 180 degree and bke for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

8. Enjoy!

Hakka Braised Pork Belly with Red Koji Rice

I'm a typical Hakka girl that brought up in a Hakka Family and growing up eating my grandmother's homecook Hakka Dishes. My grandfather loved Fat Pork very much and most of Hakka signature dishes are cooked with Fat Pork/Pork Belly, so these has become my favourite without me noticing it. Hakka dishes are mostly with pretty strong taste. This dish is so delicious because the meats have the strong taste of "Nam Yu" and "Cuttlefish". Simple dish, but you will love it. I add in hard boil egg as an option because Olivia requested for it. Surprisingly it goes well with the gravy.

Ingredients

300 gm Pork Belly (3 layers fats)

1 cube of Nam Yu

1 tsp Oyster Sauce

1 tbsp Dark Soya

2 cloves of garlic

2 anistar

50g Cuttlefish Slices (soak in water till soft, throw water away and cut into small size)

1tbsp Red Koji Rice (wash and drain)

2 cups Water

Methods

1. Cut pork belly in to 1.5" x 2" of size. Mash the Nam Yu and marinate these pork belly chunks with it and oyster sauce for at least 15 minutes.

2. In a stew pot, heat with some cooking oil, then place pork belly chunk in it and turn the flame to high. Fry each side of the chunk for 1 minute or until the surface looks brown. Add in garlic, cuttlefish, red koji rice and anistar and stir well with the meats.

3. Add in water, cover with lid. When water is boiling, turn flame to low and keep stewing for 1.5 hours until meat is soft.

4. I add an hard boil egg, as an additional because Olivia requested for it.