potatoes

Potato and Pork Ribs Soup

Potato and Pork Ribs Soup

After a pretty long hiatus from blogging, and largely due to the fact that I haven’t been cooking as much, I am somewhat starting to cook again, and this is as a request from the Wife, not because she reads my blog or anything but more because we have become more busy and thus the pertinent need to get back to cooking great tasting, simple soups for dinner.

Yes I miss cooking my home feasts too. And maybe she felt it and wanted me to kickstart the nutritious home-cooking again. Admittedly, eating out is so much more convenient. And since our fridge broke down recently, whatever stores we bought would be rotting in the defunct ice box. It didn’t help that the repair man was smoking us (and his company) by making multiple trips down to fix a seemingly simple problem. He kept testing and testing the fridge like as if it was his personal pet project. We were duped week after week into thinking that each week that he came would be the last, and that we could resume our cook-outs for dinner.

Finally, we got another repairman and the problem was solved instantly. But by that time we had already stopped cooking for a while. And I had also gotten busy and stopped going to the wet market on Saturdays. It’s as what one would say a domino effect. I did not do the marketing and therefore did not have the ingredients to cook and therefore we all ate out.

This soup came at her request. A simple no nonsense and fuss free soup. I am still quite curious as to how it would turn out. Just potatoes and pork ribs. Well, we will know soon tonight.

Ingredients:

Pork Ribs (250 grams)

Potatoes (about 3 larges ones)

1 tsp Sea Salt

Method:

  1. Parboil the ribs in hot boiling water to get rid of impurities. Pour the water away.
  2. Peel the potatoes, cut into cubes and then dump them into the pot. Add the sea salt.
  3. Boil at high heat for 15 minutes, turn off the fire and then place the pot into the thermal cooker (vacuum) and allow it to cook for the next 12 hours while you’re at work.
  4. When you’re ready to eat, boil again, and you can serve.

Bon Appetit!

Stir Fry Luncheon Meat and Potatoes

Stir Fry Luncheon Meat and Potatoes

I thought I would cook something different tonight, maybe something that I always see at Jo Kwon’s and my go-to dish if there are not many varieties to choose from at the Chap Cai Png Stall (aka 10 dish rice). This is because every Cai Png in Hokkien is also known as Economical Rice with Dishes and every stall that I have visited in the last twenty to thirty years, will also have this dish as one of the staples.

This plain and simple dish is none other than the Stir Fry Luncheon Meat and Potatoes. Traditionally cooked in a mix of thick sticky tomato ketchup sauce and oyster sauce, this dish is a sure win amongst Cai Png worshippers. I think I might have successfully created my own version and carried on the essence of that humble yet flavourful dish.

Nations would go to battle to secure the rights to the origins of this dish, yet it is so freely shared here in our homeland for the benefit of everyone. Whoever created this dish must be genius. Nuff’ said, here’s the recipe.

* please note that I have included amazon affiliate links to the products I use, so check them out if you wish to support me, and if I can get these items from NTUC Supermarket, I would just indicate.

Recipe

Ingredients

A can of Luncheon Meat (my family loves the Ma Ling Pork Luncheon Meat [NTUC] brand as we have been eating it for years)
9 Baby Potatoes or 4 Large Potatoes (you can use any potato, it doesn’t matter brand or no brand)
Olive Oil
Tomato Ketchup (we only use Maggi Tomato Ketchup Sauce [NTUC] for this, as it has the best taste)
Oyster Sauce (I love Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce [NTUC] for the taste)

Method

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks. Do the same for the luncheon meat and cut into chunks about the same size.

2. Heat about 3 tbsp of oil in wok and fry the potatoes over high heat, constantly stirring so that it doesn’t burn. Then when potato pieces start to brown, you can add the luncheon meat to fry. Continue frying until you can smell the luncheon meat.

3. Add a tbsp of Oyster sauce and about 3 tbsp of Tomato Ketchup and continue to stir fry. Immediately add some water to prevent the sauce from drying up. Continue to fry for about 5-7 minutes over medium heat and once it is ready, serve.

If you like another simple recipe using potatoes, you could check this one out – New Potatoes

Bon Appetit!

Stir fry the potato chunks until some slides are brown.