Traditional Taiwanese Meat Sauce

This is a very simply dish to make, traditionally it is poured on rice but many resturants serve it with vegetables or noodles. I made mine 2 ways, one with pork belly, eggs, fried tofu; the other with lean ground pork and mushrooms.

I bought the whole strip of pork belly and cut it myself, it takes a a little bit more time/effort but it makes such a big difference!

I tried to fry the pork first to get te oil out and fry and shallots/garlic in the oil without adding extra fat, BUT I actually find that a bad idea... you should either get the pork out before frying the garlic/shallots or just fry them first then add the pork.

Enjoy yours with a hot bowl of rice!

p.s my secret ingredient is peanut butter

Ingredients:

- 2 shallots

- 7~ cloves of garlics

- 1 pound of pork belly

- dried mushrooms (optional)

- boiled eggs ( optional)

- fried tofu ( optional)

- spice anise ( you can use 1 tsp 5 spice power)

- 1 tbsp of peanut butter

- 1 tbsp of sugar

- around 1/2 cup of rice wine

- 1 cup of soy sauce

- a handful of fried dried shallots ( store bought)

Steps:

1) Cut the pork in small pieces, cut the garlic/ shallots, cut the garlic first

(I've heard you can maximize the benifits of garlic if you let it oxidize in air for a bit before you fry it)

2) Fry garlic/shallots until golden, add in pork

3) when it's dry/goldish add water/ soysauce( you don't have to add all of it)/ sugar/rice wine

4) Put in spice and fried shallots , peanut butter

5) Simmer for an hour, add in the eggs then tofu

Easy!

tortilla de patatas (spanish omelette)

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. I saw this Spanish dish on a cooking channel once and decided to give it a try. It is basically all the classic breakfast foods mix in together to make an omelette. I added extra cheese and bacon for extra flavour, you can put your own twist to it too!

The tip is to fry the popatoes really soft before cooking it with the egg mixture.

Ingredients:

- 1 small onion

- 1 strip of bacon

- 2 pieces of ham

- 1 small potatoes

- 4 eggs
- 1tbsp of parmesan cheese or mozzararella

- 1tbsp of parsley

- salt& pepper

Steps:

1) soak the potatoes slices in salt water will keep them from oxidizing

2) caramelize the onions then add in the bacon bits

3) take onions out, fry the potatoes ( this will take more olive oil, and will take a while)

4) when ready, stir in onion/bacon

5) combine eggs with parsley, cheese, ham

6) drain the oil from pototes and add in the egg mixture(make sure the potatoes is not super hot)

7) put in the pot *make sure to turn down the fire* as you can see my egg is a little burned oops

8) when you see the egg is starting to form a shape and hardens, flips the pan upside down onto a plate

9) cook the opposite side then it's done!

beef short ribs stew with red wine& tomatoes

I love all kinds of stew/soup during winter, but I discovered this particular stew goes well with rice (yes im asian!) This is extremely easy to make so anyone could give it a try! The beef used here can be subsitutued with less-quality beef and it still tastes amazing and comforting.

The rice used above has some purple spots on it because I added 10grain mix with my white rice to get extra nutrients but doesn't have the grainy texture. ( around 1:5 ratio)

p.s sorry about the picture, someone took a bite before I could snap a shot.

Ingredients: (serve 3)
-beef short ribs
- 2 small carrots
- 2 large tomatoes
- tomato paste
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 medium onion
- 5/6 cloves of garlic
- parsley
- beef stock
- salt& pepper
- red wine 50mL

steps:
1)cut the beef in bite size chunks and marinate in red wine
2) heat pan, add olive oil, fry the onion/garlic on medium low heat
3) add in the carrots
4) put them aside, add in the meat chunks until the outside turn brown
5) stir in vegetable, add a tbsp of tomato paste on the hottest spot on the pan
6)add in beef stock( i used campbells's low sodium), add enough to just cover the food
7) add in celery, tomatoes, let cook for at least 30 mins on low heat, add stock when needed, add red wine
8)add the potatoes, cook until soft, add salt& pepper to taste

you know your stew is done when your onions are disspearing into soup!

enjoy!