wife’s quinoa pumpkin tofu

wife’s quinoa pumpkin tofu salad is always a great accompaniment for my dinners. the pumpkin & tofu with rockets made a very good salad on its own (wife made this after a lunch at marmalade pantry some years back), and addition of quinoa gave it more texture & some savoury touch.

wife’s pumpkin tofu salad

we bought the red quinoa (pronounced “keen-wah”) in london (son ordered it on amazon.com).

wash the quinoa & sieve in a fine strainer, boil in water with some salt (2cups water to 1 cup quinoa) for about 15mins, drain & then let in sit in the hot saucepan for 15mins to dry it out.

add some sea salt afterwards to taste.

wife’s pumpkin tofu salad

sprinkle sea salt & 1 tbsp olive oil & roast a 1/4 pumpkin in a preheated 205degC for about 20mins.

pumpkin tofu rockets salad

fry the tofu in olive oil all round till slight brown. set aside to cool & cut to small 1 cm cubes.

wife’s quinoa pumpkin tofu

wife’s quinoa pumpkin tofu

i season the quinoa, pumpkin, tofu mixture with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic, sea salt & honey (or agave nectar) mix, and toss the rockets separately also with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic, sea salt to taste before adding to the salad when serving the meal.

c.h.e.f andy

headcheese terrine on 5.8.2015

i tried a ter kar tan (pork trotters jelly) 猪脚冻once. it did not turned out too good.

what are important-

1. the flavour of the sauce that makes up the gelatine jelly
2. the taste & texture of the meat
3. the jelly holds together & don’t melt too quickly.

at the first try, the pig trotters meat texture was ok. the flavour of the sauce was not tasty enough, and the jelly melts rather quickly.

headcheese terrine on 5.8.2015

i am not particularly motivated to do ter kar tan (pork trotters jelly) 猪脚冻.

but for a recent very enjoyable 12pax 12-course dinner for my friends on 5.8.2015, i was going to try out the ragout of pig’s ears on toast inspired dinner by heston blumenthal, so i bought 1/2 a pig’s head which came with 1 ear for S$4 at sheng shiong.

i varied my usual kueh chap braising sauce recipe & added 1 cup of red wine. i used the slow crockpot roast method (starting from cold on low heat) for the 1/2head+ear i bought from sheng shiong, and texture for the pig’s head was perfect in about 6 hrs, very tender & gelatinous.

i cut the pig’s head into small chunks about 5cm pieces & lay the bottom of a long plastic container. i mixed & dissolved 2 tsp gelatine powder in the braising sauce while it was still hot, and added to the container when cool. i left it in the fridge overnight. when the pig’s head terrine 猪头冻 was set. i scrapped away the top layer of fat. cut into slices to serve.

ter kar tan 猪脚冻 on 26.8.2015

i tried the same recipe on pig trotters to the same effect. however there was too much meat so the overall effect of the terrine was not as good as the pig’s head terrine 猪头冻。

looking at the photos of ter kar tan (pork trotters jelly) 猪脚冻 in restaurants like say-

• chui huay lim’s ter kar tan
• ah orh’s ter kar tan

i see theirs’ a lighter colour & had more pig’s skin than meat, more like a 猪皮冻.

so what i will do if i cook this dish again (not too often), i will –

1. reduce the dark sauce or 1 tbsp or not at all (replaced by light soy sauce to taste)
2. add pig’s skin if using pig trotters

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

• 500g pig head meat
• 100g pig ear

OR

• pig trotters + pig skin or belly pork (use the skin)

braising sauce

• 0 -1 tbsp dark sauce
• 5-6 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp zhengjiang black vinegar
• 1 tbsp heap sugar
• 1 cinnamon bark
• 2 star anise
• 1 bulb peeled garlic
• 3cm sliced ginger
• 1 tsp 5-spice powder
• water to cover meat

Directions:

1. mix the braising sauce.
2. scald the pig head after cleaning (use a large kitchen knife to scrap off hair from the belly & face) to remove the scums. place pig head & ear in the crockpot, add the braising sauce to cover the meat completely, then turn on low & braise for about 6hrs. you can also use a meat thermometer. set it at 83degC. the mild low temperature braising results in a gentler, moist & tender meat.
3. cut the pig’s head into small chunks about 5cm pieces & lay the bottom of a long plastic container. mix & dissolve 2 tsp gelatine powder in the braising sauce while it was still hot, and add to the container when cool.
4. leave in the fridge overnight. when the pig’s head terrine 猪头冻 is set,scrap away the top layer of fat. cut into slices to serve.