Caramel Custard

I was 10 years old when it was my first time tasting this custard in an old shop near my hometown, Ipoh. The egg was so smooth and silky. During that time, we were not afford to have one order per person, so three siblings was sharing an order. You can imagine how precious that custard to us. We ate the

custard very slowly so that we could really taste the flavor of the custard. I could still recall that we drank every single drop of juice of the custard. My sister even licked the plate!

I was happy that I am able to taste the same custard during my trip last year. Although it is a bit too sweet for me now, it recalls a lot if my childhood memory. Even my kids love it so much.

In order to give a memorable experience for my kids, I am learning to make so that my kids will enjoy the similar food that I had during my childhood... Let the good memory flows to the next generation.

Ingredients

Caramel 

5 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp water


Custard

3 medium eggs

500ml milk

80g sugar

1tsp vanilla essence


1. To make the caramel, mix the sugar and water together. Heat with low heat until the sugar is melted and caramelized. Put a tbsp of the caramel into a bowl. For this recipe it can coat around 4 bowls. Let it set and cool down.

2. Heat up water and get ready for steaming the custard.


3. Mix all the custard ingredient together. Sieve the egg mixture to remove the bubble and any residue. Transfer the eggs mixture into 4 bowls that has coated with caramel.


4. Steam for 7-8 minutes using low heat. If the heat is too big, you may leave around 1 cm gap between the cover and pot (I am using chopstick to hold the cover). This is to ensure that the egg is not overcooked due to the high heat while maintaining a smooth egg surface.


5. Off the heat and let the custard to sit in the steam for another 5 minutes.


6. Remove the bowls from the pot and let them cool down before putting them into the fridge. Refrigerated for at least 5-6 hours before serving.

                                        

Taiwan Braised Pork Rice 'Lu Rou Fan' (滷肉飯)

This is a street food that you can easily find in Taiwan street. This is one of my kids' favourite due to the sweetness of the gravy. The preparation of this dish is quite easy but the cooking time is a bit longer. It needs at least one and a half hour to braise until the meat it soft. In order to make sure that the fat does not collapse during cooking, I have used this practice: 15 min boiling and then, 15 min off fire. Repeat this steps until the meat is soft and tender. I do understand that this step is a bit tedious, but it is worth when you see a perfect dish is served.

Another secret of this dish is to have wine in this dish. The presence of rice wine will bring back all the fragrant of the spices. On top of that, with the rice wine being added during cooking, this will reduce the cooking time of the meat.

As for sugar, it is important to use rock sugar as this sugar will give a different sweetness as compare with normal granulate sugar. It may due to the different ingredient and processes to make these sugar.

Although this dish takes quite long to cook, but the effort is worthwhile especially when you see how much your family love this dish.

Happy Cooking!

Ingredients

400g pork belly

4 cm of cinnamon

5 pieces of cloves
2 pieces of star anise
4 cloves of garlic
4 shallots
Light soya sauce to taste
Dark soya sauce for the color (optional)
100ml Chinese rice wine
Rock sugar to taste
Water to cover the meat (around 250ml)

1. Mince the garlic and onion in small pieces.
2. Cut the pork belly into 1cmx1cm size.
3. Heat up the wok and stir fry the pork belly. Do not put in any oil. Let the oil or juice from the meat flow out. You may adjust the fire accordingly if the fire is too high.
4. When the outer layer of the meat is cooked, put in rock sugar and cook till the rock sugar melts and wrap the meat. This is important is the caramel will enhance the color and taste of the meat.
5. Add in minced garlic and onion. Stir fry for around 2 minutes.
6. Then, add in light soya sauce, dark soya sauce and 500ml of rice wine. Stir fry around 1 minute before adding in all the cloves, star anise and cinnamon.
7. Add in sufficient water to cover the meat and braise for 1.30 hour or until the meat is tender. Try not to add water in between unless the water dries up.
8. Once the meat is tender add in the entire wine and cook for 2 minute.
9. You may serve with hot rice.