Nostalgia

Definition of Nostalgia:
1. A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.
2. The condition of being homesick; homesickness.

Yeah, winter can be abit boring as night falls really early and I have to call it a day at 5pm. Its really boring. As we see a weekend-Orchard Road being the crowd-magnet, I wonder where did the Aussies go to after dark?

Feeling bored? I decided to do abit of showing off again.. Allow me to share my latest dish.. 5-spice pork with porridge.

Significance of the dish:
I am never a teochew porridge lover. Recalling the days where I would fight with my parents against eating porridge on Sunday afternoons. All those rebelious fight I would put up week after week to "Say NO to teochew porridge". But as I grew up, I still didnt like teochew porridge, but started to fall in love with those kind of porridge u get in hawker centres etc.. I think its sort of Cantonese porridge?? I'm not too sure thou. But I love it, especially when you beat an egg inside.. just love it! My father likes to do it this way too. But my mum simply gets irritated when we do that, she hates the taste.. Perhaps my father didnt really like the egg afterall, maybe he is more interested in irritating my mum? Who knows? Hehee

That teochew porridge is the de-motivator which pulled me away from lunch at home on Sundays. Hence I was never close to my father cos thats the only few time in the week he sits at home for a meal.

My father loves to have that 5-spice fatty pork dish (in Hokkien, we call it lor bak), or stewed pork in dark sauce. I love it with those pig organs etc.. the type you get when you eat Kuey Chap. But my father likes those pig trotter with bean curd puffs and eggs. And sadly, my mum always follows my father's choice. At that very instant, I would start staging my fight against the porridge!

Its a nostalgia feeling that made me feel like cooking such a simple and traditional fare that winter night. Hence, presenting.. stewed pork with porridge.

Ingredients:

• Cubed pork about 300 to 400 grams
• 4 Hardboiled Eggs
• A few Bean Curd Puffs (depending on size)
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 whole Garlic (smashed lightly)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of Dark Soya Sauce
• 3/4 teaspoon of Salt (depending on personal taste)
• Some water lah!
• 1 tablespoon of five-spice powder
• A packet of Maggi Instant Porridge (my personal favourite)

The expert says:
Basically, throwing everything in a pot and sit around for 1 hour would do the trick. Like sometimes I would say, everyone can cook, it just depends on who can do it well. Hence, I've decided to give you a clearer step-by-step instruction.

If you would need any instrcutions to cook INSTANT porridge, please refer to the back of the packet.

For the stew pork, first, a bit of marination would remove all unwanted smell from the pork. Feeling a little lazy this time, I just added salt and pepper to my cubed pork and finally the five-spice powder. Leave it in the fridge to let it absorb the taste. To start cooking, bring some water to boil maybe like 1 cup) then melt the sugar in the water. When its pretty done, add in the garlic, pork, hardboiled eggs and bean curd puffs. Then more water (this is dependent on how thick or thin you want to sauce to be). Add your salt and dark soya sauce as well. Then leave it alone for about 1 hour at least. But pls remember to check on it from time to time, cos sugar will make it burnt easily.

Thats about it I guess.. All you have to do is to keep waiting then. :)
And while you wait, I'm going to catch some sleep now.. Goodnite!


I'm so good that sometimes I even scare myself