Pineapple Tarts

Pineapple tarts are an all time favorite chinese new year snack in Singapore, when they really should be an all time favorite snack all around the world all year long. They're a little tedious to make but it's definitely well worth the effort.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/8 cup powdered sugar
10 tbsp chilled butter
1 egg + 1 yolk beaten
2 tbsp cold water

2 cups/ 1 whole pineapple shredded/pureed
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 whole cloves

1 egg beaten to glaze

1. mix together flour, baking powder, pinch of salt, powdered sugar and butter. Combine ingredients until mixture has a crumbly consistency.

2. make a small well in the middle of the flour mixture and add in the eggs and water. do not over knead the dough. Once the pastry dough comes together wrap it up in some cling wrap and leave in the fridge to chill untill firm (about 2 hours or overnight if preferred).

3. in a saucepan over medium heat, bring pureed pineapple, sugar and cloves to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. be sure to drain excess water from the pureed pineapple before cooking to reduce the time taken for it to thicken and cook. stir the mixture for about 40 mins until it thickens and turns a golden brown. remove and let it cool and thicken some more.

4. roll out the pastry to a quarter inch in thickness. you will need two different sizes of cookie cutters, 2" and 1" circle cookie cutter. this recipe should yield about 18 tarts. cut out the first layer of tarts and lay them out on a baking sheet. spoon out the pineapple jam in the middle of each 2 inch circle. for the second layer, do the same but this time using the 1" cutter, cut out a hole in the middle to create a ring and place it over the first layer with the filling sticking out in the middle. lightly glaze each tart with the beaten egg.

5. preheat oven to 370 degrees fahrenheit (190 degrees celcius) and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Banana Curry Dressing

I was cooking dinner for my parents and, since my mom insists that we have something green for every dinner, I was rushing to come up with some sort of salad so I wouldn't have to listen to that woman flapping her gums all night about how I'm ruining her diet when I saw a banana and figured why not.  the banana gives this dressing a nice creamy texture without having to use any mayo or egg yolks (I haven't completely given up on my New Years resolution to eat healthier).  If you wanna fancy up this salad, some roast peanuts and maybe some chopped bacon added to the lettuce would be nice.

1 banana, cut into chunks
1 clove garlic
the juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or more depending on your taste)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Take the garlic for a spin in a blender.  Once its chopped, add in the banana, lemon juice, curry powder, and cayenne pepper and blend unto smooth.
2. While the blender is going, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. season with salt and pepper, toss with your lettuce of choice (I like arugula) and serve.

Turkey Fried Brown Rice

I don't think I can actually call this healthy but it's healthier than the fried rice I normally make (turkey instead of bacon, brown rice instead of white rice and so on).  I don't really like straight egg whites so I include 1 egg yolk; still lower in calories but you won't know it. You can find maggi seasoning in chinatown; as far as I can figure, it seems like soy sauce thats made with wheat instead of soy, it's pretty good.

1 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
1 lb ground turkey
1 cup green beans, cut into 1/2-3/4 inch pieces
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp shaoxing rice wine
2 tsp maggi seasoning
1 tsp sliced dried chiles (more if you like)
1 whole egg plus 2 egg whites, beaten
1 tsp sesame oil
5 tsp olive oil

1. cook the brown rice according to the packages instructions. you can do this the night before, it's better if the rice has some time to dry out.
2. mix 1 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp shaoxing rice wine, 1 tsp maggi seasoning
3. blanch the green beans in boiling salted water for about 3 minutes, drain them and run them under cold water to stop the cooking.
4. scramble the eggs over medium low heat. once cooked through, cut into bite sized pieces and then set aside
4. heat a pan or wok over high heat.  Once hot, add in 2 tsp of olive oil and 1/2 tsp sesame oilfollowed immediately by the onion and dried chiles. stir fry for about a minute or 2 then add in the garlic and continue stir frying until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add in the green beans, continuing to stir fry for another minute, until they take on a bit of color.  remove the vegetables and set aside.
5. put the pan/wok back on the heat, add in the last of the olive oil and sesame seed oil. add in the ground turkey, using a slicing motion with your spatula to break up the mass. continue to fry until cooked through and browned.  keep stirring the meat so pools of liquid don't form.
6. add the vegetables, eggs and cooked rice into the pan. season with the remaining dark soy sauce, shaoxing rice wine, maggi seasoning, salt, and pepper. serve.

Olive Fried Rice

I didn't know that they used olives in Asian cooking but evidently Keith's mom makes this a lot.  The preserved olives can be found in Chinese supermarkets. They don't really taste like olives so don't try to replace them with normal olives.  They're salty and replace the soy sauce you normally add to fried rice.

1 1/2 cups leftover cooked rice
4 tbsp preserved olives
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 eggs
1 tsp garlic oil
1 tsp ginger oil
1/2 tsp dried chiles slices
6 oz desired protein (shrimp, squid, pork, chicken, beef, bacon), cut into bite size pieces
1 tsp XO sauce to garnish
1 tbsp+ 1 tsp Chinese cooking rice wine
vegetable or some other kind of neutral oil


1. Beat the eggs with 1 tsp of the rice wine and a pinch of fine grained salt.  Scramble them over medium heat until cooked through and set aside.  Once cool, roughly chop the egg into bite size pieces.
2. Add a tsp of oil to a large frying pan or wok over high heat. add in the garlic, dried chiles, and onion, stir fry until fragrant. add in the protein and stir fry until cooked through (if you are using bacon you should pre-cook it).
3. Add in the rice, olives, garlic oil, ginger oil,and 1 tbsp rice wine. Stir fry until the protein and aromatics are thoroughly integrated and the rice is heated through.  Stir the cooked egg in an serve with a bit of xo sauce if you like.

Rose Toad

In Singapore they make a drink flavored with rose syrup and calamansi, a citrus fruit I've never heard of before.  In place of calamansi, I used a lemon/ lime combo.  They're garnished with holy basil seeds that, when soaked in water, look like tadpole eggs.  Since the alcohol makes this an adult drink, I decided to garnish it with an adult frog (actually it's because I got a frog-shaped candy mold for christmas and wanted to make frog shaped ice cubes).  You by no means need the frog ice to make this drink delicious but it certainly makes it cuter.

1 tbsp rose syrup

1/4 cup water

1/4 lime

1/4 lemon

1/2 clementine/mandarin orange*

1/4 cup orange juice

gin or vodka to taste

*This blew my mind but evidently clementines are simply a type of mandarin orange, weird huh? Never thought of clementines as exotic.

1. Muddle the lime, lemon, and clementine.

2. Add the orange juice, water, rose syrup, and gin/vodka.

3. Strain and serve in an old fashion glass and serve on the rocks, and on the rocks here means frog shaped rocks.

I know it's cheating but I couldn't think of a good trick to make the ice cubes green so I use food coloring.

Braised Pork Belly

I love pork belly. It's mostly fat and will probably will be what kills me but still, so good.

For the brine
1 cup kosher salt
100 grams rock sugar (can't really accurately measure that one volumetrically)
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
3/4 tsp dried chilis
1/2 whole fennel seeds
2 inch piece of galangal, cut into chunks
3 medium shallots, quartered
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
8 cups water
1 lb ice

For Braise
3 shallots, quartered
1 head garlic, halved
1/2 white onion, cut into chunks
2 inches of galangal, cut into chunks
2 tbsp dried shrimp
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
3/4 tsp whole fennel seeds
1/2 tsp dried chilies
1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
3 tbsp chopped cilantro
32 oz chicken broth
1/2 cup chinese cooking rice wine
1 1/2 to 2 lb pork belly
1 tbsp vegetable oil

For the Sauce
1 cup of the strained braise liquid
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp chinese cooking rice wine
1 tbsp maltose
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tsp chili garlic sauce (sriracha)

1. combine all the ingredients for the brine except the ice and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar and salt are all dissolved.
2. add the ice to jump start the cooling off process.  once it has throughly cooled off, transfer to a large ziplock bag along with the pork belly. place the brining pork belly bag in a bowl incase it leaks, and put the whole thing in the fridge, overnight, at least 12 hours, turning the bag at least once midway through the brining process.
3. when it's done brining, remove the pork belly, discard the brine, and rinse off the pork belly.
4. preheat oven to 225. add the oil to a dutch oven or other oven safe, heavy pot with a tight fitting lid over medium heat. brown the pork belly on all sides, about 5 minutes per side give or take.
5. remove the pork belly to a plate and drain the oil and rendered fat from the pan, leaving only about 1 or 2 teaspoons. add in the coriander, fennel, chilies, peppercorns, and galangal. sauté until fragrant.
6. add the rest of the ingredients for the braise to the pot including the browned pork belly, as well as any juices that might have leaked out onto the plate. bring to a boil, turn down the heat to bring it to a simmer. cover and transfer to the oven.  braise for about 3 to 4 hours or until it its fork tender.
7. remove the pork belly from the braise and place on a cooling rack over a sheet pan, pat the skin down with paper towels and move to the fridge for 1 hour to let the skin dry completely.
8. pour the braising liquid through a strainer into a gravy separator. put one cup of the degreased braise liquid into a small sauce pan along with the rest of the sauce ingredients. reduce over medium low heat until it thickens to the point it coats the back of a spoon.
9. reheat the pork belly by broiling it skin up until the skin is crispy. I can't give you a time on this, you just have to watch it the whole time; it happens very quickly.
10. slice, it up and serve it on steamed buns with the sauce drizzled on it.

Stir Fried String Beans

I had this the first time when Keith took me to Grand Szechuan.  The food was great and I spent the whole lunch shoveling food into my mouth making Keith translate what all the Chinese NYU students were saying at the table around us, but i digress.  Keith recreated this dish for my parents and this is what he came up with.  It was pretty good, though the xo sauce which is made from scallops I believe might tip the scales to the too fishy side for some people, so if you're worried about that, I'd leave it out but definitely keep the dried shrimp in.  In other news, I have no idea why there is a photo of a cucumber in the picture.

1 lb string beans
5 tbsp vegetable oil (or any other neutral oil)
1 lb minced meat (of choice)
2 tbsp dried baby shrimp chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 teaspoon dried chilies/red pepper flakes
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp chinese cooking rice wine
1 tbsp chinese xo sauce (optional)
1 tsp sesame oil


1. cut the string beans into 1-2 inches in length and wash thoroughly. fry in pan over med/high heat with 4 tbsp of oil for over 5 minutes until fragrant and you notice that the beans get a little brown and wrinkly. remove and drain the oil.
2. heat the remaining 1tbsp of oil in pan and fry garlic, dried chilies and baby shrimp for about a minute. add in meat, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil and xo sauce (if using). stir fry until fragrant and till meat is cooked.
3. add in cooked string beans and continue to stir fry for about 3-5 minutes. serve with rice.