Mum's Recipe: Curry Pork and Potatoes

Delicious potato curry with a twist!! Instead of the usual chicken, Mum used pork meat and it turned out amazing!

She did not use long pork ribs because they are rather lean and tend to be a little tougher (siap). Instead, she asked the butcher who recommended the slab of meat above the ribs. What also made this a success was that Mum used fresh coconut juice which she extracted herself! Lots of hard work indeed! :D


Ingredients
500g Pork Meat (choose portion at tip of ribs along spine)
Boiled Potatoes
Dry Chillies
5 Buah Keluaks
1/2 Bowl Shallots
1 medium size Onion
3 stalks Lemongrass
2-3 pieces Lengkuas
2 Tbsp Curry Powder
Milk from 1/2 Coconut (separate first squeeze in small bowl and second squeeze in big bowl)
1 Cube Chicken Stock
Salt to Taste
1 stalk Pandan leaf (Optional)

Method
1. Grind Dry Chillies, Buah Keluak, Lengkua, Lemongrass, Shallots and Onion.

2. Fry until fragrant and add curry powder.

3. Add Pork Meat and stir-fry for a short while.

4. Add Coconut Milk. (big bowl: 2nd squeeze)

5. Add potatoes, chicken stock and bring to boil for about less than 30 minutes. Be careful not to overcook pork meat as they might turn dry (siap).

6. Finally, add the first squeeze coconut milk to your own liking. We added just a little bit.


The curry is not too spicy or oily, yet fragrant and bursting with curry-goodness! You can eat this with rice, crispy toast.. or on its own! Even a non-curry lover like me fell in love with this dish immediately!

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Experiment：Red Rubies and more Jewels!!

This image has only been resized; otherwise there is no other editing done to the photo.

Ingredients
Water Chestnuts, skin removed
Tapioca Flour (about 2 heaped Tbsp for 2 Water Chestnuts)
Drop of Food Colouring
Ice Water

For Thai Red Ruby Dessert:
Sugar Syrup (Dissolve sugar in boiling water)
Coconut Milk
Shaved Ice


Method:
1. Chop Water Chestnuts to about 1cm3 cubes.

2. Add a drop of food colouring and mix with hands. Add a bit of water (just a bit!!) and leave it for 5 minutes.

3. Put the Tapioca Flour in a plastic bag. Dry the Water Chestnuts before adding them in, and shake the bag to coat the Water Chestnuts. Make sure they are fully coated with the Tapioca Flour.

4. Use a sieve to rid any excess flour. Don't do this too vigorously, or too much will fall off, exposing the Water Chestnut.



5. Cook the Water Chestnuts in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, I use chopsticks to separate rubies that start sticking to each other.

6. Gather the rubies in a sieve and quickly dump in Ice Water.

7. Drain the rubies and soak them in Sugar Syrup for sweet taste.

8. For the Thai Tub-tim Krob dessert, drain Rubies from Sugar Syrup and serve with Coconut Milk, Shaved Ice and a little extra Sugar Syrup.

P.S. Here's a tip from Thai Table: Spray the Water Chestnuts with water after taking them out from the bag and coat them with flour again for bigger rubies! Also, you can have natural food colouring such as beet juice from boiled beets.

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Original Sungei Road Laksa

Sungei Road Laksa
There are a lot of stalls claiming to be the famous Sungei Road Laksa, but my Mum (who knows her stuff) says this is the very original.

There is a story behind the Sungei Road Laksa, and to this very day the owner is still using charcoal fire to warm his laksa gravy. The laksa is the "Singaporean version", unlike the Katong Laksa. You are served only a spoon like the Original Katong Spoon Laksa, so noodles are cut into small strands. At only $2 a bowl, it is really reasonable and they also serve it with cockles, fishcake and fried chilli.

Jin Shui Kopitiam
Block 27 #01-100 Jalan Berseh

P.S. Surprisingly, (or maybe not) I've never liked Laksa since young, so this is based on my Mum's account!

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