Spicy cheesy pork scone balls

Makes about 25-30 balls

320g minced pork

1/2 teaspoon Lawry's salt free 17 seasoning

1/4 teaspoon Chili powder (or more depending on how spicy you like it)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

A few pinches of salt

Dash of finely ground white pepper

1/4 cup finely sliced spring onions

1.5 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 cup self rising flour

2 tablespoons milk (plus more if your mixture is too dry)

1. Mix the Lawry's seasoning, chili powder, garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper with the mince pork. 

2. Add the spring onions, cheese, flour and milk. If your mixture is too dry and there's still flour left, add a bit more milk till it comes together. 

3. Chill in the fridge for about an hour. 

4. Preheat oven to 230 degrees Celsius.

5. Roll the pork mixture into 1.5 - 2 inch balls. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until it turns brown. 

6. Serve with garlic mayonnaise. 

This recipe was adapted from foodwishes.com

Lazy Kway Chup

Different people love different parts of kway chup - my family prefers the small intestines so I use that the most. I can't give an exact amount of how much you'll need of each, but use as much or little as you like!

Some of the ingredients commonly used:

Pork belly
Small intestines, washed
Big intestines
Tau pok
Fish cake
Hard boiled egg

(I marinated the pork belly and intestines in a bit of Mei Kwei Lu, which is a rose alcohol. You won't have to do that for the non pork ingredients)

Sauce for the ingredients:

3 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 teaspoons dark soy sauce (the thick syrupy one)

1-2 teaspoon  sesame oil
5 tablespoons normal soy sauce
5 teaspoons sugar

Few dashes Maggi seasoning
1/4 teaspoon Chinese Five spice powder
1 star anise
3-5 cloves
1 centimeter bit of cinnamon stick
4-5 garlic cloves, lightly smashed
3-4 slices ginger, lightly smashed
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon white peppercorns

1 cup of water

For the soup:

2 pork bones
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
black peppercorns
Fresh flat white noodles

1) If using pork belly and intestines, wash the intestines first and marinade all in a bit of Mei kwei lu.

2) Combine all ingredients for the sauce and add to the slow cooker.

3) For pork belly and intestines, add it all together with the sauce in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 2 - 3 hours.

4) While that is cooking, make the soup stock. Throw in the pork bones, onion, garlic and peppercorns into a pot. Add enough water to cover.

5) Bring to a boil and remove scum. Turn down the fire, cover and continue boiling for as long as you can (2-3 hours) - just as the pork belly and intestines are ready.

6) When the pork belly and intestines are tender, add in the other ingredients such as tau pok, fish cake and hard boiled egg. Cook for another 15 - 20 minutes.

7) Strain the stock and add some salt. Then add about 1/2 cup of the sauce into the soup base. Keep it hot.

8) Remove all the ingredients from the slow cooker and start chopping into bite sized pieces. Serve onto a plate and spoon the sauce over.

9) Put some rice noodles into a bowl and spoon over the hot soup.

10) Garnish with coriander, spring onions and fried shallots.

11) Serve with chili sauce. As this is the lazy way, forget about doing it yourself. The chili sauce with garlic and ginger is just as good as home made!

Hainanese Pork Chop

Serves 4 - 6

For the meat:
5- 6 pieces of pork cutlets
2 tablespoons water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 beaten egg
Pinch of finely ground white pepper
About 10 cream crackers (or you can use normal breadcrumbs or panko)
Vegetable, peanut or ground nut oil for frying

Vegetables:
2 small - medium waxy potatoes, cut into wedges
2 red onions, cut into wedges
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Large handful of canned or frozen peas
Vegetable, peanut or ground nut oil for frying

Sauce:
10 tablespoons water or stock
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons tomato ketchup
5 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon HP sauce
1/2 tablespoon chili sauce/hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon finely ground white pepper

1. Tenderise the pork by flattening the cutlets with a mallet.

2. Marinade the  pieces in the water, salt, sugar, beaten egg and white pepper.

3. Peel the potatoes and cut them into chips (or whatever shape you like!). Soak them in water to prevent them from discolouring.

4. Pound he cream crackers till they resemble breadcrumbs.

5. Cut the onions and tomatoes into wedges, and chop up the garlic.

6. In a bowl, whisk all the ingredients for the sauce.

7. Drain and pat dry the potatoes and shallow fry them wok or pan in oil till they're golden brown on the outside and soft on the inside. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Reserve the oil for later.

8. In another pan or wok, heat up fresh oil. Coat the cutlets in the breadcrumbs and fry them till golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

9. Using the reserved oil from the potatoes, fry the onions till they soften and become translucent. Then add the garlic and fry for a minute.

10. Add the sauce, then the tomatoes and peas and simmer till the tomatoes soften.

11. Slice up the pork cutlets.

12. Throw the potatoes and pork back into the sauce to heat up, and serve immediately. (Or, you can place the potatoes and pork in a low oven after frying to keep warm while you make the sauce, then pour over the sauce when ready to serve. )

* You may wish to either increase the amounts for the sauce, or decrease the number of pork cutlets to 4 or 5, or use smaller potatoes, depending on whether you like lots of sauce or not. If you like loads of sauce to eat with steamed rice, I suggest using 4 or 5 cutlets, and smaller potatoes. Or, increasing the amount for the sauce!

I've also done a recipe for Cantonese style Sweet and Sour pork. The sauce and ingredients differ slightly from Hainanese Pork Chop. The former uses slightly fatty pork, while the latter uses lean pieces of pork. 

During the colonial days in Singapore, British households employed Hainanese cooks and this dish was named probably because it was Hainanese cooks who made it.

It must have been what they thought was Western food as it consists of tomato ketchup and potato chips (fries), HP sauce and Worcestershire sauce. But they also used traditional Asian ingredients such as oyster sauce, making it a truly fusion dish. 

To view other Singaporean food recipes:

The Real Singapore Noodles - Char Bee Hoon
Singapore Mutton Soup - Soup Kambing
Pigs Organ Soup 
Singapore Prawn Noodles Soup
Hainanese Chicken Rice
Fishball Minced Pork Noodles
Crockpot Singapore Chicken Curry
Crockpot Chinese Hamburger - Kong Bak Pau
Kung Po Frog Legs
Chinese Roast Pork Belly

Crockpot Chinese hamburger/Kong bak pau

Serves 4

3-4 pieces pork belly,  1-1.5 cm thick
4 cloves garlic
2 slices ginger
3 tablespoons dark soy
3 tablespoons light soy
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Splash of tsao tsing wine
1/4 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
3 cloves
1 star anise
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon Chinese five spice

1 tablespoon sugar or honey
Enough water to cover pork

To serve:
6-8 white buns
Coriander leaves to garnish

1. Combine all ingredients except the pork and water.

2. Add pork and enough water to cover the meat.

3. Transfer to slow cooker and set it to Auto for 2-3 hours.

4. Steam buns in a steamer or microwave just before serving.

5. Slice pork into square pieces to fit in between the buns.

6. Serve with fresh coriander leaves and extra sauce. 

Crockpot Pulled Pork

Serves 4-6

1 large white onion, sliced thin
1 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
350 - 400g boneless pork butt or shoulder
¼ + ½ of the quarter cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
¾  teaspoons sugar
¼  teaspoons dijon mustard
2-3 crushed garlic cloves
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons soy + 4 tablespoons water

Extra
Sugar
Salt
Vinegar
Cayenne

1. Rinse pork roast under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

2. Place onions in crock-pot. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, paprika, kosher salt and pepper; mix thoroughly. Rub mixture all over roast and place the roast on top of the onions.

3. In a medium bowl, combine vinegar, Worcestershire, red pepper flakes, sugar, mustard, garlic salt and cayenne pepper; whisk to combine. Drizzle about 1/3 of vinegar mixture over roast and soy + water mix. Cover and refrigerate remaining vinegar mixture.

4. Cover crockpot; cook on low for 6-7 hours.

5. Remove meat and onions; drain. Chop or shred meat and onions and mix with extra sugar, salt, vinegar & cayenne.

6. Place the chopped meat back into the pot to keep warm and drizzle about the rest of reserved vinegar mixture over the meat.

7. Serve with coleslaw in a hamburger bun.

* This is adapted from My Baking Addiction. I wasn't over the moon about this recipe but it still tasted good. Will have to experiment more. 

Mini pork pies

Makes 6

Pork filling:
 350g pork shoulder (including fat), or combination of pork shoulder and fresh sausage meat to make 350g (you can use all sausage meat if you like)
 110g back bacon rashers, derinded

2 garlic cloves, crushed

 1 sprig fresh thyme with leaves removed
 salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper

Optional: 2-3 anchovy fillets, chopped, with 1/2-1 teaspoon of anchovy oil

Hot-water crust pastry:
 450g plain white flour, plus a little extra for dusting
 a pinch of salt
 50 ml milk
 50 ml water
 150g butter

Glaze:
 1 large egg yolk

Equipment:
1 jumbo 6-cup muffin tin

1. If using pork shoulder, coarsely chop in a food processor or hand chop with a knife into 1cm cubes or smaller but don't mince.

2. Combine all the other filling ingredients and pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

3. Measure flour and salt for the crust into a mixing bowl.

4. Cut butter into cubes. Add milk and water into a saucepan, and add the butter. Place the pan over gentle heat. When butter has melted, turn up the heat to bring it up to a boil. As soon as it does, pour it over the flour and mix with a wooden spoon till it forms a dough.

5. Turn the dough out on a work surface to bring it altogether. Take 2/3 of the dough and divide it into 6 parts. Roll each part into 6 balls and place 1 in each of the muffin tin.

6. Press each ball onto the base and up the sides of the cup to the top. The pastry may tear but don't worry, just fix it by pressing some more pastry on the tear. This pastry is very easy to work with, so if there's a mistake, don't panic! Treat it like play dough.

7. Spoon equal amount of pork filling into each of the cups.

8. Sprinkle more flour on the surface and roll out the remaining pastry and cut out 6 rounds for the lids.

9. Paint each of the edges of the lids with beaten egg yolk, and over turn it onto the muffin cups. Use a fork and press to seal the egg-yolked edges onto the top of the pies.

10. You can use any left over pastry to make decorations. Glaze the tops using the rest of the egg and make a 1 centimetre steam hole in each pie.

11. Place the muffin tin on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes on middle shelf. After 30 minutes, remove the baking sheet from oven.

12. Remove the pies from the muffin tin carefully using a knife and oven gloves, and place directly onto the hot baking sheet.

13. Place it back onto the oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until the pies are golden brown.

14. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Serve hot or leave in fridge for a cold lunch.

* This is adapted from Delia Smith's recipe. I've simplified it a little with the ingredients. Omitted the anchovy essence, allspice, sage and mace. I mostly have thyme in my kitchen so that's why I used it in this recipe. You can really use anything you like or have! In this recipe I have doubled the pastry measurements from Delia's original recipe as I didn't find there was enough. 

Singapore fish ball minced pork noodles

Serves 2

A. Fish balls:
2 fillets of mackerel, skin removed
¼ tsp salt
1 chili padi, seeded and chopped
3 stalks spring onions, green part, chopped (save the white parts)
½ clove garlic, minced
pinch white pepper

B. Minced pork:
minced pork, palm sized
½ clove garlic, minced
spring onion, white part, chopped
1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce
Splash soy sauce
Few drops sesame oil
Few drops fried shallot oil (you can find them store bought in a jar)
Splash tsao tsing wine
Pinch white pepper

Mushroom sauce:
5 dried shitake mushrooms
5 large fresh oyster mushrooms (you can use fresh shitake too)
2 cloves garlic, minced,
1 slice ginger, minced
1 small red shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon dark soy
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Splash Tsao tsing wine
peanut oil
cornstarch (1 teaspoon of cornflour mixed with 2 teaspoon of water)
Pinch white pepper

C. Noodle sauce:
1 tablespoon Oyster sauce
Splash Soy sauce
5-10 drops Sesame oil
1 tablespoon Singlong Super Chili sauce
Very small spalsh of black vinegar (be careful of using too much, put a little bit at a time till you get the taste that you want)
white pepper

Fresh noodles, Hong Kong style or any fresh egg noodles, e.g mee pok
Boiling water with a handful of ikan billis and dried shrimp
Spring onions and fried shallots with shallot oil for garnish

1 Marinade mince pork by mixing all of B together.

2. Add all of A together and blitz t in food processor till it clumps. This will take quite a while. You need to be patient - if you don't process it enough you won't get smooth fish balls.

3. Transfer to a mixing bowl and pick up the mixture and then whack the clump of fish against a bowl a few times. ( I don't know why they do this but my mother said it had to be done.)

4. Divide fish mixture into 8. Wet hands and form fish paste into a patty, add a small marble sized minced pork in the middle and cover and roll into ball. Repeat with the rest. Lightly oil your hands and coat each ball so they won't stick. Set aside.

5. Reserve the rest of the minced pork.

6. Boil dried shitake in small saucepan of water till soft. Drain and reserve the liquid.

7. Cut and discard the stems off the boiled shitake and slice. Slice the fresh mushrooms.

8. Add peanut oil to a sauce pan with garlic, shallot, ginger. Saute till soft and add the fresh and dried mushrooms. When slightly brown, add tsao tsing wine.

9.  Add enough mushroom liquid to cover. Add the rest of the ingredients, except cornstarch. Boil for 10-15 mins. When taste is right, slowly add the cornstarch to thicken. Set aside on very very very low heat to keep warm.

10. Mix all the ingredients for the noodle sauce C.

11. Boil water in one pot for noodles, and boil water in another pot with ikan billis and dried shrimp.

12. Add the fish balls into the pot with ikan billis & shrimp. Let boil for 5 mins.

13. Boil the noodles for 2-3 mins and drain. Divide into bowls and mix it with the sauce.

14. While fish balls are still boiling, boil the minced pork in the same pot with a strainer/kitchen spider until meat turns opaque. Remove from water and add on top of noodles.

15. Add the mushroom sauce on top of noodles.

16. Remove fish balls and transfer onto noodles.

17. Garnish with fresh spring onions and fried shallots with shallot oil.

18. Spoon some of the ikan billis/shrimp/fishball/pork stock into bowls as side dish.

* This is my own recipe so and I'm not very good at taking down measurements so these are just estimates. I don't even normally follow other people's recipes to the tee either - cooking is all about gut feel! 

Swedish Meatballs

Serves a very full 3 or small 4

minced beef (200g)
minced pork (250g)
1 egg
1 small onion, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
100g panko
pinch of nutmeg
oil for frying
200ml beef stock
200ml double cream
400g of new potatoes
fresh dill or english parsley, chopped
4 tbsp lingonberry jam


1. Mix beef & pork mince, nutmeg, onion, garlic, breadcrumbs and egg together with a generous pinch of salt and pepper.

2. Roll and shape the mixture into lots of walnut-sized meatballs. Knock each ball against the palms of your hand.

3. Peel the washed potatoes into a steamer and steam for 15 minutes.

4. Heat some oil in a non-stick pan and fry the meatballs until they brown all over.

5. Add the beef stock and cream to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens. Add pepper to the sauce and place onto plates.

6. Remove the potatoes from the steamer and toss with some butter, salt and pepper.

7. Chop the dill/parsley and garnish before serving with the potatoes and with a dollop of lingonberry jam on the side.

* Tip: If you can't find lingonberry jam (Ikea has them), use cranberry jam, or a mixed berry jam will work just as well. 

* I got this recipe From Sorted Food (with my own little tweak). Great recipe!! 

Sweet and Sour Pork

Serves 4

For the meat:
500g Sweet & sour pork cut , diced into 2 inch pieces
(the Chinese butcher will know which cut it is. If he doesn't, just use pork belly with rind removed, or pork loin that has quite a bit of fat on)
1/2 teaspoon sodium bicarbonate
2 tablespoon water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 egg yolks
1 or 2 pinches of ground white pepper
4 tablespoons cornflour
Peanut oil for frying

Vegetables:
2 red chilies, de-seeded and cut into chunks
2 large red onions, cut into wedges
3 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large or 2 small green capsicum, deseeded and cut into chunks
1 cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
2 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
6 spring onions, cut into 2 inch pieces (for garnish)

Gravy:
10 tablespoons stock or water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons tomato sauce/ketchup
4 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon A1 or HP sauce
1/2 tablespoon chili sauce
1 or 2 pinches of ground white pepper
11/2 tablespoons cornflour mixed with 2 tablespoons water

1. Mix all ingredients for the gravy, except the cornflour mixed with water, and set aside.

2. Prepare all vegetables and set aside.

3. Add all ingredients for the meat, except cornflour and oil, and marinade for 15 minutes.

4. Heat the oil in a wok.

5. Place cornflour on a large plate and coat all the pieces of pork.

6. When the oil is hot, fry the pork, and lower the flame to medium/high heat. Fry till crispy and brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towel.

7. Remove the oil and leave 2 tablespoons. (If it's cloudy, use fresh oil).

8. Fry the onions and chilies till it's slightly softer, add the garlic. Fry till fragrant.

9. Add the gravy and then add the vegetables (except spring onions). Stir and lower the flame to medium, and cover for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft but still have some crunch to them.

10. Stir the cornflour and water mixture. Increase the flame to high till it's boiling, and slowly stir in the mixture little by little, until the sauce slightly thickens.

11. Add the pork and let it simmer for a minute.

12. Remove from heat and add the spring onions. Serve.

*This recipe is from my mother, who took it from an extremely old recipe book written by a famous Cantonese chef, Tham Yew Kai. She photocopied the page and gave it to me so there's no link online to the original recipe! You can see I was following the recipe as the photocopy of it is in the picture in the background on the right.

I've kept the sauce exactly as the chef has written, but changed up some of the vegetables. You can adapt it and change those too. I also omitted the vetsin or MSG. The original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon added to the marinaded pork. 

To be honest, Mum used a tiny tiny bit of MSG in her cooking growing up. A bit of it changes the flavour of a dish dramatically. I'm not totally opposed to it, as long as you don't use it every single day in every single dish, I'm sure it's probably OK!