Kung Hei Fat Choy - Pata Tim

I have a bone to pick with my wife. She is convinced that I can't cook chinese. This has to be so atypically Chinese that she will have to notice. We had this tonight and well. . . even I was surprised. My son, it was certainly a step above pata cooked in pares sauce, like most pata tims. So here it is Braised Pork knuckle or Pata Tim!

I whole pata (about 1 kg.)
A strip of cinnamon bark about an inch long
2 whole star anise
1/2 tsp Ngo Yong or 5 spice powder
1/2 tsp of Salted Black Beans, the canned or bottled variety that was sitting in brine
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of water (just to start, eventually you'll need one cup more)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp of ginger sliced into coins
1 jigger of rum or brandy (I used both)
2 large bay leaves
about 10 whole black peppercorns

This is a low stress dish that you dont have to shake around or pay too much attention to.

Wash the pata and pat dry. Let it sit in a dutch oven and pour the vinegar and half cup of water over the pata. add teh bay leaves and pepper corns, the star anise and cinnamon bark and sprinkle the Ngo Yong. Allow to boil

Once it starts to boil, set teh flame to low and cover. Now go get a beer!!

Every ten to fifteen minutes or so, turn the pata over

As the water level goes down to about 1/2 inch, add some water, never let it get dry.

Check if the pata is cooked after an hour of simmering, just stab the meatiest part with a fork, if blood runs out cook it some more, once the liquid runs clear, its ready for the rest of the ingredients.

Add the soy sauce, black beans, oyser sauce and sugar, and the liquor, make sure you pour or sprinkle all of this over the pata. Now cover and allow to simmer some more

Every 10 minutes or so, turn the pata, be gentle the skin starts to get soft as the fat breaks down.

I like to baste it every time i turn it over to keep it moist.

As the water goes down to a low level, add some more water gently so as not to cool the sauce too suddenly.

I took 2 1/2 hours to cook this from start to finish, It should take just as long for you. You want to make sure the vinegar smell is gone.

Take the pata out of the pot and strain the sauce over it.

With hot plain rice, or kua pao bread, its a winner.

Gong Xi Fa Tsai - Steamed Cream Dory Fillet

What better way to herald the Year of the Ox than by serving up some Chinese Food!! This simple steamed recipe was inspired by a tv show i saw once about New YOrk's master Chefs. From a restaurant called Auntie Yuan, the twist really is the use of bell peppers, unlike typical steamed fish which is just leeks and ginger.

2 pcs Cream Dory fillets
1 medium bell pepper sliced lengthwise
2 stalks Onion Leeks cut into 3-4 inch stalks
1/2 cup ginger finely sliced slivers
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp fine chopped garlic
Sesame Oil to flavor

Fry garlic in a small amount of oil. Hot oil cold garlic then turn the flame down to low. As the garlic slowly turns a deeper color, remove from the pan and transfer to a ceramic dish. The garlic will continue cooking and become a nice crisp light brown emulsion without the bitter garlic taste

Put water to boil for the steamer. I have a round steamer, not the commercial kind so prep the fish to fit in a plate. In my case, split it in half.

Let the fish lay flat on the plate and layer the vegetables.

First the peppers, then the ginger, then the leeks.

Drizzle with soy sauce then place into the steamer.

Turn up the heat in the steamer and let it cook for 12 mins. Try not to look at it, whenenever you open the steamer, it immediately brings the temperature down too low.

Check for done-ness, a butter knife should go right through the fish without resistance. Drizzle with a few drops of sesame oil and a scant tsp of your crispy garlic to give it an aroma and serve at once.

We had a nice and lively white from portugal with this one.