Bakwa Sushi

Bakwa is just 'Numero Uno!', that yesterday I made some sushi with it. You won't regret it, trust me! :-)

Bakwa is a cured sweet and salty pork jerky but because I kept it in the freezer; it will be much nicer if it is slightly grilled using a non stick pan to make it a little greasy and flavorful before inserting it into the sushi.

Asian Savory Spaghetti

Asian Savory Spaghetti served in one of my favorite childhood vintage enameled tin plates

Cooking is an 'adventure' for me where I can explore as far as I like to. There's a zillion of recipes to experiment with and so many ingredients and spices to explore. In the end you can always come up  to something that fits your standard and appetite. Your own recipe!

However, I have a big issue. I hate to spend tons of money shopping ingredients just to learn or cook one new recipe and not sure of when I will be using the leftover ingredients! Instead, I like to invent my own recipes with ingredients I have in my fridge! I'm sure some of you can identify with it! :-)

So this morning, again, I am making breakfast for my family. And today I'm going to make an 'East meets with the West' kind of recipe, of course with all the dry and fresh ingredients I have at home and in the fridge! Yay!!

It's a fried spaghetti and I call it "Asian Savory Spaghetti" because I'm using a couple of ingredients that are specifically from Asia and mostly used by the Chinese and Indians: Cumin powder and Bakwa (Chinese Sweet and Salty Pork Jerky). I am glad with the fact that I still have some more Bakwa in my freezer. It's just as good for fried rice and fried noodles as it is slightly fried with a little oil and served with steamed rice! So, let's start cooking!

Ingredients:
1 cup of Sugar Peas Pod, whole
1 cup of red/purple cabbage, shredded
2 cups of mixed-color Paprika/Bell Pepper (green, yellow, orange and red), chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
10 hot red pepper
6 small spring onion
1-2 pieces of Bakwa, cubed
500 mg of Spaghetti
1/2 cup of vegetable oil or olive oil
11/2 Tbs of Cumin Powder
Salt
Water

How to:
1. Boil the spaghetti until all dente, set asside and continue to heat the oil in the skillet. Sauté garlic until brown and fragrant. Stir ini onion.

2. Then, add the hot pepper, Bakwa and Cumin Powder. Stir until the meat is slightly crisp and fragrant.

3). Put the cabbage and bell pepper.

4) Stir until slightly cooked.

5) Because sugar peas pod only takes a while to cook and best when it's still crunchy, make sure you add it after the other veggies are tender.

6) Add in the spaghetti and a little water to help making all the ingredients blended.

7) Sprinkle salt, adjust it to your own taste but make sure it's not over, so it won't overwhelm the taste of other ingredients. Stir until all ingredients are well blend.

8) Done!

Rainbow Fried Rice

One of my morning routine is to prepare breakfast for my mom and myself. Just like usual, I like to cook from what I have in my fridge. So, this morning I made fried rice because I have some left-over steamed rice in the fridge plus other ingredients I just bought the other day. So here it is the Rainbow Fried Rice!

 And here is the ingredients:
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 cloves of onion, sliced
- a handful of sugar pod peas, halved
- a handful of Iceberg lettuce, chopped
- a handful of cilantro leaves, coarsely minced
- Some bell-pepper, chopped (mix color of green, yellow, orange and red)
- 5 hot chilli pepper, diced (optional)
- 2 eggs
- a piece of Bakwa (Chinese sweet & salty pork jerky), diced 
- 3 plates of steamed rice (it's best if refrigerated overnight)
- 3-4 Tbs salted soya sauce
- 2-3 Tbs sweet soya sauce 
- salt
- 3 Tbs vegetable oil

Local Indonesian Salty and Sweet Soya Sauce

How to :

1) Heat the oil in the skillet and sauté the garlic until fragrant, stir in the onion and chilli pepper, stir until brown and to be followed by the eggs.

2) Then, stir in the Bakwa (pork jerky), add about 2 Tbs of salty soya sauce, stir until it's fragrant and the eggs cooked. (I happened to have some Bakwa left in my freezer, my sister bought them from Singapore about 3 weeks ago. I like it because the flavor and the sweet taste of it enrich the taste and flavor of the fried rice, but certainly you can substitute it with other meats, sausages or even shrimps.)

3) Add Bell Pepper, stir until it's cooked.

4) I also added some leftover fresh-Iceberg lettuce from the other day. Stir well.

5) Now, you can add the rice in. Using a stainless frying spoon, try to break all the lumps of  rice by pressing the spoon onto the rice until it blends with all the ingredients. 

6) Stir in cilantro leaves and add more salted soya sauce and salt.

7) Last but not the least, add the sweet soya sauce, stir well for another minute. And there you go, the Rainbow Fried Rice is ready to be served! Put some cilantro leaves as garnish.