Braised Pork in Dark Soy @ Tau Ewe Bak

 Going back to my roots I reckon. For the life of me, I must've gotten it jot down somewhere, but I suppose I must've lost it in my many moving & relocation (both hasty and planned)

I tend to think I know how to make it, at least in theory although I'm not blessed with great memory (notwithstanding various useless or pointless ones) but I am sure I didn't make it even once.

So anyway into our 3rd (or was it the 4th?) week ever since Mom's fall, I kinda overheard M & D talking about getting pork this morning and how long it was since they had Tau Ewe Bak and bringin sexy bak and its' traditional side dish of Pickled Radish, so that's it, my creations are put on hold as today's dishes are for them.

Tau Ewe Bak has no ewe of course, and is readily available in most mix rice stalls, although it is annoying to find decent ones anywhere to be honest. Typically made with fatty cuts as oh-my-goodness-the-fat-THE-FAT is the main reason peepur scoops this one-potter anyway, but of course I suppose it could be made with just any cuts of your fancy and health choice; but today Dad got suggestive-sold a nice piece of leg, perhaps he forgot/confused with Mom's instructions (which is typically norm, especially everyone) and lo' since I groggily rolled off the bed with a mission at the most opportune time of 10:30, no yegs eggs today, but its alright, had a half-assed plan to switch this single dish to 2 dish for the day.

no garnish at the moment @ smells too darn good too appetizing

Tau Ewe Bak / Braised Pork in Dark Soy, with dried mushrooms, fried tofu & beancurd skin

Ingredients

0.8-1.0	Kg	Pork	Cut bite-sized
1	Cup	Dried Mushroom	Pre-soak; cut if desired, with or without stem is fine
		Bean Curd Skin	Pre-soak; 3-4 sheets should be fine close to equal amount to mushrooms
2	Pcs	Tofu	Fried; or fresh tofu; quartered or larger if desired
2-4	Pcs	Eggs	Hard-boiled; whole. Halve when serving
4	Clove	Garlic	Minced/Mashed or Hulk-Smashed
1	Inch	Ginger	Young; minced
		Water	As required, much much later, 1-2 cups
3	Tbsp	Dark Soy Sauce
2	Tbsp	Light Soy Sauce
1	Tbsp	Fish Sauce & Rice Wine	Optional
1	Tbsp	Sugar	Brown
1	Tsp	Five Spice
A few	Dash	Sesame Oil

Method

1. Soak Mushrooms and Bean Curd Skin. Double soak skins if needed. If not adding Yegs, proceed to (2)

A) hard boil Yegs, discard shells.

2. Assemble Pork cuts, Garlic, Ginger, Dark Soy, Light Soy, Rice Wine & Sugar in a claypot (or any pot) on low heat.
3. Mix well and simmer.
4. Gradually add Mushrooms & Curd Skin to marry flavors. Tofu and Eggs could go in much later, although not necessarily.
5. Be mindful of the liquid not drying out; add Water when needed, preferably when all ingredients were in. Keep in mind the consistency shouldn't be too light.
6. Add Fish Sauce, Five Spice & Sesame Oil for taste. Leave to simmer

Prep Time : 20 mins

Cook : at least 30 mins

Technically, I find myself having loads of time when preparing this one-potter, (yeah, it was since my fried tofu was made last night, it must've looked too good nobody touched it, or the other dishes were too awesome) so I did a side pickle and prepped the next dish, while looking at the only working stove slowly braising and giving it a loving finish.

Pickled Radish

I suppose this is just too simple to really put it in a recipe? Ok, in point:

• Radish; Thinly Sliced (my mistake of hand-cutting it, should've just mandolin-ed the whole thing, but hey I got time
• Salt rinse the slices of radish, discard water
• Cover with a decent amount of rice vinegar/ or apple cider vinegar if ya fancy
• Adjust a good scoop of brown sugar
• Cover and turn and the whole skippy version of quick-pickling and refrigerate
• Pick / Slotted Spoon off for plating, sans pickle juice, serve with toasted sesame seeds, and maybe a lovely drizzle of balsamic vinegar for color (nah, the pics plain, since I've misplaced my coveted bottle of balsamic somewhere oh-the-horror)

must be shaking from hunger cant get a single focus in 5 pics

the Salty & the Sour, in synergy with the Sweet & the hint Savory.

So there you have it, this combo is traditional; even though for my young (ehem) life I can’t recall having this combination in the past, but perhaps I did.

I just need 45 mins to actually blog about this offline, there goes my reason of not to blog about these 3-4 weeks, I've procrastinated on forgoing any videos and just making a collage of the few pics and in a single summarizing post with/out recipes (as if my memory could serve that many MBs lol)