Black Pepper Crab (Dry)

This is one of the most famous/popular dishes in Singapore. All friends from overseas must try out this dish.

My brother Alan came to Singpaore two weeks ago and his friend brought him to Long Bridge @ East Coast to feast on the crab. Highly disappointed, he commented that the standard there had dropped. It was fantastic a few years back when he ate there. Seems like the chef just steamed or boiled the crabs and simply pour the black pepper gravy and serve. The crab was so watery and tasteless.

With that craving for good, tasty black pepper crabs still lingering in his mind, the very next day he proceeded to a supermarket and purchased 2 crabs and a bottle of black pepper sauce. He said he could cook it better than Long Bridge - You guys working there please pay attention and really do something about it.

My girls were so excited to see uncle Alan and they witnessed the cruelty of life when this nice uncle, for the sake of filling his appetite, slaughtered the crabs. "What a weird man who eats such ugly thing", they must be thinking.

I guess this is the first time they have such close encounter with the creature - one of them still alive, so I let it crawl on my kitchen floor.

By the way, this is also the first time they've eaten crabs. Shanice loves the dish though it is spicy. I am surprised by her love at 1st sight (or rather 1st mouthful). She had to drink lots of water while eating this spicy dish. She complained that the dish was hot but she kept asking for more.

I must say my family members are foodies and all of us love to cook. My bro kept his word and it turned out to be a tasty treat. I know I should not eat crab cox I had a C-section recently but I just can't help myself seeing good food laid in front of me...

Char Siew (Roasted Pork)

I make this almost every Monday because I promised to cook this dish whenever Shanice has phonic class. She doesn't want to attend the extra classes that we parents signed up for her, so we kinda push and entice her to go on. Char Siew is one of the favourite "meat" dish she like. I think she's born a vegetarian... From very young age, she'll ask for celery, cucumber, sweet pea and all kinds of fruits. It always take her ages to chew on meat except Char Siew...

I didn't roasted this in oven but using a short cut method. You can try this way if you don't have a oven but a small toaster...

First, choose your preferred parts. I prefer shoulder butt which has more fat and the meat is more tender when it is done but my hubby prefer lean so I did both. Just wash the pork and marinate it with salt. Then use about 3 - 4 table spoon of "Lee Kum Kee" Char Siew Sauce, some cooking wine, garlic, shallot and ginger. Stew it with slow fire until the meat is tender and the sauce is reduced and thick enough to coat the meat. It'd take about 45min, I think. Then use toaster or oven (high heat) to bake for about 15min. You'll have a juicy and tender Char Siew..

I always cook extra and chill it, cox my girls like Char Siew with Marcoroni too.

Pig Trotter Vinegar with Ginger

People either love or hate this dish. Some ppl couldn't stand the smell of vinegar but some of my friends can drink a big bowl of the vinegar itself (my ex-colleagues will know who!!!).

I think you can only find this type of sweet vinegar at Outram wet market near Temple Street, so I made a special trip to buy a big jar of this vinegar (in photo) + 1 bottle of HK "8 treasures" sweet vinegar. The hard work is to scrap off the ginger skin. The rest is simple... just boil it once a week so to make the ginger less spicy, and more seasoned to taste. I preferred sweeter in taste so I added a packet of slab sugar to sweeten the vinegar. Then just add the pig trotters whenever you're ready to eat. As usual I used my pressure cooker to cook the pig trotters, or you may have to stew it for hours.

My hard work paid off as most of my friends like it and I've been eating this dish everyday for 2 weeks.

Papaya Soup