Corn Tortillas and Slow Cooked Pork Tacos

I was going to have tacos. Of course, a lack of good corn tortillas in this country was a bit of a limiting factor but I was determined to try making my own at home and I pictured myself wrapping them around tender pork, lots of delicious salsa and definitely some chopped fresh coriander. Oh, just the thought of them has me thinking of making them again this weekend.

However, the process didn’t go entirely smoothly at first. I made the amateur mistake of confusing masa harina and masa arepa. Both are corn meals made of precooked corn but only masa harina is made of corn that’s undergone nixtamalization (it’s cooked in an alkaline solution) and is the correct one for making corn tortillas. Just to confuse things, the side of the package of masa arepa that I purchased first (PAN brand) states that it can be used for tortillas too. I bought my masa harina from the Cool Chile Co. (Maseca is also a famous brand).

On our first go at making corn tortillas, we pressed them using a heavy pot…quite painfully and tediously. The next day, I went straight out and bought a proper cast iron tortilla press (again from the Cool Chile Co.). Oh, how it makes life easier! Fresh corn tortillas are pressed so quickly and without any effort whatsoever! I can’t believe I’d been buying corn tortillas (sometimes taking up precious space in my suitcase when I was travelling back from the other side of the Atlantic) when they’re so easy to make at home!

Corn Tortillas

Take 2 cups of masa harina and mix with a little less than 1.5 cups of warm water. Mix together to a dough – it shouldn’t crumble (too dry – add water) or stick to your hands (too wet – add masa harina). I read somewhere online that it should have the texture of play dough and that’s truly how it felt. Let sit for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, heat a cast iron or nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Take a plastic freezer bag and cut two circles of plastic out of it – they should be big enough to line each side of your tortilla press. Take a small golf ball sized nugget of masa dough and roll it into a ball. Place in between the plastic circles and flatten in the tortilla press (I like mine quite thin – it’ll be about the size of the palm of your hand, I think). Peel off the tortilla and slap into the hot pan. Cook for about 30 seconds on the first side, flip and cook for a minute on the other side, flip again and cook for another 30 seconds. On the final side, the tortilla should start puffing up – pressing down on the tortilla can encourage it. Take out of the pan and cover with a clean dish towel. Repeat with all the masa.

You can eat tortillas with any meal, of course, but it’s most fun to make tacos at home. I slow cooked a lot of pork shoulder the first time I made tortillas, shredded the results and used that as a very simple filling for tacos.

Slow Cooked Pork for Tacos

1.5 kg pork shoulder, cut into chunks
juice from a large orange
2 bay leaves
1 chopped onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients together in a slow cooker and set on high for 4 hours (mine only is set to high – it’s a rice cooker – though I reckon perhaps low on a regular slow cooker for 8 hours is also ok). Take out the meat and shred with two forks or your hands. A lot of liquid would have come out of the meat – I used some of it to moisten the shredded pork. Serve with corn tortillas.

The pork is a bit plain on its own. Better is topping your tacos with some pico de gallo. Or if you’re pressed for time/ingredients, just chopped onions pickled lightly in lime juice.

Pico de Gallo

1/2 a small onion, chopped
1-2 medium sized tomatoes, seeded and chopped
a very small handful of fresh coriander, chopped finely
juice of half a lime
salt

Mix all the ingredients together and then chill until ready to serve (give it an hour, I reckon, for the flavours to meld).

Now you’re almost ready for tacos!

Set out some chopped fresh coriander, a salsa (I’m working on recipes but this was just a good canned salsa verde), perhaps some sliced avocado or guacamole, sliced radishes and lime wedges and you’ve got a taco party! Well, it was just for two in our case but yeah, a party!

The best part is that you’ll have plenty of pork leftover. I suggest frying up some of it in its own lard (the edges go all crispy…mmmmmm) and having more tacos! There will definitely be more taco adventures in my future.

 

Breakfast Burritos Aren’t Just for Breakfast

Why are breakfast burritos generally limited to, y’know, breakfast time? I love that combination of cheesy, eggy, savoury goodness all wrapped up in a neat handheld package and I reckon it’s suitable at any hour of the day.

I wish breakfast burritos were more of a thing here in the UK; in the States, even McDonald’s serves them (they also have biscuits but that’s a rant for another post)! Luckily, they’re easy and quick to put together. Quick enough for a weekday dinner!

Breakfast Burritos

In a frying pan, fry some chopped onions and perhaps some chopped bell peppers until soft and then add meat (chorizo, breakfast sausage, ham, bacon – chopped), maybe some chopped leftover potatoes too. I used chorizo and some tater tots first baked in the oven. A couple of tomatoes wouldn’t go amiss here and when it’s all almost done, perhaps some wilt down some spinach in the mixture. Salsa and jalapeno peppers are good too. Beat a few eggs together and season the mixture with salt and pepper. Pour it all over the mixture in the frying pan and throw in a good handful of grated cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese. Gently fold together until the mixture is set. Take off the heat.

In another pan or in the oven, heat a flour tortilla or two until warm and pliable. Pile on the egg mixture and fold up like a burrito. Eat with salsa or hot sauce.

And sure, they’re also good for breakfast, brunch or lunch!

 

Braised Beef and Daikon

It sure doesn’t feel like spring… maybe it was an April Fool’s joke by someone or something above but there was a bit of light snow coming down in west London in the early afternoon today. Spring weather it may not be but it’s still perfect weather for braises and stews.

Braised beef and daikon is a traditional Cantonese stew and most classic recipes online call for Chee Hou sauce, a ready made sauce of soybeans, ginger and garlic used for Chinese braising. I have no experience with the stuff and didn’t have any of it to hand but I did have a tub of white miso paste in the fridge. A spoonful of it went it and didn’t hurt it one bit. Melt-in-the-mouth beef, tender daikon, lots of thick sauce that’s perfect over white rice – this will keep you warm on the inside!

Braised Beef and Daikon
serves 4 with rice.

600-800g beef for stewing (like braising steak, shin, brisket)
2 tbsps oil
4 slices ginger
3 large garlic cloves
80ml Shaoxing wine
2 tbsps oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 heaped tsp miso paste
1-2 star anise
1 stick cinnamon/cassia
a sprinkle or two of white pepper
a small chunk of rock sugar
3-4 cups water
1 small to medium sized daikon
2 tbsps cornstarch

Cut up the beef into large chunks. Heat up a pot over medium heat, add the oil and then brown the beef on all sides. Add the ginger and garlic and stir for a minute or two until aromatic. Add all the other ingredients except the daikon and cornstarch and stir to mix. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat so that everything is just at a simmer. Half cover the pot and let it do its thing for about 1.5 to 2 hours. You want that beef to be tender.

Peel and cut the daikon into large chunks. Add to the cooking beef and then continue cooking all together until everything is tender. Mix up a cornstarch slurry by combining the cornstarch with cold water and then stir as much as you desire into the sauce to thicken it to your liking.

Serve with rice and other dishes if desired. Stay warm, everyone!

 

Khao Kha Moo

It took a couple of attempts but I’m finally happy with this recipe for khao kha moo, a Thai dish of braised pork leg on rice. This is apparently one of the most popular dishes in Thailand but I’ve only ever seen it once in London, at my local Thai restaurant and it was only a special that day. I haven’t seen it since.

Luckily, it’s very easy to make at home. All that’s needed is time and all the spices in your kitchen cupboards. The pork leg (I used a hock) is quite an economical cut too. Do keep the skin on your pork hock – it has a great texture after all that braising. Some recipes online have you fry your pork hock first but I don’t bother to keep things easier and it turns out just fine. Do serve this with lots of white rice and either a boiled green vegetable (I boiled up some spring greens) or pickled vegetable to have on the side. And the sauce isn’t optional – its strong garlicky tang helps cut through the richness of the pork.

Khao Kha Moo
serves 2-3.

1 pork hock (approx 800-1000g)
6 cups water
1/2 cup light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark thick sweet soy sauce
1 large chunk rock sugar
3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp five spice
6 black peppercorns
1 tsp salt
4-5 sprigs coriander
5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

for the sauce
3 cloves garlic
1 large green chili
1 tbsp sugar
2-3 tbsps rice vinegar

to serve
cooked white rice
boiled greens or pickled greens

Place the pork hock and all the braising ingredients into a large pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to leave it at a simmer and then half cover the pot and let it braise for at least 2 hours or until the pork is starting to fall off the bone.

In the meantime, blend together the ingredients for the sauce. Set aside.

When the pork hock is tender, remove it from its braising liquid and let cool enough to handle. Slice the meat (and the skin too!) and plate with the rice and greens, pouring some of the braising liquid over. Serve the sauce on the side.

 

How to Hotpot at Home

Hotpot! Steamboat! Firepot! Chinese fondue! Whatever you call it, it’s a great communal and social meal, particularly suited to colder weather. It’s also quite a celebratory meal suitable for Chinese New Year, the hotpot supposedly symbolizing the coming together of family and friends. We had one with close friends on Chinese New Year eve last Saturday and it was a good night, with everyone stuffing themselves silly. I love the interactivity of the meal, the casualness of it too, the time there is to chat while the food cooks.

I’m terrible at taking photos when I’m hosting but here’s most of the setup in the photo below (vegetables and noodles were on another table).

I thought I’d throw together a general guide to having (Chinese) hotpot at home that’s mainly based on what I grew up with though I’ll also list some of the variations I’ve come across from my experience and in my research. Needless to say, this is not a be-all and end-all guide to hotpot – I don’t even cover the Japanese, Vietnamese or Thai variants!

First, the setup:

Setup: Pot on a butane burner, pot on an induction heater, electric hotpot, electric wok, rice cooker.

Base: Water, broth/stock, tom yum, Sichuan mala, herbal, mushroom, satay stock, congee.

I’ve had anywhere from 2 to 10 people around one large pot set in the middle of a table! I use a butane burner I purchased from a Korean supermarket and each of the butane canisters (about £1.50 each) last about 3 hours. I know friends who have a tabletop induction heater or electric hotpot. As students, we just brought out our rice cookers and used those!

For a base, I usually use water or a broth but it’s quite easy to go with a tom yum, herbal or mushroom broth too. I’ve not made a Sichuan mala base from scratch but there are packets you can buy from any good Chinese supermarket that you can just dump into water to generate your fiery inferno. Some people get one of those divided pots that let you have two different soup bases but having a dedicated pot for hotpot is not possible in our tiny flat!

The main benefit of having a water or broth base is the ridiculously rich broth you get after cooking all of your ingredients in there. At the end of the meal, you can toss in eggs, noodles and/or cooked rice to generate a fabulous soup.

I conducted an informal survey on Twitter on what broth is popular for hotpot at home and I thank everyone who answered! @GarySoup has a half and half pot, half Sichuan mala and the other half is just plain water. @hollowlegs also opts for two flavours: super spicy and a herbal broth. It’s also Sichuan mala broth all the way for @christineyeo. @mummyicancook uses a spicy seafood stock (yum!) or a pork and chicken and dried scallop broth. @applelisafood uses a kombu broth for the Japanese shabu shabu or tom yum or the ever popular Sichuan mala! @noodlesue goes simple with a clear chicken broth. @mangolisa also plays mix and match – sometimes it’s tom yum, other times ikan bilis (a broth using Malaysian dried anchovies) and most of the time it’s chicken. @food_blogger never uses ikan bilis and always uses a pork and chicken broth. Finally, @garlicconfit builds up lots of fresh flavour with chicken, ginger, spring onion and coriander. As you can see, there’s no one single correct hotpot base!

For my broth last weekend, I used a few chicken wings, a couple of dried scallops and some chunks of daikon for sweetness.

Now onto the ingredients.

Meats and Seafood: pork, beef, lamb, chicken, Spam, ham, minced meat for meatballs, fish balls, prawn balls, cuttlefish balls, fish cake, prawns, sliced fish, squid, octopus, cuttlefish, crab sticks, crab.

Vegetables: Chinese leaf, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, gai lan, choi sum, tong ho, ong choi, bok choy, pea shoots, lotus root, spinach, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, button mushrooms, straw mushrooms, taro.

Other: Soft tofu, firm tofu, fried tofu, gluten balls, eggs, quail eggs, rice vermicelli, mung bean threads, udon noodles, egg dumplings, dumplings, beancurd sheets.

Having all of those ingredients in those lists above is a bit of overkill! However, a good selection from the Meats and Seafood, Vegetables and Other would be what I suggest. Everything should be in relative bite-sized pieces so they’ll cook quickly and evenly. Meats are best when sliced thinly – it’s not that easy to do at home and so I purchase them ready sliced. These may be found at some Asian supermarkets (I’ve seen them at Chinese, Korean and Japanese ones) and try looking in both in the fresh and frozen food sections.

I rather enjoy laying out the ingredients in a pleasing manner but if I do feel lazy, everything just gets dumped into a bowl.

What else should there be at the table?

Utensils: Chopsticks, spoons, bowls, small dishes for dips, hotpot strainers or slotted spoons, ladle.

Sauces/Dips: sesame oil, sesame paste, chilli oil, chopped coriander, minced garlic, soy sauce, black vinegar, sliced spring onions.

Set out chopsticks, a spoon and a bowl and a small dish for dips for each person. If you don’t have hotpot strainers, you can use slotted spoons though you’ll have to share and there may be impatience, especially when a choice item is scooped up.

For the sauces, lay out what you have – these are just suggestions! Lately, I’ve been mixing up a dip mixture of sesame paste or oil, chilli oil (and the sediment), coriander, a touch of soy and black vinegar.

Finally, how to partake of hotpot! Set your stock to boil in the pot and slowly add your ingredients. Try starting with the meats and seafood first and then finishing with the vegetables and noodles and eggs, when the broth has had time to develop. If you have some cooked rice, adding it to the rich broth at the end makes for a delicious soup, maybe even with a beaten egg?

Don’t put everything in at once. Add a few things, let them cook, fish them out, dip and eat. Repeat until you explode. As time goes on, you’ll likely need to top up the stock with hot water or more hot stock. You’ll also need to adjust the temperature of the pot to prevent it from overboiling or staying still and stagnant.

The photos below are of a hotpot setup from a previous year. This was just for two, which shows you that you can have hotpot for any number!

If you can’t be fussed to have it at home, many Chinese restaurants are now serving it (of course, it does end up being more economical at home!). To have hotpot in a restaurant in London, I recommend Sichuan restaurant in Acton for mala hotpot and Little Lamb in Chinatown. I’ve also heard good things about Tian Fu‘s all-you-can-eat mala hotpot and Mongolian Grill‘s wide range of broths in Clapham Common. The Randomness Guide to London also has an auto-generated list of places they’ve reviewed that serve hotpot.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten something. What else do you enjoy about hotpot and what ingredients or soup bases are a must in your home?