I have been obsessed with preserved pork ever since I tried Tao Yuan’s cabbage with the cured meat. I am in awe of how cabbage can taste so good and not in a vegetable-side dish kind of way.

 

When my friend Vivian got hold of Chinese-style preserved pork from Jash Mart along Wilson St. in Greenhills and shared her pack with me, I came up with many instant dishes that are perfect for impromptu dinners.

 

The recipes are easy to cook for busy days, when you crave for something tasty without spending hours cooking. A little bit of the preserved pork goes a long way, enhancing the dish both in aroma and flavor.

 

Another wonder ingredient that I have recently added to just about every Asian dish I cook is shallot sauce, sold at Little Store (2 Jose Abad Santos St., Little Baguio, San Juan City). What it really is are fried shallots preserved in the oil they were fried on. Just a bit of the sauce makes any dish smell so good.

 

Preserved Pork Rice with Chinese Sausage

 

4 tbsp vegetable oil

1/3 c preserved pork, chopped

150 g liempo, sliced into thin strips

2 chinese sausages, sliced

2 tbsp shallot sauce

2 tbsp garlic

6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced (soaked in warm water, reserve water)

1/3 c small shrimps, peeled

4 c jasmine rice, uncooked, washed

4 c chicken stock

2 c mushroom water (water where shiitake mushrooms were soaked)

3 tbsp light soy

1 tbsp dark soy

Pepper

 

1 c sliced cabbage or ½ c cabbage and ½ c sliced bok choy

 

On a clay pot, heat oil and brown the liempo, add the chorizo and preserved pork.

 

Add shallot sauce, garlic, mushrooms and shrimps.

 

Add rice and all the liquid ingredients except the cabbage.

 

Bring to boil and immediately lower heat. Simmer. When rice is almost cooked, mix the cabbage leaves.

 

Season to taste.

 

Garnish and serve.

 

Note: Remember to use the same measuring cup for the rice, the stock and mushroom water. This recipe can be made on a rice cooker, too.

 

Garnish:

 

¼ c fried shallots (you can make your own or heat ¼ c of shallots from the shallot sauce and drain them on a paper towel)

 

Coriander stalks coarsely chopped with stems

 

3 fresh red Thai chilies

 

Fine chili or Sriracha sauce, serve on the side

 

 

Chicken ‘Adobo’ with Preserved Pork and Shallot Sauce

 

 

3 tbsp oil

1 k chicken thigh quarter, cut each thigh into 3

2 tbsp coarsely chopped preserved pork

1-2 heads native Ilocos garlic, peeled and pounded, adjust garlic to taste

2 tbsp shallot sauce

1 tsp whole black pepper

4 tbsp vinegar

1 bay leaf

Pinch of sugar

Salt

Patis to taste

 

Heat oil and brown chicken. Add preserved pork, garlic, shallot sauce, peppercorns, bay leaf and cook until fragrant.

 

Add vinegar and water just enough to submerge chicken. Put a small pinch of sugar. I find that doing so enhances the preserved pork.

 

Simmer over low heat until liquid has reduced and the chicken, tender.

 

Season to taste with salt and a bit of fish sauce, the use of both gives depth to the adobo.

 

Serve garnished with fried garlic and shallots.

 

Cabbage with Preserved Pork

 

The Tao Yuan chefs shared the recipe but did not include the measurements, so I am sharing what I did with my cabbage. This recipe works well with 250-300 grams of assorted vegetables, too, such as zucchini, cherry tomatoes, French beans, blanched broccoli, thinly sliced carrots.

 

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, sliced

2 tsp garlic

Pinch of dried chili

2 tsp dried shrimp, soaked

1½ tbsp preserved meat, chopped

3-4 tbsp stock

1 tsp light soy

Cabbage, coarsely chopped, 250-300 g

 

Heat oil in a wok. Add dried chili. Add onions and garlic. Add preserved meat and dried shrimps and cook until fragrant.

 

Add stock, light soy and cabbage. Cook cabbage through. Season to taste

 

Oatmeal Congee

 

I cooked this for my Healthy Heart seminar at St. Luke’s Global. Of course, when I did it there, I did not use preserved pork!

 

2 tsp sesame oil

2 thin slices of ginger

1 tbsp shallot sauce

1 c rolled oats or brown rice (do not use instant oats)

6-8 (+/-) c chicken stock (adjust according to preferred consistency)

Pinch of sea salt

 

Heat sesame oil, add ginger and shallot sauce. Combine the rest of the ingredients.

 

Simmer over low heat until oats or rice grains are tender and the porridge thickened to your desired consistency.

 

Serve with condiments.

 

Note: I use Australia Harvest for my oats and if I use brown rice, it is Dona Maria—Japonica or Miponica, whichever I have.

 

Condiments: Arrange individually on serving bowls.

 

Green onion, chopped

Preserved pork, chopped and heated in a pan, drained from extracted fat

Chicken, cooked and flaked

Fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced and sautéed in oil

Coriander, chopped

Century egg

Fried wanton

Light soy sauce

Sesame oil

 

‘Sinangag’ with Preserved Pork and Shallots

 

2 tbsp preserved pork, chopped

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp garlic

1 heaping tsp shallot sauce

4 c rice, day-old preferred

2 tsp light soy sauce

Salt

Green onions for garnish

 

Heat pan. Add oil and slightly brown garlic. Add preserved pork and cook for a few seconds to extract fat.

 

Add shallots. Add in rice and soy sauce. Mix and toss until rice is heated through. Season to taste with salt. Garnish with green onions

 

 

 

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