Air-fried Chinese Roast Pork Belly

I must confess. 
As much as I love roast pork, esp the crackling, I've never attempted this at home ... til now.
Fearing all that splatter in my oven and the smells that might contaminate my cakes, etc etc, I've managed to live on store bought roast pork. In this region, I can get by quite happily since there are so many good ones about. 
Then the air fryer came about, caught my eye, got me wondering, wanting, checking out various recipes that have been successfully done in one. I've been putting off getting an air fryer for the longest time. You know, new toy, play with it for awhile, get tired of it and then makes way for the next new gadget and takes up what little space I have. Wait and wait some more ...shall I, shan't I?
Then I visited a neighbouring country and found a locally made air fryer for less than half the price of the popular branded one. Everything about it screams COPY but hey, works the same and it might be sitting on the shelf in a couple of months due to boredom or whatever. Why the heck not?

So here I am, trying out everything I possibly can with it. And boy, I am so happy with this thing, I'm willing to put it in the same <3 category as the slow cooker. 

I've done the basics of potato fries, eggplant, you know .... zzz
I needed to do this at least once and you can see why I'm so happy with it. The crackling turned out super! I'll definitely be making this again.

Cleaning was easy and the color was nice and even. And I believe it takes a shorter time than in a regular oven. Meat below the crackling was moist and tender. The only complaint is having to pierce the skin....I really need to find a better and easier way to do that. But, Oh, the satisfaction of seeing that bubbling crackle!

I'm using the basic instructions from bakecooklove and tweaked some.

Ingredients

about 700g pork belly (with skin intact, cleaned and wiped dry)

salt
white vinegar

Marinade: 

1 tsp 5 spice powder
half tsp white pepper
pinch of salt
roasted garlic paste (just plonk a whole bulb of garlic in the air fryer, cook for a few minutes @ 180°C until it's soft enough to mash)

Method

I did not blanch or boil the meat as instructed as I figured all that natural sweetness would just go to waste. 

Pierce the skin with a fine, sharp skewer. Don't get lazy with this part. The more holes the merrier. 
Rub the marinade ingredients into the meat part only.
Leave in fridge overnight uncovered to dry out the skin.
(I pierced more holes after drying out the skin ... )
Preheat the air fryer at 180°C.
In the meantime, brush the skin with white vinegar and coat with salt. (Just put salt in a wide bowl or plate and dip the skin onto it. )
Wrap the bottom part with foil, leaving the skin exposed.
Air fry for about 20 mins. Remove from air fryer and scrape off the caked up salt.
Air fry again for about another 20 mins or until skin is nice and golden and crackly.

Enjoy while warm. 
Should there be any leftovers (you're kidding!), just plonk it into the air fryer for about 3 mins and the crackling will be nice and crunchy again. 


For those who are thinking of getting an air fryer but in doubt of which to get, here are some reviews of certain models which you may or may not find in your area. 
https://www.reviews.com/air-fryer/

Hot Sauce (Sriracha) Chicken Wings

There are so many types of chilly sauce here, locally made to suit our very fireproof tastebuds. I’ve only come across the name “Sriracha” in the American blogs and recipes. And I don’t think it was even on our grocer shelves til recently. 
I’ve ignored it for the longest time, never having a need for some foreign brand telling me it’s better than what I can get at home. 

Then this recipe popped up. The gooey deliciousness got to my tummy and I. 
Drool, I did. Make, I want.

I was sure this could also be made using our local chilly sauce / hot sauce. But then, I’ve never tasted Sriracha. Who knows, maybe it’s got an interesting flavouring that makes the recipe. Gotta get a bottle. Bought, I did.

Meh. It’s hot sauce. Chilly sauce, minus the sugary sweetness that many of our local brands favor. Now I can truly say … yes, this can also be made using our local chilly / hot sauces … minus the honey.
The thing that makes this more interesting is the bergamot leaves. It gives it an exotic flavor and a beautiful scent to the whole “burn my tongue silly”. 

(Recipe adapted from Slow Roasted Italian)

INGREDIENTS

6 chicken wings (drummets to tips, whole or separated)
1/2 cup Sriracha sauce
1/2 cups honey
1 tbs butter
juice of 1 lime
2 tsps finely shredded bergamot leaves (lima purut), divided

METHOD

Toss everything with 1 tsp of shredded bergamot into a slow cooker. 
Stir to coat chicken wings.
Cook on high for 2-3 hours. 
Remove wings gently (gets very tender and might fall to pieces) and place on a lined baking pan.

From this point, you can broil the chicken wings immediately and baste with the watery liquid or reduce the liquid to a thick syrup and then baste and broil and baste and broil …. to your heart’s content and until it’s slightly caramelised.

Remove from oven.
Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp shredded bergamot leaves and serve warm.

Easy Dinner Rolls

Oh ….

My ….

Gawdness!!

This must be the easiest and fastest bread recipe I’ve ever tried!

And they turned out super!

Soft and tender crusted rolls. Not the hard crust dinner rolls.

My bread machine decided to die on me. I haven’t been making bread since my tennis elbow injury. 

Tried a “No Knead Bread” recipe. It was ok … no great shakes. 

Tonight I had a hankering for some plain soft buns, slathered with butter. I can wolf down a half dozen easily and then regret it all later when I feel like a hippopotamus that can’t swim. So yum!

Had to make some. 

Used a regular stand mixer this time, using the dough hook attachment. 

This is gonna be a repeat recipe for sure …. many, many repeats…probably with some improvisations later. 

Do not be shocked by the amount of yeast. It doesn’t turn out yeasty. All’s good. Tested, tasted and approved by several tonguebuds ...or maybe they're just being polite? 

(Adapted from kitchenmeetsgirl)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup plus 2 tbs warm water

1/3 cup oil (I used grape seed oil)

2 tbs active dry yeast (I used instant yeast)

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

3 1/2 cups bread flour / high protein flour

2 tbs butter, melted (for brushing)

METHOD

Preheat oven to 400ºF / 200ºC.

In the bowl of the stand mixer, combine warm water, oil, yeast and sugar. Give it a quick stir and leave to rest for 15 mins. You should have a foamy mush by then.

Mix 2 cups of the flour, salt and egg into the yeast mixture using dough hook attachments. 

Add remaining 1 1/2 cups flour 1/2 cup at a time.
Knead until you have a smooth and elastic dough.

Shape dough into 12 balls (I made into smaller ones and got 18).

Place dough balls into a large baking pan, spacing them apart enough for dough to rise until about doubled in size. Alternatively, you can also bake them in muffin pans.

Let rest for 10 mins (I left mine for 15 mins) or until doubled in size.

Bake for 10 mins (I baked for 10 mins, took them out and brushed with some melted butter and baked a further 5 mins) until tops are just golden brown.

Soooo goooood!!

I've used it as a burger bun, loaded with char shu (Chinese bbq meat) and pickled gherkins with a slathering of mustard. It's a little lighter than the usual burger buns. Okay if the filling isn't too heavy. If you're looking for a good burger bun, you can use this. Great buns for anything.

*Note: unused dough can be frozen before proofing stage. Wrap in cling film and freeze. Thaw, shape and allow to rise to double its size and bake as per instruction above.

East Meets West Char Siew / BBQ Meat

I have to admit this isn't the regular Char Siew / Chinese Sweet Bbq Meat recipe. I had discovered this combination of ingredients due to a spur of the moment inspiration (also due to a lack of the proper ingredients in my pantry) and it seemed to work really well together. There is the super Chinese ingredient (Dong Quai/Chinese Angelica) and then there's the super non-Chinese ingredient, Liquid Smoke (I'm not claiming it's American, altho I was introduced to it in the States, coz I'm not too sure where this originated from).... hence, East meets West, and formed a great alliance.... world peace :D

There are many versions of this roast meat, even chicken meat have been used in place of pork for the non porky people but I'll have to say that it's just not the same. The fat in the pork belly is actually what gives the moistness and richness in the taste and of course the kind of "sweetness" that only pork fat can give.... yumminess!

Here goes ... some Chinese folks will be shaking their heads at this ... oh well....

INGREDIENTS

1/2 kg pork belly (not too fatty, skinned)

2 tbs hoisin sauce

2 tbs thick caramel soy sauce

1 tsp ground white pepper

1 tsp food grade rose water (it's suppose to be rose wine but I didn't have that)

1 tsp liquid smoke (this can be replaced with Worcestershire sauce & is optional, it's just to give it a smoky flavor)

1/2 - 1 tsp ground Dong Quai / Chinese Angelica herb (also optional)*

*(you can also substitute the Dong Quai with 5 spice powder altho it will result in a different flavor)

METHOD

Divide belly into 2 - 3 strips. (The thicker the strips the longer it takes to cook).

Put everything into a baggy, coat the meat well and leave to marinade overnight in the fridge.

When ready, preheat oven to 200˚C.

Remove strips of meat from the baggy, saving the marinade for basting. Place meat on parchment-lined baking tray. Roast for 15 mins. Turn meat over, baste with marinade and roast for another 10 - 15 mins. Remove from oven.

Heat a non stick pan or grill pan, brush the meat with the leftover marinade. Char meat a little or as much as you like, baste and char other side. Remove from pan and leave to rest for 10 mins before slicing.