Halloween

Wednesday nite is like playing Hell Kitchen for real these days. Ever since I started school and Bez's term begins, we only have Wed, Sat & Sunday to actually sit down and have a meal as a family. And with the uncertainty of weekends, Wed has now officially become the "eat as a family's day".
So needless to say, we will go all way out. Planned menu way ahead. Cook a storm and timing it to be ready all on time so that it will be piping hot. .... just like Hell's Kitchen.
And for this week, the menu is Potato Salad, Celery & Carrot Sticks with dips, Fresh Homemade tomato soup and Braised Pork Knuckles with chinese bun.

Potato salad with sour cream, chopped boiled eggs & bacon bits. Tad of mustard for that extra tangy taste. . Prepared way ahead and chilled..Bacon bits added later
This is my first attempt with tomato soup. A pretty straight forward and easy dish to prepare. But not very good with the roux and it did not turn out thick and creamy enough. Otherwise, very refreshing and tasty. Very appetizing and mummy gives the thumb up. About 20 mins to prepare.
Hmm, this is great. A new recipe that I kind of concocted. Not original, probably been done before, but what i mean is, I did not follow any recipe. Its one of those that just go with your instinct kind of dish. First I heat up some salad oil, add a piece of rock sugar. Don't ask me how much.. just a decent piece of rock. Stir, stir and stir some more, making sure it don't burnt. Once it melted, add the pork knuckles. (hey don't forget to wash first). And oh yes, cut up that knuckles cos 1 big piece takes longer to cook and the sauce don't seep in as well. But not too small cut; still need to be a big chunky cut.
Brown the meat for a bit, sealing in the juice. Smashed a few cloves of garlic, and add to the meat. Then pour in two cans of beer. I used Tiger. See the froth above. Meanwhile place some anise and peppercorns in a little cloth bag and add them to the beer broth. Actually a piece or two of cinnamon will be good but I'm out of it. Add some dark soya sauce for color, a bit of soya sauce and salt.
Just let it simmer for a while, cover and lower the heat. Cooked for about an hour. Make sure it don't dry up. Add hot water if it did. Season to taste.

Served it with hot steaming bun. My own version of Kong Bak Pau.