Salted Fish & Pork Claypot 咸鱼花腩煲

Can you recognize this dish? It is a popular dish in central Peninsula Malaysia. We used to order this dish when we were in Kuala Lumpur, but now that we have moved to Penang, we could hardly see this dish in Chinese restaurants here. I adopted a few recipes and modified to my own version, but definitely it was a proven working recipe. ;) This dish goes well with white rice, so remember to cook more rice. The only constructive comment I received was the lack of burnt flavour from claypot. So we will get a claypot soon! :)

For the salted fish:

Cut the salted fish into small cubes. The quantity should be double from the above picture. Fry until golden. Set aside.

For the meat:

Cut 300g 5-layer pork into thin stripes. (It is easier to cut into thin stripes when the meat is slightly frozen. For this, place the pork into freezer for 20 minutes.) Marinate with 1/2tsp sugar, 1/4tsp salt and 1tsp light soy sauce for more than 1/2 hour. Add in 1tsp corn flour and mix well. Blanch with hot oil. Set aside.

For the sauce:

Use medium heat for the whole process. Stir fry 6 ginger slices(It was not captured in the pictures), 1 onions and 8 dried chillies with some cooking oil left from frying the salted fish. Then add in meat, 1tbsp oyster sauce, 1tbsp shaoxing wine, 1tsp sugar, 1/2tsp sesame oil and 1/4tsp pepper and enough water to cover the meat. Add in enough black soy sauce for colouring. Simmer with lid on for 40minutes. Add in half of the salted fish. If it is too dry, add a bit of water and simmer with lid on for another 15minutes. By now the gravy should have thickened(if not turn to maximum heat), add in 2 stalks of green onion and remaining of the salted fish. Mix well and serve immediately.

Tomorrow is Public Holiday and we will have 3 days long weekend! Happy weekend everyone!