Monday 10 March 2014

Roasted Pork and Preserved Mustard Green Soup


I am actually a little bit embarrassed about this soup because it came about due to me misunderstanding a recipe.
Chef & Sommelier did a tasty looking Braised Chinese Mustard Greens with Roast Pork, Mushrooms and Dried Scallops which got me galloping (it is after all the year of the horse) to the pork section at Aeon to get siew yoke (roasted pork).



I could not find any Chinese Mustard Greens because this vegetable likes to play tricks with me. On days when I don't want to buy any, there will be bunches of fresh and beautiful mustard greens displayed on the shelves. Whether in Tesco or Aeon it is the same. But when I want to buy some, they would all disappear. Grrrr....So I thought, oh well, I'll just get the pickled ones and be done with it.



When I got home, I happily set my groceries down and quickly nipped upstairs to the computer to check Alvin's recipe. Yikes! It is a braised dish lah! I really don't know why I thought it was a soup. I wanted soup and that's why I did not cook the braised dish. The only thing I followed was to deep fry the garlic cloves. And I am glad I did that because it made a difference to the soup.


I love the deep fried garlic cloves.

There were 2 carrots and 3 tomatoes sitting in the fridge and they all joined the pickled mustard greens and siew yoke in the soup pot. I also added 2 pieces of asam gelugor and 4 dried chillies into the soup. You've guessed it, this is not something new but the old "Chye Boey" soup which is usually cooked with leftovers. No regrets whatsoever as the soup turned out so great. It was salty and sour with lots of smoky flavor from the siew yoke. After a day or two, the flavors were even better. A delicious outcome from a recipe misunderstood!








Roasted Pork and Preserved Mustard Green Soup
Recipe source : Phong Hong (In a moment of confusion)

Ingredients :
- Roasted Pork (Siew Yoke) about 500g, sliced
- 2 packets of preserved mustard greens (400g)
- 2 ripe tomatoes, cut into quarters
- 2 small carrots, cut into chunks
- 2 pieces asam gelugor (use less if you don't want too sour)
- 4 dried chillies
- 10 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole (optional but do it for more flavour)
- 1.5 litres water or enough to cover the ingredients

Method :
1. Heat oil in wok and deep fry the garlic cloves until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
2. Rinse the pickled mustard greens and slice into bite sized pieces.
3. In a soup pot, add roasted pork, pickled mustard greens, tomatoes, carrots, asam gelugor, dried chillies and fried garlic.
4. Pour in the water to cover the ingredients and bring to a boil.
5. Lower heat and simmer covered for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The longer you simmer, the more flavours will be released into the soup. 
6. Best kept for a day before serving to develop the flavours.

Note : No salt is added because the siew yok and pickled mustard greens are already salty enough.


I love this soup with lots of freshly cracked black pepper and crispy fried shallots.

42 comments:

  1. This is “choy keok” yes? My mum calls it this name from young, so I always call it “choy keok” too, though some will call it “suen lat choy”..

    You know, I have this weird immediate superior, there was one time she was cooking this in the pantry, so I went to 8 and said “Wah, your “choy keok” smells nice”.. She felt very offended and quickly corrected me, “No, don’t say “choy keok” lah, I use fresh ingredients, this is “suen lat choy”… Duh…I know lah she uses fresh ingredients, this “choy keok” is just a name used long long time ago when people chuck everything into one pot and cook together due to the cold weather..

    With this “soup” alone, I can already wallop 2 bowls of rice! Hmm, good to throw in some carrots and tomatoes as well, keke, though I don’t see carrots or tomatoes in my mum’s “choy keok”.. But who cares, janji sedap !!

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    1. Louiz, your superior actually cooked the choy keok in the pantry? Or she was reheating it? I love this soup a lot. Hot, salty and sour. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Shall I cook it again this weekend? Hmmm...I think I might!

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    2. She cooked in the pantry la.. Using rice cooker.. She put everything into a bowl, and covered the bowl with a plate (so that there would be no smell), and "steam" in the rice cooker lor.. Just a small bowl enough for her own consumption only, but a lot of "liew"..

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    3. Oh, OK.....so can do simple cooking in office pantry. That's quite good, no need to go out and eat. I don't mind eating choy keok for lunch. Aiyo, feel hungry again liao.....

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  2. Oooo...looks good. Haven't had preserved veg for a long time now. Hmmm...think I'll go to the market tomorrow.

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    1. Yes, you should cook this soup. So easy and yet so, so good!

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  3. I love this soup a lot, yours sounds like a marriage between chye boey and kiam chai theng :)) Must be very tasty with the generous addition of siew yoke!

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    1. Your are right, this two soups combined is superb! And with siew yoke, that makes it very luxurious and very tasty.

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  4. This could be a beautiful mistake, Phong Hong. I like the siew yoke!

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  5. In fact, I am going to cook this "Chai Ber" tonight, as I have some leftover meats..yum yum..

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  6. I'm glad it turned out tasting good in the end. It sure looks tasty ;)

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    1. Cathleen, it has to taste good with roast pork in it. Can't go wrong with roasted oinks!

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  7. Lol..playing hide n seek with the vege. Hmm...not only you. I kena before few times. Hv the vege..no ingredients. ..n vice versa.

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  8. A very appetising dish, yum!

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    1. Veronica, this is a soup that will make you over eat!

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  9. My favourite dish....usually I like it a little sour. Mmm.....yum!

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    1. Mel, me too like it sour. That's why I often put extra asam gelugor.

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  10. Hi Phong Hong,
    I love soups like this! Salty and sour! I could even eat a big bowl of this soup alone, without any rice! Or flood the rice! Haha! Eaten with some sliced chili padi and see yau, or if rajin, make some sambal belacan! Drooling already!
    A delicious accidental soup, thumbs up!

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    1. Hi Joyce! That's what I did, had the soup as my main meal. And how could I forget the sambal belacan? Tsk..tsk..tsk...next round the sambal must come along too. I'm thinking of having the soup again :)

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  11. I like this too - the salty sour is so addictive! Well done!

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    1. Thank you! I can never get tired of this soup.

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  12. Phong Hong you make my saliva dripping titektiek l love this soup the left overs taste much better .You must eat it with hot (pound with chilli padi)sambal belachan.Emily loves this soup.I have some left over boney pieces of roast duck which l can use to cook this dish

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    1. EE, I would love to try this soup with roast duck pieces. I think it will also be very sedap!

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  13. Hi Phong Hong,

    You mean that you are confused and still can cook a delicious dish... Hmmm! I like to be confused too :p

    Zoe

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    1. Hi Zoe! Hah...hah...this is good confusion...

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  14. Hi Phong Hong, this is an 'evergreen' dish with most Chinese families esp. when they have roasted pork and pork legs. So long as the dish tasted sourish and salty, it's good. The longer it is braised the tastier it is and no one would say it's cooked the wrong way....

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    1. Kimmy, that's what I love about this dish. It always comes out right and is so tasty. I feel like cooking it again. With pork legs!

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  15. Ooooo I like this... very appetizing... can makan with a lot of rice!

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    1. Yen, I wish I could have it with rice! I had the soup by itself as my main meal. so good!

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  16. Hi Phong Hong, even though it's a misunderstood recipe, I can see that the outcome is still as good as the original's. Roasted pork always goes well with fresh or preserved green mustard. I can have 2 big plates of rice just with this dish alone! Whether it's stewed or soup, I know that I would still love it as it's very flavorful and appetizing! Regards :)

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    1. Hi Ivy! You are right, the soup turned out very good and I enjoyed eating it for a few days hah..heh...

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  17. Wow! I would love the entire bowl of soup...so comforting and delicious! Every recipe you make my dear friend, is 'out of this world'... amazing!

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    1. Thank you, Elisabeth! You really motivate me to cook more often!

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  18. Hi Phong Hong, very appetizing soup. I sure love this too without the rice...just eat on it's own.:))

    Best regards.

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    1. Amelia, glad that you love this soup!

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  19. ha ha I laughed reading your post! Your confused dish doesn't look confusing as it looks delicious!

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    1. Hi Mich! Good thing the confusion produced a delicious soup or else I would have been so disappointed :)

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  20. I love this dish, my absolute favorite must have dish after CNY :D so yummy!

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    1. Jeannie, it is not only yummy but so easy to cook. It is a "lazy" cook's soup hah,,,hah...

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