Friday 22 August 2014

Oriental Style Pork and Potato Stew


I was brainstorming the other day (this happened two months ago, this is a stale post hah..hah..) to decide what to cook for a Sunday dinner. And that was a Tuesday, mind you. I like to plan ahead. I have to have a schedule and I like my household run in military precision. Call me mad, but that's how I roll.




As usual before I started my daily grind , I checked my blog reading list. I chanced upon Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House's Chicken and Potato Stew. It looked like a very substantial and delicious dish. I scanned through the ingredients and I had everything except for the chicken. But I had some pork shoulder loin in the freezer. That was it! My Sunday dinner conundrum solved.



I have changed the cooking method slightly as I did not parboil the potatoes. That was just me being lazy and I added the potatoes about half hour after simmering the meat and other ingredients.

The aroma from this stew is really fantastic. I do not fancy red dates but it did bring something special to this stew. I omitted sugar from the recipe as I reckon the red dates would add sweetness because I doubled the amount used. 



My partner was very impressed with this stew, describing it as "powerful". I had to agree because it tasted really good. Imagine the fragrance of sesame oil, shiao xing wine, garlic and red dates. So very appetizing! Do hop over to Tze's blog for her original recipe. Thank you Tze for this fantastic stew!









Oriental Style Pork and Potato Stew
Recipe source : Adapted from Awayofmind Bakery House

Ingredients: 
- 500g pork shoulder loin, cut into bite sizes
- 4 potatoes, each cut into half
- a small handful of black fungus, soaked in water until soft (I used the small variety)
- 8 shitake mushroom, soaked
- 10 red dates
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 5 cloves garlic, minced

- 4 slices ginger
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 3 tbsp cooking oil
- 100 ml shao xing cooking wine
- 400 ml water


Method:
1. Heat the frying pan and add 3 tbsp cooking oil.
2. Add sliced ginger and fry until lightly browned.
3.  Add minced garlic and fry over low heat until fragrant. 
4. Add pork and fry over high heat.
5. When the meat changes colour add mushrooms, red dates, black fungus and stir fry for a minute.
6. Add water, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and cooking wine. Bring to a boil and simmer covered for about 30 minutes.
7. Add potatoes and continue to simmer until meat is tender and potatoes are cooked.
8. Adjust seasoning and serve hot. Enjoy!



46 comments:

  1. Morning Phong Hong.. When I see pork and potato stew, I terus think of "sue zhai mun chue yok".. Me from small eat until big leh.. Mum always "mun" potatoes with siew yok with oyster sauce.. Sometimes potatoes and chicken, in the same sauce..
    My style same as yours, but mine minus the mushrooms, red dates and wine.. I don't usually use red dates in cooking.. Only use it in boiling soup - the usual old cucumber soup, radish/daikon soup, "sai yong choi" (watercress) soup and chicken herbal soup only..

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    1. Hi Louiz! I love this stew. Must try your version for something different. I like this kind of easy throw into the pot dishes. It doesn't take up too much time and effort and yet comes out delicious.

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  2. nice....i dont want the meat...just the gravy with rice is already very yummy liao

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    1. Ya lor. The gravy itself is nice liao. And the potatoes too.

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  3. I reckon this will be something I can go with two bowls of rice (again), haha!! all these while I have had only mushroom chicken/pork or potato chicken/pork, but never had once both mushroom and potato together!! now that both in my favorite list meet, what else I can say to resist?? haha.. somore ada extra black fungus too, aiyooo, I can imagine the wangi-ness already while typing this comment!!! you are so bad, and you know what, you didn't sprinkle spring onion somemore!!!! muahahaha~~

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    1. SK, I love this stew! All my favourite ingredients are in there except the dates. But I was OK with the dates, the smell was not too strong. This dish, no need spring onions hah..hah....

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  4. It looks special and yummy !!

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  5. Phong Hong.. thanks for sharing this recipe! I never thought of adding red dates, sesame oil and the wine as well.. I usually add the others only... mushrooms and black fungus.. yes, I think this will be very fragrant!

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    1. Hi Claire! I guess yours is the simpler version which is also very good. This is my first time eating this type of stew. I love it!

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  6. Good morning Phong Hong! I thought that I was going to post my final recipe but looks like I'm not going to do it now. I have decided to quit blogging! I think you could guess by having hearing nothing from me for such a long time! These days have been giving 90% of my time to my children, helping them study & doing school project, week after week. And this is also the reason why I chose to give up this hobby & focus on my children first! I have removed comment column from my blog. If you want to contact me, pls email me. jessienwl@yahoo.com Take care my friend!

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    1. Hello Jessie! Long time no see. Aiyo, I am so sad that you are quitting blogging! But I understand that you have to set your priorities. Children and family must come first. Blogging is a nice hobby but as we all know, it is also very time consuming hor? Me even without kids find it hard to keep up! But never mind, I can still contact you via email. And I can still visit your blog for recipes. Please take care my friend. All my best wishes to you and your family!

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  7. Ooooo...nice! Mine is simpler, Foochow style, I guess - always simple and easy-peasy, not so many ingredients...but also nice.

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    1. Even the simple version would taste very good. This is my first time and won't be the last cooking this delicious stew!

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  8. Are/were you an engineer? I can relate to being meticulously precise :D
    Don't like black fungus, it is one of the few things that I cannot tolerate, the texture just makes me cringe. That's why my mom loves to cook it whenever I go home to visit. She will cook everything that she thinks is nutritious but I hate, and shove it down my throat as much as she can while I am around.

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    1. Engineer? Oh no, that's my dad and not me hah..hah...I have always loved black fungus since I was a kid. Ah, mums will be mums. Even if you are forty, in her eyes your are still four hah..hah...

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  9. Hi Phong Hong, you are not mad, me too plan days ahead cos' I have to look for the ingredients and also trying to clear off some from the fridge. Cooking by stewing method is good for busy people like us, hehehe!. I bookmarked this to do too but haven't. This dish looks nutritious.

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    1. Hi Kimmy! Oh, good to hear you are like that too :) I love this dish a lot. Easy to cook but so delicious.

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  10. Waa....I just cooked this dish last night, but mine without recipe, just my agak-agak cooking with pork ribs...I didn't add dates and mushroom or the wine but added 5-spice and some cloves and cardamons....I too added the potatoes towards the end of the stewing...:D

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    1. Hi Jeannie! Ya lah, can agak-agak. But it was my first time, so I follow recipe lor. But now I think I can also campak-campak like you hah..hah...

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  11. that is yummy ... i like mushroom :P :P

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  12. Hi Phong Hong, either my eyesight is really getting worst or your lemony chicken post still linger in my mind ... I was wondering why got big yellow lemons in your stew! LOL! These are Potatoes ! Ok yes I know this stew is very delicious!

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    1. hahahaha!!! Karen, you made me laugh so loud!

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  13. Hi Phong Hong, This stew dish looks really delicious. I love to add more black fugus and potatoes :)

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    1. Hi Ann! That is what I plan to do when I cook this stew again.

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  14. including red dates into the stew is certainly superb! Tho whole dish will be brimming with fruity sweetness...
    I prefer your way of making the gravy,which is not overly blackened by soy sauce.I don't like those stews which are overpowered by the saltiness of soy sauce.Yours is just adequate,well done :)

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    1. Thank you, Fabiany11! This is a good stew and I am glad that I found it on Tze's blog :)

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  15. Love your stew. Good to pair with white rice!

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    1. Hi Cheah! Yes, if I had my way I would have had a second helping of rice LOL!

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  16. Hi Phong Hong,
    This looks delicious! We love stew, and these would be polished off in no time! Yummilicious!

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    1. Hi Joyce! I wanted to cook it again last weekend but realised that I ran out of ginger hah..hah..

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  17. Hello Phong Hong,

    I love to eat those golden yellow potatoes! This dish looks so delicious especially with those tempting potatoes.

    Have a nice Sunday!

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  18. I've to admit this stewed pork has caught my attention! It has all my fave ingredients in it, I can never resist a good potato dish. Happy Sunday, PH! xoxo

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    1. Hi Shirley! Sadly it is Monday again hah..hah...

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  19. This type of homey dish, sure need a lot of rice to go it.

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    1. Hi Sonia! Yah lah, two plates can sapu no problem :D

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  20. My MIL cooks this quite often, and I myself love it, just that she never put potato before, may be can suggest to her, hehe!

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    1. Hi Hayley! Hope she don't freak out hee..hee...

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  21. When I lived abroad, I was like you - love to plan ahead and buy all my ingredients for the week over the weekend. Nowadays I just open the fridge, see what I have left and cook. LOL! This pork stew sure looks comforting. :)

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    1. Hi Yen! I've done that whatever is in the fridge thing. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't hee..hee..

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  22. we love this kind of stew..be it chicken or pork ribs or pork belly too...yum! adding red dates is indeed interesting in this stew!

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    1. Lena, me too love this stew. Next time I will try it with chicken.

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