i am what i eat

I know, it is a lame title and I chosen it as I would have so much posts of everyday meals. I want each title to be unique.

Least you get tire of my pan Asian dishes, I start off this post with a more Western looking dish. It is barbecue chicken served with watercress.

Do not be fooled by the Western appearance, underneath it is prepared with the best of both worlds - East and West that is. You see, I hate the disgusting store bought BBQ sauce of all kind especially the sugar laden ones. Other than the basic traditional condiments like fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and some specialty spicy sauce like saute sauce, I seldom waste money on sauce that promise you with a tasty dish.

barbeque chicken with chinese 5-spice 五香粉 and thai fish sauce 魚露

Back to the dish. I marinate the chicken pieces with Thai fish sauce 魚露, a dash of light soy sauce, lots of garlic power, a little sugar, black pepper, and Chinese five-spice 五香粉 mixture. The result is very complex fragrance and flavor. I use a Weber charcoal grill (which is my favorite after wasting money on fancy gas grills). If you learn to use the Weber charcoal grill you would find out how versatile it is.

For the interest of a balanced food group (as advised by the USDA, but wait, didn't it tear down the old pyramid and replaced it with a spanking new food plate?) I eat it with stir fried watercress and a bottle of beer.

indeed they have been hard at work with our tax dollars. you can always count on USDA's ever vigilant act of kindness in looking after americans' health, always without big business influence

Here is a bowl of noodle soup I made. I like using shell fish with meat, and I have live clams and slow braised pork shoulder.

wash and scrub the clams clean

i used shanghai style thick noodle; the vegetable is watercress; a dash of dark soy sauce give the broth a mouth watering hue

Here is another meal. Clay pot rice 煲仔飯 with fresh clams, Chinese sausage, and spring green onion from my garden. There is only 1/2 link of sausage in there. For a balanced diet there is a small bowl of watercress in pork bone broth.

If you make the clay pot rice just perfect, you should end up with a nice crispy crust on the side and bottom which can effortlessly scrap off with a spoon. The clay pot glazed acts as a non-stick surface and is extremely easy to clean. The key is to soak it in water immediately right after the meal.