Kana Pad Ped Moo Krob (คะน้าผัดเผ็ดหมูกรอบ)/Crispy Pork and Chinese Broccoli Spicy Stir Fry

"Ka Na" (คะน้า) in Thai and "Kai Lan" (芥蘭) in Cantonese are both Chinese Broccoli.  My "Pad Ped Moo Krob" (ผัดเผ็ดหมูกรอบ) is my home style stir fry one meal dish. My family doesn't like eggplant but we do like Chinese broccoli and regular broccoli so we substitute that instead for the traditionally used eggplant.  If you like broccoli rabe, try with this recipe and let us out how it turns out!

Moo Krob (หมูกรอบ) is the pork belly that has been salted then roasted to the point that the skin super crispy. You can find it in any Cantonese noodle restaurants or in certain Chinese supermarkets.  In the past I only knew one way to eat crispy roasted pork and that was in place of the Char Siu (叉燒) with rice, which is a great Cantonese one dish meal.  I really love it!  But with this recipe, now I can introduce one more dish with the crispy roasted pork but Thai-style with even more flavor.  Even my youngest daughter said "umm" at her first bite.  If you do not like pork or have a hard time eating anything fried or crispy, feel free to substitute to boneless chicken thigh or boneless beef ribs.

Please adjust the heat  to your preference.  As always, eating with Thai people always has some "Prik Nam Pra, Ma Nou" or the Thai fish sauce with bird's eye chili and lime juice on the table. I do not know why you need it since the dish is so delicious, but Thai people still have the custom or the culture to have the dipping sauce with.  We can't help it.  Or is it just a something that we have to do when we eat? I do not know, but my condiments are never far from me.  Now I am curious which country has the most dipping sauces in the world, or consume the most in the world?

- Daisy

 

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I nearly fainted when I had this.  It was THAT good.  My mom hadn't made this dish before, or at least not when I can remember.  Its strange how your palate changes as you grow.  There have been so many times where she will make something that I am absolutely in love with, only to find out that she used to make it all the time when my brother and I were young, and only stopped because we complained that we didn't like it.

In this case, since the dish is pretty spicy, I could probably understand why my brother and I couldn't take it.  I still can't eat food that is too spicy, I feel like at a certain point it just kills your tastebuds but try telling my mom that.   

- Darin

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Kana Pad Ped Moo Krob 

คะน้าผัดเผ็ดหมูกรอบ

Crispy Pork and Chinese Broccoli Spicy Stir Fry

Serves 2-3

1/2 lb. Crispy Roasted Pork
1 1/4 lb. Chinese Broccoli, washed and cut diagonally
2 tsp. Red Curry Paste, preferably Maesri
1/2 cup Thai Basil
3 tsp Fish Sauce
2 tsp Sugar
3 cloves Garlic, smashed
3 cloves Garlic, minced
3 Fresh Red Chilies, cut diagonally
6 tbsp Vegetable Oil

1) Put the Chinese broccoli in a microwave proof bowl, cover and heat for 1 minute.  Set aside.

2) Heat up a sauté pan with 2 tbsp oil and refry the pork for 2 minutes on each side.  Set aside. 

3) Heat up another 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and toss in the smashed garlic and fry until fragrant (not burnt!) then pour in the Chinese broccoli.  Let it heat up for a couple of seconds before starting to stir. Use two spatula to stir, almost like you are tossing a salad, until cooked then add 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp fish sauce. Set aside.

4) In the same pan, add in 2 tsp of Thai red curry paste and the minced garlic.  Pour in the pan juice from Chinese broccoli dish and quickly stir to incorporate with the curry paste.  

5) Add in the pork and the Chinese broccoli and mix everything together, making sure they are all coated with the sauce.  Taste it before adding in some more sugar and/or fish sauce. 

6) Stir in basil and serve with hot white or brown rice.

Taiwanese Style Wintermelon Stir Fry with Glass Noodle

This dish makes me think of my childhood when I was studying in Taiwan and for lunch I needed to find a place to eat in a hurry.  There are a lot of "buffet" places around school called that are all Chinese home cooking dishes.  This is one of dished that I always had to have.  It is cheap and tasty and very easy to eat, especially whenever you feel a bit sick but you still have to go to school.  It is also good either for small children or the elderly since it is easy to digest.

I introduced it to my family later on in my life and they love it. Especially for my son, he can keep eating it, and eating it, and eating it, and eating it...

Glass noodle is good a low glycermic index food.  A low fat food.  You can boil the noodles in any kind of broth and you are ready to eat.  Again, try to get the glass noodles from Taiwan.  You all know how I feel about using ingredients from the correct country of origin.

And of course, like most Asian dishes, it is served with rice.

- Daisy

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This is a dish that my mom serves when she gets nostalgic about her school days in Taiwan.  My grandfather sent her off  to study there when she was just a teenager and knew not a lick of Taiwanese.  She was alone and basically had to fend for herself, which is amazing considering when I was 13, I was too busy crying about how many pimples I had and how tough middle school was.  Now she can speak Thai, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Mandarin and English, not to mention a bit of Korean (I'm not joking).  What can I say?  The woman is amazing.  Way to go, Tiger Grandpa!

- Darin 

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Taiwanese Style Wintermelon Stir Fry With Glass Noodle

Serve 4

139g or 1 cup Ground Pork
933g or 3 cups Chinese Watermelon, peeled and chopped into big chunks
288g Shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 nests of Glass Noodle, soaked in lukewarm water for at least 20 minutes
2 slices of Ginger, finely chopped, divided in half
2 Scallions, finely chopped, divided in half
1 Scallion, sliced
1/2 Shallot, sliced
1 can Low Sodium Chicken Broth, preferably Swanson
1 tsp Sugar
1 + 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Salt
1 tsp Corn Starch
1 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 cup + 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

For the Shrimp Marinade

1) Combine the shrimp, soy sauce and sugar into bowl.  

2) Chill in the fridge until needed. 

For Ground Pork Marinade

1) Combine ground pork, corn starch, soy sauce and 1 tbsp of water in another bowl.  Stir until incorporated.

2) Heat up the oil in medium high heat in big pan or wok and stir in half of the chopped ginger and half of the chopped scallion.  

3) Add in the marinaded ground pork.  Keep stirring and separating the big chunks of pork until it is a uniform consistency and only still slightly pink.  Transfer to a bowl.

For the Stir Fry

1) In the same pan, heat up 1/4 cup oil and put in the shallot and shrimp.  Stir fry each side for 1 minute. Then transfer them into another bowl but leave all the oil and pan juice (chopsticks recommended). 

2) Add drippings from the pork bowl (only the drippings, not the pork) and the rest of the chopped ginger, chopped scallion and wintermelon.  Keep stirring the wintermelon is translucent.  This should take around 7-8 minutes.  Add more oil if necessary.  

3) Stir in the softened glass noodle and add the chicken broth and salt.  Let it come to a boil.  Adjust to taste.

4) Arrange the stir fried wintermelon and glass noodle on a big plate then top it with the pork and shrimp on top.  Finish with the sliced scallion for decoration.  Enjoy!