Lovely homemade Bak-Kwa

It's my maiden effort... making Bak-Kwa (pork jerky) in the name of survival, er I mean pigging out!!


Lovingly made, hehe!  

And while this might not be your Mei Zhen Xiang or Lin Zhi Yuan, it tasted quite lovely!

Finally!! I've been busy and tuckered out by day's end, driving on weekends not just weekdays. But really wanted to try and make this before the 15 days of CNY -- the reason (my excuse) to feast -- would be over after yesterday! 

The kids helped... and especially to eat it almost all up by the next day -- mostly among the boys and me! 


Their dad still can't chomp that well yet, but he's not really a BK fan.


So our Valentine's Day dinner (and this more exciting BK adventure was not on the same day) was... *drum roll please*...
more FISH... 
That I made for us all, haha!


A steelhead that looked like a pinker version of our salmon meal on CNY eve. Pan-fried some of it so the skin was lots crispier! Paired with a stir-fry asparagus cooked till soft and imitation crabmeat.  Eaten with porridge this time.

Specially to cater to the better half's dietary needs, post his wisdom-teeth surgery. Served up with love, ahem, and a "Happy Valentine's!".


Don't say I didn't try. But I AM a BK person, more than a fish person, you know ;p.  

***

Our first time making Bak-Kwa...

Jon gave the ground pork a good swivel in the marinade...


Ben rolled out the meat, the meat sandwiched between a clingwrap and parchment paper...


And after Round 1 in the oven at low heat, Kait helped to cut it up into all sorts of shapes... sorta!

(It's a lot trickier than this looks 'coz of the thin layer of meat prone to breaking up. I did the cutting eventually -- using the cookie-cutter picked by Kait, and a pizza-cutter)!


Then it was back into the oven (or grill, if you have one and prefer to use that) at a higher temp, for that crucial grilling (I used a mix of bake and broil)...

... As we sat tight for that Moment of Truth!!!

Mostly, my three little (guinea) pigs

were lots more enthusiastic over the end-product than they stayed on task during the process. And kept asking me:
"Is it done?
"Can I have some?
"Me, too, I want some!
"Now, NOW,  NOOOWWW!!"...
Like EVERY. OTHER. MINUTE!!!

Like them, I was just sooo excited over savouring the very first tray hot off the oven!  It was surprisingly tender!

But so much so, I forgot to keep as close an eye on the last two trays. So those were more charred, oops! You want to keep a really close watch not to burn every PRECIOUS piece of BK!

I heart BK... 
me, more so than Meimei, haha!
Spot the hearts, to borrow the lovely Stardust's line!

It took the children and me at least 2h to work on just 2lb of meat.  That yielded about four trays of pork jerky (and bear in mind the meat would shrink some after the grilling).

The Recipes...

Thank you Blur Mommy whose recipe is here, and she also shared with me the one from Crazymommy here that I based ours on.

It's really always THANKS to moms and bloggers like them, including the great Master Chef Jomel, who are generous in sharing their tried and tested recipes in detail, that our own beginner's attempts like this one is possible. I was thinking of Fay while making the BK, remembering she'd said before her family made their own must-be-so-yummy one :). Had not known we could make this at home.

So keep sharing, my friends!! Yan, it's nice you're back blogging.

And now, it's my turn to give a "TGIF!!!" shout-out, as SAHM does and beats me to it every time! ;p

Ways we love... 
It was really wonderful of my old pal Viv to drop me a note just to wish me a Happy V Day! I hope you got to exchange sweet words like these with someone dear, family/friends.  


And it does not have to be about romance only -- and "under bright bright lights" to quote NM is alright, too.  But I do like how WTT and her husband used V Day to make it extra special.


That's not restricted to that day only, of course, and more ways we can show love and in the little everyday things also. 

(The V Day crafts were made by the boys in school, besides getting to exchange Valentine's with their classmates).