Char Siu - 叉烧

This is from the Made with Lau channel on Youtube. The video is here. It is delicious, in buns, with noodles, however you want it. Cold on sandwich. Yum.

Ingredients

Meat and basting

• 2 kg pork butte (fläskkarré).
• 4 tbsp honey
• 4 tsp water

Marinade

• 2 tbsp garlic salt
• 8 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 tbsp oyster sauce
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 4 tbsp red wine
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 2 cubes red fermented bean curd (optional)
  
• 2 tsp five spice powder
• 0.5 tsp red food coloring (if you want to)

Method

Meat

Cut it with the grain into one inch thick strips, or slabs. You should end up with three or four strips. Stab the slabs vigorously with a fork.

Rub a dub dub

Mix all of the marinade until it is even. Put it with the meat in a big zip lock and let it marinate over night, not more than 24 hours.

Oven business

Set the oven to 220 °C (i.e. 425 °F). Line a baking pan with foil and place the baking rack on top of the foil. Lay out the pork on the rack. Add a few tbsp of water to the bottom of the pan to add some steam and make cleaning easier. Place in oven. Baste regularly with either left over marinade or honey water mix.

• Cook for 15 minutes. Take out to baste with marinade.
• Cook for 15 minutes. Take out to baste with marinade.
• Cook for 10 minutes. Take out to baste with honey water.
• Crank up the heat to 240 °C (i.e. 450 °F) and cook another five minutes, lather with honey and take out.
  

Let it cool a little before cutting it.

Coconut curry (with chicken, pork or fish)

This recipe is adapted from here. I originally made it with chicken but have tried it with pork shoulder and it tastes like it would be amazing with fish as well. I've kept the heat to a minimum by deseeding the dried kashmiri chillis and the result has been a mild and very flavourful curry.

Ingredients

• Chicken 2 kg (or pork, about 1.3-1.5 kg)
• Dried Kashmiri chillies 4-5 
• Peppercorns 16-20 
• Coriander seeds 4 Tbsp
• Fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp
• Tamarind, (if dried soak in hot water) 2 Tbsp
• Dessiccated coconut 1 cup
• Oil 3 tbsp
• Red onions chopped 4-5 
• Ginger garlic paste 1 tb
• Turmeric
• Green chilly 2 (totally optional)
• Curry leaves (if dried, add 3 times as much) 20 leaves
• Salt
• Coconut milk 1/2 cup

Method

1. Dry roast the red chillies, peppercorns, coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds in a pan. Add them to a grinder jar with the dessicated coconut and add the tamarind water to make a smooth paste. If you don't have ginger-garlic paste, add fresh ginger and garlic at this step.
2. If you are using pork as your protein, cut the pork into 2" pieces and then add to a pressure cooker with salt, pepper, a dash of vinegar and turmeric. Add 2-3 table spoons of water and pressure cook the pork until half done. I used fläskkarré and pressure cooked for 15 minutes after the first whistle. Skip this step if you're using chicken. 
3. Heat oil in a pan and add the curry leaves (And green chillies, if you're using them) and then the chopped onions. Once the onions are well cooked, add turmeric and then the masala paste. 
4. Cook the paste until oil separates and then add the protein on medium heat. Add salt (I add a tsp for every kg, to begin and then adjust to taste at the end).
5.  Leave the dish alone for about 10 minutes and then stir occasionally about every 5 minutes, for a total of 20-25 minutes.
6. Adjust the final consistency with coconut milk, adding more if you want it runnier and less if you want it more dry. Cook with coconut milk for about 5 minutes on low. 
7. Very good with rice and with roti. 

Pulled pork

A simple pressure cooker pulled pork that turned out amazing!

Ingredients

Pork

• Boston butt (fläskkarré) 3lbs
• Salt
• Sugar
• Fennel seeds
• Cumin seeds

BBQ sauce

• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 cup (250 ml) ketchup
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) beer
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) honey
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon (25 g) brown sugar
• A good dash of soy or coconut aminos

Method

1. Cut the pork in one inch cubes. Add lots of salt and sugar and let it brine for a few hours.
2. Wash off the excess salt and sugar. The pork should now have a beautiful deep red color. Add lots of oil to the cooker and pour in the fennel and cumin seeds. Let them sit until fragrant.
3. Fry off some of the meat to get it nicely maillarded. Don't crowd the pan, you need to get it nice and brown. If you don't feel like frying all of the meat, don't - as long as some of itis browned and blackened you're good.
4. Pour in half of the BBQ sauce and deglaze the pan. The pour in the rest.
5. Dump in the meat, put the lid on and let the pressure build.
6. Let it sit at high pressure for around 40 minutes. Then take it off the heat and let it cool.
7. When the pressure equalizes, take out the meat and shred it. Reduce the sauce down to half.
8. Add sauce to the shredded meat until it tastes amazing. Maybe half of the sauce. Don't overdo it!

EAT IT!!!!!

Kerala pork curry

This is more of a Kerala inspired pork curry recipe than an actual one. We had a bunch of left over dosa batter and a piece of karré that needed using and et voila. I googled around and matched recipes with the ingredients that I had. Since I was basically making up the recipe I chose not to grind the spices but the pressure cooker was unavoidable else this would have been a 3-4 hour long cook time as opposed to the one hour in toto that this was.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg karré (or boston butt or picnicbog or pork shoulder etc)
• 3.5 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 250g shallots sliced, not too finely
• 2 large onions sliced, not too finely
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 2 large or 4 small potatoes, chopped
• 1.5 tsp mustard seeds
• 0.5 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 0.5 tsp coriander seeds
• 0.5-1 tsp fennel seeds
• 0.5-1 tsp peppercorns
• 2 sprigs curry leaves
• 3-4 green chillis, chopped
• 3.5 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 Tbps coriander powder
• 2-3 Tbsps meat masala powder (I used goan mutton masala)
• Salt

Method

1. Cut the pork into 1" ish chunks and marinate with about two teaspoons of salt, one teaspoon of turmeric, 1.5 tsp of ginger garlic paste and the vinegar and the soy sauce. Mix well and leave at room temperature for a bit or in the fridge if longer than an hour.
2. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pressure cooker and add the marinated pork. No need to fry the pieces. Add two cups of water and pressure cook the meat. (For this amount and this type of meat I pressure cooked for 20 minutes after the first whistle on medium heat)
3. In a pan heat up oil and add a teaspoon and a half of mustard seeds followed by half a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds, half a teaspoon of coriander seeds, 3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds and about 20 peppercorns. 
4. Now add a handful of curry leaves. Since I was using frozen curry leaves, this is a total guesstimate. 
5. Now add the onions and a dash of salt and fry until golden brown.
6. Add the chopped green chillis and ginger garlic paste when the onions are light brown and cook until the raw smell disappears and the onions and golden brown.
7. Next, add the masala powders and cook for a few minutes, then the potatoes and then the tomatoes and the tomato paste, stirring and cooking for a few minutes after each addition.
8. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes on a medium-low heat until the tomatoes and squishy and the masala is beginning to look cohesive
9. Add the pork along with the water and cook for 15 minutes on medium heat to thicken and reduce the liquid if need be. If the meat doesn't feel tender enough, cook covered for longer or pressure cook the meat again for a few more whistles
10. Mash a few pieces of the potato to thicken the gravy and cook a few more minutes
11. Serve with dosa or idli or appams or rice or roti. It's all good. 

Sausage and Bean stew

This recipe is a variation of this recipe. We used Salsiccia sausages and stora vita bönor, which we substituted for lima beans. I don't know if these are the same or different.

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil
• 900g-1kg Raw salsiccia sausage
• 1 pack bacon
• 4 onions, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tsp hot chilli powder or smoked paprika
• 2, 400g crushed canned tomatoes
• 300ml chicken stock
• 4 tbsp tomato purée
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 4 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar
• 3 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 bay leaves
• 3–4 tsp frozen thyme
• 200ml water
• 3, 400g big white bean cans
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Cook the sausages for 10 minutes on medium high heat until brown on all sides and set aside.
2. Fry the bacon pieces in the frying pan until they begin to brown
3. Place the onions in the frying pan and fry over a medium heat for until they start to soften.
4. Add the garlic and cook for 2–3 minutes more until the onions turn pale golden-brown.
5. Sprinkle over the chilli powder or smoked paprika and cook together for a few more minutes.
6. Stir in the tomatoes, chicken stock, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and herbs.
7. Pour over the water and bring to a simmer.
8. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the sausages into thick discs and add the sliced sausages and bacon to the stew. Let it cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
9. Drain the beans and rinse. Stir the beans into the casserole, and continue to cook for 10 more minutes or on very low heat until the sauce is thick. 
10. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper

Karnataka-style slow cooker pork curry

This recipe is inspired by this recipe. I wanted a genuine, spicy indian pork curry that I could make in the slow cooker. This recipe worked really well! I've made it twice now, once with picnic bog and once with Karre and the karre worked much better. These are both swedish cuts of pork. If you're in the states, boston butt or any pork shoulder cut with adequate fat that works in the slow cooker should work. My variation uses only one pan for the initial step.

Ingredients:

Spice Blend:

• 3 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 3 teaspoons coriander seeds (or two teaspoons coriander powder)
• 6 cloves
• 2" cinnamon stick
• 2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 20 black peppercorns
• 2tsp brown mustard seeds

Curry: 

• 2" peeled and roughly chopped root ginger
• 10 garlic cloves
• 2 tomatoes, quartered
• cooking oil
• 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
• 2 sprigs curry leaves
• 4 onions, finely chopped
• 3 green chillies, stalks removed, pierced with a knife
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 dried red chillis
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon kashmiri chilli powder, (optional)
• 1-1.5kg pork shoulder, cut into cubes, with some fat
• 0.5 cup vinegar (I've used both apple cider and white, no real preference)
• 1 can coconut milk

Method:

1. Cut the pork into large chunks and salt and pepper the meat.
2. Fry the pork chunks for about 6-7 minutes on each side on medium heat
3. Turn off the heat. In the remaining hot oil, add all the spices under spice blend. After about 5 minutes, scrape the spices into the spice blender and blend. Add vinegar to make the spice blend liquid.
4. Turn the heat back on. Add mustard seeds to the hot oil and when it sputters, add dried red chillis and then the curry leaves. Fry for a few minutes
5. Add the onions and fry until well browned. 
6. Now add in the kashmiri red chilli powder and fry for a minute or two and then add in the spice mix. 
7. In the spice blender throw in the ginger, tomatoes, garlic and red chillis and blend
8. Toss the blended mix into the curry as well
9. Fry this on medium-high heat until the mix begins to thicken and release oil
10. Add this masala and the pork pieces to the slow cooker 
11. Cook on high for 3-4 hours. Test at 2 hours for doneness. 
12. When done, add the can of coconut milk and let the curry cook in the slow cooker without a lid for about 30 minutes.

Brazilian Feijoada

I've made this recipe 3-4 times now and it is this rich, fatty stew that is perfect for cold fall or snow days. It is very flavourful but has very little spice. I followed a couple of different recipes for this over the years but this is a good basis. Major differences are that I usually use this recipe as a vehicle for goan sausage and I use canned black beans instead of fresh. We also love the braised kale/collard greens recipe that is traditionally served with this.

Ingredients

• 3-4 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 pack streaky smoked bacon, cut into slices or 1 pack of smoked pork belly, cut into chunks
• 500g-1000g pork rib or pork shoulder or some other cheap, tough cut of pork
• 3 chorizo cooking sausages/ 1 pack goan sausages/ 1 pack chorizo
• 800g-1.5kg brined bone-in pork leg (rimmat fläsklägg), soaked in water for a few hours, skin removed, cut into a few large pieces
• 3 onion, chopped
• 8 garlic clove, smashed
• Few pinches of chilli flakes
• olive oil, for cooking
• 4 bay leaf
• 4 tbsp white wine vinegar
• To serve: steamed rice, chopped parsley or spring onions and wedges of oranges

Method

1. Heat a large heavy-based dutch oven and add the bacon/ pork belly and fry until crisp. Remove and keep the oil in the pan. In batches sear the brined pork, sausages and pork shoulder/ribs. Season with pepper, but because of the brined pork, do not salt until the very end. 
2. Remove the meat and set aside. Add the onion, garlic and bay leaves to the dutch oven and fry for 8-12 mins or until soft. 
3. Add the meat, bay leaves, white wine vinegar, chilli flakes and half the beans. Cover with just enough water to cover, about 1000ml. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cover and cook for 2 hrs, or until the meat is tender. If there is too much liquid in the pot take the lid off in the last hr. Add the remaining beans for the last hour. 
4. In the last 15 minutes, remove the meat pieces and shred them into large chunks and remove the bones and bay leaves. Spoon a few table spoons of th
   e beans into a bowl and smash with a fork or pulse in a blender and add back to the stew. 
5. Taste and add salt as needed (I've never needed to add salt) 
6. You can also use a slow cooker (4 hr) starting at the end of step 3.

Update 2023: I have now made this many times, most recently with sausage I picked up in Lisbon, fresh sausage, without rimmat fläsk, just fläsk karre. Also, apple cider vinegar instead of white wine. Made no difference, it was still delicious. 

 

I followed this recipe and we had yummy collard greens on the side with slices of orange.  

Slow cooker Sichuan pork shoulder noodle soup

I saw this recipe and it looked awesome, so I just made it in the slow cooker. My recipe is adapted for my pantry and the slow cooker.
I used boston butt in mine (it was on sale), but I suspect it would work with other fattier, tougher cuts of pork as well.
It was very tasty and very spicy. If you're going to try this recipe and sichuanese food isn't your fave, I would cut wa-ay down on the chilli paste. My apartment smells like a chinese restaurant and it makes me really happy right now. Specially since its really cold and really grey and this is exactly what I would have wanted to go out for!
We cook a lot of chinese food so we already had toban jiang in the fridge, but its actually pretty commonly available at stores in the ethnic/asian section. If you have sambal olek that works really well too as a substitute, though I personally think sambal is a little spicier. We did not have black vinegar so I googled a substitute and balsamic+some other vinegar+sugar seems to do the trick. I also added a tablespoon of brown sugar instead of one of the tablespoons of white sugar. I have no idea if that helped. I first cooked it for 4 hours and the pork was very done, but not falling apart, so we let it go for another 45 minutes.
If I make this again, I would also dry roast and crush a few sichuan peppers and sprinkle them on the soup after it cooks.

Ingredients

2lbs pork shoulder-cut into 1" pieces
12 cloves garlic, chopped
3" fresh ginger piece, peeled and chopped
4 Tbsp Toban jiang
1/3 cup red vinegar+balsamic vinegar (or chinkiang)
4 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp cornstarch
4 scallions

Method

1) Add a little oil to a pan and on high heat fry off the pork pieces. I waited till they were browned (5-6 minutes). Don't crowd the pan. I actually removed about a fourth of the pieces after they were seared and dumped them into the slow cooker and proceeded with the rest.
2) Toss in the ginger, garlic and chilli paste and toss the pork around to coat. Cook for about a minute, still at high heat.
3) Add in the soy sauce, vinegar and sugar and stir them around for 3-4 minutes until the sugar dissolves.
4) Add everything to the slow cooker along with 8 cups of water.
5) Cook on high for 4-6 hours.
6) Take out about half the liquid and boil it on the stove and add cornstarch dissolved in water until it thickens. Add it back to the rest of the soup.
6) Serve with noodles and chopped scallions.
7) If you prefer to remove some of the fat, let the soup cool either in the slow cooker or in the fridge and then skim off the fat from the top.

Pork Adovada Tacos

This food network recipe got pretty close to replicating that yummy stuff we miss from Mi Madres Tacos in Austin.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds pork shoulder loin, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons California chile powder
• 2 tablespoons New Mexico chile powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 5 whole cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cups soybean oil
• 8 to 12 white soft corn tortillas
• Diced white onion, for serving
• Chopped cilantro leaves, for serving
• Limes, for serving

Directions

1. Place the meat into an 11 by 12-inch baking dish. Toss the meat and dry ingredients with 2 cups soybean oil. Marinate overnight or for 6 hours covered in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C).
3. Bake, covered, in the oven for 45 to 60 minutes. Remove and allow to cool slightly.
4. When slightly cooled chop meat into small cubes. Serve on 2 warm soft white corn tortillas. Sprinkle with diced white onion and chopped cilantro, and of coarse a squeeze of fresh lime!

South Indian Style Biryani with tamarind and curry leaves

I'm not sure who originally wrote this recipe. A quick search of the interwebz suggests it was first posted in 2010 to about.com by Petrina Verma Sarkar. I found the recipe on facebook when a friend liked it on Ambika Pillai's facebook page. I was intrigued because it has tamarind and curry patta, which is weird in a biryani. I didn't use lamb because IMHO the biryani gets really heavy and since I am now allergic to chicken we ended up using pork. It was quite delicious!

I also deviated from the original recipe by using the pressure cooker to make the curry because the original version takes more than an hour and ain't nobody got time for that.

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork meat (We used a picnic ham chopped into 2" by 2" pieces)
• 2 tbsps garlic paste 
• 2 tbsps ginger paste 
• 3 tbsps sunflower/ canola/ vegetable cooking oil 
• 2 large red onions, chopped fine and I onion sliced finely
• 30-40 curry leaves 
• 2 green chillies (optional) 
• 2 tbsps coriander powder 
• 1 tbsp cumin powder 
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 
• 1 tbsp garam masala 
• 1 tsp salt (this is how much I use, you can add salt to suit your taste) 
• 1 cup hot water 
• 50 g ball of tamarind 
• 700 gms Basmati rice 
• 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Put the meat, garlic and ginger pastes in a large bowl and mix well to coat the meat with the pastes. Keep aside for 20 minutes. 
2. While the meat is marinating, heat (on medium temperature) the cooking oil (3 tbsps) in a large, deep pot/ pan. 
3. Add the finely chopped onions and fry till translucent. Add the curry leaves and green chillies fry for 1 minute. 
4. Now add the powdered spices - coriander, cumin, turmeric, and garam masala powders. Mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir often to prevent burning. 
5. Add the marinated meat now. Stir well and often and cook till the meat is browned. Add 1 1/2 cups of hot water, stir, cover, simmer heat and cook till meat is tender. Keep checking for this stage as you do not want the meat overcooked and soft. Instead, at this stage, I added in the tamarind, below and then added 2 cups of water and pressure cooked the meat for 25-30 minutes. I saved some of the tamarind and added it after the meat was cooked. I just wasn't sure the tamarind flavor would withstand the pressure cooking.
6. While the meat is cooking, make the tamarind puree: Put the tamarind in a plastic or glass bowl and pour 1/2 cup of hot water over it. Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes. Now strain the tamarind and water mixture through a sieve (do not use a very fine sieve) into a bowl to get tamarind puree. Add this to the curry when you feel the meat is almost done. Stir well. 
7. Once the meat is cooked, keep it aside and prepare the rice. Put the rice in a sieve and wash under running water till the water runs clear. 
8. Now put it into a large deep cooking pot (preferably one with handles). Add enough water to fully cover the rice - at least 4" over the surface of the rice. Add 1 tsp of salt to taste. Set the rice up to boil. Cook till almost done. To determine when it has reached that stage, remove a few grains from the pot and press between your thumb and forefinger. The rice should mostly mash but will have a firm whitish core. Turn off the fire.
9.  Strain through a colander and keep aside. 
10. Heat 3 tbsps of oil in a pan and fry 2 of the onions till caramalized - golden brown. Drain and keep aside on paper towels for later use. Grease a deep dish or pot (which has a nicely fitting cover). We used a dutch oven. 
11. Now evenly layer the cooked rice, meat (and its gravy) in the dish/ pot, to form at least 2 sets of layers (rice-meat-rice-meat-rice). 
12. Garnish with the previously caramalized onions. Cover the dish tightly. If your dish does not have a cover use 2 layers of aluminium foil (shiny side of both layers pointing down towards the rice) and secure on to dish with baking string. We just popped on the dutch oven lid. Since I use a Handi (a deep pot with a nicely fitting lid) which has a flat rim, I seal it by making a firm dough with flour and water and pressing this over the joint of the Handi's rim and cover. 
13. Now put the dish/ pot in a pre-heated oven set at 350 F/ 180 C/ Gas mark 4 for 20 minutes. We did 30-35 minutes since our curry was more liquid than hers probably was. Only open when you are ready to eat. The way to serve Biryani is to gently dig in with a spoon so you get through the layers.
14.  I serve my Biryani with Raita and Kachumbar salad.

Chinese dumplings, Jiaozi, 饺子

We used to eat these all the time when we had dim sum and these were also available frozen pretty much everywhere in the states, so we didn't miss them until we moved here to the land of cold, ice and NO DUMPLINGS!!!

Apparently the chinese Jiaozi, japanese gyoza and nepalese momos are all cousins in one big, delicious, east asian, meat wrapped yumminess family (sez wikipedia)...with, of course, regional flavour variations. This makes me want to try making momos next. And tho traditionally momos are made with water buffalo meat, something tells me its the spices that really make the momo. 

We tried two different variations of the Jiaozi. The first was the very traditional recipe which uses ground pork and lots of shredded napa cabbage (and ginger and garlic and so on). These were D-licious and probably a lot lighter than the version we finally settled on (all meat, no cabbage), but the napa cabbage released so much water that we had to keep stopping to drain water from the stuffing mixture and I suspect we lost a lot of the soy and other flavor in the water we poured out. These cabbage and pork dumplings were fantastic, but objectively slightly less tasty than the final, all pork version and also more difficult to make (because of the water release). We did find a really good youtube video (thanks runnyrunny999!) in which the cook actually squeezes the napa before using it, and seems to have much fewer problems. We just drained the water by pouring if off, I guess we need to be quite aggressive if we try these again.

We also used the youtube video to learn how to properly fold the dumplings and cook the dumplings, it really is an excellent video. 

The version we finally settled on is apparently more Hong Kong style (Video here recipe here from all recipes). The recipe text and video seem to diverge pretty far from one another in terms of the truth though. The recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of chopped garlic chives when the lady clearly adds what looks closer to a cup. So we kind of made up our own recipe based on the video. Below.

Uncooked dumplings to show the shape and pleating

Ingredients

• 500g ground pork
• 1.5- 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 2.5- 3 tbsp minced ginger
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2.5- 3 tbsp sesame oil
• one egg
• 10-12 stalks of garlic chives
• ~50 or 60 dumpling wrappers
• oil for cooking
• chilli flakes in chilli oil or your favourite dipping sauce

Preparation

1. Make sure the dumpling wrappers are thawed. Room temp is probably better but we've frequently microwaved the frozen stack of wrapper in cases of dumpling panic. Repeated nuking at a low to medium power for 45 seconds each usually work out ok. Watch out for the edges of the wrappers drying out. Wet your finger with water and run around the edges of the stack to keep the wrappers from cracking on the edges. Thawing at RT does not have this problem. 
2. Chop the garlic chives finely and add into a large bowl with the minced ginger, garlic, pork, soy, sesame oil and egg. Use your hands to mash all of this together till well mixed. 
3. Take a dumpling wrapper and wet the outer rim with water and add about a teaspoon of mixture to the middle.
4. Fold the two halves of the wrapper together, making pleats on one side and pinching the wet wrapper into the other side firmly so the two sides seal together. runnyrunny999's video demonstrates this really well. This leads to dumplings with one flat-ish side and one curved side. This shape makes it easier to cook (IMHO)
5. Work through till you either run out of dumplings or mixture. 
6. In a preferably non-stick pan, heat up oil and add the dumplings. Cook for a minute or two on medium-high heat and then add in a cup of hot water. Cover the pan and wait for 7-10 minutes or till the water has evaporated.
7. Remove the cover and after about 30sec to 1 minute, shake the pan, the dumplings should move free of the pan. This usually means they are done. If using a non non-stick pan, wait till the water has all evaporated and then give it a minute or two for the skins to crisp up again and then use a spatula to gently coax the dumplings off the pan. 
8. We usually eat them with just the chilli in chilli oil paste, but honestly, any good dipping sauce will do. 
9. These also freeze really well. We just pop a bunch of them into ziploc bags and try not to put them one on top of the other and freeze them. 

Momofuku Bo Ssam

We got this from the New York Times, here, and from Working Class Foodie on Youtube, here.

Pork Butt

• 1 whole bone-in pork butt or picnic ham (8 to 10 pounds)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 7 tablespoons brown sugar

Chili-Garlic Sauce

• 2 jalapeños
• 2 garlic cloves
• salt
• pepper
• dash of soy sauce
• dash of vinegar
• neutral oil

Ginger-Scallion Sauce

• 2½ cups thinly sliced scallions, both green and white parts
• ½ cup peeled, minced fresh ginger
• ¼ cup neutral oil (like grapeseed)
• 1½ teaspoons light soy sauce
• 1 scant teaspoon sherry vinegar
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

Ssam Sauce

• 2 tablespoons fermented bean-and- chili paste (ssamjang, available in many Asian markets, and online)
• 1 tablespoon chili paste (kochujang, available in many Asian markets, and online)
• ½ cup sherry vinegar
• ½ cup neutral oil (like grapeseed)

Accompaniments

• 2 cups plain white rice, cooked
• 3 heads bibb lettuce, leaves separated, washed and dried
• 1 dozen or more fresh oysters (optional)
• Kimchi (available in many Asian markets, and online).

Method

1. Place the pork in a large, shallow bowl. Mix the white sugar and 1 cup of the salt together in another bowl, then rub the mixture all over the meat. Cover it with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
2. When you’re ready to cook, heat oven to 300. Remove pork from refrigerator and discard any juices. Place the pork in a roasting pan and set in the oven and cook for approximately 6 hours, or until it collapses, yielding easily to the tines of a fork. (After the first hour, baste hourly with pan juices.) At this point, you may remove the meat from the oven and allow it to rest for up to an hour.
3. Meanwhile, make the ginger-scallion sauce. In a large bowl, combine the scallions with the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and taste, adding salt if needed.
4. Make chili-garlic sauce. Chop chilies and garlic, put in blender. Add salt and pepper, and a dash of soy and vinegar. Blend. Drizzle in neutral oil until it looks pretty. Try making multiple sauces using different chili mixes - they come out very different depending on which chilies you use.
5. Make the ssam sauce. In a medium bowl, combine the chili pastes with the vinegar and oil, and mix well.
6. Prepare rice, wash lettuce and, if using, shuck the oysters. Put kimchi and sauces into serving bowls.
7. When your accompaniments are prepared and you are ready to serve the food, turn oven to 500. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining tablespoon of salt with the brown sugar. Rub this mixture all over the cooked pork. Place in oven for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, or until a dark caramel crust has developed on the meat. Serve hot, with the accompaniments.

Serves 6 to 10. Adapted from “Momofuku,” by David Chang and Peter Meehan.