It’s officially a week since I’ve returned from holidays and I still feel pretty miserable. For some reason, this time around it’s been really hard settling back into life in Perth.
As usual, when I’m feeling blue, I turn to the kitchen for some comfort cooking. This was my first attempt at cooking stir fried bittergourd with minced pork and salted black beans (usually R cooks this). I used to hate bittergourd when I was young, but I guess as one grows older and has tasted bitterness in life (haha), you grow to enjoy the slight bitterness and crunchy texture of the bittergourd which merries so well with the saltiness of black beans. I also add some shaoxing wine in this dish which adds to the overall fragrance. This is comfort home cooking at its best.
Another comfort food dish, loh bak as in braised belly pork in soy with fried tofu puffs and braised hard boiled eggs. I changed my usual loh bak a bit by using rock sugar instead of normal sugar. This was a tip I learned from one of my aunties during the holiday, and I do like the extra intensity and caramelised gravy.
If you noticed my pretty sakura bowl from the above pictures, I received this matching bowl and plate set as a birthday present from Jaso who lugged it all the way from Japan. He understands my love for beautiful crockery and I really do love these pieces, thanks Jaso!
Surely nothing can be more simple than stir fried long beans with eggs? For an extra lift (and mostly because my herb garden is flourishing and I need to get rid of some herbs) I added basil leaves and it was extra good. I love basil.
Last night R and I tried this baked egg dish which required baking an egg for one hour at 63 degrees (will blog about this in future). The result was a decadent, amazingly rich and smooth runny egg. This made me crave for my usual Kuching breakfast of the champions of soft boiled eggs and kaya toast in the morning.
So I made it for Sunday brunch 
It was actually really nice. But it made me miss home. I miss Kuching kopitiams, miss Kuching kopis, but mostly, I miss having breakfast with my parents and siblings in the morning.
Mmm all the food looks good. But I prefer bittergourd fried with egg, very nice. Did you have in Kuch? At sao lak di yit jia. We had a few times, jing hor chiak.
I also prefer bittergourd fried with egg, must try that next time. I didn’t have any in Kuching though, instead we had lots of mani chai, also very nice.
I grew up with bitter gourd stuffed with pork. I didnt like it as a child but now I kinda like it. Isn’t it strange how taste changes with time?
All your food reminds me of comfort food from Kuching as well. Mmm miss Kuching already
I know you’re good at cooking Cheng, so should have no problem cooking Kuching food as well. Especially now that you have 15 kg of laksa paste!