James Mok’s Soliloquy

Just before the Chinese New Year, mom had an acute kidney failure. Upon diagnoses, it was actually a chronic kidney failure that turned acute. It is something that’s genetic - Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy (IgA in short). Basically a protein prevents the body from filtering out waste water. One of the treatment for prevention is high fluid intake, which I have kept telling mom to drink more water over the decades and which she refused to do all these time. Don’t need a specialist to add them up.

Well, now that it has become a daily thing with twice a week of a 5 hour kidney dialysis, she also need to skip green vegetables, potatoes, citrus fruits, mushrooms… among other things. Low sodium, low potassium, and low phosphorus and careful measurement of about 1L of daily fluid in take. Which equates to pretty well a whole lot of very little bit of a limited number of anything that could eat.

To get back to the main theme, the dish.

Mushrooms - for dad. Salmon, as fish is part of the allowed diet and that is something one does not find in a Chinese market, so they would not have cooked salmon enough to become boring. Linguine, something thicker and just more substance than Cappelinni that I used to make. So…

mushrooms,
salmon,
Linguine,
Parmesan cheese flakes,
basil - minced,
garlic - sliced,
lemon - juice,
sea salt,
black pepper,
white pepper,
olive oil.

Put the mushrooms in a dry hot pot in high heat and just let the water out, evaporated and brown the mushroom a bit then stir in a pinch of sea salt, some black pepper to taste and a dash of olive oil (or butter if you like but not for mom though). Take the mushrooms out of the pot for later use.

Skin the salmon and remove all gray meat from the salmon. Put about 1/2 cm of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan in medium low heat. Put the salmon in the pan and sprinkle some sea salt, white pepper, a generous splash of lemon juice, and then sprinkle some basil on top. Let it simmer until the side has startted turning white and slowly rise to the middle before flipping them around. After flipping, add some more (less this time) sea salt, white pepper, and basil but no more lemon juice as the oil already has some. As the white starts to rise toward the middle of the side of the salmon but not quite all the way, while the middle is still a bit pink, take the salmon out of the pan and drain all the excess oil from the salmon. Separate the Salmon along the threads of the meat and remove the bones so that the chunk of meat become slices. Keep the oil in the pan for later use. If cooked just right, there should be a gradient shade of light orange in the middle to pink on the side of the slices of salmon.

While doing the salmon, bring a pot of water to boil, add some sea salt, and put the Linguine in. I measure one hand grip full of Linginni for every 2 servings. Boil until just not more hardness to the bite and drain quickly. Bring a frying pan to medium low heat and add some olive oil with slices of garlic. Quickly put the Linguine into the frying pan and stir. Add the oil from the salmon pan, some sea salt and cheese flakes to taste but not salty as the salmon and the mushroom will be slightly more salty than the Linguine. Stir in the salmon and mushroom and then sprinkle some more basil to serve.

Ingredients:
Vacuum packed frozen salty pork knuckle
(available at Park and Shop or local frozen meat shops)
Salt
Sugar
Ginger
Oil
Honey

Procedures:
Defrost the salty pork knuckles. You can submerge the entire sealed package in luke warm water to speed up the process.

Boil a pot of water, add salt and ginger. Unwrap the knuckle and put it in the pot of hot water which should be enough to cover the entire knuckle, and kept boiling before putting the knuckle in. Take the knuckle out after about 5 minutes and rinse the knuckle in tap water to completely wash away all the remaining hot water. This is done to remove any frosen and stale smell and taste.

Wash the pot thoroughly and fill another pot of water. Add one teaspoon of sugar and then put the knuckle back into the pot. Turn up the heat and bring it to a boil, and then turn down the heat to minimum and cover the pot. Let it simmer for 2 hours and make sure the water completely covers the knuckle at all time.

Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius.

Take out the knuckle and dry it completely, and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Brush a layer of oil all over the knuckle. Put the knuckle in the oven in the upper level with the skin side up, and then switch the setting to gill and grill for about 15 minutes, or until the skin just starting to brown. Meanwhile the skin will slightly “explode” (pop) several times. This is normal.

Take out the knuckle and let it cool for 5 minutes, then brush a layer of Honey on the skin only. Put it back in the oven, and let it grill for another 4 minutes,or until just a couple of tiny spots started to burn.

Take out the knuckle and let it cool for 15 minutes, then it is ready to be cut and served.

Ingredients:

Lemon zest, juice and pulp, sliced
Sweet Basil minced
Garlic minced
Shallot minced
black Pepper grind
Chili powder
Olive oil
Worchestershire sauce
pork ribs
BBQ sauce

Procedures:

Mix lemon zest, juice and pulp, Sweet Basil, Garlic, Shallot, black Pepper, Chili powder, Worchestershire sauce, BBQ sauce and rub all over the ribs. Rub on some Olive oil at the end. Cover and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Rub again in the morning.

3 hours before the meal, preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius. Put the ribs with the sauce and Lemon slice on top in a covered casserole and let it bake in the oven at 180 for 2 to 2-1/2 hours. Turn every 30 minutes. Make sure the casserole is tightly covered in the oven.

Take out the ribs and put in more BBQ sauce all over each piece of ribs. Return to the oven on a grill in top shelf (closer to the heat) and grill for 10-15 minutes until the BBQ sauce become dry and slightly burnt.

Left over sauce can be reduced in high heat with brown suger or honey to taste into BBQ sauce for future use or as a dip.