慈菇南乳燜豬肉 Stewed Arrow Head with Pork in Red Fermented Bean Curd

不知道你們會不會有這樣的感覺。過年過節期間，總有一、兩款菜式或食品會特別讓你想念。那些童年或成長期間，母親常弄，以前沒怎麼在意的食物。

I don't know if you have this feeling or not; during the New Year or any festival holidays, I sometimes crave for food that I had in the past, or throughout my childhood. Food that my mum would often make, but I never fully appreciated.

年歲漸長，今天我最懷念的是【慈菇燜豬肉】。

As I get older, the dish that I miss the most is '  Stewed arrow head with pork in red fermented bean curd '.

以前家裏每年過冬、團年或開年飯；除了各式豐富的菜餚外，桌上總有一大盆燜芽菇 ( 慈菇 ) 豬腩肉。媽媽用心煮，爸爸用心講解，告訴我們慈菇的合時、好處和營養價值等等 ... 多年來我始終沒被游說得到，對這道菜的反應並不熱烈。

When I was at home, every year before or after the Lunar New Year, most of the time, amongst the whole table of scrumptious lovely food, my mum would always serve this stewed arrowhead with belly pork.  My mum was totally passionate about cooking for her family, and my dad would tell us how good the arrow head was especially when they were in season, their nutritious value and so on ...  somehow I was still not keen or impressed by the bland if not slightly bitter, softly crunchy texture of the arrow head.                                                                                                        

結婚後，過年時，客家藉的婆婆對煮慈菇的熱情更甚。每次她都會把滿滿的一大砵放到我們面前；可能知道丈夫平時不會有機會吃到這菜的關係。後來吃多了，我竟也對慈菇發生了興趣來。

After we got married, every year we would have New Year dinner at my mother-in-law's house. Because of the tradition  from her village, she's even more enthusiastic about cooking this dish. Very often she would triumphantly place a big bowl of it in front of us; may be she guessed that my husband missed having it as I wouldn't have cooked it at home.  Many years later, I've gradually grown to like the dish a lot.

最近這幾年，在家自己動手預備年菜時，就想起母親做的。於是便開始學煮，只是為了要尋回當年，沒有好好體會珍惜的美味。


正月中旬，英國最近這幾天的氣温驟降，一片苦寒。

想做個熱呼呼的菜，冰箱內材料齊全，便馬上動手。個多小時後，香噴噴的一大鍋慈菇南乳燜豬肉便上桌了。


In the last few years, whenever I've been planning our annual festive meals, I would try to remember how my mum used to cook this dish, and have started to learn to make it; so that I could re-collect the taste and memories from home. Those that I didn't care to savour when I could .

Now, the middle of the first month in the Lunar calender, it's so bitterly cold still.

I thought of making a pot of steaming hot stew. I had everything I needed in the fridge, and sprung into action without hesitation. An hour and half later, a big pan of heavenly smelling ' Stewed arrow head with pork in red fermented bean curd ' was ready.

慈菇南乳燜豬肉
( 3-4 人份 )

材料：

• 豬頸肉 500g ( 我用較瘦部份的豬肉，想更美味的話可用豬腩肉。)
• 慈菇 500g
• 豆腐泡一包或隨意
• 南乳 2 磚
• 中國芹菜隨意
• 蒜頭 4 粒
• 葱頭 2 粒
• 薑 6 片
• 油 1 湯匙
• 酒 3 湯匙
• 鹽 2 茶匙
• 生抽 1 湯匙
• 片糖半條

Stewed Arrow Head with Pork in Red Fermented Bean Curd

( Serve 3-4 )

Ingredients:

• 500g Pork collar ( I used leaner cut of pork, if you prefer the meat with more flavour, you can use belly pork. )
• 500g Fresh arrow head
• 1 bag of deep fried tofu 
• 2 squares of Red fermented bean curd
• Chinese celery
• 4 clove garlic
• 2 red shallots
• 6 slices of ginger
• 1 tbsp oil
• 3 tbsp wine
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 strip of brown cane sugar piece

做法：

1. 慈菇刮皮去頭尾切三角或切片，豬肉切大塊 ( 約 1 吋半 x 2 吋 )。
2. 大煲內燒沸水，下豬肉塊、慈菇和豆腐泡；大火煲滾後再煮两分鐘後倒出瀝乾。
3. 鍋燒紅下油，轉小火加薑片、蒜頭、葱頭爆香。下慈菇、豬肉和豆泡；南乳和酒一起兜炒片刻。跟著下鹽和豉油續炒一回，注沸水至蓋過肉面，下片糖一起大火煮滾後，上蓋用小火燜 1 小時至肉和慈菇軟稔。
4. 加進洗淨切段的中國芹菜煮數分鐘至軟。如有需要的話酌量下些少鹽、糖調味。喜歡的話可加少許老抽調色，勾薄芡上桌。

Method:

1. Scrape or peel the skin off the arrow head, then wash and cut it into slices or quarters. Dice the pork into roughly 1 1/2" x 2" pieces.
2. Put the pork, arrow head and the deep-fried tofu into a big pan of boiling water. Bring it back to the boil and simmer it for a couple of minutes, then drain it.
3. Heat a pan, add oil and then lower the heat before adding the ginger, garlic and shallots to stir-fry a little. Put in the arrow head, pork and deep-fried tofu, then the red bean curd and wine, stir to mix everything well together. Add salt and soy sauce, and fry till everything well combined, filled up with boiling water to just above the meat. Bring to the boil, cover and cook on a low heat for about 1 hour until the arrow head is soft and the meat is tender.
4. Put the washed and trimmed Chinese celery in the stew and cooked for a few minutes until softened. Seasoned the stew with more salt and sugar if needed. Thicken the sauce a little by stirring in a corn flour and water mix, and add dark soy sauce to adjust the colour if preferred.                                                                                                                                                                                                 

燜這樣的菜最好做一大煲，先盛起第一餐要吃的份量；餘下的待涼後放進冰箱，隔一、二日後，再煮熱來吃時會更滋味。

If you make a big pan of this, ladle out enough to serve,and  leave the rest to cool completely before keeping it in the fridge. Upon re-heating  , the taste is even better after a day or two.