Recipe Testing: Stir Fried Pork With Cincalok

One thing about staying overseas, especially in Western-centric countries (Australia included) is they don't have much hawker fares. Eating out means eating in cafes or restaurants. Yeah, they do have street foods but it is more towards snacking rather than a complete meal on its own compared to our nasi lemak, char kuey teow or mee goreng mamak.

So nak tak nak mak kena jugak masak sendiri sendiri sebab tak sanggup nak spend AUD 15 setiap kali makan kat luar. Pastu sebelum mai Brisbane, tak sempat pulak mak makan segala makanan yang sesuwaiiii dengan jiwa mak kat Malaysia nun. 

Okay I decided to try out a well known Nyonya recipe - Stir Fried Pork With Cincalok. You may try out this recipe with chicken breast meat for Muslim readers. Cincalok is actually fermented krill (a type of small shrimp) in salt and rice mixture. Quite famous in Malacca - and it is a must in many of the Nyonya dishes. In Penang, they have two types - one for cooking (less salty) and one for dipping or condiment together with chillies and lime juice. Not sure about Malacca coz I usually found the one used for making condiment.

Cincalok Melaka

Despite having Nyonya blood from Penang, I am incline towards Nyonya food from Malacca. Hahaha pembelot kann ... kalau mak gi Melaka kan ... mak rasa macam mak balik kampung coz jumpa ramai Cina yang tak cakap Cina. Ramai keturunan Baba Nyonya Melaka yang mak jumpa or kenal memang ala-ala macam mak jugak hahahah. 

Anyway, you can get Cincalok easily in shops selling Asian products in Chinatown (Fortitude Valley). Also Yuen's in Sunnybank Market Place. It is salty and maybe quite an acquired taste for Westerners. I was craving this dish lately especially after I bought this Cincalok in Sunnybank's Yuen. There are many versions of Stir Fried Pork With Cincalok recipe in the internet but the one that caught my attention is from Frozen Wings blog. 

I changed it a bit coz I don't like ginger torch so I replaced it with lemongrass and I added in lime juice to make it a little acidic (hehehe my Penang Nyonya blood kicked in). Please bear in mind, I never cooked this dish before and I was pretty anxious of the outcome.

Recipe
Ingredients
3 tbsps cincaluk 

150gm pork belly ( sliced thinly)
3 tbsp oil
1 chilli, sliced

1/2 lime

Ingredients A
4 shallots , sliced
20gm ginger, shredded
1tsp kaffir lime leaf, shredded

1 lemongrass, shredded

Ingredients B
1/2 cup water

Method:
1. Saute ingredients A with oil till aromatic and add in cincaluk, onion and chilli.Stir fry them for a minute
2. Add pork and continue stir fry for 2-3 minutes, add ingredients B and simmer till almost dry.

3. Add lime juice before serving.

Ok my experiments ...

Cantik kan kaler bahan-bahan in Ingredients A.

Voila ... my version of Stir Fried With Cincalok

I would say it came out very nice and my housemate and I ate 2 plates of rice that day. Hahaha ... 

Selamat mencuba!

Love From Down Under,

MJ