This year, I spent Valentine's hanging with four cute guys, including the diva shown above. Tumbleweed, or Bumblebutt, as MOH lovingly calls him, is one of our guinea pigs. He's quite the metro guy, and loves getting pampered in every way, whether it's getting an ear cleaning (you have no idea how much guinea pig wax collects in those cute ears) or having his hair specially blow-dried to perfection following a bath.
For Valentine's, MOH and I decided to spend the night in and do a special dinner of things we love.
MOH baked a dessert that I requested, and I would cook an entree that he requested. I requested double-chocolate cookies and MOH requested an authentic Thai dish called Kai palot.
Kai palot is a pork and tofu sweet braised dish that has caramelized eggs. The sweetness of this dish lends itself to a five-spice blend mixture (contains cinnamon, fennel, sichuan pepper, cloves and anise). When I first tried this dish, it reminded me of a Vietnamese style dish, thit kho, normally sweet and salty and served with fermented mustard greens and pickled vegetables. Thit kho normally consists of pork belly and also features eggs submerged in a light brown broth that you eat over rice.
MOH's request for kai palot couldn't have come at a better time. After the Vietnamese New Year, I got into a pickling craze.
It started off innocently at first. I saw mustard greens on sale at the grocery store and wanted to make fermented mustard greens to eat with rice porridge. Making pickled mustard greens was simple enough - you blanch the greens and submerge them in a salted water mixture for several days. Then, I saw napa cabbage on sale and was running low on my kimchi reserve. So I decided to up the ante and try my hand at kimchi. The results were pretty good and I was able to make a kimchi that was more forgiving with salt.
After kimchi, I decided to return to my Vietnamese roots and pickle some carrots and cauliflower. Pickled vegetables are a common side dish to eat during the new year. It goes great with just about anything - from thit kho to sticky rice cake to just popping the suckers into your mouth. I decided to make the kai palot and serve with the pickled vegetables I made. The results turned out pretty good and served for a nice V-day meal. It was also a win-win for us also, since our fridge has been loaded up with tons of pickling vegetables.
Hope everyone had a great Valentine's day! Also, it's a three day weekend, so hopefully you all have a great weekend and enjoy the Winter Olympics!
Ingredients for kai palot (modified from Temple of Thai's recipe):
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 pound of pork (belly preferable, but shoulder may do)
- 6 gloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons of black pepper, coarsely grounded
- 1 package of bean curd, cut into square pieces (normally made with fried tofu)
- 5 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 5 tablespoons of sugar
- 3 tablespoons of chinese five-spice
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
- 3 cups of water
Protocol:
1. Hard boil eggs - place eggs in water and boil for 15 minutes
2. Cut pork into square pieces
3. Pound garlic and and place inside stock pot with pepper and oil - stir fry for about 1 minute until you can smell the mixture
4. Add in pork and stir fry until all sides browned
5. Add five-spice, soy sauce and water. Then add peeled boiled eggs into water. Simmer for at least 30 minutes.
6. Add sugar and bean curd pieces and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes.
7. When pork tender (depends on cut of meat), remove from heat and serve over rice with pickled vegetables.
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