Today's lunch: Vegetable Soup and Stir-Fry Minced Pork with Ginger

I've been craving for home-cooked soup the whole week. Since today is an off day for me (sadly hubby has to work) due to Thaipusam replacement holiday, I decided to cook.

Vegetable Soup

This is one of my favourite soup. It's pretty simple as the ingredients are just radishes, carrots and pork bones/ribs. I added cabbage this time round. Just boil a pot of water, add the pork bones/ribs, then the remaining vegetables. Boil under low fire until the carrots and cabbages are soft. Don't forget to add pepper and salt (or soya sauce) to taste.

Comforting vegetable soup

Stir-Fry Minced Pork with Ginger

This is another simple dish which anyone can cook. I decided to do something different by adding the leftover radishes and black fungus. Before cooking, you can marinade the minced-pork with some white pepper, salt/soya sauce and Shao Hsing cooking wine. I'm a pepper lover, so I added some black pepper and some paprika (for the sake of using the paprika we bought from Greece..haha). Don't forget to slice some ginger, and squeeze out some ginger juice. 

Heat the wok and add some sesame oil. Add in ginger and fry until fragrant. (Tips: Sesame oil and ginger are like best friends, they always go well together, IMO). Next add in the minced pork, and stir-fry until slightly brown (cooked). Add the radishes and black fungus to the minced pork. Now, pour in the ginger juice and continue to stir-fry. It is up to you whether you prefer this dish to have a little gravy, or lots of it. Add water accordingly. Depending on water content you've added, add in salt and pepper to taste. Ah..also, if you like to have some colour to the dish, you can add in some dark soya sauce. Simple right!

Stir-Fry Pork with ginger, radishes and black fungus

Cooking is all about trial and error, you can't tell a person to add more of this or that; if you like more ginger for example, then go ahead and add more ginger. If you are a pepper lover like me, then add more pepper.

Can't wait for hubby to be back for lunch. Serving the soup and pork with chilli padi (red chillies) is a must!