Jiu Hu Char Recipe

This Nyonya version of a vegetable medley is a favourite of my daddy so despite having to cut all the ingredients into tiny thin strips, I had a go at it again today. This dish is also quite easy to cook but the work that goes in the preparation can be quite tedious. In fact, I have already settled for a less-than-ideal cutting of the vege but they still took up about an hour or more just for prep work. *sigh* The things we do for love eh? ;P LOL Anyway...here goes... PS: I made no gurantee this is the authentic version that my grandmas (from both side of my parents who are really nyonyas) used to make but it's as close an imitation (technicalities aside). Haha. That is, the correct cutting of the vege has to be thinner than a matchstick (at least the version my grandma insisted on and the ones my mum used to make). Mine is ummm...about the size of a matchstick...I think..LOL. Oyeah, the portion using this recipe is about average, roughly 4-5 persons' portion?

*All the ingredients except shrimps are sliced thinly as per mentioned, yes, even the pork belly and cuttlefish)*  

Ingredients

One turnip (size varies according to how much you wanna make but the more time this dish is reheated, the better!)
One medium carrot 6-8 medium dried black mushrooms (soak them for about an hour before cutting)
2 dried cuttlefish (make sure you pull out the plastic-ish thing on their spine before you cut them up)
a small saucer (about half grab of a hand) of dried shrimps
100g pork belly (season in light soy sauce, pepper and corn flour before using)
3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
1 small onion
2-3 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp of oyster sauce
Pepper

Methods
1) Heat a drizzle of oil in a skillet, lightly brown the onion, then add in garlic and fry till fragrant.
2) Add in  pork belly, stir around a while and then add in cuttlefish and shrimps.
3) Brown them a little (check by making sure all the pork are more or less white with a little brown sides).
4) Add all the mushroom and stir up before adding turnip and carrot.
5) Next just add a little water to avoid the veges and meat from sticking (half glass of water) and add the sauces. Adjust the soy sauce and pepper accordingly.

Note: Make sure there's at least a little bit of water so the turnip and carrot can soften. I usually cook mine a little softer as I do not like too much liquid. Do consider the fact that not everyone like their vege wet and soggy so add the water slowly and roughly wait until the water has dried up a little before adding more. Also, turnip produces water, mushrooms too! So don't go overboard. Haha! (No matter how much faster you want your vege to cook)

*Garnish with thinly sliced fried shallots if there's any*

I made sambal belacan to go with this and washed up a small ball of lettuce to go with this dish or you can use the white thin popiah skin...not for spring rolls one...the white popiah like in penang popiah..

Picture is NOT mine. I goggled it for illustration purposes here. :)

Sambal belacan is basically ground fresh chilli (either using mortar or even food processor) and mixing it with lime, belacan, salt and sugar.

I used 4 chillies, 0.5 tsp of baked belacan (to dry them up), 1 small lime, sugar and salt to taste. :))))