When family members are impatient to tear into a dish, you know it has to be good.

As Ms Candice Ong, 48, is busy preparing to cook sio bak (roast pork belly), her enthusiastic husband, Mr Derek Tan, 58, and 25-year-old son, Mr Joshua Tan, sing praises of her culinary repertoire.

When the meat is being carved for photo-taking for this interview, they cannot help but steal pieces of the juicy pork with perfectly crispy crackling.

Mr Derek Tan, an engineer supervisor and self-proclaimed "taster" of his wife's food, gives his verdict in mock seriousness: "The skin is crispy and the meat is not tough. Her standard has always been consistent."

Ms Ong, who works in private banking, laughs and adds that her husband is a "tough critic" who does not usually give a rave review.

Her son is quick to lavish praise on her labour of love. "Whatever mum cooks, we love," says the eldest of three siblings, who has two sisters aged 22 and 18.

It is a joy to see the family bonding and joking over their love of food. That is why Ms Ong ensures that a healthy home-cooked meal brings her loved ones together after a long day's work.

Her sio bak is a crowd-pleaser among family and friends and she has taken great effort to perfect it.

While the ingredients are simple, there are key steps to pay attention to.

For instance, having a tray of water at the base of the oven is important to maintain the meat's moisture and collect excess oil that drips from the meat.

Adding a layer of salt and increasing the oven temperature gradually will dry out the skin to achieve the quintessential crispy pork crackling.

Ms Ong serves the succulent pork with her hand-pounded chilli sauce - a delicious combination of chillies, garlic, lime leaves and lime juice.

The same cut of pork belly can also be used to make kong bak bao (braised pork buns), another hit when she hosts family and friends.

For Chinese New Year, she prepares dishes such as pen cai and fish maw soup, as well as yusheng, with her own dressing of sour plum sauce with lime juice, chilli sauce and hua diao jiu (Chinese rice wine) or brandy.

Ms Ong, the youngest of eight siblings, honed her skills from her family of home cooks. Her mother's speciality is braised duck and Ms Ong grew up observing her cook while helping with preparing ingredients and doing the dishes.

While baking is not her forte, she can also make muffins and cookies.

When it comes to sweet treats, she prefers making konnyaku jelly, or those found at Chinese dessert shops such as mango sago and bai guo yi mi, which is made with barley, beancurd skin and ginkgo nuts.

With her pork belly done, Ms Ong sits back and watches with glee as everyone digs into her dish.

She says: "When I see my family and friends enjoy the food, I feel happy and satisfied."