Chicken and Fish Balls with Black Bean Chili Sauce (魚蛋黑豆辣椒油鷄, Jyu4 Daan6 Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Jau4 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 06 May 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

I was actually going to make another dish until I saw the one pound (454 g.) package of frozen fish balls at my local Asian market. Fish balls are made like other meatballs, ground meat (in this case fish) mixed together and formed into balls. Fish balls are most commonly used in soups and are also served deep fried. I guess you could make fish ball spaghetti with them too! Fish isn’t the only flavor available, you can also get prawn and cuttlefish balls at your local Asian market. So I decided to combine the fish balls with chicken and green string beans and used Laoganma brand black bean chili sauce to finish the dish. It turns out that chicken and fish balls makes a tasty combination.

Enjoy!

Beijing-Style Chicken Wings (北京鷄翼, Bak1 Ging1 Gai1 Jik6)

This recipe was updated on 04 May 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

This recipe was adapted from the Mi Zhi Ji Chi Chuan (Beijing Chicken Wings) recipe at saveur.com. The original recipe used skewers since that’s how the wings are cooked on the streets. I omitted the skewers, but didn’t change the method the wings are cooked – quickly over hot coals until charred. I also used chili garlic sauce in the spice paste, where the original uses a chili oil after cooking, to produce the spicy hot taste of the wings. The spicing of this recipe is similar to that used in the Grilled Xinjiang-Style Chicken Wing (新疆燒烤鷄翼, San¹ Goeng¹ Siu¹ Haau¹ Gai¹ Jik⁶) recipe.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Zucchini with Spicy Bean Paste (意大利青瓜春辣酱雞, Ji3 Daai6 Lei6 Ceng1 Gwaa1 Ceon1 Laat6 Zoeng3 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 04 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Zucchini is in season now, so I added some chicken and spicy bean paste to make this dish for dinner. The Laoganma brand spicy bean paste includes a spicy oil that adds flavor to this dish. If you can’t find Laoganma brand spicy bean paste at your local Asian grocery store, you can substitute black bean sauce and hot chili oil.

Enjoy!

Grilled Xinjiang-Style Lamb Rib Chops (新疆燒烤羊扒, San1 Goeng1 Siu1 Haau1 Joeng4 Paa4)

This recipe was updated on 11 Apr 2015. Some ingredient quantities and instructions were updated.

This recipe was adapted from that published in Saveur Magazine, June/July 2013 issue in the article, “Fire in the Belly”. The original recipe was for lamb skewers. The spice paste, consisting of red chili flakes, cumin, Sichuan peppercorns, and oyster sauce would go well with any meat. I happen to have two racks of lamb in my freezer, so it made sense to use them instead of making skewers with lamb shoulder as called for in the original recipe. The article makes the point that a very hot fire is used for cooking, so I piled the charcoal into one-half of the grill to place the coals as close to the grill surface as possible. You may have to decrease the cooking time depending upon the heat of your grill. Cooking time is fast for medium-rare rib chops, so be careful not to overcook the lamb.

 

Enjoy!

Grilled Miso Garlic T-Bone Steak

This dish was adapted from a Saveur Magazine website (saveur.com) recipe, Garlic and Red Miso Porterhouse. While I didn’t use red miso paste because I had the brown version in my refrigerator, I used more garlic than I normally use in a marinade. I also added sake to the marinade, which was not in the original recipe. This was a tasty and easy way to grill a steak, and the marinade would work with other meats.

Enjoy!