Hot Fermented Bean Curd Beef with Bell Peppers (辣椒腐乳青椒牛肉, Laat6 Ziu1 Fu6 Jyu5 Ceng1 Ziu1 Ngau4 Juk6)

I previously posted a similar dish using regular fermented bean curd, Beef and Bell Peppers with Fermented Bean Curd (腐乳青椒牛肉, Fu⁶ Jyu⁵ Ceng¹ Ziu¹ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶). This version of the recipe uses fermented bean curd with chili as the basis for the sauce, so there’s a little more spice to the taste of the dish. Since fermented bean curd is an acquired taste, you can reduce or increase the amount depending upon your preference.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Chili Sauce Chicken with Bitter Melon (黑豆辣椒苦瓜雞, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Fu2 Gwaa1 Gai1)

Beef and black bean sauce are the usual accompaniments to bitter melon (here’s my recipe: Beef with Bitter Melon (苦瓜牛肉, Fu² Gwaa¹ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶). This recipe uses chicken and fried tofu together with black bean chili sauce to spice up the bitter melon. Eating bitter melon is an acquired taste, but it is one that I’ve had ever since childhood. The bitterness can be reduced by salting the bitter melon and then washing the salt off before cooking. If the salt is left on long enough, the bitterness can be removed, but then what’s the point of eating bitter melon if there’s no bitterness?

Enjoy!

Baby Bok Choy Sprouts with Shredded Tofu (白菜苗豆腐絲, Baak6 Coi3 Miu4 Dau6 Fu6 Si1)

I had a similar dish to this recipe at my local Shanghai restaurant and wanted to reproduce it at home. I had posted a similar recipe earlier, Shrimp with Shredded Spice Tofu (五香豆腐絲蝦, Ng⁵ Hoeng¹ Dau⁶ Fu⁶ Si¹ Haa¹), which adds seafood. Long baby bok choy sprouts resemble spinach in form, but retains its crunch when cooked, and are the young long sprouts of the bok choy plant. The long sprouts go well with shredded tofu which is also long in length. If you can’t find long baby bok choy sprouts (also called long bok choy muy) at your local Asian supermarket, you can substitute baby bok choy (小白菜, siu² baak⁶ coi³). Regular firm tofu, cut into strips, can be substituted for the shredded tofu.

Enjoy!

Cashew String Bean Chicken (腰果青豆角鷄, Jiu1 Gwo2 Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Gai1)

While you could cut the chicken into chunks, as was done in the Cashew Asparagus Chicken (腰果蘆筍鷄, Jiu¹ Gwo² Lou⁴ Seon² Gai¹) recipe, for this dish the chicken is cut to mimic the shape of the string beans. While the shape of the chicken doesn’t affect the taste at all, the aesthetics of the dish are a little more refined. There’s also a range of textures: from the hardness of the cashews, to the crunch of the green beans, to the chewiness of the mushrooms, and finally to the tenderness of the chicken. A prepared black bean garlic sauce makes for easy preparation, but you could always make your own from scratch.

Enjoy!

Chili Lemongrass Shrimp Hong Kong Noodles (辣椒檸檬葉蝦雲吞麵, Laat6 Ziu1 Ning4 Mung4 Jip6 Haa1 Wan4 Tan1 Min6)

While this recipe is similar to the Chili Lemongrass Shrimp Dough Sliced Noodles (辣椒檸檬葉蝦刀削麵, Laat⁶ Ziu¹ Ning⁴ Mung⁴ Jip⁶ Haa¹ Dou¹ Soek³ Min⁶), Hong Kong noodles are used in this recipe together with eggs. Shrimp goes really well with the scrambled eggs in noodle dishes, and the spiciness from the dried red chili peppers goes well with the lemongrass.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Chili Sauce Beef with Sugar Snap Peas (黑豆辣椒蜜豆牛肉, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Mat6 Dau6 Ngau4 Juk6)

The crunch of the sugar snap peas contrasts nicely with the tenderness of the beef in this dish. The red bell pepper adds color and the black bean chili sauce adds spiciness. You can of course just make the dish with black bean sauce if you don’t want the dish to be spicy.

Enjoy!

Steamed Tianjin Preserved Vegetable Pork Baby Back Ribs (天津冬菜蒸排骨, Tin1 Zeon1 Dung1 Coi3 Zing1 Paai4 Gwat1)

Here’s another easy to prepare pork rib recipe using Tianjin preserved vegetables and steaming takes only 30 minutes to finish the dish. The preserved vegetables are dried salted mustard greens, and they go well as a topping with the marinated pork spareribs.

Enjoy!

Shrimp with Shredded Spice Tofu (五香豆腐絲蝦, Ng5 Hoeng1 Dau6 Fu6 Si1 Haa1)

I saw two ingredients at my local Asian supermarket that I’ve never cooked before – long baby bok choy sprouts and shredded spice tofu. As always I bought them before knowing what to do with them. Just those two ingredients alone would make a good dish, and I’ve had a similar dish using white shredded tofu at a local Shanghai restaurant, but I decided to add shrimp to the recipe. Long baby bok choy sprouts resemble spinach in form, but retains its crunch when cooked, and are the young long sprouts of the bok choy plant. The long sprouts go well with shredded tofu which is also long in length. I used spiced shredded tofu instead of the white version, which is more common, to give added flavor to the dish. If you can’t find long baby bok choy sprouts (also called long bok choy muy) at your local Asian supermarket, you can substitute baby bok choy (小白菜, siu² baak⁶ coi³). Regular firm tofu, cut into strips, can be substituted for the shredded tofu.

Enjoy!

Grilled Plum Sauce Pork Ribeye Steaks (燒烤酸梅豬排, Siu1 Haau1 Syun1 Mui4 Zyu1 Paai4)

Plum sauce can be purchased at your local Asian supermarket and usually is an accompaniment to roast duck. Koon Chun Sauce Factory makes the plum sauce and it’s the brand I grew up with (but you can use any brand available). The sauce is a sweet and slightly sour, and has a mild spice kick to it. For this recipe, I used plum sauce and, to emphasize the plum flavor, plum wine to marinate pork chops before grilling.

Enjoy!