Chicken and Marinated Bean Curd with Fuzzy Melon (腐乳五香豆腐節瓜雞, Fu6 Jyu5 Ng5 Hoeng1 Dau6 Fu6 Zit3 Gwaa1 Gai1)

 

This recipe was updated on 29 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

This is an easy dish to prepare and fermented bean curd is the basis of the sauce. Each bean curd looks like a little soft rectangular pillow and is packed together in a bottle. I happen to use 7 of the fermented bean curds, but you’ll have to judge how much to use depending upon your taste. The sauce is light in color, so soy sauce is not used (but is used to marinate the chicken) since this would darken it. Marinated bean curd (or five spice bean curd) is the other ingredient used in this dish. Marinated bean curd is not fermented, but spiced and its texture is firm, so it doesn’t break up when stir fried. If you can’t find marinated bean curd at your local Asian market, use a firm pressed tofu as a substitute.

Enjoy!

Grilled Bourbon Chicken Wings (燒烤波本鷄翼, Siu1 Haau1 Bo1 Bun2 Gai1 Jik6)

 

This recipe was updated on 17 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and the Chinese name added.

Somehow, bourbon and chicken seem to go together. Adding your favorite bourbon (e.g. Jack Daniels, Jim Beam…) to chicken wing marinade before grilling gives the wings a unique and tasty flavor. Adding a smoking wood to the grill, such as hickory, mesquite, pecan, or whatever your favorite wood is, further enhances the flavor. You can choose to remove the wing tips before marinating, but I leave them on since I don’t mind eating them. I first smoked the wings covered over indirect heat before grilling over direct heat to get the grill marks. This is a simple recipe to make and I hope you will try it.

Enjoy!

Pepperoni, Mushroom, and Olive Pizza

Making your own fresh pizza and not eating frozen is one of the joys of life. To create the dough, I use Cheri’s Favorite Pizza Dough Recipe. You can read the background story here, but her secret is to add semolina flour to the dough.  I use the dough setting on my bread machine to create the dough rather than a food processor and I use all the dough to create one 14-inch pizza (rather than 2 medium pizzas as called for in the original recipe) since I like my crusts thicker than thin. The recipe says that you can make the dough in 5 minutes, but using my bread machine takes at least 45-60 minutes.

I use a Cuisinart 14-inch non-stick pizza pan to hold the pizza. Even though I have a convection oven, I use the oven mode (no convection) set at the highest temperature (in my case 555⁰F) and with the rack set at the lowest point so that the pizza is as close to the lower heating element as possible to get a crispy crust for 10-15 minutes. I found that if I use the convection setting, the toppings burn before the crust gets done. Depending upon your oven characteristics, your results might differ.

You can, of course, add any toppings that your heart desires. This pizza happens to use pepperoni, mushrooms, and Kalamata olives. For sauce I use a bottled tomato sauce from Trader Joe’s that I like – Trader Giotto’s Puttanesca Sauce – which contains anchovy and anchovy paste, among other ingredients. The cheese is a pre-packaged six cheese Italian blend (of course, your favorite cheeses can be used). Finally, I added the basil on top of the pizza at the last moment, since I forgot to place some down on the pizza after the sauce. This resulted in some rather sad looking dehydrated basil on top of the pizza (next time I won’t forget).

Enjoy!

Steamed Lemon Chicken and Shrimp with Black Bean Sauce (豆豉檸蒸蝦鷄, Dau6 Si6 Ning4 Zing1 Haa1 Gai1)

 

This recipe was updated on 30 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

 

When I first moved out of my parents’ house, many years ago, I was cooking novice. My Mom had always prepared the meals and now it was going to be up to me to do the cooking. Parents, being who they are, helped the newly independent kid by supplying some tools for me to succeed on my own. One thing my mom gave me was some 3x5 cards (remember those!) with recipes on them. The roots of this dish come from that original 3x5 card, which I still have.

 

The original dish my Mom used to make was Lemon Chicken with Black Bean Sauce. This was a healthier version of the fried lemon chicken dish with gloppy sauce that you get at Chinese restaurants. This dish is steamed and the lemon accompanies a black bean sauce (which is a great taste combination). I’ve modified the original ingredients slightly and added a flourish of shrimp to the dish, but the roots of the dish remain as written on that 3x5 card.

 

The chicken should be marinated at least 4 hours (overnight is preferable) and you’ll need to defrost the shrimp before steaming the dish. Other than those preparation steps, the dish is quick and easy to prepare (perfect for any cooking novice!).

 

Enjoy!

Grilled Magic Dust Beef Porterhouse and Pork Rib Steaks

Magic Dust is a spice mix created by champion BBQ pit master Mike Mills. The recipe can be found at the About.com web site.  You can use the mix on any meat. I happen to use it on beef and pork.

Enjoy!

Beef with Bitter Melon (苦瓜牛肉, Fu2 Gwaa1 Ngau4 Juk6)

 

This recipe was updated on 22 May 2014. Quantities and measurements for some ingredients were changed, as well as the addition of metric measurements.
 

Beef with bitter melon in a black bean sauce is another classic, easy to prepare Chinese dish. I make this dish when I want something quick to eat. Bitter melon, for those who are not familiar with this vegetable, tastes exactly as it’s named and could be considered an acquired taste. I happen to like bitter melon and you can easily moderate the bitterness of the melon to your taste. The beef needs some preparation time, so you’ll need a minimum of 1 hour for marinating, but also can be marinated overnight.

Enjoy!

Spicy Pork and Dried Shrimp with Chives (油辣椒蝦米豬肉, Jau4 Laat6 Ziu1 Haa1 Mai5 Zyu1 Juk6)

 

This recipe was updated on 02 Nov 2015. The Chinese name was added, some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I bought chives at my local Asian supermarket because they looked good and I’ve never really cooked many dishes using them (plus they were cheap). If you’ve been reading my recipes, you’ll probably notice that many dishes are created from what’s available in my refrigerator. This is another dish that falls into this category. I’ve never made this dish before, but I had the ingredients and I needed to cook something for dinner. The leftovers (if any) make a good topping for noodles.

Enjoy!

Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak6 Zaam2 Gai1) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng1 Cung1 Jau4)

This recipe was updated on 07 Sep 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

When I was living with my sister and her husband while my house was being remodeled (over 15 years ago), I made this dish, took it out of the refrigerator, and put it out on the counter to warm up before cutting. While I was occupied preparing other things for dinner, their cat, Phoenix, also noticed that there was a chicken and jumped onto the counter to investigate. As I turned around and noticed that there’s more than just a chicken sitting on the counter, Phoenix starts licking the chicken! Needless to say, I shooed the cat away. Phoenix looked very unhappy, since it just lost possession of a tasty bird, and I wondered what to do with the chicken. I figured that if the cat thought the chicken was tasty, then the chicken is still tasty. So I washed the chicken under the faucet and proceeded to cut it up under the watchful gaze of Phoenix. We ate the chicken that night for dinner. My sister still laughs at this story and I can truthfully say that my chicken is kitty licking good!

Fried Rice (Caau2 Faan6, 炒飯)

Fried rice (caau² faan⁶, 炒飯) is one of my favorite dishes to make and one of the first dishes I ever learned to cook. It’s Chinese comfort food. Fried rice is the ultimate leftover dish because leftover rice and other leftover ingredients are used. For this version, I added homemade hickory smoked bacon and Chinese broccoli (gai³ lan⁴, 芥蘭) to this easy to prepare dish, but you can add any ingredient that’s available. Other fried rice ingredient variations are pictured at the end. Oyster sauce (hou⁴ jau⁴, 蠔油) completes the dish.

Enjoy!

Chinese Broccoli Beef with Oyster Sauce (芥蘭牛肉, Gaai3 Laan4 Ngau4 Juk6)

This recipe was updated on 27 May 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Chinese broccoli beef is a classic, easy to prepare Cantonese-American dish. I make this dish when I want something quick to eat. This version adds button mushrooms and uses Lee Kum Kee brand premium oyster sauce to complete the dish, but if you have some time, you can use rehydrated Shiitake mushrooms. The beef needs some preparation time, so you’ll need a minimum of one hour for marinating, but also can be marinated overnight.

Enjoy!

Spicy Pork Rice Roll Chow Fun (辣豆辦豬肉炒粉, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zyu1 Juk6 Caau2 Fan2)

This recipe was updated on 26 May 2015. Some instructions were changed.

Fried flat rice noodles is a simple Chinese noodle dish to make and a favorite of mine. The final dish is usually the result of what is in my refrigerator since you can use just about any ingredient to prepare this dish using fresh flat wide rice noodles. This version uses fresh rice roll noodles, which as the name implies, are round and not flat, along with ground pork, bean sprouts, Chinese broccoli, and chopped scallions in a spicy bean sauce. If you are unable to get fresh rice roll noodles at your local Asian market, the easier to find flat wide rice noodles can be substituted. The ground pork needs some preparation time, so you’ll need a minimum of one hour for marinating, but also can be marinated overnight.

Chow fun noodles are available fresh and unrefrigerated from your local Asian market. The noodle’s texture is soft when kept at room temperature. In California, there’s actually a law that permits these noodles to be kept and sold at room temperature. Once refrigerated, the noodles become hard and have a different texture when cooked. You should use the noodles the day of purchase. If this is not possible, then the noodles should be refrigerated and brought up to room temperature before use (the noodles will not regain its previous soft texture). The noodles will also have to be separated before cooking.

Enjoy!

Cucumber and Jellyfish Salad (Ceng1 Gwaa1 Hoi2 Zit3 Saa1 Leot6, 青瓜海蜇沙律)

 

This recipe was updated on 30 Dec 2013. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

 

This salad might seem to be an unusual combination of ingredients, cucumber and jellyfish, but it’s one that I grew up with and was one of my Grandmother’s favorite dishes. You used to have to buy salted jellyfish, soak it multiple times to hydrate and to remove the salt, and then cut it into long strips. Now it comes pre-packaged (as “instant jellyfish”) and ready to eat! The dressing is sesame oil and rice vinegar.

It’s easy to make and I used to make it for work potlucks. I would get quizzical looks from people and when asked what it was, I would just say, “It’s a Chinese Cucumber Salad, have some, you’ll like it”. After people gobbled it up, I would tell them what was really in it.

Enjoy!

Grilled Rib Eye Steak with Mustard Mayonnaise

In honor of the Fourth of July, here’s a simple meat spice rub for when you have a carnivorous urge. In this case the rub was used on a grilled rib eye steak, but will work with just about any meat. A mustard mayonnaise further flavors the grilled steak.

Enjoy!

Welcome to Duck Soup Easy

Welcome to the new home for the blog previously called Make Yummy. You'll find all the old Make Yummy recipes at this new site and more. I've refromatted the recipes and the design of the new blog. Let me know what you think!

Duck Soup is American slang for easy, so the name of the new blog could be Easy Easy. Duck is also a play on words for my name (Doug). The name struck me as appropriate since I'm always looking for easy to cook everyday recipes.

Please enjoy the recipes and musings at my new home.