Amaretto Fudge Cheesecake with Kahlua Chocolate Cookie Crust and Ganache

This will be my last post for 2015. So my last recipe is a dessert, which I rarely make, made for my family’s 2015 Christmas dinner. So we’ll end the year on a sweet note and as we enter 2016, best wishes to you and your family for the coming New Year. I hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s recipes and I’ll see you next year with more recipe postings.

The origin of this recipe was the Amaretto Fudge Cheesecake recipe from cooking.com, whose site no longer exists. I made this dessert once before (a few Christmas’ ago) more or less as in the original recipe. My 2015 recipe version definitely came out delicious after making changes to the original, which included drastically reducing the amount of sugar in the filling. I’m not a fan of overly sweet desserts, so I add the minimal amount of sugar, but everyone has different tastes, so feel free to add more. When making the cookie crust, I’ve found that it’s sufficient to use the entire sandwich cookie (including the filling, which many recipes have you remove) with added flavoring (in this case Kahlúa) rather than adding any additional sugar or butter. I’ve also found that it’s not necessary to bake the crust before adding the cheesecake filling, which saves a step in making this dessert. Finally I added a visual and tasty flourish to the cheesecake by topping it with a flavored ganache (Kahlúa again and it hides any filling surface defects after baking).

Enjoy!

Grilled Capsicum Wine Chicken Thighs (燒烤紅油辣椒酒鷄髀, Siu1 Haau1 Hung4 Jau4 Laat6 Ziu1 Zau2 Gai1 Bei2)

Ming Teh Food’s brand Capsicum in Red Oil provides a spicy addition to this grilled wine based chicken recipe. Capsicum is finely ground red chili and is sold bottled in oil. The spiciness of the dish depends upon the amount added to the marinade and is a personal preference, so feel free to increase or decrease the amount used. The spiciness of the chili with the red wine go well together in a soy based marinade. The dish is very easy to make and cooking time is fast if chicken thighs are used.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Chili Oil Snow Pea Lamb Chow Mein (黑豆辣椒油荷蘭豆羊扒炒麵, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Jau4 Ho4 Laan4 Dau6 Joeng4 Paa4 Caau2 Min6)

Here’s another lamb loin chop meat recipe, this time using noodles. The dish is slightly spicy through the use of Laoganma brand’s Black Bean Chili Oil. As in the previous lamb loin chop meat recipe, Black Bean Chili Oil Lamb with Bean Curd Sticks (黑豆辣椒油腐竹羊肉, Hak¹ Dau⁶ Laat⁶ Ziu¹ Jau⁴ Fu⁶ Zuk¹ Joeng⁴ Juk⁶), more common (and cheaper) cuts of lamb can be substituted, such as lamb leg or shoulder cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces. Lamb loin chops have two distinct pieces of meat separated by a bone as in a beef T-bone steak. The larger piece of meat is the loin and the smaller is the tenderloin. The two pieces of meat need to be removed from the bone, and then the loin and tenderloin pieces cut thinly using a very sharp knife.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Chili Oil Lamb with Bean Curd Sticks (黑豆辣椒油腐竹羊肉, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Jau4 Fu6 Zuk1 Joeng4 Juk6)

Lamb loin chop meat was used to make this tasty dish. More common (and cheaper) cuts of lamb can be substituted, such as lamb leg or shoulder. Lamb loin chops have two distinct pieces of meat separated by a bone as in a beef T-bone steak. The larger piece of meat is the loin and the smaller is the tenderloin. The two pieces of meat need to be removed from the bone, and then the loin and tenderloin pieces cut thinly using a very sharp knife. Meat from the lamb loin chop is very tender and even though there’s more work involved to prepare the meat for this dish, it’s worth the effort to make this dish if you can get the lamb loin chops for a decent price, otherwise use meat from the lamb leg or shoulder. You’ll need to purchase about 1½ lb. (750 g.) of lamb loin chops to get about ¾ lb. (375 g.) of meat after trimming.

 

Enjoy!

Braised Pork Short Ribs with Bitter Melon (燴苦瓜豬排骨, Wui6 Fu2 Gwaa1 Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1)

Pork short ribs are the spare rib or baby back rib tips, cut into a single 2-inch (5 cm.) wide piece with the intercostal meat (the meat between the ribs) and meat above the bones still attached. I found this cheftalk.com page with the information on what pork short ribs are. There’s a picture of the pork short ribs in the recipe section of this post. I’ve only found this cut of pork at two Asian markets in my area (and not always consistently available), so it’s relatively hard to find. Pork spareribs or baby back ribs cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces can be substituted if you can’t find pork short ribs and there will not be any meat “above” the bone.

Other than the use of pork short ribs, the ingredients are readily available. Fresh bamboo shoots are available at my local Asian market and I use them when I can, but canned can be substituted. The dish is easy to cook since all you have to do is put all the ingredients (minus the bitter melon and green onions) into a Dutch oven to cook with Lee Kum Kee’s brand Black Bean Garlic Sauce. The bitter melon and green onion are added at the end of cooking to keep them from getting overcooked. All you then have to do is eat the finished dish over rice.

Enjoy!

Grilled Barbeque Sauce Pork Rib Eye Chops (燒烤醬豬排, Siu1 Haau1 Zoeng3 Zyu1 Paai4)

This is an easy to make grilled pork chop recipe using Koon Chun brand’s Barbeque Sauce. Hoisin sauce can be substituted if Koon Chun’s Barbeque Sauce is not available. Marinade the pork chops overnight, grill them, and then smoke using your favorite wood in a barbeque grill.

Enjoy!

Abalone Sauce Sockeye Salmon (鮑魚醬紅鱒鮭魚, Baau1 Jyu4 Zoeng3 Hung4 Zyun6 Gwai1 Jyu4)

Here’s another tasty recipe using fresh sockeye salmon and Lee Kum Kee’s brand abalone sauce. The last recipe fresh sockeye salmon recipe, Black Pepper Sauce Sockeye Salmon (黑椒汁紅鱒鮭魚, Hak¹ Ziu¹ Zap¹ Hung⁴ Zyun⁶ Gwai¹ Jyu⁴), used black pepper sauce. The texture to this dish is provided by using bean curd sticks, which when rehydrated, are slightly chewy. Once again, the salmon skin is not removed and becomes crispy when the skin is placed directly onto a hot wok.

Enjoy!

Black Pepper Sauce Sockeye Salmon (黑椒汁紅鱒鮭魚, Hak1 Ziu1 Zap1 Hung4 Zyun6 Gwai1 Jyu4)

Fresh sockeye salmon was available, so I paired it with Lee Kum Kee’s brand Black Pepper Sauce, rather than the more common black bean garlic sauce. The dish is just as tasty using black pepper sauce and is especially tasty when the salmon is fresh and not frozen. The salmon skin is not removed and becomes crispy when the skin is placed directly onto a hot wok. I used green and yellow bell peppers, but you can use any colored bell peppers to make this dish.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Chili Oil Chinese Broccoli Chicken with Fried Tofu (黑豆辣椒油芥蘭油炸豆腐鷄, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Jau4 Gaai3 Laan4 Jau4 Zaa3 Dau6 Fu6 Gai1)

I’ve been using Laoganma’s brand of black bean chili sauce in many of my recipes. I went back and looked at the English translation for the ingredient and realized a more accurate translation would be black bean chili oil. So starting with this recipe, I’m using the more accurate translation in the recipe title when using the ingredient.

This is an easy to make chicken and Chinese broccoli dish, which is always a great taste combination. Red bell pepper strips are added for color and all you have to do is buy a package of fried tofu to complete the dish. Black bean garlic sauce can be substituted (Lee Kum Kee is the brand I recommend) if you don’t want to make the dish (mildly) spicy.

Enjoy!

Basil Chicken and Shrimp Green Curry (咖哩紫蘇蝦鷄, Gaa3 Lei1 Zi2 Sou1 Haa1 Gai1)

The tasty seafood-meat combination common in Chinese dishes also works well in a curry, in this case a green curry. Using a prepared curry paste makes this dish quick cooking and easy to prepare. While this recipe uses shrimp and chicken are marinated beforehand, this step can easily be omitted if time is short and the dish will still be tasty. The spiciness of the dish comes from the red chili peppers and can the quantity can be adjusted to personal taste, or omitted altogether. I like my potatoes a little crunchy, so I add them at the end, but if you like them a little softer, add them in with the chicken at the beginning of cooking.

Enjoy!

Fermented Bean Curd with Minced Chili Chicken and Mixed Mushroom Fish Balls (辣豆腐乳菇魚蛋鷄, Laat6 Dau6 Fu6 Jyu5 Gu1 Jyu4 Daan6 Gai1)

Here’s another chicken and mixed mushroom fish ball dish using fermented bean curd as the base of the sauce rather than the curry used in the Basil Tomato Curry Chicken and Mixed Mushroom Fish Balls (咖哩紫蘇番茄菇魚蛋鷄, Gaa³ Lei¹ Zi² Sou¹ Faan¹ Ke⁴ Gu¹ Jyu⁴ Daan⁶ Gai¹) recipe. The fermented bean curd also has ground chili mixed in, but the dish really isn’t very spicy.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Chinese Broccoli Dough Sliced Noodles (芥蘭鷄刀削麵, Gaai3 Laan4 Gai1 Dou1 Soek3 Min6)

Chicken and Chinese broccoli are two of my favorite taste combinations. The ingredients can be made into a dish all by itself, as in the Chinese Broccoli Oyster Sauce Chicken (芥蘭蠔油雞, Gaai³ Laan⁴ Hou⁴ Jau⁴ Gai¹) recipe, or used together with noodles, as in the Chicken and Chinese Broccoli Noodles (芥蘭鷄乾撈麵, Gaai³ Laan⁴ Gai¹ Gon¹ Lou¹ Min⁶) recipe. Both of the previously mentioned recipes use oyster sauce (another favorite ingredient of mine). So this noodle dish uses dough sliced noodles with all the previously mentioned ingredients. Dough sliced noodles are formed by cutting the noodles from a dough ball, so they’re also known as knife-cut noodles. The noodles have a chewy texture and are available in the frozen section of your local Asian market (if you can’t get them fresh). Just thaw the noodles overnight, even though the package instructions tell you not to, and stir fry. A flat noodle can be substituted if dough sliced noodles are not available, but the texture won’t be the same.

Enjoy!

Grilled Korean BBQ Sauce Black Pepper Chicken (韓國燒烤醬黑椒雞胸肉, Hon4 Gwok3 Siu1 Haau1 Zoeng3 Hak1 Ziu1 Gai1 Hung1 Juk6)

This is an easy to make grilled chicken recipe using a bottle of prepared Korean barbeque sauce intended for beef. I’ve got a few bottle of Korean barbeque sauce in my pantry to use when I don’t feel like making my own sauce from scratch. Other ingredients are added to the marinade and the chicken is marinated for 24 hours before the marinade is discarded. Ground black pepper is then used to coat the chicken. If you’re really pressed for time, just use the bottle of Korean barbeque sauce and marinade for at least one hour before discarding the marinade, and coating with ground black pepper. The results won’t taste quite the same, but the chicken will still be tasty.

Enjoy!

Chili Paste with Fermented Soy Bean Mixed Mushroom Fish Ball and Fried Tofu (湖南豆豉辣椒油炸豆腐菇魚蛋, Wu4 Naam4 Dau6 Si6 Laat6 Ziu1 Jau4 Zaa3 Dau6 Fu6 Gu1 Jyu4 Daan6)

This recipe uses a slightly spicy chili paste with mixed mushroom fish balls and fried tofu, together with canned straw mushrooms. The fish balls and fried tofu are available pre-packaged at your local Asian market in the refrigerated section (the fish balls might be frozen). So all you have to do is open the package or open the can to use these ingredients. So making this dish is relatively simple and doesn’t require much preparation time to make.

Enjoy!

Grilled Red Wine Lamb Chops (燒烤紅酒羊扒, Siu1 Haau1 Hung4 Zau2 Joeng4 Paa4)

This is an easy to make grilled lamb chop recipe. The recipe uses the same marinade that was used in the Grilled Red Wine Turkey Wings (燒烤紅酒火雞翼, Siu¹ Haau¹ Hung⁴ Zau² Fo² Gai¹ Jik⁶) recipe. The marinade is very simple and consists mainly of soy sauce and red wine, ingredients that are easily obtainable. While I didn’t add black pepper for this recipe, the lamb chops are even tastier if the lamb is coated with freshly ground pepper before grilling (after discarding the marinade).

Enjoy!

Chicken Abalone Sauce Noodles (鮑魚醬鷄乾撈麵, Baau1 Jyu4 Zoeng3 Gai1 Gon1 Lou1 Min6)

This is actually a variation on the previous noodles in sauce recipes: Noodles in Sauce (乾撈麵, Gon¹ Lou¹ Min⁶), Chicken and Chinese Broccoli Noodles (芥蘭鷄乾撈麵, Gaai³ Laan⁴ Gai¹ Gon¹ Lou¹ Min⁶), and Basil Noodles in Sauce (紫蘇乾撈麵, Zi² Sou¹ Gon¹ Lou¹ Min⁶). Rather than using oyster sauce, as was done in the previously mentioned recipes, abalone sauce was substituted, and the dish used many fresh ingredients that are more often used to make chow mein. I would characterize the taste of the noodles as being more subtle by using abalone instead of oyster sauce. So the next time you reach for the oyster sauce, try substituting abalone instead.

Enjoy!

Red Curry Lamb Stew (燉咖哩羊肉, Dan6 Gaa3 Lei1 Joeng4 Juk6)

Lamb stew meat was available at my local supermarket, so I couldn’t resist buying it to make a curry based dish. When lamb is pre-packaged and labeled as stew meat in the USA, the meat is usually cut from the leg. The convenience of pre-packaged lamb stew meat means that you can purchase the quantity of meat needed for a dish, rather than having to purchase a portion or whole lamb leg to cut into pieces. Using a one dish sized can of curry paste also serves to simplify making this dish. The curry paste is first stir fried and then the coconut milk is added before the rest of the ingredients. The dish actually cooks quite quickly and just about any set of vegetables can be used.

Enjoy!

Chili Oil Bean Curd Mixed Mushroom Fish Balls and Fried Tofu (紅油腐乳油炸豆腐菇魚蛋, Hung4 Jau4 Fu6 Jyu5 Jau4 Zaa3 Dau6 Fu6 Gu1 Jyu4 Daan6)

Fish balls are available in the frozen or refrigerated sections at your local Asian market. All that needs to be done is to thaw the fish balls, if frozen, and then cut them in half. The rest of the ingredients are available packaged or bottled (except for the vegetables), so this dish is pretty easy to make. The chili oil fermented bean curd is the spicy version of fermented bean curd, and the amount can be increased or decreased depending upon personal preference. Plain fermented bean curd can be substituted if spiciness is not desired in the dish.

Enjoy!

Grilled Black Pepper Sauce Beef Loin Steak (燒烤黑椒牛排, Siu1 Haau1 Hak1 Ziu1 Ngau4 Paai4)

Black pepper sauce is the basis for this easy to make beef steak marinade. The steak can be marinated for as little as one hour, but ideally should be done overnight. Just make sure to turn the steak over halfway through the marinade time so that both sides of the steak are coated. If you’re really pressed for time or want to quickly coat the steak at the last minute, the black pepper sauce can just be used all by itself as a barbeque sauce. For the best results, choose a thick cut beef steak for a given weight so as not to overcook the beef.

Enjoy!

Grilled Red Wine Turkey Wings (燒烤紅酒火雞翼, Siu1 Haau1 Hung4 Zau2 Fo2 Gai1 Jik6)

This is an easy to make grilled turkey recipe using just the wings. My local supermarket frequently has turkey parts, rather than a whole turkey, available and turkey wings are one of my favorite parts of the turkey to purchase. The wings cook surprisingly fast once the individual wings are separated and marinated before grilling. I also grill the wing tips, but can easily be omitted and used for stock instead. The marinade is also very simple and consists mainly of soy sauce and red wine, ingredients that are easily obtainable. While I didn’t add black pepper for this recipe, the wings are even tastier if the wings are coated with freshly ground pepper before grilling (after discarding the marinade).

Enjoy!

Basil Tomato Curry Chicken and Mixed Mushroom Fish Balls (咖哩紫蘇番茄菇魚蛋鷄, Gaa3 Lei1 Zi2 Sou1 Faan1 Ke4 Gu1 Jyu4 Daan6 Gai1)

Tomatoes and curry are common ingredients in dishes available at Chinese-American restaurants in the USA. Some of my favorite recipes are: Curry Tomato Beef Tripe (咖哩番茄牛柏葉, Gaa³ Lei¹ Faan¹ Ke⁴ Ngau⁴ Paak³ Jip⁶), Spicy Tomato Beef Curry (咖哩粉番茄牛肉, Gaa³ Lei¹ Fan² Faan¹ Ke⁴ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶), and the curried version of Tomato Beef Chow Mein (番茄牛肉炒麵, Faan¹ Ke⁴ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶ Caau² Min⁶). The previous tomato-curry recipes are beef based, so this recipe uses a chicken and fish ball combination to show that other proteins can be used to make this type of dish. Fish balls can be purchased at your local Asian market. The meat and fish combination also is a classic taste duo used in Chinese dishes. The curried based sauce can also be varied to be made sweet and sour, if desired, but just curry powder is used for this dish.

Enjoy!

Chinese Broccoli Beef Heart Hong Kong Noodles (芥蘭牛心炒雲吞麵, Gaai3 Laan4 Ngau4 Sam1 Caau2 Wan4 Tan1 Min6)

My previous noodle recipe using beef hearts, Curry Tomato Beef Heart Chow Mein (咖哩番茄牛心炒麵, Gaa³ Lei¹ Faan¹ Ke⁴ Ngau⁴ Sam¹ Caau² Min⁶), was a variation on a tomato beef curry noodles using chow mein noodles. This recipe uses the thinner Hong Kong noodles (also known as Won Ton Noodles), so the ingredients are cut small to compliment the noodles width, and uses a simple soy based sauce for flavoring. As a reminder, beef hearts have the same texture as chicken gizzards and, of course, taste like beef. You can think of them as a crunchy version of beef. Also since the heart is a muscle, beef hearts do not have an organ taste, for instance, like liver. You can purchase beef hearts at your local Asian market, usually already cut into pieces.

Enjoy!

Grilled Oyster Sauce Capsicum Lamb Chops (燒烤紅油辣椒蠔油羊扒, Siu1 Haau1 Hung4 Jau4 Laat6 Ziu1 Hou4 Jau4 Joeng4 Paa4)

This recipe uses lamb chops marinated overnight with a spicy chili oil and oyster sauce mixture. I use a bottled spicy chili oil that has ground bits of chili made by Ming Teh Food, but you can use any chili oil that’s readily available at your local Asian market. Combining the chili oil with oyster sauce produces a spicy and tasty combination when the lamb chops are grilled. Lamb chops are easily overcooked, so the lamb grilling and smoking time needs to be based upon the heat of your grill and previous experience. The trick is to quickly grill both sides of the lamb over a very hot fire before smoking.

Enjoy!

Oyster Sauce Broccoli Shrimp (蠔油西蘭花蝦, Hou4 Jau4 Sai1 Laan4 Faa1 Haa1)

This dish is an easy to make shrimp dish using oyster sauce and broccoli. I found a method to make shrimp crunchy in dishes, like those found at Chinese restaurants. The method can be found at: How to make shrimp crunchy? | Easy Delicious Recipes: Rasa Malaysia. I modified the method to also marinade the shrimp overnight and omitted the egg whites. I also precook the broccoli florets in the microwave to reduce the stir frying time in the wok.

Enjoy!

Basil Black Bean Chili Sauce Chicken Cabbage Chow Mein (黑豆辣椒紫蘇青椰菜鷄炒麵, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Zi2 Sou1 Ceng1 Je4 Coi3 Gai1 Caau2 Min6)

Here’s another variation of the Chicken Cabbage Chow Mein (青椰菜鷄炒麵, Ceng¹ Je⁴ Coi³ Gai¹ Caau² Min⁶) recipe, with basil and slightly spicier sauce. I’ve been adding cabbage to my chow mein recipes lately, probably because a nearby Chinese noodle restaurant does the same to their dishes. The cabbage adds a nice crunch to the recipe and a good textural contrast to the soft noodles. Depending upon the size of the cabbage, two to four leaves are needed for the dish. Other than the added cabbage, the rest of the ingredients used in this recipe are fairly common in chicken chow mein. This is a “dry” noodle dish and not a dish with a lot of “wet” sauce.

Enjoy!

Black Pepper Sauce Scallops and Chicken (黑椒帶子鷄, Hak1 Ziu1 Daai3 Zi2 Gai1)

Here’s a seafood/meat combination dish using scallops and chicken in a black pepper sauce. I thought about making this with a black bean garlic sauce (which also would have been tasty), but decided that I wanted to make this dish with a different flavored sauce. I also thought about using shrimp, which is a more common combination ingredient, but found scallops available at my local market, so I bought scallops instead of shrimp.

Enjoy!

Basil Oyster Sauce Shrimp (蠔油紫蘇蝦, Hou4 Jau4 Zi2 Sou1 Haa1)

Shrimp and oyster sauce makes a great taste combination, and for this dish, fresh basil leaves are added. Previous recipes also used this shrimp and oyster sauce combination: Oyster Sauce Shrimp with Japanese Chilies (蠔油日本指天椒蝦, Hou⁴ Jau⁴ Jat⁶ Bun² Zi² Tin¹ Ziu¹ Haa¹) and Oyster Sauce Shrimp with String Beans (青豆角蠔油蝦, Ceng¹ Dau⁶ Gok³ Hou⁴ Jau⁴ Haa¹).

Enjoy!

Pork and Mixed Mushroom Fish Ball Stew (燉菇魚蛋豬肉, Dan6 Gu1 Jyu4 Daan6 Zyu1 Juk6)

This is actually a very simple to make slow cooker (aka crock pot in the USA) recipe. The dried ingredients just have to be soaked before it’s assembled in the slow cooker. This is also another seafood-meat combination dish that the Chinese love to make. The fish balls are available packaged in your Asian market’s refrigerator or frozen section. Throw in some vegetables, mushrooms, and bean curd sticks, and you can have a slow cooker stew for dinner by doing the preparation work for cooking in the morning.

In the USA, what are called country-style ribs is actually pork butt (which is actually the pork shoulder) cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) wide strips. The “ribs” are available prepackaged at the supermarket either with- or without the bone. I recommend getting the boneless version to make preparation easier. You can, of course, cut your own “ribs” from the pork butt, but why bother when they’re already available pre-cut. The pork also has fat running through the meat, which should not be removed, as the fat adds to the flavor and texture of the stewed pork when cooked in the slow cooker. In fact, pork prepared in this manner without any visible fat would be very dry after cooking.

Enjoy!

Carne Adovada (Red Chile Pork Stew) Enchiladas

As with my other enchilada recipes, Grilled Chilpotles Chili Chicken Green Chile Enchiladas and Mexican Pulled Pork Enchiladas, the enchiladas are made with leftovers from another dish, in this case Carne Adovada (Red Chile Pork Stew). For these enchiladas, I added leftover rice to the enchilada before adding in the Carne Adovada (Red Chile Pork Stew) filling. Serve with shredded cabbage and Pickled Vegetables.

When I made these enchiladas, I could purchase 10-inch (25.4 cm.) flour tortillas. Now I’m unable to get that size and 8-inch (20.3 cm.) flour tortillas are the largest currently available. This means that more (but smaller) enchiladas will fit into a pan or alternatively you can make the same sized enchilada out of two overlapping 8-inch tortillas. I also switched brands of enchilada sauce to Las Palmas. Las Palmas uses chile peppers as the main ingredient, rather than tomato sauce with chile peppers.

Enjoy!

Chicken Cabbage Chow Mein (青椰菜鷄炒麵, Ceng1 Je4 Coi3 Gai1 Caau2 Min6)

 

I’ve been adding cabbage to my chow mein recipes lately, probably because a nearby Chinese noodle restaurant does the same to their dishes. The cabbage adds a nice crunch to the recipe and a good textural contrast to the soft noodles. Depending upon the size of the cabbage, two to four leaves are needed for the dish. Other than the added cabbage, the rest of the ingredients used in this recipe are fairly common in chicken chow mein. This is a “dry” noodle dish and not a dish with a lot of “wet” sauce.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Chili Sauce Sugar Snap Pea Chicken (黑豆辣椒蜜豆鷄, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Mat6 Dau6 Gai1)

Black bean sauce and chicken are one of my favorite flavor combinations. In this case I used a prepared black bean sauce with chili oil made by Laoganma. If you don’t want a spicy dish, I would substitute another prepared sauce, Black Bean Garlic Sauce, made by Lee Kum Kee. My other favorite flavor combination with chicken is mushrooms. Straw mushrooms were the choice for this dish, but it could have easily been Shiitake mushrooms. The previous published Black Bean Chili Sauce Snow Pea Chicken (黑豆辣椒荷蘭豆鷄, Hak¹ Dau⁶ Laat⁶ Ziu¹ Ho⁴ Laan⁴ Dau⁶ Gai¹) recipe is very similar to this dish, and is just as tasty.

Enjoy!

Grilled Lemon Porterhouse Pork Chops

The principal marinade ingredient for this dish is lemon juice. Lemons add a nice bit of acidity to the pork chops and together with the herbs and spices, makes for a tasty grilled dish. The amount of salt to use is a personal preference; some people like more salt, others like less, and others prefer none at all. The amount of salt used in this dish will likely taste under-salted to most people, since that’s my personal preference. So feel free to adjust the amount of salt. For those that do not want added salt, more lemon juice can somewhat compensate for this.

The strategy to cook the pork chops is to first grill them to get the grill marks, and then smoke them to finish cooking. The thickness of the pork chops affects the cooking time, so you really want to purchase pork chops that are at least 1-inch (2.5 cm.) thick. If the pork chops are thinner, just adding the grill marks to both sides of the pork would fully cook them, and smoking them further would make the pork tough and dried out. So to be able to both grill and smoke the pork, try to purchase thicker pork chops (the thicker the better!).

Enjoy!

Japanese Chili Green Bean Chicken (日本指天椒青豆角鷄, Jat6 Bun2 Zi2 Tin1 Ziu1 Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Gai1)

I recently went to a local Chinese restaurant, whose specialties are dishes cooked with chilies (lots of chilies!). One dish ordered was green string beans with handfuls of red chili peppers and some ground pork. This is a common Chinese dish where you taste the underlying flavor of the chilies more than any heat, together with the green beans and pork. The difference in this restaurant’s preparation was that whole red chilies were used rather than cutting them up into smaller pieces. Just that change made the dish taste different because a whole red chili pepper is eaten with every mouthful. The dish is also served “dry”, with little sauce.

As in the Oyster Sauce Shrimp with Japanese Chilies (蠔油日本指天椒蝦, Hou⁴ Jau⁴ Jat⁶ Bun² Zi² Tin¹ Ziu¹ Haa¹) recipe, dried red Japanese chilies bought at my local Mexican market were used for flavor, rather than heat. If you really like very hot dishes, the dried red chilies found at your local Asian market can be substituted. Unlike the classic restaurant green bean dish previously described, this recipe is served with chicken and sauce, although the dish can also be made “dry”. It’s really up to you if you want a sauce or not. The chilies give the dish its dominant flavor, so they aren’t an optional ingredient. In fact, the more the better!

Enjoy!

Black Bean Chili Sauce Sugar Snap Pea Shrimp Noodles (黑豆辣椒蜜豆蝦麵, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Mat6 Dau6 Haa1 Min6)

The crunchiness of the sugar snap peas contrasts nicely with the texture of the shrimp in this slightly spicy black bean chili sauce noodle dish. You would think that stir fried noodle dishes are easy to make (and they are), but the number of ingredients contained in this common dish can be large, making the preparation and cooking these dishes at home a process longer than one would expect. This really isn’t a problem in a restaurant because of the high heat available to heat the wok. In a restaurant, the ingredients are added one after the other to the wok without really affecting the high temperature, resulting in a tasty quick cooking dish. This is not true for a typical home kitchen because the heat source is not as powerful as that found in restaurants. So if the restaurant method was used at home to cook the dish, the first ingredient would stir fry because the temperature would be high, but the subsequent ingredients would steam rather than brown because the temperature would drop with each added ingredient. Hence the need for the home cook to reheat the wok before adding and then removing each ingredient separately in order to stir fry, rather than steam, the ingredients. I’ve used this wok cooking method at home even though I have a special wok burner in my kitchen, which doesn’t approach the heat generated in a restaurant, but is hotter than the typical heat source found in most home kitchens. So if you’re stir frying over a typical kitchen stove burner, the time needed to cook a dish is longer since the time needed to reheat the wok is longer.

Enjoy!

Mixed Seafood Rigatoni

This is a really easy recipe to make, since just about all the ingredients are pre-packaged and ready for use. Mixed seafood and Italian sausage are the main ingredients in this pasta dish, which produces the tasty seafood and meat combination commonly found in Chinese dishes. The Italian sausage is available hot or mild in a single package, so unless you buy the individual sausage package (in which case the casings should be removed), all you do is open the package. As is usual for my pasta recipes, I use a wok to stir fry the pasta before adding the sauce. Making a pasta dish is no different to me than making chow mein – the techniques are the same, I’m just using a different sauce to make the noodles.

Mixed seafood is available in the frozen section at your local Asian market. The packaged mixture is inexpensive and intended for use in a hot pot or soup, but after thawing can easily be used in stir fries or, in this case, pasta dishes. Depending upon the brand available, the mix of seafood varies. The usual mix has at the very least fake crab meat, squid, and shrimp. Additionally oysters, clams, octopus, and other seafood is in the mix depending upon the manufacturer. So compare the ingredients of the brands available at your local Asian market before buying a package.

Enjoy!

Oyster Sauce Shrimp with Japanese Chilies (蠔油日本指天椒蝦, Hou4 Jau4 Jat6 Bun2 Zi2 Tin1 Ziu1 Haa1)

The combination of the dried red Japanese chilies, together with the sweetness of the shrimp and oyster sauce, makes a great flavor combination. The new ingredient that I tried in this dish was purchased at my local Mexican market: dried red Japanese chili peppers, which are similar to the more common Chile de árbol peppers (which have more heat to them). The dried red Japanese chili peppers aren’t mind numbing hot like the dried red chilies that you can purchase at your local Asian market. While there is some heat, the chilies are more flavorful than hot.

I recently went to a local Chinese restaurant, whose specialties are dishes cooked with chilies (lots of chilies!). What was interesting about one dish was that there were handfuls of these red chili peppers in the dish, but you tasted the underlying flavor of the chili more than any heat. The dish was very spicy without being hot. So I thought about how to get these chilies, and I knew that they weren’t available at my local Asian market. I realized that these chilies are available in bulk at my local Mexican market. I bought a good amount and tried using dried red Japanese chilies in this dish and got the result I was hoping for.
 

The translation of the Japanese chili peppers to Chinese characters is probably not correct. I appended “Japan” to “dried red chili peppers”, so I would appreciate if someone could tell me what the correct translation should be.

Enjoy!

Bean Sauce Pork Belly Stew (燉豆瓣豬腩肉, Dan6 Dau6 Faan6 Zyu1 Naam5 Juk6)

The easiest way to cook pork belly is to make a stew in a slow cooker (also called a crock pot in the USA). Pork belly needs a long cooking time over slow heat in order to become so tender that the pork almost melts in your mouth when eaten. Pork belly can easily be purchased at your local Asian market, and always comes with the skin attached. The pork skin is an integral part to the mouthfeel of the cooked dish and should not be removed. Excess fat, produced from the pork belly during cooking (pork belly is used to make bacon in the USA), needs to be removed when cooking is complete. Prior preparation (i.e. marinating) is not required since the dish’s flavor comes from the sauce; just cut the pork belly into pieces and put into the slow cooker.

I added Lian How brand Bean Sauce to the soy based sauce that is usually the basis for this dish. While the basis of the sauce is soy sauce, the star anise, cassia bark (cinnamon), and rock sugar (among other dry spices) add the traditional flavors to this dish. Tapioca starch is used to thicken the sauce and is added to the slow cooker at the start of cooking, so the completed dish has a thickened sauce at the end of cooking. Corn starch will not thicken the sauce due to the long cooking time. I have previously used tapioca starch as a thickener in long cooking recipes and adopted this method from America’s Test Kitchen.

Enjoy!

Grilled Barbeque Sauce Turkey Breast (燒烤火雞胸肉, Siu1 Haau1 Fo2 Gai1 Hung1 Juk6)

I was able to purchase a single half turkey breast at my local market, rather than having to purchase a whole turkey. Grilling the turkey breast after marinating is my preferred method of cooking. I used an already prepared bottled barbeque sauce made by Koon Chun Sauce Factory that’s added to the marinade in place of hoisin sauce. The taste is fairly similar, so hoisin sauce is definitely a good substitute if you don’t have this particular brand’s bottled sauce. Depending upon the weight and height of the turkey breast, indirect cooking on the grill takes less than an hour. Cooking another turkey half breast at the same time takes no more cooking time on the grill and makes great a source for turkey sandwiches.

Enjoy!