Shrimp and Dungeness Crab with Snow Peas (荷蘭豆炒蝦仁北美大肉蟹, Ho4 Laan4 Dau6 Caau2 Haa1 Jan4 Bak1 Mei5 Daai6 Juk6 Haai5)

Happy Lunar New Year! Thanks for following my recipes for the past Lunar year. Although I’m a few days early in expressing my good wishes to you, here’s a dish appropriate for eating on that day. Although this is not a traditional dish for the New Year’s, it has ingredients often found in dishes served on that day. Dungeness crab is a local delicacy found on the West coast of the United States, but this year the catch has been low due to the weather and other reasons, which has made the crab expensive this year. The year before, the crabs were more abundant, so I still have some frozen in my freezer. While freshly cooked Dungeness crab is always preferred, frozen also works. The combination of the crab with the shrimp and scrambled eggs, makes this dish. The sauce ingredients are also kept simple, so as to not hide the seafood flavors of the ingredients. You’ll notice that there’s not much sauce in this dish, which is the way I prefer to make this dish, but if you desire more, there are instructions at the end of the recipe to increase the amount.

I’ve been concentrating on writing for my travel blog: https://ducksoupeasytravel.blogspot.com/, so my output of recipes has been low for the past year. I apologize for those who have been following this blog, but take a look at the travel blog. While I’m still cooking (and eating!), I continue to photograph the dishes and have a large backlog of pictures to process. Enjoy your Lunar New Year celebration and I’ll see you next year.

Enjoy!

Basil Cilantro Lobster Noodles (紫蘇芫茜龍蝦麵, Zi2 Sou1 Jyun4 Sai1 Lung4 Haa1 Min6)

Happy New Year! For the first dish of the New Year, here’s a lobster noodle dish seasoned with basil and cilantro. The normal lobster dish found in restaurants is usually made with a fresh whole lobster (shell included) and you have to remove the meat from the shell in order to eat the dish. The dish is visually stunning with the bright red lobster shell, but a messy pain to eat (at least in my opinion). I would rather not have the visually stunning presentation and use cooked (not fresh) lobster meat removed from the shell. I use kitchen shears to remove the meat from the lobster shells, especially the small legs that contain that hard to get at lobster meat. If a whole lobster is too much of a challenge, you can substitute cooked lobster tails. For this dish, I used basil and cilantro for added flavor in this dish. The traditional lobster noodle recipe just uses lobster, so this variation adds a nice fresh herbal note to the dish.

Enjoy!

Steamed Pork with Dried Shrimp, Preserved Mustard Stem, and Salted Duck Egg (蝦米碎米芽菜鹹鴨蛋蒸豬肉, Haa1 Mai5 Seoi3 Mai5 Ngaa4 Coi3 Haam4 Aap3 Daan6 Zing1 Zyu1 Juk6)

Steamed pork is a dish I grew up eating and all Chinese Moms have a recipe for this dish. Steamed pork is usually never the only ingredient used in making this dish and there are innumerable recipe variations for additions. Here are some other recipes: Steamed Pork with Salted Fish (鹹魚蒸豬肉, Haam⁴ Jyu⁴ Zing¹ Zyu¹ Juk⁶) , Steamed Pork with Salted Duck Egg (鹹鴨蛋蒸豬肉, Haam⁴ Aap³ Daan⁶ Zing¹ Zyu¹ Juk⁶).

This version uses an uncooked salted duck egg and dried shrimp, whose saltiness goes well with the savory pork flavor. You can buy uncooked salted duck eggs and dried shrimp at your local Asian market, but the uncooked duck eggs can be hard to find and not always in stock. I buy my uncooked salted duck eggs at my local Farmer’s Market. The third ingredient is called suimiyacai, which is preserved mustard stems, and can be bought at your local Asian market in small packets. The preserved mustard stems add a mild sweetness to the dish and can be omitted if you cannot obtain them, or you can substitute another preserved vegetable.

On the surface, this seems like an easy dish to make. If this dish is prepared correctly, the steamed ground pork has a tender mouth feel when eaten. I have found, through many attempts, that if you add 1 Tbs. (15 ml.) corn starch per ½ lb. (250 g.) ground pork, together with the other marinade ingredients, you get the desired result.

Enjoy!

Steamed Ground Turkey and Salted Radish with Preserved Duck Egg (皮蛋菜脯蒸火雞, Pei4 Daan6 Coi3 Pou2 Zing1 Fo2 Gai1)

I recently posted this recipe: Steamed Ground Turkey and Salted Radish with Salted Duck Egg (鹹鴨蛋菜脯蒸火雞, Haam⁴ Aap³ Daan⁶ Coi³ Pou² Zing¹ Fo² Gai¹), which is the version of this dish using salted duck eggs. This recipe uses preserved duck eggs in place of salted, which for some people, can be disconcerting because of the appearance of the preserved duck egg. For those who feel that way, I say close your eyes and try eating it. I think you’ll like the taste, although I admit it is acquired.

Steamed meat dishes are a staple of many Chinese-American home-style dinners. The dishes are simple to prepare and cook quickly. I’ve previously posted some steamed pork recipes: Steamed Pork with Salted Duck Egg (鹹鴨蛋蒸豬肉, Haam⁴ Aap³ Daan⁶ Zing¹ Zyu¹ Juk⁶) and Steamed Pork with Salted Fish (Haam⁴ Jyu⁴ Zing¹ Zyu¹ Juk⁶, 鹹魚蒸豬肉). Pork is usually the meat of choice, but ground chicken and turkey can also be used. Corn starch plays an important part in producing a tender mouthfeel to the meat. I have found that 1 Tbs. (15 ml.) corn starch per ½ lb. (250 g.) ground meat results in the best texture in the cooked dish. In this recipe, ground turkey is used together with salted radish, shiitake mushrooms, and a preserved duck egg.

Enjoy!

Steamed Ground Turkey and Salted Radish with Salted Duck Egg (鹹鴨蛋菜脯蒸火雞, Haam4 Aap3 Daan6 Coi3 Pou2 Zing1 Fo2 Gai1)

Steamed meat dishes are a staple of many Chinese-American home-style dinners. The dishes are simple to prepare and cook quickly. I’ve previously posted some steamed pork recipes: Steamed Pork with Salted Duck Egg (鹹鴨蛋蒸豬肉, Haam⁴ Aap³ Daan⁶ Zing¹ Zyu¹ Juk⁶) and Steamed Pork with Salted Fish (Haam⁴ Jyu⁴ Zing¹ Zyu¹ Juk⁶, 鹹魚蒸豬肉). Pork is usually the meat of choice, but ground chicken and turkey can also be used. Corn starch plays an important part in producing a tender mouthfeel to the meat. I have found that 1 Tbs. (15 ml.) corn starch per ½ lb. (250 g.) ground meat results in the best texture in the cooked dish. In this recipe, ground turkey is used together with salted radish, shiitake mushrooms, and an uncooked duck egg. Uncooked duck eggs can be hard to find and luckily my local farmer’s market has a vendor that sells them, but cooked salted duck eggs can be substituted and are sold at your local Asian market (just follow the Steamed Pork with Salted Duck Egg (鹹鴨蛋蒸豬肉, Haam⁴ Aap³ Daan⁶ Zing¹ Zyu¹ Juk⁶) recipe to find out what to do with a cooked salted duck egg).

Enjoy!

Dungeness Crab Scrambled Eggs (北美大肉蟹炒蛋, Bak1 Mei5 Daai6 Juk6 Haai5 Caau2 Daan6)

Scrambled eggs and seafood is a tasty combination, with the most common Chinese restaurant dish using shrimp. My versions of these dishes can be found here: Shrimp and Scrambled Eggs (蝦仁炒蛋, Haa¹ Jan⁴ Caau² Daan⁶) and Shrimp and Dungeness Crab Scrambled Eggs (蝦仁北美大肉蟹炒蛋, Haa¹ Jan⁴ Bak¹ Mei⁵ Daai⁶ Juk⁶ Haai⁵ Caau² Daan⁶). Since Dungeness crab, a local delicacy, is in season now, here’s a recipe just using cooked Dungeness crab meat. If you’re not fortunate enough to be able to obtain Dungeness crab meat, any frozen or canned crab can be substituted.

Personal preference determines the amount of eggs to use in this dish. The ratio of eggs to seafood depends (obviously) on the number of eggs used to the amount of seafood. If more eggs than seafood is desired, use more eggs, or use fewer eggs if more seafood than eggs is desired. You can, of course, reduce the amount of seafood used to increase the egg ratio. The dish pictured in the recipe used six eggs.

Enjoy!

Steamed Egg Custard Scallops (蒸水蛋扇貝, Zing1 Seoi2 Daan6 Sin3 Bui3)

Happy New Year to everyone! For my first recipe of the year, here’s a quick cooking (and it’s really easy to make) steamed egg custard dish using scallops. The classic Chinese-American dish uses ground pork instead of scallops. I can’t take credit for substituting scallops for pork, since I got the idea from a restaurant menu. I also found out that one pound of frozen scallops yields one-half pound thawed, so be sure to use enough thawed scallops in this dish. I’ve also had a version of this dish using clams in their shells, so there must be more variations that I haven’t run into yet.

The taste of this dish is greatly influenced by the quality of the stock used to scramble the eggs. The dish will taste different if canned or homemade stock is used, so I try to use homemade stock from the Bone Soup (湯, Tong¹) recipe whenever possible. Since scallops are such a luxurious ingredient, using homemade stock is a must in my mind. The scrambled egg mixture needs to cover the scallops. The amount you’ll need depends upon the size of the scallops used and the size of the steaming plate. The classic recipe uses 2 eggs and ½ cup (250 ml.) of stock, but in this case I needed more egg mixture to cover the scallops, so I increased the recipe to 3 eggs and ¾ cup (375 ml.) of stock. All the air bubbles need to be removed from the egg mixture after pouring onto the scallops or the surface won’t be smooth once it’s steamed. I’ve seen some recipes where the egg mixture is strained or the bowl is covered with aluminum foil before steaming to prevent any water from settling on the egg custard surface (which mars the cooked surface). I don’t bother to strain or cover the egg custard while steaming, but they are options you can consider.

Enjoy!

Preserved Duck Egg Jellyfish Salad with Mustard Dressing (芥末粉醬皮蛋海蜇沙律, Gaai3 Mut6 Fan2 Zoeng3 Pei4 Daan6 Hoi2 Zit3 Saa1 Leot6)

Here’s a tasty salad I made for my family’s 2016 Thanksgiving dinner. The recipe is very similar to the salad I made in 2015: Shredded Tofu Jellyfish Salad (白豆腐絲海蜇沙律, Baak⁶ Dau⁶ Fu⁶ Si¹ Hoi² Zit³ Saa¹ Leot⁶). It’s actually quite simple to make, consisting mainly of opening packages and cutting the fresh ingredients. The mustard dressing really brought out the flavors in this salad. Unlike most salads, the dressing is made first and then the salad ingredients are added. The salad and dressing are actually made the day before serving, so this makes an ideal dish that can be made the day before and stored in the refrigerator.

Preserved duck egg is a unique ingredient in this salad. Preserved duck egg can be purchased at your local Asian market. Wikipedia has a good article on preserved duck eggs (also called century eggs) if you’re interested in more details. Use an egg slicer to cu the egg into small pieces.

Instant jellyfish comes in a package ready to use (hence the “instant” name). If I translated the Chinese correctly, it’s “jellyfish noodles”. The traditional method to prepare jellyfish is to soak dried salted jellyfish to rehydrate it before cutting into strips (at least a two day effort with a couple of water changes to remove the salt). So you see why packaged instant jellyfish is preferable.

Shredded tofu is also packaged and looks like noodles. This recipe uses both the regular (white) and marinated (five-space), but you can use all of one type if desired. The tofu needs to be parboiled before using (follow the instructions on the package), but other than that, there’s no other cooking needed before assembling the salad. The rest of the fresh salad ingredients are either cut or come already cut.

Enjoy!

Abalone Fish Maw Winter Melon Soup (鮑魚魚肚冬瓜羹, Baau1 Jyu4 Jyu4 Tou5 Dung1 Gwaa1 Gang1)

I made this tasty soup for my family’s 2016 Thanksgiving dinner, and is very similar to the soup I made for Christmas 2015: Seafood Winter Melon Soup (海鮮冬瓜羹, Hoi² Sin¹ Dung¹ Gwaa¹ Gang¹). The soup is loaded with lots of seafood and is a special occasion type dish. I was able to get sliced abalone at my local Asian market. Usually fresh (or thawed) abalone is very hard to find where I live (it’s usually only available frozen or dried), so I took the opportunity to use it in this soup. Since abalone becomes tough if cooked too long, the abalone is added as the very last ingredient to the soup just to warm it in order to keep it tender.

Fish maw is the bladder of the fish that controls buoyancy. Fish maw is one of those weird and wonderful special banquet ingredients (at least in my experience) that is served at auspicious events such as weddings and at Lunar New Year. Fish maw can be purchased at your local Asian market or herb specialty store. If you’re lucky enough to have an Asian herb store near you, it’s worth going in to see all the dried herbs and creatures that are sold at these stores. The herb stores also have the most variety of fish maw to buy and with the prices to match!

There are two types of fish maw: dried and fried. For this soup dish, the fried version is used. If you purchase the dried version, like I did, there’s an extra step to deep fry the fish maw yourself. I actually shallow fried the fish maw, ladling hot oil over the fish maw (be careful when using this method). You can save a step and time by buying the fried version. The best description of fried fish maw is that it look like chicharrón, which is fried pork skin. The fried fish maw has to soak in cold water for at least an hour to soften it to a spongy texture and then cut into bite sized pieces. After soaking, fish maw has no inherent flavor (so it won’t smell fishy at all) and acquires the flavors of the ingredients it is cooked with. So the use of a good stock and ingredients is important to the flavor of this soup.

The soup stock was made using the Bone Soup (湯, Tong¹) recipe. You can used a prepared soup stock, but the taste of the soup is heavily dependent upon the quality of the ingredients. So if you’re going to all the trouble and expense to make this soup, you should make your own soup stock. The last Chinese character in the recipe’s name, 羹 (gang¹), signifies that this is a thick soup. A thick soup means that a corn starch solution is added to thicken the soup. The amount of thickener added to the soup depends upon personal preference, but the soup should be thicker than a normal soup and not thicker than a very thick gravy.

Enjoy!

Shrimp and Dungeness Crab Scrambled Eggs (蝦仁北美大肉蟹炒蛋, Haa1 Jan4 Bak1 Mei5 Daai6 Juk6 Haai5 Caau2 Daan6)

Scrambled eggs and shrimp are a classic combination and my version of the recipe can be found here: Shrimp and Scrambled Eggs (蝦仁炒蛋, Haa¹ Jan⁴ Caau² Daan⁶). I’ve added cooked Dungeness crab meat to the combination to create this easy to cook dish. I also recently found the Cantonese translation for Dungeness crab (北美大肉蟹, bak¹ mei⁵ daai⁶ juk⁶ haai⁵), so I’ve incorporated that into the recipe name. Personal preference determines the amount of eggs to use in this dish. The ratio of eggs to seafood depends (obviously) on the number of eggs used to the amount of seafood. If more eggs than seafood is desired, use more eggs, or use fewer eggs if more seafood than eggs is desired. The dish pictured in the recipe is the later and used six.

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!

Abalone Sauce Stone Crab Fried Rice (鮑魚醬石蟹炒飯, Baau1 Jyu4 Zoeng3 Sek6 Haai5 Caau2 Faan6)

This recipe was updated on 26 Aug 2016. The title was changed to incorporate the Cantonese translation for Stone Crab.

My previous recipe: Abalone Sauce Stone Crab Noodles (鮑魚醬蟹炒麵, Baau¹ Jyu⁴ Zoeng³ Haai⁵ Caau² Min⁶), used noodles with stone crab and this recipe is the fried rice version. Abalone sauce is used again as the basis for the sauce in place of the usual oyster sauce that I use in fried rice dishes. Oyster sauce can be substituted in place of abalone sauce if not available.

For me, fried rice dishes usually means leftovers, so this is a rather luxurious version of fried rice using cooked stone crab. The only leftovers in this dish is the rice itself (which is necessary). Regardless, this version of fried rice is tasty and worth the effort to shell the stone crabs to make this dish.

Enjoy!

Cabbage Lamb Dough Sliced Noodles (青椰菜羊肉刀削麵, Ceng1 Je4 Coi3 Joeng4 Juk6 Dou1 Soek3 Min6)

I published the Lamb Dough Sliced Noodles (小羊炒刀削麵, Siu² Joeng⁴ Caau² Dou¹ Soek³ Min⁶) recipe in an earlier post, but this has now become the recipe I use to make this dish. I was able to purchase a portion of a lamb leg (as opposed to a whole leg) to make this dish. While the lamb leg has some of the best potions of meat, you need to remove the skin, bone, excess fat, and sinew from the leg meat before cutting into pieces that can be stir fried.

 

The addition of cabbage is a fairly common ingredient to stir fried noodle dishes. For some reason, I never used cabbage in my noodle dishes, but now I try to use it whenever I have it available. The cabbage adds a good vegetable component and a nice crunchy texture to noodles dishes, as well as being a good visual addition. The list of ingredients is long for this recipe, and there’s some effort involved to stir fry all the ingredients, but the resulting dish is worth all the work.

 

Enjoy!

Dungeness Crab and Quail Egg Shallot Sauce Noodles (紅蔥鵪鶉蛋北美大肉蟹麵, Hung4 Cung1 Am1 Ceon1 Daan6 Bak1 Mei5 Daai6 Juk6 Haai5 Min6)

This recipe was updated on 30 Aug 2016. The Cantonese for Dungeness crab was added to the title.

Crab and eggs is a tasty combination in any dish. In this case quail eggs, rather than chicken, are used. Quail eggs are small enough to be placed entirely into your mouth with the other ingredients when eating (try that with a chicken egg!). Fresh quail eggs can be purchased at your local Asian market, but then you have to hard boil and then peel them before use, or you can buy a canned quail eggs and just open the can. Unpeeled straw mushrooms (they also come in a can) are used because they match the shape and size of the quail eggs. Peeled straw mushrooms can be substituted if the unpeeled version is not handy.

Enjoy!

Grilled Garlic Chili Oil Turkey and Turkey Bacon Fried Rice

This recipe uses leftover Grilled Garlic Chili Oil Turkey Thighs. I used to use regular (pork) bacon when I made fried rice. Bacon adds a nice smoky flavor to any dish, but now that I more conscience about adding saturated fat to dishes, I use turkey bacon in its place. The taste is not quite the same as the pork bacon, but turkey bacon is healthier for you while providing similar flavor (I just use more). If you’ve looked at any of my other fried rice recipes, you’ll find a common theme– they are recipes to use leftovers. So when I go out to eat at restaurants, I rarely order fried rice!

Enjoy!

Fish Maw and Crab Soup (蟹肉魚肚羹, Haai5 Juk6 Jyu4 Tou5 Gang1)

Fish maw is the bladder of the fish that controls buoyancy. Fish maw is one of those weird and wonderful special banquet ingredients (at least in my experience) that is served at auspicious events such as weddings and at Lunar New Year. I made this soup with fresh crab meat for my family’s 2014 Christmas dinner. Fish maw can be purchased at your local Asian market or herb specialty store. If you’re lucky enough to have an Asian herb store near you, it’s worth going in to see all the dried herbs and creatures that are sold at these stores. The herb stores also have the most variety of fish maw to buy and with the prices to match!

There are two types of fish maw: dried and fried. For this soup dish, the fried version is used. If you purchase the dried version, like I did, there’s an extra step to deep fry the fish maw yourself. I actually shallow fried the fish maw, ladling hot oil over the fish maw (be careful when using this method). You can save a step and time by buying the fried version. The best description of fried fish maw is that it look like chicharrón, which is fried pork skin. The fried fish maw has to soak in cold water for at least an hour to soften it to a spongy texture and then cut into bite sized pieces. After soaking, fish maw has no inherent flavor (so it won’t smell fishy at all) and acquires the flavors of the ingredients it is cooked with. So the use of a good stock and ingredients is important to the flavor of this soup.

I was fortunate enough to prepare this dish while Dungeness crabs are in season, so I was able to get freshly cooked crab from my local grocery store. I used the meat from two cooked Dungeness crabs and that produced about 1 lb. (500 g.) of meat. If you’re not fortunate enough to have freshly cooked crabs available, canned or frozen crab can be used. Crab is not the only meat that can be used, and you can use abalone or sea cucumber as substitutes.

The soup stock was made using the Bone Soup (湯, Tong¹) recipe. You can used a prepared soup stock, but the taste of the soup is heavily dependent upon the quality of the ingredients used. So if you’re going to all the trouble and expense to make this soup, you should make your own soup stock. The last Chinese character in the recipe’s name, 羹 (gang¹), signifies that this is a thick soup. A thick soup means that a corn starch solution is added to thicken the soup. The amount of thickener added to the soup depends upon personal preference, but the soup should be thicker than a normal soup and not thicker than a very thick gravy.

Enjoy!

Grilled Dry Rub Pork Baby Back Rib Fried Rice (燒烤排骨炒飯, Siu1 Haau1 Paai4 Gwat1 Caau2 Faan6)

So if you have leftovers from the Grilled Dry Rub Pork Baby Back Ribs recipe and cooked rice, you can remove the meat from the ribs and make fried rice. I added red serrano chili peppers to the dish to spice it up even more, but that can be omitted depending upon your preference for spicy food.

Enjoy!

Pea Sprouts with Duck Eggs (豆苗鴨蛋, Dau6 Miu4 Aap3 Daan6)

Pea sprouts are the shoots that are usually discarded after pea pods are picked from the plant. This classic Cantonese dish pairs the pea sprouts with two types of duck eggs – one salted and one preserved. The cooked salted duck egg is a duck egg preserved in salt, which results in a dark orange yolk and firm egg white. The preserved duck egg has a yolk that is dark green color and the egg whites are dark brown as the result of alkaline preservation. The preserved duck egg is also known as “hundred-year” and “thousand-year” old eggs. Be assured that preserved duck eggs are not that old! You can purchase all the ingredients for this dish at your local Asian market.

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!

Cumin Red Cooked Pork Fried Rice (孜然紅燒肉炒飯, Zi1 Jin4 Hung4 Siu1 Juk6 Caau2 Faan6)

Here’s a recipe that uses leftover Cumin Red Cooked Pork and rice. Since pork belly is used to make bacon, stir frying the pork releases oil as it is cooked, and that oil is used to stir fry all the ingredients. The dish may not be the healthiest, but it is tasty.

Enjoy!