Chicken and Mushroom Clay Pot Rice (煲仔冬菇鷄飯, Bou1 Zai2 Dung1 Gu1 Gai1 Faan6)

Chicken and rice cooked in a clay pot is classic Cantonese dish. This version adds mini-shiitake mushrooms, dried lily flowers, dried black fungus strips, and dried scallops. Mini-Shiitake mushrooms (my nomenclature) are very small Shiitake mushrooms that are occasionally available at my local Chinese herb and dried foods store. Since they are hard to find, a good substitute is to use diced regular sized Shiitake mushrooms. The one caution when making this dish is that any excess liquid marinade from the chicken will burn in the clay pot when the rice is cooked, so the chicken needs to be separated from the marinade before adding to the clay pot. The same caution also goes for the oyster sauce, which is only added at the end of cooking.

Using a clay pot to make rice is very similar to making rice in a pot. A crust is produced on the bottom of the clay pot, similar to cooking rice in a pot, and you don’t have to reboil to release the scorched rice from the bottom. The taste of the rice is very similar to making rice in a pot. The sequence of cooking the rice in a clay pot is:

1. Pre-heat the clay pot over medium heat for 5 minutes to prevent shocking the clay pot and possible breaking it.
2. Bring the clay pot rice to a boil over medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
3. Simmer the rice for 15 minutes over low heat.
4. Scorch the rice using medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and allow the clay pot to sit for 10 minutes to release the scorched rice from the bottom.
6. Serve the rice.

Given that there are many variables when cooking rice in a clay pot, the cooked rice will vary from every time you cook it. If more water is used, the rice will take longer to cook. If too little water is used, the rice becomes more al dente and the volume decreases because the rice doesn’t get fluffy. Burner heat will determine how quickly the rice cooks and how scorched the rice will get. You just have to experiment and watch for the indications that signal when the rice is cooked to your personal preference. Making rice in a clay pot seems like a simple task, but you’ll find that it takes practice to get consistent results.

Enjoy!

Shallot Sauce Green Bean Shrimp (紅蔥醬青豆角蝦, Hung4 Cung1 Zoeng3 Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Haa1)

I finally realized that I’ve been using peeled shrimp or prawn in my previous recipes. While peeled shrimp makes for easy eating, it’s not the only way to make a shrimp dish. Shrimp dishes are also made with unpeeled shrimp, and there’s a lot of flavor in the shells that makes its way into dish. The downside to using unpeeled shrimp is that the shells must be removed before eating, unless you’re strange like me and eat shrimp with the shells on. So preparation is easy for this dish, since you don’t have to shell the shrimp (you also leave the little feet on!). If leaving the shells on shrimp doesn’t appeal to you, just remove them and cook the dish that way.

Enjoy!

Chili Black Bean Sauce Chicken and Imitation Lobster Balls (辣椒豆豉龍蝦丸鷄, Laat6 Ziu1 Dau6 Si6 Lung4 Haa1 Jyun4 Gai1)

Imitation lobster balls are available at your local Asian market either refrigerated or frozen. One of the local markets that I frequent, had some already thawed in the refrigerated section in the fish section. Imitation lobster balls are really fish balls with red bits (to resemble lobster) and lobster flavor added, so any fish or shrimp ball can be substituted if lobster balls are not available. If real lobster were used, this dish would be very luxurious and very expensive to make! The lobster balls are paired with chicken to make a classic seafood and meat flavor combination dish.

Enjoy!

Chili Oil Bean Curd Cloud Ear Long Bean Chicken (紅油腐乳雲耳豆角鷄, Hung4 Jau4 Fu6 Jyu5 Wan4 Ji5 Dau6 Gok3 Gai1)

Fermented bean curd is the basis for the sauce for this dish. I used a fermented bean curd with chili, but a regular version can be substituted if you prefer the dish without any spiciness. The quantity (i.e. the number of cakes) to use is a personal preference, so feel free to increase or decrease the amount used. Fresh cloud ear fungus is available at your local Asian market. If fresh is not available, dried can be substituted. Just remember that dried cloud ear fungus expands greatly once rehydrated, so use a smaller amount of the dried than fresh.

Enjoy!

Clay Pot Basil Pork Sparerib and Fish Ball (砂煲紫蘇魚蛋豬排骨, Saa1 Bou1 Zi2 Sou1 Jyu4 Daan6 Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1)

I bought a clay pot recently and used it to make this dish. Clay pots need to be prepared before using for the first time to prevent cracking. I used this website for advice: Clay Pot Use and Maintenance Tips at Chinese Soup Pot. Since the pork spareribs take some time to cook and to cook the dish all at once, the other ingredients used were chosen to hold up to the cooking time (the green onions and basil leaves are added after cooking is complete).

The pork spareribs are placed into the clay pot first after being stir fried. Since the pork spareribs are in contact with the clay pot during cooking, the meat gets an added flavorful crust that cannot be obtained by just stir frying. I’ve seen some recipes where the browning is done in the clay pot, rather than a wok, but using high heat with a clay pot can crack it, so I used the wok for browning. Another advantage of using a clay pot is that it also serves as the serving dish and keeps the contents hot.

Enjoy!

Chili Paste with Fermented Soy Bean Chicken and Fish Cake (湖南豆豉辣椒魚片鷄, Wu4 Naam4 Dau6 Si6 Laat6 Ziu1 Jyu4 Pin3 Gai1)

The combination of chicken and fish cake is another take on recipes using the combination meat and fish together to produce a tastier dish. The fish cakes were purchased at my local Korean market, but any fish cake can be used. The reason for using these particular fish cakes is because they are flat and are easily cut into strips; use whatever shaped fish cake that’s easily available to you. I’ve used fish cakes that are shaped into balls and cylinders in some of my other stir fry dishes. The trick to preparing this dish is to cut all the ingredients to the same size, which makes eating the dish easier and more visually appealing.

Enjoy!

Szechuan Peppercorn Lamb (花椒羊肉, Faa1 Ziu1 Joeng4 Juk6)

A dry rub was used to marinade the lamb for this recipe using Szechuan peppercorns, cumin, black pepper, and dried Japones (Japanese) chilies. Most, if not all, of my previous stir fry recipes used a wet marinade. The dry marinade gives the lamb a spicier result in the finished dish. The amount of the sauce was also reduced from the normal amount used in my stir fry dishes.

I used thinly sliced lamb loin chops to make this 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!

Seafood Winter Melon Soup (海鮮冬瓜羹, Hoi2 Sin1 Dung1 Gwaa1 Gang1)

I made this tasty soup for my family’s 2015 Christmas dinner. The soup is loaded with lots of seafood and is a special occasion type dish. The other main ingredient is winter melon. Winter melon is really a gourd used mainly in soups, but I’ve also used it in these stir fry recipes: Chicken and Rock Shrimp with Winter Melon (冬瓜蝦仁雞, Dung¹ Gwaa¹ Haa¹ Jan⁴ Gai¹), Winter Melon with Dried Shrimp (冬瓜蝦米, Dung¹ Gwaa¹ Haa¹ Mai⁵), and Stir Fried Beef with Winter Melon (冬瓜炒牛肉, Dung¹ Gwaa¹ Caau² Ngau⁴ Juk⁶). So winter melon can be quite versatile, but cooks quickly and becomes mushy if overcooked.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to use fresh local crabs due to a deadly neurotoxin contamination, so I used imported (from another state) 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 seafood that can be used, and abalone or sea cucumber can be used 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. 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!

Shredded Tofu Jellyfish Salad (白豆腐絲海蜇沙律, Baak6 Dau6 Fu6 Si1 Hoi2 Zit3 Saa1 Leot6)

Happy New Year! For the first recipe of 2016, here’s a tasty salad I made for my family’s 2015 Christmas dinner. It’s actually quite simple to make, consisting mainly of opening packages and cutting the fresh ingredients. The two notable ingredients are instant jellyfish and shredded tofu.

I’ve used instant jellyfish previously, Cucumber and Jellyfish Salad (Ceng¹ Gwaa¹ Hoi² Zit³ Saa¹ Leot⁶, 青瓜海蜇沙律), while the recipes are similar, the main ingredient for this dish is shredded tofu. 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. The jellyfish and cucumber give this dish a nice crunchy texture.

Shredded tofu is also packaged and looks like noodles. I’ve also used shredded tofu in another (cooked) recipe, Baby Bok Choy Sprouts with Shredded Tofu (白菜苗豆腐絲, Baak⁶ Coi³ Miu⁴ Dau⁶ Fu⁶ Si¹). 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 into small strips. Shredded tofu also comes marinated (five-spice), but the “noodles” are larger and could be substituted for the non-marinated version to give the salad another added taste.

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!

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!

Abalone Sauce Chinese Broccoli Fish (鮑魚醬芥蘭魚, Baau1 Jyu4 Zoeng3 Gaai3 Laan4 Jyu4)

As with any stir fried fish dish, a firm fleshed fish is necessary so that the fish pieces remain intact during cooking. Fresh fish fillets, rather than frozen, are preferable, but frozen fillets will work. Lee Kum Kee brand abalone sauce is used to make this fish dish and is now my preferred brand. The sauce was just recently released for sale in the USA and can be purchased at your local Asian market.

Enjoy!

Sugar Snap Pea Fish with Cloud Ear Fungus (雲耳蜜豆炒魚, Wan4 Ji5 Mat6 Dau6 Caau2 Jyu4)

You need to use some technique whenever making a stir fried fish dish. First of all, the selection of the fish is important. You want to use a firm fleshed fish for stir frying so that it doesn’t break up when stir fried. The best advice is to pick the freshest firm fish fillet that you can find at your local market, but frozen works well too. Secondly, you want to cut the fillets into large pieces to help keep the pieces intact when stir fried. Small pieces of fish don’t survive stir frying very well. Finally, when stir frying the dish, you have to be gentle when mixing the dish together to minimize the fish breaking into small pieces. It’s also easy to mask the flavor of the fish with the sauce, so since a white fleshed fish was used in this dish, a simple soy based sauce was used.

Enjoy!

Cloud Ear Salmon Chow Mein (雲耳鮭魚炒麵, Wan4 Ji5 Gwai1 Jyu4 Caau2 Min6)

 

This recipe was updated on 06 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I was in the mood for noodles and had some salmon in my refrigerator. I thought about the Cloud Ear Salmon (雲耳鮭魚, Wan⁴ Ji⁵ Gwai¹ Jyu⁴) recipe and decided that with some modifications, the ingredients would make a great chow mein dish. The major recipe changes are the use of green onions instead of fuzzy melon, and for the sauce, substituting oyster sauce for soy.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 lb.	500 g.	Salmon (鮭魚, gwai1 jyu4), cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
10	10	Whole dried black or cloud ear fungus (雲耳, wan4 ji5), rehydrated with stems removed
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1 lb.	500 g.	One package chow mein noodles (炒麵, caau2 min6)
		Oil for cooking

 

Sauce Ingredients

2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Lee Kum Kee brand premium oyster sauce (蠔油, hou4 jau4) or equivalent
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

 

Equipment

		Garlic press
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

 

Lee Kum Kee Brand
Premium Oyster Sauce
(蠔油, hou4 jau4)

Preparation Instructions

1. Take the salmon out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking. Prepare the salmon by removing any bones, and cut the meat into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces. Marinate for at least one hour with the ginger crushed in a garlic press, corn starch, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.
2. Pour boiling water over the dried black or cloud ear fungus in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the fungus for at least one hour. Remove the fungus from the rehydration liquid, discard the rehydration liquid, remove the stems from the fungus, and cut them into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces if desired.
3. Crush the ginger and garlic in a garlic press and put into a small bowl.
4. Wash and cut the green onions into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal.
5. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: add the Lee Kum Kee brand premium oyster sauce or equivalent, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.

Cooking Instructions

1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package and until the noodles are al dente. Drain the noodles and set aside. If using thawed, ready-made, or fresh noodles, “fluff” the noodles to separate them (i.e. you don’t want put a single mass of noodles into the wok).
2. Heat a wok or pan over high heat before adding oil and then the salmon. Stir fry the salmon until brown by placing the salmon skin side down in the wok and leaving the salmon alone for a while before flipping it over to brown the other side. You may have to stir fry the salmon in batches, so be sure to reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil. Transfer the browned salmon to a bowl.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the black or cloud ear fungus. Stir fry the fungus to brown them. Add the bowl with the ginger and garlic mixture, and then some oil to the mixture. Quickly stir fry all the ingredients until the ginger and garlic mixture becomes fragrant. Transfer the contents of the wok to the bowl with the salmon.
4. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil and then the noodles. The wok should be very hot before adding the oil and then the noodles. Noodles cooked in a restaurant wok (over much higher heat than that available in your kitchen) are served slightly burned, which gives the noodles an extra added flavor.  To try to emulate slightly burned noodles, try to put the noodles in one layer in the hot wok and add some liquid (water, stock, or Shaoxing wine; but not too much liquid otherwise you’ll steam the noodles) to facilitate the heat transfer from the wok to the noodles, and leave the noodles alone. You want the noodles to get burned before adding more oil to the noodles and turning them over, repeating the process.
5. Add the green onions and the contents of the bowl with the salmon back into the wok, and stir fry all the ingredients together. Add the sauce ingredients to the wok and mix the ingredients together. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and serve immediately.

Clam and Turkey Chow Mein (蛤蜊火雞炒麵, Gap3 Lei4 Fo2 Gai1 Caau2 Min6)

 

This recipe was updated on 20 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

The combination of ground turkey and clams seems at first glance to be an odd combination, but it really does make a tasty dish. I used ground turkey because I had it, but ground pork would be a good substitute. I’ve eaten restaurant dishes where ground pork is cooked in combination with shellfish and sometimes vegetables, so that was probably the inspiration for this noodle dish using Bull Head brand shallot sauce.

Enjoy!

Cloud Ear Salmon (雲耳鮭魚, Wan4 Ji5 Gwai1 Jyu4)

 

This recipe was updated on 06 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I originally called this dish, Black Fungus Salmon, but then I thought about the name and decided that it didn’t make the dish sound too appealing or appetizing. So now it’s called Cloud Ear Salmon and that seems a little more mysterious sounding and won’t immediately put off anyone. If you’ve ever eaten black or cloud ear fungus, you’ll know that it’s pretty tasteless and is eaten more for the texture than anything else. I’m sure there’s some traditional Chinese medicinal value, but I don’t know what that would be.

There is also a noodle dish based on this recipe: Cloud Ear Salmon Chow Mein (雲耳鮭魚炒麵, Wan⁴ Ji⁵ Gwai¹ Jyu⁴ Caau² Min⁶).

Enjoy!

Braised Pork Spareribs with Fermented Bean Curd (腐乳排骨, Fu6 Jyu5 Paai4 Gwat1)

This recipe was updated on 07 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

This is another favorite pork sparerib recipe using fermented bean curd. Since I like the taste of fermented bean curd, I use a lot. Unless you’re familiar with the taste of this ingredient, you might want to use less until you’re comfortable with the taste.

Black or wood ear fungus are available either fresh or dried, and either whole or sliced. The dried version needs to be rehydrated with hot water and the volume expands greatly, so don’t be deceived by the seemingly small amount of the dried version. The fresh version needs to be washed. The hard inedible stems should be removed from both versions. Whole or sliced cloud or wood ear fungus works well in this dish. If you can’t find cloud or wood ear fungus at your local Asian market, there’s really no substitute for this ingredient.

Enjoy!

Spicy Pork and Long Beans with Vermicelli (豆角粉絲炒豬肉, Dau6 Gok3 Fan2 Si1 Caau2 Zyu1 Juk6)

 

This recipe was update on 25 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I made this dish because I wanted to use up some remaining long beans and I wanted a dish with mung bean vermicelli. Long beans are a favorite vegetable of mine and differ from regular green beans in the most obvious way; they are really long in length. If you can’t find long beans at your favorite market, you can easily substitute regular green beans.

Mung bean vermicelli is also called bean thread noodles. The “noodles” (made from mung beans) are very thin and brittle when dry, and become transparent and soft after soaking in hot water. The dry version can actually be fried quickly in a wok, where it will puff up and then usually serves as the crispy base for another dish (you see this in Chinese restaurant dishes). After soaking in water, the soft vermicelli is added to a dish, where it soaks up and takes on the flavor of the sauce (so you’ll need to add more water or stock to get a sauce or gravy).

The natural additions for this dish are ground pork and dried shrimp. In this case, I used dried shrimp that are very small and added it to the pork before marinating. You need to add a good amount of these very small dried shrimps to make them noticeable in the dish. The next time I make this dish, I might use the medium sized dried shrimp so that their presence is obvious.

After I made this dish and took my first bite, I immediately noticed that the texture of the dish wasn’t right. I should have added black, cloud ear, or wood ear fungus to give the dish a distinct crunch. These funguses sounds like an odd ingredient, but are themselves tasteless. Both are dark in color and come fresh or dried, and either whole or already cut into strips. Black and wood ear funguses are available at your local Asian supermarket. I’ve added that ingredient to the recipe even though I didn’t use it in this version.

Enjoy!