Single Meal - Sugar Snap Pea Soy Sauce Pork Stomach Stir Fry (蜜豆炒豉油豬肚, Mat6 Dau6 Caau2 Si6 Jau4 Zyu1 Tou5)

The poaching liquid from the soy sauce pork stomach is used as the basis for the sauce for this stir fry dish. Pork stomach is one of my favorite parts of the pig to eat, but it has to be poached first using the Soy Sauce Pork Stomach (豉油豬肚, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Zyu¹ Tou⁵) recipe before being stir fried for this dish.

Enjoy!

Soy Sauce Pork Stomach (豉油豬肚, Si6 Jau4 Zyu1 Tou5)

Pork stomach is an underutilized part of the pig, in my opinion, here in the USA, but are quite good when prepared correctly. Using the technique to make a poached soy sauce chicken, Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油鷄, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹), pork stomach can be made tender and tasty. The soy sauce poaching liquid gives this recipe its distinctive flavor. You often find soy sauce pork stomach in Chinese delicatessens.

Pork stomachs are commonly available fresh at your local Asian market. Unlike beef tripe (stomach), there’s a layer of meat on the outside of the stomach. The pork stomach is usually used as an ingredient in another dish and is not eaten all by itself. You also don’t have to poach the pork stomach in soy sauce, for instance, if you make the Steamed Ginger Scallion Pork Stomach with Green String Beans (青豆角薑葱蒸豬肚, Ceng¹ Dau⁶ Gok³ Goeng¹ Cung¹ Zing¹ Zyu¹ Tou⁵). The poaching liquid also makes a good basis for a sauce, but is usually not used alone since it’s very salty.

Enjoy!

Steamed Ginger Scallion Pork Stomach with Green String Beans (青豆角薑葱蒸豬肚, Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Goeng1 Cung1 Zing1 Zyu1 Tou5)

I first had this dish at a Chinese restaurant and the dish intrigued me since it was such a simple presentation. The pork stomach dish was topped with heated oil and soy sauce just like a steamed fish, and the pork stomach was very tender. The original restaurant dish only consisted of steamed pork stomach (i.e. no vegetables) and was served within 15 minutes of ordering. Pork stomach usually requires a long cooking time, so I started to think how this was dish made, and how I could reproduce making it at home.

My first try at making this dish didn’t produce the results that I experienced at the restaurant. Cooked pork stomach is available at my local Asian market, so I thought that I could save time, just cut the cooked pork stomach into strips, and steam it. The resulting pork was tough and required a lot of chewing! So that wasn’t the answer. For my second attempt, I started with fresh pork stomach (not cooked), and used a baking soda solution to tenderize the pork stomach before poaching the whole pork stomach with ginger, garlic, and Shaoxing wine. This turned out to be the solution. The baking soda not only removes any (as is commonly said) unwanted smells, it also tenderizes the pork stomach. The pork stomach needs to be submerged in a baking soda solution (i.e. baking soda and water) to make it tender, so don’t just sprinkle the baking soda on the pork. I added green beans to make a more complete meal that can be made in one dish, but you can leave the vegetables out if desired. The dish is topped with julienned ginger and green onions, together with heated oil and a soy sauce solution, just like when making a steamed fish.

A pork stomach dish is usually not the first choice of most people, but I think this dish will change your mind about eating this part of the pig. The tenderness of the pork, together with the taste of the toppings, together with heated oil and a soy sauce solution, reminded me of eating steamed fish. So give it a try.

Enjoy!

Hard Apple Cider Soy Sauce Chicken (蘋果酒豉油鷄, Ping4 Gwo2 Zau2 Si6 Jau4 Gai1)

If this recipe and the above picture look familiar, then you’ve looked at the Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油鷄, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹) recipe. This recipe differs by the use of hard apple cider instead of Shaoxing Rice Wine in the poaching liquid. The chicken takes on a slightly sweeter flavor when hard apple cider is used. The poached chicken’s dark color comes from the use of thick soy sauce, which has molasses in it. Usually soy sauce chicken recipes call for the use of dark soy sauce, which you can use, but I prefer using thick soy sauce because it produces a better overall dark color in the chicken. Poaching chicken is an easy and fast way to cook a chicken. The Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak⁶ Zaam² Gai¹) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng¹ Cung¹ Jau⁴) recipe has instructions on how to cut and present the chicken. Just be sure you have a good sharp Chinese cleaver and a wood cutting board, and with a little practice, you’ll be able to cut chickens as if you worked in a Chinese delicatessen. The chicken can be served immediately while warm or at room temperature after overnight refrigeration.

Enjoy!

Soy Sauce Chicken Wings with Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇豉油雞翼, Dung1 Gu1 Si6 Jau4 Gai1 Jik6)

Making this tasty dish is a two-step process, and takes a little more time and work to make (but it’s worth doing). The chicken wings are first poached in a soy sauce solution before being stir fried with the other ingredients. Use the Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油鷄, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹) or Soy Sauce Chicken Gizzards (豉油鸡胗, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹ San²) recipes to poach the chicken wings at least one day before stir frying the completed dish. Browning the already soy sauce poached chicken wings in a wok gives the wings an added flavor over just the poached. The poaching liquid is also used in the completed dish’s sauce to further reinforce the flavor.

Enjoy!

Cumin Red Cooked Pork with Baby Choy Sum (小菜心孜然紅燒肉, Siu2 Coi3 Sam1 Zi1 Jin4 Hung4 Siu1 Juk6)

Here’s another dish using Cumin red cooked pork. Pork belly meat is used for bacon, so you can think of this as a stir fried bacon dish, but using bacon made using a different technique. When the pork is stir fried, oil is released into to the wok and is used to stir fry the rest of the ingredients. The poaching liquid used to make the pork is also used in the sauce.

Enjoy!

Cumin Red Cooked Pork with String Beans (青豆角孜然紅燒肉, Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Zi1 Jin4 Hung4 Siu1 Juk6)

Cumin red cooked pork is the basis for this dish. Pork belly meat is used for bacon, so you can think of this as a stir fried bacon dish, but using bacon made using a different technique. When the pork is stir fried, oil is released into to the wok and is used to stir fry the rest of the ingredients. The poaching liquid used to make the pork is also used in the sauce.

Enjoy!

Cumin Red Cooked Pork (孜然紅燒肉, Zi1 Jin4 Hung4 Siu1 Juk6)

I made this dish not to eat alone, but to use as an ingredient in another dish, so this is not made the standard way. Usually red cooked pork is stir fried in sugar in a wok as bite sized pieces, but since I intend to use the pork in other dishes, I cooked the pork in large pieces without the sugar stir fry and added cumin to the spice mix. The pork is cut into thin pieces before making the other dishes and tastes more like bacon than pork.

Enjoy!

Mom’s Chinese Chicken Salad (手絲鷄沙律, Sau2 Si1 Gai1 Saa1 Leot6)

This recipe was updated on 15 Aug 2015. Some equipment was added and hyperlinks fixed.

My Mom would make her Chinese chicken salad for family gatherings, and since I have a very large family, there is no such thing as making just a little Chinese chicken salad. She would roast two chickens and hand shred the meat. Hand-shredding (手絲, sau² si¹) the chickens was an important step, since the Chinese believe that hand-shredding adds flavor to the dish (just be sure your hands are washed and clean!). All the other ingredients also require time to cut, chop, and crush in order to get to the finished dish. Note that making this recipe is a two day process.

I just recently asked my Mom for the recipe (which is found later in the post). The first time I made the dish, it didn’t turn out right. I used chicken parts and increased the amount of dressing. All wrong; since you need the gelatin from a whole chicken to flavor the dish, and just a small amount of dressing is required since the salad is almost “dry” when compared to the “wet” dressing used in most salads.

My second try was more successful. This version of the recipe is slightly different from my Mom’s original, with minor changes to the salad and dressing ingredients and quantities, and the taste was close to my Mom’s too. However, the quantity of salad hasn’t changed, so there’s still no such thing as just a little Chinese chicken salad.

Enjoy!

Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油鷄, Si6 Jau4 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 16 Aug 2015. Some hyperlinks were fixed.

Poaching chicken is an easy and fast way to cook a chicken. While the Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak⁶ Zaam² Gai¹) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng¹ Cung¹ Jau⁴) recipe uses water to poach the chicken, a soy sauce based solution is used to make this version of poached chicken. Usually dark soy sauce is used to give the chicken its color, but I tried using thick soy sauce (which has molasses) instead and I like the results better. The Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak⁶ Zaam² Gai¹) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng¹ Cung¹ Jau⁴) recipe has instructions on how to cut and present the chicken. Just be sure you have a good sharp Chinese cleaver and a wood cutting board, and with a little practice, you’ll be able to cut chickens as if you worked in a Chinese delicatessen.

Enjoy!

Soy Sauce Beef Tripe with Sour Mustard (酸菜豉油牛柏葉, Syun1 Coi3 Si6 Jau4 Ngau4 Paak3 Jip6)

 

This recipe was updated on 15 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I have to admit that this dish is more involved to make than some of my other recipes. It’s really a two-step process to make this dish. First you have to poach the beef tripe in a soy sauce mixture, and then you can cook the dish. For those not familiar with honeycomb tripe, it’s (one of the) cow’s stomach, so called because of the tripe’s honeycomb pattern. The salty and slightly sweet poaching liquid also forms the basis of the sauce, which contrasts nicely with the sour mustard.

The tripe can be prepared and refrigerated the day before you make this dish. Baking soda is required to clean and remove any unwanted smells from the tripe, unlike the other recipes where the baking soda is optionally used to tenderize the meat. Poaching will shrink the tripe, so poach the whole tripe and don’t cut it up into pieces beforehand; otherwise you’ll end up with itsy-bitsy tiny pieces of tripe (I made that mistake once before!).

Enjoy!

Soy Sauce Chicken Gizzards (豉油鸡胗, Si6 Jau4 Gai1 San2)

This recipe was updated on 22 May 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Chicken gizzards (鸡胗, gai¹ san²) are an often discarded part of the chicken here in the USA, but are quite good when prepared correctly. Using the technique to make a poached soy sauce chicken, Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油鷄, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹), chicken gizzards can be made tender and tasty. The soy sauce poaching liquid gives this recipe its distinctive flavor.

Whenever I make this recipe, I use a lot of chicken gizzards (in this case 3 pounds – 1.5 kg.) because whether or not you cook 1- (500 g.) or 3 pounds (1.5 kg.) of chicken gizzards, it takes the same amount of time. Chicken gizzards prepared this way can be eaten alone (often served as an appetizer), or as part of another dish. The Three Pepper Chicken Gizzards (三椒鸡胗, Saam¹ Ziu¹ Gai¹ San²) recipe uses the chicken gizzards prepared using this method. The poaching liquid also makes a good basis for a sauce, but is usually not used alone since it’s very salty.

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!