Chicken with Dried Shrimp (蝦米鷄, Haa1 Mai5 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 21 Apr 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Aside from the dried shrimp, this is a pretty standard chicken stir fry dish. Mushrooms are a common ingredient to include in this dish, but substituting dried shrimp gives the dish a different taste. Like mushrooms, dried shrimp tastes good with chicken and produces a different texture in the dish. Dried shrimp can be purchased at your local Asian market, usually in the refrigerator section.

Enjoy!

Chum Salmon and Snow Peas with Wood Ear Fungus (木耳荷蘭豆鮭魚, Muk6 Ji5 Ho4 Laan4 Dau6 Gwai1 Jyu4)

This recipe was updated on 25 May 2015. Some instructions were changed.

Here’s a quick cooking salmon dish with minimal preparation time. Chum salmon was available at my local Asian market, but you can substitute regular salmon if you can’t find the chum. The seasoning is very simple, in fact my usual cornstarch thickener isn’t used in the sauce so that the salmon is the dominant taste. The crunch in this dish comes from the snow peas and, to a smaller degree, the wood ear fungus.

Enjoy!

Basil Lemongrass Chili Beef (紫蘇檸檬葉辣椒牛肉, Zi2 Sou1 Ning4 Mung4 Jip6 Laat6 Ziu1 Ngau4 Juk6)

This recipe was updated on 04 Jun 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

I still have a lot of lemongrass left in my refrigerator after my purchase from my local farmer’s market for the Chili Lemongrass Squid (辣椒檸檬葉魷魚, Laat⁶ Ziu¹ Ning⁴ Mung⁴ Jip⁶ Jau⁴ Jyu⁴) dish. Another flavor that goes well with lemongrass is basil, and fresh basil leaves can be purchased at your local supermarket or if you’re fortunate enough, grown in your garden. The heat in this dish comes from dried red chilies, and the amount of dried red chilies to use is a personal preference, so feel free to use more or less. The sauce is based on fish sauce, which adds another flavor to the beef used in this dish. Soy sauce can be substituted, but the dish won’t taste the same.

Enjoy!

Curry Tomato Beef Heart Chow Mein (咖哩番茄牛心炒麵, Gaa3 Lei1 Faan1 Ke4 Ngau4 Sam1 Caau2 Min6)

This recipe was updated on 02 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Here’s a variation on Tomato Beef Chow Mein (番茄牛肉炒麵, Faan¹ Ke⁴ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶ Caau² Min⁶) recipe using beef hearts instead of the usual beef flank. Also instead of using fresh beef hearts, I used Grilled Spicy Beef Hearts (燒烤辣牛心, Siu¹ Haau¹ Laat⁶ Ngau⁴ Sam¹). The beef hearts give an added crunch to the dish. The tomatoes came from my garden and this batch didn’t hold up to stir frying very well, so I got tomato skins in the finished dish rather than tomato wedges!

Enjoy!

Chicken and Zucchini with Spicy Bean Paste (意大利青瓜春辣酱雞, Ji3 Daai6 Lei6 Ceng1 Gwaa1 Ceon1 Laat6 Zoeng3 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 04 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Zucchini is in season now, so I added some chicken and spicy bean paste to make this dish for dinner. The Laoganma brand spicy bean paste includes a spicy oil that adds flavor to this dish. If you can’t find Laoganma brand spicy bean paste at your local Asian grocery store, you can substitute black bean sauce and hot chili oil.

Enjoy!

Beef Heart with Bell Peppers (青椒牛心, Ceng1 Ziu1 Ngau4 Sam1)

This recipe was updated on 12 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Not only was this an opportunity to use the first bell peppers from my garden, it was also the first time I’ve ever used beef hearts in a dish. It was one of those irresistible urges once I saw beef heart slices available for the first time in my local supermarket. Not knowing what they taste like, I used a basic marinade to prepare and then to sauce the dish. Since the heart is a huge muscle, it does not taste like organ meat, but has an understated (in my opinion) beef taste. I liken the texture to chicken gizzards, but with a little more crunch in the mouth. I have to say that I like eating beef hearts and would gladly prepare another dish using it (I’m thinking that a noodle dish is in order).

Enjoy!

Chicken and Fried Tofu with Chive Buds (韭菜花油炸豆腐鷄, Gau2 Coi3 Faa1 Jau4 Zaa3 Dau6 Fu6 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 17 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Chive buds make this dish attractive looking and tasty. Chive buds are available at your local Asian market, and you can also use garlic buds (another somewhat expensive ingredient) to make this dish, although the dish will have a different flavor.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Long Beans with Chili Peppers (辣椒豆角鷄, Laat6 Ziu1 Dau6 Gok3 Gai1)

 

This recipe was updated on 31 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Some like it hot. If you like hot spicy food, this dish should do it for you. The dried red chilies not only add heat to this dish, but also flavor. If you don’t like heat, then the dried red chilies can be omitted, but the dish won’t taste the same. I’m working up a sweat just thinking about this dish and the dried red chilies.

Enjoy!

Pork Ribs and Sea Cucumber with Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇海參排骨, Dung1 Gu1 Hoi2 Sam1 Paai4 Gwat1)

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

 

So what do you do if you have some defrosted sea cucumber left over after making the Sea Cucumber with Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇海參, Dung¹ Gu¹ Hoi² Sam¹) recipe? You look on the internet for some ideas, where I found recipes using pork spareribs and sea cucumber. So I adapted the Sea Cucumber with Shiitake Mushrooms recipe to add pork spareribs. The combination actually tastes pretty good. Try it, you’ll like it.

 

Enjoy!

Three Flavor Shanghai Noodles (三鮮上海麵, Saam1 Sin1 Soeng6 Hoi2 Min6)

 

This recipe was updated on 02 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I’ve always wanted to make this dish after eating at the local Muslim Chinese restaurant, which serves a dish called Three Flavor Dough Sliced Noodles (三鮮刀削麵, Saam¹ Sin¹ Dou¹ Soek³ Min⁶); the three flavors being beef, chicken and shrimp. I’ve adapted the ingredients to use Shanghai noodles and added a few other ingredients not found in the restaurant dish. Making this dish is more involved than your normal Chinese noodle dish since you need not just one flavor, but all three flavors available at once to make the dish, and it’s rare that I have all three available at the same time. While I had all the three ingredients available, I also made the Three Flavor Fried Rice (三鮮炒飯, Saam¹ Sin¹ Caau² Faan⁶) recipe.

Coin-sized Shiitake mushrooms are available at your local Asian supermarket. If you can’t find coin-sized Shiitake mushrooms, use the normal sized (larger than coin-sized) and cut them into ½-inch (15 mm.) wide pieces. Coin-sized Shiitake mushrooms are more for visual effect in the dish and taste no different than their larger counterparts.

There also are a lot of ingredients, both in number and quantity, used to make this dish. I used double the amount of noodles than I usually use to make noodle dishes, so there was always a question of whether or not my wok could hold everything. In my case, it worked, but this may be too much for your wok or pan. I’ve written the recipe to use only one pound (500 g.) of noodles to reflect the smaller amount. Feel free to reduce the quantity of the ingredients – especially the beef, chicken, shrimp, and noodles – to make this dish.

Enjoy!

Roast Pork and Oyster Stir Fry (燒肉炒蠔, Sui1 Juk6 Caau2 Hou4)

This recipe was updated on 05 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

This dish is usually prepared in a clay pot, but since I don’t have one, I adapted this dish to use stir frying. The clay pot version is one of my favorites to order at a restaurant, so I was looking forward to making a stir fried version at home. The dish contains some of my favorite ingredients – roast pork (especially the crispy skin) and oysters.

Unless you’re a master at roasting whole pigs, you’ll probably (like me) go to your local Asian delicatessen where you can buy just 1-2 pounds of roast pork. Have the butcher cut the roast pork into pieces and you’ll also get one small container of a soy based dipping sauce with your order. The dipping sauce is slightly sweet, so it goes well with the roast pork. Any leftover roast pork not used in the dish can be used for other dishes (assuming you don’t eat the rest of the roast pork all by itself). I was lucky enough to get the roast pork while it was still hot, right after roasting, at the delicatessen. It was still so hot, that the butcher burned his fingers when he cut the first roast pork piece from the pig for me!

Enjoy!

Lamb Chive Chow Mein (韭菜羊肉炒麵, Gau2 Coi3 Joeng4 Juk6 Caau2 Min6)

This recipe was updated on 13 Dec 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Lamb and chives make a great taste combination. Add some noodles and tofu and you have a satisfying dish.

The last noodle recipe I published, Beef Sugar Snap Pea Chow Mein (蜜豆牛肉炒麵, Mat⁶ Dau⁶ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶ Caau² Min⁶), I forgot to include the instructions to prepare the noodles (since corrected). The noodles just magically appeared! It’s amazing, since I reviewed the recipe more than once looking for errors and that certainly was a big one. So for this recipe, I didn’t forget!

Enjoy!

Tomato Beef Chow Mein (番茄牛肉炒麵, Faan1 Ke4 Ngau4 Juk6 Caau2 Min6)

This recipe was updated on 02 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Tomato beef chow mein is a classic Chinese-American dish that you can get at any Chinese restaurant. The dish is a mixture of beef, noodles, tomatoes, and other vegetables in a sweet and sour sauce (not that thick red gloppy stuff). Depending upon on your preference, the dish can be sourer than sweet or sweeter than sour. Curry powder can also be added and the amount again depends upon personal preference (this dish has some). You can think of this dish as the noodle version of the Spicy Tomato Beef Curry (咖哩粉番茄牛肉, Gaa³ Lei¹ Fan² Faan¹ Ke⁴ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶) recipe.

Tomatoes and beef are important components of this dish. I only make this dish when I have tomatoes available from my garden, and I use beef flank or flap meat sliced against the grain and marinated. Other than that, you can throw in any ingredient your heart desires. In this instance, I used bean sprouts, fried tofu puffs, baby bok choy, and from my garden: red bell pepper and green Thai chilies.

Enjoy!