Ginger Scallion Dungeness Crab Noodles (薑葱北美大肉蟹炒麵, Goeng1 Cung1 Bak1 Mei5 Daai6 Juk6 Haai5 Caau2 Min6)

Dungeness crab is a crab that’s native to the West coast of the North America. Whenever it’s available, I try to purchase freshly cooked crab to use in dishes. Any crab can be used in this dish if Dungeness crab is not available, and if you’re not fortunate enough to be able to buy fresh cooked crab, canned or frozen can be substituted. For this dish, I used a variety of herbs (ginger, scallion, cilantro, and mint) to give this noodle dish a fresh and distinctive flavor. The shredded spice tofu gives the dish a texture contrast (to the other ingredients) and adds to the flavor of this noodle dish.

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!

Pickled Chili Sugar Snap Pea Scallops (風味糟辣椒蜜豆帶子, Fung1 Mei6 Zou1 Laat6 Ziu1 Mat6 Dau6 Daai3 Zi2)

Scallops were on sale at my local market, so I decided to make a dish using pickled chilies. Pickled chilies are available bottled at your local Asian market. The picked chilies are broken into pieces, as opposed to being whole, so all you have to do is add them to the sauce mixture. Since the scallops were on the large size, I decided to use Shiitake mushrooms that were roughly the same size. The mushrooms were also the high quality mushrooms purchased at my local Asian herb and dried goods store, so they’re meatier than the mushrooms found at Asian markets.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Chili Oil Shredded Spice Tofu Asparagus Chicken (黑豆辣椒油五香豆腐絲蘆筍鷄, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Jau4 Ng5 Hoeng1 Dau6 Fu6 Si1 Lou4 Seon2 Gai1)

Shredded spice tofu adds texture to this dish and provides needed contrast to the softer chicken. The tofu is formed into long noodle-like pieces that must be cut smaller in order to eat. I think the shredded spice tofu also provides a great visual element to the dish. Shredded tofu can be purchased in a package at your local Asian market. If shredded tofu is not available, marinated five spice tofu (which comes in blocks and must be cut into pieces) can be substituted. I used a spicy black bean chili oil to give the dish some spiciness, but a black bean garlic sauce can be substituted if spiciness is not desired.

Enjoy!

Basil Shredded Spice Tofu Chicken and Cantonese Pork Sausage Chow Mein (紫蘇五香豆腐絲臘腸鷄炒麵, Zi2 Sou1 Ng5 Hoeng1 Dau6 Fu6 Si1 Laap6 Coeng4 Gai1 Caau2 Min6)

I always have a package of Cantonese pork sausage in my refrigerator. The sausages have a characteristic deep red color and provide a tasty addition to any dish, in this case, chow mein noodles. The sausages are dried, so they are dense and hard, and not at all like fresh sausages. The sausages can be purchased at your local Asian market. There are many variations (of content), but this dish uses the pork only version. The sausages are also available lean, with less fat content. Oil may be need to be added to the wok if the lean version is used, otherwise the sausages produce their own oil when cooked.

Enjoy!

Doubanjiang Pepper Book Tripe (郫縣豆瓣酱椒牛百葉, Pei4 Jyun6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Ziu1 Ngau4 Baak3 Jip6)

This recipe is very similar to the previously posted beef book tripe recipe: Doubanjiang Bell Pepper Tripe (郫縣豆瓣酱青椒牛百葉, Pei⁴ Jyun⁶ Dau⁶ Faan⁶ Zoeng³ Ceng¹ Ziu¹ Ngau⁴ Baak³ Jip⁶). This recipe uses Poblano chilies, instead of green bell peppers, to give the dish a slightly spicier taste. Poblano chili’s green color is deeper than the bell peppers, so the color gives the dish more contrast against the red of the Doubanjiang. Beef book tripe is another of the cow’s stomachs that are readily available at your local Asian market. While the honeycomb tripe has a honeycomb pattern on one side, the book tripe resembles a book with open pages. The book tripe is commonly served as a Chinese Dim Sum dish and has a crunchier texture than the honeycomb.

Enjoy!

Oyster Sauce Snow Crab Hong Kong Noodles (蠔油雪蟹炒雲吞麵, Hou4 Jau4 Syut3 Haai5 Caau2 Wan4 Tan1 Min6)

Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) was available at my local market, so I used it to make a noodle dish with Shiitake mushrooms and fried tofu. I usually use Dungeness crab, since it is seasonally more readily available where I live, but since snow crab was available, I decided to use this crab instead. I really couldn’t tell any difference in taste when I used the snow crab, but it always good to try cooking a dish using ingredients that you’ve never used before.

Enjoy!

Chili Black Bean Salted Radish Long Bean Chicken (辣椒豆豉菜脯豆角鷄, Laat6 Ziu1 Dau6 Si6 Coi3 Pou2 Dau6 Gok3 Gai1)

Salted radish is added to the dish to give a crunchy and slightly sweet addition to a standard chicken stir fry with long beans. Depending upon where the salted radish is packaged (usually China or Thailand) and the manufacturer, the salted radish saltiness ranges from minimal to very salty. I used a brand from China that has minimal saltiness and has a slight sweet flavor to it. I used a prepared black bean sauce with chili, but a less spicy brand can be substituted or you can make the sauce from scratch.

Enjoy!

Chicken Crab Chow Mein (蟹鷄炒麵, Haai5 Gai1 Caau2 Min6)

Noodles with meat and seafood are a tasty combination. For this recipe, chicken and crab are combined in this dish. If you’re fortunate enough to live in an area where fresh Dungeness crab is seasonally available, by all means take the effort to extract the meat from the cooked crabs to make this dish. If you’re not so fortunate, canned or frozen crab can be substituted. I think I’ve commented on this before, but noodle dishes seem so simple to make, but require many steps to make, and are always worth the effort.

Enjoy!

This dish is not in the Recipe Index due to blog problem.

Doubanjiang Bitter Melon Lamb (辣豆瓣酱苦瓜羊肉, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Fu2 Gwaa1 Joeng4 Juk6)

Here’s another lamb stir fry dish using meat from the lamb loin chop. This recipe uses Doubanjiang, which is a spicy fermented paste made from broad beans, and bitter melon. When Doubanjiang is used, the sauce is usually “dry”, so you want it to cling to the ingredients with little or no sauce. The dish is made “backwards”, with the vegetables being cooked first, and the lamb with the previously stir fried Doubanjiang last.

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!

Chili Black Bean Bitter Melon Pork (辣椒豆豉苦瓜豬肉, Laat6 Ziu1 Dau6 Si6 Fu2 Gwaa1 Zyu1 Juk6)

Thinly sliced meat is used for a Japanese dish called Shabu Shabu. The raw meat is dipped into a stock with chopsticks, moved around quickly in the stock to cook, and then dipped into a sauce before eating. The meat (typically beef) can be found at your local Japanese or Asian market. For this recipe, thinly sliced pork butt is stir fried with other ingredients rather than using it for Shabu Shabu. I used thinly sliced Berkshire pork to make a noodle dish previously: Black Pepper Sauce Kurobuta Pork Chow Mein (黑椒汁豬肉炒麵, Hak¹ Ziu¹ Zap¹ Zyu¹ Juk⁶ Caau² Min⁶), and that meat can be substituted to make this dish also.

Enjoy!

Black Pepper Sauce Kurobuta Pork Chow Mein (黑椒汁豬肉炒麵, Hak1 Ziu1 Zap1 Zyu1 Juk6 Caau2 Min6)

Here’s another recipe using Kurobuta (aka Berkshire) pork, which is a heritage breed with more flavor. The last recipes to use Kurobuta pork were made with spareribs in a clay pot: Clay Pot Black Bean Sauce Kurobuta Pork Spareribs (砂煲豆豉豬排骨, Saa¹ Bou¹ Dau⁶ Si⁶ Zyu¹ Paai⁴ Gwat¹) and 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). This recipe uses thinly sliced Kurobuta pork butt in a stir fry noodle dish. Regular pork butt sliced thinly can be used if Kurobuta is not available at your local Asian market.

I was asked recently about making the dishes found on this blog when a particular manufacturer’s brand was specified in the recipe. If you notice in the ingredient list where a brand is specified, I specify a brand and add the words “or equivalent”. For this recipe, I’ve specified Lee Kum Kee’s brand of Black Pepper Sauce. Lee Kum Kee is not the only manufacturer of Black Pepper Sauce, so while it is the brand I use, feel free to substitute another manufacturer’s Black Pepper Sauce (which would be the “or equivalent) that’s easily available to you. Adapt your recipe to use the local ingredients and brands, and don’t worry about using the exact brand specified.

Enjoy!

Clay Pot Black Bean Sauce Kurobuta Pork Spareribs (砂煲豆豉豬排骨, Saa1 Bou1 Dau6 Si6 Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1)

Here’s another clay pot recipe using pork spareribs. The first recipe was 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). This time the recipe uses Kurobuta (aka Berkshire) pork, which is a heritage breed with more flavor. Regular pork spareribs can be used if Kurobuta is not available at your local Asian market. 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 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!

Doubanjiang Bitter Melon Chicken (辣豆瓣酱苦瓜鷄, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Fu2 Gwaa1 Gai1)

Spicy broad bean paste (Doubanjiang) is used to make a variation of a common Cantonese dish: Chicken with bitter melon. For some reason I used more liquid than usual to make the sauce for this dish (as reflected in the picture above), which is usually dry (i.e. the sauce clings to the ingredients). I’ve written the recipe to produce a “dry” sauce, but feel free to add more liquid if more sauce is desired.

Enjoy!

Basil Shrimp Chow Mein (紫蘇蝦炒麵, Zi2 Sou1 Haa1 Jan4 Caau2 Min6)

Fresh basil leaves add a nice flavor to this shrimp chow mein recipe. Some oyster sauce is added to the sauce to further enhance the taste of this dish. The sauce is absorbed by the noodles, so the dish is a “dry” chow mein without a much liquid.

Enjoy!

Doubanjiang Pork Stomach with Green String Beans (辣豆瓣酱青豆角豬肚, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Zyu1 Tou5)

Pork stomach is one of my favorite parts of the pig to eat. Pork stomach or pork tripe differs from beef tripe in that beef tripe is white in color, while pork tripe is brown. The fresh whole pork stomach needs to be cooked and sometimes is available already cooked at Asian markets. While it’s convenient to be able to purchase the cooked version, you need to be careful when buying since the pork stomach is sometimes undercooked, which results in tough, rather than tender, pork.

This recipe is really a version of twice cooked pork using pork stomach, rather than pork belly. My previous recipe, Twice Cooked Pork with Fish Cake and Fuzzy Melon (節瓜魚片回鍋肉, Zit³ Gwaa¹ Jyu⁴ Pin³ Wui⁴ Wo¹ Juk⁶), stir fried thinly sliced pork belly after it had been boiled. The same technique, using pork stomach instead, is used to make this dish. Doubanjiang, a spicy fermented broad bean paste, is the basis for the sauce. Broad beans are fermented with spices and red chilies to produce this paste. The more famous producers are based in Sichuan Province in the People’s Republic of China. Broad beans are not soy beans, so soy bean based pastes does not have the same flavor as Doubanjiang. The Doubanjiang is first stir fried to bring out the flavor before adding and stir frying with the pork stomach. The sauce should look dry, so there’s not a lot of liquid.

Enjoy!

Hot Bean Sauce Fuzzy Melon Lamb with Shredded Pickled Radish (辣豆辦醬榨菜大王節瓜羊肉, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Zaa3 Zoi3 Daai6 Wong4 Zit3 Gwaa1 Joeng4 Juk6)

Here’s another lamb stir fry dish using meat from the lamb loin chop. Shredded pickled radish is added for a textural and taste contrast. 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!

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!

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 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!