Chicken and Asparagus Fermented Black Bean Stir Fry (豆豉蘆筍鷄, Dau6 Si6 Lou4 Seon2 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 07 Oct 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

This is a classic easy to prepare dish. I happen to have chicken available, but you can use whatever is in your refrigerator to stir fry with the asparagus and straw mushrooms. The salted black beans (also called fermented black beans) and garlic give the dish its distinctive taste. If you don’t have salted black beans, use a prepared black bean garlic sauce available in a jar at your local Asian market (my favorite brand is Lee Kum Kee).

The root end of the asparagus has a tough skin. The usual advice is to take the root end of the asparagus in one hand and the tip end with the other, snap the asparagus (it breaks at the natural tough-tender skin boundary), and discard the root end and use the tip end. However that results in a lot of waste (in my opinion) since the center of the root end is still tender and edible, it’s just the skin that’s tough. So I’ve found that if you use a vegetable peeler, you can remove the tough outer skin and use the entire asparagus stalk. It takes some practice to just remove the asparagus’ tough skin. My first efforts using a vegetable peeler resulted in breaking the stalks and/or peeling too much of the asparagus at the root end, so I had some odd looking asparagus pieces. I’ve tried using a knife to remove the skin, but I’ve found that with practice the vegetable peeler removes less of the asparagus stalk root end’s tender center.

Enjoy!

Crispy Salmon Skin Wrap with Wasabi Mayonnaise

The usual breakfast wrap has bacon or sausage, together with scrambled eggs and hash browns. Since I had salmon skins leftover from the Crispy Teriyaki Salmon Skin meal, I replaced the pork with the salmon skins. With the addition of wasabi mayonnaise and shiso leaves, this made for a yummy Sunday brunch dish.

Crispy Teriyaki Salmon Skin Noodle Soup

Sometimes you just want to have some soup noodles and not the stuff that comes pre-packaged with the mystery packet of soup spices. You can easily create a healthy noodle soup using ingredients that are already in your pantry and refrigerator in very little time.

Since I had salmon skins leftover from the Crispy Teriyaki Salmon Skin meal, I used this ingredient as the starting point for the noodle soup. The miso paste already contains dashi, which is bonito fish stock, so you just add water to make the soup base. Rice noodles (fresh or dried), dried seaweed, sliced pepper, cilantro, mint, and chopped scallions complete the dish. I usually prepare the entire meal in a covered heat proof bowl, so this is a one dish meal.

This is an easy and fast dish to prepare when the hankering for noodle soup hits you. I hope you enjoy this yummy noodle soup.

Grilled Turmeric Chicken Sandwich and Radish Kimchi

In honor of the first pepper being harvested from my garden, I made a Vietnamese-style sandwich (Bánh Mì) using the pepper and one of the chicken breasts left over from the Malay-Style Grilled Turmeric Chicken Breast recipe, along with some herbs (the Thai basil is also from my garden) and radish kimchi for lunch. This isn’t an authentic Vietnamese recipe and I just used ingredients that were available in my refrigerator.

The bread is from the local Vietnamese bakery (via my local Asian market). The bread is baked fresh and delivered daily in packages of five. You can easily substitute your favorite bread, but this bread is light, inexpensive, and tasty, so I would definitely go for the Vietnamese bread if you can get it. Usually I cut the bread open to make a deep pocket rather than slicing the bread open fully as in the picture above, but cutting it open makes for a better photo. Making a pocket allows all the good stuff to stay in the sandwich and not drip out while you eat!

The kimchi makes a nice addition to the meal. I got hooked on kimchi after my many visits to South Korea, where it’s served at every meal (in what seems like endless varieties). I buy my kimchi bottled at the local Korean market; in this case it’s a radish kimchi. Kimchi is a healthy and tasty addition to any meal in my opinion.

The sandwich is easy to assemble and the kimchi comes from a jar. So it takes very little time to make the sandwich, dish out the kimchi, and start eating. Enjoy!

Red Fermented Bean Curd Pork Spareribs (南乳排骨, Naam4 Jyu5 Paai4 Gwat1)

 

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

 

Pork sparerib dishes are some of my favorites. This particular sparerib dish uses red fermented bean curd together with Chinese long beans and shiitake mushrooms. Fermented bean curd is another Chinese ingredient that could be considered an acquired taste. I like its flavor since I grew up eating dishes with it. Red fermented bean curd is red because of the addition of red rice, which gives a distinctive color and taste to the dish. If this is the first time you’ve ever used this ingredient, you might want to reduce the amount used in this dish.

 

Enjoy!

Eggs with Bitter Melon (Scrambled Style) (苦瓜炒蛋, Fu2 Gwaa1 Caau2 Daan6)

This recipe was updated on 04 Oct 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Bitter melon, for those who are not familiar with this vegetable, tastes exactly as it’s named and could be considered an acquired taste. I happen to like bitter melon and you can easily moderate the bitterness of the melon to your taste. If you just remove the seeds and pith from the center of the bitter melon and cook it, the bitterness will depend upon the vegetable’s age and could be rather strong. Some people like their bitter melon this way (try it this way with pork spareribs).

Salting and then washing the sliced bitter melon turns out to be the easiest and fastest way to remove any excess bitterness. If the bitter melon is slightly wet, the salt does a better job. I just use wet hands to mix the bitter melon slices and salt together, and that seems to do the trick. You only need 5 minutes to reduce the bitterness. The bitterness will diminish further the longer you leave the salt on the bitter melon, and is mostly removed after 10 minutes. For me, that defeats the purpose of eating this vegetable, and you’re probably losing the nutrients and health benefits. I can see how getting rid of the bitterness is a way to get your kids to eat this vegetable. You can get them acclimated to the taste and then ramp up the bitterness over time! Another method to reduce bitterness involves blanching the bitter melon before stir frying, but you need another pot and boiled water. The texture of the bitter melon will also be different if you use the blanching method.

The Eggs with Bitter Melon (Pancake Style) (苦瓜炒蛋, Fu² Gwaa¹ Caau² Daan⁶) recipe is another version of this dish, where you make an egg pancake with the bitter melon. The preparation is the same, but the cooking method differs.

Enjoy!

Crispy Teriyaki Salmon Skin

Guess what I had for dinner last night? I had every intention of eating leftovers, but after making a stop at a local Japanese market, I couldn’t resist buying the salmon skins. Salmon skins are not considered a prime part of the fish and so are very inexpensive. Since salmon goes together so well with eggs, I decided to also prepare eggs with bitter melon - which is another classic (Chinese) combination.

The Eggs with Bitter Melon recipe is here. Continue reading and you’ll find out how easy it is to make crispy teriyaki salmon skins. Please enjoy!