Grilled Ginger Peach Chicken (燒烤薑桃子雞, Siu1 Haau1 Goeng1 Tou4 Zi2 Gai1)

 

This recipe was updated on 13 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

So what do you do with a peach that’s too ripe to eat? I always hate to throw out overripe peaches that you can’t eat. I thought about the Korean beef marinades that have pear juice in them and wondered how a peach would taste in a homemade chicken marinade. I also thought about needing another flavor in the marinade besides peach and my mind wandered to ginger. The ripe peach can be crushed by hand, after removing the peel and the pit, into the marinade. The resulting chicken tastes slightly sweet from the peach that goes well with the ginger flavor.

Enjoy!

Salmon in Black Bean Sauce (豆豉鮭魚, Dau6 Si6 Gwai1 Jyu4)

 

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

Salmon and black bean sauce make a great dish with Shiitake mushrooms and long beans. All my favorites in one dish! What more can I say?

Enjoy!

Stuffed Bitter Melon with Turkey and Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇釀苦瓜, Dung1 Gu1 Joeng6 Fu2 Gwaa1)

 

This recipe was updated on 07 Jul 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added. A similar recipe was also added: Stuffed Bitter Melon with Pork and Chinese Sausage (臘腸豬肉苦瓜, Laap⁶ Coeng⁴ Zyu¹ Juk⁶ Fu² Gwaa¹).

This classic Cantonese dish is usually made with pork and without the addition of the whole Shiitake mushrooms. I had ground turkey, so I used that to stuff the bitter melon cylinders. Bitter melon lends itself to being stuffed, since the inedible pith and seeds in the middle leave so much space after being removed. I added dried shrimp to the tops of the stuffed bitter melon cylinders to add another flavor to the dish. The further addition of whole Shiitake mushrooms makes the dish even tastier.

Enjoy!

Zhenjiang-Style Pork Baby Back Ribs (镇江排骨, Zan3 Gong1 Paai4 Gwat1)

 

This recipe was updated on 02 Jul 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I made this dish a couple of times before being satisfied with the results since this is not the traditional recipe. First of all, the dish is usually made with 1- to 2-inch rib pieces rather than using the whole rib, and secondly, the ribs are usually deep fried before being braised in the sauce. Rather than deep frying the ribs, I browned them in the wok. I found that if you brown the ribs for too long, the meat becomes hard and tough, so the ribs need to be quickly browned in small batches (i.e. don’t crowd the ribs into the wok). I also made the dish without browning the ribs first and the dish came out tasty, but the ribs didn’t have that deep dark color the browned version has. So it’s up to you to brown or not-brown the ribs.

When I first made the dish, I used a lot more soy sauce. The reduced sauce was too salty, so there is a small amount of soy sauce used in the recipe. Also at first, I thought that I used too much sugar, but it turns out to be the right amount because you don’t get the right syrupy consistency if there’s less sugar and the sugar balances the vinegar.

Enjoy!

Chinese Broccoli Lamb (芥蘭羊肉, Gaai3 Laan4 Joeng4 Juk6)

 

This recipe was updated on 10 Jul 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Lamb always goes well with a spicy sauce. In this case, Fu Chi brand Chili Paste with Fermented Soy Bean is the basis for the sauce. The actual Chinese translation is “Hunan Fermented Black Soybean Hot Pepper”, so it’s really a chili sauce with fermented black soy beans. Add Chinese broccoli and you have dinner.

Enjoy!

Grilled Mini Roast Beef and Mushrooms

Roast beef has always been my favorite and grilling the roast beef makes it even better. However, outside of special holidays where a large cut of rib eye will feed a family, what do you do when you want to serve a small number of people (like one!). Well here’s method to make roast beef on your grill using a thick rib eye steak. The preparation and even making the pan gravy is the same as when using a larger cut of meat.

The trick is to quickly roast the beef using indirect heat in your grill in a rack over a pan. What matters to the cooking time is the thickness of the beef and not the weight. You want a cut of beef at least 1-inch thick, and a 2-inch thick cut of beef doesn’t take much longer to cook medium-rare. If I were smart, I would use a meat thermometer to always produce medium-rare roasts, but I found that for a 1-inch roast, 12-15 minutes, and for a 2-inch roast, 17-20 minutes of indirect heat in my grill produces the desired results.

Enjoy!

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!