Steamed Pork with Salted Fish (Haam4 Jyu4 Zing1 Zyu1 Juk6, 鹹魚蒸豬肉)

This recipe was updated on 02 Aug 2013. Some instructions were changed.

Steamed pork is a dish I grew up eating and all Chinese Moms have a recipe for this dish. Steamed pork is usually never the only ingredient used in making this dish and there are innumerable recipe variations for additions. There is another recipe for Steamed Pork with Salted Duck Egg (Haam4 Aap3 Daan6 Zing1 Zyu1 Juk6, 鹹鴨蛋蒸豬肉).

This version uses salted fish, whose saltiness goes well with the savory pork flavor, and is an acquired taste. Salted fish is made by salting a whole fish and drying it in the sun. You can still buy salted fish at your local Asian market, but you can also get salted fish preserved in oil in a bottle. I prefer the bottled version since it stores easily and there is no fishy smell since the fish is immersed in oil.

On the surface, this seems like an easy dish to make. If this dish is prepared correctly, the steamed ground pork has a tender mouth feel when eaten. I have found, through many attempts, that if you add 1 Tbs. (15 ml.) per ½ lb. (250 g.), together with the other marinade ingredients, you get the desired result. Previously attempts that didn’t work used ground pork with more and less fat content, ground pork with small and large grind, and other binders (tapioca and rice starch).

Enjoy!

Scallops with Sugar Snap Peas (蜜豆帶子, Mat6 Dau6 Daai3 Zi2)

This recipe was updated on 18 May 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

 

Scallops are always a treat to eat. Frozen 60/80 scallops were used for this dish, meaning that there are 60-80 scallops per pound (500 g.). You can use larger scallops, but the 60/80’s are readily available at my local Asian market. If you can get fresh scallops, that’s always best and the dish will taste even better.

Whole coin mushrooms were used to make this dish. This type of Shiitake mushroom is so named because of the size resemblance to large coins and is available at your local Asian market. Regular Shiitake mushrooms, cut into pieces, can be substituted if the coin mushrooms are not available.

Enjoy!

Hot Bean Sauce Fish with Asparagus (辣豆辦醬蘆筍斑腩, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Lou4 Seon2 Baan1 Naam5)

 

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

Fish fillets in hot bean sauce is a classic Chinese dish and using asparagus is a Western addition to the dish, with Shiitake mushrooms adding another flavor. I used coin mushrooms in this dish, which are small, coin-sized Shiitake mushrooms – the Cantonese translation is “Gold Coin Mushroom”. If coin mushrooms are not available at your local Asian market, just use regular Shiitake mushrooms cut into pieces.

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!

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!

Bacon, Egg, and Peanut Butter Sandwich

I have to admit that this is a weird concoction, but it is a tasty sandwich. It’s the result of my love for chunky peanut butter, eggs, and bacon. In the USA, peanut butter (I use no-salt chunky peanut butter) is a common ingredient, but for other parts of the world, it’s an acquired taste. The saltiness of the bacon helps to make this dish tasty and I used turkey bacon, which has less fat than the pork version. I used garlic bread (bread baked with garlic cloves) for added flavor, but sourdough or any other dense bread will work. Try making this and you’ll probably be smiling like me while eating this sandwich.

Enjoy!

Chili Lemongrass Shrimp with Sugar Snap Peas (辣椒檸檬葉蜜豆蝦, Laat6 Ziu1 Ning4 Mung4 Jip6 Mat6 Dau6 Haa1)

 

This recipe was updated on 06 Nov 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Lemongrass was available at my local farmer’s market and I couldn’t resist buying it. Like its name, lemongrass has a lemon flavor and looks like a long (about 2 ft. or 60 cm.) thick green stalk of grass. The outer leaves are tough and inedible, so you have to remove the outer layers to reveal the softer inner core, which is edible and a small part of the stalk near the root. The inner core is sliced finely and stir fried with dried red peppers to flavor the oil used in this shrimp dish. Sugar snap peas add the crunch to this dish. Depending upon your tolerance for heat, you can use more or less red chili peppers.

Enjoy!

Basil Shrimp and Italian Sausage Pasta

I actually cook my pasta dishes like I make chow mein – stir frying. In my mind, the technique to make pasta or chow mein is the same, the only differences being the ingredients and the use of a tomato based sauce (usually a bottled pasta sauce). For this dish, shrimp is paired with Italian sausage, since pork and shrimp make a great taste combination. To add more flavor, fresh basil leaves are added at the end of cooking. Top with grated Parmesan cheese if desired. Serve with Garlic Garlic Bread (the recipe can be found here).

Enjoy!