Broccoli Beef (西蘭花牛肉, Sai1 Laan4 Faa1 Ngau4 Juk6)

I was looking through the my recipe list and was rather surprised that I had never posted this recipe, even though I’ve cooked it many times and it’s a classic Chinese American restaurant dish. This is one of those basic and ubiquitous Chinese American dishes whose ingredients are readily available in the USA. As the Chinese immigrated around the world, local ingredients were incorporated into cuisine. So each Chinese community around the world has its own uniquely flavored and adapted cuisine that reflects the locality, where the local residents find familiar ingredients, but cooked with a Chinese flair. This dish reflects the Cantonese American adaptation of a bean sauce based beef dish paired with a readily available American vegetable. The dish usually just consists of beef and broccoli, but I’ve added fried tofu for my adaptation.

Enjoy!

Yam Leaves with Dried Shrimp (蝦米蕃薯葉, Haa1 Mai5 Faan1 Syu4 Jip6)

Yam leaves, also known as sweet potato leaves in the USA, are available in your local Asian market. I actually was looking for another vegetable when I saw very fresh yam leaves on sale, so I changed my plans and bought the yam leaves instead. When I first cooked yam leaves, I made the mistake of not separating the leaves from the stems. If you just cook yam leaves whole (like spinach), the stems will be undercooked and the leaves will be overcooked. Also the thicker bottom portion of the stems need to be discarded since they are tough and will never become tender when cooked. How much of the bottom portion of the stems to discard will depend upon how young and fresh they are when you purchase them. Finally, the volume of the leaves will decrease dramatically and quickly when cooked, so don’t be alarmed if it looks like the amount of uncooked leaves won’t fit into the wok.

Enjoy!

Baby Choy Sum Chicken Chow Mein (小菜心雞炒麵, Siu2 Coi3 Sam1 Gai1 Caau2 Min6)

This noodle dish uses bay choy sum as the vegetable. Baby choy sum is used rather than regular choy sum because of its small size. Due to its size, you can use it whole in the dish and also cooks quickly in a hot wok. Baby choy sum can be “made” from normal choy sum by peeling off all the outer stalks, leaving the tender center, if you can’t find the baby version at your local Asian market (but then you’ll have to find another use for all those choy sum stalks).

Using bamboo shoot strips with noodles is a way to give the dish an added invisible crunch. By invisible, I mean that the bamboo shoot strips will blend in with the noodles and most people will not even notice that they’re present in the dish. The fresh bamboo shoot strips, which you can usually find in bulk bins at your local Asian market, are crunchier than the canned version and you can buy just the amount that you need for a recipe. I usually use a ratio of ½ lb. (250 g.) fresh bamboo shoot strips to 1 lb. (500 g.) of noodles, but drained, the canned version is 10.5 oz. (300 g.), which is close enough.

Enjoy!

Salmon and Mushroom 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, salmon is paired with mushrooms. Top with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired, and serve with Garlic Garlic Bread.

Enjoy!

Lemon Black Bean Chili Sauce Oysters with Garlic Stems (檸黑豆辣椒蒜芯鮮蠔, Ning4 Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Syun3 Sam1 Sin1 Hou4)

Oysters are not usually used in stir fry dishes because they are hard to keep intact during the cooking process. If you gently stir fry oysters, really just browning them quickly over high heat, you can make this dish. Eating oysters with lemon is a great taste combination, so fresh lemon juice is used in the black bean chili sauce. Finally garlic stems add a nice crunch to the dish, as well a nice garlic flavor.

Enjoy!

Grilled Dry Rub Pork Baby Back Ribs

So I was looking for a method to keep the temperature under 300⁰ (150⁰C) in a barbeque kettle grill for a long period of time (4-6 hours) and not have to constantly refill kettle with charcoal. You can of course use a gas grill, where it is easier to control temperature, but I wanted to use a kettle grill using charcoal to cook the ribs. I saw a TV episode from America’s Test Kitchen making Smoked Chicken in which they used one-third lighted- to two-thirds unlit charcoal with a pan of water under the chicken with a relatively shorter cooking time. The pan of water helps supply humidity and helps to stabilize the temperature.

So this got me thinking on how to extend the cooking time to 4-6 hours and to adapt their method for pork baby back ribs. So I realized that a smaller number of lit coals could control the temperature of the grill and keep the temperature in my desired range of 250⁰F (120⁰C) to 300⁰F (150⁰C). Also using mostly unlit charcoal, which would slowly light over the extended cooking time, makes it possible to not have to constantly reload the charcoal during cooking. It took me two tries, but I found that for my grill, 8-12 lit coals placed into a crater in a semi-circular wall consisting of one charcoal chimney’s worth of unlit charcoal provides the temperature control and cooking time duration that I wanted. I also used two pans of water to help control the temperature; one pan opposite the unlit charcoal wall, and one pan over the lit coals on the grill grate opposite the pork baby back ribs. One chunk of smoking wood was placed in the crater over the lit coals and given the limited oxygen due to the dampers being mostly closed, the chunk lasts about 2 hours. When a new wood chunk needs to be placed over the lit charcoal, the water pan on the grill grate should also be refilled. The water pan opposite the charcoal will likely never need to be refilled.

A barbeque thermometer is a necessary tool to control the temperature of the barbeque kettle. I put the thermometer into the mostly closed upper damper on the lid. The bottom damper is used to control the temperature and may have to be closed completely after some of the coals in the charcoal wall become lit. If this happens, there should be enough oxygen coming in from where the lid meets the kettle, and the upper damper to keep the charcoal lit. If there are too many lit coals, the temperature can increase beyond the desired range, so it is important to control the temperature with the lower damper. You will have to experiment with your grill to maintain a stable and desired temperature.

So after a mostly technical explanation of the cooking method, how did the pork baby back ribs turn out after 4 hours of cooking? Well, I was very pleased with the results. The ribs had a nice smoky bark on the outside and the ribs themselves were slightly chewy, which is the way I like my ribs. After cutting the rack into individual ribs, I ate the ribs with a tangy sauce.

Enjoy!

Grilled Chili Garlic Chicken Wings (燒烤蒜蓉辣椒鷄翼, Siu1 Haau1 Syun3 Jung4 Laat6 Ziu1 Gai1 Jik6)

Grilled chicken wings are always a treat to eat for me and they don’t take very long to cook using indirect heat on the grill. Grill marks can be added at the end of cooking using direct heat. If you start by grilling the chicken using direct heat (i.e. over the coals), you’ll probably burn the chicken before it’s cooked. So using indirect heat first to cook the chicken and then direct heat to produce the grill marks, allows the charcoal to come to a lower temperature while still producing the marks. Of course, adding grill marks is optional and you can just serve the chicken after indirect cooking.

The wing tips can be removed before cooking, but I also like to eat them, so I don’t cut them off before cooking. The marinade uses chili garlic sauce. Huy Fong Foods brand Chili Garlic Sauce is available in the USA and is made in southern California. They also manufacture their famous Sriracha sauce in the same factory. As usual, you can add more chili garlic sauce if you like your food spicier or substitute Sriracha sauce.

Enjoy!