Hot Bean Sauce Bell Pepper Chicken (辣豆辦青椒雞, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Ceng1 Ziu1 Gai1)

The sweetness of the bell peppers contrasts nicely with the spiciness of the hot bean sauce, and the combination of chicken and mushrooms is a classic taste pairing. The hot bean sauce also gives this dish its deep colored sauce. Together all these ingredients make this quick cooking dish.

Enjoy!

Black Pepper Sauce Oyster Mushroom Chicken (黑椒汁蠔菇雞, Hak1 Ziu1 Zap1 Hou4 Gu1 Gai1)

I had a can of oyster mushrooms available, but you can use any mushrooms, whether rehydrated, canned, or fresh, to make this dish. Black pepper sauce makes a good basis for the sauce and goes well with the chicken. If you like things spicy, add some red chili peppers for both heat and appearance.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Chili Sauce Snow Pea Chicken (黑豆辣椒荷蘭豆鷄, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Ho4 Laan4 Dau6 Gai1)

Some dishes are better with a small amount of sauce and others are not. This is one of those dishes that calls for more sauce, which, of course, goes well over rice. The amount of sauce can be controlled by the amount of liquid added to the basic sauce ingredients. In this case, the liquid from soaking the dried Shiitake mushrooms is used, but you can always add more water or stock instead. You may have to increase the amount of corn starch used to thicken the sauce if you add more liquid.

Enjoy!

Cumin Baby Bok Choy Sum Lamb Hong Kong Noodles (孜然小白菜心羊肉雲吞麵, Zi1 Jin4 Siu2 Baak6 Coi3 Sam1 Joeng4 Juk6 Wan4 Tan1 Min6)

Lamb leg meat is usually available as a whole leg with the bone still in, semi-boneless, or boneless. Occasionally smaller quantities are available and that prompted the creation of this dish. Cumin adds another flavor to the dish and that spice goes nicely with the dried red chili peppers. You can of course adjust the amount of chili peppers to your personal preference. Finally fried tofu (cut into strips) and an Asian leafy vegetable gives the noodle dish some added texture. Any leafy vegetable will do, but I used the leaves from baby bok choy sum.

Enjoy!

Fried Fish Cake and Ground Pork with Bean Sauce (豆瓣魚片豬肉, Dau6 Faan6 Jyu4 Pin3 Zyu1 Juk6)

Fried fish cake, sometimes labeled as fried fish tempura, is available already prepared in the refrigerated section of your local Asian market. Purchasing already prepared is the easiest way to make this dish, rather than frying the fish cakes yourself. The fish cakes are paired with ground pork, which is a classic preparation in Chinese cooking. The contrast in texture comes from the cloud ear fungus, which is slightly crunchy. In this particular case, strips of the fungus were used, but whole can also be substituted. As usual, red chili peppers are optional, but they add some color to the dish and some spiciness.

Enjoy!

Spicy Fermented Bean Curd Chicken Wings (辣椒腐乳鷄翼, Laat6 Ziu1 Fu6 Jyu5 Gai1 Jik6)

This recipe was updated on 27 Aug 2015. Some instructions were changed.

This is a one pot (or Dutch oven) meal. The chicken wings are first browned, and then the bean curd knots and fermented bean curd with chili are added before cooking. Finally the vegetables are added at the very end of cooking to complete the dish.  The one ingredient that is probably most unfamiliar is the bean curd knots. Bean curd knots are available fresh or dried, in this case I used dried, and are bean curd skin tied into a knot. Bean curd knots are available at your local Asian market in the dried foods or if you want fresh, in the refrigerated section. Bean curd sticks can be substituted if bean curd knots are not available.

Finally, this dish is not spicy even though that’s in the title. The fermented bean curd I used has small bits of chili in it, but it’s not all that hot. However, if you are adverse to any chili spiciness, regular fermented bean curd (without chili) can be substituted.

Enjoy!

Basil Italian Sausage and Manila Clam Pasta

I am fortunate to live close to many Asian markets. Manila clam meat is available in the freezer section, so there’s no need to have to shell the clams (although the clam meat would be fresh and not frozen). As I’ve mentioned in my previous pasta recipes, I cook my pasta like a stir fry using olive oil. For me, making a pasta dish is like making chow mein with a different sauce. Care needs to be taken on the amount of heat used to cook the dish, since olive oil has a lower smoking point than oils used for your typical stir fry. So depending upon the strength of your heat source, you may need to reduce the heat used to cook the dish.

Enjoy!