Black Bean Chili Sauce String Bean Beef (黑豆辣椒青豆角牛肉, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Ngau4 Juk6)

This version of the Spicy Black Bean Sauce Beef and Green Beans (青豆角牛肉, Ceng¹ Dau⁶ Gok³ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶) recipe uses a few more ingredients than just the beef and string beans. A spicy black bean sauce is still used (made by Laoganma), but the dish can be made without the spiciness by using salted black beans or a prepared black bean garlic sauce (made by Lee Kum Kee). Red chili peppers further enhance the spiciness of this dish, and the amount is a personal preference and optional.

Enjoy!

Sugar Snap Pea Fish with Cloud Ear Fungus (雲耳蜜豆炒魚, Wan4 Ji5 Mat6 Dau6 Caau2 Jyu4)

You need to use some technique whenever making a stir fried fish dish. First of all, the selection of the fish is important. You want to use a firm fleshed fish for stir frying so that it doesn’t break up when stir fried. The best advice is to pick the freshest firm fish fillet that you can find at your local market, but frozen works well too. Secondly, you want to cut the fillets into large pieces to help keep the pieces intact when stir fried. Small pieces of fish don’t survive stir frying very well. Finally, when stir frying the dish, you have to be gentle when mixing the dish together to minimize the fish breaking into small pieces. It’s also easy to mask the flavor of the fish with the sauce, so since a white fleshed fish was used in this dish, a simple soy based sauce was used.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Shrimp Hong Kong Noodles (蝦雞炒雲吞麵, Haa1 Gai1 Caau2 Wan4 Tan1 Min6)

Chicken and shrimp taste great together, and for this recipe, are paired with Hong Kong noodles (in Cantonese: won ton noodles). The noodles are flavored with just the basics – soy sauce (thick and regular) and some Shaoxing wine - so the taste of the chicken and shrimp aren’t hidden by the sauce.

Enjoy!

Grilled Chili Garlic Sauce Lamb Chops (燒烤蒜蓉辣椒羊扒, Siu1 Haau1 Syun3 Jung4 Laat6 Ziu1 Joeng4 Paa4)

Lamb chops are easily overcooked, so the lamb grilling and smoking time needs to be based upon the heat of your grill and previous experience. The trick is to quickly grill both sides of the lamb over a very hot fire before smoking. This recipe uses lamb chops marinated overnight with spicy chili garlic sauce mixture.

Enjoy!

Shrimp Sauce Chicken Rice Roll Chow Fun (幼滑蝦雞炒腸粉, Jau3 Waat6 Haa1 Gai1 Caau2 Coeng4 Fan2)

Shrimp sauce is an unusual addition to a noodle dish, but I liken it to anchovy paste, which is used in many dishes to enhance flavor. Like anchovy paste, even though it is a fish/shrimp based ingredient, there’s no fishy taste once it’s cooked. Shrimp sauce is an unusual shade of purple out of the bottle, but don’t let that stop you from using it. An alternative to use, if shrimp paste is not available, is fish sauce.

Chow fun noodles should be fresh and unrefrigerated before cooking. The texture of the noodles becomes hard once refrigerated, so to keep the soft texture they should be bought and used the same day. In California, where I live, there is a law that allows chow fun noodles to be sold unrefrigerated. If only refrigerated chow fun noodles are available, microwaving the noodles will soften them, but the texture will not be the same as fresh.

When you eat chow fun noodle dishes at a Chinese restaurant, you can specify (at the good restaurants) that you want the dish wet or dry. What that means is that you can specify if you want the noodles with or without gravy. With gravy (“wet”) means that the sauce will be more liquid, thickened with a corn starch slurry; without (“dry”) means that the sauce will be minimal with no thickeners. This dish is a “wet” version of chow fun. My previous recipes for chow fun are “dry” – Black Bean Chili Sauce Beef Rice Roll Chow Fun (黑豆辣椒牛肉炒粉, Hak¹ Dau⁶ Laat⁶ Ziu¹ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶ Caau² Fan²) and Spicy Pork Rice Roll Chow Fun (辣豆辦豬肉炒粉, Laat⁶ Dau⁶ Faan⁶ Zyu¹ Juk⁶ Caau² Fan²)

Enjoy!

Grilled Lemongrass Rosemary Garlic Boneless Pork Ribs (燒烤檸檬葉迷迭香蒜去骨的豬排骨, Siu1 Haau1 Ning4 Mung4 Jip6 Mai4 Dit6 Hoeng1 Syun3 Heoi3 Gwat1 Dik1 Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1)

The spice mixture used in the Grilled Apple-Oak Smoked Lemongrass Rosemary Garlic Turkey recipe was the basis for making a spice paste for boneless pork ribs. Like the Grilled Lemongrass Rosemary Garlic Lamb Rib Chops (燒烤檸檬葉迷迭香蒜羊扒, Siu¹ Haau¹ Ning⁴ Mung⁴ Jip⁶ Mai⁴ Dit⁶ Hoeng¹ Syun³ Joeng⁴ Paa⁴) recipe, the spice mixture – lemongrass, rosemary, and garlic - has dried red chilies added to give the pork an added spicy kick to the taste. Pork rib chops are easily overcooked, so the pork grilling and smoking time needs to be based upon the heat of your grill and previous experience.

Enjoy!

Braised Black Bean Chili Sauce Chicken Wings (紅燒黑豆辣椒鷄翼, Hung4 Siu1 Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Gai1 Jik6)

This dish actually doesn’t take too long to cook once all the preparation work is done. Whole chicken wings, parts separated, or chicken wing drumettes and/or midjoint pieces can be used. The chicken wings are marinated overnight before cooking, with the marinade becoming the basis for the sauce. A wok is used to brown the chicken wings and then the dish is cooked in a Dutch oven. If time is short (or you forget), the chicken wings don’t have to be marinated beforehand; just stir fry to brown and then add the browned wings to the Dutch oven together with the marinade ingredients. The dish will taste slightly different, but is an acceptable substitute to use when time is short. The carrots are cut thin to cook in the short time the Dutch oven is over heat. If the dish is prepared correctly, the beans will still be slightly crunchy.

Enjoy!