Bean Sauce Pork Belly Stew (燉豆瓣豬腩肉, Dan6 Dau6 Faan6 Zyu1 Naam5 Juk6)

The easiest way to cook pork belly is to make a stew in a slow cooker (also called a crock pot in the USA). Pork belly needs a long cooking time over slow heat in order to become so tender that the pork almost melts in your mouth when eaten. Pork belly can easily be purchased at your local Asian market, and always comes with the skin attached. The pork skin is an integral part to the mouthfeel of the cooked dish and should not be removed. Excess fat, produced from the pork belly during cooking (pork belly is used to make bacon in the USA), needs to be removed when cooking is complete. Prior preparation (i.e. marinating) is not required since the dish’s flavor comes from the sauce; just cut the pork belly into pieces and put into the slow cooker.

I added Lian How brand Bean Sauce to the soy based sauce that is usually the basis for this dish. While the basis of the sauce is soy sauce, the star anise, cassia bark (cinnamon), and rock sugar (among other dry spices) add the traditional flavors to this dish. Tapioca starch is used to thicken the sauce and is added to the slow cooker at the start of cooking, so the completed dish has a thickened sauce at the end of cooking. Corn starch will not thicken the sauce due to the long cooking time. I have previously used tapioca starch as a thickener in long cooking recipes and adopted this method from America’s Test Kitchen.

Enjoy!

Grilled Barbeque Sauce Turkey Breast (燒烤火雞胸肉, Siu1 Haau1 Fo2 Gai1 Hung1 Juk6)

I was able to purchase a single half turkey breast at my local market, rather than having to purchase a whole turkey. Grilling the turkey breast after marinating is my preferred method of cooking. I used an already prepared bottled barbeque sauce made by Koon Chun Sauce Factory that’s added to the marinade in place of hoisin sauce. The taste is fairly similar, so hoisin sauce is definitely a good substitute if you don’t have this particular brand’s bottled sauce. Depending upon the weight and height of the turkey breast, indirect cooking on the grill takes less than an hour. Cooking another turkey half breast at the same time takes no more cooking time on the grill and makes great a source for turkey sandwiches.

Enjoy!

Steamed Black Bean Garlic White Perch (蒜蓉豆豉蒸鱸魚, Syun3 Jung4 Dau6 Si6 Zing1 Lou4 Jyu6)

White perch was available at my local Asian market already cleaned and packaged, meaning that the fish was “freshly dead” (for those fans of Young Frankenstein). A variation on the basic Steamed Fish (蒸魚, Zing¹ Jyu⁶) recipe is to cook the fish with salted black beans and minced garlic as a topping. I chose to use the individual components as a topping, but an already prepared bottled sauce, such as the Lee Kum Kee brand Black Bean Garlic Sauce, can be used instead. The fish is always finished with heated oil and a soy sauce mixture. You can use a small pot or a wok to heat the mixtures, but I’ve been using the microwave to heat the soy sauce mixture. As always, you need to be very careful when you pour heated oil and liquids on the fish, as the hot oil and liquid will pop and splatter off the fish. Finally the cooked fish is topped with green onions and cilantro (optional).

Enjoy!

Abalone Sauce Stone Crab Fried Rice (鮑魚醬石蟹炒飯, Baau1 Jyu4 Zoeng3 Sek6 Haai5 Caau2 Faan6)

This recipe was updated on 26 Aug 2016. The title was changed to incorporate the Cantonese translation for Stone Crab.

My previous recipe: Abalone Sauce Stone Crab Noodles (鮑魚醬蟹炒麵, Baau¹ Jyu⁴ Zoeng³ Haai⁵ Caau² Min⁶), used noodles with stone crab and this recipe is the fried rice version. Abalone sauce is used again as the basis for the sauce in place of the usual oyster sauce that I use in fried rice dishes. Oyster sauce can be substituted in place of abalone sauce if not available.

For me, fried rice dishes usually means leftovers, so this is a rather luxurious version of fried rice using cooked stone crab. The only leftovers in this dish is the rice itself (which is necessary). Regardless, this version of fried rice is tasty and worth the effort to shell the stone crabs to make this dish.

Enjoy!

Steamed Miso Pork Baby Back Ribs (味噌蒸排骨, Mei6 Cang1 Zing1 Paai4 Gwat1)

This is an easy to prepare pork rib recipe using miso paste. Steaming takes only 30 minutes to finish the dish. The pork ribs are marinated beforehand, but this certainly does not have to be done if desired. Serve with some vegetables and rice, and dinner is served!

Enjoy!

Abalone Sauce Stone Crab Noodles (鮑魚醬石蟹炒麵, Baau1 Jyu4 Zoeng3 Sek6 Haai5 Caau2 Min6)

This recipe was updated on 26 Aug 2016. The title was changed to incorporate the Cantonese translation for Stone Crab.

My local Asian market had cooked stone crabs available, so I bought four of them (about 2 lb. (1 kg.) total) and after shelling got about ¾ lb. (375 g.) of meat. My previous crab noodle recipes used Dungeness crabs: Creamy Tomato Dungeness Crab Pasta, Dungeness Crab and Quail Egg Shallot Sauce Noodles (紅蔥鵪鶉蛋蟹麵, Hung⁴ Cung¹ Am¹ Ceon¹ Daan⁶ Haai⁵ Min⁶), and Dungeness Crab Hong Kong Noodles (蟹雲吞麵, Haai⁵ Wan⁴ Tan¹ Min⁶). Unlike Dungeness crabs, stone crabs have very thick and brittle shells that break into small pieces, which makes it very difficult to keep shell pieces out of the crab meat, and hence out of the noodle dish. While stone crabs are tasty, you have to eat this dish carefully to avoid any small shell pieces. Stone crab claws are large (when compared to their body size), so if you like claw meat, stone crabs are for you. Another cooked crab meat can be substituted if stone crabs are not available.

Enjoy!

Hot Bean Sauce Shrimp and Mixed Mushroom Fish Balls with Ground Pork, (辣豆辦菇魚蛋蝦豬肉, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Gu1 Jyu4 Daan6 Haa1 Zyu1 Juk6)

This recipe uses the classic Chinese combination of seafood and meat to make this tasty dish. The seafood ingredients are shrimp and fish balls, and the meat is ground pork, together in a spicy bean sauce. The amount of sauce in this dish is also important and is more of a gravy than a sauce (i.e. there’s a lot of sauce!). The amount of sauce is a personal preference, so feel free to adjust the amount by adding less or more of the Shiitake mushroom rehydration liquid, but you’re likely on adding more rather than less.

Enjoy!