Fermented Red Bean Curd Lamb Clay Pot (砂煲南乳羊肉, Saa1 Bou1 Naam4 Jyu5 Joeng4 Juk6)

This clay pot recipe uses lamb with fermented red bean curd and bean curd sticks. The combination is a classic Chinese dish and now that I have a clay pot, cooking the dish is just a matter of assembling the ingredients. I bought a clay pot recently and used it to make this dish. Clay pots need to be prepared before using for the first time to prevent cracking. I used this website for advice: Clay Pot Use and Maintenance Tips at Chinese Soup Pot.

Lamb stew meat was available at my local market, which usually is lamb shoulder or leg meat already cut into pieces. Purchasing already cut lamb meat saves a step in the preparation of this dish. The lamb is placed into the clay pot after being marinated, although if you’re in a hurry, marinating the meat can be skipped. Since the lamb meat is in contact with the clay pot during cooking, the meat gets an added flavorful crust that cannot be obtained by using a slow cooker. Another method to make this dish is to put cut cabbage or lettuce on the bottom of the clay pot before adding all the other ingredients. You will typically see this preparation when at restaurants. The clay pot is used as the serving dish and keeps the contents hot.

Enjoy!

Doubanjiang Bitter Melon Chicken (辣豆瓣酱苦瓜鷄, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Fu2 Gwaa1 Gai1)

Spicy broad bean paste (Doubanjiang) is used to make a variation of a common Cantonese dish: Chicken with bitter melon. For some reason I used more liquid than usual to make the sauce for this dish (as reflected in the picture above), which is usually dry (i.e. the sauce clings to the ingredients). I’ve written the recipe to produce a “dry” sauce, but feel free to add more liquid if more sauce is desired.

Enjoy!

Grilled Hard Apple Cider Black Pepper Pork Ribeye Steaks (燒烤蘋果酒黑椒豬排, Siu1 Haau1 Ping4 Gwo2 Zau2 Hak1 Ziu1 Zyu1 Paai4)

This recipe was updated on 01 May 2016. The Chinese name for the recipe was added.

I used a bottle of hard apple cider and soy sauce as the basis for the marinade for this grilled pork ribeye steak recipe. You can of course use regular apple cider in place of the hard apple cider; just use whatever’s available. The marinade is discarded and freshly ground black pepper is used to coat the pork before grilling.

Enjoy!

Chili Oil Bean Curd Shrimp and Chicken with Green Beans (紅油腐乳青豆角蝦鷄, Hung4 Jau4 Fu6 Jyu5 Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Haa1 Gai1)

Chili oil bean curd is the principal ingredient for the sauce in this shrimp and chicken combination dish. The bean curd is fermented and come bottled as “cakes”. You remove the number of cakes from the bottle depending upon your personal preference for the taste of this ingredient. Some of the liquid (or oil in this case) can also be added to the sauce.

Enjoy!

Clay Pot Basil Pork Sparerib and Fish Ball (砂煲紫蘇魚蛋豬排骨, Saa1 Bou1 Zi2 Sou1 Jyu4 Daan6 Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1)

I bought a clay pot recently and used it to make this dish. Clay pots need to be prepared before using for the first time to prevent cracking. I used this website for advice: Clay Pot Use and Maintenance Tips at Chinese Soup Pot. Since the pork spareribs take some time to cook and to cook the dish all at once, the other ingredients used were chosen to hold up to the cooking time (the green onions and basil leaves are added after cooking is complete).

The pork spareribs are placed into the clay pot first after being stir fried. Since the pork spareribs are in contact with the clay pot during cooking, the meat gets an added flavorful crust that cannot be obtained by just stir frying. I’ve seen some recipes where the browning is done in the clay pot, rather than a wok, but using high heat with a clay pot can crack it, so I used the wok for browning. Another advantage of using a clay pot is that it also serves as the serving dish and keeps the contents hot.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Korean Beef Short Ribs (갈비찜, Galbijjim)

I modified the Slow Cooker Galbijjim (Korean Braised Short Ribs) recipe found at Korean Bapsang to make this dish since I had never made this before. It all started out when I found beef short ribs at my local Asian market, and since I’ve been using more Korean ingredients in my cooking, I wanted to make a dish using these ingredients. This is by no means a traditional Korean recipe, and it turns out I didn’t use any of the Korean sauce ingredients to make this dish. I did use a pear in the marinade as a tenderizer and marinated the beef for 48 hours. One thing I like about this version is that the marinade is also used to make the dish and there’s no need to brown the beef short ribs before cooking in the slow cooker. Using a slow cooker is certainly not the traditional way to make this dish, but it certainly makes it very easy. For some reason, I forgot to add the Shiitake mushrooms when I made this dish, but they are included in the recipe.

Enjoy!

Grilled Gochujang (Hot Pepper Paste) Chicken Breasts

Like the Grilled Gochujang (Hot Pepper Paste) Pork Ribeye Steaks recipe, I used Korean hot pepper paste (gochujang) and hot pepper powder (gochugaru) in a marinade for grilled chicken breasts. The amount of hot pepper powder can be varied depending upon your tolerance for spiciness. The hot pepper paste actually provides more sweetness to the dish than spice, so there’s no need to use hoisin sauce (my usual sauce used in marinades). Sake is also used in the marinade in place of my usual Shaoxing wine.

Enjoy!