Chili and Bitter Melon Chicken (辣椒苦瓜鷄, Laat6 Ziu1 Fu2 Gwaa1 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 08 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements were added.

Bitter melon and some meat (beef, chicken, pork…) in black bean sauce is a classic Cantonese dish. This recipe adds hot red peppers (e.g. serrano, jalapeño, or Fresno) to give the dish added color and, most importantly, a little heat. I also used a prepared black bean garlic sauce made by Lee Kum Kee. You can of course use salted black beans and garlic to make the sauce, but I wasn’t in the mood and took the easy way out using the prepared sauce.

Salting and then washing the sliced bitter melon turns out to be the easiest and fastest way to remove any excess bitterness. If the bitter melon is slightly wet, the salt does a better job. I just use wet hands to mix the bitter melon slices and salt together, and that seems to do the trick. You only need 5 minutes to reduce the bitterness. The bitterness will diminish further the longer you leave the salt on the bitter melon and after 10 minutes, the bitterness will mostly be removed. Another method to reduce bitterness involves blanching the bitter melon before stir frying, but you need another pot and boiled water. The texture of the bitter melon will also be different if you use the blanching method. You can also choose not to reduce the bitter melon’s bitterness at all, in which case just remove the seed and pith, cut into pieces, and cook. I like to pair bitter melon prepared in this manner with pork spareribs.

Enjoy!

Scrambled Egg Chili Chicken (辣椒炒蛋鷄, Laat6 Ziu1 Caau2 Daan6 Gai1)

 

This recipe was updated on 19 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

The serrano and jalapeño peppers are growing like mad in my garden. So here’s a dish that consists of peppers and chicken in a Chinkiang vinegar based sauce. I wasn’t sure how hot the peppers were, so I seeded them before cooking, but seeding is totally optional. While I like hot and spicy food, this dish still made me sweat even after seeding the peppers, so you can imagine how hot the dish would have been if the seeds were still present! Chinkiang vinegar is rice based and black in color. The vinegar helps to moderate the heat from the peppers in the dish. Black or cider vinegar can be substituted if you can’t find Chinkiang vinegar at your local Asian supermarket.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Beef (意大利青瓜牛肉, Ji3 Daai6 Lei6 Ceng1 Gwaa1 Ngau4 Juk6)

 

This recipe was updated on 19 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Zucchinis are in season, so here’s a dish using this now abundant squash. Beef, Shiitake mushrooms, and marinated bean curd are added together with the zucchini to complete the dish. A slightly spicy prepared bottled sauce is used: Fu Chi Foods brand Chili Paste with Fermented Soy Beans. If you are unable to purchase the sauce at your local Asian market, salted black beans and chili garlic sauce can be substituted.

Enjoy!

Salmon and Prawn Pasta

Sometimes you just want to eat some seafood. Salmon and prawns (also called shrimp in the USA) make a great combination together with pasta. Once the prawns are defrosted overnight, this is a quick-cooking dish to make. Pair the dish with Garlic Garlic Bread (the recipe can be found here).

Enjoy!

Chinese-Style Spareribs (Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1, 豬排骨)

This recipe was updated on 16 June 2013. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

The pork spareribs in this recipe are prepared like the Chinese spareribs that you can buy at your local Chinese delicatessen, but the spareribs are also smoked like American spareribs. Chinese spareribs are both savory and slightly sweet, but I think the addition of wood smoke makes the spareribs taste even better. In this case, apple wood was used to smoke and flavor the spareribs, which imparts a slight sweetness to the meat and goes well with the spareribs (but any fruit smoking wood can be used, such as cherry).

The spareribs purchased from your local Asian delicatessen are usually bright red in color due to the addition of red dye. This make-at-home recipe doesn’t use added red dye. The “red” in this recipe is the result of using red vinegar and ketchup. The spareribs not being bright red doesn’t affect the taste whatsoever.

Deli-bought spareribs also have a bright glaze. Maltose is used to produce the glaze and is applied at the end of the cooking process. If you mix the maltose into the marinade to begin with, the spareribs will burn before they can cook. Since you want some charring to the spareribs together with that glazed look, you mix the maltose with some of the marinade to make the glaze and apply the glaze during the last 15 minutes of cooking. Honey can be substituted for maltose if it is not available at your local Asian supermarket.

Enjoy!                        

Grilled Guinness Chicken

 

This recipe was updated on 31 Mar 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Chicken marinated in beer, what could be better? Well, when the beer is Guinness. Sriracha hot chili sauce gives the chicken a little heat.

Enjoy!

New York Steak Miso Noodle Soup

I was hungry and wanted to use up some leftovers in my refrigerator to make lunch. So here’s what I came up with, which I think is better than any instant noodle soup you can buy at the supermarket. There’s no cooking to make this quick dish, outside of boiling water and using the microwave to heat the soup. The ingredients are either leftovers or are ingredients available in my pantry or refrigerator. The leftover New York steak and mushrooms can be from the Grilled Mesquite-Smoked New York Steak and Vegetables recipe, which can be found here. I used already cooked Hong Kong style noodles, but any noodle can be substituted to make this dish.

Enjoy!