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!

Salted Radish Long Bean Salmon (菜脯豆角鮭魚, Coi3 Pou2 Dau6 Gok3 Gwai1 Jyu4)

This recipe was updated on 31 Mar 2015. The Cantonese translation for salted radish was added.

Although the amount of salted radish is small, it adds a major accent to this salmon dish. Salted radish is a preserved vegetable that can be purchased at your local Asian market in various forms, from whole, to pieces, to being shredded. Salted radish not only tastes salty, but there’s also a sweet crunchiness. The one thing that you need to do before cooking this dish is to taste how salty the radish is since it varies from brand to brand (as does the sweetness). Reduce the amount of salty radish used in the dish if it tastes too salty. So far I’ve found the brands from China are less salty than the brands from Thailand.

Enjoy!

Broccoli Beef (西蘭花牛肉, Sai1 Laan4 Faa1 Ngau4 Juk6)

I was looking through the my recipe list and was rather surprised that I had never posted this recipe, even though I’ve cooked it many times and it’s a classic Chinese American restaurant dish. This is one of those basic and ubiquitous Chinese American dishes whose ingredients are readily available in the USA. As the Chinese immigrated around the world, local ingredients were incorporated into cuisine. So each Chinese community around the world has its own uniquely flavored and adapted cuisine that reflects the locality, where the local residents find familiar ingredients, but cooked with a Chinese flair. This dish reflects the Cantonese American adaptation of a bean sauce based beef dish paired with a readily available American vegetable. The dish usually just consists of beef and broccoli, but I’ve added fried tofu for my adaptation.

Enjoy!

Yam Leaves with Dried Shrimp (蝦米蕃薯葉, Haa1 Mai5 Faan1 Syu4 Jip6)

Yam leaves, also known as sweet potato leaves in the USA, are available in your local Asian market. I actually was looking for another vegetable when I saw very fresh yam leaves on sale, so I changed my plans and bought the yam leaves instead. When I first cooked yam leaves, I made the mistake of not separating the leaves from the stems. If you just cook yam leaves whole (like spinach), the stems will be undercooked and the leaves will be overcooked. Also the thicker bottom portion of the stems need to be discarded since they are tough and will never become tender when cooked. How much of the bottom portion of the stems to discard will depend upon how young and fresh they are when you purchase them. Finally, the volume of the leaves will decrease dramatically and quickly when cooked, so don’t be alarmed if it looks like the amount of uncooked leaves won’t fit into the wok.

Enjoy!

Baby Choy Sum Chicken Chow Mein (小菜心雞炒麵, Siu2 Coi3 Sam1 Gai1 Caau2 Min6)

This noodle dish uses bay choy sum as the vegetable. Baby choy sum is used rather than regular choy sum because of its small size. Due to its size, you can use it whole in the dish and also cooks quickly in a hot wok. Baby choy sum can be “made” from normal choy sum by peeling off all the outer stalks, leaving the tender center, if you can’t find the baby version at your local Asian market (but then you’ll have to find another use for all those choy sum stalks).

Using bamboo shoot strips with noodles is a way to give the dish an added invisible crunch. By invisible, I mean that the bamboo shoot strips will blend in with the noodles and most people will not even notice that they’re present in the dish. The fresh bamboo shoot strips, which you can usually find in bulk bins at your local Asian market, are crunchier than the canned version and you can buy just the amount that you need for a recipe. I usually use a ratio of ½ lb. (250 g.) fresh bamboo shoot strips to 1 lb. (500 g.) of noodles, but drained, the canned version is 10.5 oz. (300 g.), which is close enough.

Enjoy!

Salmon and Mushroom Pasta

I actually cook my pasta dishes like I make chow mein – stir frying. In my mind, the technique to make pasta or chow mein is the same, the only differences being the ingredients and the use of a tomato based sauce (usually a bottled pasta sauce). For this dish, salmon is paired with mushrooms. Top with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired, and serve with Garlic Garlic Bread.

Enjoy!

Lemon Black Bean Chili Sauce Oysters with Garlic Stems (檸黑豆辣椒蒜芯鮮蠔, Ning4 Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Syun3 Sam1 Sin1 Hou4)

Oysters are not usually used in stir fry dishes because they are hard to keep intact during the cooking process. If you gently stir fry oysters, really just browning them quickly over high heat, you can make this dish. Eating oysters with lemon is a great taste combination, so fresh lemon juice is used in the black bean chili sauce. Finally garlic stems add a nice crunch to the dish, as well a nice garlic flavor.

Enjoy!

Grilled Dry Rub Pork Baby Back Ribs

So I was looking for a method to keep the temperature under 300⁰ (150⁰C) in a barbeque kettle grill for a long period of time (4-6 hours) and not have to constantly refill kettle with charcoal. You can of course use a gas grill, where it is easier to control temperature, but I wanted to use a kettle grill using charcoal to cook the ribs. I saw a TV episode from America’s Test Kitchen making Smoked Chicken in which they used one-third lighted- to two-thirds unlit charcoal with a pan of water under the chicken with a relatively shorter cooking time. The pan of water helps supply humidity and helps to stabilize the temperature.

So this got me thinking on how to extend the cooking time to 4-6 hours and to adapt their method for pork baby back ribs. So I realized that a smaller number of lit coals could control the temperature of the grill and keep the temperature in my desired range of 250⁰F (120⁰C) to 300⁰F (150⁰C). Also using mostly unlit charcoal, which would slowly light over the extended cooking time, makes it possible to not have to constantly reload the charcoal during cooking. It took me two tries, but I found that for my grill, 8-12 lit coals placed into a crater in a semi-circular wall consisting of one charcoal chimney’s worth of unlit charcoal provides the temperature control and cooking time duration that I wanted. I also used two pans of water to help control the temperature; one pan opposite the unlit charcoal wall, and one pan over the lit coals on the grill grate opposite the pork baby back ribs. One chunk of smoking wood was placed in the crater over the lit coals and given the limited oxygen due to the dampers being mostly closed, the chunk lasts about 2 hours. When a new wood chunk needs to be placed over the lit charcoal, the water pan on the grill grate should also be refilled. The water pan opposite the charcoal will likely never need to be refilled.

A barbeque thermometer is a necessary tool to control the temperature of the barbeque kettle. I put the thermometer into the mostly closed upper damper on the lid. The bottom damper is used to control the temperature and may have to be closed completely after some of the coals in the charcoal wall become lit. If this happens, there should be enough oxygen coming in from where the lid meets the kettle, and the upper damper to keep the charcoal lit. If there are too many lit coals, the temperature can increase beyond the desired range, so it is important to control the temperature with the lower damper. You will have to experiment with your grill to maintain a stable and desired temperature.

So after a mostly technical explanation of the cooking method, how did the pork baby back ribs turn out after 4 hours of cooking? Well, I was very pleased with the results. The ribs had a nice smoky bark on the outside and the ribs themselves were slightly chewy, which is the way I like my ribs. After cutting the rack into individual ribs, I ate the ribs with a tangy sauce.

Enjoy!

Grilled Chili Garlic Chicken Wings (燒烤蒜蓉辣椒鷄翼, Siu1 Haau1 Syun3 Jung4 Laat6 Ziu1 Gai1 Jik6)

Grilled chicken wings are always a treat to eat for me and they don’t take very long to cook using indirect heat on the grill. Grill marks can be added at the end of cooking using direct heat. If you start by grilling the chicken using direct heat (i.e. over the coals), you’ll probably burn the chicken before it’s cooked. So using indirect heat first to cook the chicken and then direct heat to produce the grill marks, allows the charcoal to come to a lower temperature while still producing the marks. Of course, adding grill marks is optional and you can just serve the chicken after indirect cooking.

The wing tips can be removed before cooking, but I also like to eat them, so I don’t cut them off before cooking. The marinade uses chili garlic sauce. Huy Fong Foods brand Chili Garlic Sauce is available in the USA and is made in southern California. They also manufacture their famous Sriracha sauce in the same factory. As usual, you can add more chili garlic sauce if you like your food spicier or substitute Sriracha sauce.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Bitter Melon with Pork and Chinese Sausage (臘腸豬肉苦瓜, Laap6 Coeng4 Zyu1 Juk6 Fu2 Gwaa1)

This classic Cantonese dish is made with pork and with the addition of Chinese sausage. I had previously posted a similar recipe using turkey: Stuffed Bitter Melon with Turkey and Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇釀苦瓜, Dung¹ Gu¹ Joeng⁶ Fu² Gwaa¹). Bitter melon lends itself to being stuffed, since the inedible pith and seeds in the middle leave so much space after being removed. I added diced Chinese sausage to the pork for taste, and sliced Chinese sausage to the tops of the stuffed bitter melon cylinders for a visual element to the dish. The further addition of whole Shiitake mushrooms makes the dish even tastier.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Chili Sauce Chicken Shanghai Noodles (黑豆辣椒雞上海麵, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Gai1 Soeng6 Hoi2 Min6)

I’ve been using Laoganma brand black bean chili sauce as the basis for sauces in my dishes recently. This sauce is spicier (but not hot) than the normal Lee Kum Kee brand black bean garlic I normally use. You can always make your own sauce from scratch, but that takes time. Using a prepared sauce certainly makes dish preparation easier and once I find a sauce I like, I tend to use it often. If you go to your local Asian market, there are many choices for prepared black bean sauces, both spicy and non-spicy. I’m always trying different prepared sauces to find out what they taste like. You should do the same and find a prepared sauce that meets your taste criteria. You can find some of the brands that I prefer in the recipes on this blog.

Enjoy!

Coconut Curry Cauliflower Shrimp (咖哩椰子椰菜花蝦, Gaa3 Lei1 Je4 Zi2 Je4 Coi3 Faa1 Haa1)

This dish is made backwards. You usually start by cooking the meat or seafood, then the vegetables, and finally the sauce when making a dish. In this case, the process is reversed; the sauce is made first, followed by the vegetables, and then the seafood. The dish also has some added heat to it with the addition of capsicum in red oil or red chili peppers if the former is not available. The amount to use depends upon how spicy you like your dishes, so the quantity to use is a personal preference.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Garlic Sauce Chicken with Garlic Stems (蒜蓉豆豉蒜芯鷄, Syun3 Jung4 Dau6 Si6 Syun3 Sam1 Gai1)

Garlic stems are available at your local Asian market. They are exactly what the name describes, stems of the garlic plant, harvested before they bloom and are slightly crunchy. Garlic stems have a mild garlic flavor and are much milder tasting than a garlic clove. Garlic stems can be cooked with any meat or seafood.

Enjoy!

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)

Rice roll chow fun noodles are rolled chow fun noodles and are available at your local Asian supermarket. Since the noodles aren’t refrigerated (at least in California where I live and there is a law allowing this), they have a soft texture. If the noodles are refrigerated, the texture of the noodles becomes tougher, if not hard. Since you have to use the noodles the day you buy them, you have to plan ahead to get all the ingredients ready before getting the noodles. Outside of that, the dish takes the same amount of effort to make as any other stir fried noodle dish.

Enjoy!

Cashew Asparagus Shrimp (腰果蘆筍蝦仁, Jiu1 Gwo2 Lou4 Seon2 Haa1 Jan4)

A previous version of this dish, Cashew Asparagus Prawns (腰果蘆筍蝦仁, Jiu¹ Gwo² Lou⁴ Seon² Haa¹ Jan⁴), used a basic sauce. This version uses the prepared Lee Kum Kee brand black bean garlic sauce. In the USA, the terms prawn and shrimp are used interchangeably, with prawn generally meaning larger shrimp. Try this version of a classic Chinese-American restaurant dish.

Enjoy!

Chinese Barbeque Chicken Salad (手絲燒烤鷄沙律, Sau2 Si1 Siu1 Haau1 Gai1 Saa1 Leot6)

This recipe was updated on 15 Aug 2015. Some equipment was added and hyperlinks fixed.

If this recipe looks familiar, it is, since it’s a variation of the original Mom’s Chinese Chicken Salad (手絲鷄沙律, Sau² Si¹ Gai¹ Saa¹ Leot⁶) recipe. My Mom liked this version of the salad more than the original. This time when I made the salad, I decided to barbeque the chicken using the Mom’s Grilled Soy Sauce Chicken (燒烤豉油雞, Siu¹ Haau¹ Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹) recipe. I marinated the chicken for a week, which is much longer than called for in the grilled chicken recipe, but other than that, making the Chinese chicken salad was the same. The recipe still makes enough salad to feed an army of relatives, so try making this the next time you have a family gathering.

Enjoy!

Steamed Black Pepper Sauce Pork Ribs (黑椒汁蒸排骨, Hak1 Ziu1 Zap1 Zing1 Paai4 Gwat1)

This is a pretty easy dish to prepare since bottled Lee Kum Kee brand black pepper sauce is used to flavor the pork ribs before steaming. In this case, the ribs were left as a block of 2-3 ribs, but you can also use individual cut ribs. Towards the end of the steaming, the sugar snap peas are added to the plate, making this a one plate recipe.

Enjoy!