Chicken Wings – Char Siu

I buy all my chickens and chicken parts at local Poultry Specialist store. Every Wednesday they sell the freshest chickens. Yesterday, among other parts, I bought their huge chicken wings. They are big and very meaty and take 2 hours to bake at 350°F! I can only eat 3 at a time and since I made a big batch of char siu sauce that is what I have used. Sticky, delicious heaven.

Trailing Snapdragon Update.

It is almost a month now that I have started trailing snapdragon from a seeds. Considering, that at the start I have made a serious mistake by having the grow light too high, the seedlings are doing just fine. Last week I have started to fertilize with reduced fish emulsion liquid mix and they seem to get stronger by a day. Now I have to find out when I transplant to a bigger pot or hanging basket and when to start pinching the tops.

By May I hope to have this basket!

Japanese Egg Custard - Chawanmushi

Very first time we ate this dish in our favorite sushi restaurant we felt in love with it. It is the lightest egg custard you can imagine and so easy to make. As far as what goes in beside egg and dashi stock is up to you. The classical version has just shrimp, shitake mushroom, ginkgo nuts and sometimes piece of chicken breast. I didn’t have gingko so I substituted with sweet fresh water chestnut and instead chicken I used ham. Also I didn’t have fresh shitake so I soaked dry mushroom and then simmered in sweetened teriyaki sauce for 15 minutes. I have also added parboiled green beans. If you don’t have a special Chawanmushi bowl with lid you can use coffee mug and cover it with aluminum foil. For each cup, mug or bowl you will need:

Custard:

1 egg

1 cup dashi or chicken stock

Ingredients:

1 shitake mushroom, sliced into strips

2 large raw shrimps,  peeled and each cut into 4 pieces

2 green beans, parboiled and cut in half

Small piece of cooked chicken breast

Directions:

Beat the egg in a larger bowl and then add cool stock.

Place all other ingredients in individual bowls and pour egg mixture on top leaving about 1/2” space from top.

Cover the bowls and place in a steamer and steam for 15 – 20 minutes or till custard is set but still moist.

Serve immediately.

Ready for egg and stock mixture.

Shanghai Flat Noodle Stir Fry

Let’s just say that I had a hard time to figure out what do I call tonight’s dish. It is my original creation based on what I bought in Chinese market and what else was available to me. Even though I bought new carbon steel round bottom wok and seasoned it same day I didn’t want to use it till I stir-fry some green onions and garlic in it to remove the metallic taste. So, my trusty 12” pan was called to duty.

Anyway, fresh ingredients from market were flat Shanghai noodles, fresh water chestnuts and Lap Chong (Chinese sausage). I bought 2 kinds but in this dish I used pork and duck liver Lap Chong. I have used this sausage before many times but never correctly. I have never steamed it before using it in a recipe. What a difference the 20 minute steaming makes! It is so good! And so was this meal. Let’s just say that my wife was just oo-hing and ah-ing through the whole meal. Of course, the fact that Shanghai flat noodles have incredible texture if cooked correctly doesn’t hurt. Here is just a recall of ingredients and process. Very, very seldom do I use somebody else’s recipes, so do the same, be creative. If I remember correctly I used garlic, ginger, green onions, Chinese black mushrooms, fresh water chestnuts, steamed Lap Chong, green beans, red pepper and chicken tenders. Sauce included soaking water from mushrooms, rice wine, Hoisin sauce, Oyster sauce, Sriracha and sugar. It is another must have again and soon stir fry.

Seafood Mix with Pasta

Last week while shopping in supermarket I spotted 2 Lb bag of seafood mix. It looked so fresh and had a mix of clams, squid rings and tentacles, small slabs of cuttlefish and small shrimps. Since I know that each item requires different cooking time I turned to Chowhound discussion board. For 2 days we went back and forth about best way to prepare it. Originally I was considering seafood risotto, then there were suggestions of a hot pot and few others. I definitely will try the hot pot. Anyway, I have finally settled on cooking it in tomato sauce and serve it with fresh fettuccine. My wife declared it absolutely amazing and a definite and regular repeat.

There isn’t really much of a recipe. I just heated tomato sauce with 2 Tbs. of leftover béchamel sauce and when hot I added the seafood mix that was thawed out and at room temperature. Cook for no more then 3 minutes and at very end mix in 1 Tbs. of chopped parsley. Since this meal is so quick, cook the pasta before, toss in butter and keep warm. Serve the sauce on top of pasta and garnish with chopped parsley.

Oriental Enokitake Soup

After all the thick, seasonal comfort soups that I have prepared lately I just felt for something clear and light. Today we went shopping in Asia Chinese Supermart in London and among other stuff I bought pack of King Oyster mushrooms and 2 bunches of Enokitake mushrooms. The King Oyster has a texture and taste of meat when sautéed in butter till nicely caramelized.

For the soup I used chicken stock that was simmered with 1 clove of crushed garlic and 1” of crushed and julienned ginger and 1 chopped green onion. Just before serving I have added 2 thin slices of caramelized King Oyster mushrooms and about 2 dozens of Enokitake mushrooms. When served I garnished with additional chopped green onions and chopped coriander leaves. The texture of both of these mushrooms is amazing. This will be an excellent soup to finish barbecue meal in summer.

Fried Rice with Char Siu

Barbecue Pork Fried Rice

It is absolutely amazing in how many Chinese dishes this great barbecued pork is used. Dim Sums, soups, noodles, rice and even deserts! This pork fried rice is another restaurant favorite. To make it at home traditional way is, as usual, a bit tedious since everything has to be cut in uniform sizes and cuts and then each item is cooked separately. As with so many dishes less is sometimes more. By substituting just one or two items will change the texture and taste of a dish that it is in reality another item on most restaurants menus. It is always better to use at least one day old and refrigerated long grain rice.

Here is my version of this dish.

Ingredients:

1 cup Char Siu, cut into 1/4” strips

12 large shrimps, shell, tail and veins removed

1 carrot, julienned

3 Chinese mushrooms

2 green onions

1/2 cup green beans

1/2 cup green peas

1” piece ginger, chopped

Garlic, 1 clove chopped

2 eggs

3 cups leftover and refrigerated rice

2 Tbs. peanut oil

1 tsp. sesame oil

1/2 tsp. white pepper

Preparation (mise en place):

§    Soak mushrooms in hot water for at least 1/2 hour. Remove stems and cut into 1/4” slices. Reserve 1/4 cup of the water.

§    Marinate shrimps in 1 Tbs. of rice wine and sprinkle of salt, sugar and white pepper.

§    Cut ends of green beans and cut diagonally into 1” pieces. Parboil for 3 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain and plunge into cold water. Drain again and set aside.

§    Peel and julienne carrots into 1/4” pieces. Parboil for 1 minute in boiling salted water. Drain and plunge into cold water. Drain again and set aside.

§    Cut green onions diagonally into 1” pieces and separate white and green parts.

§    Soak frozen green peas in salted hot water for 1/2 hour, drain and set aside.

§    Beat eggs in a bowl with fork, add salt and white pepper and set aside.

§    Crush and chop ginger and garlic and set aside.

§    Break up clumps of cold rice till you have individual grains. Set aside

Sauce:

1/4 cup mushroom soaking water

1 Tbs. of Oyster sauce

1 Tbs. of Hoisin sauce

Stir together all ingredients till well combined.

Directions:

§    Heat a wok and add 1 tsp. of oil and spread with steel spatula till sides are well coated. When wok is very hot add eggs and scramble lightly. Remove to preheated bowl, break up the eggs, set aside and keep warm.

§    Wipe the wok clean, add 1 tsp. of oil and spread with steel spatula till sides are well coated. Sprinkle 1 tsp. of salt and drop in the rice. Stir till rice is evenly coated and grains are separated. Remove to bowl with eggs.

§    Wipe the wok clean, add 1 tsp. of oil and spread with steel spatula till sides are well coated. Add shrimps with marinade and stir-fry for 1 minute. Remove to bowl with rice and eggs and keep warm.

§    Wipe the wok clean, add 1 tsp. of oil and spread with steel spatula till sides are well coated. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry for few seconds then add mushrooms and stir.

§    Add the pork strips and stir till heated through.

§    Add previously prepared green beans, green peas, carrots and white parts of green onions. Stir-fry till well combined.

§    Add reserved rice, shrimps and eggs and mix well till all ingredients are very hot.

§    Pour sauce on side of wok and stir.

Serve immediately in individual preheated bowls and garnish with green parts of onions.

Braised Fragrant Pork Belly

My version of Chinese classic comfort food



Last week I got my newest cookbook "Mastering the Art Of Chinese Cooking" by
Eileen Yin-Fei Lo. Very good book even though in places it is a bit dictatorial for my taste, I am a free wheeler cook. There are quite a few “you must do this”, “you must use that” etc. Still, an excellent book.

Anyway, yesterday I was reading about slow cooked pork bellies and I just had to have it. Alas, no pork belly, just a thick slices on plain bacon. Good substitute, I thought. Out came my earthenware pot, ginger, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, tangerine peel, hot chilies, yellow rock sugar, sake, dark soy sauce, green onions and of course the bacon. Wasn’t bad at all but next time I’ll include some Chinese mushrooms for texture. Since the bacon was only 1/4” thick it was cooked in less then and hour.