Dinner for a Chinese New Year

I made a small feast for dinner tonight. My CSA box contained bok choy and snow peas so I found two recipes to use these fresh vegetables. Since it is Chinese New Year's I turned to My China and Simple Chinese Cooking by Kylie Kwong. She is one of my favorite Asian cookbook authors.

The shrimp in the picture is with a packaged sauce that I got at the Asian market. Basically just stir fry the shrimp with the sauce. But with the veggies I got to make my own sauces. I love playing with Asian ingredients and I think they both turned out well.

Stir-Fried Snow Peas with Garlic 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil 1/2 tsp. sea salt 8 oz. snow peas, trimmed 4 garlic cloves, roughly crushed 1/2 tsp. brown sugar 1/2 cup chicken stock or water 1/4 tsp. sesame oil Heat vegetable oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly. Add salt and snow peas and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute, stirring constantly to ensure garlic does not burn. Add sugar and stir-fry for 10 seconds. Pour in stock or water and simmer for 2 minutes or until snow peas are tender. Lastly, stir through sesame oil and serve immediately.

Bok Choy with Oyster Sauce 1 bunch bok choy, cores removed 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil 2 Tbsp. oyster sauce dash of sesame oil 1 Tbsp. peanut oil Separate bok choy leaves and wash thoroughly. Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Stir vegetable oil, add bok choy and simmer until bok choy i sbright green and tender - this should take about 1 minute. Using tongs, immediately remove bok choy from water and place on a platter. Drizzle with oyster sauce and sesame oil. Heat peanut oil in a small frying pan until moderately hot and carefully pour over bok choy. Serve immediately.

Numbing and Hot Chicken

I'm in love! In love with another cookbook. Thankfully my current favorite, On Top of Spaghetti, won't get too jealous. I can cook one dinner from each of them each week. The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province by Fuchsia Dunlap is really sucking me in. I spent a few nights before bed this past week actually reading this cookbook. I read the forward, the intro and about the Hunanese pantry and have learned alot.

While flipping through the recipes, Numbing-and-Hot Chicken was one of the first that caught my eye. Maybe it was the photo or maybe it was because the word "numbing" is in the title. The numbing attribute is intriguing to me. It ends up that this dish calls for sichuan pepper which I happen to have since sichuan peppercorns are #72 on Food & Wine's Top Tastes to Try in 2007. In fact, I heard about this book from the F&W 100 list. Hot Hunan Shrimp is #49 and the blurb recommended this cookbook by Fuchsia Dunlap.

Tonight is Chinese New Year's so I decided try this out tonight and make an event out of it. I had so much fun going to the Asian grocery store to stock up on ingredients. After I got home, I took a deep breath and went at it. I cranked up the music and went to chopping up my chicken and veggies but it didn't take nearly as long as I thought. My wok has been very under-used so it was very happy tonight double-frying the chicken and then stir-frying it all together.

I only got confused at one part in this recipe. "3 scallions, white parts only" are called for. But the instructions say to "cut them into 1 1/4- to 1 1/2-inch pieces". Anyone who knows scallions know that is about as long as the white part is in total, let alone cutting in into pieces. And the picture had some green in it so I cut the greens into the 1 1/4-inch pieces and diced the whites into smaller pieces.

Numbing-and-Hot Chicken ma la zi ji Ingredients: 12 oz. bones chicken thigh or breast half, if you prefer, with skin 1 small red bell pepper, thin-skinned if possible 1 fresh red chili, or 1 tsp. dried chili flakes 3 scallions, white parts only 1 tsp. whole sichuan pepper 1 tsp. sesame oil 1 1/4 cups peanut oil for deep-frying For the marinade: 1 Tbsp. Saoxing wine 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce 1/4 tsp. dark soy sauce 1 Tbsp. potato flour mixed with 1 Tbsp. cold water For the sauce: 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce 1 Tbsp. clear rice vinegar 1/2 tsp. potato flour 3 Tbsp. chicken stock or water

Instructions:
Cut the chicken as evenly as possible into bite-size cubes. Place the chicken cubes in a bowl, add the marinate ingredients and mix well; set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

Discard the stem and seeds of the pepper, and cut into small squares to complement the chicken. If using a fresh chili, slice it thinly, discarding the stem and seeds as far as possible. It the scallions are slender, cut them into 1 1/4- to 1 1/2-inch pieces, otherwise slice them on a steep angle. Crush the Sichuan pepper using a mortar and pestle. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.

Heat the oil for deep-frying in the wok over a high flame to 300-400 degrees F. Add the chicken and stir briskly for about 30 seconds, until the pieces have separated and have become pale; remove from the oil with a slotted spoon. Allow the oil to return to 350-400 degrees F, then fry the chicken again until golden; remove and set aside. Drain off all but 3 tablespoons of the oil.

Return the wok to the heat and, working quickly over a high flame, tip in the red bell pepper, fresh or dried chiles, scallions, and Sichuan pepper and stir-fry briefly until they are wonderfully fragrant.

Stir in the chicken. Give the sauce a stir and tip it in to the wok. Stir briskly as the sauce thickens. Finally, off the heat, stir in the sesame oil and serve.

Hot Sour Soup and Cucumber Salad

I'm reviewing some recipes from Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking for Paper Palate at The Well Fed Network. They sent three recipes and tonight I tried out the Hot and Sour Soup and Chilled Cucumber Salad. They were both really good, even though I didn't have all the ingredients for the Hot and Sour Soup. It calls for "black cloud ear fungus". I'm not sure that I want to add that even if I can find it at an Asian grocer. I will probably get some since I have to go there to get something for the third recipe.

Update: My review has been published.


This soup was really good and very easy to make so I'll make it again with this extra ingredient to check the difference. Also, the cucumber salad called for 5 small cucumbers and I got those tiny cucumbers. I think it just meant regular cucumbers that are small in size. I had way too much dressing! I'm timing my article to be published in time for Chinese New Year next week. I really like her style in explaining things in the recipes. The book just came out February 1, 2007.

A Simple Tofu Snack

Last week my local grocery store had a "buy one get one free" special on some very high quality organic tofu. I had one recipe calling for firm tofu anyways, so I took the extra free one. While flipping through the February, 2007 issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine, I noticed a recipe for Salt and Pepper Tofu. While the name may not be too appealing, it is included as part of the Lucky Day feature about two sisters celebrating Chinese New Year with dumplings and dips. The tofu is cut into cubs and served with a variety of dips. I thought I'd try it and use up that extra tofu.

Unfortunately I did not have much success with this dish. I think the idea for this recipe is a good one and the problem was in my execution. I rarely fry things and I think I used way to much oil and also did not let the oil get hot enough. Since tofu absorbs what it is cooked with, it ended up being too greasy for me. I did try some raw and was surprised at how some simple salt and pepper can really transform the tofu. But to me, frying something healthy like tofu kind of defeats the purpose.

Three dipping sauces are suggested to go with the Salt and Pepper Tofu cubes. I made the Chili-Soy Sauce and felt it had too much oil in it as well.

Salt and Pepper Tofu (Makes 32 pieces) Ingredients: 1 pound firm tofu, drained Salt and pepper Vegetable oil, for frying Instructions: Cut the tofu into 1-inch cubes and season with salt and pepper. In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Add half the tofu (don't overcrowd the pan) and cook, turning once, until golden on both sides, about 4 minutes. Drain on a paper-towel-lined plate. Repeat with more oil and remaining tofu. Serve with dipping sauces

Chili-Soy Sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon red chili sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce