Chinese food cooking

Aromatic Raddish Cake

2007-11-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

· 600g radish, peeled, shredded
· 250g rice flour
· 40g wheat starch
· 800ml water
· 2 stalks Chinese sausages, chopped
· 30g dried shrimps, chopped
· 20g preserved turnips dices
· 10 salted egg yolks

Seasoning

· 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 1/2 tsp salt
· 1/4 tsp five spices powder

Serve (A)

· 200g minced pork, A pinch of pepper
· 1 tsp light soy sauce, Salt to taste
· 1/2 tsp sugar

Serve (B)

· 1 bowl shredded fried egg
· 1/2 bowl chopped spring onion
· 1/2 bowls chopped red chili
· 50g prefried shallot slices

Method to COOK!

1.	Heat up 3 tbsp oil in the preheated wok to saut¨¦ the diced Chinese sausage, dried shrimps and diced preserved turnips until fragrant. Add in shredded radish, stir well.

2.	Combine rice flour and wheat starch, pour in water slowly and blend until well combined, stir in seasoning and mix to be batter.

3.	Pour the batter mixture into the wok and mix well with the prefried sausage diced. Cook over low heat, keep-stirring until slightly thicken. Remove and transfer in the small bowl equally, level the surface and top with a salted egg yolk. Steam over medium heat for 30 minutes.

4.	Serve (A): Heat up a little oil in the preheated wok to fragrant the minced pork. Blend in seasoning, stir well. Dish up.

5.	Turn upside down the radish cake, serve with some minced pork filling and serve ingredients (B).

Steamed Crabs

2007-11-05T19:53:00.000-08:00

*6 crabs
*Ginger, salt, soybean sauce

Method:

1. Steam for 10-15 minutes.
2. Serve fresh crab with a dipping sauce made of sliced ginger, soy sauce and a pinch of sugar.

more information www.china-on-site.com

Shanghai Steamed Fish

2007-11-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

*1 whole fresh carp about 1 lb (500 g) (or trout and other firm-fleshed fresh-water fish)
*5 t rice wine
*1 t salt, or to taste
*4 black mushrooms, sliced and soaked
*4 bamboo shoots, sliced
*2 T lean pork, diced and marinated in sugar
*4 slices Chinese ham, steamed
*2.5 T lard or vegetable oil
*2 t scallions, chopped in 1-inch sections
*1 t ginger, sliced

Method:

1. Wash the fish and make 2 to 3 X-shaped slashes on each side. Rub with the rice wine and let marinate. Place on a heat-proof dish and sprinkle with the salt, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and diced pork. Place the ham, lard, scallions, and ginger on top.
2. Place the dish in a steamer and steam for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. Discard the scallions and ginger, and serve.

more information www.china-on-site.com

Seafood Combination

2007-11-05T19:22:00.001-08:00

Serves 4

- 250g (8oz) scallops
- 250g (8oz) squid
- 250g (8oz) green king prawns
- 2 large fish fillets
- 283g can bamboo shoots
- 265g can water chestnuts
- 8 shallots
- 3 sticks celery

- 1 teaspoon corn flour
- cup water
- 1 chicken stock cube
- 2 teaspoons dry sherry
- 1 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons oil

1. Clean scallops (see Scallop and Vegetable) Now clean and prepare squid (see Squid with Broccoli), shell and de-vein prawns, skin fish, cut into large pieces.
2. Slice celery diagonally; slice shallots diagonally; drain water chestnuts, cut in half; drain bamboo shoots, slice thinly.
3. Heat two tablespoons of the oil in pan or wok, add the prepared vegetables, saut two minutes, remove from pan.
4. Add remaining oil to pan, heat. Add scallops, squid, prawns and fish, saut two minutes. Mix corn flour with a little of the water until smooth, add remaining water, crumbled stock cube, sherry, sesame oil and soy sauce. Add sauce to wok, stir until boiling, add vegetables to wok, toss until heated through.

more information www.index-china-food.com

Laver and Dried Shrimp Soup

2007-11-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
25 grams (1 oz) laver (dried red seaweed)
25 grams (1 oz) soaked dry shrimps (fresh shrimps acceptable)
2 grams (1/3 tsp) salt
1 grams (1/4 tsp) MSG
10 grams (2 tsp) cooking wine
1 gram (1/2 tsp) pepper powder
5 grams (1 tsp) sesame oil

Directions:

Tear the laver into small pieces and place in a soup bowl.
Put 750 grams (1.5 cups) of water into a pot and heat.
When it boils, add salt, MSG, shrimps and cooking wine.
When it boil again, pour it out into the soup bowl.
Sprinkle on the pepper powder and sesame oil and serve.

Feature: Light.
Taste: Salty and delicious.

more information www.china.org.cn/english/food/73769.htm

Spicy Fish Head and Bean Thread Soup

2007-11-04T21:22:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

250 grams (5/9 lb) freshwater fish head
100 grams (2/9 lb) soaked bean thread
10 grams (1/3 oz) coriander 5 small red hot chilies
10 grams (1 1/2 tsp) soy sauce
6 grams (1 tsp) salt
2 grams (1/2 tsp) MSG
10 grams (2 tsp) sugar
50 grams (4 tbsp) oil
5 grams (1/6 oz) sectioned scallions
5 grams (1/6 oz) finely chopped ginger
1 gram (1/2 tsp) pepper powder

Directions:

Remove the scales and gills on the fish heads and wash them clean. Cut the coriander into tiny pieces. Remove the seeds of the red chilies and cut them into sections 1 cm (quarter of an inch) long. Heat the wok, add oil and fry the fish heads till they are brown on both sides. Take them out. Put in the red chilies, scallions, ginger and heat until there is a red oil and nice smell. Add the fish heads, 1,000 grams (2 cups) of water, soy sauce and salt, and bring liquid to boil over a strong fire. After it starts to boil, heat for 10 minutes, add the bean thread and turn the fire to low. Heat 1 more minute after it boils again. Sprinkle on the pepper powder and coriander. Pour out into a soup bowl and serve.

Features: The soup is beautifully red.
Taste: Slightly hot.

more information www.china.org.cn/english/food/76103.htm

Stir-fried Shredded Pork with Chili

2007-11-04T21:11:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

350 grams (0.77lb) pork tenderloin
50 grams (0.11 lb) scallions cut into shreds
25 grams (5/6 oz) ginger cut into shreds
10 grams (1/3 tsp) salt
5 grams (1 tsp) soy sauce
15 grams (1 tbsp) vinegar
2 grams (1/2 tsp) MSG
2 grams (2/5 tsp) pepper powder
5 grams (1 tsp) mashed garlic 1 egg white
5 grams (1 tsp) spicy bean paste
10 grams (2 tsp) mixture of cornstarch and water
100 grams (7 tbsp) cooking oil 5 grams (1 tsp) dry cornstarch

Directions:

1. Cut the meat into strips 6 cm ( 2 inches) long and 0.3 cm (0.12 inch) thick. Add 1 g (1/6 tsp) of salt, 1 egg white and dry cornstarch, and mix well.

2. Use the remainder of the salt, soy sauce, vinegar, MSG, pepper powder and mixture of cornstarch and water to make a paste.

3. Heat the oil to 70-100ºC (160-210ºF) and slippery-fry the meat strips until they are done. Take out and drain off the oil. Keep 25 g (1 3/4 tbsp) of oil in the wok and heat to 70-100ºC. Add the scallions, ginger, red chili and mashed garlic, and stir-fry until mixture produces a strong aroma. Put in the cooking wine and spicy bean paste and stir several times. Add the pork strips and the pre-prepared paste. Mix well and take out to serve.

Features: Shiny with a brown color.
Taste: Sour and spicy to the right taste. Rich and delicious.

more information www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/76107.htm

Shredded Pork with Green Peppers...

2007-11-04T21:05:00.001-08:00

Ingredients:
300 grams (0.66 lb) pork tenderloin
100 grams (0.22 lb) green peppers
5 grams (5/6 tsp) salt
1 gram (1/4 tsp) MSG
10 grams (2 tsp) mixture of cornstarch and water
100 grams (7 tbsp) cooking oil
1 egg white
10 grams (2 tsp) cooking wine
25 grams (1 1/2 tbsp) water

Directions:

1. Cut the meat into shreds 6 cm (2.4 inches) long and 0.3 cm (0.12 inch) thick and wide. Put in a bowl. Add 1 g ( 1/6 tsp) of salt and stir until mixture becomes sticky. Add the egg white and dry cornstarch and mix well. Cut the green peppers into shreds of similar size to the meat.

2. Heat the oil to 110-135ºC (230-275ºF) and stir-fry the pork shreds until they are done. Take out and drain off the oil.

3. Put 25 g (1 2/3 tbsp) of oil in the wok and stir-fry the shredded green peppers for one minute. Add the shredded pork, cooking wine, salt, MSG and water, and bring to boiling point. Put in the mixture of cornstarch and water to thicken the sauce. Take out and serve.

Features: The meat is white with a light pink tinge. While the peppers are invitingly green.
Taste: The shredded pork is tender and the green peppers crispy. The dish is salty to the right taste.

more information www.china.org.cn/english/food/78290.htm

Dim Sum

2007-09-19T02:22:00.000-07:00

Steamed Pork DumplingsIngredients (1 servings)
1 pk Round dumpling skins
* 1/2 lb Prawns
12 Chinese mushrooms, small or use canned but squeeze dry
1/2 lb Ground pork
2 Green onion, finely chopped
1 sm Egg SEASONING:
1/2 ts Salt
1 ts Sugar
1 tb Sesame oi
2 ts Thin soy sauce
1 ts Oyster sauce
1 tb CornstarchInstructions

Shell, devein, wash, and drain prawns. Dice into bits. Boil mushrooms in water for 10 minutes, rinse, squeeze dry, cut off and discard stems; then chop into very small pieces. Combine the pork, mushrooms, prawns, and onion. Put mixture on chopping board and chop 10 to 15 strokes with cleaver. (Use a sharp knife if you don't have a cleaver.) Texture, when you're finished, should be slightly finer than hamburger. Add "seasoning" and the egg to the pork mixture. Mix well. To make dumpling, place 1 Tb filling in the center of a dumpling skin. Then bring all sides of the skin up to cover the meat as much as possible, without closing. The top of the dumpling is left open. Cook dumplings by steaming for 30 minutes. Use as many as you need, with the rest, cool, wrap, freeze. Reheat after thawing by steaming 10 minutes. Serve with soy sauce, hot sauce, or mustard.

Chicken and duck

2007-09-19T01:09:00.000-07:00

Chicken and duck are the principal poultry in the Chinese kitchen and there are innumerable ways in which they can be served, many of them new to the Western world, for instance, 'Paper Wrapped Chicken'. They range from the simple to the exotic. The more familiar ones to the West are the appetizing Sweet and Sour chicken and orange chicken; the flavorful Sesame Chicken and Garlic Chicken, and the savory Kung Pao Chicken, just to name a few. Some of them would be ideal for appetizers and salad.

Chickens are considered something a little more special than just meat by Chinese. One large chicken can often be worked in several different ways. For instance, the white meat can be sliced to make a stir-frying dish. Dark meat and bones can be used for slow-cooking soup. The meat in the soup , if not overcooked, can be used to make White Cut Chicken, or combined with dark soy sauce to make one form of Red-Cooked Chicken, an Eastern or Shanghai style cooking. With young chicken, after the white meat is used in shallow fry, the other parts can be used in deep fry. Thus, Chinese have names like Chicken-in-Three-Flavors or three dishes coming from one chicken.

While most Westerners discard them, chicken giblets and other parts such as necks are very useful in the Chinese kitchen. Some like them better than meat and chicken. Chicken gizzards, hearts, skinned feet and necks make beautifully clear stock. Chicken livers are never used in the stock but are reserved for inclusion in special dishes, or cooked as a dish itself. The feet have more goodness than one might think and is very delicious cooked in Chinese recipes. For soup, Chinese usually use big fat hens. When the recipe calls for spring chicken, it is usually young roosters.

When buying chicken, look for bright eyes and moist toes and skin, indications that they are healthy. They should be free from bruises and blemishes too. Gourmets seek out "free-range" chickens, which are allowed access to the outdoors rather than being confined to henhouses and are fed a vegetarian diet. These conditions result in tastier meat but are costly; free-range chickens are generally much more expensive than mass-produced birds.

Relative to chicken, duck is more commonly used in China than in the West, probably because of the greater variety of ways of preparing it. The Chinese are credited with being the first to raise ducks for food, over 4,000 years ago. Ducks are slow-boiled, red-cooked, or roasted, but very rarely stir-fried. There are several ways of salting ducks. One form is to salt them, dry in the sun, and then cook by steaming. Another form is to store in vegetable oil and take out to steam as needed. These forms are very common in Guang Dong. Peking duck, a dish famous throughout the world, is a traditional Chinese dish that takes several hours to prepare and involves coating the duck with a sweet-and-sour sauce, then roasting it.

Always discard the tail-end, including the oil pouch (just above the tail) of the duck before cooking. Most people object to the strong-odor it gives out.

In the US , the government grades duck quality by USDA classifications A, B and C. The highest grade is A, and is what is usually found in markets. Grade B ducks are less meaty and well finished; grade C ducks are typically used for commercial purposes. The grade stamp can be found within a shield on the package wrapping or sometimes on a tag attached to the bird's wing.