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Ben Sook: No worries... but you have a very good point. The coat hanger that I used does not have any paint or plastic coating. It seems to be a special alloy that doesn't rust. At any rate, the S-hook I use do not go into the oven. The hooks that go into the oven do not touch the chicken.

Wow... it's another honor! To be adopted! I grew up without a mother. I hope it's a good thing... I live in the sunny... oh, not quite that sunny up in Northern Cal. This ain't no Los Angeles... No we don't have any pets (oh, I managed to spell it right this time, Dejah). If we do, they might acquire some crave for Cantonese food!

I think you were thinking of the Cantonese Fried Chicken (Ja Jee Gai)? If I bake the chicken, I wouldn't want to deep-fry it in the end. Cantonese Fried Chicken can be made following a similar process. For marinade, skip the red fermented bean curds. Just use five spice powder, salt, and add some broken star anises. Pour boiling red vinegar over the chicken the same way. Hang dry for a few hours. Then deep-fry the chicken.

I don't think it's all superstition. I love to eat lychees. But if I eat more than 1 lb at a time, I often get sore throats. I think the reaction maybe different from individual to individual. If you don't experience any ill effects, good for you!

BettyK: You see the picture of the Chinese red vinegar in this pictorial. I have a picture of the jar of "Nam Yu" from another recipe: It is the jar to the left.

Wow, OnigiriFB, it would be such an honor to be your adopted parent! My recipe for roast duck noodle soup? Just buy the roast duck from the restaurant! Oh, just never messed with that before. Duck is different than chicken. It's hugh! I am not really sure if my small kitchen is equipped to do that. But... we'll see. May be... may be... What a challenge! What you can do is: if you have a store-bought roast duck, debone the duck. Use the bone to make the soup. You need to bring the water to a boil with all the duck bones, then turn it to a simmer to simmer to about 2 hours. Add a few tsp of "lo shui" in the soup from the start. If you don't have that, use a few tsp of dark soy sauce and add 5 star anise, 1 piece of dried mandarin peel, and 1 tsp of cloves.

sheetz: What I used are: 1. Regular steel skewers (4 of them, 2 for holding each chicken). They are readily available in kitchenware stores. 2. Two "custom made" hooks made of, guess, coat hanger again! Each hook looks like this: Just cut a coat hanger and bend it to shape like that. Set the oven rack at the top slot. Then hang two of these hooks from the oven rack. Then place the skewers on the bottom rail of these hooks. They work beautifully. Sorry George Foreman, you won't get my business for your rotisserie oven...

To me, ketchup is just tomato sauce + vinegar + salt. When using ketchup, adjust for reducing (or eliminating) adding vinegar and salt as stated in the pictorial.

Yes, JH. That's 1/4 cup of water. Sorry. Thanks for pointing that out. I have modified the original post.

I agree with Dejah Dai Ga Jeah. You may use cornish game hens (they are probably 1 lb each) or larger chickens (3-4 lb). You do need to adjust the cooking time. The method of marination, the vinegar pouring technique and the basting step are the same. For cornish hens, first cook at 300F for 45 minutes. After basting, roast for maybe 20 minutes. For larger chickens (3 to 4 lb), first cook at 300F for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes (or longer for really large chickens). After basting, roast at 350F for 30 minutes or longer.

#47, Cantonese Roast Chicken with Nam Yu (南乳吊燒雞)

Cantonese Roast Chicken with Nam Yu (南乳吊燒雞) This dish of Cantonese Roast Chicken with Nam Yu takes a little bit of work. But the succulent chicken meat with the dry, crispy chicken skin is well worth the efforts. Dedicated to BettyK. Picture of the finished dish: Serving Suggestion: 2 to 3 Preparations: Main ingredients: (From right, clockwise) - 2 small whole chickens, about 1 1/2 lb each - 2 cubes of red fermented bean curds (Nam Yu) - 2 tsp of five spice powder To prepare for the marinade: use a small bowl. Use 2 cubes of red fermented bean curds (nam yu). Add 1/2 tsp of salt, and 2 tsp of five spice powder. Use a small spoon to smash the red fermented bean curds and mix with the salt and five spice powder. Turn the mixture into a paste. Pat dry the outside of the chickens after cleaning. Roughly divide the paste into 4 portions. Marinate the chickens. Start with the cavity. Rub the paste inside the cavity. Then rub the paste on the outside of the chicken. Try to spread the marinade paste as even as you can. Let the marinade set for at least 1 hour. To make the skin dry and crispy, we need to pour boiling red vinegar onto the chicken skin. Here is how I did it at home. First: pour 1/2 bottle (about 1 1/2 cup) of the Chinese red vinegar in a small pot. Add about 1/4 cup of water to dilute it. (During pouring and continuous heating, the vinegar will inevitably become concentrated.) Bring to a boil. Set a frying pan on top of a second stove. Set stove at high. Use a pair of prongs to hold the chicken (need to rotate the chicken slightly when pouring the vinegar). Pour the boiling red vinegar onto the chicken. Keep rotating the prongs to make sure the chicken skin is evenly coated with the vinegar. Let the excess vinegar drip onto the frying pan. Collect all the excess red vinegar in the pan. Pour back onto the small pot. Set for a minute or 2 to let the vinegar boil again. Repeat the same pouring process until both chickens are coated with red vinegar evenly (about 2 to 3 times on each side of each chicken). Here is how the chicken looked after most of the red vinegar was used up. Find a place where you can hang up the chickens. Place a plate or dish underneath the chicken to catch the dripping fluid. I hung my chickens from a paper towel holder. It helps to keep the air circulating around the chicken. I set a small fan on low speed and blow the air to keep good circulation. (Do not blow directly on the chicken.) Let the chicken hung-dry for a minimum of 2 hours. To hang the chicken, I made some S-hooks just out of coat-hangers. Cut the wire to size and bend to the right shape. Not that elegant, but does the job well. (Thanks for the idea, jo-mel!) Cooking Instructions: Use a couple of skewers to hold up each chicken. Place inside the oven. Make sure that the chickens are hung in the air and not touching each other or touching a plate. Place a dripping pan filled with water at the bottom. The water will keep the chicken moist during the roasting process. Set the oven at 300F. Roast the chickens for 1 hour. Here is how the chickens looked after 1 hour of roasting in the oven. To make the basting liquid: Place about 2 tsp of malt sugar in a small mixing bowl. Malt sugar is very sticky and hard at room temperature. Once heated up it turns softer and is much easier to handle. Add about 2 to 3 tsp of water. Place in a microwave and heat it up for about 30 seconds at high. Use a small spoon to help dissolving the malt sugar in hot water. Add about 1 tsp of dark soy sauce. Stir well to create the basting liquid. Take the chickens out of the oven and baste with a brush. Make sure to baste evenly over the chicken skin. Return the chickens in the oven. Turn up the heat slightly to 325F or 350F to roast for another 30 minutes. (Note: if you roast a chicken of a bigger size, adjust the roasting time a bit longer.) Preparing The Condiments: I prepared 2 condiments for this dish. One is a raw garlic and oil mix. The other is smashed red fermented bean curds. I like both condiments equally. The first condiment: peel and trim about 10 cloves of garlic. Use a blender: add the 10 garlic, add 3 tsp of cooking oil (I used canola oil) and 1/4 tsp of salt. To cut down on the sharpness of raw garlic, I would also add 1 tsp of sugar. Puree the garlic, blend for about 1 minute to 90 seconds. Here is how the garlic puree condiment looked. Transfer to a small dish before serving. To make the second condiment: Add 2 cubes of red fermented bean curds in a small bowl. Be sure to use some of the preserving liquid from the jar. Add 1.5 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp of dark soy sauce. Optionally, you may add 1 tsp of five spice powder also. Use a small spoon to smash the red fermented bean curds and mix with the liquid and sugar. Transfer to a small dish before serving. Both chickens are ready, served with the 2 condiments. Chop up the chickens with a sharp cleaver before serving. Picture of the finished dish.

<Drooling> Ah Leung, how could we duplicate this at home? Do I see a pictorial coming soon? ← Betty: I finally tried making this Cantonese roast chicken with nam yu at home yesterday. The result was pretty good. I must say it's not as good as what I got from Won Kee, but it is pretty good for a home production. I have taken some pictures. Will post this coming Saturday.

The food looked pretty good, rjwong. Looks like NBC still has the edge.

The versions of this dish I had in nearby restaurants, they looked a bit dark. They probably splash some soy sauce to it. Not sure about the hot pepper...

Wooooo! The sauce generally served with dumplings and potstickers is finely shredded ginger with Chinese red vinegar added.

White rice is typical. Like rjwong said, I also love this over Cantonese pan-fried noodles. (Never had curry in tomato beef though). If you don't have the Cantonese noodles handy, use some angel hair pasta. That should work too. Though it's somewhat different, there is a Vietnamese dish where they cook beef stew with tomato, carrot and lemon grass (it's like a thick soup). They eat it with French bread (bisquette?).

LOL! That is ironic! Fortunately in Sacto, regular tomatoes and roma tomatoes can go as low as US $0.99/lb when on sale. Can't find that price for flank steaks...

When I cook this with only tomatoes, it doesn't feel tomatoey enough. I learned this from Hollywood... use tomato sauce to "augment" the tomato feel!

Back? I have never left! With my busy schedule these days, I can only do one pictorial a week...

#46, Tomato Beef (番茄牛肉)

Tomato Beef (番茄牛肉) Tomato Beef is a popular home-style Cantonese dish. It is also offered in many restaurants. Picture of the finished dish: Serving Suggestion: 3 to 4 Preparations: Main ingredients: (From upper-right, clockwise) - Beef (flank steak), about 1 lb - 5 large size chicken eggs - Ginger, use about 2 inch in length - 1 large onion - Garlic, use 5-6 cloves - 1 can (8 oz) of tomato sauce - 6 large size tomatoes (about 2 lb) - (Not shown in picture) cilantro, about a dozen prigs Cut the flank steak into thin slices. Cut across the grain. Transfer to a small mixing bowl. To marinate the beef: add 1 tsp sesame oil, 2 tsp oyster sauce, 2 tsp ShaoHsing wine, 2 tsp corn starch, 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp of ground white pepper, 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix well. Set aside for at least 30 minutes before cooking. Trim the vines off the tomatoes. Cut into wedges. Peel and wedge the large onion. Peel and mince 5-6 cloves of garlic. Grate the ginger (use about 2 inch in length). Cut the cilantro at about 1-inch apart. Beat 5 chicken eggs in a small bowl. Cooking Instructions: Use a pan/wok, set stove at high. Add 3 tblsp of cooking oil. Cook and scramble the eggs first. Add a pinch of salt (suggest: 1/4 tsp) while cooking. Keep stirring to fold the egg while cooking. Remove from pan. Add 2 tblsp of cooking oil to pan. Wait until oil heats up. Add marinated beef slices. Cook for about 3 minutes under high heat. Do not overcook. Remove the beef from pan while it is still pink. Drain the pan. Add 2 tblsp of cooking oil to pan. Wait until oil heats up. Add minced garlic and grated ginger. Add 1/2 tsp of salt. Stir. Dash in 2 tsp of ShaoHsing cooking wine and 2 to 3 tsp of white vinegar. Add the wedged onion. Sautee for 1 minute. Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth, wedged tomatoes and 1 can of tomato sauce. Add 3 to 4 tsp of sugar. Bring to a boil. Continue to cook for 2 to 3 minutes until tomatoes turn soft. Add corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce (suggest: 2 to 3 tsp corn starch to 3 tsp of water) to the right consistency. Slowly fold the corn starch slurry onto the pan. Adjust. Return the beef slices, scrambled eggs and add chopped cilantro. You may also use Italian basil, Thai basil, green onion or other fresh herbs in place of cilantro. Continue to cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir well. When ready, scoop to a shallow dish to serve. Picture of the finished dish.

It may be a lot of work making your own sauce. One suggestion that I can come up with is to buy a jar of "plum sauce". When used in cooking sweet and sour pork, just mix some plum sauce with water, and add white vinegar and sugar. (Look Ma! No Ketchup!) If you use canned pineapples to cook the sweet and sour pork dish, add some of the "juice" from the can. That would help.

Yes. The silver can is Bull-head brand Sa-Cha sauce. The label said "barbeque sauce". It is sold in many Asian grocery markets. Sa-Cha sauce, from what I understand, is minced shrimp (and other dried seafood?) mixed with other seasonings.

Regular brown sugar or white sugar would work well with this recipe. I haven't tasted palm sugar so I cannot comment. I suspect the palm taste may be predominant, which may be good (if you like it) or bad (if you don't like it). Just try and see. Adding dried chilies... it's a personal taste. I don't use chili in this dish because I want to appreciate the sweetness of the honey.