Chinese Eats at Home (Part 3)

[Jason Perlow]

A couple I have missed posting:

Shrimp with Chives in XO sauce with Brown Rice Noodles in Superior Soy.

BBQ Pork Loin fried brown rice with Shiitake and Gailan w/Oyster Sauce

Another variation with shrimp

This was an eggplant and shrimp curry dish with Chinese pressed tofu, with a Malaysian Chinese type curry

[patrickamory]

What is Superior soy, Jason? Lovely looking dishes.

huiray your fish is amazing looking as usual.

[Jason Perlow]

What is Superior soy, Jason? Lovely looking dishes.

huiray your fish is amazing looking as usual.

Superior Soy is a type of high grade soy sauce that is used in a lot of Cantonese fried noodle dishes. It has a deeper flavor. It comes in light and dark versions. I'm not sure of the manufacturing process but there's a page here

[jsager01]

What is Superior soy, Jason? Lovely looking dishes.

huiray your fish is amazing looking as usual.

Superior Soy is a type of high grade soy sauce that is used in a lot of Cantonese fried noodle dishes. It has a deeper flavor. It comes in light and dark versions. I'm not sure of the manufacturing process but there's a page here

i believe a more accurate definition of superior soy sauce or other soy sauce 'variants', without the commercial hype, can be found if you scroll down this page http://ediblyasian.i...cipes/soy-sauce, which is sourced from wikipedia and you may prefer to go directly to wikipedia.

Edited January 2, 2013 by jsager01 (log)

[huiray]

Nice dishes, Jason Perlow.

Thanks, Patrickamory.

To add on to jsager01's post, I suspect "Superior Soy Sauce" is sometimes used as a marketing tool; although in a general sense it seems to often simply mean roughly the same as a high-grade soy sauce, also suitable for using directly as a table condiment especially the light ones. I may be wrong but I’ve usually thought of “superior light soy sauce” as basically the same as what I think of as “Sang Chow” (生抽) (Google translation).

Perhaps others more knowledgeable on soy sauces will add their input.

A couple of other webpages/articles that may be of interest:

http://www.flavorand...icle.php?ID=288

http://www.justhungr...l-you-need-know (more stuff and details about Japanese soy sauces)

The Chinese wikipedia article (take it for what it’s worth) on soy sauce (醬油) (Google translation) also gives some info on the specifications for types of soy sauce.

FWIW I think the English wikipedia article isn't half bad and does seem to have some overlap (including the wording) with the article linked to by jsager01 as he mentions. Perhaps the author of that article was also a contributing editor to the wiki article?

[Jason Perlow]

Eggplant and Shrimp with Garlic/Basil/Chili Oyster Sauce

Edited January 3, 2013 by Jason Perlow (log)

[mukki]

From Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice (UK edition):

Red Braised Pork Belly

Stir Fried Broccoli with Sichuan Pepper and Chiles

Stir Fried Beef with Black Beans and Chile (Laoganma Sauce)

[huiray]

Lunch today included:

• Pickled sour mustard soup w/ pork spare ribs & tofu.

• Stir-fried chicken w/ garlic, shallots, chive flowers, celery, sweet mini-peppers.

Eaten w/ white rice.

Full post w/ details and more pics: http://egullet.org/p1903872

Edited January 4, 2013 by huiray (log)

[huiray]

A nice homely dish yesterday - "Tai Yee Ma Kar Lui" [大姨媽嫁女] (First [maternal] aunt marries off daughter).

Details/discussion & photo: http://egullet.org/p1903649

[Dejah]

Snadra: Did not mean to ignore your post! As for my beef and tomato, I've been making this for so long, I really don't have a recipe. I just do what my Mom always did. I beat up several eggs and fry it up as and dice. Set aside. Slice up beef and marinate with salt, MSG (optional), vegetable oil, and cornstarch (my method of velveting). Set aside. Cut up ripe but firm tomatoes, chunks of Spanish onion, green onion and stir-fry together just until the tomato starts to give up some of its juice. Stir in a mix of stock, vinegar, sugar (sushi seasoning works well!), and a dash of... ketsup! Remove from the wok. Stir-fry the beef until nearly done. Add the tomato mixture in with the beef. Taste for balance , bring to a gently boil, and thicken with cornstarch slurry.

Our new small Chinese grocery store has been bringing in fresh lily bulbs (bak hap), so it's into the pot for one of my favourite soups: bak hop with chicken and slivers of ginger:

Followed by Gong Po Gai Ding

[Jason Perlow]

Experimental dish tonight. I had smoked several pieces of tofu on the BBQ last night along with the pork and the steak. So I sliced this up and wokked it with minced chicken mixed with a black bean paste and XO sauce, mushrooms, garlic, shallots and green onion, and leftover french green beans.

[janeer]

Experimental dish tonight. I had smoked several pieces of tofu on the BBQ last night along with the pork and the steak. So I sliced this up and wokked it with minced chicken mixed with a black bean paste and XO sauce, mushrooms, garlic, shallots and green onion, and leftover french green beans.

looks good and appeals to me!

[huiray]

Some recent "Chinese-type" meals at home:

Steamed flounder fillets w/ salted soy beans, "Yau Mak Choy", and white rice.

Full post: http://egullet.org/p1905137

Stir-fried beef & bittergourd, chicken-napa cabbage-thai basil quick-boiled-soup, white rice.

Full post: http://egullet.org/p1905208

"Yeung Chow" fried rice; stir-fry/sauté of flower cap shiitake/wood ear/white beech mushrooms.

Full post: http://egullet.org/p1906065

Pic of the rice:

[Keith_W]

Braised abalone with lettuce.

I got a little bit fed up of my Hong Kong friend constantly needling me that my food is not Chinese food, it is Western. Well I suppose that it is Western tinged Cantonese food, a bit like my awful Cantonese accent where I sound like the White villain in Cantonese movies. I speak recognizable Cantonese, it just sounds as if a Westerner was speaking it.A bit like my food I suppose - it is recognizably Chinese, it just seems as if it was prepared by a Westerner

To really irritate him, I served this abalone (which was braised in the traditional Chinese style) in a Western style plating and told him it was Ormeaux Braises avec de mille-feuille la Laitue.

[David Ross]

Anybody out there have a good casserole dish? I bought a Chinese casserole dish two weeks ago and need some ideas.

[rotuts]

its probably not a true caserole dish but 'fried rice' should be your back-up see the delicious one above.

add dried chinese sausage, no liver please!

[liuzhou]

Anybody out there have a good casserole dish?

It really depends on what you mean by a casserole dish. Chinese home cooking doesn't really do what I think of as casseroles. Very few people have ovens, for a start.

Slow braised dishes do exist. A Google search for "red cooked" should bring up lots of recipes. Not sure if that is what you mean, though.

[huiray]

I wonder if DR means a covered clay pot? One of these, perhaps? If so there are also lots of recipes available, Google as usual turns up many of them.

Additionally, if clay pots were meant - traditionally, clay pot dishes were done over a charcoal fire (or equivalent) and even now in SE Asia (at the least) the nice ones are still done by hawkers that way. At home - doing it on the stovetop or in the oven in Western-type kitchens is usual. You just need to increase the heat slowly, no sudden jumps in temperature. Like a German-type romertopf, which is also sometimes called a "casserole" or "dutch oven"-like device, I believe?

[liuzhou]

I wonder if DR means a covered clay pot?

Possibly that could come under the definition of casserole, but again, they are seldom a feature of Chinese home cooking. You are much more likely to come across them in restaurants.

[huiray]

I wonder if DR means a covered clay pot?

Possibly that could come under the definition of casserole, but again, they are seldom a feature of Chinese home cooking. You are much more likely to come across them in restaurants.

True, clay pots are not commonly or widely used at home. When it is used, the sort of folks nowadays who do use it tend to be folks who would tend to do it on a Western-type stove or in a Western-type oven, rather than on a charcoal fire - that is what I meant when I said it would be "usual". I didn't say clay-pot cooking was a standard technique in a home kitchen, although those who do use it and write about it on the internet (heh) tend to think highly of it - just look at those recipes found by Google from folks cooking at home... :-)

[dcarch]

I have this one.

Baked wild rice.

dcarch

[liuzhou]

I have several. They come free with delivered fast food here. Very disposable. And still possibly not what DR wants to know.

True, clay pots are not commonly or widely used at home.

It is the "Chinese eats at home“ thread.

[huiray]

dcarch, looks nice. Did you cook it in the clay pot itself or transfer it to the clay pot at some point?

BTW I wondered what would be covered under "casserole dishes". Here's what Google images turns up.

[David Ross]

I'm familiar with Chinese Claypots, but I've never cooked with one. When I went to the local Asian market my intent was to buy a "claypot." All they had was what I think is just a pot shaped like an authentic claypot with a lid with a small steam hole. It appears to be crafted from clay, but it's pretty tacky looking. I mentioned the word "casserole" in my question earlier because that's what was on the box, "Casserole" dish. Sorry, I threw the box away.

I'll post a photo along with the dish I am making, a recipe from Martin Yan for Cantonese Claypot Rice. For novice Westerners cooking Chinese, I find Yan to be a good resource.

[David Ross]

This is a very easy recipe for a guy who is working on his Chinese cookery skills-Rice, dried mushrooms, ginger, garlic, chicken stock, chicken, Chinese sausage and a bit of light soy sauce. About 30 min. in a moderate oven, then a garnish of cilantro before service.

Any ideas for another more-challenging dish for me? I liked not only the comforting flavors, but the fact it was an easy dish to make at home in a quick amount of time after a long work day.