Chinese Eats at Home (Part 3)

[heidih]

The steaming of meat with preserved vegetable is a taste that appeals to me. Served with lots of rice?

[Dejah]

Heidi: Yes, lots of rice, especially good with the moistened burnt rice on the bottom of the pot.

I sometimes use sliced beef, or I might use sliced pork with mui choi. Beef always seem to go better with ja choi. Ground meat was better for the kids when they were small - broken up and mixed with the rice and juice.

It's comfort food: salty, spicy, minty, meaty...

[Dejah]

Snow was melting, then we got 10 cm with +40kmh winds!

Couldn't go anywhere, so took time to make stuffed peppers and eggplant with ground pork, shrimp, Chinese celery, cilantro, and green onion. The pieces were browned then steamed with oyster sauce /chicken stock. The sauce was delicious for the baby bok choi and rice.

[heidih]

Fantastic meal and view! Browning and the steaming is a technique I want to add to my arsenal

[dcarch]

"---Sheesh! It's lonely in here... Is it something I cooked?---"

OK, I will post one :-)

Simple steamed eggplant, ground turkey with oyster sauce.

dcarch

[Dejah]

dcarch: Did you steam the eggplant and cooked the turkey separately? I have ground turkey in the freezer and would like to find some other uses for it.

Tonight, I finally got around to making Jo-mel's Vinegar Spashed Pork Balls. I need to make more sauce. These were very good - fine texture and we loved the lemon zest flavour that came thru' the sweetness.

Served with stir-fried pea shoots (dou miu):

And a medley of canned shitaki, oyster, and straw mushrooms in oyster sauce.

[dcarch]

Yes, eggplants were steamed separate. The ground turkey was very lean, I mixed in some tapioca, and some finely chopped pickled turnip. Seasoned with light soy sauce, pepper, seasme oil, and Shaoxing wine.

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Lovely pork balls and mixed mushrooms.

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Roasted pork with crackling skin, on mustard green.

dcarch

[heidih]

What form of tapioca and how was it incorporated?

[Dejah]

dcarch: You seem to like mustard greens a lot. Are you close to an Asian store? What did you do with the rest of the leaves?

I haven't made siu yook since I made it with my mom. Haven't been able to find any good thick pieces of pork belly, so I just pick it up at Chinese BBQ shops. Just as well that I don't have easy access as I've just been out on cholesterol meds by the cardiologist as a precautionary measure.:-(

[Dejah]

Steamed hairy squash (mu qua) with ground chicken, shrimp, waterchestnut in oyster sauce - for supper tonight. The squash was sweet and tender. The chicken was velvety smooth with the seasme oil aroma. Memories of my Mom's cooking.

[dcarch]

What form of tapioca and how was it incorporated?

Ground lean turkey can be chewy. I added topioca flour to smooth the texture a little.

dcarch: You seem to like mustard greens a lot. Are you close to an Asian store? What did you do with the rest of the leaves? ------

I do enjoy the nice bitter taste of mustard greens. For most leafy vegetables the leaves and the stems are like two different vegetables. So I often cook them separate in different dishes.

BTW, Very nice stuffed hairy squash. I have done it with bitter mellon. Have I told you I like bitter taste? :-)

dcarch

[Dejah]

I love bitter melon in any way, shape, form. One of my Mom's favourites was bitter melon soup with pork and rehydrated oysters. SO good!

With bitter melon, I usually stuff with pork then a fermented black bean garlic sauce.

Watched an episode of Spice Goddess this morning, and she made a stuffed bitter melon dish. These melons have a different look (sometimes labelled as karela?), and the skin was peeled. The stuffing was chopped onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, tumeric, garam masala, curry leaves. The melon halves were pan fried then finished in a 425F oven. Didn't get to see the rest of the show...

Have you ever used these bitter melons?

[Dejah]

Fresh out of the oven this afternoon: char siu - Chinese BBQ pork.

So hard to keep my hands (and hubby's) off! Will be making char siu baos and bits for hot 'n' sour soup. I've been making the soup with char siu for so many years, I just can't make it without!

[Dejah]

Saw these at Stokes and just couldn't resist!

Supper tonight:

Hot 'n' Sour soup with shrimp, ground chicken, char siu, bamboo shoots, shitaki mushrooms, wood ear, day lily, silken tofu.

Pan fried tofu with char siu, oyster sauce on wilted iceberg lettuce.

[C. sapidus]

Dejah, the plates are fun, but your char siu is beyond gorgeous, and I can't wait to see your baos. How did you get such a beautiful crust?

If this week goes according to plan (most haven't lately), I hope to contribute to this thread with Wednesday night's dinner (fingers crossed).

[Dejah]

Bruce: For once, I didn't hang the chunks of pork like I usually do with char siu. I think the lovely crust came from over-marinating... I didn't get around to cooking the meat after one day. It was in the marinade, in the fridge for three days, tho' I did take the time to turn the pieces.

This time, I just laid them on the broiler rack with water in the bottom. Oven at 425F, turning and basting half way.

Baos didn't get made either. We had too many little"nibbles"! I'll be making more next week, AND baos, before the kids come out for Easter.

[ojisan]

Dejah - what cut of pork do you use for the char siu?

[C. sapidus]

Dejah has been posting so much beautiful Chinese food I had to join in with a meal from Land of Plenty.

Tai bai chicken: I love this dish, but holy moley, this batch turned out spicy! I normally use roundish dried chiles that are fairly mild, but this time used pointed chiles from the Indian market. Younger son talked smack about my "weak-kick chicken", urging me to "make it spicy next time (as he shoveled rice into his mount and drank about a gallon of water). I do not mind at all if he gets macho about spicy food.

Dry-fried green beans, a perennial favorite, and Mrs. C made jasmine rice with chicken stock, onions, and herbs.

[Dejah]

Yay! Glad you kept your promise, Bruce, as I left "today" just for you!

ojisan I always use boneless pork butt. Love the fat that runs throughout - keeps the meat juicy.

[Dejah]

Two items from our Soo's Restaurant menu:

# 5: Mushroom Chop Suey

#111: Sesame Chicken

[Dejah]

It was a busy day, and a steamy one...

Here are the baos you've been waiting for, Bruce...

I made 40 char siu baos and 10 lapcheung baos.

char siu diced and ready for the wok:

After the addition of more Hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, chicken stock, thickened with cornstarch slurry. Hard to keep wayward spoons from scooping the filling into mouths...

Lots of fun pleating:

Hot from the steamer:

Oozy with sauce and fluffy/chewy mouth-feel:

lapcheung bao:

[Dejah]

After making baos all afternoon, supper was quickly thrown together before tai-chi workout.

Stir-fried King Topshell (abalone like shellfish - poor man's abalone) with shitaki mushrooms, gai lan in oyster sauce:

Pan seared tofu with Saigon Chili Oil

[Pierogi]

lapcheung bao:

OOHHHHHHHHH MG !!! Lapcheung bao ! What a fabulous idea. I'd never heard of that (not surprising, since I'm a Polish/Norwegian California girl). But I gots me some lapcheung in the fridge....

Is it just the "normal" bao dough...flour, yeast, salt, water?

Day-um. I have got to make that. Maybe tomorrow. THANK YOU DEJAH !

[Dejah]

Pierogi

I just use my usual bao dough, but no yeast:

flour, milk, sugar, baking powder and 1 tbsp veg oil.

As I usually have lapcheung in the fridge, it's a great way to use up any leftover dough.

I put the lapcheung in a little water and microwave them for about a minute, just to soften them up.

My future s-i-l likes to take them hunting - easy to carry, to eat, and filling.

[Dejah]

Had our Easter ham yesterday. Tonight, made a couple of our kids' favourite dishes from their childhood days:

Chicken lettuce wraps: ground chicken, waterchestnuts, bell peppers, onion, diced celery, fermented soy beans, hoisin and oyster sauce, chicken stock and lots of lettuce:

Fun see: mung bean noodles with dried shrimp, lap cheung, Chinese cabbage, char siu