CHINESE - Cuisine of the Quarter, Winter 2021 (Jan-Mar)

I’ve been cooking along but procrastinated on posting for some odd reason.

I like WoksOfLife, RedHouseSpice, and ChinaSichuanFood as references. Plus some Indian Chinese sources.

So, in no particular order, a quarter’s worth of Chinese (and -inspired) meals. (Lots of photos if you click right/left, I just didn’t want to make a long post longer without a gallery.)

1) Kung Pao Chicken Wings - marinated (sous vide to speed up) and then finished with aromatics. Vegetarian meatballs (Beyond) in the same prep. Sides of sautéed mixed mushrooms (king oyster, crimini, fresh shiitake) - soy, sesame oil, black vinegar, broccolini in garlic sauce, and snap peas with ginger.




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2) Indian Chinese Manchurian sauce for chicken meatballs, veg (beyond) meatballs, and tofu. Vegetables were mushrooms with ginger and scallions, broccoli with garlic (Din Tai Fung style, light white sauce), and blistered green beans.




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3) Kung Pao Chicken (Woks of Life), plus the usual suspects for vegetables.

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4) Chili oil shrimp, salt & pepper roasted tofu, and an attempt at har gow (ChinaSichuanFood) with the wrong kind of rice flour :laughing:. The usual vegetable sides.


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5) Char Siu Pork! My second pandemic attempt - both were good, but I liked this one better because the grocery store messed up and gave me mostly belly instead of shoulder. Looked up a few recipes including WOL and CSF and then did a blend.

Pork was cooked sous vide, finished in a hot cast iron pan rather than the oven. Juices removed, defatted, and thickened, served as sauce on the side.


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6) More Indian Chinese - the ubiquitous Hakka Noodles. I improvised by using spaghetti (the original are rectangular-ish, with a thickness between capellini and linguini). Lots of aromatics, some cabbage and carrot, and a bit of red pepper / capsicum. Finished with cilantro.

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