Kung Pao Chicken

 A classic Sichuan dish, with my adaptation.  I've never seen a classic version of this with zucchini, but I want some veggies in mine, and zucchini works well with the flavors.

Ingredients:

3 medium chicken breasts, trimmed and cubed
3 zucchini, trimmed and cut to a similar size as the chicken
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cm ginger, peeled and grated
10+ dried Chinese chiles, facing heaven chiles if you can find them
6 green onions, separated, white and pale green parts thinly sliced, green parts in 1 cm lengths
1 1/2 C peanuts
Vegetable oil

Marinade:

2 T soy sauce
1 T Shaoxing rice wine
1 T cornstarch
2 t salt

Sauce:

5 t soy sauce
5 t dark soy sauce
2 T Chinkiang black vinegar
1 T sugar
2 t Sichuan pepper, toasted and ground
2 T Shaoxing rice wine
6 T chicken stock
1 T sesame oil
2 t salt
1 T cornstarch
Additional chile to desired heat (optional)

Instructions:

Combine the marinade with the chicken and set aside for at least 10 minutes.

While the chicken is marinating, combine the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Once the chicken has marinated heat 1/4 C of oil in a wok with the dried chiles over very high heat, and blacken the chiles (open windows, turn on the vent fan, and be careful you can pepper gas yourself at this point).  Once the chiles are turning dark and the oil is smoking hot add in the chicken; it will splatter as it goes in.  Spread the chicken out in the wok and let it sit without moving until it browns, then stir fry it until just done.  Remove from the wok, reserving the oil in the wok, and set aside.

Heat the oil in the wok back up over high heat, adding more oil if needed.  Add in the garlic, ginger, and white parts of the green onion, and stir continuously until fragrant 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Add in the zucchini, still over high heat, and stir fry for several minutes but leaving it crunchy.  Add in the peanuts and reduce the heat, then add in the sauce, the green parts of the green onions, and the chicken.  Stir until the sauce is thickened, adding additional stock if needed to thin the sauce.

 

Moo Shu Pork

 A restaurant favorite and one of my rare forays to a part of China other than Sichuan province.

Ingredients:

3/4 lb pork loin, trimmed and cut in to thin ribbons
2 cm ginger, peeled and grated, divided 3/4 and 1/4
5 cloves garlic, minced
4 green onions, divided white and pale green chopped, green parts in 1 cm lengths
4 eggs, beaten
6 leaves cabbage, central stem removed and thinly sliced
2 handfuls dried black fungus, re-hydrated
1 small can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
1 T shaoxing rice wine
vegetable oil
salt

Sauce:

4 T soy sauce
4 T hoisin sauce
2 t sesame oil
2 t cornstarch 

Directions:

Combine the sauce ingredients with 1/4 of the ginger and set aside.

Make an omelette with the eggs, salting to taste.  Set aside and slice in to strips when cool.

Heat the oil in a wok over high heat until starting to smoke, then sear the pork until browned, being careful not to overcook it.  Remove and set aside.

Return the wok to the burner and lower the heat to medium high.  Add more oil as needed, then saute the garlic, white parts of the green onion, and the remaining 3/4 of the ginger.  Stir fry until fragrant, approximately 1 minute.  Add the cabbage, black fungus, and bamboo shoots then stir fry briefly before adding the shaoxing wine, then continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the cabbage just begins to wilt (you want it to still have crunch).  Add in the green parts of the green onion, toss for about a minute, then return the eggs and pork to the wok and stir to warm and coat everything with the sauce.

Chinese Eggplant with Pork and Black Bean Sauce

2 Chinese eggplant (the long thin ones)
1/3 lb ground pork
1" ginger, grated
5-6 cloves garlic, sliced
3-4 T black bean sauce

2-3 T soy sauce
2-3 T Shaoxing wine
2 t oyster sauce
3-4 green onion, chopped, white and green parts separated
~1/2 C chicken stock
cornstarch mixed with additional stock to thicken
vegetable oil

Chop the eggplant into large chunks, making sure each piece still has skin on it.  Toss the chunks in heavily salted water for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to get all the pieces submerged.  Drain.

Heat oil in a large wok over high heat, and fry the eggplant in two batches for 5-9 minutes each.  You're looking to get some golden brown color on the pieces, even if it's only one side, without turning them into mush; they should still be a little firm.  You may need to add additional oil for the second batch of eggplant.  Set the eggplant aside, leaving the oil in the wok.

Heat the remaining oil (and you may need to add a little more) again and add the ginger, garlic, black bean sauce, and the white parts of the green onion, stir frying until fragrant.  Add the pork and cook until browning, making sure to break up the pork as it cooks.  Add in the shaoxing wine and cook until reduced, lower the heat then add in the soy sauce and oyster sauce, cooking briefly before adding the chicken stock.  Allow this to simmer for several minutes, then thicken with the cornstarch mixture.  Taste for seasoning, then add the green parts of the green onions, toss, and remove from heat.

Chinese Ingredients

 I had to spend a long time searching through Asian markets to figure out what ingredients I should be using since I don't speak or read Mandarin, and my first Chinese cookbook had the right names in Mandarin, but the English translations were a little iffy.  Now that I've figured them out here are pictures of what to look for and possible substitutes.

Black Fungus (Cloud Ear):

 

Black fungus comes dried, and a small package yields a shocking amount when re-hydrated; always start with a small handful when re-hydrating.  This adds a nice texture and bulk, but very little flavor, so it can be omitted.  It's cheap in Asian markets, but significantly more expensive on Amazon; either way a bag will last a long time.

Chili Bean Paste (Doban Djan, Broad Bean Paste with Chili, etc.):

 This is a fermented paste of soy beans and chiles.  It's rich, salty, and spicy with the kind of depth of flavor you only get with fermentation.  It comes in jars carrying a lot of similar names, each with it's own distinct taste.  You'll find multiple varieties in any Chinese market, but the Lee Kum Kee brand can be found in the international section of some major grocery chains.  Chinese soybean paste, sometimes also called sweet bean paste (be careful not to get red bean paste) can be substituted if you want to cut back on heat or in a pinch you can use Korean Doenjang.

Chinese Black Vinegar (also known as Chinkiang or Zhenjiang vinegar):

This is an aged rice vinegar that's fairly sharp but has some depth and caramel notes.  Bottles of this often have yellow labels on them, and it is available on Amazon, though it will be more expensive than at Asian markets.  You can use plain unseasoned rice vinegar as a substitute, but you'll lose something.

 

Chinese Pickled Vegetables (with day lily):

 

 I found these when I first started making Dan Dan Mian and had no clue what I was looking for, but it was a happy accident since I found I really like them, and I add them to the dish to up the vegetable content.  It's a mix of things like day lily and cow pea, but otherwise I know next to nothing about it; I've always found it in plastic pouches, but I've seen jars that might have been similar.  It's slightly spicy, not heavily pickled, and adds a nice crunch.

 

Fermented Black Beans (Preserved Black Beans, Douchi, and several other names):

 

 These are actually not black beans as thought of in US, but rather soy beans that are fermented and dried; they are rich, salty, full of umami, and will add depth to dishes like ma po tofu.  It can generally be found either in plastic pouches or cylindrical cardboard containers. Black bean sauce can be found even in the international section of some major grocery chains, and while it can be substituted it contains other ingredients.  The fermented black beans (not the sauce), will keep indefinitely at room temperature in a sealed container.

Shaoxing (Shaohsing) Rice Wine:

 

 A rice wine, but completely different from Japanese sake, and the two are not interchangeable.  Bottles typically have red labels, and it is available on Amazon, but for significantly more than at most Asian markets.  Dry sherry is usually listed as a substitute, though it does change the flavor noticeably; it can often be left out, but you'll notice a difference and you'll likely have to adjust seasoning as the cooking wine is sodium heavy.

Sichuan Pepper:

 This isn't actually a type of pepper, but rather the bud of a type of prickly ash.  It has a slightly citrusy flavor but with a numbing quality; if used in excess you'll end up feeling like you've had a dose of novocaine.  It's available on Amazon and in any Chinese market.  There really is no substitute, and while it can be left out (it actually wasn't legal in the US for a long time due to a possible agricultural pest issue) you will definitely notice a difference in flavor.

Soybean Paste/Sauce (aka sweet bean paste):

This comes in jars often right next to chili bean paste/sauce in Asian markets, but doesn't contain chiles, so it'll be a dark brown instead of red-brown, but with the same richness and depth.  I often use chili bean paste instead because I like it spicy and because soybean paste can be harder to find.  Korean Doenjang can be used as a substitute, but NOT Thai soybean sauce. 

Tianjin Preserved Vegetable:

Tianjin preserved vegetable (named after the city Tianjin) is pickled cabbage heavy on the salt; it is often soaked in water to cut the salt before being included in a dish.  While it can be found in plastic containers, the most common way I've found it is in a ceramic jar as in the picture.  It can be found on Amazon, but is significantly more expensive than the few bucks you'll pay in an Asian market where it's a common ingredient.  It can be used interchangeably with Ya Cai, but I would much rather use the Ya Cai when available.

Ya Cai:

Often seen as Yibin Ya Cai or Sui Mi Ya Cai, this is a type of pickled mustard green.  I've usually found it in foil packages as above, but it also comes plastic; I prefer to get the smaller foil packs as they generally have enough for one recipe, but larger packs freeze well once opened.  It can be found on Amazon, and for not much more than Asian markets.  Substitute Tianjin Preserved Vegetable if you can find that but not Ya Cai, but make sure to rinse or briefly soak the Tianjin Preserved Vegetable to reduce the salt .

Mapo Tofu (again)

This is a simpler version of mapo tofu than I posted before, and frankly I like it more.



14 oz block of extra firm tofu
6 oz ground beef (or pork)
2 T chile bean paste (toban djan)
1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
6-8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 T femented black beans
minced Thai chiles to taste (I only use Thai chiles because I always have them on hand)
1 1/2 C + 1/4 C chicken stock
2 t soy sauce
2 t corn starch
6 green onions, white and pale green parts only, chopped
3 T oil
Handful of dried chiles, preferably Facing Heaven chiles on the off chance you can find them

Place the tofu on a plate lined with paper towels and place another plate on top along with two or three cans of whatever to press out the water.  Allow to sit for at least 30 minutes.  You may want to change the paper towels part way through.  The idea is to drive out as much moisture as possible so the tofu will brown.  Cut the tofu in to 1 cm cubes.

Heat the oil in a wok over high heat and blacken the dried chiles.  Add the tofu and cook until golden brown, stirring occasionally.  Add in the ground beef and brown, stirring.

Add the chile bean paste and cook for about a minute, stirring constantly.  Add in the ginger, garlic, fermented black beans, and Thai chiles, and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add in 1 1/2 C stock, and reduce heat to medium to simmer for a couple of minutes.  Meanwhile, make a slurry with the cornstarch and the remaining 1/4 C of stock.

Add the green onions to the wok, then add in the slurry.  Cook while stirring until the sauce has thickened.  Adjust seasoning if necessary, and I prefer to just use salt instead of soy sauce if salt is needed.


Serve with rice.

Ma Po Tofu

A wonderful, aromatic dish of tofu in a bean paste and meat sauce, and one that's taken far too long to write up since it's one of my favorites.  Because the meat is used as a seasoning you can easily make this vegetarian by omitting the meat, in which case either up the tofu or add in some mushrooms.

Ingredients:

12 oz extra firm tofu, cut in to half inch cubes
6 oz ground pork (or beef, or omit)
1 T fermented black beans
3-4 T chile bean paste
1 T soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 large green onions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced (more if small)
1 t roasted ground Sichuan pepper
1 C stock (meat of your choice, or veggie)
corn starch and water in a slurry to thicken
dried chiles to taste
3 T oil

Cook the tofu in simmering lightly salted water for several minutes, then drain.

Heat the oil and chiles in a wok over high heat until the chiles start to blacken.  Add in the meat if using and stir fry, stirring constantly until the meat starts to brown.  Add in the fermented black beans, chile bean paste, garlic, and Sichuan pepper (I prefer to combine these ingredients in a bowl before starting to cook).  Stir fry until fragrant and the oil is bright red.

Add the stock and the soy sauce, and bring to a simmer, then add the tofu.  Simmer for five minutes to blend the flavors, then gradually add in the corn starch slurry to thicken (do this slowly, in several installments, so you don't end up with gloop).  Add the green onions and stir for a few seconds, adjust seasoning to taste, and serve with rice.

Sichuan Cucumber Relish

A mildly spicy cucumber relish, perfect for snacking on or eating along side a richer Chinese dish.

2 large cucumbers, ends removed, halved and cut in to chunks
2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 t Sichuan pepper, ground
1 t chile bean paste
2 T hot pepper oil
1 T salt
2 t sugar
1 T chinkiang vinegar
2 T sesame oil

Place cucumber pieces in a colander and sprinkle with the salt.  Let sit for a couple of hours before rinsing.  Mix the cucumber with the rest of the ingredients, stirring to coat.  Allow the flavors to blend for three hours or overnight before serving.

Vegetarian Bao Filling

This is a vegetarian filling for Bao made of tofu and mushrooms.  It's reminiscent of char siu (Chinese BBQ pork), though obviously without the goodness of roasted pork it's not quite as awesome.

3/4 lb shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, halved, and thinly sliced
oil to stir fry
3 shallots, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T chile bean paste
3-4 T hoisin
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 lb extra firm tofu, pressed to drain and diced
2 T soy sauce
salt to taste

Heat the oil in a wok over high heat until lightly smoking.  Add the mushrooms and stir fry until the mushrooms have lost much of their moisture and browned (browning the mushrooms will take a fair amount of time); you may need to add a little oil if you didn't have enough to start with.  When the mushrooms are browned add the shallots and garlic, still over high heat, and stir fry for 30 seconds to a minute.  Add the chile bean paste and stir fry until fragrant; add the soy sauce and remove from the heat.

Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix to combine.  Adjust seasoning, then fill the dough and cook according to the bao recipe.

Orange Chicken

One of the Americanized dishes that seems to be served in every Chinese restaurant around.  Definitely not something you would see in real Chinese food (it's far too sweet), but having grown up eating it it has a special place in my heart.

 
Ingredients:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
dried peel of one orange in 3-4 large pieces
handful of dried chiles
4 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 C orange juice
1/2 C chicken stock
2 T chinkiang vinegar
3 T soy sauce
2 t sesame oil
1/2 t toasted and ground Sichuan peppercorn
1/4 C brown sugar
2 t corn starch mixed into 2 T water
pepper flakes/cayenne/chopped fresh Thai chiles to taste
1 t fresh grated orange zest (optional)
salt to taste
corn starch for dredging
Vegetable oil for deep frying and wok frying

Marinade:
2 egg whites
1 T soy sauce
1 T shaoxing rice wine

Beat together the marinade ingredients and add the chicken.  Set aside while you make the sauce.  In a bowl combine the orange juice, chicken stock, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, Sichuan peppercorn, brown sugar, orange zest, and pepper flakes.  Heat 1 or 2 T of oil in the wok over high heat, and blacken the chiles and dried orange peel; add in the garlic and briefly stir fry it until fragrant.  Before the garlic can burn, add in the bowl of sauce ingredients; bring to a simmer and allow it to reduce by about half.  Finally add in the cornstarch mixture and simmer until it thickens up.  Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and dredge with corn starch.  Deep fry small batches in 350 F oil until golden brown and the chicken is just done.  Toss the chicken with the sauce and serve with rice.

Twice Cooked Pork

The Sichuan style of twice cooked pork, adapted slightly for western tastes - this uses lean pork loin instead of the more typical skin on pork belly.  Using loin the double cooking isn't actually necessary; it can just be stir fried, but I include the whole double cooking method as a note if you want to try it with pork belly.  The amounts given here are for a single half pound pork chop, but you may well want to double that if cooking for two (make even more, the leftovers are great).  See Chinese Ingredients for pictures and substitutions of ingredients.

First cooking:
1/2 lb pork loin, trimmed and in fairly thin slices

Other ingredients:
2-3 green onions, finely sliced
2-3 cabbage leaves, de-stemmed and chopped in roughly 1 inch squares, or other veggies, zucchini is good
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
oil
several dried chiles, de-seeded

Sauce:
2 T Chili bean paste
1 T Soybean paste
1-2 t sugar
2 T soy sauce
1-2 t fermented black beans (optional)


Combine the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Heat oil in the wok with the dried chiles and blacken them over high heat.  Add the pork and the garlic and stir fry briefly to slightly brown the pork and the garlic, remove both to a plate.   Add the sauce ingredients to the wok and stir fry until fragrant.  Add the cabbage leaves and stir fry briefly to wilt.  Add the green onions, then add in the reserved pork and garlic.  Toss briefly to coat then serve with rice.

Note:  If you want to cook this with pork belly instead of loin, you'll use this as the first step:

Combine the pork with
2 pieces ginger, smashed with the flat of a knife
2 green onions, chopped into 1 inch pieces
2-3 t shaohsing rice wine
enough water to cover

Simmer the pork for half an hour or until it's starting to become tender.  Move the pork into the fridge to cool down.  Once it's cooled slice into relatively thin bite-sized pieces; discard the other simmering ingredients.

Bao Dough

This is just a general version of the dough used to make a wide assortment of bao (Chinese steamed buns).  This is the basic formula, but you'll probably want to multiply it when you use it.

For every 1 C of flour you'll want:
1/3 C warm water
1 T sugar
1 T oil
a hefty pinch of salt
1/2 t baking powder
heavy sprinkle of yeast

Mix the sugar and water, and after a few minutes add the yeast and mix.  Let it sit until foamy, then mix in the rest of the ingredients.  Let the whole mess sit for a couple of hours, at least until it has doubled in size, then punch it down and let it rise a little more.  Roll the dough out, fill it, and steam it for 15 minutes.

Stir Fried Long Beans

A simple vegetarian Chinese dish that can be ready in minutes.

1 lb Chinese long beans, ends trimmed, and chopped into two inch pieces
1 1/2 T garlic, thinnly sliced
1 1/2 T ginger, grated
3/4 t Sichuan pepper, toasted and ground
3 T oil
handful of dried chiles
2 green onions, thinly sliced in horse ear cuts
salt to taste

Heat the oil in a wok over high heat; blacken the chiles.  Add the garlic and the ginger, and toss briefly.  Add the long beans, toss for a minute.  Add the Sichuan pepper and green onions, toss, add the salt, and continue to stir fry until the beans are cooked, but still have some crunch to them.

Fish Fragrant Sauce

This is more of an outline than a real recipe as I was improvising a sauce from the recipe for Fish Fragrant Pork, but it'll give you an outline for how to make the wing sauce.

Ingredients:
1 T sugar
1 T Chinkiang vinegar
1-2 t soy sauce
2 1/2 t corn starch
1 T garlic, minced
1 T ginger, grated
2 green onions, finely sliced
splash of Shaoxing rice wine
4 T Sichuan pickled chiles, minced
6 T water
3/4 t Sichuan peppercorn, toasted and ground
2 T oil

Mix together the water, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and corn starch.  Heat the oil until almost smoking, then add the garlic, ginger, and pickled chiles.  Stir fry until fragrant.  Add in the sauce and everything other than the green onions.  Adjust for seasoning and thickness, then add in the green onion and stir before removing from heat.

Chinese Shredded Beef, Country Style

This is a unique dish compared to what you usually see in a Chinese restaurant, but very good. It is fairly dry, however, so serve the rice on the side. 

Ingredients:

1 lb beef, cut into strings
2 C chopped celery
2/3 C carrot, julienned
3 Fresh hot red peppers, seeded and julienned
8 T oil
1/2 t pepper, ground
1/4-1/2 t Sichuan peppercorns, ground
Drizzle of sesame oil

Marinade:
4 T soy sauce
1 T Chinese rice wine
1 t sugar
1 t ginger juice

Marinate the beef for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Heat 5 T oil in a wok, and fry the beef (with marinade) for 5 minutes over high heat, then 7 more over medium to medium low, stirring continuously. Remove to a bowl.  By this point the beef should be quite dry.
Heat 3 T oil in the wok, fry the red pepper; then add carrots, celery, and salt. Cook to desired doneness, then add beef back, stir to mix, then sprinkle sesame oil, Sichuan peppercorns, and pepper on top.

Fish-Fragrant Pork

This dish doesn't actually have any fish in it, it's just that the salty, sweet, and sour flavors in it are common in traditional Sichuan fish dishes. This is a fast dish for when you want something interesting but don't want to spend much time in the kitchen. Just make sure you keep it moving as you're cooking on high heat, and you might pepper gas yourself if you don't have the vent exhaust on.  See Chinese Ingredients for pictures and substitutions of ingredients.


1/2-3/4 lb lean pork, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 can baby corn
handful black fungus, re-hydrated and sliced
2 t grated ginger
2 shallots, sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 T pickled chiles, chopped
hot chiles to taste, chopped (optional)
oil to fry the meat
2 T chile bean paste
Stock to thin sauce if necessary

Marinade:
1 T soy sauce
1 T water
1 T cornstarch

Sauce:
2 T soy sauce
1.5 T Chinkiang black vinegar
1 T Shaoxing rice wine
2 t sugar
1 t salt, or to taste
2 t corn starch
2 t sesame oil
1/2 t black pepper, ground
3/4 t Sichuan pepper, toasted and ground

Marinate the meat for 15-20 minutes, then fry it in very hot oil for 30 seconds.  Remove the meat and set it aside, and drain off all but 3 T of the oil.
Combine the sauce ingredients.
Heat the oil on high until almost smoking, then add the hot chiles, garlic, ginger, and shallots, and stir fry for 20-30 seconds.
Add the bean paste and stir fry for another 20-30 seconds.
Add the rest of the veggies and stir fry for another minute.
Add the meat back in an continue cooking for another 30 seconds to a minute.
Add the sauce and cook just until it thickens; add some stock if it is too thick.
Adjust seasoning if necessary, and serve with rice.

Dan Dan Mian

An easy, delicious Sichuan noodle dish. The base recipe came from Fuchsia Dunlop's Land of Plenty, but I've modified it pretty heavily.  In this case the beef is used more as a sesoning, so it can be omitted to make it vegetarian.  See Chinese Ingredients for pictures and substitutions of ingredients.

~ 1/3 lb dried Chinese wheat noodles (I've also had good luck with some Vietnamese wheat noodles which only take 2-3 minutes to cook)
 2 T vegetable oil
handful of dried chiles, broken in half and seeds discarded
3-4 T Ya cai or Tianjin preserved vegetable, well rinsed to reduce salt if using Tianjin preserved vegetable
1/4 lb ground beef
2 t soy sauce
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 C pickled vegetables (optional, I use some that's a mix of mustard, day lily and cow pea greens)

Sauce
1.5 t freshly roasted and ground Sichuan pepper
4 T chile oil (preferably homemade, with chile flakes for more heat), substitute part of the chile oil out for vegetable oil for less heat
2.5-3 T tahini or Chinese sesame paste
2 T soy sauce
2 T dark soy sauce
salt to taste

Heat the oil and sear the chiles, then add in the Tianjin preserved vegetable and the pickled vegetables and saute till fragrant. Add in the ground beef and soy sauce and brown. When the beef is browned, add the green onion.  Remove from the heat.

While that's browning, mix the sauce ingredients together; the sesame paste should emulsify the soy sauce and the chile oil together. Boil the noodles according to the package instructions.

When the noodles and the beef are done, drain the noodles and add to the beef in the wok, then apply the sauce. Toss and serve.

Chinese Sausage

Round two of the end of the year sausage making is a first attempt at a Chinese inspired sausage:
2.5-3 lbs pork shoulder (add in some salt pork if the shoulder is too lean)
1/4 C soy sauce
2 T shaoxing wine
salt to taste
1-2 shallots
1 T sugar
1.5 T black bean paste
1 T sesame
1 t liquid smoke
2 T grated ginger
2-3 cloves garlic
Hot peppers to taste
8-10 dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated
1 t pepper
2-3 t schezwan pepper corn, ground
3/4 t insta cure
salt to taste

Grind the pork, shallot, garlic, mushrooms, and chiles together. Mix in the rest of the ingredients, then stuff in to casings.

Pot Stickers

An edit of my original pot sticker recipe now that I've figured out how to make the dough properly; it turns out that the secret is to add boiling water to the flour so that it gelatinizes the flour before cooking.

 

Hot-Water Dough:
5 C AP flour
2 C water
1 t salt

Filling:
1 lb ground pork
2-3 leaves cabbage, in 1/2-3/4 inch julienne (or you could use some rehydrated black fungus)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped
1 T shaoxing wine
1-2 T soy sauce
sprinkling of salt
1-2 t sesame oil
1 cm of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

Sauce:
3/4 C soy sauce
2 green onions, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 scant T shaoxing wine
pinch of sugar
1/2 t ginger juice

Combine the sauce ingredients at least an hour before, or better the day before to allow the flavors to blend.

Boil the water for the dough; while that is coming to a boil combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl or bowl for an electric mixer.  Add the boiling water and mix, either with an electric mixer or with a wooden spoon.  Set aside to cool.

While the dough is cooling combine the filling ingredients.

Roll the dough out into thin circles, roughly 3 inches in diameter (this can be done by hand, with a rolling pin, or with a tortilla press).  Keeping one half flat on the board, place a spoonful of the filling on the dough and fold the half circle up and over the filling, sealing with a little water.  This should give you a semi-circular dumpling with one flat side and one side mounded up with filling.

Heat a skillet over medium high with enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan; when the oil is place a layer of dumplings in the skillet, flat side down.  Pour in 1/3 C of water, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.  Remove the lid, and continue to cook until the bottoms of the dumplings are golden brown.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Simple sweet and sour sauce, without the red food coloring.

3/4 C unsweetened pineapple juice
3/4 C vinegar
3/4 C sugar
6 T ketchup
3 t cornstarch
1/4 C soy sauce

Mix all ingredients, cook over medium heat stirring until the mixture comes to a boil and the sauce clears somewhat.

Crab Rangoon

Crab rangoon just like you'd get at any Chinese restaurant.

8 oz cream cheese
8 oz crab (or fake crab for those of us on a budget, it works almost as well)
1/2 t worchestershire
1/2 t soy sauce
2 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t sesame oil
wonton wrappers
vegetable oil to deep fry

Mash the ingredients together with a fork, let sit for several minutes to combine, then begin loading in to wonton wrappers. The easiest way is to put about a tablespoon in the middle, wet the edges, and fold one corner to the opposite, pressing to seal. If you're feeling fancy, fold both opposite corners together to seal; it looks better, but requires more oil to fry.
Fry at 350 F until golden brown, being careful not to overload the oil.
Serve with sweet and sour, and possibly a little Chinese mustard.  Thai sweet chile sauce also works.