Recipe: Chinese "Red Cooking" Master Stock

As discussed in prior posts, I use this stock primarily to poach heartier whitefish such as halibut, cod, and sea bass, but, it can be used to poach chicken, duck, pork (lean or fattier cuts), and other types of seafood. The "red" color appears at the end of poaching. For fish, poaching time is approximately 8 - 10 minutes for filets that are 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick. For chicken, duck, or pork, poaching time should be at least 30 minutes - use an instant read thermometer to make sure the meat is cooked through. I usually serve over rice or Asian noodles such as udon or soba.

"Red Cooking" Master Stock

Ingredients

3/4 cup light soy sauce

2/3 cup dark soy sauce

1/3 cup fish sauce

1 cup Shao Xing cooking wine

2 tbsp. sesame oil

4 cups seafood stock (use vegetable stock if seafood stock is not available)

3 cups water

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 large onion, diced

Peel of 1 orange, coarsely chopped

1/8 cup of sliced fresh garlic

1/8 cup of fresh ginger slices

8 small Thai chiles, coarsely chopped (2 - 3 jalapenos if Thai chiles are not available)

3 cinnamon quills

5 star anise pods

2/3 cup unsalted roasted seaweed, coarsely chopped

1 tsp. canola or other neutral oil

1 bunch of scallions, diced (for garnish of final dishes)

Directions

Heat canola oil in large (3 qt.+) pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and chiles. Cook until onions become translucent and begin to brown. Add all other ingredients to the pot. Raise heat to high and heat until boiling, stirring frequently. Once boiling, reduce to very low simmer (low heat), and cover. Cook at low simmer for at least 90 minutes up to 2 hours, stirring every 10 - 15 minutes.

To poach, place seafood or meat into stock (in batches if necessary) and cover. Do not disturb until at least 8 minutes (for fish) and at least 25 - 30 minutes (for poultry and pork) to check for doneness.

Prep Class: Chinese Master Stock

Given I'm a West Coaster now, I've also adapted many different types of Asian cuisines into my cooking. The three that most often show up are Chinese, Japanese, and Thai. However, as is typical of a southern cook, all end up with a little bit of my own twist while staying true to their culinary and cultural roots. Last night, I hosted a dinner party for several friends. I made a fish dish which I have actually made very often which, at its core, uses a "master stock" derived from Chinese cooking traditions. Soon, I will reveal my recipe for this "master stock" which is quite easy to make (if you can acquire all the ingredients) and is suitable for poaching any kind of seafood or poultry and also works quite well as a stock for noodle soup (when properly diluted).

Recipe: Spicy Chinese Greens

I made this as a side dish on Tuesday night and it was a big hit with the roomie and my date.  It's very simple and cooks really fast.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of collard, mustard, or other bitter greens (I used collard) - chopped, about 4 cups
1 1/2 cups of maitake or other fancy wild mushrooms, loosely chopped
1 leek, finely chopped
2 red jalapenos, finely chopped
2 tbsp. minced garlic
2 1/2 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tbsp. of canola oil
1/2 cup dry sherry

Directions:

Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic, leeks, and jalapenos, sauteing until the leeks start to become translucent, about 10 minutes.  Deglaze the wok with the dry sherry and add the mushrooms, cooking until the mushrooms soften, about 3 - 4 minutes.  Add the collard greens and cover the wok to allow the greens to wilt, about 3 - 4 minutes.  Remove the cover and continue cooking until all the greens are fully wilted, but only just past the wilting point (you want the greens to still be a little crunchy).  Add the oyster sauce and saute for another 1 - 2 minutes, stirring everything together frequently.  Serve immediately.

Makes 4 side dish portions.

Recipe: Spicy Shrimp and Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground chicken

1/2 lb. peeled and deveined shrimp

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 bunch of spinach, loosely chopped

3 tbsp. minced garlic

1/2 tsp. white pepper

2 tsp. red pepper flakes

2 tsp. lemon zest

1 tsp. sea salt

1 1/2 tbsp. sugar

1/3 cup dark soy sauce

1/4 cup dry sherry

1 head of magenta or other leafy lettuce, washed and left as whole leaves

2 tbsp. canola or other neutral oil

Directions:

In a large wok or stir fry pan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and bell pepper. Cover and cook for 3 - 4 minutes until the peppers are soft. Add the ground chicken. Add the dry spices, lemon zest, and sugar. Cook for approx. 7 - 8 minutes, stirring frequently until chicken is fully cooked. Add the shrimp and cook for approximately 1 - 2 minutes until shrimp are pink. Add the soy sauce and sherry and combine. Add the spinach, recover and cook for 4 - 5 minutes until the spinach wilts. Uncover, stir well, reduce heat to medium low, and cook for an additional 10 minutes to reduce. Serve with the lettuce leaves.

Makes 4 - 5 dinner servings or 8 - 10 appetizer servings.

Recipe: Mu Shu Pork

Not exactly authentic, but extremely tasty... made this last night for my friend Howard and his partner... both are still raving about it today.

Ingredients:

2 1/3 lbs. of pork butt steak (pork tenderloin will also work, but the fattier butt is a better choice if you can get it)

2 tbsp. canola or other neutral oil

2 large leeks, leaves and ends removed, finely chopped

1 head of green cabbage, loosely chopped

1 1/2 cups of wild mushrooms, loosely chopped

2/3 cup low-salt soy sauce

1 cup dry vermouth

1 1/2 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. white pepper

2 tsp. orange zest

1 tbsp. chili pepper paste

3 tbsp. garlic, chopped

1 1/2 tbsp. grated ginger

2 large eggs, beaten

1 tbsp. black sesame seeds

Directions:

Slice the pork butt into thin strips. Heat the canola oil in a large wok over high heat. Add the pork and saute until the pork is about half done. Add the garlic, ginger, pepper paste, orange zest, and white pepper and mix thoroughly. Add the chopped leeks and cover, reduce heat to medium, cook for about 4 - 5 minutes to sweat the leeks. Uncover, add the mushrooms, return heat to medium high, and recover. Cook another 3 - 4 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk the soy sauce, vermouth, sugar, and salt together. Uncover the wok and add the sauce. Mix thoroughly and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the chopped cabbage and mix thoroughly. Recover, cook for an additional 5 minutes to sweat down the cabbage. Uncover, return heat to high, and cook stirring frequently until the sauce is fully reduced, about an additional 10 - 12 minutes. Then drizzle the well beaten eggs all over slowly, stirring to combine, and continue stirring until the egg is fully cooked. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over and mix to combine. Remove from heat and serve immediately. Hoisin sauce and warmed small flour tortillas can be served for wrapping on the side, but as you notice above, it's just as good served with white rice.

Makes 6 servings.

Out and About: Chairman Bao Bun Truck

It pulled up 5 blocks behind my office, tweeted its presence, and I was magnetized toward it... assorted stuffed steamed bao: pork belly with pickled daikon, red sesame chicken with bok choy, duck confit with mango relish... for $9... I think I need to chain myself to this truck...

Recipe: Killer Fried Rice

WARNING: there is no way I'm going to call this "authentic" - but damn is it good... and easy to cook, too! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. of ground beef, pork, or chicken (your choice :))
3 eggs
5 cups of cold cooked brown rice (cook with about 1/8 less water than package recommends)
2/3 cup of diced carrots
2/3 cup of cooked English peas
1/4 cup of diced water chestnuts
2/3 cup of diced fresh pineapple
1 1/2 cup of diced scallions, green and white parts
2 tbsp. of chili garlic sauce
3 tbsp. of oyster sauce
1 1/2 tbsp. of soy sauce
2 tbsp. minced ginger
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. cumin
3 tbsp. of canola or other neutral oil

Directions:

Cook ground meat until fully browned, removing all of the fat from the meat, set aside.

Soft scramble the three eggs and set aside.

In a large wok, heat the oil over high heat. Add all of the other ingredients except for the scallions and pineapple to the hot wok. Stir constantly for about 90 seconds. Add the ground meat and the cold cooked rice to the wok and blend all of the ingredients thoroughly. Cook, stirring like once every minute, for about 6 - 8 minutes. Add the eggs, pineapple, and scallions, blend together thoroughly, and continue cooking for another 60 seconds. Serve immediately.

Makes 8 servings.

Review: My Delivery Boys

You thought you were gonna get some pics of hottie delivery boys in this post, now didn't you? ;) Well, I hate to disappoint you, but this post is actually about the nearby places that I depend upon to save my evenings on a regular basis with their wonderful and prompt delivery. Even though they rarely send cute delivery boys (those only seem to come from crap places like Domino's), they do send a good dinner!

Jasmine Tea House

When I first left my place in the Sunset, I was concerned that I was going to have to revert back to crap Chinese food for delivery. I was a bit spoiled having the excellent San Tung so near to my place over there. I took a chance on Jasmine Tea House after finding their menu hooked to my door handle one evening. While it doesn't quite match the level of San Tung, it comes so darn close that I always have a good meal from here. I always order way more food than I could ever eat 'cause I love leftovers - especially leftover chow mein (and theirs is one of my favorites). All of their dishes are quite good, but when I'm treating myself, I tilt towards the vegetarian and seafood dishes on the menu - especially the Singapore Fish. They are the best things on the menu. Their dim sum items are kinda ho hum (I'll stick to Yank Sing or Canton for my dim sum fix), but they get props for having dim sum available at any hour. However, they had me at the hot and sour soup - my personal "litmus test" for Chinese restaurants. It's wonderfully spicy and definitely a bit more sour than most - and I LOVE it. Really solid Chinese food here.



Serrano's Pizza

OK... relative to the East Coast, most pizza here on the West Coast is only ho-hum - unless you're going to the fancy schmanzy places like Delfina. And delivery pizza is usually a lot worse. I found Serrano's on the recommendation of a friend. They have a lot of cool specialty pizzas but the main thing I like is they have tons of toppings from which to choose to make your own pizza - including one of my favorites, roasted eggplant!!! But the major winner - the crust is not too thick or thin (West Coast pizza tends to have WAY too much crust) and it always arrives piping hot. Any leftover slices get frozen to become a pizza dinner later. Is it the best? No... but with so many options, I can always get what I want, and it's always tastier than any other pizza I've ever gotten delivered.



Little Nepal

I have been here many times as an evening diner. It's a quaint little place on Cortland at the top of Bernal Hill, so very close to my house. And then I found out they delivered... and I knew I was doomed... doomed to goodness!!! :) If you know nothing about Nepalese cuisine, it's very similar to Indian cuisine although it has elements of other East Asian cuisines swirled in. Their chicken in spicy tomato cream sauce is one of my favorites. The little side dishes they serve with the entrees (dal, curried veggies, naan) are all excellent. I also think their seafood dishes are quite excellent. Given there's not really any good traditional Northern Indian cuisine available near my house, I'm so glad that I found out Little Nepal delivers!!!



Regent Thai

Three words: Spicy Red Snapper. Oh, my mercy - this dish is just pure heaven. They lightly bread and fry New Zealand red snapper filet and top it with a spicy/sweet red pepper sauce - it is by far one of my favorite dishes EVER. All of the standards are also spot on - pad thai, red or green curries, etc. But, I'm telling you - you MUST have the snapper. It is so, so good.



Lotus Garden

I almost fainted when I found out I could get yummy Vietnamese noodle soups (pho) and vermicelli dishes (bun) for delivery. I am a pho fanatic - all the beef versions, chicken, seafood - I've had them all. The delicious broth with rice noodles that put the meat, fresh mint leaves, cilantro, bean sprouts, jalapenos, and hot sauce into and then slop up. The portion they send me is so big it makes two meals - because I can't order anything from there without getting their Imperial Rolls and their BBQ Pork Rolls. The Imperial Rolls are stuffed with carrots, rice noodles, shrimp, and pork and then deep fried, that you wrap with lettuce leaves, mint, sprouts, carrots, and cucumbers that are served on the side and dip into fresh nuoc cham (fish sauce). So yummy! And the BBQ Pork Rolls are stuffed with BBQ'ed lemon grass pork loin meat, rice noodles, mint, and cilantro and served with nuoc cham. They are also lovely. I just found this place like a few weeks ago, so I'll explore more of the menu and let you know. But, this is one of my new favorites.

Recipe: Baked Spiced Chicken

This is a twist on a baked “fried” chicken recipe I’ve been making for years. I changed up the spice mixture to reflect more of a West coast versus Southern take on the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. of boneless/skinless chicken breasts (about 4 breast halves)
1 pint of reduced-fat buttermilk
3 tsp of garlic powder
3 tsp of Chinese five spice powder
3 tsp of chipotle chili powder
3 tsp of paprika
1 cup of cornflake crumbs
1 cup of unseasoned bread crumbs
Cooking spray

Directions:

Place chicken in a large bowl and coat with all of the spices. Add the buttermilk. Using hands or a big spoon, mix everything around until the spices are fully mixed into the buttermilk, the chicken is fully coated, and the chicken submerges almost completely in the buttermilk. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375. Foil a baking sheet and coat with cooking spray. Fill another large bowl with the cornflake and bread crumbs. Take chicken out of the buttermilk mixture and roll in the crumb mixture to fully coat. Place chicken on baking sheet and put into oven. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until cooked through and the crumb crust is nice and brown.

Makes 4 servings.

Recipe: Drunken Beef

I’ve been to many Chinese restaurants who have “drunken chicken” or “drunken fish” on their menu, and you likely have, too, but this recipe is nothing like that (except for the fact that the recipe does use booze ;)). I derived this from a dish I had when I was in Japan - I know this is not exact, but it’s pretty darn close and really darn good.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. thinly sliced flank steak
1 cup low-salt soy sauce
1 1/2 cup good sake
3 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. minced ginger
2 tbsp. sugar
1 bunch of chopped scallions (green and white parts)
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
2 tbsp. hazelnut oil (or almond oil)

Directions:

Combine soy sauce, sake, 2 tbsp. of the garlic, ginger, sugar, scallions, and cumin into a large bowl. Mix well. Add steak to bowl and marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Heat the hazelnut oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the steak from the marinade, the remaining 1 tbsp. of garlic, and the white and black pepper. Stir the steak constantly in the wok to prevent sticking. Once the steak has browned on all sides, add 1/2 cup of the marinade mixture to the wok, lower heat to medium, and continue to cook until most of the liquid has cooked out, stirring constantly. Remove from heat immediately and transfer to serving plate. Serve over sticky white rice.

Serves 4.