Chinese Recipes - Other Favorites

Beef with Oyster Sauce 

Oyster sauce is made with oysters. You will find that this dish does not have the flavor of oysters, instead it has a really rich beef flavor. This is really 2 dishes. The bok choi is served on the platter with the beef. It is not mixed.

Serves 8

1 1/2 pounds thick boneless sirloin steak (should be 1 inch thick) 


Marinade:

2 Tbs. water
1 Tbs. soy
2 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp sugar

Vegetables:

2 green onions
3 slices ginger
1 1/2 pounds bok choy (Chinese Cabbage)

Steaming sauce for vegetables:

1 Tbs. rice wine
3 Tbs. water
1 tsp. sugar

Sauce for Meat:

2 Tbs. Oyster sauce
1 Tbs. water
1/2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp. sesame oil
4 cups fat for deep frying

1. Semi-freeze the steak by placing in freezer for 15 to 20 minutes. This makes it easier to cut. Cut in squares 1 by 1 and one eighth inch thick. Mix the marinade, add the beef and set aside.

2. Cut the green onions in half lengthwise and then in 1/2 inch pieces. Wash the bok choy and cut into bite size pieces. Place the ginger, green onions and bok choi on a plate.

3. Combine the steaming sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

4. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

5. Heat the oil for deep-frying in a heavy skillet to 400 degrees. While it is heating, heat your wok to very hot (hand test) and add a splash of oil. Add the bok choy. Toss well. Add the steaming mixture and cover. Cook until the water is gone. Take off the heat.

6. When the oil is 400 degrees, Stir the marinating meat and add to the fat. Stir. Fry 1 minute while stirring rapidly. Remove the meat from the fat. Heat another wok until very hot, add a splash of oil and add the ginger. When the ginger is browned, add the meat, the green onion and the sauce mixture. Cook, stirring for 1 minute. Place the meat in the center of the platter and mound bok choy on each end.

Shrimp Toast 

This shrimp paste recipe is used in many recipes. It is stuffed in crescents of green pepper and steamed, It is formed in balls and fried. It is formed in balls and rolled in tiny cubes of bread and fried. It’s wrapped in transparent dough and steamed as a shark fin dumpling.

Makes 24 pieces

Ingredients:

12 ounces raw cleaned shrimp
3 ounces pork fat 
1 green onion minced
1 tsp. grated ginger
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbs. rice wine
6 slices white bread
4 cups oil for deep-frying

1. Place the pork fat on the cutting board and mince with a cleaver until the pieces are like cornmeal. Add the shrimp to the fat and mince until it is as fine as the fat. Place in a bowl.

2. Mince the green onion and add it to the shrimp along with the ginger, and rice wine. Mix well.

3. Divide the shrimp mixture evenly on the bread. Spread to the edges. Use the cleaver to trim the crusts and cut from corner to corner making 4 triangles from each piece. 

4. Heat the oil to 375 degrees and fry without crowding until the bread is golden brown.

Wonton Soup 

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients:

1 package wonton wrappers
3 quarts Chinese chicken stock
1 teaspoon white pepper
Wonton filling:
1 pound lean pork
2 Tbs. Soy sauce
1 Tbs. minced ginger
3 green onions finely minced
1/2 tsp. crushed Szechuan pepper

Garnish:

1/2 cup Chinese parsley leaves
3 green onions minced

1. Make the wontons. Mix the filling ingredients. Place a bowl of water on the cutting board. Lay out 12 wonton wrappers. Brush each with water. Place a half teaspoon of filling on each. Fold in half and seal. Or you may bring all 4 points together in the center. Place the filled wontons on a tray lined with a dish cloth. Cover with another cloth. Repeat until all of the wrappers are used or the filling is gone.

2. Put the chicken stock in a large pot and bring to a boil.

3. Heat 4 quarts of water in a large pot and when it boils add the wontons. Return to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander.

4. Put the hot wontons in a soup tureen. Pour the hot stock over and sprinkle in the garnish.

Mu-Shu Pork 

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients:

1 pound lean pork (pork loin)

Marinade:

1 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs rice wine
1 tsp. Sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Egg strips:

3 eggs
1/4 cup water
oil for frying
Vegetables
1/2 cup dry tiger lily buds
1/2 cup dry cloud ear mushrooms
6 green onions, julienned
1/2 cup julienned bamboo shoots

Sauce:

3 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs.rice wine
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. ground Szechuan Peppercorns
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. grated ginger

Garnishes:

16 green onions cut into brushes
16 to 20 Peking pancakes
1/2 cup hoisin sauce in a bowl

1. Cut the pork into 1/4 inch thick slices. Cut the slices in julienne pieces 1/4 inch wide and 2 inches long, like matchsticks. Mix the marinade in a medium bowl and add the pork. Set aside.

2. Beat the eggs with the water and fry 2 crepe-like pancakes in a hot skillet. Cut these pancakes into julienne strips the same size as the pork.

3. Put the lily buds in 2 cups of very hot water to soak. Put the Cloud ear mushrooms in another bowl of hot water to soak. When they are soft, remove any hard stems from the lily buds and mushrooms and cut the mushrooms in julienne pieces. This is most easily done by rolling them up and slicing through. They are very springy. Julienne the green onions in 3 inch strips. Cut the bamboo shoots in thin slices and julienne the same size as the pork. Place the lily buds, green onions, bamboo shoots and mushrooms on a plate.

4. Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

5 Just before serving time, fold the pancakes in quarters and steam them in a basket for 10 minutes. 

6. Heat you wok to very hot. (Hand test) Add a splash of oil. Stir-fry the pork, remove and set aside. Add all of the vegetables on the plate and toss for 30 seconds or just long enough to heat them up. 

Return the pork to the wok and add the eggs. Toss. Mix the sauce and pour over. Toss well. Stir-fry for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

7. Place the Mu shu on a platter. Surround with steamed pancakes and bunches of brushes. Serve with the bowl of hoisin. 

8. Show your guests how to brush the hoisin on a pancake, lay the brush in the center and fill with the pork filling. Fold over the end and roll like a burrito.