Cumin Lamb Stir-fry!

This is a very classic Chinese recipe. Cumin just goes so perfectly well with lamb. I remember back when on the home from elementary school, I'd buy a stick of grilled lamb kebab... for one RMB. Now the times have changed with sliced lamb shoulder price raising to $7 dollars a pound, beef makes a good substitute for lamb.

Ingredients:

whole cumin seeds

sliced beef or lamb (same ones you use for hot-pot, you can find them in the frozen meat section of any chinese supermarket)

onion

sugar

salt

soy sauce

Procedure:

1. Blanche the sliced meat in hot water and set a side. (Blanching quickly cook the meat, or else they would go dry if you stir fry them from raw)

2. Stir fry sliced onion in hot oil and at generously cumin seeds.

3. Add meat when cumin aroma is apparent.

4. Add a splash of soy sauce, salt and sugar.

Again, incredibly simple recipe but a few key points. When stir fry something like this (pre cooked) ALWAYS use the highest heat you can. Also, cut the onion slices as thick as you would for onion rings because thin slices tend to melt away if stir-fried for too long. Sugar is very important because it balances the spice nicely.

Now try this awesomely simple dish!

Honey Lemon Salmon!

My mother, like most cooks, was the source of primary teaching and inspirations for me, and this recipe was from her. It captures her style of simplicity quite well.

Ingredients:
Salmon fillet
honey
fresh lemon juice
scallion (chopped)
soy sauce
sugar

Procedure:
1. Mix all ingredients (except salmon) together. Let the honey and lemon be the stars of the recipe! Go light on everything else.
2. Marinade salmon.
3. Sear (30 sec each side) and bake for a few minutes under high heat.

Could NOT be simpler. Thanks mom!

Stir Fry Kidney!

Now, don't be put off by the ingredient, give it a try first!

Ingredients:
Pork kidney
onion
scallion
salt and pepper
soy sauce
sugar

Procedure:
1. wash kidneys and split half down the side
2. cut around the white renal pelvis, you want everything that's not white (it's ok to waste some, kidney is cheap as hell)
3. cut into two inch strips and score (it will curl up as its cooked)
4. stir fry onion and scallion in oiled pan on HIGH heat
5. immediately add in chopped kidney, cook until colour turns dark
6. add soy sauce, S&P, and sugar! (a bit of sweetness balances the flavour of the kidney nicely)

This is incredibly simple (except the cutting part) and cheap. There are barely any seasoning used in this recipe because kidney is so packed full of flavour.

Enjoy!

Zha Jiang Mian!

Zha jiang mian is a traditional Chinese way of serving noodles, typically involves plainly cooked noodles with sauteed ground meat with a salty bean sauce.

Here is my less salty and lighter take on it!

Ingredients
1. a hand full of noodles
2. 2 eggs
3. green onion
4. bok choy
5. cooked, peeled, frozen shrimp (just easier than cooking shrimps from scratch)
6. Chinese sausage
7. soy sauce
8. oyster sauce
9. pinch of S&P
10. pickled cabbage (zha cai) [optional]

Procedure
Cooking the noodles: (the noodles are JUST as important as the sauce, I cannot stress how important the noodles are)
1. rule of thumb, boil a litre of water per hand full of noodle (unless you have extremely large hands... then figure it out yourself)
2. place bok choy when you just start to heat the water (this way the choy is cooked right when water boils)
3. place noodle in, mix to prevent sticking to bottom, and cook for 1 min
4. add a cup of cold water, bring back to boil, cook for another minute, repeat this step (this will give you an "al dente" texture, so if you like soft noodles, increase cooking time on the last cycle)
5. drain noodle and bok choy in strainer and cool with water

Cooking the sauce: (~5-7 min)
1. heat oiled wok to med - med high heat
2. fry finely chopped green onion and diced sausage, then add eggs, beaten
3. season with salt and pepper (you season at this stage because egg is still runny and it's easier for the seasoning to evenly mix)
3. add in chopped shrimps and pickled cabbage just as egg starts to solidify
4. add soy sauce and generous amount of oyster sauce (this provides the thickness of the sauce and colour)
5. add in strained noodles and bok choy, mix and cook for another minute and serve!

Tips: add a fine balance of shrimp and sausage, along with the eggs you don't want a protein overload. Also, use you common sense when it comes to how MUCH sauce you want to make, there is nothing worse than having too little sauce, or too much sauce where you can't even taste the noodles.

Also this is just a rule of thumb when cooking. Cook ingredients that carry a lot of flavour in oil first before adding anything else. Oil is a flavour medium and can will pass the flavour of, in this case, scallion and sausage to rest of the sauce.

I LOVE noodles, and sometimes I just get tired of soup based cooking methods. This a great alternative that quick and delicious. Enjoy!

Oven Baked Chicken!

This is what i usually do with the rest of my chicken thighs that i don't use in the stew.
It's a simple marinade then bake, easiest and tastiest chicken ever!

Ingredient
Chicken thigh, whole x2
onion
garlic
green onion
thai chilli
ginger
light AND dark soy sauce
salt and pepper
cooking alcohol
sugar

Procedure
1. Score chicken, place in large bowl
2. chop half an onion, one clove garlic, one green onion, sliced ginger, and ONE chilli (unless you can really handle your spicy food, don't add more than one chopped chilli)
3. add salt, pepper, and sugar (don't add more sugar than salt and pepper combined)
4. add light (for flavour) and dark (for colour) soy sauce, and cooking alcohol
5. mix with hands and make sure scored side is down and submerged in marinade!
6. marinade over night, bake in preheated 400 F for 40 minutes.

Tips:
1. make sure you WASH YOUR HANDS after mixing with chilli. Guys, you do NOT want to go take a piss without washing your hands.
2. I like to bake on tin foil, this way I don't have to wash the baking tray after and just throw out the foil.
3.if you're up for making it fancier, marinade for shorter amount of time. Take all the marinade juice, with all the onions and garlic, etc -> reduce that in sauce pan over medium heat, serve on baked chicken.

This is a great recipe, and super cheap! (you know what's up college/university students living by yourselves!)

Now give it a try!

Chicken Stew!

Very quick and simple chicken stew

Ingredients:
Chicken thigh (cut into quarter pieces)
potato
green onion (finely chopped)
ginger
garlic (finely chopped)
star anise
Szechuan pepper
salt and pepper
soy sauce
Chinese hot sauce

Steps:
1. sear chicken pieces in med-high heat in a well oiled pan
2. add garlic, green onion, and ginger, continue stirring to prevent sticking
3. add a cup of water and let chicken finish cooking as a stew
4. bring heat down to medium and add in cubed or sliced potatoes
5. add star anise, Szechuan pepper, salt and pepper, and soy sauce
6. cover lid to simmer as needed
7. add hot sauce (the one you want is the clear jar with a picture of old lady on it, find it in any Chinese supermarket)

I don't list the amount of ingredients because it's all relative, depending on how much chicken you use or how you like to flavor your food, change up the amount of seasonings. Rule of thumb, never add too much star anise or Szechuan pepper, both are very strong flavors.

I like to reduce it until slightly thickened. Serve with rice. Other hearty vegetables can be used as well, but potatoes is good for thickening the stew with its starchy texture :)

I should've took a picture of it before I ate the whole damn pot...

Much more to come!