Chinese Cooking Recipes

Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients:

3 - 4 chicken breasts, skinned and boned
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons cornstarch (corn flour)
Sauce:
2 tablespoons sherry cooking wine
1 tablespoon barbeque sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed dried chilies
1 tablespoon ginger, minced

4 carrots, cut into thin strips
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 red pepper, sliced
1/2 green pepper, sliced

Directions:

1. Partially freeze chicken breasts. Cut into strips.
2. Combine sauce ingredients and set aside.
3. Mix together egg whites and cornstarch.
4. Coat chicken in cornstarch mixture.
5. Heat wok. Fry chicken strips in oil until they turn white.
6. Add 1 tablespoon oil to wok. Add vegetables and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
7. Add sauce to vegetables.
8. When boiling, add chicken.
9. Stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes. Serve with rice.Click Here!

The original Chinese version would have been made with peanuts because cashew nuts do not feature in Chinese cookery. Nevertheless, this dish uses the best Chinese principles: stir-frying to seal in the juices of the chicken, and then stir-frying again with spices to flavor it.

Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients:

8 ounces (225 g) boneless chicken breasts, skinned and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Marinade:
1 egg white
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch (corn flour)
5 fluid ounces (150 ml) cooking oil (vegetable or peanut)
2 ounces (50 grams) cashew nuts
2 teaspoons dry sherry or rice wine
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon spring onions, finely chopped as garnish (if desired)

Directions:

Add the marinade ingredients to the chicken cubes, mixing with chopsticks and adding the cornstarch last. Allow the chicken to marinate in the refrigerator for 15 - 20 minutes. While the chicken is marinating, mix together the dry sherry and light soy sauce and set aside.

Heat the wok and add oil. When the oil is ready, add the chicken cubes and stir-fry on medium heat, stirring quickly to ensure that the chicken does not stick to the wok, until it turns white. Remove the chicken from the wok and set aside.

Clean the wok with a paper towel and add one tablespoon of oil. When the oil is ready, add the cashews and stir-fry them for about 1 minute. Add the chicken, and the sherry/soy sauce mixture. Stir-fry the dish for about another 2 minutes. If you don't like raw spring onions, you can add them to the dish at this time. Otherwise, remove the dish from wok, garnish with spring onions, and serve.
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Hot and Sour Soup is reputed to be good for colds

Ingredients:

1 cake tofu (fresh tofu if possible)
1/2 cup bamboo shoots, shredded
2 Tbsp black fungus (Wood Ear)
or 3 - 4 Chinese dry mushrooms
small handful dry lily buds

2 ounces pork tenderloin, julienned

Marinade:
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp tapioca starch (or cornstarch)
1/2 tsp sesame seed oil

6 cups water (or 6 cups water and 1 cup Campbell's chicken broth)*
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp red rice vinegar** (or white if red not available)
1 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp finely chopped green onion
1 Tbsp finely chopped ginger

white pepper to taste (no more than 1 tablespoon)
1 egg

Mixture:
1 Tbsp cornstarch (corn flour)
1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Shred pork. Mix marinade ingredients and marinade pork for 15 minutes.

2. To reconstitute the wood ears, soak in warm water for 20 minutes. Rinse, and cut into thin pieces.

If substituting mushrooms, cut off the stems and cut into thin strips.

Cut tofu into small squares. Cut bamboo shoots into strips, and then into fine slices.

3. Boil water. When it is boiling add all the ingredients in I and II. Add the vegetables first. Stir. Add the tofu. When the broth is boiling, add the marinated pork.

Add the remaining ingredients in III, except for the green onion.
Beat the egg well. Set aside.

Test the broth and adjust the taste if desired. (If using chicken broth, you may want to add a bit more rice vinegar).

Mix the cornstarch and water. Slowly pour the cornstarch mixture into the soup, stirring while it is being added. Let the broth come back to a boil. As soon as it is boiling, remove the broth from the stove.

Slowly drop in the beaten egg, stirring in one direction at the same time. Add the green onion and white pepper to taste. Drizzle with chili oil if desired.

(This dish can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. When making the soup, leave out the tofu. When ready to serve, thaw, add the tofu and bring to boiling. When the soup is boiling, add the egg.)

*Adjust the ratio of water to chicken stock as desired.
** If using chicken broth increase the amount of red rice vinegar 500+ Healthy Chinese Recipes Click Here!

Many people think that Chop Suey was invented in America. In fact it probably originated with Chinese farmers who used to eat a dish of stir-fried vegetables after a long day working in the fields. Chop suey is primarily a vegetable dish; the meat is included to add a bit of flavor.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

1 pound pork or beef (don't use pork chops as they are too dry)
2 small bunches bok choy (can substitute broccoli if desired)
1/2 cup bamboo shoots, rinsed
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, washed and patted dry with a paper towel
1/2 cup water chestnuts (fresh if possible)
1 large green pepper
2 stalks celery
1 onion
1/2 pound snow peas (optional)

Seasoning for Pork:
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 - 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
1 piece (under 1 teaspoon) cornstarch (corn flour)

Sauce:
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
3/4 to 1 teaspoon cornstarch (corn flour)

Oil for stir-frying

Directions:

Cut the pork into thin strips. Add seasonings to pork, adding the cornstarch last. Marinate the pork for 10 - 15 minutes.

While pork is marinating, prepare vegetables and sauce. For sauce: Mix the sauce ingredients and set aside.

For vegetables: Cut bamboo shoots into thin strips. Slice the mushrooms and water chestnuts. Cut the green pepper in half, remove the seeds and slice diagonally. For the bok choy, separate each stalk and leaves. Cut the stalk diagonally and cut the leaves across. Cut the celery diagonally. Cut the onion in half, peel, and slice thinly.

Place the vegetables on a large tray, being careful to keep each group separate (include the bok choy stalks and leaves), and set aside.

Heat wok and add oil. When oil is ready, add the pork. Stir-fry pork until redness is gone. Remove and set aside.

Reheat wok and add more oil. When oil is ready, stir-fry each of the vegetables. The order doesn't matter, but you can stir-fry the onions and celery together, (if desired you can cook these with the pork), and the green pepper and snow peas together. When cooking the bok choy, add the stalk first. Add salt to taste as desired while stir-frying each group of vegetables. Add water and cover wok while cooking bok choy, as it doesn't contain much moisture.

Reheat wok and add oil. Give the sauce a quick re-stir. Add and combine all the cooked ingredients in the wok. Make a "well" in the center and gradually add the sauce, stirring to thicken. Once it has boiled, remove the chop suey from the stove. Serve hot. 500+ Healthy Chinese Recipes Click Here!

Ingredients:

1 whole fish, (yellow croaker, carp, mullet or bass) about 2 1/2 lb (1,000g), cleaned and scaled
1 tsp. green pepper, shredded
1 tsp. salt, or to taste
3 1/2 oz (100g) onions, shredded
1 cup(500ml) oil for deep-frying
4 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. scallions, shredded
1/4 tsp. fresh ginger, chopped
1 tsp. rice wine
2 hot red chili (chilli) peppers, seeded and shredded
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. cornstarch (corn flour) dissolved in 1 tsp. water
1/4 tsp. MSG (optional)

Directions:

1. Wash the dry the fish. Make 3 to 5 diagonal slashes on each side and rub the skin and slashes with the salt.

2. Heat the oil in a wok over high heat to very hot about 350oF(175oC) or until a piece of scallion green or ginger sizzles and moves around quickly when tossed in the oil add the scallions and onions and ginger and fish and deep-fry until both sides are brown. Remove , drain and place on serving dish.

3. Pour all but 2 to3 tbsp of the oil out of the wok, leaving only enough to cover the bottom . Heat until the oil surface ripples. Add the hot red chili, green pepper, and onion shreds, and stir-fry until fragrant. Stir in the soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, MSG (optional), and ginger. Add 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Stir the cornstarch-water mixture and add to the wok. Cook, stirring until the sauce thickens. Remove , pour over the fish, and serve. 500+ Healthy Chinese Recipes Click Here!