Materials

• 500g / 16oz of Boneless Chicken Thigh, cut into small cubes
• a large handful of fresh basil (2oz box)
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 5 slices of ginger, thinly sliced
• 4 small pieces of cube sugar (the Chinese kid, crystalline sugar?)
• 4 dried chilis
• half a cup of cooking wine
• 4 tbsp of dark soy sauce
• 4 tbsp of light soy sauce

Instructions

1. Add oil to wok over medium heat, add sliced ginger, stir until fragrant.
2. Change to low heat, add garlic and crystalline sugar. Stir until the sugar is completely desolved.
3. Add the cubes of chicken, stir fry until it is coated w/ sugar.
4. Add cooking wine, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, and chilis. Stir until evenly covered. Turn heat up until boiling, turn back down to a simmer. Cover w/ lid until ~15 min, or until the sauce is completely thickneed.
5. Turn the heat off, add basil, stir fry until wilted. Plate.

Source

Originally from Xia Chu Fang

Materials

• 600g daikon, grated
• 2 eggs
• half a cup of flour
• 1 tbsp of Chinese five spice
• 1 tbsp of black pepper
• 1 tbsp of salt
• a pinch of sugar
• 3 green onion, minced

Instructions

1. Wash the grated daikon in salted water, dry well
2. Mix the daikon well with the eggs, Chinese five spice, black pepper, salt, sugar, and green onion
3. Mix in the flour in small batches, mix well at each step
4. Heat oil up in a flat non-stick pan, when bubbles begin to form around wooden objects (e.g., chopstick or spatula), add in the pancake mix
5. Cook for a few min on each side, until golden brown

Comments

I was never aware of the origin of this dish (other than the fact that my parents made it frequently), but it bears some resemblance to potato latkes in terms of how its cooked.

Sources

Originally from here

Materials

• 2 Potatoes
• 2 (small) Bell Peppers
• 2 Chinese eggplants
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp of spoons of starch
• 4 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp of sugar
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Cut potatoes, bell peppers and eggplant into irregular chunks
2. Mix eggplant & starch in a bowl so the eggplants are covered in starch
3. Mix soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, salt, 1 tbsp of starch, pinch of salt and half a bowl of water, mix well
4. Add plenty of oil to wok, fry eggplant for 3 min, potatoes for 5 min (until the outside is crispy), bell peppers for 10 seconds
5. Add garlic to wok, stirfry until fragrant
6. Add in the sauce, and the fried vegetables
7. Cook until the sauce thickens, then plate

Comments

Eggplants are known to soak up oil and become very oily. Covering them in starch prevent them from getting too greasy.

Sources

Originally from here

Materials

• 1kg of beef
• 1 plate of daikon - sliced
• 1.5 tbsp of peppercorn
• 1 black cardimom
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 star anise
• 2 dried red peppers
• 1 orange peel
• 1 thumb sized piece of ginger - sliced
• 1 tbsp Wolfberry (optional)
• 2 green onion
• 2 large spoons of cooking wine
• 3 large spoons of salt
• small pinches of white pepper
• 2 large spoons of cayanne pepper
• 1/2 tbsp of white seaseme
• fresh noodles
• cilantro
• cooking oil

Instructions

1. Soak beef into a bowl of cold water
2. Prepare the materials for the broth: green onions, black cardimom, ginger, star anise, bay leaf, 1 tbsp peppercorn, dried red peppers, orange peel, wolfberry, cooking wine, salt, and white pepper.
3. Add beef chunks into a pot, bring to boil until foams appear. Discard the liquid along with the form.
4. Refill the pot with cold water, add all the prepared materials from step 2, turn the heat up to high, bring to boil, then turn down to a simmer.
5. Simmer for 3 hours.
6. Concurrently, add oil to another saucepan, heat until smoking, turn the heat off completely, wait for ~10 seconds for the oil to cool down
7. Add in the cayanne pepper, .5 tbsp peppercorn, .5 tbsp white seaseme, a pinch of salt & sugar, stir until mixed, set aside for later
8. Once the broth is cooked, add in the daikon slices, cook until they are translucent
9. Prepare the noodle per the packaged instructions
10. Mix the noodle with the broth, garnish with pepper oil and cilantro. Season with vinegar to taste.

Comments

This is one of the quintessential Chinese noodles I had while growing up. A cheap, fast-food option that was always available. Unfortunately this dish is not easily found in the US…

Source

Originally from here

Materials

• 500g Chicken / Soy Chicken - cut into cubes
• peanut - handful, cooked
• 2.5 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp cooking wine
• pinch of white pepper
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 3 cloves of garlic - minced
• 1 leek
• 2 tbsp starch
• 3-4 dried red peppers, cut

Instructions

1. Marinate the checken for 10 min with: 1 tbsp cooking wine, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp starch, some salt & white pepper
2. Prepare the cooking sauce by mixing the following in a bowl: 1 tbsp cooking wine, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp corn starch, 2 tbsp water, pince of white pepper
3. Add oil to wok, once oil is hot, add in the chicken, cook until 80% cooked, remove chicken from wok
4. Add in dried red peppers, stir fry until fragrant. Add in ginger and leek, stir fry until fragrant.
5. Add in the sauce and the cooked chicken. Mix well
6. Add in peanutes, mix well

Comments

As with all chicken recipes, you can replace chicken w/ soy chicken, which usually comes pre-cooked. So you can skip step 1 and 3.

Source

Originally from here

Materials

• 200g Pork Belly
• 1 Leek
• 1 tbsp peppercorn
• 7-8 slices of ginger
• 2 tbsp fermented bean paste
• 1 tsp cayanne pepper / gochugaru
• 2 tbsp cooking wine
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp soy sauce

Instructions

1. Put the pork belly, ginger slices, and cooking wines into a pot, submerged in cold water. Bring the pot to boil with high heat, then turn heat down to medium
2. Cook until you can easily poke a chopstick into the pork belly, and no visible blood leaves the pork when the chopstick is retrieved. Then take the pork out of the pot
3. Slice the pork into thin slices, make sure each slice has both lean meat and fat
4. Chop the leak into long pieces
5. Add a tiny bit of oil to wok, turn heat to high. Stirfry the cooked pork until it curls up and the fatty part becomes transparent.
6. Put the pork to one side, add in peppercorn, fermented bean paste, and cayanne pepper. Stir fry the sauce until the oil turns red. Then combine with the pork
7. Add in leek, salt, sugar, soy sauce. Combine well and plate.

Comments

Step 5 can feel like a game of chicken - when you fry the pork a lot of oil will jump out and if you don’t constantly stir fry it the pork might stick to the bottom of the wok. But for the best texture make sure you stick it through. The pork should be nice and crispy in the end.

In step 7, you can also add in chopped bell peppers as another vegetable if you want a more ‘balanced’ meal.

Source

Originally from here

Materials

• 300g pork tenderloin
• 1/4 of a pineapple (or just slightly less pineapple than pork)
• 2 colorful bell peppers
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp cooking wine
• starch
• pepper to taste
• 3 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 3 tbsp sugar
• water

Instructions

1. Cut the pork, pineapple, and bell peppers into bite sized pieces
2. Mix well in a bowl: pork, 1 tbsp of salt, 2 tbsp of starch, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of cooking wine, 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1 egg, 1 tbsp of oil, pepper to taste
3. Marinate pork for 30 min
4. Mix the sweet & sour sauce by combining the following: 3 tbsp of ketchup, 3 tbsp of sugar, 2 tbsp of vinegar, 2 tbsp of starch, half a bowl of water, mix well
5. Cover each pork piece in starch, air fry the pieces at 400F for ~17 min
6. In the last few minuts of the air frying (or after the air frying if you’re patient), add oil to wok, when oil is hot, add in the bell peppers and stir fry until cooked
7. Add in the cut pineapple & sweet and sour sauce
8. Tuen the heat to high and bring everything to a boil
9. When the sauce is feeling viscous, add in the pork pieces
10. Mix well, covering the pork pieces with the sweet & sour sauce
11. Keep the heat high to boil out the excess moisture, when the sauce is dense and sticky, remove pan from stovetop and plate.

Comments

I used to order this at restaurants back home and loved it as a child. I never really knew where this dish came from. Upon doing some research it turns out this is a Cantonese dish created in the Qing dynasty because foreigners did not like the fact that sweet & sour spare ribs had bones in it…

Source

Originally from here

Materials

• 500g of pork belly (五花肉), preferably one long slab
• 30g of sugar
• 20g of cooking wine
• 7g of soy sauce
• 1 thumb sized piece of ginger - cut into slices
• A small section of leek
• 2 star anises
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• cooking oil
• salt
• seaseme
• green onion

Instructions

1. Cut the pork belly into two equal sized pieces, put in a pot submerged in cold water, add half of the ginger slices, 10g of cooking wine, bring to boil
2. Upon boiling, skim the floating foams off of the top, let boil for 2 min
3. Remove the pork from the pot, cut into 3cm/1in cubes
4. In a separate pot, add a bit of cooking oil, place over low heat
5. Add sugar into the pan, slowly wait for it to melt. Upon melting and the formation of bubbles, add in the pork
6. Turn the heat up to medium-low, add in cooking wine quickly stir fry for 30s, add in star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon, ginger, leek, stir fry for 30s.
7. Add boiling water until everything is submerged. Turn heat down to low, simmer for 50min
8. Turn the heat up until the water boils away and the sauce is thick
9. Garnish with seaseme and green onion

Comments

It is unreasonably hard to find pork belly in American grocery stores… But almost all the Asian ones (big chains like HMart) have them.

Pork bellies is crucial because we really want each piece to have both muscle and fat for optimal taste. Remember that when cutting things into cubes!

Source

Originally from here

Materials

• 1 (small) head of broccoli, tore apart into small pieces with the stem removed
• 1 carrot, sliced into edible sections
• .5 lb of shrimp, remove head and shrimp line
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp of starch
• 1.5 tbsp of salt
• 1/4 cup of cooking wine

Instructions

1. Mix in a bowl the following: 1.5 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp of starch, shrimp, diced garlic, set aside to marinate
2. Bring a pot of water to boil, upon boiling, add in broccoli and carrot for 15s, get them out of the pot and set aside.
3. Add oil to (a different) pan over medium heat, once the pan is hot, add marinated shrimp
4. Stirfry until the shrimp is still somewhat transparent, add in cooking wine, continue to stirfry
5. When the shrimp curls up and is fully non-transparent, add in the broccoli & carrot
6. Bring the heat up to high to boil away the excess moisture
7. Bring the heat down, add salt to taste, and plate

Comments

I am personally very against adding soy sauce to this dish. Not for any real (read as: taste-related) reason, but just that I don’t like the shrimp + soy sauce coloration.

When I was growing up, this dish was considered a very healthy dish for reasons that I don’t fully understand. Thought it might be worth mentioning.

Family recipe.

Materials

• 1 tomato - diced
• 1 box of silky tofu - sliced into thin strips
• ~5 shiitake mushrooms - sliced into thin strips
• ~8 wood ear
• small amount of enoki mushroom, tore apart
• 2 eggs
• 2 sticks of green onion
• cilantro
• 3 tbsp of starch
• salt
• a pinch of pepper flakes
• a lot of white pepper
• 2 tbsp of vinegar
• 1.5 tbsp of soy sauce
• some amount of boullion (optional)

Instructions

1. Cut tofu, tomato, fungi into designated pieces, mix starch with water, beat the eggs in a bowl, cut green onion into little pieces
2. Add oil to pan over medium heat, when hot, add tomato and stir fry until the juices come out
3. Add two bowls of boiling water, and add the fungi and tofu, turn heat to high, bring to boil
4. Add salt, pepper flakes, soy sauce, boullion, then slowly pour in the beaten eggs, stirring the entire time to form the egg drop
5. Add in starchy water, mix well
6. Turn the heat down to a simmer, right before turning the heat off, add white pepper flakes and vinegar, serve, garnish with cilantro and green onion on top.

Comments

The amount (and variety) of fungi you use is up to you. Honestly the core ingredient of tofu, tomato, shiitake, and white pepper stands on its own.

Source

Originally from here