Tag: Chinese
Chinese Beef Stew
Chinese Beef Stew
This Chinese beef stew is an easy 1 pot meal that requires minimal prep work. You can use short ribs, chuck roast, untrimmed brisket, or beef shank meat for your protein. Traditionally, there would also be beef tendon in this stew, but that’s up to you if you’d want that. After 3 hours of cooking, the meat is so tender that barely have to chew it.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs flanken cut beef short ribs cut in between the bones
- 5 cups water
- 1/4 cup shaoxing cooking wine
- 4 dried red chilies
- 8 slices ginger
- 3 green onions roughly chopped
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 large carrots cut into 2” pieces
- 3 red potatoes peeled and cut into large cubes
Garnish
- green onions chopped
Instructions
- Place the short ribs in a large pot with the water. Bring to a boil. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, skimming the scum off the surface of the water.
- Add in the shaoxing cooking wine, dried chilies, ginger, green onions, bay leaves, star anise, cinnamon stick, sugar, and black pepper. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 45 minutes.
- Pour in the soy sauces and the salt. Continue to simmer for 90 minutes.
- Add in the carrots and potatoes. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes until the veggies are cooked through.
Chinese “Spaghetti Bolognese”
Chinese “Spaghetti Bolognese”
Here is a dish that you won’t find in any Chinese restaurants. Chinese “spaghetti bolognese” is another great example of home cooking that is whipped up in 30 minutes. You can use ground pork, beef, chicken, turkey, and even shrimp as your protein.
Ingredients
- 1 lb dry spaghetti prepared according to package directions
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 24 oz ground pork or ground beef
- 1 medium onion finely diced
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1/3 cup oyster sauce
- 1/4 cup light soy sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 2 cups frozen peas
- 1/4 cup cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup of water
Instructions
- Heat up the oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add in the ground pork and brown for 8 minutes.
- Add in the onions and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Pour in the shaoxing wine, chicken stock, soy sauces, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Stir in the peas. Cook for a minute.
- Pour in the slurry. Let thicken for a minute or two.
- Toss the pasta with the sauce. Cook for 2 minutes.
Pork and Potatoes
Pork and Potatoes
One of my favorite Chinese takeout restaurants, Bing’s, closed over 25 years ago. They were known for giant egg rolls, giant egg foo yung, plus standard Cantonese dishes that you’ll find on most menus prepared significantly better than other Chinese restaurants. But my favorite thing on the menu was their pork and potatoes. I’ve had it from many other restaurants, and it’s all been garbage in comparison to Bing’s. So what made Bing’s so much better? A couple things. While most potatoes used in this dish are cubed, Bing’s sliced them thinly on a mandolin. It creates a wider surface area when frying the potatoes, allowing them to get crispier than cubed. Most places just use oyster sauce. Bing’s added both light and dark soy sauces to enhance the flavor and give it a darker color. Also, their char siu was second to none.
Equipment
- mandolin
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 lb potatoes peeled
- 1/4 red onion sliced
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 cup char siu roast pork diced
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- white pepper to taste
Garnish
- green onions finely chopped
Instructions
- Slice the potatoes on a mandolin about 1/4” thick. Soak in cold water for 30 minutes. Pat dry.
- Heat up cooking oil in a sauté pan or wok over medium high heat. Fry the potatoes in a single layer in 2 batches.
- Fry for 3 minutes a side until lightly crispy. Remove from the pan.
- Add in the onions and pork. Sauté for 3 minutes.
- Add the potatoes back into the pan.
- Pour in the soy sauces, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Make sure that all of the potatoes are coated.
- Pour in the water. Simmer for 5 minutes until all of the liquid has evaporated.
- Season with white pepper.
