Tag: East Asian
San Bei Ji (3 Cup Chicken)
San Bei Ji (3 Cup Chicken)
San bei ji literally translates to 3 cup chicken; the 3 cups referring to the sesame oil, soy sauce, and cooking wine. The braised chicken dish originated from southern China, but has become one of the most popular staples in Taiwanese cuisine. What is unique about this dish is the addition of basil at the end, which isn’t normally used in Chinese or Taiwanese cooking. The chicken is traditionally prepared in a clay pot, but a Dutch oven or a wok will do the trick. Serve the San bei ji with steamed rice.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 4 whole chicken legs drums cut into 2 pieces, thighs cut into 3 pieces
- 3/4 cup sesame oil
- 15 whole garlic cloves
- 3” knob ginger peeled and thinly sliced
- 4 red chilies cut length wise
- 4 green onions cut into 1” pieces
- 3/4 cup light soy sauce
- 3/4 cup Shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 30 basil leaves
Instructions
- Heat up sesame oil in a Dutch oven or wok over medium high heat. Add in the garlic, ginger, chilies, and green onion. Fry for 2 minutes.
- Add in the chicken and brown for 5 minutes.
- Pour in the soy sauce and cooking wine. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium. Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes.
- Increase the heat to high to evaporate any extra sauce. You don’t want the chicken to be swimming. Stir in the sugar. Turn off the heat and mix in the basil leaves.
Chinese Cucumber Salad
Chinese Cucumber Salad
This Chinese cucumber salad is a little different than your average cuc salad. Instead of straight up slinging the cucumbers, they are slightly smashed first. This allows them to catch more of the dressing. Lots of minced garlic is added to the cucumbers. The dressing is a simple soy/black vinegar/sugar/chili oil/sesame oil base. Pour the dressing over the cucumbers right before serving. Do not pour the dressing on in advance. The salt from the dressing will extract the moisture from the cucumbers, making your salad watery. Needless to say, this salad is not a good leftover.
Ingredients
- 12 oz English or Persian cucumbers
- 6 garlic cloves minced
Dressing
- 1 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp chili oil
Instructions
- Very lightly smash the cucumbers with a mallet.
- Slice into 1/2” pieces.
- Add the minced garlic to the cucumbers in a bowl.
- Mix together the dressing ingredients.
- Add the dressing to the cucumbers right before serving.
How to make Chili Oil in an Instant Pot
Ever eat at a Chinese restaurant and they have that chili oil at the table? Then you end up putting it on everything because it’s so damn good. Well now it’s time to learn how to make it for a fraction of the price of the store bought brands. Making this couldn’t be easier using the Instant Pot. The most important thing in making this chili oil is to not burn the ingredients. You want to keep the oil between 225 and 250 degrees. The Instant Pot has a custom temperature setting which makes making this street free. You can still make this on a stove top if you don’t have an Instant Pot. Just make sure to use a cane thermometer to make sure the oil doesn’t get too hot. If the ingredients burn, you will have to start over.Most cultures have some sort of chili oil in their cuisine, all made very similarly. This recipe is for a Chinese style chili oil, so I used ingredients in Chinese cooking. If you were to make a chili oil for Italian cuisine, you would you’d Italian crushed chili flakes and maybe some garlic and dried herbs in the oil. So experiment with making different oils. The chili flake is always the main ingredient, followed by aromatics steeping in the oil.
Ingredients
- 2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 large cinnamon stick
- 5 star anise
- 3 tbsp Szechuan peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup crushed Szechuan chili flakes
Instructions
- Set your Instant Pot to the sauté function. Choose custom temp. Set to 230 degrees, Add your oil, cinnamon stick, star anise, peppercorns, and bay leaves to the Instant Pot. Cook for 30 minutes, giving an occasional stir. Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Put the crushed chili flakes in a mason jar. Take a small piece of cheese cloth and put it over the jar, with a rubber band around it to hold in place.
- Take out the cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Pour the oil into the mason jar. The cheese cloth will catch all of the peppercorns and star anise..
- Screw on the cover and let cool to room temp. Refrigerate up to 6 months.
Singapore Curry Noodles
Singapore Curry Noodles
While this stir fried noodle dish isn’t really from Singapore, you can find it on just about every Chinese take out menu. While there’s nothing difficult in cooking these noodles, there are a lot of steps to completion. It is all worth it in the end.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 12 shrimp 16/20 ct, peeled and deveined
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 tsp fish sauce
- 8 oz rice stick noodles
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Shaoxing cooking wine
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 1/4 lb bbq pork sliced
- 1/2 medium onion sliced thin
- 1 small red bell pepper sliced thin
- 12 snow peas sliced
- 1 small carrot julienned
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 2 green onions thinly sliced
- salt to taste
- 2 tsp sesame oil
Instructions
- Marinate the shrimp with 1 tsp vegetable oil and 1/2 tsp of fish sauce. Set aside.
- Pour boiling water over the rice noodles. Let sit for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Mix together the garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, shaoxing wine, white pepper, and sugar. Set aside.
- Heat up 1 tsp of cooking oil in a wok or large sauté pan over high heat. Pour in the eggs and let set for 10 seconds.
- Scramble and set aside in a bowl.
- Wipe the pan clean. Add in 2 tsp of cooking oil. Toss in the shrimp and sauté for 30 seconds.
- Add in the pork and onions. Sauté for 30 seconds.
- Add in the bell pepper and snow peas. Sauté for 30 seconds.
- Add in the carrots and 1 tsp of curry powder. Sauté for 30 seconds. Season with salt. Remove everything in the pan to the bowl with eggs.
- Wipe the pan clean. Add the remaining cooking oil. Sauté the noodles for 30 seconds.
- Mix in the rest of the curry powder.
- Add back in the stir fried eggs, meat, and vegetables. Season with salt. Stir fry for 1 minute.
- Turn off the heat. Add in the green onions. Drizzle with sesame oil.
