豆瓣魚片(Spicy fish fillet and tofu)

This is a variation of a similar dish I had from a local restaurant.  It is a very popular dish among my kids and friends, so I make it a lot for parties.

Ingredients:

2 white fish fillets (in Chinese markets, it is called 龍利魚片, sold in bags)
1 box of silken tofu (I use 山水嫩豆腐 in purple color box)
dry wood ears a few (黑木耳）

Hot bean sauce 2 TSP (哈哈辣豆瓣, see picture to the right)
酒糧 1.5 TSP (I don't know its English name, something like sweet rice wine?  It is the thing you use in the sesame rice ball soup.  A few friends of mine make them at home so I always have some supply in my frig.  In the market, the best brand name is 吳老吉.  You can also use sugar and white cooking wine 1TSB each instead)
ginger, white pepper, garlic and scallion for seasoning

Steps:

1. Soften the dry wood ears in water.  It may take a couple of hours.  You can use warm water to save some time.  Split the softened wood ears into about 1 inch squares.
2. Clean the fish fillets.  Cut it in half along the long side of the fillet, then slice them into 1 inch square pieces.  Put your knife in 10 degree angle parallel to the fish when you slice it to make the piece thinner.  Add half teaspoon salt, a pinch of white peper, 2 teaspoon white cooking wine, some stripes of ginger to marinate the fish for 30 minutes or longer (put them in the refrigerator)
3. Take out the tofu (be careful, they are very easy to break).  Cut them into 1 inch thin squares.  Make them very thin, like quarter inch thick to match with the thickness of the fish.  
4. Chop garlic finely and cut scallions into small pieces.
5. In a small bowl, mix hot bean sauce, 酒糧, 1 TSP light color soy sauce and 1 TSP water.
6. Take the fish out from the refrigerator,  add I TSB corn starch in fish and mix it well so that all the fish pieces are coated with corn starch (Without this step, the fish will be easy to break into flakes when you cook them.  It also add some thickness in the sauce of the final product)
7. Heat  4 TSB vegetable oil in a big wok in high heat.  Put in the fish and spread the pieces apart.  Turn the pieces over when one side is cooked (the color is changed from a little pink to white).
8. When the fish is mostly done,  push them to the side of the wok and leave the center open (with remaining oil).  Put in garlic and the mixed sauce, stir and let them sizzle for a minute or so.  Add wood ears and tofu. Now carefully mix the ingredient together with the sauce.  I usually add some water so that the sauce can cover the food.  DO NOT STIR FRY tofu, you will end up with not a single piece of tofu intact.  Move your spatula along the bottom of the wok from one side to the other slowly, do not flip the food like you usually do when you stir fry.
9. Now turn the heat to low, cover it up and let it cook for 4-5 minutes.  Sprinkle the scallion before you take the food out.

炸醬麵 (noodle in ground pork bean sauce)

This is a common Northern China dry noodle dish.  You can find it in most of the Chinese noodle restaurants.  It is tasty and easy to make and can be served as a whole meal because it has vegetables, carb (noodle), and meat.  My whole family like it very much.

Ingredients:

Ground pork 1lb
Bean curbs 2 pieces (optional)
Bean Sauce 2 TB
Sweet Bean Sauce 2TB
dry shrimps some (optional)
garlic 3 cloves (optional)
scallion 2 stems
Dry or fresh Chinese noodles
carrot 1/2 stick
cucumber 1 pc
bean sprout some (optional)

Steps: 

The meat sauce

1. Marinate the ground pork with 2 teaspoon corn starch, 1 table spoon soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add some minced ginger root, let it sit for 30 minutes.
2. Soften dry shrimps in warm water for 10 minutes and mince them.  mince the garlic and chopped the scallions.
3. I don't usually add bean curbs in the sauce, but I know a lot of people like to add bean curbs.  This time, I happen to have two pieces left, so I added it in.  Chop the bean curbs finely. I sliced the it horizontally into three slices first, then cut them in each direction.
4. In a big wok, heat 5 Table spoon vegetable oils, then add the pork.  Separate the meat with a spatula and stir until the meat change color. Push the meat to the side of the wok, there should be oil left in the center of the wok.  Put in minced dry shrimps and garlics and 2 tablespoon of bean sauce and 2 table spoon of sweet bean sauce (see picture on the right, you can find those in a Chinese supermarket)  Then mix the meat with the sauce, add 3 or 4 table spool water.   Note most of people only use bean sauce for the meat sauce, but it is very salty.  Adding equal amount of sweet bean sauce makes it less salty and with some sweet taste.    Turn the heat to low, cover it and let it cook for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle the chopped scallions on top of the meat sauce and put it in a big bowl (see picture at the top)

The vegetables

I like to  add some shredded vegetables in the noodle.  You can use one or more different vegetables.  In the restaurant, they only use cucumbers, I usually use carrots, cucumbers and bean sprouts.  Carrots and cucumbers are raw, bean spouts has to be boiled for a couple of minutes.  You can use the big American cucumber or the thin Japanese cucumber.  You have to peel the skin if you use American cucumber and you can leave the skin on if you use the thin Japanese cucumber.  

The noodles

Nowadays, Chinese supermarkets sell fresh Chinese noodles, they tasted way better than the dry noodles in boxes.  I like to buy 安泰麵廠 台式陽春麵。It comes in a big bag. You can break them into rolls, one roll can make a bowl of noodles.  Remember to put the unused raw noodles in the freezer.  It will be molded if you leave them in the refrigerator.  If you put them in the freezer, it can last for a long time.  If you can't find fresh noodles, use the dry ones is fine.  Just cook them according to the instruction on the box or taste it to check if the noodle is cooked.  Make sure you have enough water in the pot when you cook the noodle. 

Now, you just add the meat sauce and vegetable and here you go!!

蒜苗臘肉 (Stir Fry Chinese Ham with Leeks)

Today is  January 16th in the lunar calendar -- the day after the lantern festival.  It is a bit late to post this traditional Chinese New Year dish... so maybe for the next year.

When I was young,  every household in Taiwan made sausages and hams (香腸，臘肉) for Chinese New Year.  I remember that I helped my mom to prepare the sausages by stuffing marinated pork chunks into intestines, tie them up into small segments and hang them up using bamboo sticks to dry.  Nowadays,  you can buy prepackaged sausages and  hams all year long, so you don't need to wait for Chinese New Year to enjoy this traditional new year dishes.

Ingredients:

• Chinese ham -- half package (there are several brands in the Chinese market, I usually buy 新東陽湖南臘肉）
• one carrot
• half bundle of Chinese leek (青蒜）－this is usually only available in the Chinese market during new year time.  If you can't find it, use American leeks instead.
• 2-3 dried red peppers

Steps:

1.  Slice chinese ham into thin slices.  If it is too tough to cut, steam it for 10 minutes and slice it when it is cool.  
2. Cut the carrots into thin slices.  To make the slices look pretty (like the diamond shape in the  picture to the right).  You first cut the carrots into one-inch segments in 45 degree angle.  Then you turn the segment flat side down and slice it along the long side.  
3.  Chinese leeks are thinner than the American leeks (see picture to the right), but it has stronger garlic flavor.  Split the stem in half by cutting along the stem, then slice them diagonally into thin strips. 
4. Cut the red peppers into strips
5. Heat three table spoon vegetable oil in a wok, put in carrots and red peppers and a half tea spoon salt and stir fry them until carrots are tender.  Note the ham may be salty, taste it first.  If it is very salty,  don't add salt at all.
6. Add ham and mix it with carrots well.  If the ham is steamed first, you only need to cook them for a minute or so, if not, stir fry until the ham is cooked, may be 2-3 minutes.  Add a tea spoon of light soy sauce and a tea spoon of sugar for flavor.  
7. Add leeks at the end and mix them well until the leeks are soft.  Do not over cook leeks.  

Happy Chinese New Year!