Bean Sprouts with Three Shreds (銀芽三絲)

This is quite a treat, an all-vegetable treat, that's surely enjoyable for meat-lovers and for those who may not have liked veggies that much (no greens in this dish :-). This dish can be chilled and served cold as an appetizer, good on a hot summer day.  BTW, Din Tai Fung's appetizer, Seaweed and Beancurd in Vinegar Dressing, might have been derived from this traditional Shanghai-style appetizer.

1. [Prepare the Veggies] (1) Rinse ~8oz (half pound) of sprouts, and (optionally) remove both tips from each sprout (綠豆芽, aka 銀芽); (2) Peel 1-2 carrots and and shred with a Julian Slicer (紅蘿蔔絲); (3) Soak 10-12 wood ears in water for 60 minutes, remove harder knots, and cut into thin slices (木耳絲); (4) thinly slice 6-8 chunks of green onions (蔥絲). 
2. [Sauté the Veggies] Add 2-3 Tbsp of vegetable oil into a flat bottom cooking pan. Turn on medium-to-high heat, add shredded carrots into the pan, stir for a minute. Add sliced wood ears into the pan, stir till the shredded carrots are slightly soft (2-3 minutes). Season with 1/4 tsp of salt, (optionally) 1/2 tsp of light soy sauce (Light-colored soy sauce only!), and 3 tsp of sugar. Add bean sprouts into the pan, and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add 2 tsp of white vinegar around the circumference of the pan (鍋邊醋). Turn off heat. 
3. Stir and mix the veggies thoroughly.  Season to taste with salt (1/4 tsp a time), sugar (1 tsp a time), and white vinegar (1/2 tsp a time), to your own liking of the sweet-and-sour taste.  At the end, add the sliced green onion into the pan, and stir (please note the late addition of the green onion, to keep it green). Note- Salt, Sugar, and Vinegar is the ingredients for a Shanghai-style Vinegar Dressing. 
4. Sprinkle sesame oil liberally on top of the veggies, and mix evenly.  Chill and serve cold as an appetizer. Here is a picture of the finished product. 
   

Hainanese Chicken Rice (海南雞飯)

A Facebook friend asked about this dish, the dish that's often referred to as Singapore's National Dish.  After looking at some online recipes and videos, we tried our hands on it, hoping to make it easy to reproduce at home. We used chicken thighs (with skin and bone), instead of a whole chicken, and the essential scallion, ginger, and garlic (蔥、薑、蒜), salt, pepper, and rice cooking wine as seasonings.  The results turned out to be quite satisfactory.  BTW, it might be interesting to compare this dish with the Spanish Rice we posted earlier this year.

1. [Prepare the chicken] Take about 3 pounds of chicken thighs (with skin and bone), rinse thoroughly, trim off excess fat, and rub a thin layer of salt on both sides evenly.  Let sit for about 30 minutes. Note- We used 2 packs of Costco's 6-pack chicken thighs,
2. [Cook the chicken] Place the chicken thighs in a medium-sized pot.  Add 4 cups of water, and 3-4 chunks of scallions (chopped into 2-3 inches segments), 6-8 thick larger slices of ginger, 3-4 cloves of garlic (peel and press flat with the side of chef's knife).  Season with 3-4 Tbsp of Rice Cooking Wine and 1/2 tsp of salt.  Turn on high heat, bring to boil, reduce to low heat, cover the lid, and let simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off heat, but leave the lid on for another 10 minutes.  Take out the chicken pieces, rub a thin layer of sesame oil and salt on both sides of the chicken, and let cool.  Filter out the stuff in the chicken soup and set the soup aside. Note- Use the poke-through test to determine if the chicken is fully cooked.  The chicken is fully cooked if a single chopstick can easily poke through the chicken meat and the fluid coming out of the meat is clear (with NO pinkish color).
3. [Prepare the rice] Rinse 3 cups of long-grained rice and soak the rice in water for 20 minutes.  Drain the water out from the rice thoroughly.  Set aside.  Note- This step can be conducted while the chicken is being marinated in Step 1.
4. [Prepare the seasoning for the rice] Mince and set aside 10-12 chunks of scallions, 5-6 inches of ginger, and 3-4 cloves of garlic. 
5. [Cook the rice] Add 2-3 Tbsp of veggie oil (or sesame oil) into a large-sized flat-bottom non-stick cooking pan.  Turn on medium-to-high heat.  Add 1/3 of minced scallions and ginger and all the minced garlic (from Step 4), and (optionally) 2-3 Tbsp of Fried Shallots (油蔥酥), into the pan.  Stir and cook till fragrant.  Add the rice prepared in Step 3 into the pot.  Stir constantly for 5-6 minutes.  Then pour 3 cups of chicken soup prepared in Step 2. Stir evenly, cover the lid, bring to boil, reduce to low heat, and let simmer for 5-6 minutes (with the lid on).  Stir the rice, and turn on medium-to-high heat.  Continue to stir until the chicken soup is fully absorbed into the rice (another 3-4 minutes).  Note- Use 3 cups of chicken soup for 3 cups of rice, i.e., equal number of cups for the soup and the rice. No need to add salt into the rice. 
6. [Prepare the dipping sauce for the chicken] Mix the remainder of the seasoning prepared in Step 4, i.e., 2/3 of the minced scallions and ginger, in a small bowl.  Add small amount of veggie oil (or sesame oil) into the mix to soak the seasoning.  Add 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of white pepper into the seasoning mix and stir evenly.  
7. [Serve the dish] Remove the bone from each chicken thigh, and cut the thigh into slices.  Place the slices on a plate.  Slice and place half a Persian Cucumber and half a tomato on the same plate.  Fill a small bowl with the cooked rice, and place the rice into the plate by carefully and slowly flipping the bowl onto the plate.  Serve the plate along with the dipping sauce (for dipping, or sprinkling on top of, the chicken slices).  Here is a picture of the finished dish.