Stewed Tofu with Tomatoes (蕃茄豆腐)

Learning how to cook was driven by a very practical, and somewhat urgent, need to cook for my aging mom, in February, 2014.  As a beginner, this was one of the first dishes I tried.  Even though it's been made countless times in the past months, it's never written up as a recipe.  Now we've come to an end of 2015, a year not quite like other years in my ordinary life, it seems only right to close this year with an ordinary dish.  Have a Healthy and Happy 2016!

1. Tomato (2, or 4 Roma Tomatoes) rinsed and cut into bite size.
2. Tofu (1 box of Silken Tofu, 16-24 oz) sliced and diced into larger bite size.
3. Optionally, marinate ~1/4 lb of ground pork (with 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of rice cooking wine, and 1 Tbsp of corn starch).  Let sit for 20-30 minutes..
4. Heat 2-3 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a flat bottom cooking pan (at high heat).  (Optionally) Place the ground pork in the pan, flatten with a spatula (to break up the pork), then stir.  Continue to flatten and stir for 2-3 minutes.  
5. Add tomato pieces into the pan.  Add 2 Tbsp of soy sauce and stir for another minute.
6. Add the tofu pieces in.  Season with 1/4 tsp of salt and 2-3 Tbsp of Oyster Sauce (蠔油).  Stir the content in the pot gently until evenly mixed.  Season to taste with salt.
7. Cover and bring the pot to boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes. Garnish with minced stallions and serve.  Here is a picture of the finished product.
   

Diced Chicken Wrapped in Lotus Leaf (荷葉糯米雞)

This is a Cantonese dish served in almost all dim-sum places, a seemingly plain dish, with its unique Cantonese flavor, that is created by combining Soy Sauce, Oyster Sauce (蚝油), and Fish Sauce (魚露).  The lotus leaf imparts an intoxicatingly fragrant smell to the wrapped content.

1. [Prepare the Wrap] Buy a pack of dried lotus leaf from a Chinese market.  Soak 4 pieces of the large-sized dried leaf in a kitchen sink, till soft (for ~30 minutes), rinse the leaves and brush the surface lightly, then cut into 4 quarters.  In the meantime, heat enough water in a stock pot till boiling, and drop the 4 quarters from each lotus leaf into the pot.  When all the leaves are in the stock pot, bring to boil and steam for 2-3 minutes.  Note- Each lotus leaf is a full circle (in 6" - 8" diameter), when softened and expanded, which can be cut into 4 segments.  Each segment is a quarter circle, in fan shape.
2. [Prepare the Sweet Rice- Cook] Soak 2 cups of round sweet rice (圓糯米) in water for 8 hours or overnight.  Strain out water and rinse the rice a couple of times. Place the sweet rice in a rice cooker, add water into the rice cooker based on the cooking instructions of the rice cooker, and cook the rice.  Note- (1) 1 measuring cup =1 & 1/3 rice-cooker-cups (in my kitchen).  The 2 measuring cups of sweet rice used here amounts to 2 & 2/3 rice-cooker-cups, which requires adding water into the rice cooker to the marker 3 (2&2/3 to be exact).  I let the rice cooker do its job, steaming for ~15 minutes and leaving the cover closed for ~15 minutes.  The result was quite good, except that the rice seems a bit too sticky, as opposed to being soft and not-too-sticky. (2) We experimented with placing a small amount of sweet rice in the microwave oven (rice soaked overnight and covered in water in a bowl), and heating 1 minute a time, stirring to make sure it's not boiling over, and repeating this process 5 times.  After 3 minutes, the sweet rice is fully cooked, soft, but not sticky at all.  The stickiness increases significantly as we progress from 3, to 4, to 5 minutes.  On next try, will use half rice and half sweet rice (or, 3 parts rice and 1 part sweet rice) to reduce stickiness.  (3) We also experimented with using uncooked sweet rice, which turned out to be hard to season and took longer to cook (not fully soft after 1.5 hours of steaming, mainly because there was not enough water for the rice to absorb and turn soft in a steamer).
3. [Prepare the Sweet Rice- Season] Add the following into a measuring cup and mix evenly: 4 Tbsp of Soy Sauce (1/4 cup), 2 Tbsp of Vegetable Oil, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of sugar, 2 Tbsp of Oyster Sauce (蚝油) and 2 tsp of Fish Sauce (魚露).  While the sweet rice is still in the rice cooker (on warmer), use a tea spoon to gradually add the seasoning mix into the rice, stir and mix thoroughly with the spatula that came with the rice cooker until the flavor of the rice is to your liking (please take care NOT to make the rice too salty).
4. [Prepare the Filling] Get ~ 1/2 lb of boneless, skinless chicken thigh (or lean pork), trim excess fat, and cut into smaller chunks (1/4" - 1/2" square).  Soak 15-20 dried shrimps in water for 10-15 minutes, and mince.  Soak 8-10 dried mushrooms in water for 25-30 minutes, remove stems, and cut into smaller chunks (1/4" - 1/2" square).  Heat 1-2 Chinese Sausages (香腸) in the microwave oven for 1 minute (to soften), and cut into smaller bite size.   Now, add 1-2 Tbsp of vegetable oil into a flat bottom cooking pan, and turn on high heat.  Place the mushroom chunks, minced dry shrimp, and Chinese sausage chunks in the pan, and stir for 2-3 minutes.  Add the chicken chunks, season with 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of oyster sauce, and 1/2 tsp of salt, and stir for another 2-3 minutes.  Optionally, cut 1-2 salted egg yolks (鹹蛋黃) into smaller chunks and set aside.
   
5. Now spread sweet rice on a quarter-circle of lotus leaf (to form a 3" x 3" square or 3" x 4" rectangle).  Start spreading the rice about 2" from the bottom and 2" from the right edge.  Add the filling (and some salted egg yolk chunks, optional) on top of the sweet rice rectangle, and add a small chunk of sweet rice on top (not too much on top).  Fold the bottom edge up, then the left and right edge, to form a square packet.  See picture to the right for a few wrapped rectangle packets.
6. Steam the wrapped packets with a steaming pot for 60 minutes.  Here is a picture of the finished product.
   

Pearl Balls (珍珠丸子) & Braised Lion Head (紅燒獅子頭)

These are two ground pork based dishes, both genuinely authentic, easy to make, and delicious to taste.  The first recipe below, Pearl Balls (珍珠丸子), i.e., Small Chinese Meatballs rolled in Sweet Rice, originated from Hubei Province (湖北, Shanghai's upstream sister along the Yangtze River), and became popular in Shanghai region, esp. as a Chinese New Year dish. The second recipe, Braised Lion Head (紅燒獅子頭), i.e., Large Chinese Meatballs braised in Soy Sauce, is a well-liked Shanghai region dish, esp. when it is served in a cold winter night.

I. Pearl Balls (珍珠丸子, Small Chinese Meatballs rolled in Sweet Rice)  Note- remember to soak 1 cup of sweet rice overnight before doing anything (see Step 3 below).

1. [Prepare the Pork Paste] Place ~2 lbs of ground pork (or, grind a pork butt and use 2 lbs) in a large mixing bowl.  Gradually stir in ~1 cup of water (1/2 cup for firmer meatballs) in circular motion in single direction (either clockwise or counterclockwise, but one direction only), till the pork turns into paste form (5-6 minutes).  Add 1 medium-sized onion (minced), 1 8-oz can of water chestnut (minced), 1 egg, 1/4 - 1/2 box of Tofu, 1 tsp of salt, 4 Tbsp of soy sauce, and 1/2 tsp of white pepper, into the mixing bowl.  Stir vigorously in the same single direction again, for 3-4 minutes.  Note- Cut the salt and soy sauce to half if you like mild-tasted meatballs.
2. [Make the Meatballs] Use one large spoon to scoop up enough pork paste to make a meatball that is ~3/4" - 1" in diameter.  Pass the paste between one spoon and the other, to form a ball.  Set aside the meatball.  Repeat this process 12 -16 times (enough for a full plate).  
3. [Make the Pearl Balls] Soak 1 cup of sweet rice in water overnight (or 6-8 hours).  Strain out the water, and spread the sweet rice in a large pate.  Roll each meatball in the sweet rice until the meatball is fully covered with the rice (now, that is a Pearl Ball).  Place the pearl ball in a glass or ceramic container that is suitable for steaming later (I used a 8" x 8" glass baking pan that could fit 16 pearl balls).  Repeat this process until all pearl balls are placed in the container. Spread the remaining sweet rice evenly into the cracks of the pearl balls.  
4. Steam the pearl balls for 60 minutes in a steaming pot (no need to cover the container with plastic wrap), and serve.  Here is a picture of the finished product.　
   

II. Braised Lion Head (紅燒獅子頭, Large Chinese Meatballs braised in Soy Sauce)

1. [Prepare the Pork Paste] Same as above, and use the remainder of the pork paste after making 12-16 pearl balls.
2. [Make the Lion Heads] Add 1/4" deep of vegetable oil into a deep non-stick flat bottom cooking pan. Turn on high heat.  Use a small-to-medium sized soup ladle to scoop up enough pork paste to make a large meatball (~3" in diameter).  Place the paste in one palm, and pass the paste between one palm and the other plam, back and forth, to make the paste form a ball.  Place the meatball back in the soup ladle and slide the meatball into the pan (now with the oil near smoke point, ~400-degF).  Sear both sides of the meatball till brown (check the bottom of the meatball regularly).  Repeat this process until you have enough to fill the cooking pan.  A seared large meatball is known as a Lion Head (獅子頭).  After searing, set aside the lion heads.
3. Rinse and chop half a Napa Cabbage into larger bite size (~2" x 2", or larger).  In a fresh flat bottom cooking pan, place the Napa Cabbage pieces at the bottom until fully covered.  Add into the pan: 6-8 dried mushrooms and a cup of dried black fungus (both reconstituted and cut into bite size).  Turn on high heat, add 1/4 cup of soy sauce (i.e., 4 Tbsp), 1/4 cup of water, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of sugar.  Place 4-5 Lion Heads on top of the Napa Cabbage pieces.  Bring to pot to boil, and let simmer for 30 minutes with lid on.  Optionally, during the last 30 minutes of simmering, soak some mung bean noodle (bean vermicelli, 粉絲) in water till soft (~5 minutes), then drop it into the simmering pot at the very end (~3 minutes, add water if the mung bean noodle absorbs all the fluid).  Here is a picture of the finished product.
   

Holiday Main Dishes- Kalua Pork and Stuffed Pork Loin Roll (夏威夷烤豬肉，厘肌肉卷)

It's the Thanksgiving in 2015, the beginning of the Holiday Season. We were trying to come up with a main dish or two for our family get-together in Northern California.  Here they are, delicious, authentic, and easy to make!  

The Kalua Pork is usually the main dish in a Hawaiian Luau, which takes 6-8 hours or longer to cook, when wrapped in banana leaves and roasted in a fire pit known as an Imu.  The recipe below is adapted from America's Test Kitchen's Pressure Cooker Cookbook and combined with a couple of online recipes.  The cooking time is 1.5 hours, and the result satisfying!  The stuffed pork loin roll was also adapted from half a dozen online recipes.

I. Kalua Pork (夏威夷烤豬肉)

1. Get a 4-6 pound piece of pork shoulder, or pork butt.  I used half of a Costco pork shoulder pack (boneless and skinless, with fat trimmed).
2. Make crisis-cross deep cut into the pork surface on both sides.  Sprinkle liberally sea salt (or kosher salt), black pepper, and brown sugar, and rub them into the meat (one side of the meat at a time).
3. Place the meat into a 6-Quart (or bigger) pressure cooker.  Sprinkle green tea leaves liberally (2-3 Tbsp), and Liquid Smoke sparingly (2-3 tsp, drizzled all over the top surface). Let sit for 2-3 hours. 
4. Dissolve 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp liquid smoke into 2 cups of water.  Pour the water into pressure cooker (lift meat to allow water to flow under the meat).  Close the pressure cooker lid and place the cooker top on properly.
5. Turn on high heat to allow the pressure cooker to reach High Pressure.  Maintain High Pressure at medium heat for 1.5 hours (high pressure is maintained as long as a steady, but slow, stream of steam comes out of the pressure cooker).  Allow to cooker to naturally release its pressure (15-20 minutes).  Open the lid, let the meat rest under the loosely covered lid for 15 minutes. 
6. Scoop the meat out into a large plate.  Carve and serve with rice, and Hawaiian Coleslaw, i.e., a mixture of cabbage and carrots (sliced, or Julienne-sliced), small chunks of pineapple (diced from fresh or canned pineapple), seasoned with Mayo, Dijon Mustard, salt, sugar, and Vinegar (or lemon juice) to taste.  Here is a picture of the finished product (garnished with cherry tomatoes).
   

II. Stuffed Pork Loin Roll (厘肌肉卷)

1. Get a 3-4 pound piece of pork loin.  I used a Costco pork poin pack.
2. Cut the pork loin into 8-10" chunks (6" long chunks seem a bit too short to wrap stuffing in), 
3. Butterfly the pork loin (see this video for the technique).  A picture of pork loin butterflied into 3 folds is shown to the right here.  Note- Butterflying the pork loin into 3 folds seems to produce a thick sheet of meat, even after some vigorous pounding under plastic wrap.  Will butterfly into 4 folds next time, and report back.
4. Trim the fat from pork loin with a pair of kitchen scissors (keep some fat for flavor).
5. Marinate pork loin with salt and pepper (liberally sprinkle sea salt, or kosher salt, and black pepper on both sides and rub), and set aside for 2-3 hours.
6. Prepare the Stuffing:  Place 4-6 pieces of bacon into a dry frying pan.  Turn on low heat and fry the bacon till browned, but not crispy.  Take out the bacon strips, chop into smaller chunks, and set aside. Turn on medium-to-high heat.  Place minced garlic (4-6 cloves) and sliced mushroom (a box, 8-oz) into the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes.  Add baby spinach (leaves only, 1 bag, 8 oz) into the pan, stir and mix for 1-2 minutes.  Add 1- 1.5 cups of bread crumb into the pan, and mix all the ingredients thoroughly together.  Turn off heat.
7. Lay butterflied pork loin flatly on a cutting board (covered with wax paper).  Spoon stuffing on top of the pork loin sheet (leaving 1" of one edge without stuffing).  
8. Roll the sheet up from stuffing filled edge to the edge without stuffing.  Tie the stuffed pork loin roll tightly with cotton strings about 2" apart. 
9. Sear the pork loin roll in a frying pan at medium-to-high heat till browned (3-4 minutes each side)   A picture of 4 rolls placed in a skillet before searing is shown to the right here.
10. Preheat the oven to 350-deg-F.  Place the rolls in a baking pan, and bake for 45 mins. Let the rolls rest under tented aluminum foil for 15 mins.  Cut off the strings with kitchen scissors, and cut the rolls into 1/2"-thick slices and serve (or 1/4"-thick slices, once the rolls are refrigerated). 

Traditional Shanghai Soup with Fresh and Salted Pork (醃篤鮮)

This is a very traditional Shanghai soup, with a lively Shanghai-style Chinese name.  The first word, 醃 (curing meat), points to Salted Pork, the second word, 篤 (stewing), talks about the cooking process (stew slowly in covered pot), and the third word, 鮮 (fresh ingredients), refers to the fresh pork.  The soup is supposed to be white, and the flavor rich (湯白味濃).

1. [Make Salted Pork] Get a piece of pork leg meat, with skin (usually in ~3"x3"x 6" size).  Cut into 3 long slices each in ~1" thick, ~3" tall, ~6" long (with skin).  Rub salt and sprinkle Sichuan Peppercorns (花椒) on both sides of each slice. Let air dry (uncovered) in fridge for 5 - 7'days. Store in a plastic bag in the freezer if not used immediately.  For this soup, rinse and blanch half of a slice of the salted pork.  Cut it into bite size (~1/2" x 1/2" x 1.5", keep the skin) and set aside.
2. Cut 4-6 oz of fresh pork (pork butt, pork shoulder, or pork belly, with skin) into similar bite size as the Salted Pork.
3. Get a pack of Soy Sheet Knots (百頁結, see product package to the right).  Use half a pack for this soup.
   
4. Cut 2-3 pieces of Winter Bamboo Shoots (冬筍) into triangular bite size and Spring Bamboo Shoots (春筍) into 1/2" segments.
5. Get 4-6 stalks of Bok Choy ready (pick apart, and rinse)
6. [Make the Stock] Get a bag of beef bone, rinse, blanch for 2-3 minutes.  Place the bones in a fresh soup pot.  Fill the pot with water to 70-80% capacity.  Bring to boil at high heat.  Skim off foams and stuff.  Keep the pot in vigorous boiling state at medium-to-high heat for 30 minutes (cover the lid, make sure the soup does not boil over and spill).  The soup should be turning almost milk white at this point, as the fat content dissolves into water at high heat.  Skim off oil.  Continue to let the soup simmer in covered pot for 2 - 2.5 hours.  
7. [Make the Soup] Add about 3 - 4 cups of the stock (prepared in Step 6) into a fresh soup pot.  Add the salted pork, fresh pork, soy sheet knots, and bamboo shoots prepared in Step 1-4 above into the pot.  Fill the pot with water to cover the ingredients.  Add 2-3 stalks of scallions (cut into 2" segments), 6-8 slices of ginger, 10-12 pieces of dried shrimp (蝦米), 1 tsp of salt, 2 Tbsp of Rice Cooking Wine, 3 Tbsp of Shao-hsing Rice Wine (紹興酒). Bring the pot to boil, and let simmer for 1.5 - 2 hours.  
8. Season to taste with salt.  Place the Bok Choy (prepared in Step 5) in the pot to steam for 1-2 minutes.  Now the soup is ready to serve.  See picture below for finished product (with half of the stock and half of this dish's own clear soup). Note- The flavor of the meat pieces is all in the soup now.  There is almost no need to consume the meat.
   

Hong-Kong-style Turnip Cake (港式蘿蔔糕)

This item has been on the honey-do list for quite a while.  We always order this dish when we go to a dim-sum restaurant.  We can buy it in Phoenix (鳳城) bakery in Southern California a week or two before the Chinese New Year every year, or in Chinese markets in frozen form.  As a result, there are at least 2-3 quality benchmarks for any home-made product to live up to.  Objectively speaking, even though it's not a fancy food item, it's hard to do right, because the texture must be soft, but not mushy, and the taste must be flavorful, but not too rich.  I finally gathered enough courage to try it, based on several online sources, notably a YouTube video in Cantonese soundtrack (for its cooking method) and several online recipes in Chinese (for ingredients and seasoning).  The result seems promising.  Here it is.

1. Get ~3 lbs of Turnip (aka Daikon, 3 larger ones), peel, and rinse.  Cut along it's length into ~3" chunks, then slice into half (careful!), place the flat side facing down, and further cut into long slices of ~1/4" x 1/4" x 2"-3".  Note- Please cut with care.  Form a tightly-held claw in your non-cutting hand to hold the turnip, as shown in the picture in this post.
2. Place the slices of turnip into a large pot (10-12" in diameter).  Add 8 cups of water into the pot,  Set the pot aside on cooktop or stove (don't turn on heat until Step 6 below).  
   
3. In a large mixing bowl, add 4 & 3/4 cups of rice flour (再來米粉, aka 粘米粉, see the left-hand-side image for product package), 1 & 3/4 cups of wheat starch (澄粉, i.e., all purpose flour with gluten removed, see the right-hand-side image for product package), and 3/4 cup of corn starch (粟粉).  Add 3 tsp of salt, 2 tsp of sugar, and 1 tsp of white pepper into the bowl.  Mix evenly.  Gradually add 4 cups of water into the bowl, while stirring the mix constantly with a strong egg whisk until there are no clumps in the mix. 
4. Soften 10-12 pieces of dry mushrooms (soak in water for ~ 1 hr, remove stems, squeeze out water, and dice into 1/4"-square of chunks), and ~20 pcs of dry shrimps (soak in water for 15 - 20 minutes, chop into smaller chunks)  
5. Heat 3 pieces of Taiwanese Sausages (香腸) and a piece of 2" x 3" of Chinese Cured Pork (臘肉) in Microwave (or in boiling water) for 1 minute, such that the pieces are easier to slice and dice.  Cut both types of meat into 1/4"-square of chunks.  
6. Bring the pot with turnip slices to boil, and let simmer in covered pot till the turnip slices are soft (~10 minutes).
7. Place the meat chunks prepared in Step 5 into a dry frying pan, turn on medium heat, and stir for 2-3 minutes.  Add dried shrimps and dried mushrooms.  Now, season with 1 Tbsp of Sesame Oil, 2 Tbsp of Oyster Sauce, 3 Tbsp of Fried Shallot (油蔥酥), and stir for another 2-3 minutes.  Pour all these ingredients into the dry mix (in Step 3), and whisk till thoroughly mixed.  Pour this combined mix into a large stock pot.
8. Pour the burning-hot turnip slices and water slowly into the large stock pot (be very careful!).  Immediately stir and mix the content in the stock pot together thoroughly, by whisking vigorously, until the content in the stock pot is turned into thick paste, with discernible turnip slices, meat chunks, and mushroom bits.
9. Use a heat-resistant spatula to get the still-hot mixed-paste into 2-3 oiled baking containers that are suitable for steaming later. Alternatively, line the bottom of the baking containers with plastic wrap, instead of oiling them. Note- I used two 8"-square and one 4"x 8" containers, all made of glass.  Costco’s Plastic Food Wrap is food-safe, and also safe in a steamer (vs in an oven), where the steam keeps the temperature inside the steamer between 212-degF and 240-degF. 
10. Cover the baking containers with plastic wrap.  Place the covered baking containers into a steamer.  After full steam is built up at high heat, steam at medium-to-high heat for 75 minutes.  Check to see if the steam coming out of the top of the steamer has subsided, if the water in the bottom pot runs low (For a 12"-diameter steaming pot, 75 minutes of steaming consumes less than 1" deep of water.).  Note- The 4"x 8" container was covered in plastic wrap and cooked in the Microwave Oven for 3 minutes x 5 sessions.  Take a look to make sure the content is not boiling over in between sessions.  The result of 15-minute Microwave cooking seems to be the same as steaming.
11. Let the now-fully-cooked turnip cakes cool overnight.  Fry pieces of the cake in a pan with vegetable oil at medium heat till brown and slightly crispy, and serve with a dipping sauce of a mixture of Soy Paste and Sweet and Spicy Sauce.  Here is a picture of the finished product (the pieces seem to be broken down a bit at cutting time).
    
12. Here is a stir-fried turnip cake dish that's worth doing (for dinner).  Cut a chunk of turnip cake into 1/2"-thick slices, and fry them as suggested in Step 11.  Take the slices out, let cool, cut into 1/2" x 1/2" x 1&1/2" chunks, and set aside.  Stir-fry some vegetables, such as carrots and onion (sliced, and saute'd till soft first), add the turnip cake chunks, season with Oyster Sauce and XO Sauce (add a small amount of water), stir for 1-2 minutes, and turn off heat.  Then mix in some thinly sliced scallions, and serve (as shown in the picture below, as to the veggies, adding sliced green peppers and mum bean spouts won't be a bad idea!).
    

Hakka Stir-Fry (客家小炒)

Unlike the Hakka Steam Pot (客家三封) that seems to be a hidden treasure, this traditional Hakka dish is widely known in Taiwan, especially as a dish to accompany alcoholic beverages (下酒菜).  It's delicious and a delight to prepare for the whole family!

1. Prepare the ingredients: (1) Dry squid (cut into thicker slices first, soak in water to soften for 2 hours or more, cut with care); (2) Lean pork (1/4 lb, slice, and marinate with 1 Tbsp corn starch, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, and 1 Tbsp rice cooking wine); (3) bean curds (2 pieces, sliced horizontally 2-3 times, then vertically once); (4) Celery (2-3 stems, cut into 1.5" segments, then slice); (4) garlic (3-4 cloves, sliced); (5) hot peppers (1 green and 1 dry red, sliced); (5) scallion (4-5 stalks, smash and slice into 1.5" segments); (6) [optional] Leek (蒜苗, do 30-degree slanted cut along its length into 1" - 1.5" pieces).
2. Add 2-3 Tbsp of vegetable oil into a flat bottom cooking pan.  Add sliced lean pork into the pan.  Turn on high heat.  Stir-fry till pork is half-cooked (meat beginning to turn white, 1-2 minutes), and set aside.  Strain oil back into the pot.
3. Add 2-3 Tbsp of vegetable oil into the pot (high heat).  Add sliced bean curds into the pot.  Stir and fry the bean curds till lightly golden and slightly crispy (3-4 minutes), and set aside.  Strain oil back into the pot.
4. Add 1-2 Tbsp of vegetable oil into the pot (medium heat). Add hot peppers and garlic, and stir for a minute. Add squid and bean curds (high heat). Add 1/4 cup of water, season with 3 Tbsp of rice wine, 2 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of oyster sauce, 1/4 tsp of salt, and let cook for 3-4 minutes in covered pot.
5. Add celery and leek (optional). Add pork. Stir for 2-3 minutes. Finally, add scallions and stir for 20-30 seconds. Turn off heat.
6. Sprinkle sesame oil and 1/4 tsp of white pepper on top.  Mix thoroughly, and serve. Here is a picture of the finished product.