Chinese Soups

When I lived at home, my grandma would often make big pots of soup. At one point, I used to think that the soups required a lot of ingredients and that they would be hard or complicated to make. However, after making some of the soups that grandma used to make (successfully!), I realized that they are not that complicated. Getting the ingredients are more complicated, especially when you don't live near a big city with asian markets! Many of the soups do require at least 1 hour of cooking, so if you do decide to make Chinese soups, make sure you have at least 1 hr of free time. I suppose it's possible to cook these soups with a slow cooker, which would make it easier for those of you who have busy schedules.
I believe that many of the recipes for Chinese soups were past down from generation to generation and so you would have to know someone who made soups to get the recipes for them. Nowadays, you can purchase a soup 'ingredient packet' (not exactly sure if that's what you would call it) where the ingredients are all there for you!
All in all, making Chinese soups are not complicated at all! More importantly, they're healthy and delicious :).

Here's a list of some of the soups, along with the ingredients, that my grandma used to make for us:

Watercress Soup (西洋菜雞湯) - 1 to 2 bundles of watercress, 3 to 4 honey dates, pork bones, 1-2 chopped red carrot, 1 tbsp apricot kernel (white color), salt to taste
Lotus Root Soup (莲藕烫) - 1 to 2 lotus roots, several dried mushrooms, 1-2 chopped red carrots, 3-4 honey dates, dried bean curd (this is not really suppose to be in the soup but I like to add it), salt to taste, pork bones
Winter Melon Soup (冬瓜排骨湯) - actually I this is one that my aunt likes to make, rather than my grandma, Chopped winter melon, seaweed, dried shrimp, dried mushrooms, black pepper and salt to taste
Dried Bok Choi Soup (菜乾湯) - 1 package of dried bok choi, 3-4 honey dates, 1-2 chopped red carrots, pork bones, salt to taste
Red Carrot and Green Radish Soup (青红萝卜湯) - 3 to 4 red carrots, 2 to 3 green radishes, 3 to 4 honey dates, pork bones, just be prepared for the strong smell that this soup gives when it's cooked

The amounts for each ingredient is for 1 big pot of soup. I generally use a 10 qt stock pot with water (filled to about 2 inches  from the top) to make my soups. If you use pork bones, you want to parboil the bones to before putting it into the soup. Add the ingredients and bring to a boil. Then let it simmer for 2 to 3 hours. For the winter melon soup, you can simmer for about an hour or until the melon is tender.


 Enjoy!

Tomato & Egg

This is one of the simplest dishes I've ever learned. As a college student living away from home (where I was always well-fed by grandma :P), I would often make this dish. Although I think my tomato/egg dishes come out decent, I still find my grandma's (and grandpa's) tomato/egg dish more tasty! Either way, it's still a dish worth making, especially since it is simple to make.

Ingredients

4 tomatoes, chopped (I use either roma and/or hot house tomatoes, but if you can find really red ones, they'll make your dish more colorful)
2-3 eggs, beaten
1 stalk of green onion chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
salt and sugar (amount depends on personal taste)

Steps

1. Heat oil in wok (or skillet) and add ginger, garlic and half of the green onions. Fry for several seconds.
2. Add tomatoes and fry for 1-2 minutes, add water such that the water nearly covers the tomatoes.
3. Reduce heat to a medium and allow tomatoes to simmer until they are soft and somewhat mushy
4. While tomatoes are cooking, fry the eggs in a separate pan - basically make scrambled eggs
5. Add salt and sugar to tomatoes (adjust based on your taste)
6. Add eggs and the rest of the green onions to the tomatoes, which should be soft and somewhat mushy, cook for 1 minute or so
7. Take out and eat!

Repeat while cooking

If you're like me and don't know how to speak any mandarin (well other than 'ni hao ma' = how are you) then you're in luck! I've compiled some terms (and will add more as I learn more!) that you can practice saying while you cook. Since this is a website mainly devoted to Chinese cooking and movies, these terms will naturally be related to words/characters common in Chinese cooking and movies. Hopefully, this will help with learning a bit of  mandarin (whether it's useful is another story).

*note: the blue words, pin yin, are linked to the MDBG Chinese-English word dictionary (very helpful for hearing how the word is pronounced)

Food/Cooking

green onion = 葱 - cōng​
ginger = 姜 - jiāng
garlic =  蒜 头 - suàn tóu
noodle = 面 - miàn​ ​

soup = 汤 - tāng​

congee = 粥 - zhōu​

shrimp = 虾 - xiā​
pork = 猪 肉 - zhū​ròu

beef = 牛肉 - niú​ròu​

meat =肉 - ròu​

Movies/Entertainment
 
movie = 电影 - diàn​yǐng​

Tea Eggs :)

A couple of days ago, we made tea eggs. Yes, that's right, they're eggs that are boiled in tea (and of course other spices). They are considered a tasty snack in China (and here in US too) and can be found being sold by street vendors. I would say that our tea eggs were pretty good, but maybe not as good as the ones sold by street vendors :P.

Tea egg recipe:

12 hard boiled eggs
2-3 tea bags of Black tea and/or Green tea
1/2 cup of light and dark soy sauce
5 Star anise
1 cinnamon bark
1-2 orange peels
2 tbsp sugar
10-15 peppercorns
salt to taste

Steps:

1. After the eggs have been boiled, gently crack the shell all around (this allows for marbling)
2. Place the eggs back into the pot and add enough water to cover the eggs
3. Add tea and spices into the pot
4. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 hours (or longer for a stronger taste)

Enjoy :)

Shuí Jiǎo... Success!

I finally had a successful outcome in making Shuí Jiǎo! :) Here is the recipe!

Wrap ingredients

1.25 cups of wheat starch (NOT wheat flour - they are different)
0.25 cups of rice flour
2 tbsp of tapioca starch
1 cup of boiling water
1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 tsp of salt

Shrimp Filling

20 large shrimp (from a bag of 31/40 shrimp)
1/4 small can of bamboo (thin strips)
1 - 2 tsp of soy sauce
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of sugar
1.5 tsp of cornstarch
1-2 tsp of cooking wine
a dash of black and white pepper
a dash of ground ginger

Steps:
1. Rinse and de-shell shrimp - chop about 15 shrimp into small pieces, mince the rest of the shrimp
2. Chop the thin strips of bamboo in to small cubes
3. Mix shrimp and bamboo with the rest of the shrimp filling ingredients in a bowl - set aside
4. In a mixing bowl, mix the wheat and tapioca starch and the rice flour
5. Form a well in the middle of the mixture and gradually add the boiling water
*6. Mix while pouring the boiling water - use a wooden spoon or another utensil for the mixing
7. Add the oil and salt - mix.
8.The dough should form a ball and feel like playdoh.
9. Knead the dough until it is smooth.
10. Separate dough into two equal halves and roll each half into a cylinder with 1 inch diameter.
11. Chop the cylinder into 3/4 inch parts. Take one part and flatten it between your palms and then roll it out into a round circle (approx. 3.5 inches in diameter) on a lightly floured surface. (I generally just take the edges with my hand and pull it out all around to make the circle).
12. Scoop in some filling into the center (about 1 tsp). Fold the open edges together and make pleats and press the edges together.

13. Set up a steamer, place some greens (nappa cabbage, lettuce etc..) on the steamer, and place the shia jiao on top. Steam for about 6-8 minutes or until the skins become translucent.

Enjoy!

Pork, Shrimp, Mushroom Wontons

In my attempt to make the skins for har gow, 蝦餃, or crystal shrimp dumplings, I ended making jiao zi, 餃子, skins instead. If you ever do want to make skins for the har gow, make sure you get wheat starch and not wheat flour, there is a difference or go with the har gow flour mix! I bought the wheat flour at an asian market, thinking that it was wheat starch and to my disappointment, it did not work. Oh well. I made jiao zi instead :). The har gow will be attempted again at a later date (when I actually get wheat starch). Anyway, here is a recipe for making the jiao zi filling (premade wraps can be found at any grocery store).


Pork, Shrimp, Mushroom Wontons
Filling

1/2 Lb of ground pork
~8 de-shelled raw shrimp
3 dried shitake mushrooms 
3-4 dried wood-ear mushrooms
~2 tbsp light soy sauce
~1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch 
dash of black and white pepper
dash of Chinese cooking wine

dash of garlic powder

Steps 
1. Chop the shrimp into small pieces
2. Soak mushrooms in warm water until rehydrated (very soft). Clean, drain and chop into very small peices.
3. Mix pork, shrimp, mushrooms in a bowl.
4. Add soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, pepper, wine and garlic powder. Mix until everything is blended. 
5. Take your wonton wrap and place some of the meat mixture onto the center. Then fold. The amount of meat you put into the wrap depends on how big the wrap is. Generally, I would leave about 1/2 inch space between the meat and edge of the wrap.
6. Place your wontons into a pot of boiling water and let cook for about 10 to 15 minutes. 
Enjoy!

Wrapped wontons ready to be cooked!

 

Wonton noodle with some veggies and egg :)

Dim Sum, Dim sum, we all eat dim sum :)

I love dim sum!!! Dim sum is not one dish, it is actually a phrase used to describe several smaller dishes (more like appetizers). In our family, we used to go 'yum cha' (kind of like a brunch) during the weekends, which is when we ate dim sum. There are so many delicious dishes to eat, however, there are a few that we always order. My favorites are: xia jiao (steamed shrimp dumplings), xia chiang (steamed shrimp roll), feng zhao (phoenix claws), niu bai ye (steamed beef omasum) and nuo mi ji (sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf). My mom gave me some recipes that she got from a friend and surprisingly, there were recipes for my favorite dim sum (except for the xia chiang). There was also a recipe for niu zha (steamed beef tripe), which is my dad's favorite. I decided to give each one a try and thus far, nuo mi ji and niu zha are the only ones that came out presentable. Nuo mi ji is not too hard to make and would be something fun to do for a dinner party (maybe). For the niu zha, I used a slow cooker to make it. Anyway, nuo mi ji and niu zha are the first two recipes for this post. Others will come in time (that is, when I actually make them successfully!)

Nuo Mi Ji or Lo Mai Gai or Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf
-My version of the original recipe:
 Makes about 8 mini glutinous rice lotus leaf wraps


4 sheets of dried lotus leaf - found at any Asian market
(NOTE: The lotus leaves I had were huge and folded, so when I say 4, I mean 4 huge, folded lotus leaves, maybe they all come that way, but I'm not sure)
Approximately 3.5 cups of sticky rice
3 boneless chicken thighs (can use pork or turkey meat instead)
3 chinese sausages
1 tblsp of dried shrimp
3 or 4 dried shitake mushrooms
3 pieces of dried wood ear mushrooms

Marinade for the chicken (all measurements are approximations)
2-3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sesame oil2 tsp corn starch
a dash of white pepper
a dash of black pepper

Clockwise from top left: dried shrimp, sticky rice soaking in water, marinated chicken-mushroom mixture and sliced Chinese sausage 

Steps

1. Soak the lotus leaves together in luke warm water. 
2. Rinse the sitcky rice and then soak in water for at least an 1 hour. The longer you soak, the better.
3. Soak the shitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms in hot water in separate bowls. The wood ear mushrooms are a bit dirty and need to be cleaned. I generally discard the hard middle parts of the wood ear mushrooms and the stems of the shitake mushrooms.
4. Rinse and soak the shrimp. Drain them when they're soft.
5. Once the mushrooms (both kinds) are soft, flexible and squishy, chop them into very small pieces. You can squeeze the water out of the shitake mushrooms before chopping.
6. Chop chicken thighs into small bite size pieces. Rinse and slice the chinese sausages into thin slices.
7. Mix the mushrooms (both kinds) with the chopped chicken. Marinade the mixture with the marinade ingredients for at least 30 minutes.
8. Take a soaked lotus leaf, cut at the fold and then cut it in half. (You should have 4 smaller sheets). Take 2 leaves, place one on top of the other and put 2 tbsp of rice and top with the chicken-mushroom mixture, 3-4 shrimp and chinese sausage in the center. Put 1.5 Tbsp of rice on top. Wrap the lotus leaves tightly and tie with string to keep everything in place. My wraps end up looking like little squares.
9.Repeat step 8 until all lotus leaves are used up. 
10. There are two methods of cooking, you can either boil them or steam them. If you're going to boil them, you have to make sure that the wraps are tight. You wouldn't want the stuff inside to get out. For boiling, place your wraps into a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about an hour or so. For steaming, place wraps in a steamer and steam for about 2 hours.

Left: Cooked nuo mi ji - still wrapped

Right: YUM! (the sticky rice is covering everything) 

Niu Zha A.K.A. Steamed Beef Tripe

(with Daikons)

1 package of beef trip (the ones from the asian markets are bleached and cleaned, not too sure about the ones in non-asian markets)
1.5 to 2 tbsp of Chu-hau paste
2 Daikons (I used one long and one short one)
2 stalks of green onion
3 cloves of garlic (smash 1 clove and mince the other 2 cloves)
1 chunk of ginger (cut 2 slices and mince, cut lines into the remaining chunk)
1/2 tbsp of sugar
1 to 2 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of wine
2 tbsp of light soy sauce
3 tbsp of dark soy sauce
a dash of sesame oil
a dash of Szechuan pepper powder
dried red chili (optional)
Water

Steps

1. Blanch the beef tripe and then chop into strips (about two inches long and 1/2 inch wide)
2. Chop 1 stalk of green onion into small rings, chop the other stalk into ~ 2 inch long pieces
3. Cut the daikon lengthwise in half, then cut the halves lengthwise in half. Chop into chunks.
4. In a slow cooker, add some water, about 2 cups or so and add the salt, soy sauce, wine, sugar, Szechuan pepper, sesame oil, wine, smashed garlic clove, ginger chunk and green onions.
5. Heat up a wok, frying pan or skillet, add corn oil, and fry the minced ginger, minced garlic and small rings of green onion. Add beef tripe and fry for about a minute. Add a dash of water, to keep from sticking and burning. Add Chu-hau paste and mix. Add daikons and fry for about 2 minutes. Add this to the slow cooker. You may or may not need to add more water or seasoning. You want the water level to almost cover the top of the tripe and daikons.
6. Cook in the slow cooker for about 4 hours or until the the beef tripe is really tender (almost mushy).

Niu zha with daikon

Enjoy!

Zha Jiang Mian - 炸酱面 (Soybean sauce noodle)

Today, you are about to experience a very popular home style dry (in contrast to soup) noodle in northern China. If you love Chinese food, you must try Chinese noodle; if you love Chinese noodle, you must try Zha Jiang Mian.

You will need:

Chinese style Dry Noodle (a handful is enough for 2 servings)
Sweetened Soybean Paste (甜面酱 tián miàn jiàng)
Ground pork (猪肉 zhū ròu) (half Lbs)
Cucumber (1)

Green onion (1), Ginger (1 inch cube), finely chopped
Chinese style cooking wine (2 table spoon)
Oil (2 table spoon) (油 yóu)
Corn Starch (maybe)

1. Stir fry pork.

Heat up the pan, add oil, and spread the oil by turning the pan. Add ground pork and stir fry it on Medium fire for a minute. After the ground pork break into little pieces, add cooking wine, and keep on stir frying until it is almost cooked. Add ginger, green onion, and keep on stir frying until it is fully cooked.

2. Add about 1 cup of Sweetened Soybean Paste into the cooked pork, and cook the mixed sauce on medium-low fire for about 5 - 10 minutes. Stir the sauce and scrub the bottom, in case it stick on the bottom and get burnt. Have a taste, see if it's too sweet or too salty for you. Add water or more paste, or even sugar, salt to adjust.

3. Boil water and cook Dry Noodle in a sauce pan, then drain it.

4. Thin slice cucumber.

5. Serve.

Mix your noodle with certain amount of sauce, according to your taste, and add cucumbers for refreshing. Done.We don't have cucumber today, so we fried bean sprout and snow peas. Still good!

I am really upset about the quality of Sweetened Soybean Paste you get in US. Some brands are too sweet, some are too salty (The original Chinese style 甜面酱 should have little taste. Although 甜 literally means sweet, it really means "not salty" here). So, if you are using a strong taste brand, and end up having to add a lot more water to blend the taste, you can always use Corn Starch to make your watery sauce thicker. Good luck!

Learn Chinese:

noodle = 面 = miàn
sweet = 甜 = tián
sauce = 酱 = jiàng
oil = 油 = yóu
pork = 猪肉 = zhū ròu

Zha Jiang Mian also appears in many movies. Like this one, Call for love (爱情呼叫转移), about a white collar, who got a magic phone from an angle, claiming the phone will let him experience different types of girls. His ex-wife is famous for her Zha Jiang Mian. Ironically, this is one of the reasons he left her.

Presevered Duck Egg & Pork Congee

A commonly made soup/dish/appetizer (not exactly what to call it) in Chinese restaurants (饭店 fàn diàn) and at home (家 jiā) is congee (zhōu 粥). It does take a bit of time to make, but it is yummy to eat. Here is my recipe (sort of) for congee with pork and preserved duck egg. Enjoy!

For a pot of congee, you will need the following:

Approximately 1 cup of cooked rice or 1/2 cup of uncooked rice (米 mǐ)
Water - I tend to fill half the pot with water and then add as needed
1 or 2 preserved duck eggs (松花蛋 sōng huā dàn)- chopped into big chunks
Boneless pork chops or a roast - (sliced into slithers or you can use ground pork instead)
* The amount of meat depends on you. Of course you wouldn't to have more meat than the water+rice!
Salt to taste
Chopped green onions for garnish

Preserved duck eggs - can be found at any Asian market
(NOT Cooked Salted duck eggs, that's another story)

1. Bring the rice and water to a boil and then reduce to a medium heat.

2. Add the chopped preserved duck eggs and let the mixture simmer for approximately 2 hours. The thing about cooking congee is, it tends to stick to the bottom or the pot, thus, you MUST stir it occasionally. When stirring, make sure that your utensil touches the bottom of the pot to ensure that there is nothing sticking to the bottom.

3. When the mixture becomes thicker, you can add the pork and salt. Let it simmer for another hour or so. I tend to add about a 1 teaspoon of salt. However, I add a pinch of salt first, then taste my 粥, and then add a pinch more and then taste again. I do this until I get the taste I want. You can add the green onions when it is almost finished or add it at the end. Sometimes I like to have them simmer with the mixture for 10 minutes.

4. The congee should be thick (稠 chóu), not watery with pieces of broken rice or clumpy. It should be an off-white color and have a thick texure to it.

Congee with ground pork and preserved duck egg. I forgot to add my green onions!

Added a bit of pork sung (yes that is the name on the package) with seaweed to the 粥.

Fortune Cookie: Learn Chinese

Restaurant = 饭店 = fàn diàn
Home = 家 = jiā
Congee = 粥 = zhōu
Rice ≈ 米 = mǐ (米 could refer to any kind of grain, sometimes even peanut: 花生米 huā shēng mǐ)
Thick = 稠 = chóu

In ancient China, rich people or land lords would make big pots of Zhou to serve the starved public, in catastrophic circumstances (like flood, dry). Here is a movie: Empire of Silver (Baiyin Diguo), about ShanXi bankers in late Qing dynasty. You will see that in the movie. Enjoy!

Chinese Cooking ABC

If you just become interested in Chinese cooking, there are several things you may want to know first. Hope they are helpful in your future practice. And anytime, if you have questions, you can always come back here. If we don't have the answer, put down a comment, we will post it in no time.

1. Green onion, ginger, garlic, and 炝锅 qiàng guō.

They are extensively used in almost all the Chinese dishes unless specified. So whenever you are preparing to cook Chinese dishes, remember to add these three guys into your grocery shopping list.

A common way of using them is called "炝锅 qiàng guō", which basically means the following procedure:

Heat up the frying pan, add oil, when the oil is hot, put in three of them and fry them first, before you throw other materials in. This process will produce a big noise as well as smoke, so be prepared and stay calm.
The reason to do this is to extract the scent of the three ingredients into the oil, which will later neutralize the smell of the meat, or add more flavor to your dishes.

Normally, I like to put wild pepper powder (or referred as Szechuan pepper in wiki) into hot oil first, then put three of them in. That's what I learned from my parents. Your choice.

2. Wild Pepper, Aniseed, Dried orange peel and Spice ball.

Wild pepper (or Szechuan pepper in wiki), Aniseed (or Star anise in wiki), and Dried orange peel are commonly used when you braise meat. Usually a small handful of wild pepper, 3 aniseed, and 2 peels of dried orange peels are enough. Put them into the spice ball, and soak it into the water when you braise meat. The first two are quite easily find in Asian markets, good luck with the third one. However, you are totally fine if you only use the former two.

Preparing a Whole fish

If this is your first time to process a whole raw fish at home, don't panic. It's quite easy, and you don't even have to read this before you can figure it out yourself. However, my dad does have some secret tips that might be helpful, so I put them in Bonus Tips. Good luck!

You will need a pair of strong sharp cooking scissors and a small knife.

1. Cut off all the fins and tails.
2. Descale. Move your knife from the tail towards the head in short strokes. The scales should come off easily as you do this.
3. Cut the belly open from the ***, and take out intestines.
4. Lift both gill covers and cut the gills out.

Bonus Tips:

There are mainly three things you can do to prevent your home prepared whole fish tastes bitter:
1. Try not breaking intestines when you take them out.
2. If you see a thin layer of black tissue stuck on the meat inside the fish belly, remove them completely.
3. Leave no gills.

There you go. Isn't that easy? And I tell you, a whole fish tastes much better than the packed slices. In some parts of China, fish head is considered a delicacy and one that is reserved for guests. So, next time when you go to China and see a dish called "blabla fish head" in the menu, don't be surprised. Try it, it's delicious. You know what I like the most? Fish brain, oh yeah...

Wonton Noodles with Braised Beef Tendon - 牛筋馄饨面

Whenever I order wonton noodle soup, I always order the one with beef tendon. It's my favorite! The beef tendon is so tender and flavorful. Unfortunately, my current location doesn't have restaurants that make beef tendon wonton noodle soup :(. So I decided to make it myself, or at least attempt to. Here's a recipe and the results of my attempt!

By the way, because I am Chinese and learned a bit of my grandma's style of cooking, measurements in my recipes are not exact. (I usually have a test taste before I finish cooking the dish)