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!
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!
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.
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!
