Kung Pao Shrimp

Kung Pao is one of my favorite Chinese restaurant dishes.  I found this recipe from my cookbook "Madame Wong's Long-Life Chinese Cookbook".  Kung Pao was originally made with chicken but I love making it with shrimp.  It always includes vegetables (I used green peppers and scallions), whole dried chili peppers and roasted peanuts.  The stir-fry sauce is a mixture of chili paste (I used Sriracha), soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, sugar and sesame see oil.  I also used a little oyster sauce.  I stir-fried the shrimp and vegetables separately, then tossed everything with the sauce and cooked a few minutes longer.  

Cantonese Steamed Fish

This traditional Chinese dish typically uses a whole fish but you rarely find whole fish on the American table.  I do intend to be adventurous and try it that way for a future blog post.  This recipe is so simple and uses basic ingredients that I always have in my kitchen.  The fish is steamed in a bamboo steamer for about 7 minutes.  For the sauce, heat a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan and add slivers of ginger, then slivers of scallions.  Mix together soy sauce, sugar and water and add to the oil mixture.  Raise heat until the mixture is sizzling.  Sprinkle the fish with chopped cilantro and pour the sizzling oil mixture over the fish.  I like to serve this as a rice bowl.  So easy and so delicious.

 

Japanese Ebi Fry with Tonkatsu Sauce

This panko fried shrimp is very popular on Japanese menus and so easy to make at home.  The shrimp is dusted in flour, then egg, then panko bread crumbs and fried for about 90 seconds on each side.  The tonkatsu sauce is a simple mixture of melted butter, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and a sprinkling of sugar.  Mix in a saucepan and heat through then chill before serving.

Filipino Hotsilog

I love this easy Filipino breakfast which is called Hotsilog.  It consists of a hot dog, rice and a fried egg.  I buy red Filipino hot dogs at my local Asian market.  I cut them down the middle and cook for a few minutes until heated through, at the same time I fry the egg.  Serve with leftover rice and breakfast is served.  I sometimes eat this for lunch or dinner too.  An Hawaiian style version of this would be to serve with pan-fried Spam.

Chinese New Year

Japanese Karaage

Karaage is Japan's version of fried chicken nuggets.  Cubes of chicken are marinated in a mixture of ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sake, sesame oil and sugar for about two hours.  When ready to fry, the chicken is removed from the marinade and lightly dusted with corn starch.  It only takes about 3-4 minutes to fry them to golden perfection in a cast iron skillet.  I served the karaage with a garlic, ginger and cilantro Jasmine rice.

Szechuan Spicy Green Beans

I bought a package of haricot verts to make with caramelized shallots and sliced almonds, but also used them to make a wonderful Szechuan stir-fry.  Bring water to a rapid boil then add green beans and cook for 5-6 minutes.  Set aside.  Heat oil in a wok and saute finely chopped garlic and ginger, and diced onions.  Add green beans and stir-fry for several minutes.  Add Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, finely chopped Thai chilis, a dash of Siracha, sugar and a few drops of sesame oil and continue to stir-fry.  Toss all ingredients in the wok until they're well coated, then add a slurry mixture of corn starch and water.  I used two teensy Thai chilis and a dash of Siracha and they were very spicy.  Adjust this to your taste.  A red chili oil can be substituted.