Ma Po Tofu

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground pork or lamb or chicken or even beef

Season meat with Salt & Pepper (white pepper if you have it), fennel seeds, 1 star anise seed... or chinese 5 spice even

1 pack silken tofu, cut into ~1" cubes (32 pieces)

1 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp minced ginger

1 Tbsp peanut oil

Options: sliced mushrooms, w/ shaoxing deglaze - dried chilis

Sauce:

1 Tbsp fermented black beans, mashed

1-2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp sambal

1/4 cup chicken stock

1/2 tsp sugar

(most all recipes call for 2 tbsp chili bean paste- feel free)

Optionals- splash of oyster sauce, tsp of mirin, Tbsp of miso

Thickener:

2 tsp cold water

1tsp cornstarch

Garnish:

2-3 green onion stalks, sliced (white parts get added w/ garlic/ginger)

1 tsp ground schezuan peppercorns

squirt of garlic chili oil

Cook Tofu first. Boil some water and add tofu cubes, cook for 2 minutes so hot and lets sit.

Drain just before adding to main part of dish.

(you could even just add the cubes to the pot, fill with cold water to cover and bring to a boil while cooking the rest if your timing is good)

Heat wok to medium high and add seasoned ground meat. I actually don't even use oil as the meat is fatty enough to cook without sticking (drain fat if too much cooks off).

Cook 3-4 minutes, then add mushrooms if using, deglazing with 1 Tbsp of shaoxing for 30 seconds.

Push meat to back half of wok and add some oil to the front, allow a few seconds to heat before adding garlic/ginger/white parts of green onion. 30 seconds, then mix all and pour in sauce and bring to a boil.

Add cornstarch slurry thickener a little at a time, stirring constantly, and bring barely back to a boil, add tofu and gently stir while turning off heat.

Dump into a serving dish and top with garnish of ground schezuan and sliced green onions or even garlic chili oil squirt.

Serve with white rice.

Cut block of tofu into sections of 4x4, after having already cut in half heightwise

All ingredients are prepped

After cooking ground meat, add garlic/ginger/onion, then add sauce

Add cornstarch slurry to thicken before finally adding tofu

Stir gently to bring it all together

Kung Pao Chicken

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" sq "cubes"
1/2 yellow or sweet vidalia onion, diced
6-8 button mushrooms, sliced or quartered
1 Tbs ginger, finely chopped
1 Tbs garlic, finely chopped
2-3 Tbs peanut oil or garlic chili oil

Chicken marinade:
Egg white from 1 egg
1-2 Tbls DARK soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch

Basic Chinese brown sauce:
2 Tbs light soy sauce
2 Tbs shaoxing cooking wine
2 Tbs water
1 Tbs sambal ooleck
1 Tbs hoison
1 Tbs oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 Tbs cornstarch, heaping, stirred in until dissolved


Dice all veggies (Optional- red or green sweet peppers, green onions, peanuts, or different mushroom types) and garlic and ginger. Dice chicken into chunks. Optional- season chicken with Chinese 5 spice. Create marinade by pouring dark soy sauce into bowl, then add egg white.

Add teaspoon of cornstarch to a bag, add chunks of chicken to bag and shake, then add to marinade and stir so all pieces are coated. Optional- add a single star anise seed to cook with chicken

Add all ingredients for Chinese brown sauce in a pyrex measuring cup or bowl, so all ingredients are ready to go.

Heat wok to medium high to very high. Add peanut oil. Add dried chilis for 30-45 seconds and remove with slotted spoon, or just use garlic chili oil which is already spicy. Keep chilis in the serving bowl. Add marinated chicken to oil (I commonly strain the chicken first to remove excess egg white).

Let chicken sit for 30-45 seconds. Then flip the pieces, and you'll see they've developed a dark golden brown crust. Depending on heat and size of chicken chunks, cook for 5-6 total minutes, jostling chunks every 30 seconds, then remove with slotted spoon. Add to serving bowl with chilis.

Add onion to oil and toss for a minute, then add mushrooms and cook for 2 more minutes. Add sweet peppers for last minute if using. Optional- deglaze with 1 Tbs of shaoxing for final 30 seconds. Remove veggies to serving bowl, with chicken and chilis.

Add ginger and garlic to remaining oil, sautee for 45 seconds, then add chinese brown sauce mixture (stir before adding so cornstarch incorporates correctly). Allow 20-30 seconds for sauce to thicken then add all ingredients from serving bowl and turn down/off heat and stir so all ingredients get sauced up. Pour back into serving bowl and serve with white rice.

Add Dark Soy Sauce to bowl 

 

Prep all ingredients, then add chicken to egg white marinade for at least 15 minutes

Use the same bag that the veggies came in to toss chicken chunks to coat in cornstarch before adding to marinade

Once all the ingredients are ready to go, heat up the wok and fry chicken in batches if necessary to ensure they aren't overcrowded (if doubling recipe, for instance)

Use more chilis or crack them in half to release the seeds to increase the heat. And peanuts at the end of veggie process if you like that. 

[pic of finished dish coming soon]

Also, to make it really much more authentic, add schezuan peppercorns to wok while heating to roast them, then grind them with pestle or grinder and sprinkle on top of finished dish.

Kalbi

So effing delicious



Pre-Marinade ingredients:
2-3 lbs kalbi cut short ribs - short rib cut across the "grain" of the rib bone
1 large onion
1 large asian pear or 2 small bartlett pears or 2 gala apples
8-10 cloves garlic
1 can Pepsi or 7up (technically can sub 3-4tbsp honey)

Overnight Marinade:
5-6 Tbsp Soy sauce
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp honey
4-5 Tbsp Shao Xing (chinese rice wine)
1-2 Tbsp sesame oil
3-4 stalks green onion, thin sliced
2-5 clove garlic, sliced
1 knob ginger, minced
2 Tbsp sambal (or sub red pepper flakes)
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp sesame seeds (toasted)

To start:
add a few Tbsps of salt to an extra large bowl or a casserole dish and add some water, stir, then add the short ribs. Add water to mostly cover meat, and stir with hand> Let sit for 1/2 hour, then drain, rinse and drain.

Prepare pre-marinade:
Rough dice onion, pear or apple, garlic -- add to blender to puree the ingredients and pour over the meat. Add can of Pepsi/7up. Mix with hands, thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-4 hours.

Prepare overnight marinade:
Take a large gallon ziploc bag and add all ingredients listed above. Close and shake to mix.

Remove meat from fridge and drain liquid. Remove some of the pulp, leaving plenty coating the meat, and pour contents into the ziploc bag with all the overnight marinade in it. Zip shut. I usually rinse the bowl/casserole and throw the ziploc bag into that dish before placing back into fridge overnight/ 24 hours.

Then comes the grilling!

Above: ribs are soaking in lightly salted water while I prepare Pre-marinade

Above: after adding pureed onion, pear, garlic and can of soda, cover and place in fridge. The acid of the soda will tendorize the meat while the onion and garlic seep in to provide umami while the fruit balances it.

Above: After filling a large ziploc bag with Overnight Marinade, add drained meat to bag, seal, and refrigerate overnight, 24 hours.

Grilling is the easy part.

Get the grill as hot as possible. Greater than 450 degrees. The key is for the fire to sizzle up to create a nice crispiness of the marinade on the outside of the meat. Make it gristle. 2 minutes per side if really hot, 4 minutes a side if your gas grill isn't that powerful. Charcoal is best with the coals piled up to an inch or two under the grate.


Indoor cooking.

This is a bit tougher to try and get a nice crispiness/gristle. It is also very slow as I can only do a batch of 3 pieces at a time.

Heat a cast iron skillet on high heat. Turn Broiler onto High and place rack 4-5 inches from heat source. 2 inches is fine too, but you've got to really keep an eye on it.

Add slices of meat to cast iron skillet, wait about 30 seconds, then move skillet to broiler (use a pot handler!).

Keep door ajar and you'll see that the gristle will develop after about 3-4 minutes, turn meat and allow other side of meat to gristle- sometimes I drain the skillet after flipping.

Repeat for remaining meat, keeping other pieces covered.


Serve with freshly made white rice and crisp romaine lettuce leafs. Place some rice into the lettuce leaf, rip pieces of meat off bone and place into meat with rice. Add some chili oil if you have some, and enjoy.

Garlic Chili Oil

very easy, very tasty, very versatile(y)

4-8 large cloves of garlic, minced or rough chopped
20-30 dried red bird's eye chilis (1/4-1/2 cup), rough chopped
1 cup peanut oil

2 tbsp sesame oil

Add the first 3 ingredients to a saucepan and turn on to medium low heat. After 3-5 minutes, garlic and chilis will start to bubble and sizzle. If temperature is correct, it should continue in this "simmer" for 5 minutes, until garlic just barely begins to brown. Turn off heat and let sit for 15-30 minutes for oil to cool and flavors to mature and spread through oil.

Add sesame oil to measuring cup (same one I used to measure the 1 cup peanut oil).

Use fine mesh sieve to pour contents of saucepan back into measuring cup, filtering out all the chopped ingredients, leaving you with a cup of golden brown oil.

Pour into a squirt bottle and cap.

Use on plain white rice, as a spicy oil for sauteing veggies or meats, or even use for a spicy salad vinaigrette.

Kimchi Making

Still working on this recipe, but...

1 head Napa Cabbage
1/2-1 cup coarse or kosher salt

6 green onions, cut into 2" pieces
1 6" dashi radish

5 cloves garlic, cut into slivers

Blend into paste:
10 cloves garlic pureed with the spices

1" x 2" ginger knob, grated

1/4 cup sugar or honey, or 1/2 pureed apple or pear

1 tbsp salted shrimp (or double fish sauce amount)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp gochujang

1 tbsp Korean chili powder

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

optional- 1 tsp miso

Dissolve 1/2 cup of salt into a pint/drinking glass of warm water- just stir to dissolve.

Cut cabbage into big pieces, or small (2" x 2" pieces is small), place into big mixing bowl

Pour salt water onto cabbage, and fill bowl layering cabbage, then a tablespoon of salt, another layer of cut cabbage, another tablespoon of salt, etc. Cover with plastic wrap and stack dishes on top of bowl of cabbage.

Let sit for 4-6 hours, or overnight. The plates will slowly descend into the bowl and press down the cabbage as it releases water from the brining, and the bottom of the bowl will fill with the residual water.

While waiting for cabbage to wilt in salt water, cut up all the other ingredients: green onions, garlic, dashi, carrot, and puree other ingredients into a paste. If not using a fruit, measure sugar.

Next step is to simply combine all the ingredients listed above and stir with your (covered) hands




After mixing, parse into jars and let sit counter top for 2-4 days before refridgerating.


Eat after the 2-4 days, or let sit in fridge to develop for months.

I like to dash a drip of sesame oil onto a serving of fresh kimchi.