76. Chinese stir fried baby squid and celery (spicy)

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Chinese stir fried squid

...I don't know how "authentic" this recipe really is. It is probably just 'my' recipe :)). I have always liked this way of cooking squid, never remembered where I learned it from.

Before writing this post, however, I quickly checked up online, and asked my dad --- no, I could not find the same recipe. So I think this is one of those recipes that I liked at some point and then ended up adapting it my own way.

It is really tasty though -- with a bit spiciness from the chili and a little influence from the cumin seeds. If you have to give credit to somebody, I think my dad and my auntie would definitely deserve it. I definitely ate something very similar that they used to cook long time ago.

Unlike southern recipes, in most seafood dishes in northern Chinese cuisine seafood is normally not combined with vegetables; also, most recipes don't combine different kinds of seafood. So, this dish an exception to the rule. I particularly like the celery ‘juice’ combined with the texture of the squid.

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62. Stir fried dried bean curd with green pepper

Chinese stir fried bean curd

青椒炒素鸡／豆腐干

After weeks of my mother-in-law’s most delicious Spanish food, we came back to Oxford, and back our normal life. ‘What should we eat?’ Having no need to cook for such a long time, I ran out of cooking ideas. "Tofu, then." - We almost said at the same time. If one thing we really miss when we haven't had Chinese food for a while is is tofu. So we rushed to the Chinese shop, and bought a few different kinds of Tofu.

Bean curd and Suji in Northern and Southern China

This dish is something I kind of improvised, as in North East China we don’t have the exactly same kind of dried bean curd as the one we bought in the Chinese supermarket in Oxford. The bean curd we use is called Su ji in Mandarin. Cantonese-style dried bean curd is around 0.8cm thick and in the shops over here they are come in square shape.


Su ji literally means vegetarian chicken. Northern ‘Suji’ is different to Southern Suji: northern Suji normally comes as a block and its taste is a bit savory taste, whereas southern ‘suji’ is more like ‘layers of dried bean curd sheet pressed together’.





But ‘Suji’ and dried bean curd share similarities in terms of textures and taste, they are normally ready-to-eat, so whenever I am making it, I really can not help ‘stealing’ a little bit. It is ideal for making salad / liangcai, and of course can be stir fried as well. In North East China, it is normally stir fried with vegetables (such as green pepper or Chinese leaves).


Cantonese-style dried bean curd usually comes in two different flavors, one is plain, another one is with seasonings like five spices. They both are good for this dish, I only found the latter one in my shopping trip.

Dried bean curd can be a bit heavy and filling. But it is healthy, and when cooking, it does not require much oil for frying, so it is a really good dish for boasting your daily protein intake.

Although dried bean curd can only be found in some far east shops here, you can also use tofu (or braised tofu ), which is sold in many supermarkets here. They are drier and way more firmer than the fresh ones. I always think that that those kinds of tofu are not suitable for the dishes I talked about before, but for this dish, it is good.

The recipe: Chinese stir fried dried bean curd with green pepper

Anyway, here you go, the recipe.

Ingredients

Dried bean curd (or tofu sold in normally supermarkets, they are normally sealed well, and have very long expiating days ), green pepper.

Garlic, oil, salt, light soy sauce (optional, especially if you use flavored dried bean curd, you don’t have to use soy sauce).

Preparation

1）Slice the tofu into thin pieces, then cut them in half again.

2）Chop a green pepper into strips.

3）Chop around 3 gloves garlic into small pieces.

Cooking

1） In a heated wok, pour in around 2 tablespoons of oil.

2） When oil is hot enough, add the garlic pieces in.

Stir frying the garlic

3） When you can smell the garlic, add in prepared green pepper and dried bean curd (or tofu), stir everything together.

Adding the green pepper and dried bean curd

4） Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and probably 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce, stir well ---

------- Done!

Chinese stir fried bean curd with green pepper

Every quick and easy, no? The green pepper doesn’t need to be soft, it is probably better to keep it fresh, crunchy and juicy, the taste of green pepper will match well with dried bean curd / ‘Suji’ / tofu. Rice dishes are good to go with it.

56. Stir fred Lily bulbs, black fungus and celery (Part 1)

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These days in Spain, I totally fell in love with the food that my in-laws prepare. For lunch, my lovely mother-in-law would make different kinds of traditional rice dish (I eat until I couldn’t move :)) -- I have been meaning to learn, but I got lost in all the ingredients she puts in, so have to try them down in my little notebook; for dinner, I am so amazed by how simple and nice the food is which my father-in-law made -- I kept on asking him what ingredients/seasonings he puts in, so I can write down in my little notebook as well, he always says only “oil, garlic and salt -- ya está” ---

--- In Chinese, we normally refer to all Western food as “Xi Can", and think ‘Xi Can’ must be made with all different ‘western ingredients / seasonings”, that’s why the taste is so different to Chinese. But after traveling to Italy, having food in the local small bars, and seeing how my in-laws cooking Spanish food --- no, ‘Xi Can’ can be simply made and still tasty.

Sorry for boasting my in-laws’ food and how lucky I am, :)) what I want to say is I begin to believe in ‘simplicity’ in cooking (where I used to think it has got to put many seasonings or cooking for long time to get the flavor out, for example, for making those ‘healthy recipes’ / ‘Yangsheng Cai’ or ‘Shiliao’-- the popular food trend in China at the moment).

A simple and healthy Chinese recipe

This recipe, is really simple and healthy --- simply stir fry the root of ‘Lily’ with black fungus and celery.

It is just a quick stir fry with garlic, the real ‘healthy part’ is the three main ingredients.

The bulb of the Lily

The bulb of the ‘Lily’ in Chinese is called “Bai He”. “Bai He’ was been recorded in Chinese medicine centuries ago. It is the part of ‘Lily’ plant that is ‘under’ the ground. In medical terms, ‘Bai he’ is rich in proteins, calcium, iron and vitamins, etc.--sorry, some terms I don’t even know how to say.:)

The bulb of the Lily can go with Chinese herbal medicines , as well as with daily food. It can be boiled with rice congee, stir fried with different vegetables, or soup… Depending how you make it, it will have different effect. Nowadays, having ‘Bai he’ is very popular among girls -- it improves the skin's texture.

The bulb of Lily is normally sold in two forms -- fresh ones and dried ones, the latter need to be soaked into water first before cooking. In England, I could not find the fresh ones, so I normally buy dried ones from Chinese supermarket, it is not very, very cheap, but not bad price, and really worth it. :))

Black fungus and celery

As for black fungus (Mu’er), its properties could boost iron intake, blood circulation, and very helpful for detox as well. (see the post black fungus - health theory)

The third main ingredient is celery. Celery in the Chinese medicine ‘bible’ ‘Bencao Gaomu’ is recorded as ‘good for stopping bleeding, help with high blood pressure, loosing weight…’. There are different types of celery depending to where it grows, for example, in China, northern celery is slight different to southern celery, and in general, the stem of Chinese celery is slimmer and juicier than the celery we normally buy from the supermarkets over here in England. Western celery was introduced to northern China around 20 years ago, (or more? I don’t remember). But in this recipe, it is western celery used in cooking the dish.

The combination of these three ingredients is very popular in warm days, when you just get a bit restless in heat, or sudden weather change, and lost taste in food. :) It can help with detoxification, clearing up the skin textural, calming down the mind. So if you have swinging mood, uneven skin surface, regular insomnia, and headache, it is said that good to have this dish. But as I mentioned in the previous post, ‘yang sheng cai’ (healthy recipe) is not medicine, it doesn’t work immediately, but benefit in a long term, so it is good to have it regularly.

And Differ to the ‘usual’ Chinese healthy recipe, this one is just simple like my father-in-law would say, ‘just oil, garlic and salt’. :)) Good for somebody like me -- lazy, but want to eat healthily. Je, je…

(Too long now, the recipe will be continuing tomorrow then. :)

45. Chinese stir fried scrambled eggs with asparagus

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43. Chinese stir fried shredded aubergine

I was just thinking to start my whole Chinese food summer recipes, but, today… cloudy, raining, no sun… :( I just try to think it is summer cloud, summer rain -- then, it is romantic to have days like this in hot summer, no? :))) 

Today, it is another aubergine dish -- if you are not bored of aubergine already. :) It is not oil fried, so I think .. it is much lighter? Good for warm days. 

Don’t know if you have noticed, or if it is same as where you shop, the aubergines we can get at the market or in the supermarkets around us are much fresher these days, but much smaller compared to before-- price stayed the same though. :)) I like these ones, without much ‘seeds’ inside, tastes better. 

This dish is a very ‘homey’ one, called 'la chao qie si' in China, literally 'spicy stir fried aubergine strips'. I ‘rediscovered’ it in my northeast recipe book, which only time to time I flip over, then all the memories came back. I do remember my auntie and my parents made it. It is definitely not a fancy dish, so I don’t think our friends tried it when they dinned here as guests. But hey, if you are not in a mood for having oily dishes these days, this is a perfect choice. 

Aubergines are shredded  and stir-fried: no need to oil fry or steam the aubergines first. It is ‘quicker’ and ‘fresher’. But this way really makes a difference in terms of texture and taste, I feel I could almost taste the little tiny bits of spices from the orginal aubergine. Because of the nature of the aubergine, without frying or steaming first, the taste can be very plain, and the seasonings are not very easy to go in. So I put in a lot of garlic and a bit of five (/thirteen) spice powder, also added a little bit chilli in, but it is only for enriching the flavor, the dish is not very spicy. 

Shredded aubergines are stir fried in the wok, but the fire needs to be kept as medium, since the aubergines normally need to take time to get soft, we need avoid to get them burnt, some water is added in gradually. 

If you like, you can also add some shredded potato as well. 

Ingredients:

Aubergines (I used two aubergines)

Garlic, five spice powder, light soy sauce, cooking wine, crushed chilli, oil, salt, water, vegetable/mushroom/chicken essence or MSG (optional).  

Preparing:

1) Chop the aubergines into thin strips. I left the skins on, since it is very fresh, but did wash thoroughly. 

2) Chop around 4 garlic gloves. 

Cooking:

1) Place the wok on strong fire first, when the wok is hot, pour in around 3-4 tablespoons of oil. 

2) Then add in chopped garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of crush chilli, 1 tablespoon of cooking wine and 1/2 teaspoon of five spice powder. 

3) When the smell of the garlic comes out, turn down the fire to medium, and put chopped aubergines in the wok, quick stir well, allow the aubergine strips in contact with oil evenly.  (Aubergine can absorb oil very quickly, so from now on, the wok is quite dry -- be careful.)

4) Add in 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 2/3 teaspoon of salt, and 2 or 3 tablespoons of water (if the inside of the wok is too dry, but not too much water though, coz in the end, the dish is a ‘dry’ dish.)

5) Until all of the aubergine strips are soft, but not totally ‘mashy’, add 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable/mushroom/chicken essence or MSG (optional), or remove it from the wok.

---- Serve!! 

 Good to have it with boiled rice. 

23. Chinese stir fried bean sprouts

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Chinese stir fried bean sprouts

炒豆芽菜

Honestly, I have never been a big fan of bean sprouts, well, but given my ‘picky’ past, you are not surprised.

Chinese spring pancakes

I did know, however, that I had to eat bean sprouts at least once per year on the 4th of February, which is ‘Spring Day’ in the Chinese calendar. Bean sprouts go with ‘Spring pancakes’, as part of the traditional celebration of  the arrival of spring in Northern China.

In Northeast, it was still cold in early February, my mum would give me money, and I wrapped up myself and went out to the market to get bean sprouts.

They weren't normally sold as pre-packed. Women would have a big big container in front of them, after putting the money away, they used a big spoon to put the bean sprouts into a brown paper bag -- back then it was way more environmental than now -- there were no plastic bags flying in the streets and sky like now, I had to be careful to hold the paper bag in my hands -- the weather was freezing…

Many years ago, when I just arrived in England, I was influenced by my Western classmates learning to be financially independent from my parents, so I started doing part-time jobs.  For a few weekends, I worked with a close friend in a food packing place for packing salad and fresh vegetables for supermarkets. It was a ‘fridge’ warehouse, very cold in order to keep the vegetables fresh. After my short experience there, all I could remember was the smell of bean sprouts.

For years I couldn’t eat any bean sprouts or even being close to. Only these recently years, I recovered slowly from having bean sprouts in my shopping bag, in my wok, and on my plate -- because I still want to celebrate ‘spring day’ in an traditional Chinese way.

Here in England, in Chinese restaurants or takeaways, bean sprouts is normally cooked in ‘Egg Fuyong’ (spell as Fooyong), which is a the Cantonese way. In the North of China, it is totally different. Commonly, bean sprouts is stir-fried on it own (or with some vegetables as supporting ingredients) or made into salad.

The recipe: Chinese stir-fried bean sprouts with carrots

In this simple recipe, I stir-fried bean sprouts with shredded carrots -- probably you have noticed that I like to have to more than one type of vegetable in one dish, whenever I can -- easy to make ‘five a day’, ha… :)))

There are different of

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22. Chinese egg made flat bread (Ji Dan Bing)

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Chinese egg pancake

鸡蛋饼

Every time mentioning or cooking ‘Jidan bing’ always, always makes me think of my deeply be loved auntie. And that day a few years ago, when I was very sick and sad lying in bed, didn’t want to eat anything, after rejecting all the food she suggested, she went back to the kitchen, and a few minutes later, she brought this to me, that was the first thing I properly ate in days. Seeing my friends visit me, she then went back to prepare more --- it was the first time my friends got to know my auntie, they all said that I was very lucky to have a really kind and understanding auntie …. of course, a very good cook as well. She had lots of recipes that I never learned, and now I will never be able to learn from her…

Bing, or Chinese Flat Bread

If ‘bing’ is translated as ‘Chinese flat bread’, ‘Ji dan bing’ should be translated as ‘egg made flat bread’. It is one of the most popular foods in Northeast China. I say ‘food’, because I am really not sure how to categorize it, it is not normally served as ‘main’ for a meal.

My auntie used to prepare these for me when I got hungry in between two main meals, so I guess it is a kind of ‘snack’ or side dish on the table. It is a bit like 'pancake', but Chinese style. :)))

Once just by chance I made it at home, my husband really liked it, and suggested it would be a lovely breakfast. Ha… back home with my parents, this kind of simple Chinese breakfast can never be acceptable, but compare it to simple toast, it is really not bad ---- There you go, I shall introduce it as a simple ‘quick fix’ breakfast menu, takes about 10 minutes.

Before writing this down, I had a quick look on

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19. Stir fried Chinese leaves with vinegar and sugar

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-----tangcubaicai (糖醋白菜）

Sweet and sour chinese leaves

Sweet and sour Chinese leaves

Did I mention that ‘sweet and sour’ dishes in Northeast China are actually called ‘vinegar and sugar’? Ha… This is one of that ‘vinegar and sugar’ dishes, but with a spicy touch.

It is a very traditional dish in North Chinese cuisine -- have I said too many times of ‘traditional’ :) :)… but this is really another one, and special one.

Chinese leaves are called ‘bai cai’ in North China, which means ‘white vegetable’ (even if the lower part of the leaves is actually green).

Its pronunciation in Cantonese is ‘Pok choi’, but what they call ‘Pok choi’ is actually another kind of vegetable in North China. -- So complicated, what I am saying is that if you are in a restaurant in North China, don’t be confused when making an order. :)

‘Bai Cai’ is one of most popular ingredients in Northeast food, especially for winter dishes. It is originated in North, and normally harvest is in late autumn.

Because of the very cold winter, there used to be a lack of fresh vegetables in North China between Dec to Feb, so people came up with the idea of storing Chinese leaves: before real cold winter came, every household would buy hundreds of kilograms of Chinese leaves.

And before storing them away, they normally needed to be laid outside for a few days to get the first layer dried to void rottenness (and get rid of dried leaves only use the fresh inner leaves when cooking).

 I remember when I was little, my mum would put on ‘work sleeves’ and a small apron for me, so I could be there to help, I was very proud that I became a ‘big’ girl and a (hard working) helper. :) Some of these Chinese leaves then could be ‘pickled’(the taste and texture is very similar to pickled cabbage) , while others were to be cooked in stir fry, soup, fillings for bakeries… For making them more interesting in the dishes, people invented various cooking methods.

Nowadays, there are plenty of fresh vegetables in the markets. It is no longer necessary to ‘store’ Chinese leaves. So you can rarely see a family working together for laying them outside, but all the memories remain, Chinese leaves still have an emotional attachment for Northeast people.

But saying that, Chinese leaves in North China are much bigger, the leaves are thicker, only the core part is very very juicy, which is good for making salad. In England, Chinese leaves are mainly imported from Spain, they are more juicy, not good for long time boiling in soup, but very good for quick stir fry or salad.

The recipe: Stir fried sweet and sour Chinese leaves

This is one of the dishes with ‘Bai cai’, a bit sweet and sour, and a bit spicy. It is one of those quick dish, it can be made in a few minutes --- quick and healthy for a weekday’s dinner, no? :))

Ingredients

Chinese leaves (We normally get them in Sainsbury’s or Tesco, in Chinese supermarkets as well.)

Prawns or shrimps (optional)
Garlic, rice vinegar, white sugar, salt, oil, crushed chili, cooking wine, MSG or vegetable essence (optional)

Preparation

1) Tear only the outer layers of Chinese leaves (they are better than the core part for stir frying), wash and chop them into small pieces, shake off extra water.

2) Prepare a handful shrimps or prawns, but it is an option, if you like it vegan.

3) Chop 3 gloves garlic (or more) into slices.

Cooking

(The fire is relatively strong for this dish.)

1) In a heated wok, pour in (around) 5 tablespoons of oil.

2) When oil is hot, put in half or one teaspoon of crushed chili, depends on how spicy you like, or you can leave it out.

3) Then, put the sliced garlic in.

4) When the smell of the garlic comes out, put prawns or shrimps in, following by chopped Chinese leaves ‘Baicai’.

5) Then pour in around 2 teaspoons of cooking wine, stir well, then put 3/4 teaspoon of salt, one tablespoon of sugar, 2 tablespoons of vinegar.

Stir fried Chinese leaves

6) Stir everything well, and let the seasoning settle with the leaves for 1 or 2 minutes, then put in half teaspoon of MSG or vegetable essence (optional) before removing the dish to a plate.

----  Have a good meal!!

The leaves are not supposed to be very soft,  but rather crunchy and juicy.  This dish is best with rice, or flat Chinese bread. :)

4. Chinese Stir fried cauliflower and broccoli

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Chinese stir fried cauliflower and broccoli

炒菜花、西兰花

A friend mentioned about me cooking Chinese vegan food :)) … well, lots to come…

Couple of days ago, I was too lazy to move out from the sofa, until dinner time came, I got left with very little time to prepare, so I did a ‘quick fix’ :), this is one of the dishes - stir fried cauliflower, broccoli and carrot.

Cauliflower and broccoli

Honestly, I was never a huge fun of either of these three cooked vegetables. But I knew they are very healthy food, had to have them time to time, now I even became really liking them.   This kind of mix is not a very very typical Northeast style, it was originally only just cauliflower  (sometimes with carrots), but I found it a bit ‘boring’, so started adding broccoli in, plus, broccoli has lots of good properties for helping with vitamin C intake, repairing the cell, anti-aging …… right?

Vegetables like these, personally I don’t like them to be too soft, I like them cooked but still a bit crunchy in mouth.  :) So it really didn’t have to take too long to cook them.

Ok, I did it in two steps: 1) briefly boil the vegetables; 2) stir-fry them together with oil and garlic.

Here you go:

Chinese Stir fried cauliflower and broccoli recipe

Ingredients

Broccoli , cauliflower and carrot

Oil, garlic, salt, Mushroom essence’ ( or MSG, both optional)

Preparation

1) Bring the water to boiling, then put all the vegetables in. Only leave it for couple of mins, then take them out, drain. (This way 1 is to get rid of the ‘raw’ taste of the vegetables; 2 is to clean them properly - after seeing a little worm in the broccoli, I got a bit scared of the cleanness of it.)

2) Chop 3 cloves garlic.

Stir-frying

1) Place a wok on the medium-high fire, pour around 4 table spoons of oil in the wok. When the oil is heated up, put chopped garlic in.

2) Wait until the smell of garlic comes out (only a few seconds later), put all of the vegetables in, and half spoon of salt. Stir fry.

3) 1 minute later, put one quarter tea spoon ‘Mushroom essence’ ( or MSG, however, this is totally optional), mix well, and remove them to a plate -your dish is done! Quick, no?

If you like the vegetables soft, boil a little bit longer, but too long can reduce the benefits of broccoli. Also unless you really like the taste of the soy sauce, I wouldn’t advice to put soy sauce in. Soy sauce with half boiled cauliflower is not super good combination -- but it depends on different person’s taste though. If you like to put light soy sauce in, put it right before you finished the cooking.Oh, also, pay attention to your fire when stir-frying, don't get them burnt.



Five a day is almost there! :))  -- Good to go with boiled rice. Healthy and lazy solution.

2 Chinese Tofu and spinach salad (liang cai)

Chinese tofu and spinach salad

菠菜拌豆腐

It really feels like summer is here now … let’s pretend that we don’t know the forecast for next week yet. :)) Sunny and warm is lasting forever…
People are taking a stroll followed by their own shadow, I can almost see the colour of shadow in Impressionist paintings… I had begged the clouds to go away for a long long time, so that the sun could let my shadow come out, and we play hide and seek…I have never felt Oxford is so beautiful and peaceful like this before. 

Chinese Liang Cai

Ok, food...Tofu and spinach - salad, if you call it in English? We call it Liang Cai in Chinese, as in “Cool dish”. (Liang means cool, Cai means dish. ) Liang Cai are very important for Northern Chinese people, especially in summer. Almost every time people go to restaurants,  they have to order one or two cool dishes.

Liang cai can be made from green leaves, fresh vegetables, tofu, vermicelli (fen si) to eggs, beef and liver. Oh, too many, I cannot even finish naming them all, but they will surely all show up here, if you are not getting bored already. :)))

Tofu and Spinach in Northern Chinese Cuisine

Tofu and spinach is very ‘traditional’ combination in my region. But… ok, I admit that I invented this dish myself. :) It is because the spinach in Chinese dishes is different to the ones you can get in the supermarket here. In China we don’t have this 'kind' of spinach - chopped, washed, packed.

The one we normally use is as whole spinach, you know, with the purple root. :) Because these dishes rely on the taste of the stems of the spinach, not only the leaves. (Sometimes if we are lucky, we can buy this type in the vegetable market here UK. If we can get it next time, I will cook it in a traditional way.. or many ways:))) Anyway, so I came up with this ‘salad’ by only using the leaves.

Don’t know how familiar you are with Tofu, it is made from soya  originally, one of the most widely used ingredients crossing the whole of China, and is my favorite dish - no matter how you cook it.

I still remember when I was little, my mum would put a coin on my hand, and ask me to go to the corner in the street buy a piece of tofu. The tofu was stacked in layers by wooden boards. Because it was just freshly made, I could see the hot steams coming out from it. I started loving all sorts of food made from soya, my mum felt a sigh of release - since I never liked meat very much, and soy products can make up all the protein I might miss. :))

There are different kinds of Tofu in the market, although the taste is not very much  distinguishable, the texture is very different, firm, soft, medium soft, and those ones sold in the supermarket, for example, Cauldron Original Tofu (however, I wouldn’t suggest this one in Chinese dishes, as it is too dry, which makes the flavors of the dish difficult to go in.) Different type can be cooked differently, and combined with different things. Anyway, for this salad, I would prefer medium soft, but others would also do the job.

Chinese Spinach and Tofu Salad

Talked too much… because I don’t have much to talk about how to make it, as it is very simple. Here you go:

Ingredients

Tofu and spinach leaves

Salt, light soy sauce , old vinegar (if not, rice vinegar), white sugar, chili oil (optional), sesame oil .




1. Chop the tofu into small tubes (2cm?)


                   

2. Mix spinach leaves in. (Do put a bit more leaves in, as those leaves ‘shrink’ after mixed with salt.


3. Put half tea spoon of salt (again, depends on your own taste), 2 tea spoons of light soy sauce, 1 tea spoon of ‘old vinegar’ (if you don’t have in hand, use ONLY couple of drops of rice vinegar), a small pinch of white sugar, 1 table spoon of chili oil (only if you prefer, this chili oil does not have to be really ‘chili’, but the flavor of mixed oil and chili is great), and pour in some sesame oil.

4. Mix everything together well.



--- done!


Very fresh, and healthy ...with iron, protein, calcium, vitamin E... no fat :)))

-----
So, after next week, summer will come back again, no?