Homemade Wontons with Pork, Shrimps, and Shiitake Mushrooms with Chili Sauce

中文菜谱： 猪肉鲜虾花菇馄饨

Wontons and dumplings are two of the most popular and widely popular breakfast choices across the whole mainland China.  There are restaurants, diners, food vendors selling all kinds of wontons.

 But the best ones are not always found in fancy and expensive restaurants, but on the streets.  Some food vendors and small diners have been making and selling wontons for generations.  Years of experience make them experts in very single steps of making wontons from broth to seasoning.

I learned how to make wontons by eating them for breakfast for a long time.  The best ones are freshly made, cooked and served.  So a lot of wonton restaurants have been wrapping and cooking nonstop since they open the door in early morning.  During my wait, I always peeked through kitchen window to see how it is done. 

I did that out of bore and curiosity at first, but soon I got attracted and fascinated watching the cooks in kitchen wrapping wontons at lightning speed. 

A bowl of good wonton soup is made up with freshly made wontons and seasonings.  Both are equally important to how the final product taste.

Ingredients：

200 g ground pork
160 to 200g fresh shiitake mushrooms
10 to 12 fresh shrimps, peeled, divined and chopped
1 to 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
3 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon corn starch
1 egg white
a few drops of sesame oil
salt to taste
1 package of wonton wraps (sold in most Asian grocery markets)

Directions：

These are not regular shiitake mushrooms.  They are smaller in size but packed with intense earthy mushroom aroma.  They have signature cracks on the caps.

Use a damp kitchen paper towel to wipe clean the shiitake mushrooms.  In Asia, people believe rinsing fresh mushrooms under running water could ruin their delicate aroma.  The best way to clean them is with damp cloth or paper towel. 

However, there is too much dirt on the bottoms of shiitake mushrooms.  I have to rinse them to get rid of all the dirt.

Add cleaned shiitake mushrooms to a food processor and finely chop them.  

In a large bowl, add chopped shiitake mushrooms, shrimps, and ground pork, along with oyster sauce, rice cooking wine, ground white pepper, ginger, starch, egg white and sesame oil.

Whisk with a pair of chop sticks or wooden spoon clockwise for7 to 8 minutes, or until the filling becomes smooth and silky.

Season with salt to taste.

Add a couple teaspoons of filling to one edge of a wonton wrap.

Roll the wonton half way through, and then pull both ends towards center and overlap them.  Brush with a bit of water or egg wash so that wonton will keep its shape.

Repeat the process until all the filling is finished.

Add wontons to a large pot of boiling water.  Cook until all wontons float to surface.   In between, when the water boils again, add 1 cup of cold water to the pot.  Repeat the process one more time later when the water boils again.  Adding cold water to a boiling pot is a traditional Chinese way to cook dumplings and wontons, so that the wontons can be fully cooked without the outside wraps getting too soggy and mushy. 

Add wontons along with a ladle or two broth to a bowl.  Some of my favorite seasonings are but not limited to: sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic water, Sichuan pepper oil, chili oil sauce, vinegar, chopped picked vegetables, chopped pickled daikon, green onion, cilantro, and crushed dry roasted peanuts.

With a spoon, gently toss everything together.

Bon appetite! O(∩_∩)O~

Stir-fried Fava Beans with Ground Pork and Pickled Vegetable

中文菜谱： 碎米芽菜肉末炒蚕豆

Fresh fava beans are such a culinary delicacy.  The fresh beans come with light green color and a mild grassy, earthy and refreshing scent and taste.  When cooked, they become a bit sweet and starchy. 

For those who have never had fava beans before, they are very similar to what young lima beans taste like.  The skin on the outside is a little bit firmer than lima beans.  And they are both very tasty!

I cook with fresh fava beans a lot.  The best season for them is late summer.  And they are usually available in Asian grocery markets.  If you live in Houston like I do, Central Market is another good place to shop for fresh fava beans too.

Ingredients：

2 lbs fresh fava beans
200  to 300 g ground pork
1/2  package of Sichuan pickled vegetable, finely chopped (1/2 package weighs about 50 g.  It is sold in most Asian grocery stores)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup of chicken broth/ water
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 slice of ginger root, minced
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
5 to 6 dry red chili peppers, diced
vegetable oil for cooking
salt to taste

Fresh young fava beans are usually sold in pods so that they stay fresh and the beans don’t get bruised. 

Pick the ones with big fat “belly”.

Peel fava beans from their pods.

Directions：

Heat a cast iron wok over high heat.  Add oil, along with minced garlic, ginger, diced peppers and ground pork.  Stir fry over high heat for several minutes until the ground pork begin to turn slightly golden brown.

Add chopped Sichuan pickled vegetable. Sautee for a minute or two. 

Add fava beans and sautee everything together for another couple minutes.

Add chicken broth/water, along with rice cooking wine, oyster suace, low sodium soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and salt.  Cover with lid and reduce the heat to simmer for 7 to 8 minutes.

Turn the heat back to high and cook until the broth evaporate. 

Sautee over high heat for another couple minutes. 

Remove from heat and serve hot immediately.

Short Pork Ribs Braised in Soy Sauce

中文菜谱： 不用油的红烧排骨，一样软糯鲜香

Recently I have been more enthusiastic about pork ribs than before. 

Asian grocery stores in Houston area are very customer-friendly.  They sell pre-cut pork ribs in the shape of long thin strips so that you don’t have to go through all the trouble to cut them yourself.  They also help to custom cut the meat of your choice.  Such a life saver! O(∩_∩)O~

I always bring back a few rib strips from my trip to Asian grocery stores.  What I am cooking today is short pork ribs braised in soy sauce. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 strips of pork ribs (baby back /spare ribs cut into long thick strips.  Two weigh about 1lb.  )
1 small piece of ginger root, sliced
1/4 low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon crushed rock sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons rice cooking wine
2 to 3 star anises
3 to 4 cloves
2 bay leaves
boiling water
salt to taste

Directions：

star anises are really amazingly beautiful.

With a sharp kitchen knife, cut the ribs into one by one inch pieces.  Soak in cold water for 4 to 5 hours.  Change the water a few times in between.  

Heat a cast iron wok over medium heat.  Add ribs, with the fatty side down.  Flip over when they are golden brown. 

Add crushed rock sugar.  Sauté the sugar with ribs together.  The sugar will melt quickly and coat the ribs with amber color syrup.

Rock sugar is an essential ingredient in Asian cooking.  It is always available in Asian grocery store.  When unavailable, it can be substituted with regular cane sugar.

Add boiling water, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice cooking wine, sliced ginger root, star anises, cloves and bay leaves. 

Cook over high heat until the broth boils.  Cover with lid and reduce the heat to simmer for about 40 minutes. 

Turn the heat back to high.  Add salt to taste. 

As the broth evaporates, the ribs are getting more and more beautifully golden brown.

Remove from the heat when there is no extra liquid in the wok. 

Serve hot immediately.

The ribs have been simmered and braised for almost an hour.  So they are tender and juicy; sweet and savory all at the same time.  It is full of comfort food flavors. 

Fire Grilled Pork Belly and Beef Short Ribs

中文菜谱：

烧烤牛仔骨与五花肉

Fire grilled is food is one of my biggest additions O(∩_∩)O~   It is also my guilty pleasure as well as comfort food.

On the top of my grilling list are beef short ribs, steaks and pork belly.  They all have something in common.  They are high in fat and loaded with rich meaty flavors.  When grilled with as simple seasonings as sea salt and black pepper, you still get that amazing meaty and a bit of smoky flavors.

For grilled beef short ribs：

1 package of sliced beef short ribs (weighs about 1 and 1/2 lbs)
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt to taste
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1/4 teaspoon sugar

For grilled pork belly：

1 package of thick cut pork belly (weighs about 1 lb)
1 to 2 tablespoons rice cooking wine
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt to taste

Directions：

Rinse the short ribs and pork belly under running water.  Pat dry with kitchen paper towel.

Thick cut pork belly with ribs is usually available in Asian grocery stores.

Add beef short ribs and seasonings to a medium bowl.  Mix with hand or a wooden spoon.

Cut pork belly into smaller pieces and mix them with seasonings too.

Preheat the grill to 425F/218C

Add beef short ribs and pork belly

Pork belly is very high in fat and there will be a lot of greasy drippings.  So don’t go away when you are grilling pork belly.  It gets burnt pretty quickly if you don’t keep a close eye on the grill.

Pork belly pieces are sizzling on the grill and color turns gold brown.

Meanwhile, beef short ribs are looking good too

Grab a cold beer, pull up a chair and let’s eat! O(∩_∩)O~

Roasted Pork Shank Braised in Soy Sauce

中文菜谱： 软糯柔韧好吃的烤卤肘子

Pork shank is a tasty part that has been overlooked by most people.  Just like lamb shank, pork shank is consisted of tough tissues and muscles.  It takes a long braising & simmering time to finally break them down.

There is not much meat on pork shank and hock compared to other parts from pigs.  But once cooked properly, pork shank become soft and tender with a slight gelatinous texture.  I take it further by roasting pork hock after it is done braising in soy sauce for a couple hours. 

Roasting under high temperature tightens the pork skin and meat under.  Pork shank and hock get more gelatinous and a bit chewy, in a good way of course.  That great meaty flavor is intensified.  Wow, I just like it so much!

I posted how to braise pork hock before.  It is one of the most traditional ways to cook pork hocks in China. 

Ingredients：

1 small pork shank  (weighs about 3 pounds)
1/3 cup of soy sauce
2 to 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 to 3 tablespoon rock sugar
1/4 cup rice cooking wine
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 piece of ginger root, smashed
1 spice & herb bag, recipe followed
water for cooking and simmering
salt to taste
cayenne pepper powder
ground cumin
roasted white sesame seeds
chopped green onion

Ingredients for spice & herb bag：

3 to 4 star anises
1 teaspoon Sichuan pepper corns
1 black cardamom pod, smashed
4 to 5 cloves
3 to 4 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried ginger
a handful of dried red chili peppers, cut into pieces
1 small piece of cinnamon bark
1 clove of garlic

Directions：

Add star anises, Sichuan peppercorns, cardamom, dried ginger, cloves, bay leaves, chili peppers to a piece of coffee filter paper.  Wrap and tie it up to be a spice bag.

I always buy pork shank/ hock from Asian grocery stores.  There is a bigger selection there.  And you can even get extra help from meat department to make custom cuts. 

Rinse the pork shank under running water.  Cook in boiling water for 10 minutes.  Discard the water and fill the pot with fresh clean water and add the shank along with spice bag, rice cooking wine, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rock sugar, oyster sauce and ginger. 

Cook over high heat until water boils.

Cover with lid.  Reduce the heat to simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  And cooking time may be adjusted according to pork shank’s size and personal preferences.

This Le Creuset 4 3/4 quarts soup pot is perfect for brasing.  More importantly it is a beautiful pot too. O(∩_∩)O~

Season with salt and continue to cook over high heat until there is no extra liquid in the pot. Stir with wooden spoon from time to time.

Preheat a toaster oven to 425F/218C.  Transfer pork shank to a cast iron pan lined with parchment paper

Roast for about 20 minutes.  The golden brown color darkens a bit.  The meaty flavor is more intense. 

Continue roasting for another 10 to 20 minutes.

Carefully take the whole pan out of oven.

Sprinkle with cayenne powder, ground cumin, roasted sesame seeds and chopped onion.

And now go grab yourself a cold beer and then dig in! O(∩_∩)O~