Stir-fried Beef with Bamboo Shoots and Pickled Peppers

中文菜谱： 泡椒春笋炒牛肉

Bamboo shoot has been an important part of Chinese cuisine for thousands of years.  The best season to eat it is late winter and early spring.   The ones sold in winter are more tender, juicer and a lot expensive because they have to be dug out from underground by hand.  

Bamboo shoot hunt in spring time is very fun.  I went on a few such trips with my family when I was little.  We hiked into high mountain area where wild bamboos grew into a forest.   A couple days’ spring rain may expedite bamboo shoot growing.  At the right timing, we could harvest between 60 to 80 lbs bamboo shoots on one single trip.  

Good old times...

And now my family is still doing their traditional annual bamboo shoot hunt in spring for fun.  I do mine too, here in China town O(∩_∩)O~

Pickled vegetable is an old traditional way to preserve food when food was scarce.  There is a pickle jar in my kitchen which I brought back from China so that I can make my own pickled peppers and other vegetables at home. 

They taste great straight out of the pickle jar.  Sometimes I sauté pickled peppers with pork or beef.  The combination is amazing! 

Ingredients for beef marinating：

200 g beef chuckeye roast
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon corn starch
1 teaspoon rice cooking wine
1 to 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons water/ chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Ingredients for stir fry：

200 g bamboo shoots (sold in most Asian grocery stores, fresh & frozen)  
a handful pickled red chili peppers
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 gloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1/4 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
salt to taste
vegetable oil for cooking

Directions：

Thinly slice the beef

Add the beef to a bowl, along with soy sauce, ground ginger, corn starch, oyster sauce, oil, rice cooking wine, ground white pepper, sugar, chicken stock/ water. 

Mix everything together.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

Thinly slice the bamboo shoots.  Blanch them in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds.  Drain well.

Homemade pickled chili peppers straight out of the pickle jar

Heat a cast iron wok over high heat.  Add oil, along with pickled peppers, garlic and Sichuan peppercorns.

Add marinated beef

Stir fry the beef just until they turn colors.

Add bamboo shoots, along with soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and salt.

Continue stir frying for another couple minutes.  Remove from heat and serve hot immediately.

Pickled chili peppers are essential to the dish.  They add a surprisingly nice delicate flavor to the beef; spicy, a little bit savory and sour.  It well balances the richness of beef flavor.  Love it! O(∩_∩)O~

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~

Spicy Ground Beef with Diced Dried Tofu

中文菜谱：

香辣牛肉豆干酱

The spicy ground beef here is more like spicy meat sauce.  It is not served as an independent entrée or appetizer in our house.  Instead it is used as a condiment or topping in rice and noodles. 

In China, there is a long time tradition to make meat sauce with heavy dose of salt and oil, in some areas chili peppers too.   The original purpose in doing so is to preserve meat and other food ingredients when food was scarce.  However, as time goes by, people get attached to this type of food.  Pick any Asian grocery store you like.  Go in there.  You will see so many different varieties of chili oil sauces, meat pepper sauces and pickles on the shelves.

Sometimes I buy meaty sauce from my favorite Asian grocery stores.  Other times I like spending time in kitchen whipping up my own special spicy meat oil sauce. 

I usually add spicy ground beef to the freshly homemade noodles as a topping.  The flavor is enhanced and the noodles are so much more appetizing  O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

1 lb lean ground beef (95% or 100% lean)
2 gloves of garlic, peeled and finely diced
1 small piece of ginger root, fine chopped
2 tablespoons rice cooking wine
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder
1/4  to 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 to 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup Pixian chili paste
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorns
1/3 to 1/2 cup crushed red chili pepper/ cayenne pepper
salt to taste
1/2 cup of cooking oil
1 package of dried seasoned tofu (weighs around 200g.  Usually sold in fridge section in Asian grocery stores)

Directions:

Dice the dried tofu.

Heat a light weight cast iron wok over high heat.  Add oil, and then ground beef, along with chopped ginger and garlic. 

Stir fry the beef until it turns slightly golden brown. 

Reduce the heat to medium low.  Add rice cooking wine, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, Pixian chili paste, oyster sauce, ground Sichuan peppercorns, crushed red chili pepper/ cayenne pepper.

Sauté the mixture over medium low heat for 8 to 10 minutes

Add diced tofu.  Season with salt.

And then continue to sauté for another 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove from heat

The spicy ground beef can be stored in Ball Mason jars in the fridge for up to a week.

It goes really great with noodle soup and steamed white rice.

I posted how to make noodles at home before: Homemade Noodles in Thick Pork Broth  

Cook the noodles in boiling water for 45 seconds to one minute.  Add to a bowl, along with soy sauce, sesame oil, Sichuan peppercorn oil, chili oil sauce, spicy ground beef with dice tofu, finely shredded cucumber, chopped cilantro, green onion, and of course, crunchy soybeans.

Crunchy soybeans was posted recently: Crunchy Soybeans

Use pair of chopsticks to toss everything together.

Bon appetite! O(∩_∩)O~

Sichuan Style Pickled Chili Peppers and Chicken Feet

中文菜谱：

泡椒凤爪

The NBA games between Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors are going on!  We instantly transform into coach potatoes when the game starts.  Plus cold beers and good snacks make the game night more fun!  O(∩_∩)O~

Our favorite snacks for game night are chicken wings, popcorns, roasted peanuts, roasted sun flower seeds, hot and spicy duck necks, and pickled chicken feet.  Some of them sound exotic and bizarre?  Not at all!  They are all widely popular in Asian countries for a really long time.  You have to try them yourselves to see how tasty they can be.

For chicken feet boiling：

2 packages of chicken feet (weighs about 4 lbs; sold in Asian grocery stores)
1 to 2 tablespoons rice cooking wine
1 large piece of ginger root, smashed
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

For pickling：

1 bowl of Sichuan style pickled chili peppers
1 cup of pickle juice
2 to 3 cups of icy water
granulated sugar to taste
rice vinegar to taste
sea salt to taste

Directions：

I make my own Sichuan style pickled peppers from scratch.  They taste better when they are homemade together with a variety of vegetables and spices.  But you can always find them available in Asian grocery stores.

Finely chop the peppers and set aside for later use.

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.

Rinse chicken feet under running water.  Remove nails with a sharp knife or a pair of kitchen scissors.

Add to a soup pot, along with water, spice bag, ginger root and rice cooking wine. 

Cook over high heat until the water boils.  Reduce to medium heat and continue to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Discard the spice bag and ginger.  Rinse chicken feet under running water again for a few minutes.

With a sharp cleaver, cut each chicken into halves. 

Add chicken feet to a large bowl, along with pickle juice, vinegar, sea salt, sugar, icy water and chopped pickled peppers. 

Mix well with a large spoon.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Just like regular pickles, it will take a couple days for pickled chicken feet to taste best.   

Remember to stir the chicken once in a while so that every chicken foot will be pickled and seasoned more evenly.

Don’t forget it will take a couple days to pickle.  Feel free to make them ahead of time.  The longer they sit in the fridge, the better the flavors will be. 

I buy some beers made in Czech from Central Market.  They taste mild and smooth, just like a regular American beer.

Interested in more Sichuan style pickles?  Here are some more：

Stir-fried Sichuan Style Pickled String Beans and Ground Pork

SICHUAN STYLE PICKLED JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE

SICHUAN PICKLED VEGETABLE AND MINCED PORK

Asian Style Hot and Spicy Crawfish

中文菜谱：

蒜蓉麻辣小龙虾

Finally, it is crawfish season! 

More and more restaurant s and stores are selling crawfishes.  Every seafood market stores in Seabrook have huge signs “live crawfish” on the outside. 

And more excitingly, there are all kinds of festivals on weekends to celebrate these delicious “mud bugs” across town too.

I love dining out to enjoy Cajun flavor crawfish boil.  I also love make very hot and spicy Asian style crawfish boil at home.

Boiling crawfish at home is quite easy and simple.  My secret weapon is hot pot soup pastes which are sold in most Asian grocery stores.  If you are into Asian style hot and spicy flavors, look for the authentic hot pot soup paste/ base manufactured in Sichuan Province, China.  

Ingredients：

8 to 10 lbs crawfish
2 to 3 heads of garlic
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 beer
1 package of Dezhuang hot pot soup paste (300g)
1 package of Hot Space spicy hot pot soup base (320g)

Directions：

A lot of stores sell crawfish by whole sack.  One single sack weighs from 30 to 35 pounds.  But Asian market sell them loose; which means you can pick your own crawfish one by one with a thong.  So if you go to the store early, you can get largest and most active ones.

And don’t forget to bring a cooler for crawfish.  Ice is available at meat/ seafood department.  Anyone who works behind the counter would be glad to hand you a couple bags of ice if you ask nicely.

As soon as we get home, I transfer crawfish from cooler to the sink.

With a clean toothbrush, scrub each single one crawfish under running water.

I sincerely doubt they would do that in restaurants.

The easiest and quickest way to devein a crawfish is by removing the center part of its tail. 

All the crawfish has been cleaned and deveined.

These are two of our highly recommended and favorite hot pot soup pastes.  I use one of each to boil 8 to 10 pounds crawfish. However, 8 to 10 pounds crawfish is too much for a single pot.  I always cook them in two batches.

If you are not into spicy flavor like I do, just add the paste to your own taste.  But do remember to add some salt if you cut back on the soup base.

Peel the garlic cloves and add to a small food processor

Finely chopped

Heat a light weight cast iron wok over high heat.  Add oil and garlic.

Sautee the garlic for 1 minute or just until the garlic turns slightly golden brown.

Add two kinds of hot pot soup paste

Add crawfish

Stir fry for a couple minutes; add beer.

Cover with lid and continue to cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Stir occasionally so that crawfish would be cooked and seasoned evenly.

This is the first half crawfish.

And this is the second half. I use a cast iron Staub perfect pan which is perfect for the job.

Serve hot immediately, maybe in a wok O(∩_∩)O~

Bon appétit!

TSINGTAO beer is very famous and popular across mainland China.  It tastes very smooth, a little bit on the light side.  It goes great with most Asian foods.