Stir-fried Eggs and Wheat Berries

中文菜谱： 葱花蛋炒小麦粒饭

We all know how good stir-fried eggs and rice are.  But have you ever thought about substituting white rice with healthier whole grains?  I have.  I tried with wheat berries.  And guess what?  It tastes amazingly delicious! O(∩_∩)O~

Wheat berries have a much lower GI index than white rice.  And it can keep you full longer.  Not to mention they are also high in fiber, minerals and nutrition. 

When fully cooked, wheat berries have al dente texture similar to a combination of brown rice and pearl barley. 

Just a perfect little bit of chewiness makes it my new favorite whole grain now.

This is what wheat berry looks like.

Ingredients：

1 cup hard winter wheat berry
3 to 4 tablespoons crumbled bacon
water for cooking wheat berries
3 to 4 large eggs
1/4 cup chopped green onion
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt to taste

Directions：  

Rinse the wheat berries under running water.  Add to a rice cooker.  Add water according to rice cooker’s brown rice cooking instructions.  And then press “brown rice”. 

The whole cooking process takes about 100 minutes.   

This is what it looks like when wheat berries are fully cooked.

Eggs and green onion are essential to Asian style stir-fried rice.

Heat a cast iron wok over high heat.  Add oil.  Seconds later, add beaten eggs. 

Add cooked wheat berries when eggs are beginning to settle at the bottom of the wok.  Stir fry constantly over high heat with a spatula.  Use the spatula to break down any large pieces eggs when stir frying.

Add crumbled bacon and salt to taste.  

Sprinkle with chopped green onions.

Continue to stir fry for another 10 to 20 seconds. 

Remove from heat and serve hot immediately.

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~

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.

Stir-fried Pork Belly and Dried Daikon

中文菜谱：

五花肉炒萝卜干

It is a dish I cook over and over again in my kitchen.  It is very simple, quick to make but loaded with tons of great flavors.  Whenever I don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking, I stir fry some pork belly with slightly dried daikon.

Pork belly is perfect for stir fry.  The daikon has been slightly dehydrated before cooking, which produces an extra crunchy texture. 

Ingredients：

1/2 pound pork belly, thinly sliced
1 large daikon (sold in any Asian grocery stores)
a handful dry chili peppers, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 gloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 small piece of ginger root, minced
1 to 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
3 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil  

Directions：

Clean and peel the daikon.  Cut it into 3 mm thin slices.

Dehydrate daikon slices in a food dehydrator for about 4 hours.  The time needed here shall be adjusted according to daikon slices’ thickness and freshness.  

If you don’t have a food dehydrator, that is ok.  Just leave them in a sunny spot in your backyard or deck for half to a full day.  That shall do too.

Thinly slice the pork belly

Heat a cast iron wok over high heat.  Add oil, and then minced ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns and dry chili peppers.  Sautee the spices in oil for a few seconds.  Add pork belly.

Stir fry until pork belly begins to turn golden brown.  Add black pepper, daikon, rice cooking wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and salt.

Continue to stir fry over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes.

Everything in the wok should be evenly coated with shiny, dark golden sauce.

Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Stir-fried Minced Pork and Lotus Root

中文版菜谱：

肉末炒藕丁

Lotus root might be an exotic ingredient for most American people.  Trust me, it taste very good.  Fresh lotus root is very crunchy, a bit starchy and sweet.  It has a mild nutty earthy and fruity taste.  It is can eaten raw or cooked in soup, stir-fry, and even desserts.   

There are two kinds of lotus roots.  One is crunchier, nuttier, and more refreshing.  We usually use it in stir-fry.  The other kind is more on the starchy side, which taste better in soups.  Most lotus roots available in Asian grocery are first kind, the crunchy type.  We buy them a lot, not just because it taste good on itself, but also because its mild flavor goes with almost everything in the kitchen.

One of my favorite ways is stir-fry lotus root with minced pork.  The pork fat add deep rich flavor to crunchy lotus root.

Ingredients：

1 medium size lotus root
200 to 300g minced pork
1teapsoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 small trunk of ginger root, chopped
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1 to 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 handful dried chili peppers, chopped
freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 tablespoon vegetable oil for stir-fry
salt to taste

Directions：

Peel and dice the lotus root.

Part of the seasonings needed in this recipe

Heat a cast iron wok over high heat.  Add oil and then pork along with ginger and garlic.  Sautee until the pork turns a little bit golden brown.

Add chili peppers.  Sautee for one minute

Add oyster sauce, rice cooking wine and black pepper.  Sautee for one minute

Add diced lotus root, and then soy sauce and dark soy sauce.  Sautee for another couple minutes.

Serve hot immediately

The dish is savory, crunchy, a little bit spicy, a little bit sweet, and loaded with umami O(∩_∩)O~