Simple Chinese Food Recipe 3 - American Style Spring Roll

Sping Roll is a traditional Chinese food and is usually served during holidays, weddings, birthday parties. However, in my opinion, it is not that healthy, since it needs to be deep fried in oil. However, you can make you own style healthy Spring rolls. I am currently in the states, so I invented an American Style Spring Roll that is helthu and easy to prepare. All the ingredients can be found in supermarkets.

Traditional Chinese Spring Rolls:

Simple Chinese Food Recipe 2- Coke Chicken Wing

The most popular soft drink in the world-Coke can be a great cooking ingredients.Coke gives the dish caramel color and a sweet taste. The dish is easy to prepare and cook.







Directions:

1. Leave the chicken wing with cooking wine, salt, Soy Sauce and sugar for 20 minutes.

2. Put some oil in the pan and wait till the oil is heated.

3. Firstly put some garlic and ginger,then Stir-fry the chicken wings for about 3 minutes.

4. Add some soy sauce, salt and sugar and fry for 5 minutes.

5. Add coke into the chicken wing and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

6. Special Coke Chicken Wing is ready. Enjoy!

What to eat in Shanghai

Shanghai (上海) is the largest city in China with a population of over 20 million people in its metropolitan area. After 1990, the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in rapid development and financing in Shanghai, and in 2005 Shanghai became the world's largest cargo port.The city is a top tourist destination renowned for its historical landmarks such as the Bund and City God Temple, its modern and ever-expanding Pudong skyline including the Oriental Pearl Tower. Today, Shanghai is the largest center of commerce and finance in mainland China, and has been described as the "showcase" of the world's fastest-growing major economy. The local food culture is greatly influenced by the western culture while it still have a lot of delicious tradition dishes.

1. Chestnut Stewed Chicken (板栗煨鸡)

This is one of my favorite dishes. (I have too many favorites :-))Chestnut is a very popular nut in China and it has hard shell and it looks like hazel but larger. It tastes sweet and contains high starch. Simmering it with chicken makes the chicken tastes more gentle and luscious. Dried mushrooms are always added to this dish. The chestnut need to be boiled first and added to the chicken that has been fried.





2. Eight Treasure Glutinous Rice (八宝饭)

Glutinous Rice is a type of short-grained Asian rice that is especially sticky when cooked. Eight treasure Glutinous Rice is a dessert made from glutinous rice steamed and mixed with lard, sugar, red bean paste and other kinds of fruits or nuts. It has a round shape and has many different colors due to various fruits. It is usually served when the family is reunited. It is a traditional dessert that is popular in south part of China.



3. Steamed Bun with Crab Cream Inside (蟹粉汤包)

Steamed Bun has already been introduced in former blog post, but this one is special since the inside is crab meat. Not all part of crab is used, only the crab berry. As you can see from the photo, you need a straw to suck the rich crab cream!



4. Oil Gluten stuffed with minced meat(油面筋塞肉)

Oil Gluten is made from wheat flour and made into a ball shape and then washed over and over in water until only gluten is left.Then the balls are fried in deep oil. Fill the Oil gluten with minced meat and vegetables and then steam the balls. When serving, they are always with soup.





5. Eight Treasures Spicy Paste (八宝辣酱)

The ingredients includes shrimp meat,peanut,sliced pork,and bamboo shoot. The secret seasoning is starch. Firstly fries meat with vegetables, then added mixed starch with water and soy sauce. Leave it in the pan and wait until the paste become thick. Eight treasure means there are around eight different ingredients in this dish.

Simple Chinese Food Recipe 1- Mapo Tofu

As I mentioned in last post, I will upload a video teaching you how to cook Mapo Tofu. I asked a friend of mine who was very interested in cooking and aims to become a top chef in China to help me. All the ingredients are available in the supermarkets in U.S., so if you are interested, please DIY yourself!





Directions:

1. Cut Tofu into cubes, prepare some vegetables, ginger, garlic,and spring onions.

2. Fry ginger and garlic first, and then the tofu.

3. Add some salt, soy sauce and sugar, stir-fry the tofu.If you like spicy taste, add some chili peppers.

4. Add some water and vegetables and stir-fry for a few minutes.

5. Finally add starch. Starch need to mixed with water first.

6. Yummy Mapo Tofu is done. Enjoy!

Szechuan Cuisine

Szechuan (or Sichuan) is a province located in Southwestern China and its capital city is Chengdu. As the major agricultural production base including rice, wheat, sugar canes, sweet potatoes etc., it is historically regarded as the "Province of Abundance". Szecuan also had the largest output of pork in china. Also, it earns a reputation for producing "mouthburners"! When people talking about Szechuan food, the first impression would be "spicy". ALmost for every dish of Szechuan cuisine, Szechuan peppercorn is used. It is a local plant with intensively fragrant and a "tingly-numbing" sensation.Other commonly used ingredients include garlic, chili, ginger etc. The most prominent traits of Szechuanese cuisine are "spicy, hot,fresh and fragrant". Local people love spicy food and if you are traveling there, you should definitely try at least once those "mouthburners".

1. Szechuan Hotpot (四川麻辣锅)

Hotpot is my favorite food,and Szechuan Hotpot is always the best! Basically,hot pot consists of a metal pot at the center of the dinning table. Specially made soup is poured into the pot and then pot is kept simmering. Then, all kinds of ingredients are placed into the pot including vegetables, sliced meat, meat balls, tofu, seafood etc.You can also put noodles,dumplings and rice cakes in the pot. Usually leafy vegetables need only seconds to be ready for eating while meat and dumplings need around minutes. The feature of szechuan hotpot is "tingly-numbing" and is highly recommended in winter!



2. Mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐)

Ma Po means "Pockmarked-Face Lady. The story behind this dish says that the pock-marked old woman was a widow who lived in countryside of Chengdu, Szechuan. By coincidence, it was near a road where traders often passed. Mapo made high-quality and cheap tofu and she had a stand on the street and then become popular and was now a trademark dish of Chengdu. It is a combination of tofu in a spicy chili- and bean-based sauce,and often topped with minced meat, usually pork or beef. Other ingredients such as chestnuts, onions, and other vegetables can also be used. The feel of this dish is often described as seven specific Chinese adjectives: 麻 (numbing), 辣 (spicy hot), 烫 (hot temperature), 鲜 (fresh), 嫩 (tender and soft), 香 (aromatic), and 酥 (flaky). I have made a video teaching you how to make Mapo tofu and it will be posted in next post. If you are interested, please check it out later!




3. Dandan noodles (担担面)

Dandan noodles is a classic dish of Szechuan cuisine. It consists of a spicy sauce containing preserved vegetables, chili oil, Szechuan peppers, pork, and scallions served over noodles.Sesame paste is sometimes added.




4. Twice cooked pork (回锅肉）

The literal meaning of this dish is "meat that has been returned to the pot". The process of cooking Twice Cooked Pork involves boiling belly pork steak chunks in hot water with slices of ginger and salt first, then after being cut into thin slices, the pork is returned to a wok and shallow fried in hot oil. The most common vegetables to accompany the pork in Twice-Cooked Pork are cabbage and peppers.



5. Kung Pao chicken (宫保鸡丁)

Kung Pao chicken is another classic dish in Szechuan cuisine. The dish is named after Ding Baozhen (1820–1886), a late Qing Dynasty official. Born in Guizhou, Ding served as head of Shandong province and later as governor of Sichuan province. His title was called Gōng Bǎo (宮保), or palatial guardian. The name "Kung Pao" chicken is derived from his title. Chicken chunk is typically mixed with a prepared marinade and then chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns are fried to add fragrance to the oil. Shaoxing wine is used to enhance flavor in the marinade. Finally the chicken is stir fried with vegetables and peanuts.



These five dishes are the most typical Szechuan dishesa and they are all spicy. Though not all the Szechuan dished are spicy, spicy ones are more yummy!