Chinese Beef with Broccoli

This is better than takeout!  It's SO easy and tastes better than our local Chinese restaurant.  I used skirt steak instead of flank, because our store was out of flank steak.  It took about 30min to prepare and was plenty to feed 2 people with leftovers for lunch.  The original recipe is from FoodNetworkMagazine and I only made some slight changes - omitted the red peppers, used skirt steak instead of flank, and added a dash of cayenne at the end for some kick.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 5 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1 pound flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 thin slices peeled ginger
• 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 large onion, halved and sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 3 plum tomatoes, quartered lengthwise
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Cooked white rice, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Whisk 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 tablespoon peanut oil in a large bowl. Add the steak and toss to coat; refrigerate until ready to cook.
2. Whisk the remaining 1 tablespoon each cornstarch and soy sauce, the oyster sauce and chicken broth in a small bowl; set aside.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon peanut oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the ginger, broccoli and the remaining 1 teaspoon sugar and stir-fry 3 to 4 minutes; transfer to a plate. Heat 1 more tablespoon peanut oil in the skillet, add the onion and stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook, turning gently, 2 minutes. Transfer the onion and tomatoes to the plate with the broccoli.
4. Reduce the heat to medium high; add the remaining 2 tablespoons peanut oil to the skillet. Add the garlic and steak and stir-fry 1 minute. Whisk the sauce mixture, then add to the skillet and simmer 1 minute. Return the vegetables to the skillet; cook until the meat is cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve with rice, if desired.

This picture is from the FoodNetworkMagazine website, it's not my original image.

- Pastry Princess

Thai Basil Stir-Fry

I got the original recipe from allrecipes.com but made a few of my own small changes.  Below, is my version of the recipe, but the one I linked, is the original.  It's spicy, and delicious and really easy to make.  We make this on the weekends instead of getting take-out.  I'd say it makes about 4-5 servings, so it's pretty pocket friendly too.  Be sure to make your rice ahead of time and refrigerate it.  Hot rice does not make good fried rice!  It gets too gummy.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• sesame oil for frying
• 4 cups cooked jasmine rice, chilled
• 6 large cloves garlic clove, crushed
• Sriracha hot sauce (comes in a big red bottle) or crushed red pepper
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
• 1 1/2 cups frozen bell peppers
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cups basil (remove leaves from stem, but don't chop)

Directions

1. Whisk together the oyster sauce, fish sauce, and sugar in a bowl.
2. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat until the oil begins to smoke. Add the garlic and serrano peppers (or crushed red pepper), stirring quickly. Stir in the chicken, bell pepper, onion and oyster sauce mixture; cook until the chicken is no longer pink. Raise heat to high and stir in the chilled rice; stir quickly until the sauce is blended with the rice. Use the back of a spoon to break up any rice sticking together.
3. Remove from heat and mix in the basil leaves.

Sorry for the lack of a picture.  Totally forgot to snap one!


- Pastry Princess

Homemade Wonton Soup

This weather is perfect soup making weather. My favorite soup to make lately is Wonton Soup....it's better than anything you'll get at any Chinese food delivery, or at least I think so.  This soup is going to take a couple of hours to make but there are plenty of left-overs, probably making enough for 7-8 people or freezes up nicely for future meals. Since I know some people may have some problem getting some of the ingredients, I provided alternatives.

Wonton Soup 

Ingredients:

3 bunches green onions/scallions

4-inch piece of ginger root

8 cloves of garlic

1 medium yellow onion

1/2 tbl Shao Xing (Chinese) Cooking Wine or dry sherry cooking wine

2 tbl Chicken Base + 6 qts water OR 48 oz Chicken Broth + 4 qts water

2 lbs ground pork

1/2 lb boneless pork chop

1 bunch of chives or 1 cup if sliced napa cabbage

1 lb of box choy or napa cabbage (optional)

One egg

1 teasp Sesame oil

1 tbl oyster sauce

1/2 teas of  cracked black pepper

large pinch of kosher salt

One package of wonton wrapper

I do all my chopping first, & placing them into small bowls, you will need to:

- mince 4 cloves garlic (wonton filling), leaving 4 peeled whole cloves (broth)

- rather than peeling ginger I cut off sides of ginger using them for the broth, leaving a skinless rectangular piece of ginger from the center of the root, I mince this piece of ginger making ~approximately 1/4 cup minced ginger for the filling

- Cut one bunch of green onion into 3-inch sections, with the other two bunches, cut off ends from green onion (saving them for broth), thinly slice green onion forming ~approximately 1 cup of little green rings

- Peel skin off of yellow onion, slice in half

Cut up pork chops into thin strips, approximately 1/8" wide, 2" long, leaving fat trimming to side momentarily.

Place the fat trimming in your stockpan on medium heat, cook fat down slightly this will add a little flavor to pan and create a little grease, then add pork strips, toss slightly for about 2-3 minutes (pork should not be cooked completely), remove pork strips, put aside.

Begin broth by adding chicken broth & water (well I use chicken base, since it's easier to have on hand than gallons of chicken broth) in the stockpot you used to cook the pork strips with washing the pot (those tasty pork bits cook to the bottom of the pan will make for a delicious soup.

 The broth should taste like a diluted (weak) chicken broth. Add in the whole garlic cloves, yellow onion, inger scraps & the green onion. Bring broth to boil. Add in Chinese cooking wine. Now lower broth to a simmer for about 1-1.5 hrs, stirring occasionally. Season with black pepper & salt to taste.

While broth is cooking, prepare Wonton filling by combining ground pork (which can be purchased by asking the butcher at a grocery store to grind a piece of pork shoulder), egg, Sesame oil, osyter sauce, black pepper, salt, and chives or napa cabbage (or both).

I like to use my hands to mix the filling even though a spoon would probably be sufficient.

Now prepare your workstation for folding your dumplings:

You will need a large plate to for finished dumplings, a cup of warm water, and a working surface like a cutting board.

Now take a wonton wrapper (can be purchase at most grocery stores in the produce section) and place about half a tablespoon of filling in the center of the wrapper.

Wonton Step 1

Use warm water to moisten all four sides of the wrapper, fold wrapper in half forming a triangle, be sure to remove any air within the wrapper & filling.

Wonton Step 2

Source

Moisten the two long corner of the triangle with the warm warm, now pull the two corners together, pressing them to seal them. (it helps to push the center slightly to get the two corners together)

Wonton Step 3

Source

Before long, you'll have several dumpling ready to cook!

Once you have started to make two or three dozen dumplings, you can start cooking them. To cook them, in a large sauce, bring ~about 4 cups of water to a boil, place about 6-8 dumpling for 8 minutes, (during this time I continue to fold more dumplings, remove all the broth vegetables from the broth & put pork slices into the broth), when the dumplings are finished they will float, place them into broth, continue to cook & fold all the dumplings until you run out of either Wonton wrapper or filling.

About 5 minutes before serving the soup, I like to add in additional vegetables (boy choy or napa cabbage) using heat to slightly wilt them. 

Serve 5-6 dumplings with each bowl & garnish with the sliced green onions.

~Homemade Goddess

Asian Country Beef Cubes

This is one of my favorite recipes and I'm kind of bummed I wasn't picked as a  finalist for The Nest's "Couples who cook" contest...hmm maybe it was too adventurous but I thought it was easy to make & a good alternative to stir fry. 

Country Beef Cubes is a Vietnamese dish that great for dinner entrée, it's real name in Vietnamese is "Thit Bo Lu Lac" which translates to "Shaking beef", perhaps this is because the beef needs to be toss in the wok so that all the sides are seared. My family has been cooking this dish for years.

Photo Credit

Ingredients 

• 1 1/4 pound Tri-tip(bottom sirloin/culotte) Steak
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon canola or peanut oil

2 cups of cooked rice

1 bunch (~2 cups)  of watercress (use only the tender leafy parts)

Trim excess fat from the steaks and then cut each into 3/4-inch cubes. In a bowl, combine the pepper, sugar, garlic, oyster sauce, fish sauce and soy sauce. Add the beef and toss well to coat. Set aside to marinate for 20 minutes or up to 2 hours


Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the beef and spread it out in one layer. Cook in batches, if necessary. Let the beef sear for about 1 minute, before shaking the wok or skillet to sear another side. Cook for another 30 seconds or so and shake. Cook the beef this way for about 4 minutes total, until nicely browned and medium done.


When the beef is done, pile the beef on top of the watercress and serve immediately with lots of rice.


Serves about 2-4 people


**I've been asked a few times but you can usually find watercress near by the parsley &  other herbs at most grocery stores, it's green & leafy with a peppery, tangy taste to it. This is not to be confused with water chestnuts which are completely different. The heat of the meat wilts the watercress a little and the pan sauce (from the marinade) makes the flavor of the watercress less intense... if you prefer to not use watercress, I recommend using some sort of green leafy lettuce 


Also often Mr.HG & I like to add in more vegetables with our meal, so we usually accompany this dish with some cooked carrots or sliced cucumbers.   


~Homemade Goddess