Char Kway Teow

Wow, it's been a while since i've blogged some recipes! A friend reminded me that she liked to get recipe ideas from here, so I will keep on posting when I remember.
Over the weekend, I went to T&T to take advantage of some of the CNY sales, so we'll be indulging in Asian food all week. Sunday night, I made enoki beef rolls and char kway teow. Char kway teow is a really popular dish in Singapore, and during my visit there last February, I ate my fair share in the food courts...ahh...Singaporean food courts...I miss you! Here's my recipe for char kway teow. Enjoy.


Ingredients
1 package of fresh ho fun (rice) noodles (you must use these the same day as you buy them, or they get hard and dried out)
1/2 lb thinly sliced beef
1 clove minced garlic
1 inch minced peeled ginger
2 cups bean sprouts
2 cups spinach
2 green onions chopped

Sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp kecap manis (thick sweet soy sauce or sugar if you can't find it)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup beef stock

Directions
In a colander, gently wash noodles under hot tap water, carefully separating them.
Mix ingredients for sauce in a measuring cup and set aside.
Heat oil in a wok or large frying pan on med/high heat and fry garlic and ginger quickly until fragrant. Add beef, and stir fry until cooked. Add beansprouts, and saute until softened. Gently stir in noodles and cook through. Add spinach to wilt gently and pour sauce over, while tossing gently. Just before serving, sprinkle with green onions and give a final gentle toss.

Hoisin Honey Grilled Pork and Chap Chae

I should have known that eating Korean food a lot while I was pregnant would affect my growing baby. I made chap chae and the little one couldn't get enough of it! She even tilted her head back so I could drop noodles in her mouth with chopsticks, and then she slurped them down. It was the cutest thing. However, baby garlic breath is NOT cute. Okay, it kind of is...
This is my version, and I served it with Chinese-style pork chops.


Ingredients
3 pieces pork loin chops
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 thai chilies minced

4 bundles vermicelli noodles (or if you want to be authentic, Korean sweet potato starch noodles)
1 carrot cut into 3 and slivered into matchsticks
1 onion sliced thinly lengthwise
4 Chinese mushrooms soaked in boiling water and sliced
5 pieces Cwiss chard stalks and leaves chopped (should be 1 cup spinach but I didn't have any)
1/4 cup sodium reduced soy sauce
3 tbsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic finely crushed...use a garlic press or mortar and pestle

Directions
Pork
Place the pork, garlic, hoisin sauce, honey and chilies into a Ziploc bag and marinate in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. Grill about 4 minutes per side on the BBQ or until pork is cooked through properly.

Chap Chae
Combine soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic in a bowl and whisk until well blended.
Place vermicelli noodles in a pot of boiling water and boil until softened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, rinse and set aside.
Heat a little olive oil in a skillet, and sauté onions and carrots until softened, about 3 minutes. Add Swiss chard and sauté until wilted. Add mushrooms, noodles and sauce and mix well and heat until sauce has absorbed, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and eat warm or at room temperature with grilled pork

Chinese Meatball Soup

This is a very comforting home style soup. Even my baby loved it and couldn't get enough of it!
My mom makes it with ground pork, but I used extra lean ground chicken for a lighter version.

Ingredients
4-6 cups water
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced thin
2 tbsp light soya sauce
3/4 lb ground chicken (or pork)
4 dried Chinese mushrooms
1 clove garlic, grated (or use a garlic press)
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
Large handful spinach, torn

Accoutrement
2 birds eye chilies finely chopped and added to a small bowl of soya sauce

Directions
Combine water, ginger and soya sauce in a large pot and put on the stove to boil.
In a small bowl, allow Chinese mushrooms to soak in hot water for 10 minutes until soft, then chop finely.
In a mixing bowl, combine ground chicken, chopped Chinese mushrooms, garlic, egg and salt and pepper until well mixed and form into meatballs.
Drop meatballs into boiling pot, cover and simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes.
Just before serving, add spinach to the pot to wilt.
Serve over rice, with hot chilies mixed with soy sauce if you like the heat!

Spicy minced pork with vegetables

To make this dish, you'll need some black bean chili sauce. You can pick some up at a Chinese supermarket, although I think they might also sell it at Loblaws too, depending on where you live. I use Lee Kum Kee's guizhou black bean chili sauce which comes in a jar like this:



Ingredients:
1 lb ground pork (or turkey)
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 ribs celery diced
large handful baby carrots diced
1 tsp of soy sauce or more depending on your taste
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp Chinese cooking wine
2-3 tsp black bean chili sauce (depending on how spicy you want it)
2 cups baby spinach

Directions:
Brown the pork until cooked through. Drain fat.
Push the meat to the edges of the pan to create a hole. Pour a little oil into the centre to heat and saute the garlic, celery and onions until soft. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine, and chili sauce, mixing thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss in spinach so that it wilts lightly as you stir everything together.
I usually serve this dish with white rice and wrap with large lettuce leaves.

Fried Rice

Fried rice is probably one of Sharl's favourite comfort foods that I make. I usually use whatever I have on hand to make fried rice. Today it was shrimp, eggs, asparagus, celery, carrots and onions. You can always use chicken, Chinese BBQ pork (cha-siu), ham, shrimp, or any combination of meats and vegetables that you like.



To make Chinese food at home, you should always keep the following key items (at a minimum) in your pantry:

Light soy sauce (I use Pearl River brand)
Chinese cooking wine
Oyster sauce
Sesame oil
Red Vinegar (not used in this recipe)

Ingredients:
10 small shrimp defrosted
1 celery rib diced
6 baby carrots diced
6 asparagus spears cut into 1cm pieces
1/2 small onion diced
2 cups cooked rice (day old rice is best)
2 eggs lightly beaten

Directions:
Chinese food is cooked on high heat, so ensure that all of your ingredients are prepared and set aside ready to throw in the hot wok/pan.
Heat 1-2 tsp cooking oil in a large frying pan or wok on high heat until smoking.
Throw in the chopped veggies and stirfry until softened. (2 mins)
Add shrimp and cook until they turn pink (1 min)
Add about 1 tbsp of chinese cooking wine and continue stiring until the wine starts steaming and evaporating.
Add rice and mix everything together.
Pour eggs over the rice and keep stirring so that everthing gets coated and the eggs cook through.
Add soy sauce to taste (about 1 tsp)
Add about 1 tbsp of oyster sauce.
Mix well and season with salt if needed.
Turn off heat and drizzle with sesame oil before giving the fried rice a final stir.