Chinese Chicken Recipes for Busy People

I’m guilty of eating bad this week.  I was totally buried on my day job, and had 0 time to cook.  I ate all sorts of junk like pizza, and take out.  I had pork fried rice the other night from a take out place. It was greasy and had no taste, pretty gross.  I finally get sometime to cook tonight after golf.  I made a simple Shrimp Fried Rice.  I used brown rice instead of white rice.  I sprayed a little bit of oil when I fried it.  I used soy beans instead of peas.  I never like peas, I don’t know why.  Soy beans gave extra fiber and protein to the dish.  It was a quick fix meal ready in 20 minutes.  And it was yummy and healthy.  I need a lot of catch up this week since I ate bad last week.

Add carrot, onion, soy beans first

Add shrimp

Add rice

Add an egg in the middle, fold the rice in. Mix it well

Easy shrimp fried rice

Ingredients (serves 1 hungry portion or 2 side dishes portions)

• Cooked brown rice, 2 cups
• Uncooked shrimp, ½ pound, peeled
• Carrots, 1
• Onion, 1 small, chopped
• Soy bean, 1/2 to 1 cup (I used 1 cup)
• Egg, 1
• Scallion, 2 stalk
• Garlic, 1 clove
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 Tbsp
• Oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp
• White pepper, a dash

Steps:

1. Preheat leftover cooked brown rice in the microwave oven for a minute or until it is warm enough.  Put it aside
2. Chop scallion into dices.  Put it aside.
3. Cut carrots into cubes.  Put it aside.
4. Cut onion into dices.   Put it aside.
5. Finely chop garlic.  Put it aside.
6. In a large non stick frying pan, spray a little bit of cooking oil to cover the pan.  Use high heat.  Add garlic, onion, carrots and frozen soy beans to the pot.  Stir fry for 2 minutes.  Add Chinese cooking wine.  Let it cook for another minute.
7. Add shrimp to the pot. Stir well. Let it cook for couple of minutes until it is cooked.
8. Add rice.  Mix it well with all the ingredients.
9. Add an egg in the middle.  Fold the rice from the side into the egg.  Mix it well eventually.  Let it cooked for a minute.
10. Add oyster sauce and a dash of white pepper, mix it well.  Taste it. Add a dash of salt if needed.  Turn off the heat.  Add chopped scallion.  Mix it well.  Serve hot.

I love mussels.  I should say I love any shellfish.  I still remember the first time I tried mussels. My friend bought a bunch of huge green shelled New Zealand mussels from a seafood store.  She got so much that she was willing to sell some to me.  So I got a couple of dozen from her.  I had never cooked mussels before.  She suggested me to soak the mussels in water for an hour or so.  Then put them in a toaster oven.  Let it cook until the shell opens. Then add a little bit melted butter.  It was super simple and soooooooo delicious.  Each mussel was huge, like 3 inches long.  I really crave that freshness of mussels.  I tried mussels in some restaurants in US, but all of the mussels were very tiny.  The other day, I came across the seafood counter of the Chinese grocery store and found some frozen mussels.  I thought I could give it a try.  HUGE mistake.  The frozen mussels were edible.  But the texture were very semi-ok because it  didn’t taste fresh at all.  Next time, I will remind myself never to get any mussels from a box.

Don't buy mussels in a box!!! It wasn't good

Cook onion and garlic first

Add wine and water

Mussels in White Wine Sauce

Ingredients:

• Mussels, 2 pounds
• Onion, 1 small, chopped
• Garlic, 2 cloves, chopped
• Chicken powder, 1 tsp
• Parsley, 2 stalks
• White wine, 1 cup
• Water, 1 cup
• Butter, 2 Tbsp
• Lemon Juice, a few drops (Optional.  I probably use 1 tsp)

Steps:

1. Let mussels soak in water for couple of hours for clearning.
2. Finely cut onion into tiny pieces, put it aside.
3. Finely chop garlic. Put it aside.
4. In a large pan, add butter to the pan. Use medium heat.  Add onion and garlic to the pan.  Let it cook for a minute or two.
5. Add water, white wine, chicken powder and parsley to the pan.
6. Add cleaned mussels to the pan.  Let it cook for about 8 mins.  Make sure all the shells are open.  Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice to the pan.    Serve hot.

I missed mom’s cooking especially her oyster cakes.  Unlike most oyster cakes that taste like omelets, mom’s oyster cakes have no eggs in it.  Mom’s just tastes like oyster and a little bit of scallion and parsley.  It was so simple, and yet sensationally delicious.  I have tried a lot of oyster cakes in my life.  I have never found one that ever came close to mom’s version.  I called her the other day and asked her for her recipe.  I really wanted to make this.  But guess what?  I didn’t have the exact ingredients.  So I substituted some.  She used small oysters.  I used the big oysters and cut them in pieces.  She used potato starch.  I used a combo of cornstarch and all purpose flour.  My version turned out OK and edible.  But of course, it was nothing like mom’s specialty oyster cakes.  Maybe some recipe like this was not meant to be altered, or it won’t be special recipe no more. LOL. I think the big oysters I used were not a problem.  The key was probably the potato starch.  Mom’s version got a crispy edge and mine was not crispy at all.  I think it was because regular all purpose flour did not give a crispy texture compare to the potato starch.  I’ll remember to get potato starch from a Chinese grocery store next time.  I would certainly make this dish again. YUM.

Oysters sold in a glass jar

Clean oysters a few times

Add flour, parsley, scallion, fish sauce and pepper

Lay oysters flat on the pan

My Oyster Cake

Mom's oyster cakes

Ingredients (serves 2):

• Oyster, 1 pound (prefer small oysters for this.  Big oysters are ok, you have cut them into pieces after you cleaned them)
• Scallion, 2 stalks
• Parsley, a small bunch
• Potato starch, 2 – 3 Tbsp
• Fish sauce, 1 tsp
• White pepper, a dash
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp

 Steps:

1. MUST CLEAN oysters first.  This is important.  Put the oysters in a large container.  Fill it with water to cover the oysters.  Add a pinch of salt.  Rub the oysters gently.  The water would look cloudy. Discard the water.  Rinse the oyster for 5 or 6 times until the slimy stuff is gone.  Put the oyster in a colander, and let it drain.  There may be some moisture in the oysters, that’s ok. It does not need to be completely dry.  Put oyster in a mixing bowl.  If you are using big oysters like me, cut the oysters into smaller pieces.  I cut each oyster into 3 or 4 pieces.   
2. Cut scallion into dices, add it to the oysters.
3. Cut parsley into small pieces, add it to the oysters.
4. Add two tablespoon of flour first and see if it covers the oysters.  Gradually add a little bit more flour if needed.
5. Add fish sauce, scallion, parsley, Chinese cooking wine, a dash of pepper to the mixture. Mix it well.
6. Use a non-stick frying pan.  Spray oil.  Use high heat.  Add oyster mixture to the pan.  Make it flat like a thin layer.  Let it cook untouched for 5 minutes or so.
7. Spray some oil on the top side of the oyster cake before flipping it over.  Cook the other side for another 5 mins or so.  Serve hot.  Taste it. If you need it more salty, drizzle a few drops of fish sauce on top.

I saw an article on NPR that talks about meals for the lazy cook today. That’s for me! LOL.  Between my day job and part-time school, I don’t really have much time to cook complicated meals.  In the article, it mentioned about shredded salads that doesn’t need to be cooked.  Oh well, salad is certainly not my thing unless I’m desperate to lose weight.  But I do believe that lazy cook like me will find ways to cut short the cooking.  For example, I use ready made food from the frozen section of a grocery store sometimes.  Tonight, I got some ready made Eggplant Cutlets from Trader Joe’s.  I just needed to heat it up in a pan.  No big deal.  Meanwhile, I also lazy-ized my Garlic Shrimp recipe.  I used to make Garlic Shrimp with the shell on. But then it is too troublesome to peel the shell when I eat it.  So I made shelled garlic shrimp instead.  I got peeled shrimp from the grocery store, ie. I didn’t need to clean or shell it. I just need to butterfly it.  No big deal again.  I served the shrimp with the eggplant and some brown rice.  I heated up some pasta sauce to serve with the eggplant.  It was kind of a weird Chinese/Italian combo, but it was not bad at all.  In fact, the shrimp was so good that there was not leftover left.  The eggplant was ok. I finished it all as well. :p

Cut a slit on each shrimp, add chopped garlic and scallion on top

Steamed shelled garlic shrimp cooked in less than 10 mins

Ready-made frozen Eggplant Cutlet

Pan fry the frozen eggplant cutlets

Serving Garlic Shrimp and Eggplant Cutlet with Brown Rice

It has been a tough week for me dealing with a sick cat.  I’m sure it is tougher for him since he is the one suffering physically.  I really wish I could do something to help.  I didn’t really feel like making anything fancy for dinner.  I found some leftover rice, some roast pork and some shrimp. Hm.. I could make Yeung Chow Fried Rice.  That would be yummy.  Yeung Chow is probably the name of some place in China.  Ya, my Chinese geography is pretty bad.   Anyway, the basic ingredients for the dish are roast pork and shrimp.  If you have these two, you are good to go.  I made Yeung Chow Fried Rice for a gathering at work once.  I got some boneless spareribs from a Chinese take-out place and used that instead of the roast pork.  They tasted very similar.  My ex-boss was asking me for recipe, so I knew it tasted good.  hehehhehe… I put some carrots to add a bit of veggie there. Usually, you’ll find small peas in most of the fried rice dishes including this one.  But I really don’t like peas at all.  I usually picked all of them out whenever I had fried rice.  My friends teased me said I acted like a kid.  LOL.  Anyway, within 20 mins, I finished making the dish.  I also made some pan fried dumplings to go along with it. It was a simple and satisfying meal.

Basic ingredients for Yeung Chow Fried Rice

Cook the carrot, garlic, ginger first. Then add roast pork

Add rice, and then shrimp.

Add an egg, and then slowly fold the rice in with the egg.

Yeung Chow Fried Rice

 Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Leftover cooked rice, about 2 cups
• Shrimp, ½ pound
• Roast pork, 1/3 pound
• Onion, ½
• Carrot, 2 sticks (Optional. I put it in. You don’t have to)
• Peas, ½ cup (I didn’t put them in, but they usually appear in any fried rice dish)
• Egg, 1
• Scallion, 2 stalks
• Garlic, 1 clove
• Ginger, 3 slices
• Water, 2 Tbsp
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp
• Oyster sauce, 1 tsp
• Salt, a dash
• White pepper, a dash

Steps:

1. Finely chopped garlic and ginger, put it aside.
2. Cut onion and carrots into small dices. Put it aside
3. Cut scallion into small pieces, put it aside
4. Cut roast pork into small dices. Put it aside.
5. Cut shrimp into smaller pieces.  I cut each shrimp into 3 pieces.  You can keep it as a whole instead if you prefer.  Put it aside.
6. Use a large non-stick frying pan, spray a little bit of oil.  Use high heat.  Put garlic, ginger, onion and carrots and peas into the pan.  Let it cook for 2 mins.
7. Add roast pork.  Stir it well for a minute.
8. Add rice.  Mix the rice well.  Add 1 teaspoon of cooking wine.  Depends on how dried the rice is, add 2 tablespoons of water to the pan.  Stir well.  Let it cook for 2 minutes or so.
9. Add shrimp to the rice.  Stir well and let it cook until it is no longer translucent. 
10. Dig a whole in the middle of the pan.  Put the egg in the middle and don’t touch it and let it cook for 20 seconds. Then slowly fold the rice in with the egg.  Mix it well.  Let it cook for a minute.
11. Add a dash of salt and white pepper and oyster sauce for taste.  If the rice is still too dry, add another tablespoon of water. Mix it well.  Turn off the heat.
12. Add scallion.  Mix it well.  Serve hot.

The weather is getting warm.  I lost a bit of appetite.  Maybe if I keep losing appetite for a while, it could be a good way to lose a few pounds. LOL.  The weirdest thing ever was that I wanted a salad!!!  I am not a salad kind of gal.  This was a very unusual thing.  My coworker used to tell me that if I didn’t find anything I would like to eat in the cafeteria, there was always salad.  So salad isn’t on top of my list if I have other options.  But today, I somehow wanted a salad.  I was also in a mood for some grilled shrimps.  Grilled Shrimp salad sounds refreshing for a hot humid day.  I also added some soybeans to the salad to make it more Chinese. LOL.  Soybeans are packed with tons of protein. They would be great for salad or fried rice.  The salad turned out to be pretty good.  I may put this as my regular meals.

Put shrimp on a stick first

Frozen soybeans

Stir fry mushrooms and soybeans

Grilled shrimp salad with soybeans

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Shrimp, a pound
• 2 or 3 bamboo sticks.
• Mushrooms, sliced, 1 pack
• Soybeans, 1 cup
• Lettuce, 1 bag (about 9 oz)
• Baby carrots, a big handful
• Sweetcorn , 1/2 cup (optional)
• Extra virgin olive oil, 1 Tbsp
• Soy sauce, 1 Tbsp
• Honey, 1 Tbsp
• Vinegar, 1 Tbsp
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp
• Sesame oil, a few drops
• Sugar, ½ tsp

Steps:

1. Cut baby carrots into small pieces.  I cut each carrot into 4 pieces.  Put it aside.
2. Spray a little bit of oil in a frying pan.  Put mushrooms and soybeans in the pan. Use high heat. Let it cook for 4 or 5 minutes.  Turn off the heat.  Put them on a plate and let it cool a little bit.
3. Make the dressing: Add olive oil, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, sugar, Chinese cooking wine, and sesame oil in a bowl.  Mix it well.  Add a dash of salt if desired.  Put it aside.
4. Soak bamboo sticks in water for a few minutes. Shell and clean shrimp.  Put them on a stick.  Then start the grill.  Spray a little bit of oil on the shrimp first before you cook it.  Cook the shrimp for 4 or 5 mins on each side or until it is fully cooked.  When the shrimp is done, remove it from the stick. Add a little bit of salad dressing to the shrimp. Mix it well.
5. To assemble the salad, put some lettuce on the bottom of a serving plate.  Then add some carrots, mushrooms, soybeans, and sweetcorn.  Add shrimp on top.  Drizzle some dressing over the lettuce.

I guit golf. I'm gonna miss this.

I played two days of golf this weekend, and I totally sucked. I was going to quit golf.  <Sign> I was angry, frustrated and mad at myself.  Just when I thought I was playing better this year, or I was moving 2 steps forward, and yet I just moved 7 steps backward.  Oh well. I guess life don’t always turn out to be the way we would like it to be.  I couldn’t help cook up a bunch of meat after the game.  You know, food can be comforting in times like this.  I cooked a lot of food. I had steak, chicken drumsticks, shrimps and some potatos.  I could feed a bunch of neighbors as well. LOL.  I ate a lot.  I was not supposed to, and I kind of regretted the next day.  I still got so much leftovers. I deboned the chicken drumsticks and I could use the chicken meat for soemthing else later like fried rice, noodle soup, or salad.

BBQ after a golf game

Grilled chicken drumsticks looked pretty good

Deboned the drumsticks leftover. The meat can be used in fried rice, noodles, or salad.

Ingredients (you can grill whatever, this was what I had yesterday):

• Large shrimp, 3/4 of a pound
• Chicken drumsticks, 3 pounds
• Filet Mignon, 2
• Sweet potato, 4
• Bamboo skillets, 5 pieces

Steps:

• For sweet potatos, cook them in a microwave for 8 mins on high first.  Take them out, wrap each one in aluminum foil.  In this way, you can finish the cooking on the grill and it will take less time since the potatos are half cooked.
• Soak bamboo skillets in water for a few minutes first.  Clean and shell the shrimp.  Put shrimp on the skillets.  Put them aside.
• Spray non-stick cooking oil on the surface of the grill.  Start the grill. 
• Put the meat that needs the longest time to cook first, ie, the drumsticks.  Drumsticks need to be cook for about an hour.
• Put potatoes on the grill next.  Just put them aside. You don’t really need to pay much attention to them. Just flip them occassionally. They can be cooked for 30 mins or less.
• Steaks do not need to be cook that long either.  It all depends on how you would like it cooked. 
• Cook the shrimp last.  Spray some cooking oil on the shrimp first before putting it on the grill so that it won’t stick.  Cook each side for about 5 minutes or until it is fully cooked.  The meat will not be translucent when it is cooked.  Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice onto the shrimp if you prefer. 

Dipping Sauce:

• For chicken, mix 3 tablespoons of honey with a tablespoon of soy source, a dash of garlic power, salt and pepper.  Brush the sauce onto the chicken when the meat is cooked.
• For steak, you can use your favorite steak sauce. I prefer Peter Luger steak sauce. It is the best in my opinion.

Happy Mother’s Day.  It’s a nice day out there except a bit windy and cold, but still, it’s nice weather.  I made Soft Shell Crab last night.  I totally passed out after dinner.  It was a long day for me.  I had an in class exam yesterday, and I was just so happy that it was over even though I didn’t do too well.  I stopped by a grocery store and got food after that.  My buddy at the seafood counter was recommending me to get soft shell crab.  My first reaction was like: 1. I don’t know how to clean them, and 2, I don’t know how to cook them.  He said he’ll clean them for me.. Sweet .  Then he said “deep fry them”.  I was like “not good” because I’m on diet.  I’ve been trying hard to lose weight.  I’m not deep frying nothing.  So he suggested to coat them in some flour and pan fried them.  I’ve never cooked any crab in my life other than crab legs. But I felt adventurous yesterday, and there was always first time for anything.  It was kind of funky when I touch them as they were soft before they were cooked.  I coated them in cornstarch, and then pan fried them.  They turned out pretty good. It wasn’t as crunchy as if they were deep fried, but I was sure my body thanked me for doing the right thing.   Beside, the whole thing was edible.  I didn’t have to spend any effort to separate the shell from the meat like the regular crabs, or worry about the shell cut my tongue.  Ya. I didn’t have good experience with crab when I was a kid.  Just too much work for eating that little meat.

Coat Soft Shell Crab with Cornstarch

Add scallops to the pan

Pan Fried Soft Shell Crab and Scallops

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Soft Shell Crabs, 2 (I made 1 per person, you can have more if you prefer)
• Scallops, 1 pound
• Cornstarch, 1 Tbsp
• Soy sauce, 1 tsp
• Vinegar, 1 tsp
• Sugar, 1 tsp
• Garlic, 1 clove

Steps:

1. Let’s prepare the dipping sauce first.  Finely chopped the garlic, put it in a small bowl.  Add soy sauce, sugar, vinegar to the bowl.  Put it aside.
2. Clean the soft shell crabs, and dry them with paper towel.   Coat them with a tablespoon of cornstarch.  Put them aside.
3. Dry the scallop with paper towel.  Put it aside.
4. In a large frying pan, put in some cooking oil or spray non-stick cooking oil.  Use medium high heat.  Ad soft shell crabs to the pan first since they take longer time to cook.  Let them cook for 3 mins.  Flip them over.  Let them cook for another 3 mins.
5. Then add scallops to the pan, and cook them for 3 mins on each side.  While the scallops are being cooked, flip the crabs over occasionally to check if they are golden brown in color.  Also check if they feel harder as they are cooked.  For the scallops, if they are fully cooked, they should be more white in color, and not translucent.  Add a dash of salt to the scallops.
6. Serve hot.  Serve the dish with dipping sauce on the side.

Guess what I made last night for dinner?  I made a modified version of my Steamed Garlic Shrimp. I shelled the shrimp before they were steamed.  It was probably a lazy bum’s version since I didn’t need to peel them when I ate them.  Awesome.  It tasted really yummy.  The shrimp were big, and texture was really good.  I got them from a Chinese grocery store on Saturday.  You know, you could really get a good deal from most Chinese grocery stores.  They are usually cheaper and have more variety than American grocery stores.  For example, instead of paying like $10 or $11 a pound for shrimp, it would be like $8 or $9 a pound for the same kind of shrimp.  Besides seafood from Chinese grocery stores are fresher.   Anyway, if you cook this dish, you should make sure the shrimp are fresh and big enough, that’s my suggestion.  BTW, talking about big shrimp, this reminds me that I should show you guys this picture.   Last time I visited my mom, she cooked me all my favorite dishes.  And the shrimp dish was a huge surprise.  I couldn’t even put words to describe the shrimp. I had never seen any shrimp of this size.  This really put a new meaning to “jumbo”.  I wish mom will make me that shrimp again next time I visit her. LOL 

Really jumbo shrimp!

Have you tried any Chives dishes?  Chives are one of those things that either you love it or you hate it.  Some of my friends call them stinky vegetable because they have very strong smell.  I love them, I think they are yummy and have a nice aroma.  LOL.  I especially love the dim sum dishes such as Pan Fried Chives and Pork dumplings.   Whenever I go for dim sum, I would wait and wait until I get them.  Not all restaurants serve that, so I could end up waiting for a long time and finally gave up.  I went to a Chinese grocery store this afternoon. I passed by the seafood counter.  I got some squid and I thought it may go well with some chives.  Squid, on the other hand, is also another love or hate thing.  They look absolutely yucky to me.  My roommate back in my college days would never be able to try squid or calamari (if you have to give it a fancier name) because she couldn’t stand the look of it.  I remember one time I put some dried cuttle fish in the vegetable compartment in the refridgerator.  Cuttle fish and squid look similar BTW.   She would not use the vegetable compartment at all.  I found out the reason later, I thought it was funny.  Of course, after I cooked the cuttle fish, I never put any weird looking thing in the refridgerator just to be considerate.

Chives

Stir Fry Squid first

Add chives

Stir Fried Squid with Chives

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Squid, 1 pound
• Garlic, 2 cloves
• Ginger, 2 slices
• Chives, a big bunch
• Oyster sauce, 1 tsp
• Fish sauce, 1 tsp
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp
• Cornstarch, 1 tsp
• Water, 2 Tbsp

Steps:

1. Finely chop the garlic.  Put it aside.
2. Cut chives into 3 inches length.
3. The squid you get from grocery stores are usually cleaned already. I washed them again to make sure they are really cleaned.
4. Cut squid into about 1 inch wide or bite sizes.
5. Mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoon of cold water in a bowl.  Mix well. Put it aside.
6. Use a big pan. Spray cooking oil to it.  Put garlic and ginger to the pan. Let it cook for 1 min.
7. Add squid.  Add chinese cooking wine, fish sauce and oyster sauce to the pan.   Add cornstarch mixture.  Mix them well.  Stir fry it for 2 mins or until the sauce thickens.  The squid should curls.  That tells you it is cooked. 
8. Add chives to the pan.  Stir fry for 1 minute.
9. Taste it. Add a dash of salt if needed.