Chinese Chicken Recipes for Busy People

It’s almost Thanksgiving in US.  While everyone is getting ready for the big turkey dinner, I could really care less about having any turkey. LOL.  It took me couple of days to prepare for the Thanksgiving dinner.  I got my shopping list, I had to make sure I got to the grocery store at least a week ago to get a good size turkey, ie, whatever smallest one I could get. LOL.  I had to defrost the bird a couple of days before. I had to get up early to start cooking the bird, the stuffing, the side dishes, the pies, … And guess what?  Everyone ate a couple of pieces of turkey, a little bit of everything.  There were just too much leftovers after that.  It would be a waste to throw them out, and yet no one wanted to see or hear anymore turkey after Thanksgiving.  See, too much stress.  I really can skip turkey if I could.  I prefer the Chinese gathering food instead, something like hot pot.  There is nothing like hot pot in my opinion.  Besides a lot of varieties of food, it is really the atmosphere that I missed.  Friends and family gathered around the table, we each make our own food, we eat a little bit, we talk more, we drink more.  It would be a relaxing dinner. I would forget about crazy work or stress.  We dedicated a few hours to spend with each other, and catching up.  That is truly wonderful. The best part is that whatever leftover, we can cook it for only one more meal and it would be gone forever, not like the turkey dinner leftover that I had to convert it into countless meals like turkey soup, turkey sandwich, turkey pot pie, … You know what I mean.  LOL.

A lot of food for Chinese hot pot

Chinese daikon radish and sweet corn soup base

A lot of vegetable and different kinds of mushrooms

Must have different kinds of balls - fish balls, fish cakes, beef balls...

Another must haves - good cut of beef

Someone I know at work was posting a bunch of pictures of veggies on facebook.  He has started a detox diet.  I was like ok, that sounded good. But I don’t really like uncooked veggie or salad much.  I’m not a rabbit. LOL.  But I could make something with no meat for a change.  I could skip meat for breakfast and lunch, and that would be my own detox diet for now   I had a piece of whole wheat bread for breakfast with a little bit peanut butter and a tea.  For lunch, I made Fried Tofu Cellophane Noodle Soup with Chinese bok choy.  I used to get this from a Shanghai style restaurant in the morning, and that was one of my favorite breakfasts growing up.  It was simple and comforting.  It’s amazing how the combination of the ingredients turns out to be yummy.  Fried tofu doesn’t have much taste.  Cellophane noodle (or clear noodle) does not have any taste either.  Same thing for the bok choy, almost tasteless.  All these things just absorb whatever the taste of broth or soup.  It’s a very subtle dish.  I added a few dried shrimps to add some taste.  It was yummy.  If you skip the dried shrimp, that’s totally vegetarian.  Besides, the cellophane noodles have lower calories than egg noodles.  I’m going to try this no-meat-breakfast-and-lunch for a week, and see if I look leaner.  LOL.  Oh I forgot to mention that this is super easy to make. It only takes about 15 mins or so, can’t beat that!

Cellophane noodle

Fried tofu

Dried shrimp

Add everything except the veggie to the pot

Fried Tofu Noodle Soup with Dried Shrimp

Ingredients (Serve 1):

• Cellophane noodle, 1 small pack
• Fried tofu, 2 pieces
• Dried shrimp, a small handful (about 2 tablespoons)
• Chinese bok choy, 2 or 3 leaves
• Scallion, 1 stalk
• Water, 3 cups (you can use chicken stock and skip the chicken powder)
• Chicken powder, ½ tsp
• Fish sauce, 1 tsp

 Steps:

1. Cut Chinese bok choy into edible sizes.  Put it aside.
2. Cut scallion into small dices.  Put it aside.
3. Add water to the pot. Add cellophane noodle, dried shrimp, and fried tofu to the pot. Use high heat.  Let it cook for 10 minutes or until the noodle soften and is tender.  The more you cook the cellophane noodle, the more it absorb the water.
4. Add chicken powder, fish sauce and boy choy to the pot.  Let it cook for couple of minutes.   Taste it.  Add more water or salt if needed.
5. Turn off the heat.  Add scallion.  Serve hot.

I had lunch with my buddy the other day. He retired and I haven’t seen him for a while.  It was great that we got a chance to catch up with each other.  He told me all the good stuff that he has been doing since he retired.  And I told him all the crazy life, school and this Chicken blog.  He didn’t know about this blog.  I told him I put some of the pictures of the dishes on Facebook sometimes.  Then he said, “Oh. That Chicken Soup doesn’t look too good”.  OH thanks!!!  Of course, he can be frank with me, we are friends.  And I responded that Gogi berries Chinese Soup is very traditional Chinese soup.  It may not be attractive to non-Chinese, but it is certainly good stuff, trust me.  Anyway, I felt that I should put something here that looks more edible. HAHHAHAHA..  I presented to you my Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup tonight.  It’s so easy to make, you can’t screw up.  You can use chicken breast meat, or ground chicken.  BTW, have you ever wonder why it is not easy to find ground chicken in American grocery stores?  They sell ground beef, ground pork, ground turkey but not ground chicken.  Oh well… the Hong Kong Style Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup uses ground chicken meat instead of shredded chicken meat.  You can still use shredded chicken meat if you prefer.  It’s not gonna change the taste of the soup. LOL.

Poach chicken first.

Shred the chicken. You can chop it more after that

Add a can of cream corn to the pot

Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Chicken breast or ground chicken, about less than 1/2 pound. I used 4 chicken finger sized meat.
• Sweet corn cream style, 1 can
• Egg, 1
• Chicken bouillon cube, 1 or chicken powder, 1 tsp 
• Cornstarch, 1 Tbsp
• Water, 4 cups
• Scallion, 1 (optional)
• Salt, a dash

Steps:

1. Beat an egg.  Put it aside.
2. Mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoon of cold water. Mix it well. Put it aside.
3. Chop some scallion for garnish.  Put it aside.
4. We’ll poach the chicken first.  Put chicken breast meat in a large saucepan.  Add 2 cups of water.  Use medium high heat.  let it cook for 3 mins on one side.  Flip the chicken strips over to the other side, cook it for another 3 mins.  Turn off the heat.  Remove the chicken from the pot.  Put them aside.  Save water in the pot.
5. Let the chicken cool a little bit. Then shred them with your hands.  If you like them really in small pieces, you can coarsely chop it after it is shredded. That’s what I did.  Put it aside.
6. Add a can of cream corn to the pot. Ya, just add it to the water there.  Add 2 more cups of water to the pot.  Mix it well.  Use medium high heat and let it cook until it boils.
7. Add chicken meat and the cornstarch mixture and chicken bouillon or chicken powder to the pot.  Let it cook until it boils. The soup should be thickened.  Add a dash of salt.
8. Add the beaten egg to the pot.  Stir the soup a little bit while you add the egg.  Let it cook for a minute. Turn off the heat.  Put chopped scallion as garnish.

I looked around at people I know, everyone works like crazy to make a living in this economy.  I know I age fast with the stress I have.  I used to pluck my white hair whenever I see it.  Now, I got so many that I don’t even care. My vision is getting worse.  I do feel my body is getting old.  Can I do something about it?  Yes, I can  exercise more to keep my mind and soul young. But it’s just hard to find time.  Also diet is important.  One thing I know I’m missing all these years in my diet is soup.  Soup is a very important part of Chinese diet.  I’m not talking about Wonton Soup or Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup.  I’m talking about traditional Chinese soup like Ginseng Chicken Soup that takes a few hours to make.  All the good flavor and nutrients of the ingredients are released in the water after the cooking process.  Growing up, my mom made soup almost every day.  We would have a bowl of soup at the end of each meal.  It was like taking daily supplement in an organic way.  All these years, mom has been telling me that I need to make soup, but I kept telling her I have no time.  She said I can cook it in a crockpot and it didn’t take much effort.  I felt guilty that I have not done anything with the soup mix that she packed for me.  I promised her that I would do so.  After I hang up the phone with her on Saturday night.  I put a soup mix package that she gave me with Gogi Wolfberries in a crock pot. I added some chicken drumsticks in it.  I filled up the pot with hot water. I put the lid on.  I turned the cooking temperature to be high. And I went to bed.  6 hours later when I woke up on Sunday morning.  The soup was ready!  I just made the soup while I was sleeping!!! How cool was that!  Mom was right again. It was effortless.  The soup was delicious.  I ate everything including the Gogi berries.   Gogi Wolfberries are getting more traction these days as Westerners recently discovered the nutritious values of these little guys.  Gogi berries have amazing anti-aging power, improve your vision and boost your immune system.  They are packed with tons of antioxidants.  I will put Gogi Chicken Soup as part of my regular meals instead of wasting money on buying anti-aging creams that don’t work. LOL.

Chinese Soup Mix:

You can get a pack of Chinese soup mix from a Chinese grocery store that contains Gogi Wolfberries.  They are inexpensive.  Or you can buy separate ingredients from the store.  I would suggest to include these 3:

• Gogi Wolfberries  – They are tiny dried berries, red in color. They are great for anti-aging and vision
• Dioscorea Opposita – It’s a kind of Japanese Yam, white in color. Use the dried ones here.  They are also pre-sliced. They are good for the immune system.
• Dried Logan fruit (aka dragon eye fruit) –  They are dark brown in color when dried.  They are rich in Vitamin A and C. Good stuff for improving vision and immune system.

Chinese Soup Mix with Gogi Berries

Mom's Chinese Soup Mix including Gogi Berries (red ones), Dioscorea Opposita (long, white slices), dried Logan/Dragon Eye fruit and other good stuff

Gogi Wolfberries Chinese Chicken Soup for Anti-aging

Ingredients:

• Dried Gogi Wolfberries, 2 Tbsp
• Dioscorea Opposita, a big handful
• Dried Logan fruit, a small handful
• Chicken, 1.5 pounds. I used 7 drumsticks, or you can put 1/2 a chicken, or breast meat or dark meat. Or pork, if you prefer that.

Steps:

1. Boil a big pot of water.
2. Put soup mix in a colander or strainer.  Rinse it under water.
3. Add the soup mix in a crock pot. 
4. Add chicken to the crock pot.
5. Add hot water to the pot. Leave about 1 inches room on top.
6. Put the lid on. Turn the temperature of the crock pot to be high.  Set your timer to 5 or 6 hours or so.  The soup will be done.  You don’t have to do anything while it cooks.
7. Add a pinch of salt for taste when it is done.

After posting the funky Zongzi yesterday, I’m still in the mood of adding more funky Chinese food here.  LOL.  This one is definitely weird looking – Chinese Thousand Year Egg.  They look like regular eggs except the shell has tons of tiny grey dots.  If you peel the shell, it is black in color and has a very strong sulphur smell.  Then I cut it in halves. The egg white is totally black and translucent. The yolk is dark greenish in color. I couldn’t help thinking what the heck have people done to turn regular eggs to look like this?  I used to love Thousand Year Eggs when I was a kid until one day I asked my mom how they were made.  Mom told me that they were soaked in horse urine for a few months.  From then onwards, I stop eating them for years.  I didnt know whether it was a myth or not, it just grossed me out.  A few years ago I saw the Fear Factor TV show asked the challengers to eat mashed Thousand Year Eggs.  Of course, they make it look so gross that no one could bypass the vision part.  In fact, they are not bad in taste.  My sister’s Japanese buddies tried the Thousand Year Egg for the very first time a few years ago.  After the first bite, they all said “oshi”, which means delicious.  My buddy’s American boyfriend tried it as well, and he loved it.  She even sent him a few Thousand Year Eggs in mail one summer when she was working in a different state for internship.

Thousand Year Egg

Thousand Year Egg Looks So WEIRD

Thousand Year Egg Congee

Note: I did not put any meat in this congee. The traditional dish should be pork and thousand year egg congee.  If your prefer, you can put some pork or chicken in it.

Ingredients:

• Uncooked rice, or leftover rice, 1.5 cups
• Water, 8 cups
• Thousand year eggs, 2
• Ginger, 5 slices
• Scallion, 3 stalks
• Fish sauce, 1 Tbsp
• Salt, a dash

Steps:

1. Cut ginger slices into very fine strips.
2. Cut the scallion into small dices.  Put it aside.
3. If you are using uncooked rice, rinse it under the water 2 times.
4. Put 8 cups of water and rice (cooked or uncooked) in a big pot.  Use high heat, bring it to a boil.
5. Lower the heat to medium, add ginger strips and let it cook for 30 mins.  Stir occasionally.  Add more water if needed.  The congee should be very soupy.
6. Add fish sauce to the congee.  Stir well.
7. Peel the Thousand Year Eggs. Cut them into eight slices, then cut them into dices.  Add them to the congee.  Mix it well.
8. Let it cook for another 15 mins.  Taste it. Add a dash of salt if needed. 
9. Add scallion to the congee.  Mix it well. Turn off the heat.  Serve. 

Mom used to make plain congee (rice soup) for breakfast.  To make plain congee, all you need is to put the rice in a big pot of water, and cook it for an hour until it turns creamy, and it’s done.  You can imagine how no taste it is.  Mom would fry some peanuts in a wok, and then added some salt on them.  That or some chinese pickled vegetable would be our side dishes that went along with the no-taste congee.  Yup, that was my breakfast when I was a kid.  I never understood back then why we couldn’t put some meat or whatever in the congee to give it some taste. Of course, looking back I would understand that it was because we were poor.  We couldn’t afford fancy breakfast.  Every time I asked her “Plain congee again?”, she would say “it cleanses your stomach.”  Now that I’m not that broke and I could afford meat.  I never make plain congee. 

As mom said, congee is good for the digestive system.  So whenever I don’t feel like eating anything, or may be feeling sick, I would make congee.  I would also have it for a good detox.  Forget about those detox pills or tea, try having congee for 3 whole days (breakfast, lunch and dinner), it really cleanses your digestive system.

This is my very-close-to plain congee that I made this morning. If you can afford meat, feel free to add some. But if you are really trying this out for detox, skip the meat!

Chinese Congee Rice Soup for Detox

Ingredients (make 2 servings):

• Uncooked rice, 1.5 cup (or cooked rice, 2 cups)
• Dried whole shiitake mushrooms, 2 (or dried sliced shiitake mushrooms, 8 slices)
• Oatmeal, 1 Tbsp (optional, it gives more detox function)
• Scallion, 2 stems
• Fish sauce, 1 Tbsp
• Salt, a pinch
• Water, 9 cup

Steps:

1. If you are using dried whole shiitake mushrooms, soak it in warm water for 30 mins.  When it gets soft, chop it finely, put it in a big pot.  If you use driced sliced shiitake mushromms, you can easily break them into small pieces by hand, put it in a big pot.
2. Add rice and water to the pot.  Use high heat, bring it to a boil.
3. Let it boil for couple of minutes.  Turn the heat to medium.  Add a tablespoon of fish sauce.
4. Let it simmer for 50 mins until the rice expands and blends well with the water. The rice should look kind of creamy.  Stir occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.  Add more water if it is too thick for you.
5. This is an optional step. If you have any leftover cooked chicken, or whatever meat.  I like to add leftover steamed Chinese Chicken pieces. Cut them into small pieces.   Add them to the pot.  Cook it for 5 minutes. 
6. Add chopped scallion to the pot.
7. Add a pinch of salt according to your liking.

MUST serve while it is hot.

I love dumplings. I can eat thirty of them each time. I’m not kidding.

I used to hang out with a bunch of foreign students when I was in college. One time one guy from Beijing decided to teach everyone to make dumplings. That could be one of those days that we were so bored and had nothing better to do. Anyway, we went out to grab the ingredients like ground meat and some other ingredients, I forgot. But I remember he said something about dumplings. He said people in China were pretty poor when he grew up. They didn’t have much money to buy meat. So in order to make that meat looked bigger, they made it into dumplings. They mixed the meat with some veggies, put it on a wrapper, fold the edges of the wrapper, squashed the meat in the middle to make it look like a pocket filled with stuff, something that symbolizes abundance. Interesting. I never thought of why dumplings are shaped the way they are. That was the day I learned how to wrap a dumpling. I forgot what ingredients or seasonings he used. We probably made more than 100 dumplings that day among the 6 or 7 of us. They were so yummy. I probably ate more than 30 or so as I said.

Dumpling Wrapping

Dumplings in Soup

Ingredients (make about 50 dumplings)

Dumplings:

• Dumpling wrapper (prefer the round ones, the square one are fine as well), 1 package
• Ground meat (I prefer pork, you can use chicken, beef or even turkey), 1 pound
• Shrimp, shelled, deveined, 1/2 pound
• Chinese bok choy, 3 leaves
• Shiitake mushroom (dried or fresh), 4 or 5
• Egg, 1
• Chopped parsley (dried or fresh), 2 Tbsp
• Oyster Sauce (I only use the brand Lee Kum Kee), 1 Tbsp
• Soy Sauce, 1 Tbsp
• Salt, 1/4 tsp
• Pepper, a pinch
• Chinese cooking wine (or white wine), 1 tsp
• Sesame oil, 1 tsp
• Sugar, 1 tsp
• Cornstarch, 1 tsp

Soup:

• Salt, a pinch
• Oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp
• Soy sauce, 1 tsp
• Water, 6 cups
• Scallion, 1 stem, chopped finely

Steps:

1. If you are using dried shiitake mushroom, soak it in the water for an hour.  When it gets soft, squeeze out excess water.  Dice the mushroom into very fine pieces.  Put it in a big mixing bowl.
2. Cut the cleaned shrimp into small pieces (like cut one shrimp into 3 or 4 pieces depending on the size of it).  Add it to the bowl.
3. Add the following to the mixing bowl: ground meat, chopped parsley, oyster sauce, soy sauce, chinese cooking wine, salt, pepper, sugar, cornstarch and sesame oil. Mix well.
4. Chopped the bok choy very finely. Add it to the mixture.  Mix well.
5. Add an egg to the mixture. Mix well.  Let it season for 20 mins.
6. To wrap the dumplings, prepare a small bowl of water.  Put about a tablespoon of mixture to a wrapper.  Put the mixture in the middle, make sure you leave some space on the edge.  Use your finger or the back of a spoon to dip some water to the edge of the wrapper.  Fold the wrapper in half to make a half moon shape.  Press down the edge to make sure it seals tightly.  This is the easiest way to shape a dumping.  If you are more skillful, you can make some crease on the edge to make the dumplings look fancier. Put all the dumplings aside.
7. If you are not going to cook all the dumplings, freeze the extra ones in the freezer.
8. Boil a big pot of water.  When the water boils, add the dumplings.  Boil it for 6 or 7 minutes, or until they float to the top.  Stir occassionally to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.  Drain the dumplings and put them in a serving bowl. 
9. Use another pot to make soup.  Add water, oyster sauce, soy sauce and salt. Bring it to a boil.  Turn off the heat.  Add chopped scallion.  Pour the soup over the dumplings. 
10. You can also add some cooked noodles into the soup as well.

It’s all my coworker’s fault, he got me thinking about comfort food for two days now.  I really miss my mom’s cooking.  Besides Steamed Chinese Chicken, she also makes super expensive stuff like Shark Fin Soup, Fish Maw and Bird Nest Soup.  My mom has her funny philosophy. She could be feeding us cheap meals most of the time while we were kids, and yet once in a while (a very long while) we would have an expensive meal.  If you have ever been invited to a Chinese banquet, you probably have tried Shark Fin soup there.   If you order the soup at some fancy Chinese restaurant, it is very expensive.  I may have tried it less than a handful of times in some Chinese banquets when I was a kid.  I have never ordered it in a restaurant myself.  I know it would never be anything as good as or even close to mom’s.  Besides, I’m cheap, I’m not going to pay US$300 or so for a bowl of soup.  It’s expensive because it is rare, and the process of making the soup is complicated.  In mom’s version, she put Shark Fin, shredded Chicken and sometimes fish maw in it. It is high protein, and high collagen.  Last time I visited her, she fed me Shark Fin soup and Bird Nest Soup for breakfast. I couldn’t even tell you how expensive this two would be if you order them at a restaurant.  That was the most expensive breakfast I ever had in my whole life.  It was like a one time experience. 

Shark Fin Soup

Bird Nest Soup