Chinese Chicken Recipes for Busy People

I couldn’t think of a better way to start off the new year with friends or family for a Chinese Hot Pot dinner.  I did it with my coworkers last year. They never had Chinese hot pot before.  It was so much fun.  All you need is a portable stove, a big shallow pot filled with water.  That’s it.  You can have whatever meat, seafood or veggies as you like. You just need to slice the meat or fish, wash the veggie and that’s all for the prepartion.  When the pot of water is boiled. Everyone cooks his own food in the pot.  Since the water doesn’t have any seasoning, everyone needs to make his own dipping sauce. You can imagine this is a super healthy meal, no oil, no fuzz. 

Oh, I need to mention the rules:

1. You don’t put all the ingredients in the pot.  You cook what you want to eat yourself (ya, don’t worry about your bf or gf) a little bit at a time.  You eat it, you chat more, then you go back to cook more food.  Got it?
2. Use serving utensils/chopsticks to cook the food. No sticking your own fork or chopsticks in the pot unless no one cares about it.
3. When you put the food in the pot, you are responsible for keeping an eye on it.  If not, any food left in the pot is in shared pool.  Anyone can eat it. That’s right, you snooze you lose!
4. Make your own dipping  sauce.  Everyone has different likings. Don’t expect someone will serve you.

Chinese Hot Pot

Uncooked Ingredients Serves 5-6 (This is only a suggestion, you can really prepare whatever you like):

• Thinly sliced beef, 3/4 pound
• Sliced chicken, 1/2 pound
• Shrimp, peeled and devined, 3/4 pound
• Fish filet, 1/2 pound (can be any white fish like tile fish, tilapia, or even salmon)
• Oyster, 1/2 pound
• Squid, cleaned, 1/2 pound
• Dumplings or wontons, a dozen
• Tofu, 1 pack
• Fish balls, 1 bag (about a dozen)
• Japanese Enoki mushrooms, 1 bag
• Fresh Shaiitake mushrooms, 1 bag
• Noodles, 2 bag (could use udon noodles, ramen noodles, clear cellphane noodles or  shirataki miracle noodles)
• Leafy vegetables, a big bunch, washed (can be Chinese bok choy or others, or even regular lettuce)

Preparation (prepare each of them and put them aside):

1. For all the meat, slice them thinly.
2. For seafood such as fish or squid, cut them into big chuncks about 3 x 1.5 inches
3. Wash all the vegetable.
4. Cut Tofu into big cubes: 2×2 inches
5. For the enoki mushroom. Cut off the bottom root part of the bunch of mushroom.  For the shaiitake mushrooms, just wash them and keep them as whole pieces.

Setting the table for dinner:

1. Put the portable cooker (could be gas or electric) in the middle of the table.
2. Use a shallow pot and fill it up with 70% of water.  Put it on the portable cooker.
3. Put the food around the portable cooker.
4. For each person, place a plate and a small bowl (for dipping sauce), two pairs of chopsticks or forks (one for cooking, one for eating, see Rules#2).
5. Prepare a few ladles for scoping off the food. 

Setting the sauce station on a side table or in the kitchen(These are suggested sauce. You can use whatever). You can have:

• Soy sauce
• Oyster sauce
• Chinese BBQ sauce (very different from western BBQ sauce)
• Sesame oil
• Chilli sauce or hot oil
• Chopped garlic
• Chopped onion

Dinner time:

1. Everyone prepare his own dipping sauce first.
2. Put the tofu and a few fish balls in the pot.  These could be common food that are sharable to start with.  Use high heat of the portable cooker. Boil the water.
3. When the water boils, that means the fish balls are ready. Everyone can start making his own food. 
4. Have fun. Remember, you snooze you lose. Keep an eye on your own food!

Finally the weekend is here. Thank God!  I have time to catch up on my blog. It was such as long week. I started a new job. I was busy meeting up with my new boss, and the people that I needed to talk to for my job transfer.  I also organized an Asian Pot luck lucheon.  Originally, I planned to make some Chinese Chicken Fried Rice or Fried Soy Sauce Noodles.  But I was really running out of time. So I made some pan friend chicken dumplings instead.  Of course, I did not make the dumplings from scratch. I got 3 bags of Chinese Chicken Dumplings from Trader Joe. They are like $3 a bag, and they are pretty decent dumplings.  I made a dumpling sauce with it. It turned out great. Everyone loved it.

Lay Dumplings In One Layer in Pan

Use Aluminum Foil as a Lid

Pan Fried Dumplings for Pot Luck Party

Ingredients:

• Frozen chinese dumplings, 1 bag. I used the Trader Joe Chicken Dumplings here. They have thin skins and cook fast.
• Water, 1.25 cups

Dumpling sauce:

• Soy Sauce, 2 Tbsp
• White Vinegar, 2 Tbsp
• Oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp
• Worchestershire sauce, 1 tsp
• Sugar, 1 tsp
• Water, 2 Tbsp
• Sesame oil, two drops (optional)

Steps:

1. Use a large frying pan. Spray non-stick cooking oil to fully cover the surface of the pan.
2. Lay frozen dumplings flat side down in one layer onto the pan.  Make sure they don””t overlap with each other. NO NEED TO DEFROST the dumplings ahead of time.
3. Use high heat. Let the dumplings cooked for 2 minutes to make the skin crisp.  DO NOT touch/flap them.
4. Pour 1.25 cups of water to the pan.  If the dumplings have thicker skins, pour 1.5 cups of water instead.
5. Cover the pan with a lid, or a piece of aluminum foil.  Let it cooked for 7-8 minutes with high heat or until the water dries up.  The water will give a steamming effect to the dumplings.
6. Turn off the heat when the water dries up.  Let it sit for 1 minute with the lid on.  Remove the dumplings from the pan.
7. To make dumpling sauce, put all the sauce ingredients in a small serving bowl.  Mix it well.  Optionally, you can add sesame oil, chopped garlic and ginger to the sauce to make it fancy.

Could be the stress or worries on my new job, I felt the need for something basic, something that gave me comfort and soothed my mind.  I turned to a few dishes that I loved when I was a kid.  Besides mom’s Steamed Chinese Chicken, I always love her Steamed Chinese Chicken in Black Bean Sauce.  It tasted so good that I had to lick the plate every time I had it.  Ya, I know, I was not supposed to do that. That was totally bad table manner.  Oh well, I was a kid.  What did I care?  LOL.  Anyway, this is a perfect dish to make when I am super busy.  All I need to do was mix the chicken with the sauce, then steam it.  I set the timer, and I could forget about it until it is done.  Hm.. does that soundslike some infomercial?  LOL.  Seriously, you would love steammed chinese dishes if you know how easy it is.   

Creative Steaming Rack

Steaming Pouch

Steamed Chinese Chicken with Black Bean Sauce

Ingredients:

• Skinless Chicken meat (dark or white) 1 pound.  I prefer skinless and bonelss thigh meat for this dish.
• Red pepper, 1
• Dried shiitake mushrooms. 5 whole mushrooms or a handful if they are pre-sliced.
• Lee Kum Kee black bean sauce, 1 Tbsp
• Sugar, 1 tsp
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp
• Corn starch, 1 Tbsp
• Soy sauce, 1 tsp

Steps:

1. Put dried shiitake mushrooms in warm water in a microwave-able bowl.  Put it in the microwave for 3 minutes.  This is a fast version/short cut.  Or you can soak it in warm water for 25 minutes or so.  Remove the mushrooms, and slice them in thin slices. 
2. Cut red pepper into small pieces, like 1.5 inches.
3. Cut chicken into bite size cubes, like 1 to 1.5 inches long.
4. In a big mixing bowl, put the chicken in it. 
5. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl. Mix it well. 
6. If you have a steamer, add enough water to the steamer, boil the water.  Put the chicken in a plate that can be fit into the steamer.  Wait until the water boils, add the plate inside the steamer and steam with a lid on for 30 mins.
7. Note: if you don”t have a steamer. You can do what I did:
8. Put two pairs of Chinese wooden chopsticks in a pot. I used the chopsticks I got from the Chinese take-out, see the picture.  Put enough water in the pot.  Boil the water.  If you don”t have a plate that fit into the pot, you can put the chicken on a large aluminum foil.  Then seal the edges of the foil to make a pouch.  Use a second piece of aluminum foil to wrap around the pouch to prevent water from getting into the chicken (see the picture).  Put the aluminum pouch in the pot on top of the chopsticks when the water boils.  Steam with a lid on for 30 mins.

Today was my first day transitioning to a new job. I was very overwhelmed as I found out I have to connect to like 150 people for my job!  I felt so exhausted when I got home. I needed to fix a quick dinner.  24 was on tonight. I can”t miss that  So I decided to put a bunch of leftovers into a meal, ie, Chinese fried rice.   You can put any ingredients into fried rice, be creative.  There is a very famous Chinese fried rice dish called “Yeung Chow Fried Rice” which has BBQ pork and shrimps in it. But I did not have those ingredients. So, I made a simple Chinese Chicken Fried Rice instead.  You can substitute the chicken with other kind of meat like beef, pork or even skip it as you like.  I will show you Yeung Chow Fried Rice some other time.  My high school friend told me that his uncle worked in a restaurant, and workers there used to use their feet to press down on the leftover rice to separate it.  It was sooooooooo gross!  I thought she made this whole thing up to gross me out.  Anyway, I have not ordered fried rice at any restaurant for yeaars.  I make my own.

My leftover rice from a take-out place

Add An Egg to Fried Rice

Basic Chinese Chicken Fried Rice

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• Leftover cooked rice, 2.5 to 3 cups (prefer leftover rice over fresh cooked rice because leftover rice is drier)
• Cooked chicken meat, 1- 1.5 cup
• Ham, 2 slices (Optional, ham would give a nice savoury taste)
• carrots, 2 stalks
• Celery, 2 stalks
• Onion, 1/2
• Scallion, 1 stalk
• Garlic, 1 clove
• Egg, 1
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp
• Soy sauce, 1 tsp
• Oyster sauce, 1 tsp
• Salt, a dash
• White pepper, a dash (you can use regular black pepper instead)
• Sesame oil (optional)
• Water, 2 Tbsp

Steps:

1. Wash your hands first!  If the leftover rice has big lumps, break them with your hand first. Put it aside.
2. Finely chopped the garlic. Put it aside.
3. Peel and cut carrots into small cubes, like 1 cm.  Put it aside.
4. Cut celery into small cubes, like 1 cm.  Put it aside.
5. Cut onion into small pieces.  Put it aside.
6. Cut scallion into small pieces. Put it aside.
7. Cut ham into small pieces. Put it aside.
8. Spray oil in a frying pan.  Use medium to high heat. Put carrots into the pan.  Stir fry it for 3 minutes or so. 
9. Add onion and garlic to the frying pan.  Stir fry it for 2 minutes.
10. Add celery and stir fry for a minute.
11. Add cooking wine and a dash of salt to the pan. Mix it well.
12. Spray a little bit more oil to the pan.  Add rice.  Stir fry for a minute or so.  Add 2 Tbsp of water.   Mix it well. 
13. Add oyster sauce, soy sauce to the rice.  Mix it well.
14. Dig a hole in the middle of the pan. Break an egg and put it in the middle (like a volcano).  Let it cooked untouch for a minute.  Then start to fold the rice from the side to the middle of the pan to mix it slowly with the egg.   Keep folding the rice in.  Mix it well for couple of minutes.
15. Add cooked chicken finally.
16. Taste it. Add a pinch of salt if needed.  Add scallion, pepper and sesame oil.  Mix it well. Turn off the heat.

It was snowing pretty heavy this morning.  I was kind of trapped at home.   It is good that I have some food and I don”t need to go out.  It was cold out there.  Even though the heat is on, I could still feel the wind creeps through the crack of my fireplace.  Hm.. I knew I wanted something warm for dinner, something that can go with a steaming bowl of rice.   I usually cook whatever I have at home. I don”t really plan ahead. This is one of those dishes that I tried out on the fly, which turned out pretty good.

Chinese Chicken with Coconut Sauce

Ingredients (Serve 2-3):

• Skinless, boneless chicken meat (thigh or breast), 1-1.5 pound
• Carrot, 3
• Celery sticks, 3
• Onion, 1
• Garlic, 2 cloves
• Chinese Cabbage, two handfuls (Sorry guys, I don”t have a food scale, it’’s rough measurement)
• Fish sauce, 1 Tbsp
• Chicken stock, 1 cup
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp
• Coconut milk, 1/2 cup
• Sugar, 1 tsp
• Cornstarch, 2 Tbsp
• Salt, a pinch
• Half and half cream, 1 Tbsp (optional)

Steps:

1. Slice the onion into pieces. Put it aside.
2. Finely chopped the garlic. Put it aside.
3. Peel, and cut carrots into bite size pieces. Put it aside.
4. Cut celery into small cubes. Put it aside.bb
5. Cut Chinese cabbage into bite size pieces.  Put it aside.
6. Cut chicken into bit size pieces.  Add a tablespoon of cornstarch.  Put it aside.
7. In a low frying pan, spray cooking oil to the pan.  Use high heat.  Add onion to the pan.  Stir fry for a couple of minutes.
8. Add carrot and garlic to the pan.  Cook it for a couple of minutes.
9. Add chicken to the pan. Cook it for a couple of minutes to brown the meat.
10. Add a teaspoon of Chinese cooking wine to the pan. Mix it well.
11. Add chicken stock to the pan.  Add fish sauce, and sugar.  Bring it to a boil.  Lower the heat to low.  Cover it with a lid or a piece of aluminium foil. Cook for 30 minutes.
12. Add celery to the pan.  Cook it for another 10 minutes with the lid on.
13. Add coconut cream and Chinese cabbage to the pan. Cook it for another 5 minutes with the lid on.
14. In a bowl, mix a tablespoon of cornstarch with a tablespoon of water.  Mix it well.  Add it to the pan.
15. Cook until the sauce thickens. You can add more cornstarch if you prefer thicker sauce.
16. Optional: add half and half cream if you prefer a creamier taste.
17. Taste it. Add a pinch of salt if needed.

I’ve been gaining weight and not exercising. I’m sure I’m not alone.  Still, this is not good.  I decided to eat more healthy food, something high protein and low carb.  I remember my friend used to make Stir Fried Chinese Chicken with Celery almost every week.  It is one of  the fast and easy dishes.  Of course, if you use chicken breast meat, it is lean and packs with tons of protein.  Do you know celery can help to reduce blood pressure?  Yup, that’s according to Dr. Mom. LOL.  I’m not kidding, this is true.  If you google “celery reduce blood pressure”, you’ll know. 

Stir Fried Chinese Chicken with Celery

 Ingredients (Serve 2-3):

• Chicken breast meat, 1 pound (you can use dark meat too)
• Celery, 2 hearts
• Garlic, 1 clove
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp
• Corn starch, 2 tsp
• Oyster sauce, 1 tsp
• Soy sauce, 1 tsp
• Sugar, 1 tsp
• Salt, a pinch

Steps:

1. Finely chopped the garlic, put it aside.
2. Wash and drain the celery.  Cut it into strips, about 3 inches long each.  Put it aside.
3. To make the sauce, in a small bowl, mix 1 tsp of corn starch, add 5 Tbsp of water, oyster sauce, and sugar. Mix it well.
4. Cut chicken meat into thin slices.  Put it into a bowl.  Add soy sauce, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp cornstarch to the chicken.  Mix it well.
5. In a frying pan, spray oil (or add 1 Tbsp regular cooking oil).  Use high heat.  Add Chicken to the pan.  Stir fry it for 2 or 3 minutes or until it is half cooked. 
6. When the chicken is half cooked, add garlic and celery to the pan.  Keep stir frying for couple of minutes.  Mix it well.
7. Add a tsp of Chinese cooking wine to the pan. Mix it well.

Add the sauce mixture to the pan.  Mix it well.  Cook for couple of minutes until the sauce thickens and just barely coats the chicken and celery.  Taste it, you can add a pinch of salt according to your liking.

Today, my coworker asked me when would I post receipes for Chinese comfort food.   I was like “hm.. do we have chinky comfort food?” LOL.  He was referring to dishes like Lop Cheung (Chinese cured meat sausage), Jing Yuk Beng (Steamed Minced Pork) etc.  Ya, those are good stuff.  And they also fit my category of the poor man’s food cos they are totally non-fancy family dishes.  To me, I would immediately think of my mom’s Steamed Chinese Chicken for comfort food.  This is one of the most common Chinese dishes.  If you have ever been invited to any Chinese banquet, like someone’s wedding, or birthday, Steamed Chinese Chicken would be one of the dishes, another one would be Steamed Fish.  Maybe I’ll post a recipe for Steamed Fish later.  Mom made Steamed Chicken probably once a week.  She used a wok to steam it.  When it was done, she put the cooked chicken on a round butcher block.  She put a newspaper on the floor, then lay the butcher block on it. She grabbed her Chinese cleaver, and cut the chicken in halves, and then raised the cleaver high in the air, and dropped it quickly to chop each piece.  The chopping was easier to watch than done.  Mom asked me a few times to cut the chicken when she was busy.  I tried to imitate her, but it would take me 2 or 3 cuts to separate each piece.  If I don’t get it in the first cut, then the second cut may not land in the same spot, which you can imagine some pieces were bigger, some smaller, some had a lot of broken bones….  These days, I would make a whole chicken sometimes, but I learned how to use a pair of scissors instead.   Here is a picture of the Steamed Chinese Chicken made by mom when I visited her last time.

Mom's Steamed Chinese Chicken

Ingredients:

• A whole chicken, about 3 or 4 pounds. You can substitute this with legs and thighs, or even breast meat. 
• Scallion, 3 stems
• Ginger root, a small piece, about the length of  your pinky
• Salt
• Sesame oil, 1 tsp
• Cooking oil, 1 Tbsp

Steps:

1. Prepare the dipping sauce ingredients: Cut the ginger root into thin slices first, then thin strips, then very finely pieces like puree.  Put it in a small bowl/plate.
2. Cut scallions into small pieces, and then chop it finely.  Add it to the ginger root.  Put it aside.
3. Rinse the chicken thoroughly, get rid of the internal organ stuff.  Use a few paper towel to pat it dry.
4. This step is optional.  Sprinkle a pinch of salt on the chicken.  Use your hands to rub it evenly on the skin.
5. If you are using a wok, put a metal or bamboo steamer stand in the wok.  Add water to about the level of the stand.  If you are using a steamer, make sure the steamer is big enough to fit the whole chicken. Otherwise, cut the chicken in halves before steaming.
6. When the water boils, put the chicken in a plate and then onto the steamer stand if you are using a wok.  If you are using a steamer, put the chicken in the basket.  Cover the wok/steamer with a lid.  If you don’t have a lid, you can use aluminium foil and cover it tight.
7. Steam for about 30 mins on high heat.  On the side, boil a pot of hot water just in case you need to add more water to the steamer/wok if the water level is getting low.  Check the water level after 15 mins.
8. Carefully remove the chicken from the wok/steamer. It would be steaming hot!  Let the chicken sit for 5 or 10 minutes.
9. Optional: Use a brush and brush a teaspoon of sesame oil on the chicken.
10. When the chicken cools down a little bit, you can cut it into pieces.  If you don’t have much experience using a Chinese cleaver to cut meat with bones, I would recommend you to use a pair of kitchen scissors instead.  It’s much easier with the scissors.
11. To prepare for the dipping sauce, heat up a tablespoon of cooking oil in a frying pan.  Use medium heat.  When you see steams/smoke, turn off the heat.  Add the ginger root and scallion mixture to the pan, you should hear a sizzling sound.  Add a generous pinch of salt to the mixture.  Put it in a dipping sauce bowl/plate.

Do you really know Chinese food?  Have you tried 3-cup Chinese chicken before?

If you ask any Chinese from mainland China about a dish called “3-cup Chinese chicken”, I bet you $100 that everyone would say it is very yummy.  Unfortunately, you don’t see 3-cup Chinese chicken on most Chinese restaurants’ menu (cos most of them in the US serve fake Chinese food IMHO).  Well.. then you have make it yourself if you would like to know what 3-cup chicken tastes like.  I learned this dish from my coworkers who came from Beijing.

It’s called 3-cup chicken because there are 3 cups of main ingredients: wine, soy sauce and sugar, one cup each.  You can have equal amount of each, but I modified the recipe to cut down the sugar amount.

Three Cup Chicken

3-cup chicken

Ingredients:

• Chicken (boneless breast meat, or dark meat is fine) 1 lb
• Ginger 2 slices
• Garlic 2 cloves
• Scallion, 2 stems
• Soy sauce 3 Tbsp
• Chinese cooking wine (if you don’t have it, white wine is fine too) 2 Tbsp
• Sugar 1 Tbsp
• Sesame oil 1/2 Tbsp
• Cornstarch 1/2 Tbsp

Steps:

1. Finely chopped the ginger and garlic.  Chopped scallions.  Put all these aside.
2. Cut chicken in cubes (about 1.5 inches). Put them in a bowl.  Add a teaspoon of cornstarch. Mix well.
3. In a pan, put oil, ginger, garlic, and scallion.  Use high heat, cook for 1 minute.
4. Add chicken cubes to the pan, pan fry them for couple of minutes on one side. Flip them on another side and pan fry for another 2 mins.
5. Add wine, soy sauce and sugar to the pan.  Mix well.  Lower the heat to medium or low.  Cook the chicken until the sauce dries up.
6. When the chicken is cooked, add sesame oil.  Mix well, and it’s done!  If you are fancy, and have extra scallion, you can chopped a little bit of scallion for garnish.

Let me know if you like this dish.  Enjoy!