Eat More Chinese Food

Martin Yan has always been one of my favorite cooks to watch. He always seems so enthusiastic about the food. Although I watched Julia and Lidia and all those PBS cooks, it was Martin that could inspire me to get into the kitchen. I would watch him prepare a dish and could literally imagine it’s taste and texture. I recognized many of the ingredients he used, such as ginger, garlic and chilies (as opposed to tarragon, dill or rosemary). For me, his food felt familiar even though I didn’t grow up eating Chinese food.

Browsing through the cooking section of our local library, I came upon his book Martin Yan’s Chinatown Cooking. This book is a gem. He presents recipes from Chinatowns all over the world. Some of the dishes are commonly found in Chinese restaurants in larger American cities, but there are also dishes from Hawaii, Singapore, Macau, Malaysia, Canada, Australia and England. It’s interesting to see the local influences in each dish and how much variation there can be in Chinese cooking.

The first recipe I wanted to try was oven-baked salmon in spicy chili-bean sauce. Only problem was my local supermarket didn’t have any good looking salmon. I decided to use chicken instead and do it as a stir-fry with various veggies (I know, I have a bad habit of changing recipes. But isn’t improvisation and versatility a good thing in cooking?). The veggies I chose were just the ones I had on hand and needed to use, but really you could use just about anything else: carrots, broccoli, green onions, celery, green beans, Chinese long beans, Chinese broccoli. And even though this dish may seem spicy, it’s not (you could always add more chili bean paste or sambal oelek if you like more heat). My son, who is 4, could eat and enjoyed it.

Chicken and Veggies in Spicy Chili-Bean Sauce

• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs hoisin sauce
• 2 tbs Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry) + 2 tsp kept separate
• 1 tbs honey (or brown sugar)
• handful of cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 tbs Chinese chili bean paste*
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ large onion, sliced into thin wedges
• 1 cup snow peas or sugar snap peas
• 1 small zucchini, sliced into 2 inch long sticks
• ½ red bell pepper, sliced into sticks
• 1 bunch baby bok choy, leaves cut in half lengthwise
• 120z white meat chicken, sliced thin
• 1 ½ tsp cornstarch

Combine the chicken, 2 tsp rice wine and cornstarch in a bowl and mix well to coat the chicken. Let it sit for about 10 minutes.

In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, hoisin, 2 tbs rice wine, honey, chopped cilantro, and chili bean sauce.

Heat a wok over high heat. Add oil (1-2 tbs) and swirl to coat the sides. Add the garlic and fry for about 10-15 seconds. Add the chicken and stir-fry until almost done. Remove and set aside.

In the same wok, add the onion and red bell pepper (add more oil if you think it’s necessary). Stir-fry for a minute or two. Next add the snow peas then zucchini and continue cooking for another minute or two. Finally add the baby bok choy and return the chicken (and juices) to the pan. After about a minute, add the sauce. Your wok should be hot enough to reduce the sauce on contact. Continue to cook until completely heated through and the chicken is done. Serve with steamed rice.

*Just about every Asian country has their own version of a chili bean paste/sauce. I recommend using the Chinese version for this dish. If you can't find it, try using 1/2 tbs black bean paste (with or without garlic is fine) + 1/2 tbs chili garlic sauce, both of which can usually be found in most large supermarkets.

Thai Fried Fish Cakes (updated!)

It’s funny, some of the stuff kids will eat. They are notorious for being picky, and mine is no exception. For example, he will not eat cheese on a hamburger, but will devour a whole block of sharp cheddar during snack time if I let him. He’ll eat asparagus and green beans, but won’t touch peas. When his teacher asked him what his favorite foods are, he said broccoli, macaroni and cheese, chicken on a stick (chicken sate), sticky rice and (Thai) fishcakes. It made my Thai heart melt (and mouth water!).

Thai fried fish cakes with deluxe cucumber dipping sauce! Picture courtesy of Hubby.

If you haven't tried Thai fried fish cakes, you're missing out. They’re usually served as fancy appetizers here in the States, but in Thailand, they are a common street food. The vendor normally has a big wok filled with hot oil, so they can be fried fresh to order. They’re served in a plastic bag along with a little bag of dipping sauce and a long toothpick to eat them.

There’s nothing hard about making fishcakes at home, if you have a food processor. Frying them up is quick too. They probably only take about 3 minutes a batch (so I recommend having all the patties made before you start frying). This recipe makes quite a few cakes, perfect for serving at large gatherings. They can also be frozen after they are fried.

Thai Fishcakes

• 2 lbs white fish cut into cubes (bones removed), such as tilapia, sole or cod
• 3 tbs cornstarch
• 2 tbs fish sauce
• 2 eggs
• ½ bunch cilantro
• 2 tbs Thai curry paste (red is traditional, but green or yellow is fine)
• 3-4 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
• 4 green onions, finely sliced
• ¼ cup Chinese green beans, finely sliced (regular green beans are fine too)
• oil for deep frying
• dipping sauce (recipe follows)

Throw the curry paste, lime leaves, and cilantro into a food processor and pulse until uniform. Add the fish, fish sauce and eggs and process until it forms a uniform, smooth mixture. There should not be any chunks of fish and the mixture will be sticky. Add the cornstarch and pulse until it is well incorporated. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add the green onions and green beans and mix well. Form into small patties. I usually use 1 tbs worth of mixture for each patty, which results in about 50 appetizer-sized cakes.

In a wok over medium-high heat, add enough oil to for deep-frying. When it’s hot (check by dropping a small piece of fish mixture in), add the fish patties. Don’t crowd them. Fry on one side until golden, then flip them. They should puff up and take on a nice brown color. Remove with a spider and drain on paper towels or cooling rack. Serve with dipping sauce.

Cucumber Relish

• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup rice vinegar
• 1 tbs fish sauce
• sambal oelek or chili-garlic sauce, to taste
  
• ¼ cup seeded cucumber , chopped
• 2 tbs shallot (preferably Asian), thinly sliced
• 2 tbs chopped cilantro
• chopped peanuts (optional), to taste
  

In a small saucepan, bring the sugar, water and rice vinegar to a boil. Reduce the heat a little and simmer for about 5 minutes or until it starts to get a little thick. Turn off the heat, add the fish sauce and sambal oelek. Cool to room temperature then add the cucumber and onion.