chinese recipes

[paul123456]

Hello there ,

seeing as we belong to the Chinese because our governements cant handle money I have started to look in to Chinese food .
Been busy trying to create Hoisin , and sweet and sour sauces , and am doing well .The prefabricated ones you buy in the stores
are usally full of E numbers , not good .Until now I create a soya -honey sauce (Hoisin) and it tastes great ,soya sauce , honey ,garlic,ginger and corn starch .

Anyone else into this ?

regards ,

Paul

[Green Aura]

I love South-East Asian food, Paul. Chinese, Thai etc. I've made my own plum sauce and tom yum paste - and sweet and sour as and when. Yummy.

[Millymollymandy]

Oooh yes, if you have any recipes Paul then please post. Trouble is I'm eagerly awaiting some veg first! But that's partly why I decided to grow mange tout this year as they are so lovely in stir fries.

[paul123456]

Hello there ,

my two favourite taste's are Hoisin and sweet and sour.

For Hoisin I find that messing around with basic ingredients such as :
soya sauce
honey
garlic
ginger
lemon grass
give the best results , i do not have recipes in how much grams , just go along and follow my taste buds(dont drink wine ).

Sweet and sour hover on tomato sauce ,
garlic
vinegar
garlic
sugar
honey

both to be finished with corn starch , to thicken them
further if you make the sauce the day before let it cool down , it tastes so much betterthe next day .
Then stir fry fresh veg very shortly ,

probably why Asians live longer ,'

regards ,

Paul

[Millymollymandy]

Thanks Paul.

[Green Aura]

Here's the Tom yum paste recipe - I omit the shrimp paste so DD can eat it. Oh and when I made it last week I had no lemongrass so just used lemon peel - not quite the same but still good.

4 Tbsp. finely minced lemongrass, fresh or ready-prepared frozen (available at Asian food stores)
5 cloves garlic
1 thumb-size piece ginger or galangal, sliced
1 fresh red chili, sliced, OR 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. dried crushed chili (or substitute cayenne pepper)
¼ cup fresh coriander
2 Tbsp. fish sauce (available at Asian food stores)
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
½ tsp. dark soy sauce (OR substitute 1 tsp. regular soy sauce)
½ tsp. shrimp paste (available at Asian food stores)
¼ cup fresh-squeezed lime juice
3 heaping tsp. palm sugar OR brown sugar
2 spring onions, sliced

Blitz everything and add large dobs (technical term ) to hot and sour soup. MMMMMMMMMMMMM!

[Millymollymandy]

I love palm sugar and could just sit and eat the whole tub like it was fudge. Luckily we have an Asian (prob. Vietnamese)mini market in our 'big smoke' (capital of Brittany) so I can get pretty much everything from fresh lemon grass, galangal and all sorts of 'greens' that I don't have a clue what they are to Indian spices and lentils and pickles. Without that shop I'd be seriously up the creek!

[the.fee.fairy]

I live in China at the moment. Is there anything specific that you want to make?

My favourites at the moment are:

Fried Rice
Sweet and Sour pork
Kung Pao Chicken
Green bean things

[frozenthunderbolt]

Green bean things

Intriguing, I must know more

[Annpan]

I would love to be able to do a realistic fried rice - I do one with egg, veg and soy sauce but, tasty as it is, it isn't like PROPER fried rice.

Also, black bean sauce I love it but have never even attempted to make it.

[Lady Willow]

I have a lovely receipe for black peppered tofu if anybody fancies it?

[the.fee.fairy]

Proper fried rice is easy!

You need: Cooked rice.
Onion
Carrot
Cabbage
Lettuce
Any other vegetables you want to use

Dripping (ideally, but you can use vegetable oil)
Shredded Meat
Egg

Chicken Bouillon
Salt
Sugar
MSG (i woudn't worry about it too much, but it is used in EVERYTHING chinese!!).

First, get the oil hot in the pan (a wok is better). Then add the egg, beating it and stirring it at the same time. Then add the shredded meat. Cook until the meat is cooked, stirring all the time.
Shred the vegetables and add to the pan. Add a teaspoon of bouillon, a little water, 1/2 tsp salt and sugar, and MSG. Fry for a while stirring all the time (or, if you're the great rice men here, tossing). Add the rice and smash it a bit with a spoon/frying implement to make sure that there are no lumps.

When cooked, pile onto a plate and serve.

[Millymollymandy]

Wouldn't the egg be rather overcooked if done at the beginning? I always do the egg last as it only needs a little bit of cooking - I push the rice over to one side of the wok then cook the beaten egg(s) a bit at a time in the space, mix in with the rice then do a bit more egg until it is done, then serve.

And salt rather surprises me, I use soy sauce for flavouring! Oh I'm so authentic!!

[DeneciePie]

Lady Willow, I for one, would love to see your Black Pepper Tofu recipe. Somewhere around here I have one for DIY tofu I want to try. We got it from the Hodo Tofu guy at Makers Faire.

If I could get my er "stuff" together I could be magnificent

DeneciePie

[chadspad]

Fee Fairy - are you still around? I want to know some recipes please!!

Deep fried shredded beef done like it is in the take-aways! Im close to getting it but the sticky coating is just not quite right!

Also, egg fried rice - again, close but not the same.

Cheers