Coffee Spareribs

Coffee spareribs is a dish that I am hesitant to put up because it takes a while to make and it is definitely not healthy. But at the same time, this is one dish that received 5 out of 5 stars on my taste rating and I GUARANTEE it is going to impress your family and guests like no other, in terms of its tender texture, surprising flavors and the shear creativity involved. We first had this dish in a Chinese Dim Sum place (Chinese breakfast restaurant) near San Francisco, and just thought it was the bomb. I came home and immediately started looking up ways to recreate this dish at home. This recipe is adapted from http://jinglerecipe.blogspot.com

This image came from the web because I forgot to take a picture when I made it last time.

Serves 2

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Total time: 2 hours

Ingredients:
1 pound spareribs, rinsed well and cut between the bones into individual ribs (about 5-10 ribs)
6 cups peanut or corn oil
Marinate:
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoon cooking sherry
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoon 3-in-1 instant coffee mix powder (see tips #3 for substitution)
3 tablespoon water
2-5 tablespoon cornstarch
Sauce:
5 tablespoon 3-in-1 instant coffee mix powder (see tips #3 for substitution)
2 tablespoon ketchup
5 tablespoon water
sugar to taste

1 cup "Cool Whip" cream, or freshly whipped heavy cream with sugar at room temperature

Tips:

1. It would be great if the spareribs you have is already trimmed into St. Louis style. If that is not the case, then just cut the ribs into matching bite-able sections.
2. Since this recipe contains a fair amount of coffee, if you are sensitive to caffeine, it might be better to serve this dish at lunch time instead of dinner, because then the caffeine won't keep you awake at night.
3. 3-in 1 instant coffee powder is a mix of instant coffee powder with cream and sugar. If you can't find this coffee mix, you can use either regular brewed coffee with cream and sugar added to your taste (then you don't need to add water), or regular instant coffee powder (need to add powdered cream and sugar).
   

Instruction:

1. Mix all the marinate ingredients well in a large mixing bowl using a whisk to form a thick, slurp batter, vary the amount of cornstarch added to achieve this consistency. Add in the ribs and mix well, cover and let it marinate in the fridge for 1 hour.
   
2. When the marinate is almost done, mix the sauce ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.
   
3. Once marinate is done, heat oil in a deep soup pot or wok over high heat until oil start to smoking, add rib pieces one by one into the oil, deep fry the ribs until they are no longer pink on the outside (about 3-6 minutes), remove them with a slotted spoon.
   
4. Wait till the oil is smoking again, add in all the ribs at once and deep fry for 1 minute. Check to see if the ribs are done by cutting into the biggest rib and see if the meat near the bone is no longer pink. Remove them with a slotted spoon on to a plate lined with paper towels.
   
5. Leave 2 tablespoon oil in the pot or wok, add in the sauce and bring to a boil over high heat, add in the ribs and coat well with the sauce, taste to see if more sugar needs to be added. Transfer to a big coffee mug or plate and add the cool whip cream on top of the ribs. To eat, dip the ribs in the cream.

Chicken Lettuce Cup

Chicken lettuce cup is a one dish healthy meal, it's got skinless chicken breast, bamboo shoots and water chestnut. Oh wait, did we forget lettuce? If we've got left overs, it keeps well in the fridge for another delicious meal. This dish came from http://hubpages.com/hub/Just-Like-PF-Chang-Recipes

Serves 4

Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
8 dried Shiitake mushrooms, soak in hot water for 30 minutes, woody stem removed, chopped
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into 1/2 inch cubes
Marinate:
2 teaspoons cooking sherry
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste

5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, sliced lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices
8 oz can bamboo shoots, drained, chopped into small pieces using a food processor
8 oz can water chestnuts, drained, chopped into small pieces using a food processor
2 small dried chilies (optional)
1 package of Chinese cellophane rice noodles (about 3-6 oz), cooked according to instructions on the package
1 iceberg lettuce, stem removed, and sliced into halves
Sauce:
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cooking sherry
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Tips:

1. I went to 3 different western grocery stores, and between the 3 I was able to find oyster sauce and hoisin sauce, if you've searched and still can't find them, you can substitude:

• 2 tablespoon oyster sauce: 2 tablespoon soy sauce mixed with 1 tablespoon sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce: 1/2 tablespoon ketchup mixed with 1/2 tablespoon of molasses
  

Instruction:

1. Combine marinate ingredents in a medium mixing bowl, mix well with the chicken cubes and marinate for 15 minutes.
   
2. Heat 3 tablespoon of oil in a skillet or wok over medium high heat, add chicken cubes and stir fry for 3 minutes until the chicken is turning white and no pink is shown, remove chicken.
   
3. Heat 3 tablespoon of oil in a skillet or wok over medium high heat, add the ginger, garlic, green onions, and stir fry for a minutes until the flavor comes out, make sure the garlic doesn't get burned. Then add the chopped dried mushroom, bamboo shoots and water chestnut, stir fry until they are cooked thru (about 2 minutes). Add the chicken along with the sauce and mix everything well and let the sauce thickens (about 1 minute). Transfer to a serving bowl.
   
4. To eat, start with a lettuce leaf, add some cellophane noodles then top with the chicken mixutre, eat it like a taco.
   

Orange Chilled Noodles

I am starting to like chilled noodles, I use to love only noodle soups, but in the summer days, it is simply too hot to have a bowl of piping hot noodle soup, so I started to make chilled noodles. I find they are pretty easy to make, and keeps really well in the fridge. This dish came from www.cdkitchen.com.

Serves 2

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
10 oz thin egg noodle or angel hair pasta
1 green onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
3 tablespoon roasted peanuts or pine nuts or almonds, chopped

Sauce:
2 tablespoon chili oil with pepper flakes
2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon Chinese or cider vinegar
4 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 fresh orange, grated zest without the white pith

Tips:

1. Please feel free to substitute any of your favorite roasted nuts for the peanuts

Instruction:

1. Roast the peanuts in a small pan over medium heat until lightly brown and fragrant (about 5-10 minutes), turning frequently towards the last half of the cooking. Remove from pan and chopped into small pieces.
2. Meanwhile, cook noodles in a boiling pot of water until done (about 3-7 minutes). Drain and use running water to cool the noodles down. Drain well and set aside.
   
3. Make the sauce by putting all the sauce ingredient in a blender and blend for 30 seconds.
   
4. Mix the noodles with the sauce in a large mixing bowl, when mixed well, transfer to serving bowls and scatter with green onion, cilantro and chopped peanuts.