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.
   

Broccolli Salad

This is a summer salad that is very similar to the cauliflower salad, except we are using broccoli instead of cauliflower this time. The main cooking method is still the same: boil vegetable-->sesame and salt-->chicken stock.

Serves 2

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 head broccoli, break into bite-able florets
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon chicken stock

Tips:

1. Cook the broccoli to your liking, for me I prefer cauliflower soft but with a little crutch
2. This cooking method can be apply it to a lot other vegetables like napa cabbage, baby bok choy, etc.

Instruction:

1. Boil enough water in a 6-quarts soup pot to cover the broccoli over high heat, once water boils, add in 1 teaspoon salt and broccoli.
2. Cook until broccoli are done, about 3-5 minutes
3. Drain and refresh broccoli in cold water
4. Drain again and put broccoli in a mixing bowl, mixing well broccoli with 2 teaspoon of salt and sesame oil. Taste and adjust seasoning.
   
5. Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle with chicken stock

Califlower Salad

This is another summer salad using cauliflower. The main cooking method here is: boil-->sesame and salt-->chicken stock. This cooking method can be applied to a lot of vegetables besides cauliflower, for example, broccoli, napa cabbage, baby bok choy, etc.

Serves 2

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, break into bite-able florets
half red bell pepper, optional, cored and thinly sliced
half green bell pepper, optional, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon chicken stock

Tips:

1. Cook the cauliflower to your liking, like for me I prefer cauliflower soft but with a little crutch
2. The bell peppers are optional because they are more for looks
   

Instruction:

1. Boil enough water in a 6-quarts soup pot to cover the cauliflowers over high heat, once water boils, add in 1 teaspoon salt, cauliflowers and bell peppers.
2. Cook until cauliflowers are done, about 5 minutes
3. Drain and refresh cauliflower in cold water
4. Drain again and put cauliflower in a mixing bowl, mixing well the cauliflower with 2 teaspoon of salt and sesame oil. Taste and adjust seasoning.
   
5. Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle over the chicken stock
   

Fish and eggs with vinegar sauce

This is a dish that is trying to mimic the taste of crab meat using eggs and fish. I personally like this dish a lot because it is easy to do and much cheaper than crab.

Serves 2

Prep time: 6 minutes
Cook time: 9 minutes

Ingredients:
1 sole fillet, sliced into 2 inch sections
1teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoon corn starch
2 teaspoon cooking wine or dry sherry
3 eggs, cracked into a bowl
3 tablespoon peanut or other vegetable oil
1 inch ginger, minced
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup chicken stock

Tips:

1. The fish is suppose to represent the meat of the crab
   

Instruction:

1. In a bowl, mix the fish with salt, pepper, corn starch and wine, let it marinate for 5 minutes
2. In a wok or a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat, put in the fish slices and cook until fish is cooked through, about 2-4 minutes, put the fish into a plate
   
3. In a wok or a skillet, heat 2 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat, drop in the egg, and use a pair of chopstick or spatula to break it apart rapidly. When egg is almost cooked through, add in the fish, ginger, vinegar, sugar and mix well. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Lastly add in the chicken stock, bring to a boil and taste to adjust seasoning.
4. Transfer to a plate and serve
   

Tofu with Green Onion

Today's dish is very easy to make, healthy and looks pretty. Because of the simple ingredients in this dish, a good silken/soft tofu is a key to this dish. Oh, did I mention this dish looks pretty?


Serves 2

Prep time: 3 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:
1 silk/soft tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 teaspoon salt
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil


Tips:

1. The amount of salt and oil can be varied based on your taste/preference.
2. Pour the hot vegetable oil over the scallion will actually cook them a little bit, which brings out more of their fragrance.
   
   

Instruction:

1. In a small stock pot, boil 4 cups of water, add a teaspoon salt after water boils. Add in tofu and turn off heat, let it sit for couple minutes.
2. Drain the tofu, put it into a serving tray, sprinkle salt over it, then sprinkle green onion slices over it. Lastly, sprinkle the sesame oil.
   
3. Heat vegetable oil in a pan, when smoking, pour it over the scallion and tofu. Then serve.
   

Corn with Bell Pepper

This is a light recipe that is easy to make. The yellow corn is combined with red and green bell peppers to display a very colorful dish. This recipe comes from Beijing chef Xu's website.

Corn with Bell Pepper

Serves 2

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
15oz can whole kernel corn, drained
1 small green bell pepper, seeds taken out, finely diced to match the corn size
1 small red bell pepper, seeds taken out, finely diced to match the corn size
1 tablespoon of butter
2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chicken stock or water
1 tablespoon corn starch mixed with 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoon water

Tips:

1. Cut the bell pepper into the same size as corn will make the dish look more uniformed

Instruction:

1. In a wok or saute pan, heat butter over high heat until melted
2. Add in the corn, stir fry until corn release its fragrance, about 3 minutes
3. Add salt and stock, the stock should be covering the corn
4. Put on a lid, and cook until stock boils, then turn to low heat and simmer for 1 minute
5. Mix in the bell peppers, cook over high heat for couple minutes
6. Mix in the corn starch mixture to let the sauce thicken, and serve
   

Tomato with Egg

I am very excited to introduce today's new dish, this dish is very special because this is a classic Chinese home cooked dish. In fact, it is probably one of the first dishes when someone wants to learn cooking in China. The reason this dish is so popular is because tomato and egg is a mouth watering combination and it is really easy to make. I still remember when my mom use to make this dish while I was little, and it was delicious over rice! This recipe came from Beijing chef Xu's website.



Serves 2

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
5 medium tomatoes
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Tips:

1. Cut the tomato into pretty big chunks so they don't dissolve during cooking
2. Only beat the eggs couple times until the egg white just mixed into the yolk, but can still see the white and yellow color seperately, this way the eggs coming out will look prettier with two colors.
   

Instruction:

1. Cut the tomato into pretty big chunks and discard the tough core on the bottom
2. Beat the eggs
3. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a pot over high heat, when oil is hot but not smoking, put in the eggs and stir fry until it's not runny and you can smell the egg fragrance, put the eggs into a bowl
   
4. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a pot over high heat, when oil is hot near smoking point, put in the tomatoes and stir fry until you can smell the tomato fragrance about 2-4 minutes.
5. Mix in the eggs, salt and sugar
6. Put on the lid, simmer over low heat for 2-3 minutes, then change to high heat and cook for 1 minute
7. Taste test to see if it needs more sugar or salt, then serve
   

Chicken with Spicy Sauce

Sichuan Provence in China is known for its spicy, numbing and flavorful dishes. Like I promised yesterday, here is a recipe that will use up the other half of our cooked chicken. I really like the simple steps to create this dish and the chicken comes out salty, sweet and spicy. This recipe and the chili oil comes from the cookbook "Land of Plenty", which is written in English.



Serves 4

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients:
Half of a cooked chicken, about 2 pounds, cooled
1 teaspoon salt
8-10 scallions, white part only, thinly sliced
2 tablespoon and 2 teaspoon white sugar
6 tablespoon light soy sauce
6-12 tablespoons chili oil with chili flakes or store-bought chili oil
4 teaspoons sesame oil
1-2 teaspoon ground roasted Sichuan pepper (optional)

Tips:

1. The chili oil adds a smooth texture and a fiery flavor to the chicken, if you can't find chili oil in your local store, here is a recipe to make it at home.
2. If you don't have cooked chicken on hand, please cook the chicken according to my earlier post Cold Cut Chicken
   

Instruction:

1. Cut the chicken into slices and sprinkle with salt and ground Sichuan pepper if using.
   
2. In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar into the soy sauce, then add the chili oil and sesame oil.
3. Put the chicken slices, scallion slices and sauce in a large serving bowl, mix well and serve.

Chili Oil:
Makes 1 pint

1/2 cup chile flakes
2 cups peanut or corn oil

1. Put the chili flakes into a glass jar with lids.
2. Heat the oil over high heat until smoking
3. Remove oil from heat, let it cool for about 10 minutes, to 225-250 degrees. Pour onto the chilies, and stir couple times. Put lid on the jar and store it in a cool, shady place.

Tomato Salad

We have a small vegetable garden with tomatoes and peppers. My fiancee is in charge of it and she has been doing such a great job. The tomatoes looks and tastes really good. Since our tomato supplies are pretty plentiful, this simple salad comes in handy to enjoy our fruit of labor.

Tomato Salad

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Ready in: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
3 medium sized vine-ripen tomato cored and cut into wedges
1 tablespoon of sugar

Instruction:

1. Mix the tomato with the sugar in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes then serve.

Cucumber Salad

The weather just keeps getting hotter and hotter, and it's making my appetite decrease. In this hot summer days, I want to eat something cold and refreshing. This marinated cucumber does just this, and it is so simple to make.

Cucumber Salad

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Ready in: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 medium sized cucumber, peeled
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
salt to taste

Instruction:

1. Split the cucumber lengthwise into two halves, then slice them into "half-moon" slices
2. Put the cucumber slices into a medium sized bowl and mix in 2 teaspoon of salt, let the cucumber marinate for 10 minutes
   
3. Pour the excess juice that came out of the cucumber, mix in the sesame oil and serve