It’s hard to see the difference in photos between all the Chinese dishes I put online. The recipe of “kung pao chicken” is however my favorite recipe of the Chinese recipes that I propose in my site. I first discovered it in Chicago and then all over the United States before finding it for good in China! For once I use chicken breast instead of the chicken breast I often use. Simply because this recipe cooks quickly and the whites remain soft.
Recipe of “kung pao chicken” for 2-3 persons:
-4 or 5 skinless chicken thighs
-1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil
-2 cloves of garlic
-5cm of fresh ginger
-6 or 7 dried chilies
-1 teaspoon Chinese wine (from the kitchen)
-1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
-1 tablespoon of teriyaki sauce (otherwise use 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 of soy sauce)
-3 tablespoons of plum sauce
-3 tablespoons of oyster sauce
-1 teaspoon cornstarch
-3 tablespoons of water
-a good handful of unsalted roasted peanuts
3-4 Chinese chives
– frying oil
Start by preparing the sauce with soy sauce, oyster sauce, teriyaki sauce, Chinese wine and plum sauce mixed in one bowl and cornstarch and water in another.
Peel the garlic and chop it finely.
Here is a picture of how to peel garlic by crushing it under the blade of a knife. This is done in seconds!
You can also peel the ginger with a spoon very simply!
Then chop the garlic and ginger together.
Also cut up the chicken. The goal is to prepare everything in advance before cooking because it cooks up quickly!
Put 2 or 3 tablespoons of oil in a wok and put on high heat.
When the oil is hot, add the dried chillies.
Remove them when they start to become well colored. But leave the oil!
Add two tablespoons of the chopped garlic/ginger mixture to this chili oil.
When the garlic and ginger begin to be fragrant, add the chicken breasts.
Do not forget to cut the Chinese onion. Rough pieces are enough!
Add the soy/honey/teriyaki/prune sauce when the chicken starts to get cooked on all sides!
Mix well and add the water/maizena mixture.
Then to finish the peanuts and onion and sesame oil.
Finish by adding 2 or 3 dried peppers (but not the ones that have already been fried!). Serve immediately!
Pickled chili is a fairly large chili and not as strong as fresh chili. Recipe from one of my classes in Beijing!
Recipe of “pork with marinated chilli” for 4 persons:
-500g pork tenderloin cut into strips
-300g of carrots in fine julienne
-4 teaspoons finely chopped ginger
-8 teaspoons finely minced garlic (about 10-11 cloves)
-4 finely chopped Chinese chives
-6 or 8 pickled peppers, seeds removed, finely chopped
Marinade:
-4 teaspoons of clear soy sauce
-4 teaspoons of Chinese wine (cooking wine)
-8 teaspoons cornstarch
Sauce:
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-4 teaspoons of clear soy sauce
-8 teaspoons of sugar
-6 teaspoons Chinese vinegar (or sherry)
-4 teaspoons of Chinese wine
-2 teaspoons cornstarch
-6 tablespoons of water
Prepare the marinade by mixing the ingredients, clear soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine and cornstarch.
Pour over pork cut into strips. If necessary, add a little water if the marinade is too thick. Let marinate for at least 15 minutes.
Prepare the sauce. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Make a reservation.
Prepare remaining vegetables and condiments. Cut the peeled carrots into julienne strips, chop the chili pepper (without the seeds!!), garlic, ginger and chives.
Heat the wok over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil. Cook the carrots for about 1 minute with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, stirring constantly. Remove carrots and set aside.
Return the empty wok to high heat and add 3 tablespoons of oil. Add the pork. Separate all the pieces and brown them on all sides.
Add the chopped chillies, cook for a few seconds, adding a little oil if necessary (Chinese cooking is greasy!). Add ginger and garlic and cook for 30 to 60 seconds. Wok cooking is very fast!
Add the pre-cooked carrots, still stirring!
Then add the sauce and cook until it thickens. Serve immediately!
This is a quick and easy recipe to prepare. But even faster to eat because this recipe is so delicious! Not to be confused with the equally delicious chocolate fudge recipe!
Recipe of “mi-cuits a chocolat” for 4 small cakes:
-100g of 65% chocolate
-100g of powdered sugar
-100g of salted butter
-2 eggs + 2 yolks
-50g of flour
Mix the yolks, eggs and powdered sugar without whitening. You just want to mix them together otherwise the texture of the cakes will be too light and these cakes are good because there is nothing light about them!
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave or double boiler.
Add the melted chocolate/butter to the sugar/egg mixture. Mix without insisting. (Ignore the drummer in the picture! Don’t make the same mistake I did!)
Then add the flour to the mixture.
Mix well.
Grease 4 small aluminium ramekins with the grease release spray I mentioned in my
canelés
.
canelés
.
Pour in the dough.
Let stand in a cool place while you preheat the oven to 200°C.
Bake cakes until a crust has formed on top if you like very runny cakes (about 8 minutes), or a little longer to firm up the inside of the cake. All the interest of these cakes, lies in this very flowing interior. Remove cakes from oven and let stand for 1 minute before inverting each onto a plate.
Turn out and serve immediately! The spoon will break the light crust and the inside will start to flow!
Here is a little video on the cake made by a reader of the blog: Karine Pastour Paree! If with that you do not want to devour it…!!
Short stay in Beijing where I again took an authentic cooking class. One of the dishes in this class was the pork sautéed with garlic shoots (yes “shoots” not “cloves”!!). Easy to make. The hardest part is finding the garlic shoots, which is not a problem if you go to an Asian grocery store! Garlic shoots are more like green beans with a slight garlic taste. You can also replace this vegetable with another green vegetable.
Recipe for “Sautéed pork with garlic shoots” for 4 people:
-500g of pork tenderloin in pieces
-300g of garlic shoots cut into 5cm pieces
-4 teaspoons of finely julienned ginger
Pork marinade
4 teaspoons clear soy sauce
4 teaspoons Chinese wine (cooking)
-8 teaspoons cornstarch
Sauce:
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-4 teaspoons of clear solja sauce
-2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
-2 teaspoons of sugar
-2 teaspoons cornstarch
-6 tablespoons of water
For those who wonder what garlic “sprouts” look like, here is a picture:
Start by preparing the marinade by mixing all the ingredients well, namely the clear soy sauce, Chinese wine and cornstarch.
Cut the pork into pieces and pour the marinade over it. Let marinate for at least 15 minutes.
Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients in a small bowl. Reserve for the next step.
Wash the garlic shoots, cut off the flower on top. Cut the shoots into pieces of about 5 cm.
Heat the wok fairly hot with two tablespoons of oil. Add the garlic shoots and two tablespoons of water (to cook the shoots). Fry for 1 minute then remove the sprouts from the wok and set aside.
Return the empty wok to high heat, add 3 tablespoons of oil and then add the pork with the marinade.
Brown the pork pieces, separating them well so that they colour, then add the julienned ginger.
Fry for 1 minute and then add the garlic shoots. Add the sauce and sauté until the sauce thickens. Serve immediately.
The braised vegetables in this recipe are potato, eggplant and green bell pepper. They are first cooked separately and then braised in a wok.
Recipe for “Peking braised vegetables” for 4 people:
-2 potatoes (about 300g in all) in pieces
-300g of eggplant pieces
-400g of green bell pepper pieces (without seeds)
-2 tablespoons finely chopped Chinese onion
-2 tablespoons chopped garlic
-2 tablespoons of clear soy sauce
-2 teaspoons of sugar
-2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
-2 tablespoons of Chinese cooking wine
-600ml of water
-2 good pinches of salt
-oil
Wash vegetables well. Cut the potatoes (with or without the skin). Over moderate heat, heat the wok with 2 tablespoons of oil. Add potatoes and cook on one side until colored.
Turn them over and cook the other side. When the second side is colored, remove from the wok and set aside.
Add again 2 tablespoons of oil and proceed in the same way with the eggplants.
Then with the peppers (always with a little oil!).
In the empty wok, over moderate heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil, the garlic and the spring onion. Cook to lightly brown.
Add water, clear soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, Chinese wine and salt.
Add the potatoes and cover the wok. After 10 minutes, add the eggplants. Cover again and cook for another 10 minutes. Finally add the green peppers. Cover and cook until water has evaporated and only a slightly thick sauce remains. Serve immediately.
Here is my very personal version of vanilla macaroons. I don’t know how many times I’ve experimented with this recipe to get this result. I wanted a very dominant vanilla flavor without anything else. A famous pastry chef offers us a recipe based on white chocolate but I find that we only smell it! Hoping that my recipe gives you staisfaction!!!
Recipe for vanilla macaroons for about thirty macaroons:
with 12g of white coloring (titanium oxide) added in the Italian meringue
Vanilla topping:
-70ml of water
-1 vanilla bean
-a pinch of vanilla coutea ude powder
-1 packet of vanilla sugar
-1 whole egg
-125g of soft butter
-1 teaspoon of titanium oxide
-1 sheet of gelatin
-30g of cornstarch
-125g of caster sugar
20g of almond powder
Proceed to the preparation of the macaroons (see recipe
here
).
Recap in pictures.
You can add a pinch of vanilla powder to the so much for so much.
This is the titanium oxide that will allow the macaroons to remain white during baking.
Contiinue with vanilla topping. Put the egg and 50g (of the 125g) in a bowl. Whisk lightly and add cornstarch.
Soak the gelatin sheet in cold water.
Put the 75g of sugar with the water and the vanilla bean split in half and scraped in a saucepan. Also add vanilla sugar and vanilla powder. Boil. Stop cooking and let infuse for 10 minutes off the heat.
Pour syrup over egg mixture. Mix well and then return to the pan. Cook gently, never stopping to stir. Boil gently until mixture thickens. At this point, add the wrung-out gelatin.
Mix well, then add the titanium oxide (I use this coloring to amplify the contrast with the vanillin grains) off the heat.
Add the almond powder.
And finally add the butter in pieces.
Mix well and let cool. When the filling starts to set, put it in a piping bag and garnish the macaroons. Leave in a cool place for one night before consuming.
This entry comes from Thailand. The pomelo is the base. Sweet and spicy, all ingredients are important!
Recipe of Yam Som-O for 2 persons:
-6 large shrimp.
-180g of skinless pomelo flesh
-1 shallot, finely chopped
-2 Chinese chives
-2 tablespoons of grated coconut
-1 tablespoon of fried shallots (or canned fried onions)
-2 tablespoons of unsalted roasted peanuts
-1 tablespoon of small dried shrimp
-1/2 teaspoon coarse chili powder
-the juice of a whole lime
-2 tablespoons of sugar
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 banana leaf
Start by opening the pomelo. Incise all around without pushing the blade into the flesh.
Then by inserting the hand between the skin and the flesh, gently peel off the skin.
Cut around this skin shell into triangles.
Cut a circle out of a clean, washed banana leaf. Put this leaf circle in the pomelo skin bowl! Without banana leaf, we can also put a lettuce leaf!
Peel the body of the shrimp. Just leave the tail.
Cook in water for 2-3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Place lemon juice, sugar and salt in a bowl.
Add the pomelo flesh (180g!! Not all!). Add the chopped shallot and the Chinese chives in small pieces. Then the fried shallot.
Crush the peanuts in a mortar and pestle into a coarse powder.
Do the same with the dried shrimp.
Add everything to the salad, then the chili powder.
Heat a frying pan and add the grated coconut. Lightly grill it, but never burn it! It goes fast!
Add it to the salad and mix well.
Place the salad in the bowl formed by the peel and the banana leaf.
Decorate with shrimp and chives. Keep chilled until ready to serve.
Contrary to its name, this chicken is mild and very tasty. This recipe comes from one of my cooking classes in China. I made it again here in France and it is still excellent! A very moist chicken, fried with a marinade made of garlic and chillies (but not hot!). A real trip! However, plan to ventilate your kitchen well!
Recipe of chicken with garlic and chilli.
For 6 people.
-8 chicken thighs
-3 tablespoons of chilli/garlic sauce (see photo below)
2 heaped tablespoons of cornstarch
-1 clove of garlic, crushed
-1 tablespoon of clear soy sauce
-1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
-1 heaping teaspoon of sugar
-1 tablespoon of Chinese wine (special cooking)
-2 teaspoons of toasted sesame oil
-1 egg white
-1 teaspoon garlic powder (not semolina, powder!!!)
-a good handful of unsalted peanuts (roasted or not, to taste)
– frying oil
First, I want to emphasize one point. This chicken is very tender even after a long wok cooking. Why is this? Because in the recipe they are thighs! Of course it is tempting to use whites, which are easier to prepare. But the result is dry! Very dry indeed! So it’s best to go to the trouble of boning the thighs to get the full flavor of this dish! I would never recommend using whites in any of my recipes anyway. I save them to eat just grilled when I’m trying to watch what I eat!
For those who wonder what is this garlic and chili sauce I use, it’s the same one I used in my cooking class in China, but that you can find in Asian grocery stores without any problem.
Start by removing the skin from the thighs. It’s simple, just pull it! Remove the little bits of grease that are lying around here and there. Then remove the central bone with a good knife. Also make sure there is no cartilage left!
Cut the thighs into pieces, cutting them in three lengthwise and three widthwise. Put them in a bowl and add all the other ingredients except the peanuts.
Mix well. At this point the chicken doesn’t look very appetizing! But I assure you it is delicious!
Marinate the chicken for an hour or two.
At the last moment, heat a good quantity of oil in a wok. When the oil is at the right temperature (you can tell by dipping a wooden chopstick in the marinade, if it boils, it’s good!), cook the chicken. It is better to cook a first quantity, then when it is cooked, to put it on an absorbent paiper. Continue with another quantity. Like this in three times.
When all the chicken is cooked, empty the oil from the wok into a saucepan and return the wok to high heat. Allow to heat up a bit before pouring in all the cooked chicken. Add the peanuts at this point and cook, stirring constantly.
Do not let it burn but it does not happen anyway! However, I left the chicken on high heat for a long time.
Stir and then turn off the heat and pour the chicken onto a serving dish.
Serve with glutinous rice (my favorite!) or rice cooked in the rice cooker.
Truffles are one of the wonders of nature. Cooked with fresh homemade pasta, it reveals its earthy character. There are many ways to cook truffles, but I prefer one of the simplest. Although simplicity has a price! But in the end, a truffle costs the price of a bottle of champagne, so reserve it for an event to celebrate or for to treat yourself.
Truffle pasta recipe for 4 people:
-1 fresh Perigord truffle of about 40g
-200g of full cream
-30g of salted butter
-salt pepper
Choose a beautiful truffle and make sure it is perfectly fresh (given the price, you might as well choose well!). It must be very firm.
Start by preparing the dough (recipe
here
) with the difference that the truffle and the eggs to be used must be sealed in a hermetically sealed box. Let stand overnight in a cool place.
here
) with the difference that the truffle and the eggs to be used must be sealed in a hermetically sealed box. Let stand overnight in a cool place.
The next morning, prepare the pasta in the desired shape and thickness with the eggs preserved with the truffle.
Cut the truffle into thin strips, either with a truffle razor (this is a tiny mandolin that is also used to cut parmesan), or with a classic mandolin to the minimum thickness. Or, in a more perilous and less pretty way, with a knife.
Cut each slice into 3 or 4 pieces, widthwise and lengthwise. In small squares! Place these truffle pieces in a bowl with the cream all day in a cool place. Place a stretch wrap over this bowl!
In the evening, pour the cream (taste a drop of cream as is!) into a saucepan with the butter, salt and pepper.
Cook the pasta in plenty of salted water (but not oil!). Taste them to check the cooking, but cook them a little less than usual (we will cook them again with the cream!).
Drain but keep 2 tablespoons of the cooking water.
Add these two spoonfuls to the cream and start the pan on moderate heat.
When the cream boils, add the pasta.
Cook until the cream is absorbed (but not completely, there should be some creaminess left!).
Serve and enjoy immediately!
Nashi Pear Beef is a delicious, extra-tender beef that remains for several hours in a Nashi Pear marinade. This pear also called “Shingo Pear” or “Korean Pear” is between the pear and the apple but bigger! This beef is cooked in a wok and becomes slightly caramelized.
Recipe of the “beef pear nashi” for 6 persons:
-1kg of beef (I use tenderloin)
-1 Nashi pear
-1 onion
-12 cloves of garlic (sounds like a lot but it’s not!)
-55g of sugar
-2 tablespoons of honey
-2 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil
-1 teaspoon of baking soda (see below why)
-60ml of Chinese wine
-60ml of water
-120ml of clear soy sauce
-toasted sesame
Here, for those who are wondering, is what a Nashi Pear looks like:
The recipe is simple. Peel the onion, garlic and pear, removing the core, then put all the ingredients except the meat and sesame seeds in a blender and blend to obtain a liquid marinade.
Baking soda will tenderize the meat considerably. That’s why beef is always so tender in Chinese deli, they add baking soda. You really only need to put a teaspoon of bicarbonate, otherwise the meat will lose its taste!
Cut beef into thin strips and place in a bowl.
Pour the marinade over the meat.
And cover with toasted sesame seeds, then mix well. Close with cling film and keep in a cool place for 3 hours. The meat will absorb most of the juice.
After three hours, take a wok, or a frying pan, and put oil in the bottom (the equivalent of 4 tablespoons!). Place on high heat.
Brown the meat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
Bernard’s advice:
I prefer to cook the meat in batches. If you cook all the meat at once, it will not cook well. So I use less oil each time and cook it all in three batches. This way the meat has plenty of room to caramelize!
Fry until the marinade has evaporated. At this point, the meat starts to caramelize.
Serve immediately with basmati rice or
sticky rice
. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
sticky rice
. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.