A Recent Dinner

Some dishes from a dinner I made recently--oxtail stewed with potato 牛尾炆薯仔, sugar and vinegar ribs 糖醋排骨, seared sockeye salmon, scallion sea cucumber 蔥燒海參.

Chicken Curry

Besides Buddhism, curry is probably India's greatest export. Like Buddhism, curry morphs into innumerous version each unique to the location in which it takes root. This is a Hong Kong-ish curry, I suppose. This time I blend my own spices--coriander seed, cumin, clove, cardamon, black mustard seed, black pepper, tumeric, chili powder (heavy on the coriander bacause it is summer). I marinated the skinless chicken thighs with the mix and salt for a couple of hours and roast them in a hot oven until they lightly browned. Meanwhile, I saute a couple onion, sliced, for 20 minutes until nicely golden, then ginger and garlic a thrown in. The spices go in next for half a minute then the lightly roasted chicken. Toss it all about for a minute or two then in goes the potato and carrot and water and salt (if needed). Cook until the potato is almost soft then add a table spoon or two of curry paste from Kwan Yik 冠益華記油咖哩. The tangliness and fragrance of the curry paste is just the right finishing touch. Simmer for another 10 or so minutes and it is done.

Hot Water Dough Pastry

This pastry 燒餅 is also made with hot water dough. The dough is rolled thin and then an oil and flour mixture, 30g of flour to 80g of oil, is brushed on to the dough. Roll up the dough and roll to a square (make sure not to roll all the way to the edge and break the pasty). Fold in three and then roll again, repeat. Lightly wet the surface of the resulted rectangle and stick on some sesame. Bake in 400C oven for 10 minutes. Tender layered pastry that make excellent sandwiches.

Hot Water Dough

No one I know use hot water dough as much as Chinese. Hot water dough is made by first mixing hot water, about half of the amount needed, into lightly salted flour to partially cook it and then finish with cold water to form a nice dough. The result is a tender and smooth dough, not as strong as the normal cold water dough but very easy to cook and shape. Traditionally potstickers 鍋貼 are made with this dough. The almost creamy wrapper is far better than the cold water dough used in boil dumplings in this application.

Spicy 'Stir-fry'

Stir-frying is a method of cooking, not a dish. Partially cooked ingredients are finished in a very hot pan with a sauce, just enough to coat, that is stir-frying. Here I cut up a couple pork chops, marinate them in sugar, salt, soy sauce, shaoxing liquor, sesame oil and cornstarch before browning them on medium high heat until nicely brown and 70% cooked. Garlic and ginger are lightly browned in a seperate pan, add the pepper and asparagues and cook for a minute or so. Add hot bean sauce 豆瓣醬 and then the pork, deglaze with a little shaoxing liquor, season with sugar, soy sauce if needed. Toss about a little, add a little sesame oil and it is done. Very flavourful.