Conference turris::cooks

Chicken with Pine Nuts - a classic banquet recipe that doesn't call for
any ingredients that you will need a trip to Chinatown to get!

1 lb boneless, skinned chicken breasts, partially frozen
(1t salt - I am on a low-sodium diet and don't use this)
1T cornstarch
2 egg whites
2-4 cups peanut oil for deep-frying
1 scallion, white part only, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1/4 c chopped cooked ham
1/4 c frozen peas, blanched in boiling water and drained (or use fresh peas)

for sauce:
2T chicken broth (College Inn is the best)
1T cooking sherry or rice wine (sake works well)
(1/2t salt)
1/2 t cornstarch

Cut chickent into 1/8 inch slices, then shred into long shreds, then cut crosswise.
Mix with (salt,) cornstarch, egg whites, and set aside.
Mix up sauce stuff in small bowl and set aside.
Heat oil in wok (highest flame possible).  Deep-fry chicken, stirring to
separate, until it is white.  Remove with strainer or slotted spoon and set aside.
Reheat oil and fry pine nuts (oops - forgot them up above - 1/3c pine nuts,
also called pinons or pignolas) in strainer until light brown - watch out,
they burn easily!
Drain nuts and set aside.
Reheat 1T oil in wok (you can filter the rest of the oil and reuse it).
Stir-fry garlic and scallion.  Pour in sauce and heat.  Add chicken, ham, and
peas.  Toos and cook for one minute.  Remove to platter and sprinkle
with pine nuts.

Chinese restaurants usually serve this on a bed of lettuce.

Chicken Velvet  another classic that uses common ingredients

2 chicken breasts, boned and skinned, chopped very fine or ground.
1 1/2 c chiken broth
(salt)
2T cornstarch
3 egg whites, beaten slightly stiff
4c oil for deep-frying
some peapods (snow peas), washed and stringed
1T cornstarch dissolved in 2T water
2T minced cooked ham

Soak ground-up chicken in 1/2c broth.
Add (salt and) cornstarch to chicken and mix.
Fold egg whites into chicken.  Fold in 1T cornstarch.
Heat oil and deep-fry chicken, stirring with chopsticks to separate.
Remove chicken and drain oil.
Reheat 2T oil in wok.  Stir-fry peadpods.  Remove and set aside.
Reheat 2T oil in wok.  Add rest of broth and chikcne, and bring to a boil.
Thicken with dissolved cornstarch.
Serve on platter, garnished with peadpods and minced ham.

Sijidou Chao Rousi (String Beans with Prok)\

(sigh....too many typos....)
3/4 lb string beans, washed and cut into shreds
4 medium pork chops (about 1 lb meat)
4 scallions
1t sugar (yes, really)
1T cornstarch
1t sesame oil  (try a health-food store)
3T soy sauce
2T peanut oil
(some salt)
1/4c peanut oil
1T water

Cut meat off bones and cut off fat.  Cut fat into little pieces the size
of grains of rice.  Slice meat into shreds 2 x 1/8 inch - this is easier to
do if the meat is partially frozen.
Clean scallions and cut into 2 inch lengths, then cut pieces into shreds.
Add scallions, sugar, cornstarch, sesame oil, and soy sauce to pork and mix.
HEat 2T peanut oil into smoking hot.  Stir-fry beans (and salt) for about
3 minutes.  Remove to a serving dish.
Clean wok and heat 1/4c oil very hot.  Cook diced fat for 1 minute, pressing\
it against the side of the wok to render the fat.
Mix water into meat mixture, then stir-fry 3 seconds.
Return the beans to the pan and cook for 3 minutes, or until pork is
done (looks gray and is stiff).  Don't overcook or the beans will wilt.

There are lots of other recipes for this dish.  Chopped garlic,
dried shrimps (need to go to Chinatown for that one), and garlic paste
(ditto) are common additions.  You can make this with Chinese ("yard-long")
beans if you want.

Ganshao Mingxia (shrimp in red sauce)

1 lb shrimp (about 20 medium shrimp) - authentic Chinese would leave the
	shells on, but that is a pain.  I say, shell and devein them.
(salt)
1T rice wine or cooking sherry
2-inch piece of fresh ginger (don't try to use powdered ginger instead!)
3 scallions
1T cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 c water
1T peanut oil
1-2 T water
3T peanut oil
3T catsup (yes, really)
5T water
1/2 sugar (really)
(salt)

Mix shrimps (salt and) wine and let stand half an hour.
Peel and chop ginger fine.  Mix some with the shrimps.
Clean scallions and chop same size as ginger.
Heat 1T oil in wok.  Stir-fry shrimps 1-2 minutes until almost done (pink
and stiff).  Lower heat and cover pan - add water if dry - and cook 5 minutes.
Remove shrimp.
Clean wok and heat 3T peanut oil.  Stir-fry ginger, scallions, and catsup
for no more than 10 seconds.  Add water and sugar (and salt) and bring to
a boil.  Boil 1 minute.  Add shrimps.
Mix up cornstarch and water and pour in.  Stir-fry until sauce gets thick
(30 seconds).  Add salt if you want.

Jiumen Xia (shrimp with ginger and wine)

1 lb medium shrimp - I would peel and devein them
1 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger
2 scallions
(salt)
1/4 t sugar
2 1/2 T peanut oil
3T Chinese rice wine or cooking sherry

Peel and chop ginger very fine.
Clean and chop up scallions very fine.
Mix shrimps with scallions, some of ginger, and sugar.  Let stand 30 minutes.
Heat wok and add oil.
Stir-fry shrimps and their marinade and rest of ginger for 2 minutes.
Add wine.  Cover wok and lower heat slightly.  Cook 2 minutes.

I don't know where you are located, so I don't know if you have access to a
Chinese grocery store.  So, I didn't put in any recipes that call for stuff
that my own grocery store doesn't usually have, like black mushrooms or
hoisin sauce or chili paste with garlic, etc.  Let me know if you can
get to an oriental store, and I'll type in a few recipes with more
unusual ingredients - lots of good stuff!

Food that comes out too oily usually happens because you didn't get the
wok to a high enough temperature, so your food absorbed more oil while it
was cooking that it should.  Chinese restaurants usually have oversized
gas burners that get hotter than anything you would have at home.  I ended up
buying an electric ring for my wok to use instead of the gas ring I
originally had; the electric one has straight sides but they are perforated
so I can still use it with the gas stove, and the wok stis closer into the
flames and can get hotter - still have to be careful to get the oil hot
enough if several burners are going at once.  For most things, the oil
should be almost smoking.  If you have to cook things in batches, make
sure the oil gets hot enough between batches.  People with electric
stoves sometimes don't use a ring at all; then you have to buy a fairly
small wok (at least it doesn't cover the whole stovetop that way!) and
keep a grip on the handle so it doesn't overturn, or buy a Mongolian-type
wok with a flat spot on the bottom.  One of my Chinese-chef friends
hates gas stoves and has good success with wok cookery on electric ones;
he has several small (12" I think) woks, while I use one large one on
my gas stove.

/Charlotte

	I learned this trick from some cook-book...

	I buy fresh ginger for oriental recipes.  Since I usually
don't use it all up in a short time, and I don't like having to peel
it each time, I tried peeling it all and storing it in the freezer.
Well, it dried out too much, and I forgot it was there....

	What I do now is peel the whole piece that I've bought, cut it
up into chunks, stick it into a little peanut butter jar that fits on
my fridge door.  Then I fill the jar with cooking sherry until the ginger
is covered.  This keeps the ginger fresh and, as a bonus, I have
gingered-sherry to use in recipes that call for sherry.  I've kept the
jar on my fridge door for about 6 months, refilling the sherry as I use
it and replacing the ginger when I run low, and I've never had the stuff
spoil.

My solution is to freeze the ginger whole (not peeled).  When I
need ginger I use I small grater (the kind they sell to grate 
parmesan cheese) with very small holes.  The result is as if the
ginger had been very finely minced.  The fact that the ginger is
frozen makes it easy to grate, and the fine particals make the 
mix very well with liquids ( I find this is of more use in
Japanese cooking were sauces are mixed up with out cooking).

One final thing if you have a cold fresh grated ginger in 
herbal tea (I use chamomille) is very good for the sinues.

-vicki

I started cooking with a wok about a year ago.  At first it was difficult,
because it seemed I never had the right ingredients.  Once you acquire a
few staple chinese ingredients, most of the recipes are a snap!  I have
a cookbook called "Madame Wong's Chinese Cooking for the Long Life".  The
recipes have been very easy to understand and follow.  Everything that 
we've tried has been great.

Cooking in the wok has become our favorite way of cooking.  Both my 
husband and I get involved.  He loves to cook and I love to chop.  It 
has enabled us also to eat dinner at a reasonable hour because the cook-
ing time is so short.

These are some of the ingredients that I find I need around the house, 
maybe others will add to it:

Soy sauce, light and dark
Hoisin Sauce (a chinese bbq sauce)
Sesame Oil
Chili Paste with Garlic
Chinese Chili peppers
Wood Ears (dried mushrooms)
Peanut Oil
Garlic
Ginger
Scallions
Corn Starch


Thats all I can think of right now.  Once you have these around, they 
last for a while, so you'll always be ready to start cooking.

J. Travers

	Other things I've found useful to keep around (almost all will
keep for long periods of time):

	Dried fungus (don't scream and run, it's one of the "things" in
		hot and sour soup.)
	Dried lily buds (I found them in the Chinese food shop in
		downtown Manchester, on a side street.  Also one of the
		hot and sour soup ingredients.  Good in anything that gets
		simmered for a while.)
	Noodles - those 4"x5"x1" little packages that sell at 5-6/$1.00.
		These are great when you were thinking of serving something
		over rice and messed up the timing.  They take only a few
		minutes to cook.
	Cans of water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, baby corn, straw mushrooms.
	Tabasco - if you use this instead of the Chinese pepper sauces,
		you will need 2-3 times as much.  However, it's sometimes
		easier to find, and many people already have it.
	Sprouts - grown on the kitchen counter.  If they don't get cooked
		they go in salad or get snacked on.

I listed five good Sichuan (=Szechuan) cookbooks in a reply to the note about
Szechuan food - check out those, if you can find them.  Madame Wong's
Long-Life Cookbook is also good for beginners and has a lot of real classics;
I like it better than Joyce Chen's.

/Charlotte

Here are a couple of very simple but good stir-fry recipes.  Don't hesitate 
to experiment; I rarely cook anything in the wok exactly according to a
recipe. Substitute what you have on hand, and feel free to stir-fry
whatever leftover fresh vegetables happen to be in the fridge. 

		STIR-FRIED BEEF & BROCCOLI

1 lb. round steak, cut crosswise in very thin slices
	(Partially freeze to make slicing easier)
1/2 cup water, divided
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
3 Tbsp. sherry
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp. powdered ginger, or a 1/2-inch chunk grated fresh ginger
1 tsp. cornstarch
3 Tbsp. oil
1 bunch broccoli, cut in florets (about 4 cups)
	or asparagus, or whatever other fresh veggies are handy
1 large onion, cut in wedges

Marinate steak at least 10 minutes in a mixture of 1/4 cup water, the soy 
sauce, sugar, sherry, garlic, ginger, and cornstarch.  Drain well, 
reserving marinade.  Heat oil in wok.  Add steak slices, half at a time if 
necessary to prevent overcrowding, and stir-fry over high heat until 
browned.  Remove from wok; set aside.  Add broccoli and onion to hot wok; 
stir-fry one minute.  Add remaining 1/4 cup water; cover and steam 3 
minutes or until broccoli is crisp-tender.  Return meat to wok with 
marinade.  Stir-fry to heat through.

Serve over rice with tomato wedges; pineapple chunks for dessert.



			SPICY BEEF & ASPARAGUS

1 lb. beef top round steak
1 egg white
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. dry sherry
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
12 - 14 drops Tabasco (for a mild spiciness -- more if you want it really 
	hot)
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. catsup
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cooking oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 lb. fresh asparagus, cut in 1-inch lengths (2 cups)
	or broccoli, or whatever
1 cup thinly sliced fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion

Partially freeze meat; thinly slice meat across the grain into bite-size 
strips.  In a bowl, combine beef strips, egg white, cornstarch, sherry, 
salt, pepper, and Tabasco.  By hand work the seasonings into the meat.  
Combine soy sauce, catsup, vinegar, and sugar; set aside.

Preheat wok over high heat; add oil.  Stir-fry garlic in hot oil for 30 
seconds.  Add asparagus, mushrooms, and green onion; stir-fry about 6 
minutes or till asparagus is crisp-tender.  Remove asparagus and mushrooms. 
Add oil if necessary.  Add half the meat to hot wok; stir-fry 2 to 3 
minutes or till meat is just browned.  Remove meat.  Stir-fry remaining 
meat 2 to 3 minutes.  Return meat to wok.  Stir soy sauce mixture; stir 
into beef.  Cook and stir till bubbly.  Stir in vegetables.  Cover and cook 
for 1 minute or till just heated through.  Serve at once.  Makes 4 to 6 
servings.

I just got a great new Chinese cookbook: The Key to Chinese Cooking by Irene 
Kuo. In addition to having some great recipes, it has sections on cooking 
techniques, Chinese ingrediants, and mail-order sources for them.

The recipes cover everything from hor d'oeurves to desserts with lots of 
variations for main dishes. This book even has a diagram to show you how to 
hold chopsticks! 

I recommend it for beginning and advanced Chinese cooking!

The absolutely best Chinese cookbook that we have found thus far is:

"Chinese Cooking Class Cookbook" by the Editors of Consumer Guide (c)1980

It has delicious recipes, and great pictures, so you have a good idea
what the results should look like. We've been working our way gradually
through this book, recipe by recipe. (and none of them has been less than
mouth-watering!)

    Does anybody have a recipe for Kitsikatsu (sp?).  It is a Japanese
    dish and is delicious.  Breaded pork in some kind of dark sauce.
    I don't even know if this should be deep fried or cooked in a wok.
    
    Thanks, Pam

    I don't have one, but Kikkoman makes a tonkatsu sauce that has a
    recipe on the label.
    
    --Karen

    Here's a newly created stir-fry recipe:
    
    Balsamic Beans and Almonds
    
    2 handsfull of string beans, julianned or cut on an angle, 
       depending on width of beans (I used runner beans, which are
       about 1/2 to 1 inch wide....)
    1/4 cup of slivered almonds
    peanut oil
    1 Tbsp soy sauce
    1 tsp balsamic vinegar
    minced red pepper, to taste (I used 1/2 of a dried Thai pepper,
    	but I'm a real chicken)
    a few shakes of dried ground ginger, or a bit of fresh minced ginger
    a few shakes of dried ground mustard
    
    Fry stringbeans over medium heat in 1 Tbsp oil until they are tender.
    Add almonds. Turn heat up and brown beans slightly.  Mix all the other
    ingredients together. Pour sauce over the beans and stir until the
    beans have absorbed the sauce.  Serve while still hot.
    
    --Louise
    

    
    
    	Wok cooking shouldn't be limited to just oriental cusine.  I use
    	mine for anything I would use a cast iron skillet for.  For
    	instance, a nice Sunday morning, refreshed from a good night 
    	sleep, waking up with a fine cup of Hawaiian coffee, I suddenly
    	get the urge.  I cut up some veggies, i.e. some red peppers, some
    	italian peppers, some mushrooms, some potatoes, and maybe some
    	onions and cook them for a bit then throw in some cut up polish
    	sausage, cook a bit more and then add a couple of eggs and serve
    	with a side of toast or english muffins.
    
    	Or perhaps cut up different kinds of veggies,red, green, italian
    	peppers, some onions, what ever, add some chicken and either some
    	seseame seed oil or some cajun spices, (both are great), then mix
    	in some pre-cooked rice pilaf, hmmmmmm.
    
    	Let your imaginations run wild, I do!
    
    
    		-KG
    

    
    I recieved a wok meny yrs ago.  and I lost the directions on how to
    begin your wok. (what to do to season it)  it's an electric, but it
    still told me to season it...and I have no idea how to.  So I've
    never used the wok.
    
    Louisa

    There's a whole big discussion somewhere in this conference about how
    to season a wok.  DIR/TITLE=WOK or SEARCH SEASON (followed repeatedly
    by a plain SEARCH command) should find it for you.
    
    --PSW

 Many electric woks have a no stick surface, rendering seasoning irrelevant.