Stir-Fried Greens With Dried Shrimps

A simple, stir-fried greens using one of my favourite vegetable, cabbage. This is one of the stir-fry cabbage dishes that I sometimes cook at home and was pleasantly surprised to find this similar recipe in Every Grain of Rice cookbook.  

The dried shrimps added an umami fragrant taste to the dish. This stir-fried cabbage dish makes an excellent side dish to rice meal, and is great with plain congee.

Stir-Fried Greens With Dried Shrimps
(adapted from "Every Grain Of Rice" by Fuchsia Dunlop)
400gm spring greens, or cabbage of your choice
4 spring onions, green parts only
4 tbsp cooking oil or lard
6 tbsp thin dried shrimps
2 tbsp light soy sauce
salt

Discard any fibrous outer leaves and cut out and discard the thick stem of the greens. Shred the leaves. Cut the spring onion greens into thin slices.

Add 3 tbsp of the oil or lard to a seasoned wok over a high flame and swirl it around. Add the shrimps and stir-fry until crisp and fragrant. Remove the shrimps from the wok and set aside.

Return the wok to the stove with the remainder of the oil or lard, add the greens and stir-fry over a high flame until hot, barely cooked and still a little crisp. Return the shrimps, adding the soy sauce and salt to taste (you may not need any salt because of the saltiness of the shrimps and soy). Finally add the spring onions, stir a couple of times, then turn on to a dish and serve.

Join us at Cookbook Countdown #38

Liuyang Black Bean Chicken

One of my favourite dish from Fuchsia Dunlop's cookbook, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. Made this dish a few times already.

The recipe uses  a whole head of garlic, fermented black beans, ginger, rice wine, rice vinegar, chili flakes and soy sauce. I've used boneless chicken thigh without the skin. Scallions are picked fresh from my garden pot. The chicken pieces are stir-fried until they change colour, remove and then fried  second time until they brown a little. The chicken are then removed, and stir-fry with the rest of the ingredients. 

Simple and delicious, great with white fluffy rice.

Liuyang Black Bean Chicken
(Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, Fuchsia Dunlop)
1 lb boned chicken thighs with skin
salt
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 head garlic
2-1/2 in piece fresh ginger
4 scallions, green parts only
4 tbsp black fermented beans, rinsed
1 tbsp clear rice wine or Shaoxing wine
2-3 tsp dried chilli flakes
2 tsp clear rice vinegar

1. Cut the chicken into bite-size chunks. Put the chunks in a bowl, add 1/4 teaspoon salt and the soy sauce and mix well; set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
2. Peel the garlic cloves, cutting any very large ones in half. Peel and slice the ginger. Cut the scallion greens into 1-1/2 inch pieces.
3. Heat the oil for deep-frying over a high flame until it reaches 350-400F. Add the chicken and stir-fry until it has changed colour, then remove from the wok with a slotted spoon and allow the oil to return to 350-400F. Return the chicken to the hot oil and deep-fry again until tinged golden, remove and set aside.
4. Drain off all but 3 tablespoons oil from the wok, then return it to a medium flame. Add the ginger and garlic and stir fry for a few minutes until they are fragrant and the garlic cloves are tender. Add the black beans and stir-fry until fragrant, splashing in the rice wine as you do so. Add the chili flakes and stir-fry for a few moments until they have lent their heat and red colour to the oil.
5. Return the chicken to the wok and toss it in the fragrant oil, splashing in the vinegar and adding salt to taste. When everything is sizzly and delicious, throw in the scallions, and stir a few times until barely cooked. Then, off the heat, stir in the sesame oil and serve.

Join us at Cookbook Countdown #38

       

Sweet Chili Chicken Thighs

Cook the Book Fridays, is currently cooking through Dorie Greenspan's latest cookbook, Everyday Dorie. This month's selection is Sweet Chilli Chicken Thighs, pg 114.

I have all the ingredients to make this dish. I don't even need to go to the store, well, except to buy some chicken thighs from the market. Such a simple and easy dish to cook,  and it was delicious. Ingredients used are ; onion, garlic, white wine, pepper, Thai sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, Sriracha. I did not expect there will be much sauce, but was really happy when the dish was done, there was a fair amount of sauce, which I knew my sauce-loving family will love. We had the chicken thighs with basmathi rice and a simple stir-fry of green beans. Every piece of thigh was gobbled up including the sauce. This dish goes to my "make-again list"! Yum!