Sa Cha Beef

My friend, Andy, and I used to go to a Chinese restaurant in downtown Akron when we were in college. We often ordered the Sa Cha Beef. This dish was not on the menu, but we go there often enough that they will make the dish for us. Because both Andy and I don't like spinach (or I don't like greens in general, at the time), we would ask for baby corns. So, here's my rendition of Sa Cha Beef with baby corns.

Sa Cha Beef
1 lbs of beef tenderloin
Baby corns

Marinade:
1 tbsp of water
1 tsp of cornstarch

Sauce Mix:
2 1/2 tbsp of Sa Cha Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp of premium oyster sauce
1/2 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of cornstarch

Marinade beef for 15 minutes.
Stir fry beef with 1 - 2 tbsp of oil until done. Pour in the sauce mix and heat through. Add in baby corns and stir well.
Serve warm.

Sesame Oil Chicken

After a whole week of eating out, I was craving for some comforting home cook meal... and stumbled upon the recipe for Sesame Oil Chicken on rasamalaysia.com.

As a picture tells a thousand stories, you can tell that my sesame oil chicken turned out quite dry. It was not intended. I had let the chicken over-shimmered while I was focusing on writing a report. Again, an evidence that patience and attention are the virtues I lack. Nonetheless, the chicken did turned out to be tender. I'll have to settle for having some home cook meal.

Sesame Oil Chicken
http://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-sesame-oil-chicken/

Herbal Beggar's Chicken

I came to realized that the past couple of months has been onerous physically and I can only imagine that the month of June would take it to the next level. It reminded me of those days when I was still living at home with Ah Po, where she would make herbal teas every now and then for us. She would put them out and make me drink them. It's one of those things that I took for granted, being skeptical that those herbal stuff doesn't do anything... but they do taste good, most of the time. Only after leaving home, I realized that the herbal teas that Ah Po made did have medicinal benefits.

So, in the attempt of repairing my body and health and getting them ready for the month of June, I opted for Herbal Beggar's Chicken. I must say that the fragrance imparted while the chicken is steaming was quite beatificus. Not to mention, the chicken did turn out to be very juicy and tender. Hmmm.... yummilicious!

Important herbs

Chicken came out from steaming

Need to hang out with cooks at kopitiam to learn chicken-chopping-skills!

Herbal Beggar's Chicken
1 whole chicken (preferably kampung chicken)
Cling film paper
Parchment paper

Seasoning A:
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of pepper
1/2 tbsp of Xiaoshing wine
1/2 tbsp of sesame oil

Seasoning B:
1 tsp of sugar
1/4 tsp of pepper
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 tsp of dark soy sauce
1 tsp of Xiaoshing wine
1/2 tbsp of sesame oil

Herbs:
4 slices of tong kwai
3 slices of pak kei
10 g of tong sum
10 g of wai sun
4 red dates, pitted

Thickening:
1 tsp of cornstarch
2 tbsp of water

Rinse the chicken, drain well. Rub seasoning A on the skin. Combine seasoning B in a small bowl and rub the inside or cavity of the chicken.
Rinse all the herbs and place in a small bowl. Steam for 10 - 15 minutes.
Stuff the herbs into the cavity of the chicken. Wrap the chicken with cling film wrap and refrigerate for 2 - 3 hours.
Remove the cling film wrap and place the chicken on 2 sheets of parchment papers. Wrap up neatly and tuck in the edges. Put chicken in a deep dish and steam over medium heat for 1 - 1.25 hours or until chicken is almost tender.
Reserve the chicken stock and bring to boil. Then, thicken with cornstarch mixture. Pour over the chicken and serve.

Fragrant Spare Ribs

Feels like a good day for some fried, tender spare ribs...

Fragrant Spare Ribs
750 gms of spare ribs
2 tbsp of oil
1 tbsp of sesame oil
1 tbsp of rose wine
1 big piece of aluminium foil

Marinade for spare ribs:
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of pepper
1/2 tsp of Chinese five spice powder
1 tbsp of custard powder
1 tsp of flour
1 tsp of corn flour
3 tbsp of water

Sauce (combined):
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
2 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of tomato sauce
1 tbsp of black vinegar
1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp of chilli sauce
1 tsp of custard powder
1/2 cup of water
1 tbsp of sesame oil

Cut spare ribs into 1 - 2 inch lengths. Rinse and drain well on paper towels. Season with marinade for several hours or preferably overnight in the refrigerator.
Deep fry the spare ribs in hot oil until golden brown. Remove and drain from oil.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp of sesame oil in a wok. Add in sauce ingredients and bring to a low simmering boil. Put in pre-fried spare ribs. Toss well until evenly coated with sauce.
Remove spare ribs and sauce out onto a piece of aluminium foil. Add in the rose wine and wrap up neatly into a package.
Place the package on a Pyrex dish and steam for 1 hour or until spare ribs turn tender.

Mee Siam

I'm starting to noticed that I've been cooking quite a bit of those spicy dishes. Here's another one - Mee Siam or Siamese-style noodles. Only when I started to dig in, I realized that I have overdid the gravy by adding 2 more tbsp of chili paste than what was called for... I was sweating when it was all over! On the bright side, it is summer now. The spiceness certainly helps with taking off the heat. And nothing could have make it any much better to top it off than a bowl of pulut hitam for dessert :)

Mee Siam
2 lbs of lo mein
2 lbs of fresh whole shrimp, reserve heads and shells for stock
3 1/2 cups of water
salt to taste
1 cup of cooking oil
10 cloves of garlic, chopped
6 soy bean cakes, diced
2 tbsp of salted soy beans, mashed to paste, or Miso paste
4 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 lb of fresh bean sprouts
6 - 8 stalks of scallions, cut into 1 inch lengths
20 shallots, thinly sliced, fried golden brown
4 eggs, hardboiled, quartered
6 red Serrano chillies, seeded, thinly sliced diagonally (optional)
10 limau kasturi/calamansi limes, cut into halves (subs. key limes cut into small wedges)

Sauce:
2 tbsp of cooking oil
12 cloves of garlic, pounded
3 tbsp or to taste, sambal olek/chili paste
3 tbsp of salted soy beans, mashed to paste, or Miso paste
3 tsp of sugar
3 1/2 cups of coconut milk
1/2 cup of tamarind paste, made from 3 - 3 1/2 oz of tamarind pulp mixed well with 1/2 cup of hot water, strained to remove seeds

To prepare sauce:
Heat oil on high, add garlic, sambal olek, salted soy bean paste or Miso paste, stir fry for about a minute.
Add sugar, tamarind paste, and coconut milk, reduce heat to med-low.
Simmer till oil starts to float on top, add salt to taste.
Keep gravy hot on low-med heat, for serving.
Dish out into gravy bowl when serving.

To prepare noodles:
Soak dried lo mein in hot water till al dente, drain, run under cold running water, drain well and set aside.
Remove shells from shrimp. Reserve shells and heads, roughly pound.
Bring 3 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Add shrimp shells and heads, simmer. Reduce to 1 cup of stock, strain and discard shells and heads. Add salt to taste.
In a wok, heat 1 cup of oil, fry shallots till golden brown. Drain on paper towels and set aside for garnish.
Remove all but 2 tbsp of oil from wok. Add garlic, stir fry till golden brown and crisp.
Add shrimps, soy bean cakes, 2 tbsp of salted soy bean paste or Miso paste. Stir fry 1 - 2 minutes.
Add shrimp stock, soy sauce, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add noodles and stir fry for 3 - 5 minutes.
Add bean sprouts, scallions, and salt to taste. Stir fry for 1 - 2 minutes. Turn off heat.
Dish noodles into individual serving bowls.
Garnish with hardboiled eggs, fried shallots, and freshly sliced red chillies (optional).
Serve with gravy bowl on the side, for pouring a little over noodles while eating.