Cooking class #2, with recipes!

My husband and I took another cooking class last weekend. The first time, we learned how to make fresh jiaozi (dumplings) and a few other cold vegetable dishes. This time, we chose a class that included a lot of meat! Braised pork, dry pepper beef, fish flavored eggplant, garlic spinach, etc. It was another amazing class and we made a lot of recipes that will be easy to make at home. I think for those of you outside of China (um, yeah. almost all of you!), the difficult part would be getting certain ingredients, but if you have a local Asian market, its definitely worth a try - because the food is easy to make, and its delicious.


#1: Canton Style Braised Ribs (广东烧排骨(shown in the picture on the left)

Ingredients:

500g ribs

Seasoning 1:

a few pieces of sliced ginger

Seasoning 2:

dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp
light soy sauce, 2 tbsp
sugar, 2 tbsp
Chinese white wine (more than 30% alcohol), 1 tbsp

Method:

1. chop rib into section (the ribs we chopped into 2 inch pieces approx.)
2. season wok with 1 tbsp oil (canola oil is fine), add ginger, ribs, stir about 30 seconds until fragrant, and then add 200ml water.
3. add all of seasoning 2 to the wok, cover, cook over low heat for about an hour until the water is gone.

How easy is that? SIMPLE, minimal ingredients and hardly any work! And these were so amazingly delicious.



#2: Fragrant Spicy Beef (香辣牛肉

Ingredients:

Beef, 250g

Marinade:

salt, 1/4 tsp
light soy sauce, 2 tsp
wine, 2 tsp
starch, 4 tsp
If meat looks dry, 1-2 tsp water

Spices:

dry chilis, julienned（干辣椒） - how many you use depends on your personal preference for spiciness
sichuan pepper (these are the sichuan peppercorns 花椒), 1/2 tsp
ginger, julienned, 2 tsp
leek, 6 pieces, only the white part, julienned
coriander (we call this cilantro in the U.S., and its also known as Chinese parsley), a few pieces

Seasoning:

sugar, 1 tsp
dark soy sauce, 2 tsp
sesame oil, 1 tsp

Method:

1. cut beef into 5cm long and chopstick thick, mix with marinade for 15 minutes.
2. Julienne all ginger, leek, and chili
3. season wok with 2 tbsp oil over high flame, turn down heat until oil is not smoking, add dry chili, sichuan peppercorns, then ginger, turn heat to high. When chili and sichuan peppers are fragrant and chili has turned a brown-red color, add the beef. Stir slowly until beef just changes color and separates, then add leek, sugar, dark soy sauce. Stir until leek is soft, turn off heat, and add coriander and sesame oil, mix, and take out.


#3. Fish Flavored Eggplant (鱼香茄子）－ and no, it does not taste or smell like fish, nor is there fish in it.

Ingredients:

Eggplant, 500g, cut into small finger sized
Minced pork, 2 tbsp (you can omit the pork, or you can even add pork strips)

Spices:

3 pieces of pickled chili, minced and seeds removed （泡辣椒）pictured below


ginger, minced, 3 tbsp
garlic, 5 cloves, minced, about 2 tbsp
spring onion, 3 pieces, minced, about 4 tbsp

Seasoning 1: (add during cooking)

salt, (now follow me here...).... use 1/2 of 1/4 tsp
sugar, 5 tsp
light soy sauce, 2 tbsp
wine, 1 tbsp

Seasoning 2: (add at the end)

vinegar 1 tbsp
sesame oil 1 tsp

Method:

1. season wok with 1 tbsp oil, turn to medium low heat, add eggplant, stir until eggplant becomes soft, then take out.
2. season wok with 2 tbsp oil, low heat, add pork, stir until pork separates and changes color, add chili, ginger, garlic, and stir. Add wine and 200 ml of water.
3. Add salt, sugar, soy sauce, and add eggplant. Cover. Cook on medium low heat until the water is gone.
4. Add vinegar and mix well. Turn off heat, add sesame oil and spring onion, mix, and then take out.

YUM! Totally delicious!

The garlic spinach was sooooo good, too.... and it was simple. We just took a bunch of garlic, minced it, and threw it in a seasoned wok with oil, added the spinach, some salt, and stir fry until done.

Let me know if you try any of these things! I was told if you can't find the pickled chilis for the eggplant dish, you can use fresh red chili as a substitute.

Steph