Sorry I have been so silent, but life has been busy. I think it’s starting to slow down, so I’m back in the kitchen and starting to work on some new recipes (or writing up some old ones).
Well to start the year, I needed to move the website to a new hosting plan. Since I’m just one person, and I have a full time job and a family, it took me a while to get the website moved. And in that time, I really couldn’t put up new recipes since it would double the work of the transfer.
Once the website was moved, we were in the process of selling our house and moving. Several months of that, and I haven’t had very many posts this year. I hope to get back to posting recipes soon.
I’d like to say that I have a recipe for you today, but alas, I do not. I have pictures of what I made tonight… want to see?
This is a common Chinese soup dish that you find in homes and restaurants. I don’t have the recipe, but let me just give you a quick run down.
The soup is created by adding the following into each bowl (do not make a big pot and expect it to work well):
- Cooked noodles: I use many different kinds. This is a dry udon noodle that I cooked per package directions and rinsed with cool water.
- Sautéed vegetables: Heat up a large sauté pan with oil (vegetable oil) and add Chinese greens. I used snow peas, nappa cabbage and baby bok choy. Add a little salt and saute until the cabbage and baby bok choy are softened. Remove and put in a bowl.
- Stir fried stewed beef: Start with Chinese stewed beef (see below) and dust with cornstarch. In a large pan, add vegetable and sesame oil. When hot, add the beef and start to stir fry. Once you can’t see the white anymore, cook for another 30 seconds (this whole time constantly tossing and stirring) and then slowly start adding scoops of the stock. You shouldn’t use more than 1-2 scoops. The goal is to make a sauce, not soup.
- Beef soup stock: A simple stock of beef broth, rice wine, white pepper, and cilantro paste. Bring to a bowl, cover and simmer. (stock is made in advance put put in almost last)
- Chopped green onions and/or chopped cilantro to top.
It’s a wonderful hearty meal that is one of my husband’s favorites.
So, for the stewed beef, it’s not an American style stew. Stewing in Chinese homes is done all day. So many different items are stewed (aka boiled with a seasoned soy sauce mixture), one at a time. The base for the stew is:
- Water
- Dark soy sauce
- Chinese five spice
- Chinese rice wine
- Chinese rice wine vinegar
There are different variations of this, but that’s what I tend to put in. I’ll sometimes add cilantro, white pepper, or garlic powder. The main thing is the soy sauce and the five spice.
So, put all that in a pot (again, I don’t have measurements yet, I’ll try to get them next time) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and start the process. I usually start by adding baked tofu into the pot. Let it simmer for 1-2 hours. Then, remove the tofu and add peeled hard boiled eggs. Let them simmer for 1-2 hours (depending on how dark you like). Remove them and next it’s cubed beef. Yes, this is the beef that is used above. Simmer for about 2-3 hours or until the beef is tender. Remove the beef and lastly is chicken. I like to do chicken drum sticks or wings. Simmer for about 1 hour. And that’s it. If you need to add more liquid, add both water and soy sauce.
Super easy but it is an all day process of simmer simmer simmer. In the end, you have a ton of different stewed protein items.
I understand, this isn’t quite a recipe, but hey, it’s a food post! Thanks for reading if you got this far.
Happy Cooking!
