Spinach with Ginger Dressing

It's been unusually hot here in Seattle and when that happens, I want to eat light and that means salads and cold plates. In Chinese cuisine, anything served room temperature or colder is called a cold plate. And, I might add, the vegetables are usually cooked before they are served cold. Tonight, I decided tonight to make one of my Mother's favorite vegetable cold plate that involves blanching Spinach and topping it with a Ginger-infused Dressing. It can be served immediately, but I usually refrigerate it so that it is served cold. This is a lovely accompaniment to a grilled Steak that has been marinating in Asian flavors and is a perfect recipe for a summer night!

Spinach with Ginger Dressing

8 oz bag of Spinach (275 g), washed

1 tbsp Vegetable Oil (I used Grapeseed)

1 inch piece of Ginger, peeled and grated (equals about 1 teaspoon)

2 teaspoons Chinkiang Black Vinegar or Rice Wine Vinegar

1 teaspoon Tamari

2 Tablespoons Chicken Broth

½ teaspoon Sesame Oil

½ teaspoon - 1 teaspoon Sugar

¼ teaspoon Salt

Combine the Vegetable Oil, Vinegar, Tamari, Sesame Oil and Chicken Broth in a small bowl.  Then stir in the Ginger, Sugar and Salt. Taste and add more Sugar if desired.

Heat a pot of Water to a boil. Add the Spinach, submerge and then drain. Rinse quickly with cold Water.  Place the Spinach in a serving bowl and pour the dressing over. Toss to mix and chill to serve cold.

Five Element Analysis

Spinach as a leafy Green belongs to the Wood Element and this is mostly a Wood Element food with the Vinegar and Chicken Broth adding even more. The Water Element is also present in a small amount from the Tamari and the Sesame Oil. And the Ginger brings in just a hint of both the Metal and Earth Elements. So, this is a good side dish where the main dish is from the Earth Element, like Steak and any other dishes should incorporate the Fire Element and more of the Metal Element to create balance.

Japanese Chicken Curry

I have a thing for Japanese Curry and I have for as long as I can remember. I used to buy those packages of Vermont Curry (who knows why they are called that since they are made in Japan) and I would break off chunks of the solidified seasoning sauce and add it to chicken cooked with carrots, potatoes and onions. It was a warm and homey bowl of deliciousness that was served over steamed rice. I've been missing it ever since I found out that it was thickened with wheat flour and I can't eat that anymore as I've gone completely Gluten Free. So tonight, I made a Gluten Free version that made me so happy - it tasted just right and I just kept eating it and eating it, so luckily I made a lot!  

The trick to getting this version of Curry to taste like the one in the box is to use S&B Curry Powder if you can find it. Other brands will work too, but this one has a special flavor mix. The onions are sautéed until they are caramelizing and other pungent seasonings are a bit of Ginger and Garlic. I then added Carrots and Potatoes and the Curry Powder along with Chicken Broth and grated Apple and cooked it until the Potatoes were tender. Then I added in cut up Chicken Breasts - you could also use Beef or Pork or Tofu - and finally mixed in a Roux made with Sweet Rice Flour and Butter to thicken it. I didn't have any frozen peas, but that would also have been a good addition. This Japanese Chicken Curry turned out really creamy and had that same special Japanese Curry smell and taste that I've been craving. If you want to make it spicier, you can buy the Hot version of the S&B Curry Powder or sprinkle on a little bit of S&B Nanami Tagarashi - Japanese Assorted Chili  Pepper - or Cayenne Pepper. But, I like my Curry non the mild side. This is such a wonderful dish for a cold winter night!

Japanese Chicken Curry

1 large Onion, cut into square pieces about 1 inch

2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

2 Garlic Coves, minced

1 teaspoon grated Ginger

2 heaping Tablespoons S&B Curry Powder

4 cups Chicken Broth + up to 1 cup more

3 medium Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

3 Carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rounds (cut in half if large)

1 pound of boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces

4 Tablespoons Butter

1/4 cup Sweet Rice Flour (also called Mochiko or Sticky Rice Flour)

Optional:  1/2 cup frozen Peas, defrosted

1/8 teaspoon S&B Nanami Tagarashi or Cayenne Pepper sprinkled on top

In a wok or large pot, heat the oil and add in the Onions. Cook stirring frequently with a spatula until the Onions start browning and getting caramelized.  Add in the Garlic and Ginger. Stir until you smell their fragrance.  Add in the Curry Powder and then pour in the Chicken Broth. Add in the Potatoes and Carrots.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes. Then add in the Chicken and cook for an additional 15 minutes.  

If the Potatoes have thickened up the sauce, you can serve it as is. If not, you can thicken it with a Roux made with Sweet Rice Flour:L

Melt the Butter in a frying pan. Add in the Sweet Rice Four and stir until the mixture becomes light golden brown. Turn off heat and reserve.

Add the Roux to the Curry and stir until thickened. If it is too thick, add in up to 1 cup more of Chicken Broth. This is also the time to add in the Peas, if you are using them. Serve with Steamed Rice.

Five Element Analysis

As a thick stew, there is a a strong suggestion of the Earth Element and the Potatoes and Carrots add even more. There is a also a lot of the Metal Element as Curry is a mixture of Metallic Spices and the Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Rice Flour and Butter add even more Metal. The Chicken and Chicken Broth make sure that the Wood Element is involved. The Water and Fire Elements are not present so you can add in some S&B Nanami Tagarashi, which also has some Sesame seed and Seaweed in it which adds some Fire and Water or Cayenne, which adds just Fire. And be sure to add some other foods in your meal that bring in more of the Fire and Water Elements for balance. I served it with Tea for the Fire, along with the S&B Nanami Tagarashi and some pickled Japanese Eggplant that brought in some Water and extra Wood too.  

Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

Whenever I was feeling a little tired and weak when I was a child, my mother would make me Beef Noodle Soup. She would cook beef shanks for hours to make a rich, homemade stock flavored with garlic, ginger and green onions, soy sauce and rice wine. This soup was made to build my blood and I swear it did. My favorite thing about it was that she would add some Rock Sugar and then give us little bits.  Once the broth was done, she would chop up the long cooked beef, add in some noodles, Bok Choy and Shitake Mushrooms and serve it with a sprinkling of green onion and cilantro. It was divine!  

It's been a long time since I had it, so I decided to make it again, but this time I changed things a bit to accommodate my particular dietary restrictions. Instead of soy sauce, I used Tamari and instead of wheat noodles, I used Japanese Buckwheat noodles. But it still had that wonderful rich beef taste that comes from long simmering shanks and gave me instant energy once again. 

Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

2 pounds Beef Shank (with the bone in)

10 cups Water

3 teaspoons Salt

1 2" piece of ginger, peeled and sliced thin

8  green onions, root end removed, bottom half left whole and top green part sliced and reserved

1 small onion, cut in half

4 - 6 Garlic Cloves

1 cup Rice Wine

1 cup Tamari (or Soy Sauce) + more later if desired

2 Tablespoons Sugar (or chunk of Chinese rock sugar)

2 teaspoons Sesame Oil

4 - 5 bunches Baby Book Choy, Stem end removed and cut into bite size pieces

8 - 10 fresh Shitake Mushrooms, stem end removed and sliced or use dried, rehydrated in boiling water 

1 pound Noodles (Buckwheat Soba, Rice Noodles, Wheat Noodles) cooked ahead

1 - 2 Tablespoons Chili Bean Sauce, Chili Garlic Sauce or Sriracha

Place Beef Shanks in a large pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and skim off the foam.  Then add the Salt, Sugar, Ginger, white part of Green Onions, Onion, Rice Wine and Tamari.  Bring to a boil again and reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook for about 3 hours or until the beef is soft.  

Remove the beef from the broth, cut it into small pieces and reserve. Take marrow out of the center of the bone and add to the meat. Strain the broth to remove all of the seasonings. Return beef back to the soup. Taste and add more Tamari if desired and Chili Bean Sauce or Chili Garlic Sauce. Bring back to a boil and add the Bok Choy and Shitake Mushrooms. Cook for  3 - 5 minutes.

Put cooked noodles into bowls and ladle soup in making sure there is some Beef, Bok Choy and Mushrooms in each bowl.  Sprinkle with Green Onion pieces and sprinkle and drizzle a small amount of Sesame Oil over each bowl of soup to serve.

Five Element Analysis

Beef is an Earth food and this soup is very good for building blood. The Ginger adds both Earth and Metal. The Garlic, Onion and Green Onion all contribute even more of the Metal Element. The Tamari, Sesame Oil and Shitake Mushrooms and the fact that this is a broth soup make sure that the Water Element is present.  The Rice Wine and Chili Sauce make sure that the Fire Element is present too. Buckwheat Noodles (made for a seed) add more Water, Rice Noodles add more Metal and Wheat Noodles add more Wood.  But even without noodles, this soup is balanced in a Five Element way!

Lion's Head Meatballs

One of my mother's favorite foods is Lion's Head Meatballs and while I was down in Los Angeles visiting her, I made it for her. This is actually her recipe, but she hasn't cooked for years and luckily she taught me how to make what she likes best before she retired from cooking. I've been meaning to post this recipe for days, but I've been moving so I got delayed. Lion's Head Meatballs is a fancy term for pork meatballs pan fried and then simmered in chicken broth with bean thread noodles, Napa Cabbage and some green onions. When this dish is served in China, the meatballs are usually enormous, but my mother likes them smaller, so that's the way I make them. 

Lion's Head Meatballs are very subtly flavored with just a bit of Soy Sauce (or Tamari if going gluten free) and Sesame Oil. For those of you who haven't tried bean thread noodles, they are translucent and a bit slippery and are made from Mung Bean flour. They are also featured in Ants on a Tree, which I will post another day. Anyway, it's a lovely dish for a cold night (although it was actually only cool outside when I made it). It's kind of a cross between a soup and a stew as there isn't that much broth so feel free to make it soupier if you like. I cooked it in a Chinese clay pot although a Wok works just fine too. We eat it with a combination of chopsticks and a Chinese spoon and it's a dish just meant for slurping, which is perfectly acceptable to the Chinese. They are often served for Chinese New Year as the round shape of the meatball means families reunite.  I hope you enjoy this dish too!

Lion's Head Meatballs

1 pound ground pork

1 Tablespoon Tamari

1 Tablespoon Shaoshing Rice Wine

2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

1 egg white

8 large leaves of Napa Cabbage, ends trimmed and cut into 1" pieces

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

3 green onions, white part minced and green parts cut into small pieces

3 small packages of Bean Thread Noodles (2 oz each)

4 - 5 cups diluted chicken broth (3/4 cup broth and 1/4 cup water)

2 Tablespoons Tamari

1 teaspoon Sesame Oil

Fresh Ground Pepper

Optional: Chili Oil, Sriracha or Chili Garlic Sauce

Soak bean thread noodles in a large bowl with warm water to cover for 10 minutes. In a wok or a pot, heat the Chicken Broth and keep at a simmer. In a large bowl, mix together Pork, white part of the Green Onions, Tamari, Rice Wine and Cornstarch. Shape into 2" balls and place in a large frying pan. Cook over Medium High heat until browned. Remove meatballs from the pan and place in the simmering Chicken Broth. Add oil to the frying pan and put in the Napa Cabbage. Stir fry until wilted and just beginning to brown. Add to the Chicken Broth with the Bean Thread Noodles, Soy Sauce and Sesame Oil. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add in green onion tops and top with ground pepper.

Five Element Analysis

Pork belongs to the Water Element and since this is a bit soupy too and is seasoned with Tamari and Sesame Oil - all Watery seasonings, that Element is covered. The Chicken broth contributes the Wood Element, the Napa Cabbage adds the Earth Element and the Mung Bean Noodles and the green onions bring in the Metal Element. Only the Fire Element needs some help, so using some Chili Oil or other Chili Sauce would balance out this dish and makes it a wonderful on-dish meal.

Chicken with Black Bean Sauce

I am down in Los Angeles visiting my mother and I want to cook her favorite foods for her and one of them is Chicken with Black Bean Sauce. Actually she likes anything cooked with Black Bean Sauce. Most people I know use the jarred sauce that you can buy at almost any grocery store that has an international section. And although it is pretty good, it is nowhere near as good as using the whole salted black beans themselves. Now you will probably have to buy them at a Chinese grocery store, but if you can't find them, they are available for sale on the internet. They come in a bag and keep in a jar in the refrigerator for a long time. The taste of these salted black beans is so much more savory and complex when cooked than the premixed sauce that it is worth searching them out. But a little bit goes a long way as it is very pungent in large doses! I used Chicken Breasts because my Mom doesn't like the dark meat, but I actually prefer it because it is juicier. You can also use tofu, beef, pork, scallops, a firm white fish, shrimp or clams. I like to use multiple colors of peppers because it is so pretty, but any will do. I served this dish with some Pea Leaf vegetables, another beef and tofu dish and steamed rice. Black Bean Sauce is a classic in Chinese cooking and is amazingly easy to make at home. So try it soon!

Chicken with Black Bean Sauce

1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or thighs) cut into1/2” chunks

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 Tablespoons Shaoshing Rice Wine

1 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons fermented black beans, mashed with 1 Tablespoon Hot Water

1 large garlic clove, minced

1” slice of ginger minced

One half of a red, yellow and green pepper cut into ½ chunks (or 1 1/2 pepper of any color)

1 small red onion cut in ½ pieces

1/3 cup chicken broth

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

½ teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

3 Tablespoons Peanut Oil

In a small bowl, put in chicken breast, cornstarch, rice wine and soy sauce. In another small bowl, stir together chicken broth, additional soy sauce and sesame oil. Place a wok or large frying pan on the stove on high heat. Add 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Oil and heat until smoking. Put in onion and stir fry until translucent. Then add in garlic, ginger and peppers.

Cook until softened and then put all the vegetables on a plate to the side. Add the additional 1 Tablespoon Oil and heat. Put in chicken and let cook without stirring until it browns slightly. Then turn over and brown the other side. Add black beans and chili flakes and return vegetables to the pan. Add in chicken broth mixture and stir, cooking it until it boils. Pour into a serving bowl and serve with steamed white rice.

Five Element Analysis

Fermented Black Beans are salty (and black) so they belong to the Water Element and so does the soy sauce and sesame oil. The chicken contributes the Wood Element, while the peppers and chili flakes bring in the Fire Element. The onion and rice that you serve it add the Metal Element. But, the Earth Element is missing except for the little bit of cornstarch, so serving another dish made of beef or cabbage or cucumbers would be a good addition to balance out the meal. If you want to make this a one dish meal, then serve it with a sweet fruit dessert instead.

Mapo Tofu

When you have grown up with a very good cook - in this case my mother - it is always a bit intimidating to cook their specialties for them. However, my mother stopped cooking about 5 years ago after she had a stroke and she misses her favorite dishes. Of course, she orders them at restaurants, but they are not the same. I've been visiting her so I decided to cook for her as I get tired of going out to restaurants all the time. My mother loves tofu in every manifestation. She could eat it for every meal and her hands down favorite dish is Mapo Tofu. This is a Szechanese dish named after a pockmarked woman in China, which is what the tofu looks like when it is cooked. I would hate to be known for my bad complexion, but Mrs. Ma has earned eternal fame from her good cooking. 

Mapo Tofu, like all Szechuan dishes has lot of chilis in it mixed with ground pork that creates a savory sauce to blanket the bland tofu squares. It is delicious served over lots of white rice. It is also very simple to make and only requires that you keep on hand soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, hoisin sauce, cornstarch and garlic chili paste or chili bean paste. I like the Lee Kum Kee brand of sauces. The level of heat can be determined by how much chili sauce you use and if you want to be really authentic, sprinkle the dish with a bit of Szechuan peppercorns to finish. It will numb your lips, but maybe that's part of the experience! I like to use more ground meat than usual. Most people use only about 1/4 pound and I often double this amount as I love the textural contrast to the soft tofu. This dish has converted a lot of my friends into tofu lovers and is one of my most frequently requested recipes. Oh and by the way, my mother told me it was as good as hers used to be. High praise indeed. Hope you enjoy it too!

Mapo Tofu

1 pound firm tofu, rinsed and cut into cubes

1/3 - 1/2 pound ground pork

3 scallions, sliced - separate white part from green part

1 large garlic clove minced

1 inch by 1/4 inch slice of ginger, peeled and minced finely

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 Tablespoon Rice Wine

2 teaspoons Hoisin Sauce

2 teaspoons Chili Garlic Paste or Chili Bean Paste

1 teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil

3 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

1/4 cup chicken broth or water

1 Tablespoon Cornstarch mixed with enough water to make a slurry

Optional: 1/4 teaspoon ground Szechuan Pepper

Place ground pork in a small bowl. Add 1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce, Rice Wine and Hoisin Sauce. Mix in thoroughly and put aside to marinate for a few minutes.

Mix together the chicken broth, remaining soy sauce and chili paste in a small bowl. Put aside.

Put oil into a heated frying pan or wok and add in the white part of the green onions with the ginger and garlic. Cook for a few minutes until you can smell the fragrance. Add in ground pork and cook until the pink disappears. Add tofu cubes carefully and cook stirring frequently to turn cubes and get them hot for 3 - 4 minutes. Add in the chicken broth mixture and boil for a few more minutes. Add in cornstarch and sesame oil and stir to thicken. Add in green part of green onions and Szechuan pepper if using. Serve with lots of steamed white rice.

Five Element Analysis

Tofu belongs to the Metal Element and so do the green onions, ginger and garlic so that element is covered. The white rice adds Metal too. Pork adds the Water Element along with the soy sauce, hoisin sauce and sesame oil. The Fire Element is also well represented by the chili paste, rice wine and Szechaun peppercorns. The Wood Element is only shown in the chicken broth so it needs some support and the Earth Element is lacking except for a tiny bit of cornstarch. So to balance this meal, serve a green vegetable on the side and some cooling fruit for dessert.