Quick & Easy Chinese
Page 11
Heat a wok or a large, deep skillet over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and swirl to coat the pan.
Add the garlic and toss until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the shrimp and spread them out into a single layer. Let them cook briefly, then toss well. Cook, tossing often, until the shrimp are firm, pink all over, and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to the reserved bowl and set aside.
Add the onion, green peppers, and mushrooms and toss well. Cook, tossing often, until everything is shiny, tender, and fragrant, about 1 minute more. Scoop the vegetables out of the pan and into the bowl with the shrimp.
Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan and swirl to coat it well. Add the noodles and toss well until they just begin to soften, about 1 minute. Add the chicken stock mixture, pouring it in around the sides of the pan, and then toss well.
Return the shrimp and vegetables to the noodles in the pan and cook, tossing often, until the noodles are golden, tender, and evenly seasoned. Transfer to a serving platter, arranging a few shrimp, green peppers, and shiitake mushrooms on top of the noodles. Serve hot or warm.
ALMOST-INSTANT NOODLES
This little noodle dish makes a great lunch or snack, using the seasonings and condiments you have on hand for everyday Chinese cooking. Many supermarkets carry squarish dried wheat noodles that are curly and golden, often labeled chukka soba and made in Japan. You could use any cooked pasta here; the sauce will be enough for 8 to 10 ounces dried noodles, or 3 cups cooked. Add a dollop of chili-garlic sauce or hot pepper sauce if you want a little spicy kick.
2 tablespoons Asian sesame oil
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon sugar
8 ounces dried curly Asian-style noodles such as chuka soba, or angel hair pasta
½ cup chopped ham, roast chicken, or cooked shrimp (optional)
2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
SERVES 2 TO 4
In a medium bowl, combine the sesame oil, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir to mix everything well and dissolve the sugar.
Cook the noodles in a medium saucepan of wildly boiling water until they are just tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain well and transfer to the bowl of sauce.
Place the ham on top, if using, along with the green onion. Toss quickly to mix and season the noodles evenly, using tongs, chopsticks, or a fork and spoon. Sprinkle with the cilantro and serve hot or warm.
CRISPY NOODLE PANCAKE
Known as “two-sides brown” in Cantonese, and as “noodle pillows” by the brilliant author and teacher Barbara Tropp, this fried noodle cake provides texture and color as the base for a saucy stir-fried dish. A favorite in dim sum parlors, the pancake calls for an abundance of oil to help it color and crisp up. In this recipe, I use a moderate amount of oil for a pleasing version that comes out as a flat pancake in a skillet and a plumper pillow in a wok. Ideally, the insides stay soft while the outer surfaces provide a crusty contrast in texture and hue. Plan ahead so that your cooked egg noodles have an hour or more to cool and dry out after you boil them and before you fry them into a crispy pancake.
8 ounces thin Chinese-style fresh egg noodles or very thin fresh pasta
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
SERVES 4
NOTE If you’re making this as the foundation for a stir-fried dish, set out everything you will need for both dishes near the stove before you begin to cook. Then prepare the noodle pancake first and make the stir-fry right after that, so that you can turn the stir-fry dish out onto the noodles and serve at once. You could make the noodle pancake, set it on a heatproof serving plate, and place it in a 250°F oven for up to half an hour before you plan to serve it. If you want individual noodle cakes, you could make them quickly in a small hot skillet, shaping and cooking each one and then transferring them to a serving plate in a 250°F oven to keep warm. For more golden brown color, crispness, and firm shape, add more oil to the pan.
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat and add a generous pinch of salt. Add the noodles and stir to separate them.
Cook the noodles until just tender but still firm, 2 to 4 minutes, stirring now and then. Quickly drain, rinse with cool water, and then drain well. You will have about 3 cups cooked noodles.
Spread the noodles out in a thin layer on a baking sheet or a tray. Let them dry out for at least one hour.
When you are ready to fry the noodles, place a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add 3 tablespoons of the oil and swirl to coat the pan evenly and well, sides as well as bottom.
When a bit of noodle sizzles at once, arrange the noodles in the hot pan, spreading them out into an even layer. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, pressing down with a spatula to form a flat, even pancake. When it is golden brown and crisp on the bottom, carefully turn it over to expose the other side to the hot pan.
Add another 2 tablespoons oil, pouring it in around the edges of the pan, and let the pancake cook for 4 to 6 minutes more. When the second side is a crispy golden brown, carefully transfer the pancake to a serving plate and serve hot or warm. (Sliding it carefully onto the serving plate works well.)
sweets
ALMOND COOKIES
FORTUNE COOKIES
EGG CUSTARD TARTLETS
FIVE-SPICE POACHED PEARS
CANDIED WALNUTS
Chinese cuisine holds sweetness in high esteem but, unlike most Western traditions, often joins sweet and savory rather than relegating each to its own separate domain. Sweet flavors show up alongside savory ones, throughout the meal and in street-food snacks as well as banquets and in homestyle cooking. Pork in particular is cooked with rock sugar, honey, and spices such as cinnamon, star anise, and cloves, which belong on a sweet side within Western cuisines. Additionally, sugar is often added to seasoning mixtures as a component of the flavor pattern.
Dessert as a special and anticipated course enjoyed after a festive meal is not a Chinese concept. Fresh fruit or a comforting sweet, thick soup involving small red beans, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and rice dumplings are what you might be served on such a grand occasion. Sweet treats abound in Chinese cuisine, but most often as a snack picked up in the marketplace and brought to the teachers’ lounge, bus station, or study hall, there to be nibbled with friends amid conversation.
Today, you’ll find fabulous Chinese bakeries with shelves lined with gloriously decorated cakes, glistening pastries, and fruit tarts piled high with perfectly positioned berries and slices of kiwi fruit. These testify to the delight and enthusiasm with which Chinese people have embraced Western desserts and sweets, but they remain a store-bought or restaurant treat. Home ovens are rare, and the Western ingredients, techniques, and equipment used in baking present a challenge for most home cooks. Many traditional Chinese sweets are purchased from vendors to this day.
This chapter provides you with a small collection of Chinese sweets that have made themselves at home within the cuisine and can be made at home with wonderful and delicious results. Three are standards that began in the West and demonstrate a sweet and savvy harmonizing between the traditions.
Almond Cookies (facing page) and Fortune Cookies (page 160) both originate in Western lands where ovens have been standard home and restaurant equipment for generations. Almond Cookies are extremely easy to make and fortune cookies repay you well in the pleasure they provide. Egg Custard Tartlets (page 162) go back farther, to contact between China and Portugal in earliest trading days many centuries back. The Portuguese protectorate of Macau established a presence in the vicinity of Hong Kong long ago, and the traditional custard tarts of Portugal called for making a sugar syrup to be mixed with eggs and milk to make the custard. This unique method is used to this day in commercial danh tot, as they are called in Cantonese, and it yields extraordinarily smooth and shiny custard. You’ll find them in old-style Chinese coffee shops in Chinatowns, as well as in dim s
um parlors and in bakeries.
Rounding out the chapter is a Chinese-inspired dessert, elegant Five-Spice Poached Pears (page 165), which are made in advance and offer a lovely denouement to any meal.
The Chinese original of the group here is Candied Walnuts (page 166). They make a wonderful gift for your host or for friends at holidays and can be served as an after-dinner nibble or even stir-fried with shrimp or chicken, in traditional Chinese fashion, where sweet and savory dance together in delicious harmony, anytime and anyplace.
ALMOND COOKIES
This is my version of a recipe by my friend Jean Yueh, renowned cooking teacher and author of The Great Tastes of Chinese Cooking (see page 182). These little cookies are easy to make and eating them is a delight. Jean uses a pastry brush to glaze each cookie with a little well-beaten egg just before baking, to give them a golden sheen. You could use all butter or margarine in this recipe, if you prefer. I often make a double batch, so that I can keep a roll of almond cookie dough in the refrigerator or freezer, tightly wrapped in waxed paper or foil. That way, we can bake a batch of warm cookies anytime we want a speedy little treat.
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter at room temperature, shortening, or margarine
6 tablespoons shortening or margarine
1 egg
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
16 to 32 whole almonds, skinless or skin on (see Note)
MAKES 16 LARGE OR 32 SMALL COOKIES
NOTE For larger cookies, shape each half of the dough into a cylinder about 2 inches in diameter, and cut them into a total of 16 pieces. For smaller cookies, shape each half into a cylinder about 1¼ inches in diameter, and cut them into a total of 32 pieces.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a fork to mix them well.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, shortening, egg, sugar, and almond extract. Using an electric mixer, beat at medium speed until all the ingredients are evenly combined, 1 to 2 minutes; or use a wooden spoon to mix well.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon just enough to bring everything together into a smooth dough. Stop as soon as all the flour disappears. (If you won’t be baking the cookies now, cover or wrap dough well and refrigerate it for up to 1 week, or freeze it for up to 1 month.)
Heat the oven to 400°F. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a cylinder. (See Note about size and number of cookies.) Cut each cylinder evenly into rounds, placing each round on an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Press an almond firmly into the center of each cookie, flat side up.
Bake at 400°F for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies are firm and lightly browned. Cool on the cookie sheets, and then transfer to a serving plate, or to a cookie tin or another airtight container.
FORTUNE COOKIES
An inspiration from Chinese American restaurant traditions in the West, fortune cookies are factory made, treasured for their message, shape, and crunch rather than for flavor or ancient Chinese roots. Fellow cookbook author Sara Perry created an orange-flavored version for her wonderful book Holiday Baking (see page 182), and it is my good fortune that she kindly shared it with me. This is my version of her recipe. As for the fortunes, think short and sweet, and begin by writing them on slips of paper, using edible ink. For best results, Sara suggests you line your baking sheet with a reusable nonstick baking sheet liner, such as a Silpat, since it completely prevents these particularly delicate cookies from sticking to the pan.
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
¼ cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 egg whites at room temperature
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
MAKES 12 TO 16 COOKIES
NOTE Sara Perry makes these into small, elegant cylinders, rolling them up as they come off the pan. If you do it this way, you can wait and tuck a fortune into the hollow center of each cookie later, even right before serving time.
Heat the oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with a reusable nonstick sheet liner or parchment paper, and set aside. Place the fortunes, a big measuring cup, a bowl of ice water, and a 12-cup muffin tin next to the stove so that you can use them in shaping the cookies while they are hot from the oven.
In a medium bowl, use a whisk or a fork to stir together the flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt, until well and evenly blended together.
Add the oil, egg whites, orange juice, vanilla, and orange zest. Using an electic mixer, beat at high speed until smooth.
Start with just 2 cookies at a time, dropping the batter by level tablespoonfuls about 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Using the back of a spoon, spread each portion into a 4-inch diameter cookie. Bake until the edges start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
Using a wide thin flexible spatula, lift each cookie off the baking sheet. (If it begins to tear or bunch up, let it cool for another 15 to 20 seconds. If it cools too much on the pan and won’t come off, return it to the oven to resoften for about 1 minute more.)
Place a fortune in the center of each cookie and quickly fold in half. Pick up one of the cookies by the rounded top, and place the folded side on the edge of the measuring cup. Press down gently to bend the folded corners down into the standard fortune cookie shape. Repeat with the other cookie, and place the shaped cookies gently in empty cups in the muffin tin to cool. (Dip your fingers into the ice water and dry them to keep them cool as you work.)
Continue baking and shaping the remaining cookies. Store in an airtight container, and enjoy within 2 days.
EGG CUSTARD TARTLETS
Visit a dim sum parlor at lunchtime and you’ll probably find these sunny yellow tartlets among the few sweet items offered from carts wheeled around the large, lively room. Flaky pastry cradles a silken custard in this classic Hong Kong–style dim sum item. Traditionally made with a multilayered lard pastry, these tarts can be made in a streamlined version using prepared puff pastry or pie crust. The crucial steps of making a simple syrup for the custard and baking the tartlets slowly at a low heat are easy to accomplish, so the results are simple and superb.
1 package frozen puff pastry or 1 package refrigerated pie crust (2 crusts)
¾ cup sugar
½ cup water
4 eggs
½ cup milk
MAKES 12 TARTLETSb
To prepare the tartlet shells, set the frozen puff pastry dough out on the countertop and allow it to thaw until soft enough to unfold the dough. Generously grease the muffin cups in a 12-cup muffin pan. Open one of the two pieces of dough into a single layer, and cut the rectangle into 9 equal pieces, each one about 3 inches square. Open the second piece of dough and make 3 more 3-inch squares in the same way. Fold the remaining dough and freeze for another use.
Using a rolling pin, roll each piece to about 4 inches square, and then place it loosely in a muffin cup. Press and shape to line the bottom and sides completely and well, letting the four points extend out above the rim. When you have lined 10 to 12 of the cups with puff pastry, set the pan in the freezer for at least 2 hours or as long as overnight. (To use prepared pie crust, cut 4-inch squares and fit them into the generously greased muffin cups, piecing and pressing them together. You will need about 1½ crusts for this dish.)
To make the custard filling, combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a lively boil over medium heat. Stir well just until the sugar dissolves into a clear syrup. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Heat the oven to 300°F.
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs very well until smooth. Add the cooled syrup and the milk and beat until everything is completely mixed together smoothly and well.<
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When the oven is hot, remove the pastry shells from the freezer and add about 2 tablespoons of filling to each one. Bake at 300°F for 50 to 60 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and flaky and the custard is shiny and smooth and puffed up.
Remove from the oven and cool in the pan to room temperature. To remove cooled pastries from the muffin pan, work each one loose from its spot in the muffin tin, using a dull table knife to break it away from the tin.
Serve at room temperature, or warm.
FIVE-SPICE POACHED PEARS
Pears poached in this spiced syrup make a lovely, easy dessert. They can be made ahead of time and chilled for up to two days before serving. Make sure to choose pears that are barely ripe, firm, and unblemished. If too ripe, the pears will be mushy when poached. The poaching liquid is reduced to make a golden-spiced sauce to serve with the pears. Allow 15 minutes to reduce the sauce.
1½ cups sugar
3 cups water
1 (3-inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into ½-inch slices
4 or 5 cloves
5 black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
2 or 3 star anise or ½ teaspoon five-spice powder (see page 14)
2-inch strip fresh lemon zest
½ cup dry sherry (optional)
4 firm, barely ripe pears
Caramel Ginger Sauce (optional; page 177)
SERVES 4
Combine the sugar and water in a deep saucepan large enough to hold the pear halves in a single layer, and bring to a boil over high heat to completely dissolve the sugar. Add the ginger slices, cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon stick, star anise, and lemon zest. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
While the poaching liquid is simmering, peel the pears, leaving the stems intact. Halve lengthwise and use a teaspoon or a melon baller to scoop out the central core and interior stem.
Add the sherry and the pear halves to the poaching liquid and simmer until tender but not mushy when pierced with a sharp knife, 20 to 25 minutes (the length of poaching time depends on the ripeness of the fruit).