Spicy pork noodles

Tonight I found myself with a piece of pork, some noodles and about a ton of button mushrooms. I decided to make a noodle stir fry. It turned out great, but be aware of the chilli bean sauce as it's super hot.

Spicy pork noodles
Serves 1

100 g ground pork
1 pack (60 g) uncooked egg noodles
4 button mushrooms, cut into 4
1 small red onion, sliced finely
1 spring onion

Sauce:
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
½ tsp chili bean sauce
½ tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
75 ml water

1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet.

2. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Heat a wok, when hot drizzle in some oil and fry the onions for about 30 sek. Stir in the pork and allow to brown (about 5 min). After about 3 min, add the mushrooms to the wok.

4. Stir in the sauce, and add in the noodles. Wok until the noodles are hot.

5. Serve with a drizzle of toasted sesame on top.

Spicy, honey glazed chicken wings

Sometime last year I bought a little Chinese cookbook at the local supermarket. You know, the small cookbooks with no author but published by one of the more well-known publishing houses. I have a whole stack of them, they are so practical when you don't have a lot of time to search for a recipe for a quick and cheap dinner.

The recipe for "Spicy, honey glazed chicken wings" was really easy to make. It didn't call for a lot of preparation, all you have to do in advance is to marinate the chicken wings 1-2 hours before you plan to start cooking dinner. The ingredients are store-cupboard essentials for most of us, and if you don't have them at home they aren't very expensive to get at the store.

So, from me to you, on this Valentine's Day, enjoy!

Spicy honey glazed chicken wings

Adapted from Den lille kokebokserien "Kinesisk"
Serves 4

450 g chicken wings
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Marinade

1 crushed dried red chilli

½-1 tsp chilli powder
½-1 tsp ground ginger
zest from 1 lime

Sauce

2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp clear honey
2 grated garlic cloves
1 tsp sesame seeds

1. Start preparing the chicken wings about 2 hours before you plan to start on dinner. Make the marinade by mixing the crushed dried chilli, the chilli powder, the ginger and the lime zest in a small bowl. Transfer the spices into a large ziploc bag, add the chicken wings. Lock the bag and massage to mix the spices with the wings. Place in the fridge to marinate.

2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large wok pan. Add the marinated chicken wings and fry for 10-12 minutes until golden and crisp. Be sure to stir continuously to keep the wings from sticking to the bottom of the wok.

3. In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, hoisin sauce, honey, garlic and sesame seeds. Pour the sauce over the chicken wings, stir to coat.

4. Lower the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes until the chicken wings are cooked. Make sure to stir continuously.

These wings are freezer friendly, meaning you can freeze them cooked or raw (+ the spices for the marinade).

Gaeng Chöt- soup

I gave my boyfriend a task yesterday; to find a soup to have for dinner before going out last night. He found a soup called Gaeng Chöt- a pork meatballs and glass noodle soup from Thailand ( I would say it's more Chinese, but who am I to judge?), over at the Norwegian site "Mat Prat" (Food talk).

It's a really easy soup to make and it tastes surprisingly good. I wasn't all too excited, it doesn't look like much at all... but I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't have any ground pork at home but I had plenty of store bought meatballs in the freezer, so... And I really hate the look of glass noodles, they remind me of jellyfish tentacles, so I used Chinese wheat noodles instead.

To make this dish vegetarian friendly, simply substitute the meatballs for tofu.

Gaeng Chöt
(Adapted from matprat.no)
Serves 2

Meatballs:
300 g ground pork
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Soup:
4 dried Chinese mushrooms- shiitake
50 g glass noodles or other kind
5 dl / 2 cups water
½ dl soy sauce
1 spring onion, chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced lengthwise
1 tbsp coriander/cilantro leaves

1. Soak the mushrooms in hot water for at least 20 minutes. Soak the noodles, or cook until almost done.

2. Mix the ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl. Make small meatballs.

3. Bring water and soy sauce to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer the meatballs for 5 minutes.

4. Cut the mushrooms in half, add the mushrooms and the noodles to the soup.

5. After a couple of minutes, add in the vegetables, take the pan from the heat. Sprinkle the soup with the coriander soup, and serve.

Homemade Chinese takeout

Buying takeout food, even something as simple as McDonald's or pizza, here in Norway is ridiculously expensive. A medium pizza cost anywhere from $15 and up- that's expensive!

With expensive takeouts in mind me and the bf decided on making our own takeout food at home. We decided on Chinese as we both love it.

Earlier that week we had talked about different chores around the house and I had half-heartedly complained that I always do all the cooking. Don't get me wrong, I love cooking (as well you know) but sometimes a little help goes a long way. He then said, and I have to agree that he was on to something, that whenever he tries to help I always watch him like a hawk and end up taking over because he's not doing whatever it is that he's doing the way I want it to be done... (It's not my fault that my way is the right way!!)

Anyways, I decided on handing over the responsibility for an ENTIRE dish, and lo and behold, he did brilliantly. Ok, I tried to "guide" him a few times when I sensed disaster was near, but he just told me to "shoosh and mind my own business". I was very proud of him for making an entire dish on his own, read: he chopped a lot of prawns and onions and spread them on top of bread....! But he was very proud of himself and who am I to take that pride away from him?!

Here's what he made

Sesame prawn toasts
Serves 4 as part of a meal

225 g peeled, de-veined and chopped tiger prawns
1 spring onion/scallion, chopped
½ tsp salt
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch/potato starch
1 egg white, lightly beaten
3 thin slices bread, crust removed
4 tbsp sesame seeds
vegetable oil for deep frying


In a bowl, combine prawns, spring onion/scallion, salt, soy sauce, corn/potato starch and egg white.

Spread the mixture on the slices of bread, sprinkle with sesame seeds and press down hard to ensure the topping doesn't fall off when deep frying.

Deep fry for 2-3 minutes, turning half way through, until golden brown and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper. Eat!

My contribution to the Chinese takeout was, apart from being food"gestapo"incarnate, deep fried king/tiger prawns.

Here's the recipe:

Deep fried king/tiger prawns
Serves 4 as part of a meal

16 king/tiger prawns
oil for deep frying
200 g all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten
2½ dl milk
1 pinch chili powder

Peel and de-vein the prawns, but keep the tail intact.

In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the batter. Pour in the wet ingredients and stir until you have a thick batter.

Heat the oil in a wok. Hold the prawn by the tail and dip into the batter. Carefully drop each batter coated prawn into the hot oil. Deep fry for about 3 minutes, take out and drain on kitchen paper. Eat!

Spring rolls in September

It was Saturday, the sun was shining from a clear blue sky, and where was I? Inside, in front of the TV, watching Ching's Kitchen with Ching-He Huang on BBC Lifestyle. And did they only show one episode? No. Two? No. Three? No. The truth is they showed a whopping 8 episodes, from 1-4:30 pm.
Needless to say, I am a big fan of Ching. She makes Asian food easy.

Both me and the bf were inspired by her recipe for spring rolls and decided on making it for dinner. Our previous plan had been to make what we had had the day before, which was pan-fried pork fillets with herb-crusted oven roast potatoes and Bearnaise sauce.

Here's Ching's recipe for spring rolls

Spring rolls
Makes 6-8 large spring rolls

2 small chicken breasts, or equivalent amount of other meat
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese five spice
4 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes and drained
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 cm ginger piece, grated
75 g bean sprouts
2 large spring onions, or 5 cm leek, finely sliced
1 medium carrot, coarsely grated
1 tbsp oyster sauce
12-16 spring roll wrappers
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp water
750 ml vegetable oil, for deep frying

1. Chop the chicken or other meat into very small pieces, almost minced-looking. Heat the 1 tbsp oil in a wok, or frying pan. Stir-fry the chicken for 2-3 minutes, stirring all the time. Season with soy sauce and five spice powder. Take the chicken off the heat, and allow to cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2. Coarsely chop the mushrooms. In a large bowl, combine the vegetables. Add the cooled chicken and the oyster sauce, stir well to combine.

3. Place two spring roll wrappers on top of each other. Place 1-2 tbsp of the filling in the center of the sheet. Mix water and cornflour. Dip the tip of your finger into the mixture, and brush the edges of the wrapper. The mixture will act like a glue, stopping the rolls from opening when you deep fry them. Fold in the corners, then roll it up into a cigar-looking thing.

4. Heat the oil in a wok, or deep saucepan. DO NOT HAVE THE KITCHEN FAN ON as if the oil catches fire, the fire will get sucked into the fan!! Deep fry the spring rolls until golden brown, 3-5 minutes. Drain on some kitchen roll paper. Serve with sweet chili dipping sauce.

På svenska
Vårrullar

Chilli beancurd and mixed oriental mushroom stir fry

Before I write anything else, allow me to issue a WARNING!! This dish is extremely spicy. My boyfriend almost self-combusted!

I don't even know what to write about this dish, it was probably one of the spiciest dishes I have ever cooked and/or tasted.

I blame the spicyness on the chili bean sauce; the recipe called for one entire tablespoon of this hellish sauce. I am not kidding you, I will NEVER use 1 whole tbsp of it ever again. NEVER!

Let's just get to the recipe, because the dish was really tasty, except for the feeling of being on the verge of bursting into flames.

Chili beancurd and mixed oriental mushroom stir fry
Serves 4
Ching He Huang

1 tablespoon groundnut oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 medium red chili, deseeded and chopped
100g oyster mushrooms, halved if large
100g enoki mushrooms, separated into small
bunches
100g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
400g fresh tofu (beancurd), cut into 2cm cubes
50ml vegetable stock
1 tablespoon chili bean sauce DO NOT USE 1 TBSP! I'd use 1 tsp, maybe less!
dash of light soy sauce
2 spring onions, sliced diagonally
handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped

Heat the wok over a high heat and add the groundnut oil. Add the garlic, ginger
and chillies and stir fry for a few seconds.

Add the mushrooms and stir fry for less than one minute. Add the tofu and
carefully stir well.

Pour in the vegetable stock then add the chili bean sauce and light soy sauce
and cook for less than 1 minute. Add the sliced spring onions and coriander and
serve immediately.

I substituted the mushrooms in the recipe for button mushrooms and dried Chinese mushrooms, and the beancurd for chicken cut into bite size pieces.

Dim Sum

Dim sums are one of my favorite Chinese dishes. I tried dim sums for the first time when my Chinese friends Ruby, Vivi and Shirly made them for me one night at uni. Up until then I had always thought they looked kind of slimy. But watching my three Chinese friends make them from scratch with such speed and dedication, impressed me to the point where I had to try them for myself + they looked pretty darn tasty. And they were tasty, oh so tasty! The girls served the dim sums with a dipping sauce, and three sides (spicy cucumber salad, fried shredded potato, and steamed egg rolls filled with chicken).

Dim Sum
Makes lots

Dough:
4,5 dl all-purpose flour
1,5-2 dl cold water

Put the flour in a bowl. Mix in a little water at a time until you have a smooth dough that does not stick to your fingers or the side of the bowl. Cover with a damp towel, and set to rest in the fridge. You can also use ready made store bought wonton wrappers, - very convenient!

Filling:
300-350 g minced meat, chicken, pork or beef
1/5 (about 10 cm) leek, chopped
1 cm root ginger, finely chopped or grated
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
2 cm red chili, de-seeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame seed oil
salt & pepper

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

Dipping sauce:
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp vinegar, rice- or white wine-
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
2 cm leek, chopped
1 cm root ginger, chopped
a pinch of sugar

Mix all the ingredients in a small serving bowl.

Making the dim sums:
Take the dough from the fridge. Kneed it for 5 minutes. Cut the dough in two, and cut then each
half in half. Take one piece of dough, set the other three pieces aside under the damp towel. Using a rolling pin, roll the piece of dough into a large, very thin, square. Using a mold, I made a mold (9x9 cm) from a piece of paper, and used a glass jar Ø 9 cm, cut out squares and circles. Put 1 tsp of the filling in the center of each sheet. Fold the dim sums like this 1) or 2).

Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Drop in 1/4 of the dim sums into the water. When the dim sums float to the surface, cook for another 5 minutes. Take one out of the water, cut in half to check that the meat is cooked. Take cooked dim sums out, and tip in the next load, until all the dim sums are cooked.

NOW - EAT!