Occasionally I would go back to my childhood time and think about how we used to have this kind of common home cooking dishes.
1. this is my father's favourite steamed spare rib with garlic/black bean. The key to this one is to get the black bean from Yang Jiang (陽江) a town in Canton Province, as they used some dried ginger to put in the jar of the black beans; so it has a very nice ginger aroma but not hot. Supposed this one is best with little fresh sliced chili. So another key point is not to use salt in it as the black bean is already very salty. Someone would smash the black bean but I'd rather massage the whole beans together with the other ingredients and it has a better aroma. Then the soy sauce/sugar is just to preference and some oyster sauce is recommended. One more important thing is sesame oil.
2. OK, this time I tried the original stir fried dish - no sauce left on the plate. So I need to spin out the excessive water left on the sliced veggie. Then remember to massage well the sliced beef (don't let the butcher slice the beef, as you need to rinse the sliced beef which is a big discount to the beef original taste and yet it's too watery). So again no salt on marinating the beef. Put sugar and soy sauce and slight touch of oyster sauce, then put some cornstarch, followed by oil to seal it. Heat the wok and quickly stir fry the beef to 80% done at medium high heat. Then put the Kai Lan with very little salt, more sugar (as it would balance the dry taste of Kai Lan) and some wine altogether. Turn to high heat and stir fry it quickly. Then cover it for a minute and let the Kai Lan soften a bit, but not too soft. Then put the beef back and quickly stir fry it and cover it for about 20 seconds or until you think it's done. So as you have some cornstarch in marinating the beef, you don't need to make a sauce to thicken it.
3 comments:
The first dish is my favorite. The second dish is Chris.
I have to admit your home cooking really are better than the top restaurant at MO. Even though you said your dish has no garnish, no color, no taste but it still looks better than those at MO(top-of-the-line hotel restaurant).
Thanks SS. That's why I didn't quote those 1/2 teaspoon of this and 1/3 teaspoon of that. When someone knows certain cooking technique, the taste should be up to each one's preference. Actually these 2 dishes were to show the original Cantonese steamed and stir fried dishes. Steamed one is to seal the food even after steaming. Stir fried one is not to have any sauce/oil left on the plate.
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