Taste Hong Kong » Recipes

Steamed Frozen Oysters with Fermented Black Beans

TasteHongKong — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:51:47 +0000

Oysters which are good to be eaten raw here, with least exceptions, are delivered to us by air un-shucked. To pay for their rides on the jets, therefore they are often pricey. At supermarkets, usually you shall expect a freshly shucked oyster to cost more than $30 in Hong Kong dollars (~USD4).

Honestly, I would not allow and would not forgive myself to eat any of those fresh oysters cooked. What you see in the picture here are all frozen ones, altogether costing me less than HKD40. But if you have any leftovers from your batch of fresh oysters that can’t be finished in one meal, do consider to give this a try.

Truth is, I find these frozen guys perfect for making this dish (in Chinese 豉汁蒸生蠔) as they still come with half-shells, each of which so resembles a custom-made dish that the oysters are bathed well with other condiments when being steamed. And I don’t even need to add much seasonings like sugar, or wine, to flavor the oysters.
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Hand-Pulled Chicken with Cucumber

TasteHongKong — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:38:40 +0000

This hand-pulled chicken (in Chinese 手撕雞) is again a cold dish following the last one. Excuse me, it has been constantly over 30 degree C here.

The Chinese way of getting a chicken (or part of it) cooked for this dish is mostly done by boiling, poaching or steaming. I use only chicken drumsticks and choose to steam them together with julienned spring onion and ginger for more flavors. And, with a simple coating over the chicken drumsticks before steaming, I am happy that the meat is juicy and tender after cooked.

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Tofu with Century Egg and Spring Onions

TasteHongKong — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:35:40 +0000

Although I have not timed how long I have to stay in my kitchen for preparing this whole dish, it must not be longer than 10 or 15 minutes. I’m not a fast cook, just to say that it is quick to prepare. And, making this dish is flexible, tofu may be sliced in the way you like; century egg may either be diced or mashed. Then, just assemble the chopped century egg with seasonings and top the silken tofu with green onions after chilled. That’s it!(...)
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Hot and Sour Potato Shreds

TasteHongKong — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:10:34 +0000

These pale-looking, spaghetti-like thin strips are shreds from a potato, may I assure you. I first encountered them when visiting Qxingdao in China, a city far away from Sichuan where this dish was originated. Then, I keep seeing this hot and sour potato shreds (written as 醋溜土豆絲 in Chinese and pronounced as Cu Liu Tu Dou Si in Mandarin) from Chinese cook books and Chinese food blogs. There are variations though, they all tend to include peppercorns and dried red chilies as the key ingredients .

To me, potato is not at all any alien food, but still I found it hard to associate these shreds with the potato family in my very first bite. I excused myself for too getting used to eat deep fried and baked potatoes, which are either crispy or fluffy. To describe these funny thin strips, I would say, they are more or less like cuts from a jicama, something crunchy indeed.
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Shrimps in Tomato Soup – Thai’s Tom Yam Style

TasteHongKong — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:44:33 +0000

I love Thai’s tom yam goong aka hot and sour soup with shrimps or prawns. While inspired by Thai’s recipes for making the soup, I also love using shells of shrimps and tomatoes instead of beef, pork or chicken bones for preparing the stock. Hope it causes no offense if I still call this a tom yam goong, but a meatless version cooked with shrimps’ shells apart from the traditional lemon grass, lemon leaves, lime juice, galangal …
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Moo Shu Pork – with Cloud Ears and Golden Needle Vegetables

TasteHongKong — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:52:16 +0000

To honor the name of Moo Shu Pork (written as 木須肉 in Chinese), I understand that I have to make one of its ingredients, the scrambled egg, to look as if they are patches of small flowers resembling osmanthus.

I experiment. With the help of an electric mixer than a pair of chopsticks, I beat an egg almost into a foam. As the foamy egg is poured into the well-heated wok and oil, it puffs quickly which then is easily mashed into small patches. But I believe this is not what the Chinese chefs will usually do. On TV, I always see them cooking this fake osmanthus by frying lightly beaten eggs in a wok containing a larger amount of oil over a volcano-like gas stove. So mine is more a tweak than is the classical way of cooking this dish.

And why is the dish named Mo Shu? (...)
Read the rest of Moo Shu Pork – with Cloud Ears and Golden Needle Vegetables (335 words)

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