Celebrating Chinese New Year
A couple of delicious recipes that are worth trying. If you can perfect the velveting technique described in the chicken recipe then you are well on your way to creating healthy chinese dishes at home. Ken Hom has even said that he will do it in water rather than oil to make the dish better for you.
Cantonese Beef
12 oz rump steak
2 slices ginger
2 spring onions
1 tbsp Chinese wine or dry sherry
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp water
4 tbsp tomato ketchup
4 tbsp Worcester sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp water
Method
1. Slice the rump steak across the grain into long strips (they should be no thicker than a £1.00 coin!!)
2. Peel the ginger and dice finely
3. Split the spring onions down the middle lengthways and chop finely
4. Put the dry sherry, soy sauce and water in a bowl and add the beef, ginger and spring onions. Marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes but can be done the day before.
5. In a separate bowl mix together the tomato ketchup, Worcester sauce and sugar and put to one side till later
6. Mix the cornflour with the water and put aside
7. Drain the marinated beef but keep the marinating liquid
8. Heat a few tbsps vegetable oil in a wok and stir fry the beef till it changes colour
9. Add the marinating liquid, the ketchup mix and the cornflour mix to the beef and stir till the sauce thickens. This should only take 5-7 minutes
Chicken stir fry
2 chicken breasts
1 egg white
1 tbsp cornflour
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1 slice ginger
8 oz vegetables – eg. Carrot batons, mangetout, baby sweetcorn, red peppers
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp dry sherry
5 tbsp chicken stock
1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp water
Method
1. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces (that means pieces you can put in your mouth in one bite!)
2. Mix the egg white and cornflour together and put the chicken in and stir well to coat
3. Slice the onion, garlic, ginger
4. Slice the vegetables into even sized pieces depending on choice of vegetables
5. Half fill a pan with water and put onto boil and whilst it is at a rolling boil add the chicken a few pieces at a time (how many pieces depends on how big your pan is on how many will fit in and cook quickly) for 2-3 minutes then take out and drain whilst you cook the rest. Make sure the water is at a rolling boil in between adding more pieces. (This is called velveting and is normally done cooked in oil but is healthier this way)
6. In a wok heat a few tbsp vegetable oil and add the onion and stir for a couple of minutes then add the ginger and garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds then add the vegetables and stir fry for a few minutes
7. Add the cooked chicken and stir then add the soy sauce, sherry and chicken stock and simmer for a few minutes.
8. Add the cornflour mix and stir till thickened