I hadn’t made a Chinese supper in a long while so decided tonight was the night to change that! I had some chicken breast I bought yesterday (on sale at Whole Foods – $5.99/lb vs $7.99/lb), fresh bok choy, and tofu (soft/medium) on hand.
The menu was going to be a simple bean curd stir fry, steamed chicken with ginger, and stir fried bok choy. I based my first two dishes on my Aunt#3′s cookbooks (The Wok Cookbook and Yan-Kit’s Classic Chinese Cookbook) with the third based on a recipe from Grace Young’s The Breath of a Wok.
Bean Curd in a Simple Sauce
14oz Bean Curd (soft/medium or you can use firm)
2 tbsp canola oil
2 green onion, cut into small rounds, white and green parts separated
Sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce (or dark soy sauce)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp chinese cooking wine
In a pot, cover bean curd in hot water and steep for 10-15 minutes.
Drain and cut into 32 cubes – divide bean curd into 4 pieces. Take each piece and divide into 4 then halve the thickness of each piece. Or in my case, I was lazy and cut the bean curd into 5 strips and then crosswise into 4 resulting in these long thin pieces. Good enough for me. Drain the tofu by putting on a paper towel or put in a sieve.
While the tofu steeps, mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
Heat wok over high heat and swirl in oil. Add the white onion (if you are lazy add green and white parts) and stir. Add the tofu and stir-fry for a minute or two being careful not to break the tofu.
Add the sauce mixture.
Continue stir-frying until tofu takes on color. Lower the heat and cover for a minute.
Add green onion (if you haven’t used already used all the onion at this point) and carefully remove to a dish.
Steamed Chicken Breast with Ginger
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2″ wide pieces
5-6 thin slices of ginger, peeled
2 green onions, cut into 1″ sections
Marinade
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
4-6 turns white pepper
2 tsp Chinese cooking wine
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp sesame oil
Marinade chicken in a bowl. Add all ingredients and mix to coat evenly. Let stand for 15 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a heatproof dish and spread into a single layer (if possible). Scatter the ginger and green onions on top.
Steam in a wok (or pot large enough to hold the dish) for about 8 minutes and serve.
Stir-fried Bok Choy
4-5 bok choy, cut into stalks and washed
1/4 C chicken broth
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp canola oil
2-3 thin slices ginger (I added 4-5 but think 2-3 is actually enough)
In a small bowl combine broth (I used homemade chicken stock), wine, salt, sugar and oil.
Heat wok over high heat. Swirl in oil and add ginger slices.
Add the bok choy stalks.
Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes until the leaves are just limp and leaves bright green.
Add the broth mixture.
Quickly stir-fry for another minute and then remove to a dish.
Dinner is served!
