I saved this unabashedley Chinese-American dish for the final post in my week of Chinese take-out meals at home because, well . . . it’s pretty damn sweet, like sweet enough to be a dessert. But don’t fear, the savory addition of prawns, mayonnaise and a nice sprinkling of salt make it worthy of your dinner plate.

It only dawned on me when I was making it that this particular dish may not be everyone’s favorite — certainly not in the same way chow mein tends to be. The inclusion of sweetened condensed milk and mayo might sound a bit off-putting, but if you’ve ever enjoyed fried calamari or shrimp dipped in a pleasantly sweet, thick sauce, then you’ll understand the appeal. When the crispy prawns and crunchy walnuts are tossed in the sweet, creamy sauce it creates a succulent combination of textures and flavors – a perfect compliment to salty pot stickers and broccoli beef.

HONEY WALNUT SHRIMP

Adapted from Bee Yinn Low’s, Rasa Malaysia

Sure, there is a bit of frying involved in this recipe and making the walnut glaze can be a bit scary if you’ve never made caramel before, but in the end, this is a fairly simple dish to prepare and one that comes together quite quickly once all your prep work is out of the way.  Make sure the shrimp are well-coated in corn starch before frying.  If your oil is between 350°-375° when you throw the shrimp in they should end up cooking quickly, forming a crispy golden crust while remaining juicy throughout.  I recommend making this dish with Kewpie mayonnaise if you have it for its savory flavor and rich texture. If you don’t have any on hand, don’t worry, Best Food’s or Hellman’s will produce just as delicious results.  Toss the hot shrimp in the room temperature sauce and serve immediately — they are best within a few minutes of cooking.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup walnut halves
• Pinch of Kosher salt
• 1 pound 31/40 count shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 egg white, very lightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise (preferably Kewpie brand)
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 tablespoon condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• Canola, grapeseed, peanut or vegetable oil for frying
• Leaf lettuce for garnish

METHOD:

1. Make the candied walnuts: Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small sauce pan set over medium-high heat.  Stir frequently, until sugar is dissolved and mixture turns to a golden brown and thickens.  Add the walnuts and a pinch of kosher salt and stir until coated in a thin caramel glaze, about 1 to 2 minutes.  With a slotted spoon, transfer the walnut halves to a parchment lined baking sheet until cool enough to handle.
2. Prepare the Shrimp: Pat the shrimp dry with paper towels and place them in a medium bowl along with the egg white.  Mix gently until the shrimp are well coated.
3. Make the sauce: In a small bowl, whisk to combine the mayonnaise, honey and condensed milk, lemon juice and another pinch of kosher salt until thoroughly incorporated. Set aside.
4. Fry the Shrimp: Pour oil into a large, heavy-bottomed pot to a depth of at least 1 1/2 inches and heat over medium-high heat until a candy thermometer reaches a temperature of 350°.  Place the corn starch in a shallow bowl (a pie plate works well for this) and add in the shrimp, gently tossing until each one is thoroughly coated. Shake off any excess corn starch and fry the shrimp (in batches if necessary) until crispy and just golden, about 2-3 minutes.  Using a wire skimmer, transfer the shrimp to a paper towel lined plate and allow excess oil to be absorbed.
5. In a large bowl, combine the shrimp with the mayo/condensed milk mixture and toss gently until they are well-coated.  Transfer the shrimp to a lettuce lined serving bowl or plate and garnish with the candied walnuts. Serve immediately.

Serves 4 when served along with other dishes

My girlfriend (and her entire family) is nuts for broccoli beef.  In fact, she’s down with almost all of the classic Chinese-American dishes — chow mein, wonton soup, cashew chicken, etc.  When I told her I was planning on pulling together a few recipes for Chinese New Year to post on the blog, she insisted that this dish had to be on the menu.  As she put it, “this is the type of Chinese food that everybody loves.”  As hard as it is to admit, I too am fairly partial to a good take-out box of broccoli beef every once in a while.  Sure, I have a few Chinese friends that scoff at the very notion of this dish as a truly “authentic” Chinese dish, but the fact of the matter is, this is good, simple comfort food at its best.

Making good broccoli beef at home is way easier than most people think.  In fact, with a few Asian ingredients that all home chefs should have in their pantry and about a pound of good flank steak, the average home cook can have an outstanding dish on their table in less than a half hour.  Simply follow the principles of good stir-frying technique and you are pretty much guaranteed solid results.  Make this dish. After you see how easy it is to put together you might just reconsider paying $9-$10 for it at a restaurant the next time you get that craving.

BROCCOLI BEEF

Adapted from Jaden Hair’s Recipe at Simply Recipes

Blanching the broccoli before adding it to the pan ensures that each floret will be perfectly cooked in your final dish as it would never have the chance to fully cook given the brief frying period in this recipe.  As with all blanching of vegetables, do so in a very large pot of well-salted water and have your ice bath ready and waiting.  When it comes time to stir-fry the beef, make sure your pan is ripping hot.  Once the beef has been added, don’t touch it.  I like there to be a good amount of caramelization taking place on the meat during this initial sear and you will not be able to induce much browning if you are constantly stirring the contents of the pan.  Considering how drastic the difference in salt levels can be among certain brands of soy sauce and oyster sauce, taste the sauce before adding it to the pan and adjust accordingly.  If you find the sauce a bit too salty, try adding a few pinches of sugar to balance out the flavor.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 pound flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain
• 3/4 pound broccoli florets
• 2 tablespoons peanut, grapeseed or vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

For the Marinade:

• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• Sugar to taste

METHOD:

1. Marinate the Beef: Stir together the beef marinade ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add in the slices of beef and stir until well coated.  Set aside at room temperature for at least 10 minutes.
   
2. Make the Sauce: Stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl until well combined. Set aside.
   
3. Blanch the Broccoli: Cook the broccoli florets in a large pot of well-salted boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes or until crisp-tender.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the broccoli from the boiling water and ‘shock’ the florets immediately in ice water to stop the cooking process.  Drain well, dry and set aside.
   
4. Make the Broccoli Beef: Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet or wok over set over high heat until shimmering and just starting to smoke.  Add the marinated beef to the pan in a single layer, making sure that each pieces lays flat against the bottom for maximum surface contact.  Let the beef fry for 1 minutes without turning or flipping.  Turn the beef over, add the garlic to the pan and allow to fry for another 30 seconds or until no longer pink.
   
5. Stir the contents of the pan and pour in the sauce, add the blanched broccoli and bring to a boil.  Add the dissolved cornstarch liquid and simmer until slightly thickened, about 30 more seconds.  Take the pan off the heat, swirl in the sesame oil and serve immediately.

Serves 4

I absolutely loved eating pot stickers growing up.  In fact, no night of Chinese take-out was complete without them in my house.  And what’s not to like about them?  Crispy on one side, tender on the other and bursting with a flavorful, juicy pork and shrimp filling.  Yup, give me a bowl of soy or some sweet and sour dipping sauce and I was good.  Then…I went away to college and simply lost all interest in these delicious dumplings.

You see, there is a brand of frozen pot stickers on the market that seems to be stocked in every grocery store on the planet. It’s highly likey that you might have eaten them yourself at one point in time.  And why wouldn’t you have?  They aren’t half bad when you prepare them correctly.  But it was the constant consumption of these store-bought wonders by my roommates that really put me off them for a while.  Do you know what it’s like to come home from a long day of classes to a house steamed up with the funky stench of industrialized cabbage wontons?  Not good! Sure they were good the first couple of times, but after a while it’s just not the same as the genuine, handmade article.

So, smack-dab in the heart of Chinese New Year, I present to you a killer recipe from this month’s Fine Cooking Magazine for authentic, pork and shrimp jiao zi.  Simple enough to assemble and sheer gold sitting in your freezer, this recipe has single-handedly renewed my interest in these classic Chinese dumplings.  Loaded with a myriad of traditional Chinese ingredients like ginger, rice wine, napa cabbage, scallions and sesame oil, these pot stickers are leagues above your average supermarket variety and far better than the restaurant versions I’ve had in recent years. Serve them with the accompanying recipe for scallion-soy dipping sauce and you have a knockout appetizer.

POT STICKERS

Adapted from Thy Tran’s recipe in Fine Cooking Magazine

Outside of filling and shaping the dumplings, this recipe is pretty damn easy and well worth the effort considering how perfectly the finished dumplings freeze for future cooking.  If you have an Asian market in your town, go there and try to purchase coarsely ground, fatty pork for dumplings with superior juiciness and texture.  Thy’s original recipe calls for you to make your own wrappers and I am certain that such an endevor would be well worth the effort.  However, this recipe already takes a bit of time to put together, so do what I did and go grab yourself some pre-made, gyoza or pot sticker wrappers at the market.  Look for wrapper thin — you want your pot stickers to be delicate, not chewy.  If you decide you want to freeze some of the finished dumplings, place them on a cookie sheet in an even layer and freeze them overnight.  When you want to cook them again, simply take them out and proceed with the same cooking method, adding 3-4 minutes onto the total cooking time.  I didn’t believe it myself, but the come out perfectly. Trust me.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD:

1. Make the Filling: In a medium bowl, toss the cabbage with 2 teaspoons salt and set aside for 30 minutes to shed moisture. Wring out in a clean kitchen towel to extract as much liquid as possible.
2. In a large bowl, combine the cabbage with the pork, shrimp, scallions, garlic, Shaoxing, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir until well mixed. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
3. Fill the Dumplings: Spoon 1 to 2 teaspoons of the filling onto a dough wrapper, fold it in half, and make your first pinch at the center of the curved edge and then pleat toward the center on both sides to create a rounded belly. This wider shape allows the dumplings to sit upright in the pan and form a flat surface for browning.
4. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling. As you work, arrange the filled dumplings in a single layer without touching on large plates, so they don’t stick together.
5. Pan-Fry the Dumplings: Heat 2 Tbs. vegetable oil in a heavy-duty 10- or 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Working quickly and in batches if necessary (adding more oil for the second batch if needed), arrange the dumplings belly side down in concentric circles starting from the outer edge. Cook until golden brown on the bottom, 1 to 2 minutes.
6. Pour in about 1/2 cup water or enough to come about a third of the way up the sides of the dumplings, bring to a boil, cover, and cook until all of the water has been absorbed, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the lid, reduce the heat to medium, and continue cooking just until the dumplings are dry and crisp on the bottom, 1 to 2 minutes. Loosen the dumplings from the pan with a spatula.
7. Invert the pan over a plate to flip the dumplings, browned side up, onto the plate (or transfer with a spatula). Serve immediately with your choice of dipping sauce.

Makes 36 Dumplings

SCALLION-SOY DIPPING SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon hot chile oil or toasted Asian sesame oil
• 1 small scallion, thinly sliced

METHOD:

1. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and then stir in the oil and scallion.

To be completely honest, I didn’t even realize these crispy bites were referred to as crab rangoon until recently.  Growing up, these crab and cream cheese filled wontons were known as crab cheese puffs at my family’s favorite Chinese take-out spot.  I’m pretty sure those guys were skimping on the crab because all I can remember is chomping down into a warm glob of scallion-flecked cream cheese.  Don’t get me wrong, dipped into hot Chinese mustard and highlighter-red sweet and sour sauce, I wasn’t complaining.  Today, wiser and bit more sophisticated, I need that crab.

It’s dungeness crab season here in the Bay Area, and while there might be better dishes out there that highlight the sweet, succulent flesh of these delicious creatures, crab rangoon seems like a perfectly festive nibble to serve as an hors d’oeuvre at any last minute holiday parties.  My version features a bunch of thinly sliced green onions, Worcestershire sauce for added savory depth and just a bit of grated ginger and lemon juice to cut through the richness of the cream cheese.

CRAB RANGOON WITH SWEET AND SOUR DIPPING SAUCE

There really isn’t much to putting together this recipe.  Filling and sealing the wontons can be tricky at first, but after you complete a few of them you’ll get in a groove and bang out the rest in no time.  If you’re having any difficulty sealing the wrapper around the filling, start out by using less filling until you get the hang of the process.  Make sure to eliminate as many air bubbles as possible when sealing the wontons as they can result in holes once they hit the hot oil.  The wontons will have the propensity to float to the surface when frying, so stand guard and keep them submerged with a wire spider/skimmer and flip them periodically to ensure even browning.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 pound fresh crab meat, picked over for any shell fragments
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
  
• 1-2 green onions, sliced paper thin
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
  
• 24 store-bought wonton skins
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 egg yolk
• Oil for frying
  

METHOD:

1. In a large bowl, combine the fresh crab meat with the cream cheese.  Fold in the remaining ingredients up to the wonton wrappers. Taste for seasoning and set aside.
   
2. Create the wonton sealing mixture by dissolving the cornstarch in the 2 tablespoons of water.  Add the egg yolk and stir until well-incorporated and smooth.  Set sealing mixture aside.
   
3. Working one wonton at a time, place a dough wrapper on a work surface and fill it with 1 heaping teaspoon of the crab filling.  Dip your finger in the egg/cornstarch sealing mixture and lightly paint the border of the wonton wrapper.  Fold over the edges of the wrapper to create a triangle while encasing the crab filling, pressing to seal the edges with your fingertips.  Using the back of a fork, ensure that the wontons are sealed by gently crimping the borders to create a fluted edge.  Repeat with remaining wontons.
4. Preheat oven to 200°.  Heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot until it reaches the temperature of 350°.  Working in batches, fry the wontons until crispy and golden brown, about 3-4 minutes.  Drain the wontons on paper towels and keep them warm in the oven while you continue frying the remaining batches.  Serve warm with sweet and sour dipping sauce and/or hot Chinese mustard.
   

Makes 24 wontons

SWEET AND SOUR DIPPING SAUCE

Adapted from Irene Kuo’s, The Key to Chinese Cooking

Much more complex in terms of flavor and not quite as sweet as the translucent, neon-red version served in most Chinese restaurants, this sweet and sour sauce is a terrific compliment to homemade crab rangoon.  Batter and fry up some pork, chop some fresh pineapple and toss in a few tablespoons of sauce for a homemade version of sweet and sour pork.  If the sauce isn’t sweet enough for your tastes, whisk in the optional honey while the sauce is still warm.

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
  
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 4 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
  
• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry or Chinese rice wine
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
  
• 1 large clove garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 3 tablespoons of water
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon honey (optional)
  

METHOD:

1. Combine the sugar, salt, vinegar, soy, sherry, and ketchup in a bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved.  In a separate small bowl, combine the cornstarch/water mixture with the sesame oil and set aside.
2. Heat the peanut or vegetable oil in a medium saucepan set over moderate heat until hot.  Add in the garlic and stir, pressing on the clove until aromatic and lightly browned.
3. Pour in the sauce slowly and stir with the back of a wooden spoon until the liquid comes to a boil.  Turn the heat down to low and add in the cornstarch mixture, stirring until sauce begins to thicken.  Add in the water slowly, stirring until the sauce is smooth and bubbly.  Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.  The sauce can be made in advance as it holds well in the refrigerator for many days and can be frozen for weeks without losing flavor.

Makes about 2 cups

Before I even knew what dim sum was, I was a fan of the pork bun.  Each week, after visiting clients near Clement Street in San Francisco, my Dad would arrive home with a bright pink box, packed tightly with a half a dozen of these delicious stuffed buns.  Salty, sweet and intensely savory, these hand-held delights quickly became a favorite snack of mine growing up; pop one in the microwave for about a minute, and I was ready to go.

These days, I treat pork buns with a bit more reverence, carefully wrapping them in foil before placing them in a warm toaster-oven so as not to disturb their delicate, fluffy texture.  As with most of the food I love, I’m a bit fanatical when it comes to finding the best specimen available, and living in the Bay Area, there are plenty of options to choose from.  That being said, there is something especially gratifying about baking and eating your own.  The best part? Using all-natural pork and skipping the red dye #40.

BAKED BARBECUE PORK BUNS

Adapted from The Dim Sum Book: Classic Recipes from the Chinese Teahouse, Eileen Yin-Fei Lo

This is a fairly labor intensive recipe which is best made over the course of a couple of days.  If you can, roast the pork and make the filling one day, then prepare the dough and bake the buns the next.  You won’t need all of the char siu pork for the bun filling, but it keeps for a month in the freezer and also makes for a delicious filling in Vietnamese bahn mi sandwiches.  Assembling the buns can be tricky and is definitely a task that requires patience and a bit of practice for good looking results.  Author Eileen Yin-Fei Lo recommends starting out by only filling the buns with 1 teaspoon of the pork mixture until you have the stuffing and pinching technique down.

CHAR SIU PORK

Ingredients:

• 2 – 2 1/2 pounds lean pork butt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon blended whiskey
• 1 1/2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 small cake, wet preserved bean curd from a jar
  
• 1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder

Method:

1. Cut the pork into 1-inch thick strips.  Using a small knife, pierce the meat repeatedly at 1/2-inch intervals to help tenderize it.
2. Combine all of the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to dissolve the bean curd and honey.  Place sliced and tenderized pork into a large, resealable plastic bag and pour the mixture over the top.  Seal the bag and massage the marinade into the meat, making sure to coat each piece well.  Refrigerate the pork for at least 4 hours, or as long as overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to broil.  Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil and place the pork, along with it’s marinade, in a single layer along the bottom.
4. Place the roasting pan on the center rack of the oven and roast for 30 to 50 minutes, turning and basting the meat every 5 minutes, until fully cooked.  If the sauce begins to dry out, add water to the pan.  To check for doneness, place an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of one of the pieces of pork.  It should register 160°.
5. Allow the meat to cool and refrigerate it until you are ready to use it.

BUN FILLING:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup onion, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cup char siu pork , cut into 1/2 inch, thinly sliced pieces
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 3 teaspoons white wine
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 3 teaspoons dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoons ketchup
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• Pinch of white pepper
• 4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 5 ounces chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method:

1. In a small bowl, whisk to combine the oyster sauce, dark soy, ketchup, sugar, white pepper, cornstarch and chicken stock.  Set aside.
2. Heat a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat for 30-4o seconds.  Add peanut oil and heat until shimmering and just beginning to smoke slightly.  Add onions, turn the heat to low and cook until the onions are lightly browned, about 8 minutes.
3. Add the sliced pork, raise the heat to high and stir-fry to combine with the onions.  Add white wine to deglaze the pan and mix well.
4. Lower the heat again and add the reserved sauce mixture from the bowl.  Stir until the entire mixture thickens and turns a dark shade of brown, about 5 minutes.  Add sesame oil and mix well.
5. Remove the pork mixture from the skillet and spread on a large plate to allow the mixture to quickly come to room temperature.  Refrigerate uncovered for 4 hours.

BUN DOUGH:

Ingredients:

• 1 package dry yeast
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup hot water (115°)
• 2 cups high-gluten bread flour
• 1/2 egg, beaten
• 5 tablespoons lard or vegetable shortening

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water.  Place the bowl in a warm place to allow the yeast to activate, about 30-60 minutes. A brownish foam will have formed on top.
2. Add the flour, egg and lard/shortening and stir continuously with your hand until a dough mass begins to form.
3. Begin to gather the dough in the bowl, and when the mixture becomes cohesive, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface for kneading.
4. Knead the dough for about 15 minutes, picking it up with a scraper and sprinkling the surface with more flour if it begins to stick.
5. When the dough is smooth and elastic, place it in a large mixing bowl and cover with a lightly dampened towel.  Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until it has tripled in size, about 2-3 hours.

ASSEMBLE AND BAKE THE BUNS:

1. Cut 12 squares of parchment paper, 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches.
2. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead several times.  Roll it out with your hands into a roll about 12 inches long.  Using a knife or a scraper, divide the dough into 12 1-inch pieces.  Work with one piece at a time, keeping the others under a damp kitchen towel.
3. Roll each piece of dough into a ball, then, with fingers, press on the center of the sphere to create a dome and a well.
4. Place 2 teaspoons of filling into the well, hold the bun in one hand, and, with the other, turn the bun while gathering the edges and pinching it closed.  Press firmly to seal.
5. Place the completed bun, sealed-end-down on a square of parchment paper.  Repeat for the other buns.
6. Place all of the completed buns on a cookie sheet at least 2 inches apart to allow for expansion.  Put the buns in a warm place to allow to rise for another 1 hour.
7. Preheat the oven to 350°.  Using a spray bottle, spray each bun lightly with warm water and then brush each with beaten egg.
8. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, turning the pan around halfway through baking to promote even browning.  When the buns are golden brown, remove them from the oven and serve immediately. 
   

The buns can be frozen after baking. To reheat, defrost and bring to room temperature.  Cover with foil and place in a 350° oven for 10 15 minutes or until hot.

Makes 12 buns