Chinese Cooking Class 101

We were invited to a coworker's house last night to be shown by her mom how to cook some of our favorite Chinese dishes. We have learned a few things about food since coming to China. One, they put ginger pretty much in everything. Two, they always use a wok to cook and a "cleaver" to cut. Side note- you have to wait for the wok to heat (it will start to steam) before you add the oil. And, three, there is no such thing as measuring. Therefore, while you are reading my recipes conjured up from last night's lesson please know that I (mostly) have no clue about how much of something was used.

Our lessons started with one of our most favorites... green beans.

Ingredients:
Ginger, Capsicum* (numb balls), Oil, Beans, Ya Cai*, Soy Sauce, Garlic (4 cloves)

Prep Work:
Slice ginger, chop garlic (they smash the garlic with the cleaver and then chop), wash and break green beans into three pieces

Directions:
1- Fry ginger, capsicum, and beans until the green beans turn to a dark green
2- Add ya cai
3- Pour in some water
4- Cover wok with lid
((If the beans are still hard after boiling in the water, add more water and wait for it to evaporate))
5- Once the beans are soft, add garlic and soy sauce

*Capsicum (aka numb balls) are little black balls that will numb your tongue if you bite into them- do not add many to your dish.
*Ya Cai is pretty much impossible for me to explain so here is a link

Next up was Chinese egg and tomato (Which may be my all time fave)

Ingredients:
Tomato (3), egg (4), leeks, soy sauce, sugar (1T), salt (1t)

Prep work:
Slice tomatoes, beat eggs, chop leeks

Directions:
1- Add 2x amount of oil
2- Fry eggs
3- Add tomato
4- Once there is water from the tomato- add soy sauce, sugar, salt, and leeks

Dish three was what I will call Popeye's Spinach (no one knew how to say spinach so they explained by saying Popeye and then making muscles)

Ingredients:
Spinach, ginger, salt, MSG*

Prep work:
Wash and chop spinach

Directions:
1- Boil spinach then remove from wok
2- Fry ginger
3- Add spinach, salt, and MSG

*I probably would not use the MSG but that is just me personally...

Our next dish was more China eggs

Ingredients:
Eggs (5), ginger, garlic (3), green onion, sugar (1T), vinegar, soy sauce

Prep work:
Slice ginger and garlic, chop green onion. Mix the ginger, garlic, green onion, sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce in a bowl.

Directions:
1- Fry the eggs (do not beat- fold them until cooked)
2- Add the ginger mix
3- Add more soy sauce if it is not salty enough

We ate a lot of veggies! Our next dish was Lotus and Carrot

Ingredients:
Lotus root, carrot, capsicum, soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar (1T)

Prep work:
Chop the lotus root and carrot

Directions:
1- Fry the capsicum
2- Add lotus and carrot and let fry for a minute
3- Add soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar

The meat dish for the evening was pork ribs

*I am going to write this recipe a little differently because it was kind of confusing and I am just not sure of an easy way to explain it...

Ingredients:
Ribs, garlic, ginger, green onion, capsicum, salt, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar

Directions:
1- Boil ribs in wok
2- Remove from wok and place in pressure cooker with garlic, ginger, green onion, capsicum, water, and salt
3- Let cook for about an hour
4- Remove and throw out all ingredients except for the ribs
In wok:
5- Fry ribs
6- Add soy sauce (2x's around wok) and vinegar (1.5x's around wok)
7- Add 3T of sugar
8- Add 1.5 cups of broth from the pressure cooker
9- Place lid on wok and let boil until the water evaporates
10- Add more vinegar and soy sauce and some chopped green onion

Basically we had a seriously delicious, authentic, Chinese dinner. Malinda and her family were so welcoming and great. I am lucky to know them, for sure! This just goes to show one more example of how loving the Chinese people really are. I am happy that something I get to bring home with me is the knowledge that the people of China are compassionate and warm. I know that Americans tend to think of Chinese people as lacking heart or being cruel. This is definitely a false perspective.

These are obviously people with heart:

Top to bottom: Vivian, Theresa, Āyí*, Bella, Herby, Malinda, brother, me

*Āyí means auntie- this is what Chinese call their friend's mothers, house cleaners, teachers, or basically any woman who deserves respect. It is totally precious and endearing and I wish America used the same word!

This is Malinda's little brother. He was our in house entertainment.

Mandarin lesson:
Chǎo guō 炒锅 (wok)