My Chinese Cooking

Chinese chili and garlic sauce - a staple of my cooking!

I've been posting my Chinese dishes on Facebook, and people have been asking me for the recipes, so here they are, on my blog. I'll copy some of the things I wrote on Facebook - and add the recipes.

When Peter and I moved to California in the 1970s, we bought a set of cookbooks in Chinatown, and set about teaching ourselves to cook Chinese food. The book, Pei Mei's Chinese Cookbook, has proved to be even better than we knew. It was a kind of breakthrough publication, that came out of an early (1960s) Chinese cooking show in Taipei, and is described as being "the first to teach authentic regional style Chinese cooking to the public," demystifying Chinese cooking techniques. Apparently, the three volumes became de rigeur for every bride, and were passed down in families in both Asia and America. The recipes are divided into regions (Shanghai, Canton, Szechuan and Peking), and the variety and quality was good enough to last a lifetime. So in a sense, I was one of the brides for whom this book became seminal!

Forty years later, the dozen or so recipes we liked most and incorporated into our family's routine, have naturally matured, and become refined - to our taste anyway! We've never needed another Chinese cookbook, but we've got one in the family, anyway. This was the "Chinese Japanese Cookbook," the first published in America (1912), written by my grandmother Onoto Watanna (Winnifred Eaton) and her sister, Sara Bosse!  Pioneering work though it may be, it's nowhere near as good as Pei Mei - in fact, I think the sisters begged or stole the recipes from local chop suey joints in New York, and they taste like it!  But it's a fascinating cultural artifact, as procuring ingredients and cooking in the primitive kitchens of the time, was quite a challenge, over a century ago.

And above is the book I wrote about my grandmother. Now you see where I got my interest in Chinese cooking!

At the same time we bought the cookbooks, we bought The Wok, in Chinatown in 1972 for $12. They didn't sell them anywhere else, back then. It has survived and, seasoned to black inside, it has cooked literally thousands of our Chinese dinners over the decades. This dinner is lo mein with barbecued pork and Chinese peapods.

LO MEIN

Here's the recipe.

LO MEIN

Package of Nanka Seimen chow mein noodles (half package is probably enough)

1/2 lb. of pork, chicken, or duck leftovers, already cooked and diced

Chopped fresh ginger and garlic

1 Tb. olive oil

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 Tb. cornstarch mixed into 1/2 cup chicken bouillion

Several baby bok choys, cut up

Chopped scallions

1/4 cup or so Chinese peapods

Sauce:  3 Tbs. soysauce, 1 Tb. wine, 1 tsp sugar, couple Tbs chili and garlic sauce (we use a lot!)

Boil noodles according to package directions, rinse with cold water, set aside in a colander. Prepare cornstarch/chicken bouillion mixture. Prepare sauce.

Stir fry meat, vegetables, ginger and garlic for a few minutes, tossing them in a wok with 1 Tb. olive oil. Add noodles, keep tossing until well mixed. Add sauce, cornstarch mixture, sesame oil, toss and serve.

CHICKEN WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE

This is another great favorite.  I collect old china from thrift stores, and this is served on Coalport Indian Tree plates!

CHICKEN WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE

2 lbs. chicken breasts cut up small (strips or little squares - I get them pre-cut)

Several baby bok choys cut up

Chopped scallions

Chopped fresh garlic, ginger

2 Tbps oyster sauce

1 Tbsp black bean sauce

Marinade:  1 egg white, 2 tsps. cornstarch

Chef's Special Sauce

6 tsps. soy sauce

4 tsps. Worcestershire sauce

2 tsps. cornstarch

2 tsps. wine

Couple tablespoons Chinese chili and garlic sauce

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp sesame oil

Put on rice. Beat 1 egg white and 2 tsps. cornstarch in large bowl. Marinate chicken pieces in it for 15 minutes.

Fry chicken in the wok in a cup of hot oil, stirring often; drain thoroughly on paper towels.

In 1 Tb. olive oil, stir-fry bok choy and scallions with garlic and ginger. Add 2 Tbsps. Oyster Sauce, 1 Tb. black bean sauce. Add chicken, Chef's Special Sauce, stir, and serve over rice.

BEEF WITH OYSTER SAUCE

Another great favorite, the classic Beef with Oyster Sauce. This is served on our home-painted red coffee table with black Chinese characters, and shown with a couple of souvenirs I brought back from Venice. The plate is Royal Crown Derby. 

BEEF WITH OYSTER SAUCE

Ingredients:

2 lb lean beef, cut up in squares.

Bunch of scallions, cut up.

1 tsp chopped fresh ginger.

2 Tb. oil (I use olive) that's been cooked few minutes.

1 cup oil.

Maybe half a cup of Chinese peapods, same amount chopped asparagus or broccoli, or whatever you like - you can use more veg, too.

1 Tb. wine (I use a cheap white)

1 tsp sugar (I use stevia)

Marinade Ingredients:

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp sugar

1 Tb. cornstarch

1 Tb. water.

Seasoning Sauce Ingredients

3 Tb. Oyster Sauce

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. cornstarch

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Put on rice. 1) Boil peapods (and other veggies if desired) for 1 minute. Remove from pot, rinse in cold water, drain.

2) Season and heat in wok, 2 TB oil with 1 TB wine and 1 tsp sugar. Stir-fry the vegetables in this, over medium heat, only 1 minute. Remove pods to plate (with the wine sauce), wipe wok clean.

3) Heat 1 Cup oil. When smoking hot, add beef, fry till it's cooked rare (test by cutting a piece open). Remove beef, drain and pat dry very well on paper towels. Clean wok.

4) Use another 1 Tb oil to stir fry a chopped scallions and chopped ginger 30 seconds or so, then add beef and toss quickly over high heat. Blend in the seasoning sauce. Add pea pods and veggies, stir, serve over rice.

MA PO TO FU

I know lots of people don't like bean curd, but this classic and easy to prepare Ma Po To Fu dish is delicious, with the bean curd taking flavor from the ground pork, garlic, ginger, and spicy chili. The plate, an old Royal Crown Blue Onion, is one of a few of my grandmother Naomi Finkelstein's I have left (Jewish maternal grandmother - other side of the family!)  I remember the plates from earliest childhood and they were what started me on my long and happy blue and white road.

MA PO TO FU

2 boxes medium tofu

Half pound or so ground pork

Chopped fresh garlic and ginger

Chopped scallions

1/4 lb. or so Chinese peapods

1 Tb. (or more) Chinese hot chili and garlic sauce

1 tsp. black pepper

2 Tb. soysauce

2 tsps. cornstarch dissolved in a litttle water

2/3 cup chicken bouillion stock

2 Tb. olive oil

Cut bean curd into small cubes and place in a pot of boiling water. Cook, stirring a few times, until it reboils. Drain, and put bean curd into a colander.

Heat 1 Tb. olive oil and stir fry ground pork. When brown through, add 1 Tb. or more hot chili and garlic paste, add a couple Tbs. soy sauce, and stir. Add chicken bouillon, bean curd, peapods and scallions. Stir.

Cover the wok and cook for 3 minutes, stirring once. Thicken with cornstarch, then removed from heat, add black pepper and serve over rice.

PORK STRINGS WITH MUSHROOMS AND WATER CHESTNUTS

Another very delicious dish, though I admit in the picture above I didn't cut the pork into any strings - it's just "meat for pork stew," as is, from the supermarket!  Here it is in the kitchen, on generic reproduction Spode plates.

PORK STRINGS WITH MUSHROOMS AND WATER CHESTNUTS

1 1/2 lbs. lean pork, cut into strings.

Can thinly sliced water chestnuts

Package of mushrooms, sliced

Fresh chopped garlic and ginger

1 cup olive oil

Marinade:

2 tsp. cornstarch, 2 Tbs. soy sauce

Seasoning Sauce:

2 chopped scallions

1 - 2 Tb. soy sauce

1 Tb. balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. wine

1 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. sesame oil

black pepper

Cut pork in thin string like pieces, marinate with soysauce and cornstarch 15 minutes. Slice mushrooms and drain water chesnuts. Prepare seasoning sauce.

Heat oil hot, fry the pork strings until cooked through, drain well on paper towels.

Heat another 1 Tb. oil, stir fry garlic, ginger, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and pork, in that order. Last of all add the seasoning sauce, stir well and serve over rice.

And here it is on our Chinese red coffee table!

Now, last but not least, here is our piece de resistance!  Yes, I know, won ton soup doesn't sound very exciting. But this home made soup is one of the best dishes I've ever made. Hand made dumplings with ground pork, cilantro, spinach, bok choy, mushrooms, scallions, black bean sauce, chili, garlic and ginger - cooked in a lemony chicken soup with shrimp. With fresh ingredients, home cooking beats what you get in even a good Chinese restaurant, by a mile!  And I'm very proud to say that my friend and neighbor Pam, who shared the soup with us, afterwards wrote to me:  "Your soup was the very best I’ve ever tasted, anywhere, ever. If I had eaten it in a restaurant I would return just for the soup. It is your masterpiece!"  And she is not a flatterer (smile).  

WON TON SOUP OF THE GODS

One of the reasons this soup is so good is that the broth is that old canned stuff by Swanson - not one of the new waxed-package low salt broths I usually buy. This Swanson's broth, mixed with a ton of lemon, is simply sublime in this soup. Doubtless because it is high in sodium!  Maybe the lemon cuts it? In any case, it's what I use, and won't substitute. It tastes better than even my home made turkey broth that I make at Thanksgiving. I do try to cook with as little salt as possible, but make an exception for this one stellar dish!  (And by the way, save some of the won tons to make fried won tons, they're stupendous!)

HOME MADE WON TON SOUP

Dinner for 4

1/2 lb. ground pork (actually used about 3/4 lb.)

4 baby bok choys, chopped

Handful bean sprouts

1/2 bunch spinach leaves, torn apart

Maybe half a packet mushrooms, cut up

Half a bunch of cilantro

2 lemons

Plenty of fresh chopped garlic and ginger (a lot!)

Package of wonton skins

2 Tb. soy sauce

1 Tb. black bean sauce

A few dried red peppers crushed up (Being spice fans, we dump in a couple Tbs. of chili-and-garlic sauce too)

Generous splash of balsamic wine vinegar

5 cans Swanson Chicken Broth.

1/2 lb. cooked shrimp

In a large bowl, mix the pork, half the scallions, most of the vegetables, half the mushrooms and half the cilantro, with the soy sauce, black bean sauce, garlic and ginger. Let sit 15 minutes, then form into wontons, putting about 1/2 tsp. of mixture onto each wonton skin. Wet two adjacent edges of skin. Fold over in a triangle, wet the 3 corners and fold over into a wonton shape. Make lots of them - we used the whole package - but reserve a few if you'd like to pan-fry some!

Heat the chicken broth in a big pot. Put in well-washed, torn-up spinach leaves, the rest of the mushrooms, cilantro, lemon juice, balsamic wine vinegar. When it comes to a boil, add the wontons, a few loose Chinese vegetables, shrimps, and the remains of the meat mixture (it's nice floating around loose). Simmer 5 - 8 minute, or until a wonton, cut open, looks and tastes cooked through.

Makes 4 big bowls like the ones in my picture!

There. I hope you like my cooking, but if you don't, remember I make it the way we like it - and that may not be the way you like it!  So experiment till you get it to your own liking. That's what I did!

ADDENDUM:  What happens when you pan fry leftover wontons the next day:

Specifically, they are all gone extremely swiftly!  And here is Paul, tucking into the meal, which had chicken in black bean sauce as accompaniment to the dumplings. He looks pleased, doesn't he?

It was rather like Lewis Carroll'ls "The Walrus and the Carpenter":

"And that was very odd, because
They'd eaten every one!"
As a final fillip, a Chinese farewell featuring a figurine that once belonged to Peter's grandfather, Febus Kobak (@1880 - 1957)

Another Day, in the Park

The Santa Monica bluffs overlooking the sea: Palisades Park, 1885

View from approximately the same spot today. The cabins are gone, and the Pacific Coast Highway runs below, with beach clubs and houses beyond. The pier (not the same one as in 1887) is partly hidden by trees but can be glimpsed if you click to enlarge.

Here is a short essay I posted on Facebook, about Saturday's walk...followed by pictures:

The picture (top) of the Santa Monica bluffs, aka Palisades Park, was taken in 1885. This was before trees, Australian eucalyptus and palm allées, were planted, and when there were still beach huts on the sands below. It's where I walk now every evening, 130 years later. I used to think it was a pretty but not very interesting park, and didn't bother with it, preferring to stay indoors and wish I was in England. Now that I walk it regularly, I'm finding that every night I see more. Tonight I saw a brief gleam of orange sunset between two layers of heavy grey fog out to sea. I saw a probably mentally ill and homeless young woman, walking a skinny cat on a leash. The cat was ecstatically enjoying the outdoors, and tried to climb a fig tree. By contrast I saw the usual numbers of wealthy homeowners walking their posh exotic dogs on their own evening strolls - though not a dog person I've come to recognize many of them (but not their owners). There's a Newfoundland that looks like Nana in Peter Pan, several pit bulls, a silky brown she-creature with cascading hair, a velvety black dog with russet legs who wrestled with a palm frond, and many more. I saw a crazy eyed heavy set man with wild hair and a T-shirt on which I glimpsed the words "Ass" and "Shades of Grey." A squat, very aged, poor woman in layers of uncleaned schmatas and flat silver braids, walked with a very young Japanese man twice her height. I caught snatches of their conversation, which was about Tai Chi and Harry Potter. While doing my stretches, I was approached by a youngish man who wanted to know if the stuffed spider perched on the fence near me, was mine. I pointed out that it probably had been dropped by a child, and some kind person had placed it there to be found. He commented that he could do what I was doing, and I replied "I should hope so!" upon which he smiled and departed. A lovely young couple asked me to take their picture, and I did, with her sitting perched on the fence, he kneeling before her. I got some very nice shots and they were sweetly, ingenuously grateful. Reaching the lavender bed that's my turnaround point, I inhaled the powerful scent, and looked out to sea where a small boat had its lights shining. A young couple sat outside the fence in forbidden territory, dangling their legs dangerously at the edge of the cliff, and smoking marijuana. They glanced at me warily but I smiled and they puffed on, reassured. On the way back I paused for more stretches by a cinquefoil shrub, and noted how narrow and vertiginous the bluff was at that point, so eroded they'd put in metal posts to hold it up. A professional woman who sometimes paws over the jewelry at the Salvation Army beside me, nodded at me pleasantly, going the other way. Coming to a soft stretch of green turf, I gently jogged toward the Montana Avenue traffic light, where I turned for home.

Cinquefoil shrub (at least that's what I think it is)

Dancing by the cinquefoil

Lavender garden, at Inspiration Point, the fragrant turn-around spot of my walk.

Paul by one of the century-old, nearly horizontal Australian tea trees

Yucca

Palm allée. This is where I start to run, because the turf is so springy.

Twisted Australian tea trees

And more ballet, another day...

Review: To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters

I just watched To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters, the new drama about the lives of the Brontes that will be aired on Masterpiece Sunday night; PBS sent me a DVD for review. Really, I can only echo the excellent and accurate review in the Guardian:

 https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/dec/30/to-walk-invisible-review-a-bleak-and-brilliant-portrayal-of-the-bronte-family

It's a remarkable, fine film and I enjoyed it very much. Its realism and the psychologically devastating view of a family in the torturous throes of living with an alcoholic, are brilliantly convincing. The bleak remote setting (the film was shot in and around Haworth) has never been used before to convey so effectively the confines of the mid-Victorian narrowness of existence and the pressures that made the creativity of the three authors bloom and burst out of their desperation. Writer and director Sally Wainwright does not construct a typical pretty and romantic costume drama. She draws heavily on Charlotte Bronte's letters, which gives the film its utter verisimilitude; this may occasionally result in moments when those not well acquainted with the authors' biographies may be slightly at a loss, but it's a rich treasure for those who appreciate seeing an approach that portrays the unsparing truth with a passionate energy and attention worthy of the Brontes themselves. It's not a repeat of familiar tropes; it's a scholarly reconstruction of truth whose felt intensity is released to new heights.

The Haworth parsonage is seen here with such evocative perfection, you feel as if you are really sharing the sisters' daily lives and know the harsh almost primitive beauty of their world: the effect is almost a window into a particular past. Against this setting, the fine casting and vigorous performances shine forth. Jonathan Pryce is a pained and loving Patrick Bronte, whose daughters are visibly anguished at not being able to protect him from the horrific shocking depredations of his uncontrollable son, Branwell, devastatingly played by the fiery Adam Nagaitis. All the emotions roused in the wake of his painful self-destruction are evident on the quiet faces of his family: pity, anger, helplessness, grief. In a time when there was no help for such a problem, the Brontes struggle quietly and endure their inescapable pain. We are made to see the connection between the tragedy of Branwell's alcoholism and his and his sisters' deaths; destruction as well as genius all springing from the same source.

The casting of the three sisters, and the intense, passionate yet contained portrayals with their individual interpretations of character, is stunning. Without makeup, the plain, unadorned faces, the threadbare but ladylike clothing, the girls seem to have stepped out of the famous portrait by Branwell where his own face is painted out. Finn Atkins as Charlotte, a small and square fireplug of a woman, evinces a determination and ambition that could be the film's center were it not for the fact that every other family member's characterization is depicted with equal power. Chloe Pirrie as Emily, with her darting desperate eyes, reveals a kindness and compassion alongside her very wildness. And Anne, gentle and consoling, completes the tryptych with her understanding.

No, it's not a conventional narrative or a romance. But it's a riveting, fresh and unforgettable revisit that takes you to the heart of the Bronte story.

Cambridge Farewell - Seventh and last of post of my English trip

Woke up this morning at The Swan in Swinbrook, and friend Curzon kindly drove me into London. From there I caught a superfast train (45 minutes) to Cambridge. Hostess was being interviewed for a radio show, so I went for a wander into town...

Stopped at Fitzbillies' cafe in the town center (opposite Kings) and had some mushroom soup with soda bread, followed by cheese scone and cream...might as well stuff up on the English food as my trip is nearing its end!

Later enjoyed sitting in the garden where the flowers were in full spring bloom, and also feasting my eyes on the refreshing sight of hostess with her little grandsons. 

White lilacs in Cambridge

Clematis in Cambridge

Reading of course!

On Friday, the ritual walk to Grantchester, with tea at The Orchard, under the flowering apple trees. Very beautiful...

Later in the afternoon I met friend Elaine of Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover blog fame at what is becoming our usual appointed meeting place, The Gallerie restaurant on the bridge. A wonderful natter, and we also had a bookshop rove, hitting the triumverate of David's, Heffers, and The Haunted Bookshop!

At the Gallerie

At the Haunted Bookshop

That evening, an amazing pheasant dinner cooked by mine hostess's husband: an exercise in how delicious can pheasant be cooked with red wine and cabbage? Very!

Followed by an exquisitely beautiful, peaceful evening walk in the gardens at Newnham College...

Next day, another wander through Cambridge...with lunch at an excellent Sicilian cafe, Aromi. The thing on the right is filled with Chocolate. 

A man in the market walking a tightrope while playing a violin. 

And always, the beauty of the Backs, and the boats...though these extra-wide boats into which more tourists can be crammed, aren't all that beautiful...

Pinks...I think

Dinner at the Granta pub, fish and chips and a view...

The view

The pub as seen from the bridge opposite...

Next day, train back to London. St. Pancras Station in the sunshine...

On my last full day in London, I had a walk through Somerset House, and a divine meringue with summer berries at the coffee shop. Close readers might remember seeing one of these before, on my previous English trip, last October...

Then, a long-awaited visit with the beautiful style and fashion blogger, Miranda Mills of the popular blog Miranda's Notebook , and her delightful mother, Donna. We had long wanted to meet, and the accomplishment could only be celebrated by tea at Fortnum & Mason! We talked for  hours and felt like we'd known each other for ever...very similar book tastes will do that!

Later, a farewell dinner with friend Ron Dunning, who was kind enough to come join me at the Indian place again. Especially nice to see him for a second time, and to tell him all my adventures. And he gave me a most wonderful book: Two Early Panoramas of the Regent's Park by Geoffrey Tyack, put out by the London Topographical Society. Fantastic pictures! I am so indebted to Ron for the way he brings a new perspective on London background and history to my travels.

Next morning, didn't have to leave for the airport till noon, so there was plenty of time for a browse and some cake at the London Review of Books Tea Shop. Saw Cambridge hostess Janet Todd's brilliant book A Man of Genius on a prominent shelf...

(photo courtesy of Nancy Vermette)

...and then it was on to Heathrow, and the final fish & chips at the Bridge Bar. The eleven hour flight home was mercifully smooth, and at the end of it waited the best of all: Peter and Paul and the Cats!

But I must come back again to what is truly my second home, Britain; as C.S. Lewis said about the return of Aslan to Narnia, "And I say, the sooner, the better."

A few of the books I brought home...and a few of the trinkets.

I can only plead extremely limited suitcase space. It's hard to perform miracles of compression on china and books!