Category Archives: Chinese

Chinese, Egg

Five Quick Asian Dishes: “1-4-7” Steamed Eggs

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Jaden over at Steamy Kitchen is asking for Asian-inspired recipes that can be prepared in 15 minutes or less. This has inspired me to do a weeklong series of quick Asian dishes that you can easily prepare, just in time for the Beijing Olympics. The impetus being, the faster you can get dinner on the table, the faster you can get back to watching all the Olympic action!

This dish is extremely simple to make. It is basically only two ingredients: 4 eggs and 1 can chicken broth (not low sodium):

1-4-7 steamed eggs ingredients

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Chinese, Fruit

Lichee – It’s (in) My Cup of Tea

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I heart tea!

I drink tea all year round. My morning routine is to have a cup of Earl Grey or Lady Grey (Twinings being one of my favorite brands for these flavors). At other times of the day, I will indulge in a cup or two of tea in the mid-afternoon and in the evening.

I have a drawer full of teas that I go to for tea during this time. I have teas from so many places, sometimes it’s hard to keep track. I try not to buy too many at a time as I want to be able to finish the ones I have while they are still fresh. But it’s really hard to resist buying when I walk into a tea shop. Hence, my stuffed tea drawer:

Annie’s Tea Drawer

Annie's tea drawer

My current favorite tea shop is Lupicia (oh, how I wish they had a Mariage Frères near me!). If you are fortunate enough to have a Lupicia store near you, do check them out. They have a vast array of different teas and lots of flavored teas galore!

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Chinese, Poultry

Beggar’s Chicken

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Annie’s been meaning to make Beggar’s Chicken for a while. Legend has it that a Chinese beggar stole a chicken and cooked it by wrapping it in clay and tossing it in a fire. The chicken, sealed in the clay, came out moist and tender.

She got this modernized recipe from “At Home with Amy Beh”: Marinate a whole chicken in some salt, pepper, sesame oil, and a little Chinese rice wine. Stir-fry some ginger, carrots and mushrooms and add a sauce made from soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine, salt, thick soy sauce, and sesame oil. Stuff into bird.

Wrap chicken in lotus leaves, aluminum foil, and finally a salt dough. Bake at 200*C for 1 hour, then reduce to 190*C and bake until the dough is dark brown.

Crack the dough and split open the package.

The chicken is very moist, tender, and flavorful. The aroma of the lotus leaves added to the dish. The downside to this is the hard work making the salt dough and wrapping the bird. It may be easier to do in a clay pot.

Aloha, Nate