you'll need include soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, and chili sauce. Bamboo shoots and bean curd are a common addition to everything from stir-fries to one-pot braises. Rock sugar is frequently used in red-braised dishes. Sesame paste is mixed into dipping sauces, and Sichuan peppercorns add a subtle heat to dishes.
Some of these appetizers would make very good starters to a formal dinner. Some, like the Seafood in Beancurd Skin and Pork-stuffed Steamed Beancurd, can be served as part of a main meal—just adjust the quantities of the ingredients accordingly.
Nu Er Hong Niu Rou
Marinated Sliced Beef
Red rice is available from Chinese medicine or specialty food shops.
1 x 13 oz (400 g) piece beef topside
Water as required
2 teaspoons red rice (optional)
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
2 teaspoons salt
4 bay leaves
Put the beef in a pan with sufficient water to cover. Add all other ingredients and simmer, covered, until the beef is tender. Turn the meat from time to time and add a little more water if it threatens to dry up. Allow to cool. To serve, slice the beef thinly and arrange on a plate. Serve with a dipping sauce.
Chao Lian Xia Xie Jiao
Seafood in Beancurd Skin
7 oz (200 g) peeled shrimp
3½ oz (100 g) crabmeat, fresh or canned
2 water chestnuts, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro (coriander) leaves
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 large sheets of dried beancurd skin
1 teaspoon cornstarch blended with water
Oil for deep-frying
Blend the shrimp and crabmeat in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Add water chestnuts, cilantro, and salt and process for a few more seconds.
Wipe the beancurd skin with a damp cloth to make it pliable, cut into 5-in (13-cm) squares. Put in a heaped spoonful of filling and spread across. Smear the far end of the beancurd skin with cornstarch paste, then fold over the sides of the skin and roll up to seal the filling in firmly.
Deep-fry in hot oil until crisp and golden. Cut rolls into bitesized pieces before serving.
Dou Fu Rou Jiang Zha
Pork-stuffed Steamed Beancurd
1 lb (500 g) beancurd
3 teaspoons cornstarch
3½ oz (100 g) finely minced lean pork
3 dried black mushrooms, soaked and finely chopped
2 teaspoons chicken stock powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine
1½ cups leafy greens (spinach, Napa cabbage or bok choy), blanched
½ cup (125 ml) chicken stock
Cut the beancurd into squares about 3 x 1V2 in (8 x 4 cm) thick squares. Use a teaspoon to scoop out some of the bean curd from the center to make a hole for the pork filling. Combine 1 teaspoon cornstarch with all other ingredients, except leafy greens and stock, mixing well. Stuff this into the beancurd and steam over high heat for 4 minutes.
While the beancurd is steaming, cook the greens in chicken stock. Drain, keeping the stock. Arrange greens on a plate. Blend remaining 2 teaspoons cornstarch with water and thicken the stock. Pour over vegetables, arrange the cooked beancurd on top and serve.
HELPFUL HINT
For the stuffing, minced chicken or beef works as well as pork. For a vegetarian variation, use soaked, chopped vermicelli.
Ma La Lian Ou
Lotus Root Salad
The lotus has special associations for Buddhists, for it is said that Gautama Buddha likened man striving to achieve goodness to an exquisite lotus bloom rising unsullied from the muddy bottom of a lake!
6-8 in (15-20 cm) lotus root
1 tablespoon white rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
Salt to taste
Peel the lotus root and cut cross-wise into ¼-in-(½-cm-) thick slices. Heat a pan of water until boiling, then drop in the lotus root slices and blanch for about 5 seconds. Drain and rinse in cold water.
Toss the lotus root slices in a bowl with the vinegar, then arrange on a plate. Sprinkle with sugar and salt to taste and serve immediately.
Carrot and Radish Rolls
2½ oz (75 g) carrot, shredded
2½ oz (75 g) giant white radish, peeled and sliced
3 teaspoons sugar 2 teaspoons white rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
½ teaspoon salt
Blanch the carrot and radish separately in a little boiling water. Drain well and pat dry with paper towel. Place the slices of radish flat on a board and put some shredded carrot crosswise in the center of each. Roll up to enclose the carrot, then cut each roll on the diagonal into ½-in (1-cm) pieces.
Arrange on a plate. Combine all remaining ingredients, mixing until the sugar dissolves. Pour over the rolls and serve.
Sesame Squid
5 oz (150 g) squid, skinned and cleaned
1 cup (250 ml) water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sesame paste
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Cut the squid in pieces about 2 x ¾ in (5 x 2 em). Score crosswise in a diamond pattern with a sharp knife, cutting about halfway into the squid meat so that it will curl during cooking. Bring water and salt to a boil and drop in squid. Simmer just until the squid turns white and curls (about 1 minute), then drain.
Combine sesame paste and oil in a mixing bowl and add squid. Toss and serve at room temperature or chilled, if preferred.
Gong Cai Xian Shen Pian
Duck
