Ingredients 

• black beans in oil

  • you can also buy dried preserved black beans, but you'll need dice and soak them in vegetable oil for storage.

  • Note: the black beans are already pre-salted when you buy from the store

• tripe

• 1 tablespoon salt

• 3 shakes of white pepper

• corn starch

• sesame oil

• vegetable oil

• scallions

• ginger

Steps

Tripe is usually bought as a giant connected piece. There's a thick half-shell skin, with flaps in the middle.

Separate between the flaps and cut long lines down the thick skin. Try not to cut the flaps.

Cut the tripe into small rectangular pieces. 

Wash the tripe in a large bowl.

You can buy black beans soaked in oil. If you bought dry black beans, prepare the black beans by dicing them into small pieces and soaking with vegetable oil for a 1-2 hours.

If the black beans were bought dry, you need to steam the black bean-oil mixture. As a short-cut, you can also microwave the black beans to release the flavor. This step is not necessary if you already bought black beans in oil.

Heat up a wok with cooking oil. Start by stir-frying slices of ginger. Then add the beef tripe and stir fry until done.

Add the black bean sauce. If the tripe is not salty enough, feel free to add some more salt. Add a couple dashes of white pepper. Stir fry for 30 more seconds.

Add 1-2 dashes of sesame oil.

In a separate bowl, make a mixture of cornstarch and water.

Only add a little of the cornstarch-water mixture. If you add too much, it'll get too thick. Ideally, the dish has little to no water/juice.

In the photo below, "That's too much in the ladle!"

"Look at how much water there is in this photo. Terrible."

Serve it on a plate! "The dish should look less saucy than this photo."

Ingredients 

• squid rings

• frying oil (e.g. vegetable oil)

• egg white

• cornstarch

• flour

• baking soda

• salt

Steps

First cut the calamari into rings if it's not pre-cut from the store. Wash it in a big bowl.

Add a dash of salt and mix it into the squid rings. Then mix in an egg white. Coat the calamari with a light layer of cornstarch to start. Mix well. This is the pre-coat.

In a separate bowl, create another thick batter of 1 tsp cornstarch, 2 tsp flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, water, and a dash of oil. Mix well. We will dip the pre-coated rings into this batter right before frying. The batter should be thick so that it stays on the calamari after dipping, like so:

Prepare the wok by heating frying oil to 350-375 degrees F. You can also use a pot or a dedicated deep-fryer.

It takes a little while in a wood-burning wok.

For each ring, first dip it in the mixture.

Carefully place the battered ring into the oil to deep fry. You'll know the oil is sufficiently hot if the rings float to the surface after a couple seconds. If it stays on the bottom, the oil isn't sufficiently heated.

Don't be shy. We have a lot of fish to fry.

Remove the calamari from the oil to drain. Let it sit for a few minutes. 

It's recommended to re-fry the calamari a second time for 1 minute in hotter oil (375-400 degrees F) after the calamari has cooled a little. This second frying will give it a crispier shell.

That’s it! Plate and serve.

Ingredients 

• cabbage (pick your favorite type like Napa)

• fish cakes

• hot peppers, 尖椒 和 小辣椒 (optional)

• cooking oil

• salt and pepper to taste

Steps

Start by washing and cutting the cabbage to mid-sized pieces.

Cut and wash your fish cakes as well. These happen to be homemade, but most Asian grocery stores will carry fish cakes.

Dice up the peppers (optional ingredient).

Start by heating up a wok with cooking oil. Add the peppers and start frying that first to release the flavors.

Then add the cabbage.

Stir-fry until the cabbage is done. Notice how the cabbage has softened up.

Add the fish cakes and stir. These are usually pre-cooked, so you just need to heat it up with the rest of the dish.

When fully cooked, add salt and pepper to taste.

Tada! Short and sweet!

This fermentation process is quite simple and consists of only a few ingredients. However, it is incredibly sensitive to impurities, so take extra caution to clean all utensils, bowls, and hands. Otherwise after months of work, you may just end up with a really strong vinegar.

Ingredients 

• 10 lb long-grain sweet rice (short-grain is acceptable too)

  

• 14 oz red yeast rice

  

• 20 cups of distilled water

Cooking Tools

• 1x Thai-style rice steamer

• 1x large food-safe bucket with airtight cover

• Multiple large glass bottles or ceramic urn with airtight cover

• 1x Thai-style bamboo strainer

• rubber hose - for siphoning wine

• saran wrap and parchment paper

• rubber bands

Cleaning glassware and utensils:

It is absolutely critical to have crystal clean tools and glassware for this recipe. Use 白灰 or baking soda with warm water, soaking for a few days to clean any utensils and bowls that you plan to use.

Steps

Measure 10lb of sticky rice and place it into a food-safe bucket.

First we're going to clean the rice. Add enough water to soak all of the rice, no need to be precise.

Lightly cover the bucket to prevent bugs from getting in. Let the rice soak overnight, releasing excess starch into the water.

Whenever dealing with the rice, make sure your hands are VERY VERY clean. Any residual oils will affect the taste of the wine.

Carefully clean the rice in cold water until the water is clear.

One way to tell when you're done cleaning is to pour cold water through the rice. If the water is clear on the other side, you're ready to begin cooking.
At this stage, drain the rice and give ample time to let the rice dry.

Place 14 oz of red yeast rice in the food safe bucket.

Add precisely 20 cups of distilled water as described in the ingredients list. This water will eventually become the wine. You should be using clean distilled water, but don't be afraid to experiment with different water sources. The quality of the water has a huge effect on the wine.
Use a clean wooden dowel to lightly mix it evenly.

NOTE: Take extra care not to accidentally introduce any oils or other substances into this mixture. Any tools should be washed in boiling water before use.  We're going to repeat this warning multiple times.

In theory, the rice can be cooked in any rice cooker. We prefer to use traditional Thai-style rice steamers, which can be bought online. Add water to the basin and bring the water to a boil on the stove.

Only after the water is at a boil, put a small batch of rice on the cooker in the woven basket. 

NOTE: The bottom of the basket should NOT touch the water. If there's too much water, pour some out.

Steam on high until the rice has cooked.

Slowly add more rice by hand to the basket as it cooks in layers.

Once the last layer of rice has finished cooking, pour boiling water over the rice and cook for another few minutes.

Batch 1! Repeat until you've cooked all the rice. Place the rice aside to cool after cooking.

Let the rice cool for several hours to room temperature.

Once all the rice is cooked and cooled to room temperature, carefully add the rice to the red rice/water mixture.

NOTE: Take extra care not to introduce any oils or other substances into this mixture. Any tools should be washed in boiling water before use. Hands should be washed very well. Seriously.

Mix everything together by slowly and methodically stirring in a single direction.
DO NOT change the direction of stir. It messes with the juju.

This is what the mixture should look like by the end of stirring.

Now cover the bucket with a lid, and leave the bucket for 2 weeks at room temperature. Basements work well for this.

Note: This does not need to be an airtight lid.

After 2 weeks, sterilize a mixing spoon by cleaning in boiling water. Remember, a dirty spoon will completely ruin the wine! Open up the bucket. You should smell alcohol and wine, with the wine settled on the bottom of the bucket, below the rice. Carefully stir the rice-water mixture in a single direction for a few minutes. Again, juju.

Mix for 2 minutes.

Now we must create an airtight lid for the bucket. We suggest using saran wrap to first cover the top, using either tape or string to firmly seal to the bucket. Then put the lid on last. When done, store the container in a dark and cool location. Again, basements work well.

After 2 months, we want to separate the rice from the liquid before we continue aging the wine. We suggest using a Thai-style bamboo strainer. Remember to clean it with boiling water before use.

By placing the strainer into the bucket, you create a pocket of liquid that is separated from the rice. 

Then using a rubber hose to suction the wine off into a separate container, kind of like when you go to steal gas from your neighbor's car. Notice the difference in elevation so you can let gravity do the work.

Now pour the wine into a separate glass bottle. You can use a funnel, but be sure to clean it well with boiling water first.

It is critical to seal the glass bottle really well, as we'll age the wine for years in this bottle. We recommend first using a layer of parchment paper, then saran wrap, then the bottle cap. Finally clamp it all down with rubber bands. If air sneaks into the bottle, it'll alter the taste. Hide this bottle in a dark cool corner part of the basement away from sunlight. 

In the bucket, you are left with a thick rice mixture (lees), which we recommend saving into a separate jar. Again, we recommend an air-tight lid. The red wine lees can be stored for months in the refrigerator and is used for cooking.

Asian-American culture dictates that we should reuse bottles from 10 years ago.

The red wine lees might be even more valuable than the wine, as we'll use it a number of other recipes such as lamb soup, noodle soup, and stir-fried conch. Here's a photo of aged-pork marinated in these red wine lees. Yum!

As for the wine? The rice wine should be kept in airtight bottles in a cool, dark, and dry place, away from sunlight. My aunt stores it in between the walls of the basement, in a location more secure than her jewelry. The wine should be aged for as long as possible, growing darker in color over time. The wine will become smoother and more flavorful over time as well. In the picture below, the left jar has been aging for 2 years and the right jar has been aging for 4 years. Notice the color difference (ignore the labels from the 80's). We once tried a sip from 2, 3, 4, and 5 year old wine batches. The 5-year-old wine was definitively better.

Chinese Red Rice Wine, 酿造米酒

"You can do this for anything!" - Mom

Ingredients 

• meat, such as

  • poultry

    • chicken

    • duck

  • red meat

    • pig's feet

    • pork bones (e.g. 扒骨 or 同骨)

    • oxtail (or other beef bones)

    • goat

    • lamb

    • venison

• ginger

• salt

• vinegar

Steps

You can make a great broth from nearly any type of meat. Boney parts of the animal (e.g. ribs, feet, calf) have a lot of good fats that are great for soups. For red meats, it is required that you first follow the Cleaning Meats post to remove the layer of blood and odor before stewing. For poultry this is optional.

After you have cleaned the meat, start by heating a wok with oil and salt. Add some ginger slices when the wok is hot. Stir fry for 15 seconds.

Then add the meat and stir fry for 30-60 seconds.

The meat should be browned by this point, but the goal is not to fully cook the meat. Now add whatever flavors you want to the soup. This can include rice wine, salt, sugar, soy sauce, etc. If you have vegetables (e.g. daikon radish), you can add them here too. Now add boiling water along the sides, enough for your broth.

Cover the wok and bring everything to a boil. If there are floating oils, be sure to discard those.

Ew.

Now transfer to a slow cooker and cook on high. If you don’t have a slow cooker, can you can cook on the stove on low heat.

For chicken and other poultry, cook for 30 minutes. If you have a bigger chicken, then it might take 45 minutes. For pork, the soup will be ready in about an hour. For softer pork, simmer for longer.

When the broth is done cooking, add more salt to taste.

You can eat or freeze the broth once it’s done. Enjoy!

Ingredients 

• meat

• ginger

• salt

• vinegar

Steps

First, wash and cut the meat into chunks.
The picture below is goat meat, but it applies for any other red meat.

Boil water in a large pot (or wok). Set aside some water for later in a second pot. Then add with vinegar, salt, and large chunks of ginger to the first pot.

See the blood in the goat meat? That's what we want to clean out. Add the raw meat into the pot and boil for 2 minutes. (1 minute for thin meats like tripe).

Note: Only do 1 type of meat at a time. You can follow these steps in parallel with different types of meat.

Repeat these steps for other types of meat. 

Stir the meat in the water. The goal is not to cook the meats, but simply to clean it, remove the initial oils, and add a slight ginger flavor and scent.

Remove the meat from the pot and place it in the pot of freshly boiled water (that was previously set aside) for 1 minute.

Strain the meat and set aside for cooking later.

If you need to clean multiple meats, you can reuse the water until it gets too cloudy. Cleaner meats (Less bloody and without bones) should be cleansed first. For example, first pork belly, then pig feet, then lamb. 

And that’s it! You can set the meat aside until you are ready to cook with it.

Ingredients 

• spring roll shells (see picture below)

• vermicelli

• 1 head of cabbage

• 1 carrot

• white pepper

• salt

• sugar

• 1 egg

• deep frying oil (vegetable oil works well)

Steps

First, wash the cabbage and carrots. Then, finely shred the cabbage and carrots. This will be the filling in the rolls.

Soak the vermicelli in cold water for 1 hour. You want the noodles to soften up. You can soak for longer if you have the time.

Mix the cabbage and carrots with a couple dashes of white pepper, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar. Add the vermicelli.

Beat one egg to use for wrapping the spring rolls. It's used as a glue to seal the roll.

To wrap a roll, start by laying out one shell in a diamond shape. Place a little filling in the corner closest to you. Be careful not to add too much filing, or the egg roll won’t close properly.

Fold the corner up and tuck around the filling. Then roll it half of the way up.

Fold the left and right corners in. Pack it in tight, but be careful not to tear the skin. Apply a layer of egg mixture to the top corner. Then roll the rest of the way up to close the spring roll.

Now lather, rinse, and repeat.

Heat the frying oil to 80 degrees Celsius.

Place the rolls in one-by-one.

When the rolls are a nice golden brown, it's done. Because the rolls float, remember to flip them over to cook the other side.

And you're done!

Ingredients 

• whole fish; can be any type with large scales:

  • striped bass, 鲈魚

  • yellow fish, 黄瓜鱼

  • 西班鱼

  • 马头鱼

• corn kernels

• peas

• For the sauce:

  • 4 tsp tomato sauce

  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder

  • dash of salt

  • 4 tsp sugar

  • 2 tsp soy sauce

  • 3 tsp of corn starch

Steps

First scale and wash the fish. 
Cut a slit along the bottom side of the fish to remove its guts. The guts will be in the bottom-right quarter of the picture below. Then cut off the head. The grocery story can do this for you if you ask.

Using a large knife, cut straight along the spine. All of the bones will be up/down along the spinal axis. Do this for both sides of the fish, but leave the fillet connected to the tail. Put the fish bones aside. It can be used for a separate dish. 

Now that you have 2 deboned fillets attached at the tail, you want to remove the bones that lined the gut. The bones are along the white tissue in the picture below. Using a large butcher knife, carefully remove these bones by cutting parallel to the tissue.

Now you have a deboned fish connected by the tail.

You want to slice diagonal cuts into both fillets, without cutting through the skin. These cuts are made diagonally into the fillet about an inch apart. Now you want to repeat these cuts at a 90 degree angle, so that you've cut X's in a checkerboard criss-cross pattern.

When the fish is fried, it'll look like a pine cone.

Now coat the fish in corn starch to prepare for frying. To help the corn starch stick to the fish, first apply a layer of egg to fish.

Now deep fry the fish in hot oil.

To make it extra crispy, you can deep fry it a second time in fresh oil.

When the fish is floating, it means the fish is done cooking. Drain the fish from the oil and place it on a plate.

Now to make the sauce, start with a 4 tsp of tomato sauce. Then add a half tsp of garlic powder, a dash of salt, 4 tsp of sugar, 2 tsp of soy sauce, and 3 tsp of corn starch. Finally, add water until it is thick and mix until it is smooth.

Make sure the peas and corn are defrosted from the freezer. Cook the peas and corn in hot water until they float in the pot.

Heat up the wok. Then add the sauce, corn, and peas

Mix well and cook until thick. This should take only a minute with a hot wok.

Now pour it all over the fish and you're done!!

Ingredients 

• dried bean curd

• firm tofu

• black mushrooms, 冬菇

• black fungus, 木耳

  

• prince mushrooms, 王子菇 [optional]

  

• fried pork skin (see packaging below)

  

• cabbage

• vermicelli

• chicken broth (or some other meat broth)

• skin trimmed from pork belly [optional]

• celery [optional]

• dried scallops [optional]

• salt

Steps

First, soak the dried bean curd, mushrooms, black fungus, vermicelli, and fried pork skin in water, then drain. These should soak in different bowls for different amounts of time.

• Bean curd: 2 hours

• Mushrooms: 2 hours if whole, 30 minutes if you split it in quarters

• Black fungus: 20 minutes

• Vermicelli: 15 minutes

• Fried pork skin: 30 minutes
  

  

  

  

[Optional] If you are making a separate pork belly dish, you can skin the pork belly and cut into little strips. Flash boil the skins by putting it in boiling water for a short period of time. Set this aside for later.

Heat up a wok with oil. Stir fry the cabbage, pork belly, and fungus.

Add mushrooms. Celery is optional.

After that, fill the wok with chicken broth. Make sure the soup has already been brought to a boil separately. Pour the soup around the sides of the wok. DO NOT pour the soup in the middle (it will ruin the taste).

Add bean curd, fried pork skins, and tofu. Optionally add some dried scallops (just washed, not previously soaked; if you soak, you'll lose the taste).

Cover the wok and bring to a boil on high heat. After it's boiling, then turn the heat to medium. Cook for 30 minutes. You should check that all the foods are fully cooked (especially the bean curds).

Add salt to taste.

And you're done! 

Ingredients 

• pig's feet aka pork knuckle, 卤猪蹄

• chicken drumsticks

• sliced ginger

• first batch of spices

  • 2 dried red chili pepper

  • 2 anise cloves

• soy sauce

• salt

• sugar

• Shao Xing cooking wine (绍兴酒)

• 1 green onion heads (the white part)

• 1 celery clover (large)

• 1 ginger (large)

• second round of spices

  • 1 tablespoon szechuan peppers (花椒)

  • tangerine peels

  • licorice (甘草)

  • 2 anise cloves

  • 3-4 dried red chili peppers

• crystal rock sugar

Note: oil that is dirtied by deep frying will need to be recycled. Restaurants commonly have an oil recycling provider but for personal use, check on options within your local community. 

Cooking Tools

• wok

• large bowl

• large pot

Steps

Clean the chicken drumsticks in cold water. Clean the pigs feet (卤猪蹄) in cold water.

Create a marinade for the chicken with 4 cloves of anise, 1 tablespoon of Szechuan pepper, 1 tablespoon of salt and enough water to cover the chicken.
Let the chicken and pig's feet soak in the marinade for 3 hours in the refrigerator.

Now to "clean" the meat, bring a pot to a boil with a few big chunks of ginger

Place the chicken and pigs feet (卤猪蹄) in the boiling water until it turns gray. Stir the meat in the water. The goal is not to cook the meat, but simply to clean it, remove the initial oils, and add a slight ginger flavor and scent. This step is brief (2 minutes for chicken, 4 minutes for pig's feet).

Drain the chicken and pigs feet (卤猪蹄). 

In a separate wok of hot cooking oil (65 deg C), deep fry the pigs feet (卤猪蹄), but not the chicken. Again, this step is brief (1-2 minutes for pig's feet). We do this to release the natural oils/fats from the pig's feet. The fat is dissolved into the deep frying oil and the remaining pig's feet is leaner. Look! less fat!

You can skip this step if you’re okay with the natural amount of fat in the feet.

Drain the pigs feet and set aside.

Now to the stir frying. Heat up a wok, and then add a little oil. Start by stir frying ginger, green onion heads, a couple chili peppers and anis cloves. Stir fry for 10 seconds.

Add the szechuan peppers (花椒). Stir fry for 10 seconds.

Add white onion, celery, tangerine peels, anise cloves, dried red peppers and licorice.

Add 4 splashes of cooking wine (1/4 bottle), soy sauce (1/2 bottle) and salt. 

Add enough water to cover the pigs feet (卤猪蹄) and chicken. Bring it to a boil without the meats.

At this point, we transferred everything into a large pot.

Place the chicken drumsticks and pig's feet into the broth slowly.

Add 4 heaping tablespoons of sugar.

Add a handful of crystal sugar.

Bring it to a boil first on high heat. Then turn the heat to low and cook for 45 minutes until meat is tender. The chicken will finish cooking sooner than the pig's feet. Check the chicken to see if it's done, and remove first. Cook the pig's feet for an additional 20 minutes until it is done.

Enjoy!

Ingredients 

• shrimp

• scallops

• squid

• ginger

• Hong Kong style pan fried noodles

• onions

• green peppers

• carrots

• tree ear mushrooms (black fungus)

• salt

• soy sauce

• sesame oil

• white pepper

• cooking wine

• corn starch

Cooking Tools

• wok

• large bowl 

Steps

Begin by preparing the vegetables. First soak the mushrooms in water to soften them. Separately, clean, peel, and slice the carrots, onions, and green peppers into thin slices. Then set to the side.

Clean and cut the squid. See the recipe for salt and pepper squid for more details on how to prepare squid.

Clean and cut the shrimp into halves. See the recipe for salt and pepper shrimp for more details on how to prepare shrimp. Cut the jumbo shrimps into 2 halves.

After thawing and cleaning the scallops, slice the scallop into 3 horizontal slices.

Clean the seafood in cold water and drain.

Boil some water in a wok or pot. To cook the seafood, place the shrimp, scallops and squid in for 1 minute. Drain and set aside. Take care not to overcook the seafood.

Now when cooking the noodles, boil a fresh pot of clean water. Boil the noodles to al dente. It takes about 1-2 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Drain the noodles and mix in 1 tsp oil to keep the noodles from sticking together.

Heat up a wok with 1 tablespoon of oil.

Rotate the wok so the entire surface is covered with hot oil.

Heat the oil on high to a very hot temperature. When the oil is extremely hot (without burning/smoking), then add the dry noodles.

Flatten the noodles into a cake.

Fry the noodles until it's crispy/golden brown on the bottom. Without disturbing the noodle shape, shake the pan periodically to ensure that it doesn't stick to the bottom. Reduce heat to medium after a couple minutes.  

Then flip the wok for the noodles to flip over and cook until the other side is crispy/golden brown. Be careful not to break the flat pancake. Continue to shake the pan. 

Set the noodles aside to a separate plate. 
Now with hot oil, stir fry the vegetables first. Then add the seafood.

Add 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp soy sauce, and a dash of white pepper. Add 1 tablespoon of cooking wine. Then add a little water mixed with cornstarch and bring it to a boil to thicken the sauce. At the very end, add a dash of sesame oil.

Pour the seafood/vegetable stir fry over the fried noodles on a flat plate.

And you're done! 

Ingredients 

• cauliflower

• carrots

• white half of green onions

• rice cake

  • This is usually purchased as slices. You can also buy a long piece and slice it diagonally yourself. 

• 2 teaspoons sugar

• 2 tablespoons salt

• dash of cooking wine

• couple drops of sesame oil

• soy sauce

• optional:

  • seafood (shrimp, scallop, squid)

  • meat (pork, chicken)

Cooking Tools

• Wok

• Large Bowl

Steps

Clean and cut the cauliflower and carrot slices.
Optionally, you can cook the cauliflower briefly in boiling water to soften it up.

Separately, we need to cook the rice cake. You can either deep fry or boil the rice cakes to cook them. Deep frying is better, because the rice cakes won't stick together.

Alternatively, you can cook the rice cakes in boiling water. This option is alright, but will lead to stickier rice cakes.

Heat up a wok, and add a little oil. If you have meat or seafood, I would stir fry them separately first and set it aside.

Empty the wok and heat up more oil. Stir fry the cauliflower and carrots. 

Add rice cake and stir fry for a couple minutes. If you have meat or seafood, you can add it here.

Add salt, sugar, and a dash of cooking wine. Throw in a dash of water to steam.

Add a dash of soy sauce and a couple drops of sesame oil. Make sure to salt to taste.

Try one of the rice cakes to see if it's done. When you're ready, transfer to a plate.

And you're done! 

Ingredients 

• 1 lb bag of rice flour (usually a clear bag with red print)

• 1 cup of water

• salt

• green onions, aka scallions

• cabbage

• mussels [optional]

  • This can be any desired seafood for taste, such as clams or shrimp

• chicken broth

  • We make our own broth with chicken or pork bones and salt that is slow cooked for 4 hours. Additional vegetables can be added for flavor.

Cooking Tools

• wok

• large bowl

• large pot

Steps

Wash and cut your vegetables. In this case, we used onions, napa cabbage, and humongous home-grown scallions.

Mix the whole bag of rice flour with 1/4 teaspoon of salt. 

Create a crater in the middle of the rice flour and pour in 1 cup of water. Mix the water and flour until the mixture is at the desired consistency.  

You may need to add more water. How do you know how much water to add? You want it to be relatively thin, but still form a continuous stream (without breaking) when you pour it.

Here's a video:

Heat up a wok. Add some oil. We'll start by stir-frying the onions. They take longer to cook.

Then add in the cabbage.

 Finally add scallions.

Once they're relatively cooked, pour 2 scoops of chicken broth into the wok. Cover the wok to boil.

Steam for a few minutes.

Then remove the vegetables and set it aside.

Pour all the remaining broth into the wok and bring it to a boil. We're just trying to heat it up for later.

Then remove half of the broth from the wok which will later be used to maintain the consistency of the noodles.

Here comes the tricky part. With some broth remaining in the wok, you want to heat up the wok to a high temperature. The edges of the wok need to be hot. Then in a fluid motion, pour a bowl full of the rice batter around the dry side of the wok to cook it into a noodle. You don't want the wet flour to touch the soup, or the soup gets goopy. 

Here's a video of the whole process

Wait for the noodle to cook. You can cover the wok if it helps. Then push the noodle into the broth. Noodles should only be pushed into the broth when it is boiling. The key is to have these solid flakes of noodle.

If the soup becomes too dense with noodles, scoop it out into a pot and start with some fresh broth that you previously set aside. Continue until you use all the batter mixture. When you’re done making all of the noodles, mix all of the vegetables, noodles, and soup and bring it to a boil. Then transfer to a big pot.

And you're done! You’ll want to salt it to taste at this point.

Dalmagoo, 锅边糊

Ingredients 

• squid, 尤鱼

  • this recipe also works for shrimp, 虾

• egg

• sweet potato flour

  • corn starch can be used as a replacement but it will result in a less crunchy shell. 

• red/green bell peppers

• salt and pepper mix

  • 1 pint salt

  • 1 tsp ground dried huajiao (花椒) pepper

  • 3 tbsp white pepper

  • Heat up a hot wok with no oil

  • Stir fry the salt

  • Turn off heat and add the huajiao and white pepper

  • Mix well and store in an airtight container.
    This batch will keep for a long time.

Steps

Wash the squid and separate the bottom of the squid from the body. 

Set aside the part with tentacles. Then cut the body of the squid down the center. 

Pull the black skin outside off the squid body. This is the outside.

For the body of the squid, cut diagonal slits on the inside side of the squid in a criss-cross fashion. This would have been the interior of the squid body. The slits will make it easier for the squid to curl when deep-frying.

Rinse off the squid pieces and drain to get ready for deep frying

Crack an egg and mix with the squid. 

Cover a flat tray with sweet potato flour then rotate the squid in the sweet potato flour to coat. 

Deep fry the squid in hot oil for 2-3 minutes. This step is similar to previous recipes involving deep frying. If you keep it in the oil longer than this, the squid will become too tough.

Then drain and set aside for a few minutes. 

After the squid has drained of oil, wait for the oil to heat back to frying temperature. The first fry will have lowered the oil temperature. Deep fry the squid a second time for 1-2 minutes for a crunchier shell. 

Remove the deep-frying oils from the wok. Heat a small amount of oil and stir-fry the green/red bell pepper and yellow onion. 

After the vegetables are cooked, add the squid and scallions.

Add a small pinch of the salt and pepper mix (See here for instructions on how to make salt/pepper mix).

Serve on a dish and you’re done!

"It's gotta fry evenly" - Uncle Q

Ingredients 

• 2 whole fish; any of the following will work:

  • Yellow croaker, 黄瓜鱼

  • Crucian carp, 鲫鱼

  • Grass carp, 草鱼

  • Striped bass, 鲈鱼

• 3/4 cup tomato sauce

• 1 egg yolk

• sweet potato starch (or corn starch)

• carrots

• onions

• red/green bell peppers

• diced pineapple

• rice wine

• 2-3 teaspoons soy sauce

• 4 teaspoons sugar

• 1/3 cup white vinegar

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt 

Steps

First prepare the vegetables. You’ll want to wash and slice the carrots, onions, and bell peppers. You can also dice the pineapple at this point.

Wash, descale, and gut the fish. Standard procedure. You can ask the grocery store to help you with this.

Then cut 3 large slits diagonally on each side of the fish. The cuts should resemble large gills that span the height of the fish.

 Cut fresh ginger and scallions. Place them inside the fish with a little salt to marinate for 15-20 minutes. You probably don't need this much, but these scallions are huge.

To prepare the fish for deep-frying, discard the ginger and scallions. Coat the outside and inside of the fish in a layer of egg white. 1-2 eggs should do. Then rub in sweet potato starch (or corn starch) over the fish.

Make sure to get inside the slits.

Heat up frying oil in wok until hot. Open up the slits, and place the fish in the wok to fry. Ensure the fish is standing up right so the slits stay open.

To check when the fish is done, you can poke the fish with a chopstick.

Strain the fish and set aside for a couple minutes.

You can deep fry the fish a second time for a crisper crunch. Strain all oil out.

In an empty hot wok, heat a little oil for stir frying. Stir fry sliced carrots, onion and red/green pepper.

Add diced pineapple and a dash of water.

Add 3/4 of a cup of tomato sauce. 

Add a dash of rice wine, a couple teaspoons soy sauce, 4 teaspoons sugar, 1/3 cup white vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring the sauce to a boil.

Mix some cornstarch and cold water together. Then pour this into the sauce and bring it to a boil to thicken and reduce.

Once the sauce is thick, pour the sauce over the fish.

And you're done!

"This is the one recipe I wanted to do this year" - Ray

Ingredients 

• 1 whole cornish hen (or Chinese silk chicken)

• 2 oz dried black mushrooms, 冬菇

• 3 scallion heads (the white part, not the green part)

• 3 slices of ginger

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tbsp sugar

• 1/2 cup soy sauce

• 1/3 cup Shao Xing Rice Wine, 绍兴酒花雕牌

Cooking Tools

• Wok with lid

• Slow cooker [Optional]

Steps

Silky black chicken is best (see photo), but for the rest of this recipe, we'll just use a standard cornish hen.

First, wash the chicken thoroughly, including the insides.

Cut off and discard the anus of the chicken. You don't want to be eating that.

To properly cut the chicken, first cut off the wings and drumsticks by holding the leg up and slicing through the joint.

Then, split the chicken into a top half and bottom half.

Then cut the halves down the middle. Now you have quarters.

Cut everything, including the wings and drumsticks, into equal-sized square chunks.

 Cut the onion heads into diagonal slices

Cut the ginger into small strips.

Heat up a wok without oil. Once the wok is hot, put in room temperature oil and stir fry the ginger and onions for 30 seconds. You'll be able to smell the ginger.

Add the mushrooms and stir fry for a few minutes.

Remove the ginger, onions and mushrooms from the wok and set aside in a separate bowl.
Stir fry the chicken until it changes to a yellow color.

It doesn't need to be fully cooked, just browned as such:

Add 1/3 cup of rice wine. Let the chicken simmer in the rice wine. You want the chicken to absorb the flavors of the wine, so make sure the chicken is covered in it.

 Cover the wok to make sure the flavors don't escape.

Let it cook for a couple minutes. Then add the 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 cup soy sauce, and the vegetables that we cooked earlier. 

Add a half pot of water, enough for all your soup.

Stir everything together, cover the wok, and bring the stew to a boil.

Once the stew is boiling, it'll have an oily foam film on top. Make sure to skim this off and throw it away.

Throw this away. Ew.

Transfer the stew to a slow cooker and cook for 30 minutes on a high setting. If you have a bigger chicken, then it might take 45 minutes. If you don’t have a slow cooker, continue to cook on the stove on low heat.

You can tell the stew is done when the chicken is tender, juicy, and cooked through. Don't overcook the chicken, otherwise it'll be too tough.

Black Mushroom Chicken Stew, 冬菇鸡

"Just 10 minutes! It's easy!" - Aunt Kim

Ingredients 

• Fuzhou flour vermicelli, 福卅线面
  aka "extra thin extraordinaire delicate vermicelli"

• Soup base - you can use any of the stews or broths in the other recipes

Steps

We typically use Fuzhou flour vermicelli (aka extra thin extraordinaire delicate vermicelli) as the noodle. Aunt Kim prefers the first brand, but the second is also pretty good.

To prepare the noodles, first bring water to a boil. In a separate pot, start heating the soup if it's coming from the refrigerator.

Put the desired amount of noodles in the boiling water. We usually do 2 bundles per person (3-4 if you’re hungry).

Use chopsticks to spread the noodles out.

These noodles cook very quickly (less than 30 seconds). Once the noodles have floated to the surface, immediately drain and place in a bowl. Be careful not to over-cook. These noodles easily capture over-absorb water and become too soggy. Aunt Kim calls this "goo".

Pour the hot soup base over the noodles. Again, because these noodles can easily capture water, don't disturb the noodles in this state. Only pull up the noodles when you're ready to eat.

Make sure to eat promptly!

"With just a little honey" - Aunt Kim

Ingredients

• 4 lb long grain sweet rice

• dried bamboo leaves

  

• ½ tsp potassium carbonate & sodium bi-carbonate solution (雪碱水) - Koon Chun brand OR ⅓ tsp of the equivalent powder (碱粉代替)

  

• string divided to 2.5 feet long pieces

  

• Optional for flavor: peanuts, red bean, green peas, dried scallops/shrimp, or marinated pork

• For dipping: honey or sugar

Cooking Tools

• pressure cooker

• scissors

Steps 

Soak the fried bamboo leaves in ~50 deg Celsius water for 10 minutes. (Mix half boiling water / half cold water)

Wash the rice and dry. Then, mix 1/2 tsp of the alkaline water in well.

Stack 2 bamboo leaves and fold into a pocket.

When folding bamboo leaves, always make sure that corners are folded over
so that there is no opening for rice to fall out.

Fill the pocket with rice and pack the rice in tight.

Make sure to leave an inch of clearance on top.

Fold the top over and wrap the bundle tight. Make sure all corners are folded over well.

Wrap a string around the bundle twice, pull tight, then tie a half-shoe tie so they can be opened easily.

Optionally cut off any extra leaf.

Make sure all bundles are cooked before storing in the refrigerator.

To cook, put in pressure cooker with COLD water. Hot water will unevenly cook the rice. Cook on high for 30 minutes.

It is okay to cook in a normal pot, but it can take over an hour. To check when done, poke the rice with a chopstick. If it comes out soft and sticky, it's done.

"You can't buy these wonton wrappers anymore" - Mom

Ingredients

• pork skin wonton wrappers (同利 肉燕皮)

• 4 lb pork belly

• 1 tsp white pepper

• 8 tsp sugar

• ½ tsp salt

• 1½ tsp soy sauce

• 2 tsp diced ginger

• scallions

Cooking Tools

• food processor

• large bowl

• steamer

Steps

You can start with peeling some ginger and dicing it. Put it aside for now.

To prepare the meat filling, remove the skin from the pork belly, keeping the meat and fat.

Ground the pork in a food processor.

Add soy sauce, salt, sugar, white pepper and mix well. Then add chopped scallions and diced ginger, mixing well again.

The resulting meat filling would be too tough as is. Add water into the filling and mix well until soft.

It should have this consistency afterwards.

Cut the wonton wrappers into 3in x 3in squares.

Briefly dip each individual wrapper in cold water and stack in piles.

Keep extra wonton wrappers in the freezer, which are generally good for 1 year.

To wrap wontons with meat filling, first start by placing the wonton wrapper flat on your hand.

Using chopsticks, place a small amount of meat in the center of the wrapper.

Using your hand, carefully wrap the wonton around the meat.

When the wonton is wrapped properly, the wrapper should be flat against the meat with no folds. Any folds on the bottom will weaken the bond and cause them to open while cooking.

Repeat.

The best way to cook the wontons is to place them in a steamer.

Once cooked, extra wontons can be frozen to be used later. I’d re-steam the frozen wontons in the future.

To serve the steamed wontons, place the wontons in with hot broth. Chicken or pork broths work really well. If you don't have broth on hand, you can make a quick ad-hoc wonton soup by boiling water, oil, white pepper, vinegar and salt to taste.

Cooking by boiling instead of steaming:

Wontons can also be cooked in boiling water, but we don’t recommend this because the wontons will lose a lot of their flavor using this method.

If you decide to boil the wontons, boil the water first, before putting the wontons in.

You’ll know when they’re done once the wonton flips upside down, and the meat side is floating.

Voila!