Juicy Barbecued Pork (Cantonese classic cuisine)

When I went to Cantonese restaurants with my parents, I was always attracted by their BBQ Pork (Cha Siu, or Cha Shao 叉燒) because of its lovely color in red and sweet fragrance. “Cha Siu” literally means "fork burn/roast". My mother said it’s better to use pork butt when roasting BBQ pork. Pork butt contains a lot of fat that results in moist, succulent meat after many hours of slow cooking with low heat.

Having moved to Australia, I have had less chances to go to Cantonese restaurants and Yamcha (飲茶). Well, it’s not bad though. I can learn to roast Cha Siu by myself at home. Traditionally, the masters who roast Cha Siu for Chinese restaurants would use a very huge oven. They skewer all seasoned boneless pork strips with long forks and place them in huge covered ovens so that all pork strips can be baked evenly and easily brushed with honey. However, we only have a moderate, home-size oven. How can we hang up a pork strip? Fortunately, my sister-in-law shared a trick with me. It’s very easy and simple. I’m very impressed with the result by using her trick. Now I can always enjoy professional-like, yet DIY kind of BBQ pork at home.

Read More

Stir-Fried Beef in Sweet & Sour Sauce

Stir-Fried Beef in Sweet & Sour Sauce (中式牛柳) is an oldie favorite that I’ve had many times in Hong Kong restaurants. I love the taste of tender beef blended with the yummy, sweet and sour sauce. In Chinese family cooking, we usually stir-fry beef with different vegetables. I think it’s a very healthy combination. If we want to stir-fry beef just right, not over cooked, yet not too rare, it needs some skills and experiences. There’s a secret to stir-fry beef with vegetables. Timing and heat are very important factors to get tender and juicy beef. Above all, choosing the right beef is the key to success. I’ve a brother who is a chef working in a famous hotel in Hong Kong. He told me that the first and utmost thing is to buy first grade beef fillet to stir-fry, that the beef must be fresh and bright in color. Then anyone can ensure his/her cooking with half success in the beginning.

Read More

Three Cup Chicken Recipe (Taiwanese Style)

Three Cup Chicken is a very popular and tasty Taiwanese dish that you'll definitely find at any Taiwanese restaurants. To make this dish at home, it's downright simple and easy.

After moving to Australia, I’ve been very lucky to have many chances to try some Taiwanese foods because many Taiwanese run their gorgeous restaurants here. Nearly all the Taiwanese restaurants would have one of their famous dishes called “Three Cup Chicken” (三杯雞) on their menus.

At first, the name of the dish caught my sight and aroused my curiosity. “Three cups”? Ha, interesting! What is the "three cup sauce"? Many of my Taiwanese friends know this dish of course.

Again, I was lucky enough to get the recipe and tried it at home.

“Three cup sauce” actually includes rice wine, sesame oil and soy sauce in the proportion of 1:1:1 Adding basil into the stewed chicken is a must and make this dish very unique in taste and smell. The sauce is perfectly balanced and the basil makes the chicken irresistible. Similar to what people say, “Love at first sight”, yet I fell in “love at first taste”.

Read More