Kan’s Scrambled Eggs with Chinese Sausage

My parents immigrated from villages in Taishan, a coastal area outside of Guangzhou (Canton), in Southern China.  Growing up, they made some very delicious home-styled meals that I have been slowly re-creating.

On weekends, Dad was the breakfast cook and he made everything from Chinese food to Fancy Omelettes.  A favorite is Scrambled Eggs with Chinese Sausage, which Paul made for Lia when she was young and brother Bryan says he has been making for Kenny.  Lia took a break from Hot Pockets this morning and enjoyed a family favorite.

Scrambled Eggs with Chinese Sausage  – Recipe
1 large egg
1 teaspoon milk
1/2 teaspoon oil for the pan
1/4 to 1/3 Lap Cheong (Chinese Sausage) diced
sprinkle of green onion (optional)
Salt, Pepper, Soy Sauce to taste
serve over rice or toast

Beat egg and milk until very well incorporated.  Beating vigorously adds more air, which is supposed to make fluffier eggs.

Place oil and sausage in a non-stick pan over medium heat.  Move meat around until it turns from grayish-red to bright red, about 1 minute.  Add eggs and scramble until done, about 1 1/2 minutes.  Serve on top of rice or toast, add salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with green onions.

serves 1

Zucchini Everywhere

Zucchini is everywhere!  I have to admit the mole family in my garden has made an all too big impression and I shied from planting this year.  In a way, I am happy to be freed from the pressure of trying to figure out what to do with the bushels of zucchini that came out of the garden.  I literally ran around trying to keep up with picking the squash  And I would miss!  They would miraculously get too big in a matter of hours.  At 8 in the morning they were cute 3″ puppies and by 5 PM they were too big and woody for a saute.

Instead, I’ve leisurely visited local farmer’s markets and got to choose from many different  summer squashes, picking from an abundantly varied choice of colors and shapes.

As I have been learning more about Chinese cooking – especially in thinking about ways to use Chinese sausage, I have come up with a working theory that any recipe that uses bacon or pancetta can work with Lap Cheong.  It makes sense – sweet, fatty, cured meat. . .  tastes good with everything. Right?

My Mother taught me to cut squash in circles and then later in life I tried chunks.  A couple of weeks ago, I had ribbons at Café Campagne in Seattle’s Post Alley and I loved the way the shape carried the taste of the salty capers and creamy butter.  My family are not capers fans, so I got the idea to use them lightly and add Chinese sausage (because that is the ingredient that lures them to eat anything).

Sauteed Zucchini with Chinese Sausage  – Recipe
4 medium sized Zucchini – washed and cut in half crosswise and then thinly sliced (I used a mandolin) lengthwise
1 Chinese Sausage, chopped finely
1/4 red onion, sliced very thin (I used the mandolin again) then chopped a few times to create rather small thin pieces
1 1/2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon capers
1 Tablespoon Butter
Salt & Pepper to taste

In a 10-12 inch flat-bottom fry pan, heat oil over medium-high eat until it sizzles when splashed with a drop of water.  Add the onions to oil and cook until they start to become tender, about 4 minutes.  Add the Chinese Sausage and continue cooking (and stirring) until cooked through, about 2 minutes.  Add the zucchini, capers, and sprinkle with sugar.  Continue cooking over medium high, and stir constantly  until zucchini is done, about 7 minutes more. Move the vegetables around gently to cook evenly and to keep the “ribbons” from breaking.   Using a silicon spatula works well. Turn off heat and add the butter, stirring until melted.  Season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

7 minute prep, 15 minute cook time, serves 4

 

 

 

 

Sticky Rice Without the Sticky Rice

Sticky Rice, Nuo Mai Fan, is made with glutinous rice, a short grain sweet rice that is often used for making Sushi or Thai Sticky Rice. When I was a kid, my Mom and Dad mostly made See Ew Fan (Soy Sauce Rice) with long grain rice. We ate this a lot – well, okay, every morning. Every evening after washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen from dinner, my Mother stood in the corner of the kitchen, defatting and chopping meat and washing rice for the next mornings See Ew Fan, which was a simple pilaf-like dish made on top of the stove with rice, chopped meat, ginger, garlic, and soy sauce. In the morning, my Father turned it on and went running. When I was in high school, I scooped a bowl and ate it while blow-drying my gorgeous locks.

On special occasions – Thanksgiving, Family Gatherings, and on Weekends – they would make Nuo Mai Fan, which in our home was a much fancier version of what we ate on a daily basis.

Nuo Mai Fan has a stickier consistency than plain rice and contains Chinese Sausage, which was, for me and my brothers, the defining feature of the dish. The stickiness is determined by the proportion of glutinous sweet rice to “regular” rice. Recipes range from 100% glutinous sweet rice (typical of Dim Sum dishes) to half sweet rice and half long or medium grain rice. When I was just out of college and short on funds, I used one part sweet to two parts “regular” rice just to save money.

After my brother said, ” You can make Sticky Rice without sticky rice, but you can’t make it without Chinese Sausage,” I started making the dish with Calrose, a medium grain rice. The recipe I share is neither Nuo Mai Fan nor Fried Rice. Instead, it’s a Chinese flavor inspired rice pilaf.

Sticky Rice

Chinese Sausage and Rice Pilaf – Recipe
1/4 lb. ground pork (about 1/2 cup)
3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce, divided
3 cups Calrose rice (if you are using the cups that come with a rice cooker, use 4)
1/2 cup chopped shallot or red onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 slices ginger, about 2″ in diameter, use and discard before eating
1 cup shredded carrots (it much easier if you buy it already shredded)
2 cups frozen corn (or one 15 oz can, drained)
4 Chinese Sausages – 2 chopped fine, and 2 chopped course (this is my preference for texture – all the same size is fine too)
2 Tablespoons Hoisin Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce (or Chinese Mushroom Sauce, or Vietnamese Fish Sauce)
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1 bunch green onion, chopped
8 large eggs – poached or fried (optional, but this is my favorite part)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce

Mix 1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce with the pork and let sit for about 10- 15 minutes while you prep the other ingredients.

Wash and cook the rice according to package instructions.

Prep ingredients – chop and ready.

While the rice is cooking, heat oil (medium high heat) in a wok or large sauté pan until a drop of water sizzles and sauté shallots until tender, about 2 minutes.

Add pork and ginger, garlic to onions and sauté until cooked, about 3 minutes. Move the meat around while cooking so it crumbles.

Add carrots, corn, sausage, Hoisin Sauce, Oyster Sauce, 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce, black pepper. Mix and lower heat to medium. Sauté until carrots are soft and all ingredients are mixed together and hot.

Lower heat to medium low and add Sesame Oil and stir to combine. Add cooked rice and mix all the ingredients together. The meat sauce should be integrated into the rice and the color of the rice will turn tan. Pull out the ginger and discard.  Add the green onion and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste.

Top each serving with a poached or fried egg and drizzle Sriracha over egg as desired.

15 minute prep, 35 minute cook time, serves 6- 8

 

Summer Days – Fresh Corn with Chinese Sausage Recipe

I am a high school teacher by profession and I have a wonderful colleague who used to text the entire staff when Summer was exactly at the mid-point.  It must somehow be the glass is half “whatever” problem, because he has since stopped this practice, citing “everyone hated it.”  The mid-point is a bittersweet date, because half the summer still stretches out before us, with promises of hot weather, fun times, and more picnics.

Today is August 11 and with an August 21 “teachers back to work” date, the summer is more than half over, it is coming to a screeching halt.   And the dwindling fresh corn supply follows suit.  At last week’s Farmer’s Market, I picked up what I believe is the last of the local corn and am more than a little sad as my family (well, maybe except me, the Mom) counts this easy to make food as a vegetable.

I can soak the whole corn in water and stick it on a fire or barbecue,  shuck and boil it, or serve it practically raw and everyone is always happy.  Over the years, with braces and such, I started cutting it off the cob before serving and them, soon after, before cooking.  We discovered a quick sauté with salt, pepper, and butter makes a delicious side dish whether hot, cold, or at room temperature.  During the winter, we use frozen corn with similar results.  I have since added some Chinese Sausage for an added twist.

Fresh Corn with Chinese Sausage  – Recipe
3 ears of corn, shucked and cut kernels off of cob
1 Chinese Sausage, chopped finely
1 1/2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Butter
Salt & Pepper to taste

After shucking the corn break, cut off the tip of the cob or cut the cob in half, creating a flat end.  With a knife, slice the corn as you rotate the cob.  Putting a cutting board into a full sized cookie sheet or inverting a small bowl inside a larger bowl will keep the kernels from flying all over the kitchen.

In a 10-12 inch flat-bottom fry pan, heat oil until it sizzles when splashed with a drop of water.  Add the corn kernels and stir to coat with oil.  Then let the corn sit for 2 minutes over high heat.  Stir and let cook, without disturbing for an additional 2 minutes.  And once more, stir and let it cook, undisturbed, for 2 minutes.  This browns the corn.  Add the chopped Chinese Sausage, lower heat to medium high, and stir constantly  until corn is done, about 5 minutes more.  Turn off heat and add the butter, stirring until melted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

7 minute prep, 10 minute cook time, serves 4

“You can make Sticky Rice without sticky rice, but you can’t make it without Chinese Sausage.”

Twelve posts into my blog and I already digress.  I have decided to take two separate paths – Pho soup reviews and a deeper exploration into a single ingredient (Lap Cheong) that has been an integral part of my upbringing and a seemingly under-utilized ingredient in Asian Restaurant cuisine.

Many years ago, after a long bike ride in Boulder, my brother and I decided to make “Nuo Mai Fan” (Sweet Sticky Rice) both because it is delicious and because we were trying to recapture a little of our childhood.  Even in the mid-1990’s, authentic Chinese ingredients were hard to come by in places like Colorado, so as a good “Deh De” (older Sister) would do, I packed a couple of frozen packages of “Lap Cheong” (Chinese Sausage) and flew from Seattle with them (this was post post 911 and doing such things were not acts of transgression, but truly just what everyone did out of habit or duty).

While cooking, I was inspired by Kori, my sister-in-law, and decided to make a “healthier, vegetarian” version of the dish.  When Bryan walked into the kitchen, he was incensed with the very idea and said what is one of the most memorable cooking phrases in my life,

“You can make Sticky Rice without sticky rice, but you can’t make it without Chinese Sausage.”

That is one point well taken and I immediately and obediently went and extracted the sausage from my suitcase.  And from that time on, I have always (yes, always) made sure NEVER to substitute or omit Chinese Sausage from traditional and published recipes.

One of the most traditional home-cooked Chinese meals is steamed rice with sausage and some green vegetable on the side.  Here my updated version that fuses Chinese heritage with new ingredients that makes it work for my not-so-traditional Chinese/American family.

Gingery Rice & Potato w/ Lap Cheong – one pot recipe
1 1/2 cups white rice (we like Calrose) – this is two “rice cooker – measuring units”
2 medium sized Yukon Gold or White Potatoes – peeled and diced into 1″ pieces3 slices of fresh ginger
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon “Better than Bouillon” reduced sodium chicken base (or one cube Chicken Bouillon cube)
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using bouillon cube)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 Lap Cheong (Chinese Sausage) – cut in thin slices (1/8″) diagonally
3 Tablespoons chopped green onion

Put all ingredients EXCEPT Lap Cheong and Green Onion in a rice cooker and cook for 15 minutes; and then add sliced Lap Cheong.  When rice is done, push Lap Cheong to the side of the pot.  Remove and discard ginger slices. Add green onions and stir.  Put Lap Cheong on top or rice and serve with a salad or steamed vegetables.

If you are cooking the the rice over the stove, bring all ingredients except Lap Cheong and green onion to a boil.  Reduce to a very low simmer for 15 minutes and then add the Lap Cheong.  Re-cover and cook for 5-10 minute until rice is done.  Push Lap Cheong to the side of the pot.  Remove and discard ginger slices. Add green onions and stir.  Put Lap Cheong on top or rice and serve with a salad or steamed vegetables.