Cooking Chinese Food: Steamed Chicken with Mushroom and Chinese Sausage & Bitter Melon with Eggs

Debatably, most of what my family cooks is Chinese food, but there are more traditional Chinese foods, such as what you would get from a restaurant.  I'm not talking about a Chinese take-out restaurant.  Well, I guess broccoli beef counts, but more specifically, I grew up with Cantonese food.  My mom's parents cook very traditional Cantonese food, but my paternal grandma tends to cook simplified versions, which take out some of the more time-consuming and technical steps.  This is how I learned to cook, and while it makes good food, I want to learn how to cook traditional foods, too.  I plan to take this approach not only with Chinese food but also with other types of foods.  I figure this way I'll be able to learn many different recipes and techniques.  I'm also more interested in meal planning, and the best way to do this will probably be to do themed weeks.

When I first started making kombucha, I watched the YouTube channel Pro Home Cooks, now Life by Mike G.  There were several things that his channel specialized in that I thought would be good to integrate into my cooking.  First was eating more fermented food.  On top of kombucha, he also talks about pickling different vegetables.  I figured I'd wait until I got home since my parents have a pretty large garden that my uncle started during COVID.  Another option there is canned food, but I'll get into the details of this stuff more when I actually start.  The second specialty that caught my eye is sourdough bread.  In general, I want to learn how to make bread.  My roommate would occasionally make bread, and it was very nice to have fresh bread.  Third, Mike has quite a few videos about meal planning.  I plan to have a specific post about this, but my favorite episodes were when he used a specific cuisine to meal plan.  I like this thought, which is why I want to implement themed weeks until I get more comfortable with the different recipes.

Until I am more settled into the routine and with the unpredictabilities of the holidays, I'm sure that my plans will go awry.  So, I plan to wait a little before I really jump in full force.  However, for now, I am just focusing on finding recipes that fit the ingredients we have on hand.

Tonight's Dinner

Starting with what needs to be eaten soon, we have bittermelon.  My dad also defrosted chicken.  Considering most of the recipes I know (or at least have knowledge of) are Cantonese food, I figured that'd be the best place to start, especially with bittermelon.  The two bittermelon dishes I know are stir-fried bitter melon and chicken in black bean sauce or bitter melon and eggs.  The latter is my favorite way to eat bitter melon, and since I've never cooked it before, it seems like the safest option.  Rice, bitter melon, and eggs.  That's a grain, vegetable, and protein, so a balanced meal.  Though I could stop here, I was worried there wouldn't be enough food since there were only two bitter melons.  Since it's a Monday, and we ate the rest of the leftovers this past weekend, I figured it would be fine if we had some leftovers.

Since we have defrosted chicken, I decided to look at some chicken recipes on Made With Lau.  Fun fact, that family has the same last name as me!  It's pronounced and spelled differently, but their logo is the character of my last name.  The father of the site owner is a Chinese chef who specifically cooks Toisanese versions of Cantonese food.  This is the region my Chinese chef grandfather is from, so I love using Made With Lau recipes because they are basically the same as my grandfather's.  After looking at a list of chicken recipes with my dad, we determined that we had all the ingredients for the Steamed Chicken with Mushroom and Chinese Sausage recipe.  Now time to cook!

Steamed Chicken with Mushroom and Chinese Sausage

Here's the link to the Made With Lau recipe that I used: https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/steamed-chicken-with-mushroom.  See my comments/changes (i.e., I didn't read the recipe before starting, so I ended up jumping around a bit) in red.

INGREDIENTS:

Main Ingredients

• 1 0.75 oz dried shiitake mushroom (rinsed and rehydrated)
• 0.50 0.75 oz cloud ear fungus (rinsed and rehydrated)
• 0.25 oz goji berry (rinsed and rehydrated) I soaked the goji berries, but I don't think ours were dehydrated
• 2 link Chinese sausage (cut into 1/4-inch thick slices)
• 1.3 1 pound chicken (4 deboned drumsticks, cut into chunks) we used 1 Costco pack, so 1 pound
• 1 oz ginger (with peel removed, sliced and quartered) we didn't have any ginger
• 1 tablespoon cooking wine
• 1 oz shallot (white parts cut into 2-inch segments and green parts diced (substitute with green onions if needed)) we used green onions, and a lot of them because my dad cut a very large bunch from the garden (extra note: we only used the tops so it was all green parts)

Marinade Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 1.5 teaspoon sugar
• 0.50 teaspoon salt
• 0.25 teaspoon white black pepper didn't have white pepper so subbed in black pepper
• 2 teaspoon cooking wine
• 2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon oil I got lazy so I didn't actually add any extra oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Wash ingredients

• Rinse the dried shiitake mushrooms (1 oz) twice. Soak in warm water for 15 to 20 minutes, placing a bowl on top of the mushrooms to fully submerge them if needed. Drain out the water and rinse one more time with clean water, then set aside. So laziness and skimming lead to all dried foods going in one bowl to soak
• Rinse the cloud ear fungus (0.50 oz) once, then soak in warm water for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain out the water and soak in clean warm water for another 5 minutes. Drain again and set aside.
• Rinse the goji berries (0.25 oz) and soak in room temperature water for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain out the water and set aside.
• Rinse the Chinese sausage (2 link) and set aside.

Step 2: Prep chicken

• Prep the chicken (1.3 pound). If using chicken drumsticks, remove the skin off by using a paper towel to grip and pull it off. You can skip this step if using a boneless, skinless cut. used boneless, so skipped this step
• Debone the chicken. Cut down the vertical tendon along the bone through the meat to expose the bone. Break the bone by hitting it with the back of the cleaver. Using the cleaver to pin down the bone, pull the meat off and trim off the parts still connected to the bones. (Save the bones for cooking stock!) used boneless, so skipped this step
• Cut chicken into 1/4-inch chunks and place into bowl.
• Cut the ginger (0.50 oz) into slices. Trim off the peel and cut into quarters. Add to the chicken. didn't have ginger, so skipped this step
• Add the cooking wine (1 tablespoon) to the chicken and mix together by hand. Set aside and let sit for 8 to 10 minutes. so we have cooking wine, but I didn't read super well and just added it when I did the marinade so...oops

Step 3: Cut Chinese sausage

• Cut the Chinese sausage at a diagonal into 1/4-inch thick slices.
• Cut the white parts of shallots (0.50 oz) into 2-inch segments, trimming apart the bulb at the root if needed. Dice the green parts of shallots (0.50 oz) for garnish. used only green parts and added it all in the next step (saved some for garnish)
• Peel the remaining ginger (0.50 oz) and cut into thin slices, then into quarters. no ginger, skipped step

Step 4: Marinate chicken

• In a small bowl, mix together the oyster sauce (2 tablespoon), light soy sauce (2 teaspoon), sugar (1.5 teaspoon), salt (0.50 teaspoon), white pepper (0.25 teaspoon), cooking wine (2 teaspoon), and cornstarch (2 teaspoon). Stir to thoroughly combine, taste test and adjust to preference.
• Add the marinade to chicken and mix by hand until well incorporated. There's no need to add all of the marinade if it feels like too much.
• Add the sesame oil (1 teaspoon) and mix in by hand.
• Add the rehydrated shiitake mushrooms and cloud ear fungus and mix by hand.
• Add the oil (1 tablespoon) and mix by hand.
• Add ginger and shallots and again, mix by hand.
• In a steaming plate, first plate the cloud ear fungus on the bottom, followed by all of the other ingredients, making sure to leave a slight dip in the middle of the plate. I mixed these in when I did the shitake mushrooms so they were all mixed together
• Add Chinese sausage pieces on top and spread them out evenly. I added this at the end, but it was just kind of piled in the middle
• Finally, place the goji berries on top and spread them out evenly. Added this with the mushrooms so it was all mixed together (it's mostly because I soaked everything together)

Step 5: Steam chicken

• In a wide wok with a steaming rack, add water to the bottom of the steamer rack, cover and bring to a boil on high. To give things a head start, you can also boil water separately and add it to the wok first.
• Once the water comes to a boil, carefully place the steaming plate inside and cover. Steam on high for 14 to 15 minutes. The timing will vary based on depth and width of plate, amount of water and size of wok.
• Sprinkle on the diced shallot greens (or green onions), remove the plate from wok, and serve! Added some earlier, but also saved some to garnish in this step

Bitter Melon with Eggs

Surprisingly, Made With Lau didn't have a recipe for this, so I just asked Google.  There were a couple of recipes, but I saw one by The Woks of Life, who wrote the recipes I've previously used for dumplings.  See the original recipe here: https://thewoksoflife.com/bitter-melon-with-eggs/#recipe.

INGREDIENTS: 

• 18 ounces bitter melon (about 2 bitter melons) used 2 bitter melons, but I don't know what they weigh
• 5 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (divided)
• 1/8 teaspoon white black pepper like in the other recipe, subbed in black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (divided)
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine used generic Chinese cooking wine, it might have been Shaoxing but I don't know (it was in Chinese)
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce (or vegetarian oyster sauce if making this vegetarian)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Take each of your bitter melons, and slice them in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Scrape the inside of the melon clean of any white pith, which can be particularly bitter.
2. Turn the melon over so that the hollowed out side is facing the cutting board, and cut into thin slices on a diagonal.
3. Fill your wok (or a medium to large pot) with water, and stir in 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring it to a boil. Blanch the bitter melon for 30 seconds, and drain. Set aside. 30 seconds seems super short so we did more like 1 minutes, but also no timer so
4. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with ¼ teaspoon of salt, white black pepper, and sesame oil.
5. Heat your wok until it is completely dry and just begins to smoke. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, followed immediately by the beaten eggs. Scramble the eggs quickly so they remain tender and do not brown. When the eggs are 70% cooked, remove them from the wok back to the bowl and set aside. I probably cooked the eggs closer to 90% (i.e. no shiny parts), but I just didn't really cook them any longer in step 7
6. Add another tablespoon of oil to the wok, and add the bitter melon. Stir-fry for 15-30 seconds, and then add the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok. Stir-fry for another 15 seconds, and add the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. as mentioned this seems super quick so I stir fried them for closer to 1 minute, but didn't time it exactly
7. Add the eggs back to the wok, and mix just until they’re cooked through. Remove from the wok immediately and serve. as mentioned, I didn't really cook the eggs more since I'd already cooked them through before

Review

I think both recipes were a success for my first time cooking them.  I'm sure I'll try both recipes again sometime soon.  The steamed chicken recipe was so good and tasted very similar to what my grandpa makes.  In the future, I'd probably try to use the ratio of mushrooms to fungus indicated in the recipe.  The fungus blows up super big, so after being rehydrated, they end up being pretty equal in amount even though their weights are different (i.e., we had twice as much fungus as mushrooms with the ratio we used).  Also, since the fungus blows up so much, I understand why the recipe says to put it on the bottom.  In the future, I'll probably try to layer the ingredients like how it is listed in the recipe.  Honestly, I will probably still be lazy and rehydrate them all at the same time.  I also want to try the cooking wine soak before the marinade.  I'm not sure what it does exactly.  It may just be for flavor, but it could also be for tenderizing the meat.  However, the chicken didn't end up very dry or tough because it was steamed so I am curious what the cooking wine soak does.  Other than that, any recipe with lap cheong (traditional Chinese: 臘腸, Jyutping: laap6 coeng2, Cantonese Yale: laahp chéung) is good to me!

For the bitter melon, it just wasn't very cooked through.  It was still very crunchy.  The blanching step is the part that takes some of the bitterness away.  Though now that I'm thinking about it, I don't remember if I added the salt.  Either way, it wasn't too bitter.  The biggest part was that it was still crunchy, so I think it would be best to stir-fry it longer until it's soft.  Other than that, it's a pretty simple and easy recipe.  I also got to try out a real-ish wok!  The wok's I've used in the past are stovetop non-stick pans, so it's mostly just the shape.  Not that I'm going to complain.  Even my little IKEA wok was one of my favorite pans, just because of the size.  The bottom fit perfectly on our small apartment electric stove, but the volume that pan could fit was amazing.  I still enjoyed using a bigger wok on a bigger range.  It's also carbon steel (which is why I said it is real-ish; it's still too small and not over an open flame), so I am looking forward to learning to use it.