Stir-fried Chicken and Eggplant in Hoisin Sauce, a simple Cantonese meal
海鮮醬炒雞丁茄丁
I have friends living in America and they still work from home. Though they are allowed to go out and shop for food, they would rather remain social distance and shop for grocery once a week or two weeks. Luckily they have Asian grocery store nearby and there are still plenty of choices of food.
For recent months, I have been asked to share food with simple ingredients, which can be easily obtained and kept in room temperature or in fridge for a longer period. Here’s a quick meal of two courses I had recently.
Stir-fried Chicken and Eggplant in Hoisin Sauce
Hoisin sauce is a thick, sweet and fragrant sauce, usually used in Cantonese cuisine. It’s used in stir-fried pork, beef, chicken or seafood. It can also be dipping sauce of rice wrap. For vegetarian, stir-fried eggplants or potato are tasty. I also use Douban sauce in this recipe, for a touch of spiciness.
Ingredients – (for 3 serving)
- Boneless chicken thigh, 2 pieces, about 450g. Chicken breast is good as well but I would prefer chicken thigh;
- Eggplant, 600g. I bought this thin and long eggplants, they are a little crunchier than usual eggplant after cooking. But any eggplant would be just fine;
- Garlic, 8 cloves
- Red hot chili pepper, 6, optional or reduce the amount if you can’t bear too much spiciness
- Hoisin sauce, 1tbsp
- Douban sauce (chili bean sauce), 1tbsp
- Light soy sauce, 1.5tbsp
- Cornstarch, 1tsp
- Sugar, 1tsp
- Cantonese rice wine, or any Chinese cooking wine, 1/2cup
- Green onion, 1stalk
How to do –
1. Let’s deal with the eggplants first. Eggplants cut into big bite size cubes or chunks, put them in a big bowl, sprinkle 2tbsp of salt on, shake and mix evenly, and let it sit for 10-20 minutes; Roughly wash off the salt in runny water, then squeeze the liquid out of the eggplants; this sweating process can retain the purple colour of eggplant after cooking as much as possible.
For details, read Two Methods to Keep Eggplant from Turning Brown;
2. While eggplants are sweating, prepare the chicken. Chicken thigh also cut into bite size cube, marinated with 1.5tbsp of light soy sauce, 1tsp of cooking wine, 1tsp of sugar, 1tsp of cornstarch, mix them well;
3. Heat 2tbsp of oil in hot wok, pan-fry chicken in medium high heat till golden;
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4. Put in garlic and chili, also stir-fry till fragrant;
5. Put in eggplants, flip the wok or stir-fry till all ingredients mixed well, lid on, cook for 5mins;
6. Seasoned with 1tbsp of Hoisin sauce and Douban sauce, half cup of cooking wine, flip the wok or stir the ingredients well till fragrant for 1 or 2 minutes; reduce the sauce, and sprinkle some chopped green onion on; serve right away with hot steamed rice.
海鲜酱炒鸡丁茄丁
用料
- 去骨鸡腿 2块，约450克（3人份）
- 茄子 600克（3人份）
- 蒜头 8粒
- 红辣椒 6颗
- 海鲜酱 1汤匙
- 豆瓣酱 1汤匙
- 生抽 5汤匙
- 生粉 1茶匙
- 糖 1茶匙
- 广东米酒/料酒 1/2量杯
- 葱 1根
做法
- 先来处理一下茄子。茄子切成一口大小的粒，放2汤匙盐，拌匀，出水10-20分钟，中途可以拌一下把盐拌均匀；用水把表面盐冲洗掉，再用手挤干茄子的水分。这样做茄子易熟且颜色漂亮。不过我这次用的茄子颜色不深，所以炒出来颜色也还是会比较浅。关于怎么处理能够让茄子保持漂亮的紫色，可以参考我之前写过的菜谱;
- 等待茄子出水的时候可以来处理一下去骨鸡腿肉。鸡肉切成大丁；放5汤匙生抽、1茶匙料酒、1茶匙糖、1茶匙生粉，搅拌均匀；
- 热锅放油，油热放鸡肉，中大火煎至金黄；
- 放入蒜粒和辣椒粒，炒香，怕太辣的朋友可以最后上菜前再放辣椒；
- 放入茄子，翻炒均匀，盖锅盖煮5分钟；
- 放1汤匙豆瓣酱和海鲜酱，半量杯米酒，大火，颠锅翻炒均匀。米酒多点没关系，酒气蒸发会很香；收汁，撒入葱段，起菜。
Mung Bean, Winter Gourd and Preserved Eggs Soup
It’s already summer in Hong Kong. This is a common soup that many Cantonese family would make in summer, in order to get rid of the heat. It only takes less than half an hour to make. It’s really a daily soup for any busy working day.
Ingredients – (for 3 serving)
- Winter gourd, 1kg
- Mung beans without skin, 1/2 cup, if not available, use usual mung beans, but it needs a bit more time cooking
- Salty duck egg, 1
- Century egg, 1
- Dried mini shrimps, 10g
- Ginger, 10g
How to do –
1. Mung beans washed and soaked in water for a few minutes;
2. Cut off the thick skin and seeds of winter gourd, sliced thickly;
3. Remove the coating of century egg and salty duck egg, wash, then poached for a few minutes till cooked, cool down and shell removed;
4. In a soup pot, put in winter gourd, mung beans, ginger, dried mini shrimp, add water till ingredients covered, bring to boil then simmer in medium heat;
5. When mung beans cooked, usually only takes about 10 -15 minutes, put in the eggs, simmer for 10 more minutes and it’s good to serve.
去皮绿豆冬瓜双蛋汤
用料
- 冬瓜 1千克（3人份）
- 去皮绿豆 半量杯
- 咸蛋 1个
- 皮蛋 1个
- 虾米 10克
- 姜 10克
做法
- 备料。材料的分量也不用太仔细。绿豆吸水后会涨大，如果不喜欢太稠的口感可以少放一点；
- 去皮绿豆冲洗干净，用水泡几分钟；
- 冬瓜切去硬皮和囊，切大块。如果煲老火汤或者做冬瓜茶我就不削皮，冬瓜皮的清热效果比冬瓜肉更好；
- 皮蛋和咸蛋可以先煮熟，切块，放到汤里一起煲；或者直接打到汤里也可以；
- 汤锅内放冬瓜、绿豆、姜拍散、虾米提鲜。放水至没过材料。大火煮沸转中火；
- 煮至绿豆开花后放入切好的皮蛋和咸蛋，再煮10分钟。大概总共加起来20分钟就做好。
