Shanghai Soup Dumplings

Recently I discovered that "mandu" is the Korean word for dumpling.  In Japanese perhaps you would say I am a "gyoza otaku" or liberally translated: "dumpling eating fiend."  Perhaps my last name means the same thing in Korean?  These are my first attempt at making the greatest type of dumplings I have yet to encounter, the xiao long bao or Shanghai Soup Dumpling.  Inside is a delicious pork filling and piping hot soup - you bite into these over a spoon just in case you spill some soup.  This picture is of one on my better ones... ignore the one in the background that burst while steaming and spilled its precious broth everywhere.  What a shame!

Bok Choy and Shitake Mushrooms

I picked this Mark Bittman recipe because I love Bok Choy and I had some oyster sauce to use up, which Bittman uses as the main sauce for this stir fry. The dried shitakes from the Eden Center were fragrant and woodsy, and in general very good, but they couldn't make up for the lack of fresh, crispy shitakes (the store didn't have any). Perhaps I ruined it, but there are tastier ways to make bok choy.

Chinese Pork Noodles

There are many things to discover in pork stir fry. I have loved lo mein since I was a kid. Now I often find it too greasy, so this was an attempt to make it at home. Shopper's is great in latin american international, but their asian selection leaves much to be desired. These are egg noodles, but a bit too thin. The tenderloin is marinated in a brown rice wine and is quite tasty. There is also a whole Napa cabbage in here which gives it some nutritional value. Next time I will amp up the veggies and cut down a bit on the pork, but another solid asian recipe from Cook's.

Kung Pao Chicken

Chinese is another type of food that has a few tricks you need to learn, but once you have you can cook most dishes better than the Chinese restaurants. Getting them to be very authentic is another matter and takes some time and a few strange ingredients. This recipe, originally by Fuschia Dunlop on her travels to China, is a good one, and my version is slightly Americanized due to several ingredient substitutions. But it's delicious, and I did have the Sichuan peppercorn in the pantry which gives it a distinctive flavor.