East meets west

I really appreciate dishes that authentically represent their cultural heritage, and, as such, I am generally not a fan of fusion cuisine.  However, I recognize that different cuisines have different strengths and limitations, and when paired appropriately, can lead to delicious results.  Case and point: the Asian-inspired salad.

My first encounter with the Asian-inspired salad was the vegetarian Thai noodle salad at Milestone's, which featured salty feta cheese, creamy avocado, tropical papaya, meaty artichokes, sliced mushrooms, crunchy shredded carrots, greens, sesame noodles, and, of course, an Asian-inspired dressing.  



I've made a home-made version of this salad using whole-wheat spaghetti, avocado, Romaine lettuce, mandarin oranges, mango, shredded carrots, sliced bell peppers, shredded roasted chicken breast, and Renee's asian sesame vinaigrette.  This one dish meal is especially refreshing on those hot summer nights when I'm craving something cool and refreshing.
    


Recently, I was inspired to make another Asian-inspired salad - grilled tofu and orzo salad.  The inspiration for this salad was actually the house-made, Asian-inspired vinaigrette.  I inherited the recipe for the vinaigrette from my colleague, who was initially introduced to it by a friend of her's.  There's something so special about passing along recipes and sharing them among friends.

I normally use soft tofu in my cooking, especially in steamed or braised dishes, as I adore its smooth silky texture.  However, this salad requires a tofu that can withstand more handling and tossing about.  Extra-firm tofu is ideal for grilling, and adds heartiness and substance to the salad.

Tofu is a blank canvas for flavour and easily absorbs the flavours of a marinade or cooking liquid.  To ensure that maximal flavour is incorporated into the tofu for this dish: 

1)  Marinate the tofu overnight, and pierce each piece of tofu to ensure that the marinade is absorbed throughout the tofu.

 
2)  After grilling the tofu, cut it up and let it sit in the original marinade until the salad is ready to be assembled.

Aside from the tofu and orzo, I have made this salad with many different types of vegetables and fruit.  The versatility of salads allows you to tailor the ingredients to your liking (or to whatever vegetables or fruit in the fridge that need to be used up!). 

Grilled Tofu and Orzo Salad

Ingredients  (Serves 8)

2 packages extra-firm tofu

1/2 Romaine lettuce, shredded

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 mangoes, peeled and diced

1-1/2 cups cooked orzo

Tofu Marinade

Light soy sauce (生抽)

Dark soy sauce (老抽)

Sesame oil

Fish sauce  
Sugar 

Vinaigrette

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup sesame oil

3/4 cup canola oil

4 tbsp light soy sauce (生抽)
 

1)  Cut tofu into thick strips.  Pierce each strip with the tip of the knife. 

2)  Mix marinade ingredients together, and marinate tofu overnight in the refrigerator.

3)  Grill the tofu strips for 1 minute, flip onto the non-grilled side, and grill for another minute. 

4)  Cut the tofu strips into cubes, and let it sit in the marinade until the salad is ready to be assembled. 

5)  Mix all salad ingredients in a big bowl, and pour as much vinaigrette as needed to dress the salad.
6)  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

 

Soy sauce chicken

I remember a small, family-run Chinese grocery store that my family used to always go to when I was a child.  In addition to the standard Chinese groceries, the owner also had a section that sold Chinese barbecue items.  My favorite items were curry squid (咖哩魷魚), barbecue pork (叉燒), and soy sauce chicken (豉油雞).  The owners have long since retired, the store has changed ownership and design, and it no longer houses a barbecue section.  To this day, I reminisce about the flavor of their curry squid, and I have not been able to find a recipe or other store that can recreate this taste that I fondly remember.  So often our memories set such high standards for how dishes ought to taste.

Soy sauce chicken is classic Chinese home-cooking.  The chicken is cooked slowly over indirect heat by sitting in a cooked marinade, and as such, retains its tender succulence.    I've tried a variety of recipes, and the following is the one that I enjoy the most.  The recipe is adapted from Annie Leong's (梁許安璞) "At Home with Annie" (安璞．滋味．知足).  Annie's version includes an additional step of smoking (煙熏) the chicken over rice, sugar, and dried rose buds, which I don't normally do. 

 

The name of this dish is misleading because soy sauce is not the sole ingredient used in the marinade.  The base of this marinade is a ready-to-use, bottled chicken marinade developed specifically for soy sauce chicken, and the depth of flavour is further developed with the addition of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, rock sugar, two different types of Chinese cooking wine, shallots, ginger, and scallions. The great thing about this marinade is that it can be reused again and again (and kept in the freezer in between uses).  With each time that it the marinade is used, it becomes more flavourful and more concentrated.  

Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油雞)

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (3.5-4lb) or chicken pieces (eg. drumsticks, thighs, or wings)

3 bottles Lee Kee Kum chicken marinade (李錦記豉油雞汁)

1 tsp Chinese "rose" wine (玫瑰露酒, Chinese salted wine made with rose flowers)

4 tbsp Shaoxing wine (紹興酒, Chinese rice wine)

3 tbsp light soy sauce (生抽)

1 tbsp dark soy sauce (老抽)

2 tbsp oyster sauce (蠔油)

3 pieces of rock sugar (冰糖), about the size of pinballs each

6-8 shallots, peeled and smashed with the size of a knife

1 large slice of ginger

1 bundle of scallions, ends trimmed and cut into 3" sections

Oil

1) In a medium-sized pot, heat a bit of oil and sautee the aromatics (shallots, ginger, and scallions) until fragrant.  Add Shaoxing wine.

2) Add all other marinade ingredients to the pot, and mix well. 

3) Add chicken to the marinade, and bring the mixture to a boil uncovered.

4) Once the mixture is heating, cover and turn the heat down to medium.  Simmer for 5 minutes and then turn off the heat.

5) Let chicken cook in the hot marinade, covered, for 1 hour.  Turn the chicken every 20 minutes to allow for even cooking.

6) Remove the chicken or chicken pieces from the marinade.  If using a whole chicken, use kitchen shears to cut the chicken into pieces.

7) Allow marinade to cool, transfer to freezer-safe containers, and keep in freezer.

Note: The next time you want to make this dish, defrost the frozen marinade in the fridge overnight.  The marinade will be of a gelatinous consistency, but will completely melt and thin out upon cooking again.  Prior to using the marinade, skim off any visible fat from the top with a spoon.  Pour the marinade into a medium-sized pot, add the chicken, and follow the same cooking technique as above.    

Sweet and Sour Ribs

One of the first dishes that my mom taught me to make was sweet and sour ribs (糖醋排骨).  Tender ribs coated in a sticky sweet and tangy sauce were, and continue to be, a household favorite.  This sweet and sour sauce is not to be confused with the one that normally dons deep-fried nuggets of pork in sweet and sour pork.  That sauce contains white vinegar and ketchup, while the tang in these sweet and sour ribs comes from black rice vinegar or Chinkiang vinegar (鎮江香醋), which is made with black glutinous rice.  The most famous black rice vinegar originated and is still produced in Chinkiang (鎮江), a city in the province of Jiangsu (江蘇), along the eastern coast of China.  

Legend tells that black rice vinegar was invented in the mid-1800s by a man called Hei Ta (黑塔), son of the legendary inventor of Chinese rice wine, Du Kang (杜康).  Du Kang and his family had just moved to Chinkiang and established a distillery outside the city, where they produced and sold wine.  Hei Ta was employed at his father's distillery and helped out with a variety of tasks.  One afternoon, he was working the stables, and had just added a few buckets of water to a large container of rice wine.  Tired and exhausted from the day's work, he drank some of the mixture, and fell asleep in a state of drunkeness.  Suddenly, he awoke to the voice of a smiling elderly gentlemen, who told him that the "nectar" he prepared has now been resting for 21 days, and is ready for consumption in the west.  The gentleman disappeared after speaking these words, and Hei Ta woke up and realized that it was all just a dream.  Puzzled by the gentleman's words, Hei Ta thought to himself, how could the mixture of rice wine and water become nectar?  He took a sip from the container and was pleasantly surprised at the rich and full-bodied flavour of the vinegar that he tasted, and immediately went to tell his father.  They were both puzzled at the gentleman's reference to 21 days and the west (二十一日酉), but when Du Kang combined the words in writing, it became the word "vinegar" (醋).  So, Du Kang and his family begain producing black rice vinegar by adding water to rice wine and allowing it to ferment for 21 days.  They gave the vinegar to their neighbors, who all enjoyed it, and not long after, customers came to the distillery asking to buy the vinegar.  Du Kang and his family began selling this vinegar all throughout the city of Chinkiang, and word travelled throughout the country about this famous black rice vinegar.  To this day, the factories in Chinkiang that produce this vinegar still allow for a 21 day fermentation period.

Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs (糖醋排骨)

Pork ribs, cut into individual ribs

2 tbsp Chinkiang black rice vinegar (鎮江香醋)

2 tbsp light soy sauce (生抽)

3 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp water

1-2 scallions, finely chopped

1)  Bring a pot of water to boil and add ribs.  Bring to a boil again, turn heat down to medium-high, and simmer for about 45 minutes.

2)  Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and water.

3)  When the ribs are cooked, drain the ribs and leave them in the pot

4)  Add the sweet and sour sauce mixture to the ribs, and bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat, turning occassionally until all the ribs are coated in the mixture.

5)  Keep the sauce on a gentle boil until it is slightly thick and sticky.  Watch closely so that the sauce does not burn.  Turn off the heat, transfer the ribs to a plate, and pour the remaining sauce over top.  Sprinkle with chopped scallions.   

Note:  The portion size of the sauce can always be increased proportionally, depending on the amount of ribs that are being cooked.  This sauce is very versatile - it can also be used to make sweet and sour pan-seared pork chops with caramelized onions (糖醋洋蔥豬扒), and sweet and sour pan-seared lamb chops (糖醋羊扒), as pictured below.