This appetizer, served cold, is one of the most famous fish dishes in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Any mild-flavoured, firm-fleshed fish such as carp or pomfret is ideal to cook the dish. It’s not actually smoked, though it looks like it has spent some time in a smoker, which likely explains its name.

Serves 3-4

Fish and marinade

• 1-2 pomfret or carp (about 800g)           鲳鱼或者青鱼、鲤鱼
• 3-4                    spring onions, cut into small sizes香葱
• 1 walnut-sized ginger, thinly sliced姜
• 4 tablespoons  Chinse cooking wine料酒
• ½ teaspoon     salt盐
• 2 cups              cooking oil for frying烹调油

Sauce

• 3 tablespoons    dark soy sauce老抽
• 1 tablespoon      chinkiang vinegar 镇江香醋
• 1 tablespoon    light soy sauce (optional) 生抽
• 2 tablespoons    caster sugar 白糖
• ½ cup                 water

Method

1. Slice the fish into 1-inch-wide strips. Discard the fish head. Place the fish in a bowl. Add into the marinade. Mix well. Let it marinate in a cool place for at least 30 minutes and up to a couple of hours.
2. Pour off and discard the marinade including ginger and spring onions. Pat dry the fish slices with kitchen towel. Pour the oil into a wok and place it over medium heat. When the oil becomes very hot, add half of the slices to the wok, being careful not to crowd them. Gently shake the wok to keep the fish from sticking. Don’t turn the slices over often, as they will break up once they are cooked. Instead, wait until one side is golden brown before gently flipping them over. Fry the other side until golden and remove the cooked fish to a clean plate. Repeat with the rest of the fish.
3. Get another clean wok or sauce pan. Pour into all the ingredients for the sauce. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Toss the fish in the sauce. Use chopsticks to gently move around the fish in the wok so they are evenly coated with the sauce. Cook for a few minutes. Turn off the heat. Place the fish on a serving plate. Serve when it has completely cooled off.

People tend to think that  potstickers are simply the pan-fried version of dumplings. But that is not the case. What distinguishes this delicacy from dumpling or Japanese Gyoza is that they are wrapped with the hot-water dough. The brilliant idea courtesy of northern Chinese home cooks heats up the flour, expands each tiny fleck, and moistens the flecks completely so that we get something more supple and tender than anything made with cold-water dough.

Yields 45 potstickers,

Make wrappers

• 250g          plain flour 中筋面粉
• 100g          hot water in 80℃
• 30g          water in room temperature
• A pinch of salt

Make filling

• 250g           ground pork
• 1/2 teaspoon      salt
• 1 teaspoon      sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon   dark soy sauce老抽
• 1 tablespoon     light soy sauce生抽
• 1 teaspoon       sesame oil香油
• 1 tablespoon     Chinese cooking wine绍兴酒
• A pinch of ground white pepper （optional)
• 125g           chopped yellow (or green) chives (or vegetable of your choice)

Make crepe batter 锅巴

• 1 tablespoon     cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon    plain flour
• 3 tablespoons    water in room temperature

Method

1. First let’s make the dough – add the flour and salt in a bowl. Gradually mix into the hot water with the flour with chopsticks to form flat flakes. Only then should you add into the cold water, which will turn mixture a soft dough. Tip the dough out on a lightly floured surface and, using your fingers and palms, knead for 5 minutes. Put the dough back to the bowl, cover it with cling wrap and leave to rest for 20 minutes.
2. Secondly, we can start making the filling. Cut the yellow chive into 0.5cm-length small pieces. In a separate mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients together.
3. Thirdly, let’s make the wrapper and assemble. Divide the dough into three pieces. Pick one piece and cut it into 15 equal pieces. Simply use your hand to pick up each piece and pound it into the floured surface to make a small circular disc. Then using a rolling pin to smooth out each disc until it’s about 7cm in oval shape. You can add some flour to the rolling pin to keep the wrappers from sticking.
4. To wrap the potstickers, hold a wrapper flat in one hand, place one tablespoon of the fillings in the center of the wrapper with the other hand. Spread out the filling in the wrapper but do not push hard to avoid the filling to spill. Fold and pinch the edges together, leaving a 1-cm opening at both sides. Repeat with rest of the wrappers and filling until all are done.
5. To make the crepe batter by simply combine flour, cooking oil and water in a small bowl. Now let’s cook. Arrange as many potstickers in a nonstick frying pan as it will fit without squeezing – though they should touch each other. Turn the heat to high. Gradually pour into the Crepe Batter from one side of the pan. When the batter starts boiling, turn the heat into low-medium. Cover the pan and cook for about 8-10 minutes.
6. Remove the lid, hold the handle and gently shake the pan. The cooking is done when all the potstickers can be easily moved around when being shaken in the pan. Cover the pan with a big round-shape serving plan. Flip the pan. Then you will now have ‘one’ piece of the potstickers.

It is a famous Shanghai dish that is intended as an appetizer and served cold. The original recipe requires a large amount of oil for deep-frying and a powerful professional gas stove to get the crispy surface of the ribs. This recipe is altered to achieve the beautiful golden color of the meat and amazing sweet and sour taste by introducing a traditional Chinese meat-browning technique 炒糖色 (chao tang shai), or frying the ribs in melted sugar to add color.

Serves 3-4

For boiling spareribs

• 500g                                spareribs, cut to the bite size 猪肋排，切成小块
• 2 tablespoons                Chinese cooking wine
• 1 thumb-size ginger, sliced姜片
• 3 – 4 green onion, white part (save the green part for garnish) 葱白段

For the stir-fry

• 2 tablespoons            cooking oil
• 3 tablespoons            caster sugar白砂糖
• 4 tablespoons           Chinkiang vinegar镇江香醋
• 3 tablespoons           light soy sauce生抽
• 5 tablespoons            water

Method

1. Cut the pork ribs into small bite size and transfer to a large pot. Add water to cover the ribs. Bring it to a boil and cook for a few minutes. Remove the pot from stove. Rinse the ribs with running water. Return the ribs to the water. Add water to cover ribs. Also add two tablespoons of cooking wine, sliced ginger and green onion. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn to small-medium heat. Cook for about 40 minutes till the ribs become soft.
2. Remove the pot from stove. Transfer the ribs to a colander to drain – do not throw away the liquid because it works perfectly as stock for you to cook noodles or any other dishes. Scoop out ginger and green onion. The liquid, or the stock is good in the fridge for up to 4 to 5 days.
3. Mix chinkiang vinegar, light soy sauce and water in a small bowl, set aside.
4. Now, let’s stir fry. Add the cooking oil and sugar to a wok and cook over medium heat. Stir constantly with a spatula to dissolve the sugar slowly. When the sugar is fully dissolved, use spatula to scoop some liquid mixture to observe its color. The process takes about 5-8 minutes. When the sugar turns pale brown, immediately and carefully add the ribs to the wok. Stir constantly to coat them well with melted sugar. Stir until the ribs turn golden brown, turn off heat.
5. Now pour into the mixture of vinegar, light soy sauce and water. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Turn to medium heat and cook for about 20 minutes. When the sauce has significant reduced, turn up the heat to thicken the sauce. Stir well to make sure ribs are evenly coated with the sauce. This process takes about a few minutes.
6. Transfer the ribs to a plate. Garnish the ribs with chopped green onion. Serve warm or cold.

Tips:

1. The traditional Chinese meat-browning technique 炒糖色(chao tang shai), or browning meat in the melted sugar is a common technique in Chinese braised dishes. The result is similar to browning the meat – to add color to the meat and to create a crispy surface. With the chao tang shai method, it quickly adds color to the meat without using dark soy sauce and infuses a sweet flavor to the dish. You start with adding sugar to cold oil. Cook slowly until the sugar melts and turns golden. It’s important to get a hot oil temperature without burning the sugar. You will find that the pork gets a nice beautiful reddish brown color in a minute or so, along with the caramelization of the sugar.

Eggplant, or aubergine, is widely used in the cuisine of many countries. It is often stewed, as in the French  ratatouille, or deep-dried as in the Italian parmigiana di melanzane. Eggplant is delicious but could also be a very heavy dish as ‘softening’ the eggplant demands a large amount of cooking oil. I had been researching and working ways to reduce oil absorbed by the eggplant. I have happily found the perfect answer. There perhaps are a dozen of different types of eggplants. This recipe uses Chinese eggplant, which is thinner and longer than their short and thicker Italian or American cousins. The Chinese eggplant is available at Asian markets and many mainstream grocery stores in Asia.

Serves 2-4,

• 1-2         (400g)                                Chinese eggplant 紫皮长茄子

Sauce

• 1 tablespoon                   cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon                   garlic cloves, minced蒜末
• 1 tablespoon                   ginger, minced姜末
• 1 tablespoon                   spring onion,葱末, separate green and white sections
• 1/2 teaspoon                    salt
• 2-3                                      fresh green and red chilies          (optional)
• 2 tablespoons                   Sichuan preserved mustard green四川榨菜
• 2 tablespoons                  light soy sauce生抽
• 1 tablespoon                   dark soy sauce老抽

 Method

1. Cut the eggplant into 8cm-long strips. Place the eggplant strips in a box and place it in microwave over high heat for 4 minutes and 20 seconds. Leave the box lid loose. Don’t tightly close it.
2. In the meantime, heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add garlic, ginger and spring onions (white section) and fry for 2 minutes. Add green and red chilies (optional) and cook for another 1 minute. Add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and preserved mustard green. Mix well and cook for a minute. Turn off the heat. Place the eggplant strips in the wok and mix well.
3. Plate the eggplant. Sprinkle with spring onions (green section). Enjoy.