Hung Shao Sauce Recipes

CHINESE BRAISED FISH (HONGSHAO YU)

Steps:

• Using paper towels, pat the fish thoroughly dry. Wrap the fish in fresh paper towels while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. The goal is to make the fish as dry as absolutely possible. Use a sharp knife to score both sides of the fish three times.
• Once the prep work is done, unwrap the fish and dust it with a thin, even layer of cornstarch on both sides. This step will help keep the skin in tact during pan-frying.
• Heat the wok until it starts to smoke, and immediately add the oil and ginger slices. Reduce the heat to medium. Once the ginger slices start to brown, remove them from the wok and set aside. Carefully lay the fish in the wok, and DO EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER NOT TO MOVE OR TOUCH THE FISH for the next 5 minutes. You can tilt the wok around so the oil glides around to evenly brown the fish.
• After 5 minutes, shake the wok slightly to see if the fish has seared enough to stop sticking to the wok. This is when you can carefully flip the fish over and do the same process for the other side.
• Once both sides are nicely browned, add the ginger back to the wok along with the scallions, shaoxing wine, sugar, vinegar, dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. Keep the heat at medium low, and cook the fish by continuously spooning the cooking liquid over the fish. Cook on each side for 4-5 minutes. By now, the sauce should be cooked down and almost syrupy. Serve!
• Tip: If you want to make sure the fish is done, carefully pick apart the thickest part of the fish. If the meat readily comes apart from the bone, it's done. You can plate it so that the hole you made is facing down!

SHANGHAI-STYLE BRAISED PORK BELLY (HONG SHAO ROU)

Steps:

• Start by cutting your pork belly into 3/4-inch thick pieces.
• Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the pork belly pieces for a couple minutes. This gets rid of impurities and starts the cooking process. Take the pork out of the pot, rinse, and set aside.
• Over low heat, add the oil and sugar to your wok. Melt the sugar slightly and add the pork. Raise the heat to medium and cook until the pork is lightly browned.
• Turn the heat back down to low and add shaoxing cooking wine, regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and water.
• NOTE: It's very important to the color and flavor of this dish that you have both kinds of soy sauce! Just head to your local Asian market, buy a bottle of each, and it will last you a year!
• Cover and simmer over medium heat for about 45 minutes to 1 hour until pork is fork tender. Every 5-10 minutes, stir to prevent burning and add more water if it gets too dry.
• Once the pork is fork tender, if there is still a lot of visible liquid, uncover the wok, turn up the heat, and stir continuously until the sauce has reduced to a glistening coating.

RED-BRAISED PORK (HONG SHAO ROU)

Steps:

• Cut the pork into 3/4-1 in (2-3cm) chunks.
• Pour the oil into a seasoned wok over a high flame, followed by the ginger and spring onion and stir-fry until you can smell their aromas. Add the pork and stir-fry for a couple of minutes more. Splash in the Shaoxing wine. Add the stock, spices, soy sauce, sugar and 1 tsp salt. Mix well, then transfer to a clay pot or a saucepan with a lid.
• Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer over a very low flame for at least 1 1/2 hours, preferably two or three. Keep an eye on the pot to make sure it does not boil dry; add a little more stock or hot water if necessary. Adjust the seasoning and add the spring onion greens just before serving.

HUNG SHAO PORK

Steps:

• Stir-fry ginger and garlic in a big casserole dish.
• Place pork in, skin down.
• (Pluck it with tweezers first if it bears an unhealthy resemblance to your husband's back). Add everything else and a couple of cups of water.
• Cover and simmer over a very low heat for an hour.
• Turn the pork over.
• Simmer again for an hour.
• Fish the meat out and put it in a bowl.
• Reduce sauce a bit, taste, and add more soy/oyster sauce if you think it's needed.
• Strain through a sieve, pour over meat and enjoy.
• I like to leave the meat, covered with the sauce, in the fridge for at least 24 hours before eating; the flavours intensify to a surprising extent. (It's also easier to remove fat from the top at this stage, when it's set.) Serve with rice; it's also good in sandwiches.
• (The cold sauce turns into a delicious jelly.)

SICHUANESE WONTONS IN CHILLI OIL SAUCE (HONG YOU CHAO SHOU)

Steps:

• Crush the ginger with the flat of a cleaver or a rolling pin and put it in a cup with just enough cold water to cover. Place the pork, egg, Shaoxing wine and sesame oil in a bowl with 1 1/2 tsp of the ginger water and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well. Mix in the stock, 1 tbsp at a time. Finally, add the spring onion greens.
• Fill a small bowl with cold water. Take a wonton wrapper and lay it flat in one hand. Use a table knife or a small spatula to press about 1 tsp of the pork mixture into the center of the wrapper. Dip a finger into the cold water, run it around the edges of the wrapper and fold it diagonally in half. Press the edges tightly together and lay on a flour-dusted tray or large plate.
• Bring a large pan of water to a boil over a high heat. While you are waiting for the water to boil, prepare three or four serving bowls. In each bowl, place 1 tbsp sweet aromatic soy sauce (or 1 tbsp tamari soy sauce and 1/2 tsp sugar), 1 1/2 tbsp chilli oil with sediment and 1/2-1 heaped tsp of crushed garlic to taste.
• When the water has come to a boil, drop in the wontons. Stir gently to make sure they do not stick together. When the water returns to a rolling boil, pour in a small cup of cold water to calm it down. Repeat this one more time. When the water has come to a boil for the third time, the wontons should be cooked through (cut one open to make sure). Remove the wontons with a slotted spoon, drain well, and divide between the prepared serving bowls. Scatter each bowl with some of the spring onion greens. Serve immediately, stirring everything together before digging in.

HONG SHU GAI KEW

Steps:

• Thaw the boneless chicken about halfway, then cut into bite-sized chunks (It's easier to cut, when the meat is halfway frozen); place in bowl and let chicken thaw completely.
• Combine the marinade ingredients of the honey, lime juice, ginger root, soy sauce, sherry and garlic, then pour over the chicken and mix thoroughly. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
• For the chicken batter, mix all ingredients (flour, cornstarch, baking powder, eggs, water and oil) together. Let stand for 10-15 minutes Then dip your chicken pieces in the batter.
• Fry the battered chicken pieces in pre-heated peanut oil (about 1/2 inch of peanut oil), in a wok set on med-high temp, at about 375 degrees. Do not fry too many pieces all at once, or the chicken will stick together. About six-to-eight pieces at a time, works best.
• Place fried chicken bites in a non-corrosive plastic container with a few layers of paper towels underneath them to absorb the oil. Do NOT cover the fried chicken pieces! If you do, this will make your chicken turn soft, and take away the crispiness.
• Mix all sauce ingredients from above, except the sesame oil, in a bowl. Beat it with a fork until all of the cornstarch has dissolved thoroughly into the mix. Then set aside on the kitchen counter for now.
• Now rinse and dry your wok, and place all vegetables in the wok, one at a time, in the following specific order:.
• First, add the 1 T of sesame oil to the wok and set heat on medium. Now add the pea pods and stir-fry for about three minutes while gently stirring in about half of the sauce. Then add the drained water chestnuts, carrots and sliced bok choy stems and cook two-to-three more minutes. Then add the straw mushrooms while adding in the remaining sauce mixture, and cook another three minutes. (total cook time, 9-10 minutes).
• Reduce your wok heat to low and add fried chicken pieces to top of wok ingredients. Continue to cook in wok another 5 mins, and then you are done. Do NOT cover the wok, in order to keep the chicken and vegetables from becoming too soft or over-cooked.
• You are now done! (Pat yourself on the back.) Serve the dish with steamed rice if desired. Hong Shu Gai Kew is best served with hot tea or a glass of white wine, (In my humble opinion, at least.) Provide a bottle of soy sauce on the table, for those who like the dish or their rice with a kick of extra soy flavor.