Chinese sticky rice
cakes (chao nian gao)
This recipe uses the dried rice cakes you can buy from Chinese stores such as Yon Tong in Suva. Just soak them for a few hours in water and they’re ready to fry with meats or just vegetables. The kids will love this dish!
500 grams dried Chinese rice cake sticks (nian gao)
4 dried Chinese shiitake or Legalega cultivated mushrooms
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of white sugar
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine
1 teaspoon cornstarch
200 gram pork slices or mince
2 tablespoons cooking oil
Handful Chinese napa cabbage, shredded
1 cup tinned bamboo shoots, drained and sliced thin
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1. In a large bowl, soak the rice sticks according to the instructions. If you are using dried Chinese black mushrooms, in a small bowl, soak the dried Chinese mushrooms for 2 hours or up to overnight until softened.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the 2 teaspoon light soy sauce, black pepper, sugar, rice wine, cornstarch together. Mix in the pork and marinate for 20 minutes or up to overnight in the refrigerator.
3. When you are ready to cook, have all of your ingredients ready. Drain the rice cakes. Drain the mushrooms and slice into very thin slices.
4. Heat a wok or large pan over high heat. When hot, swirl in the cooking oil. Add the pork and cook until browned and almost cooked through.
5. Add in the mushrooms and the bamboo shoots, stir fry for 1 minute. Add in the cabbage and stir fry for 2 minutes. Mix in the remaining soy and oyster sauce.
6. Add in the rice cakes and toss very well. Pour in the broth, cover and lower the heat to medium-low. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the rice cakes have browned a little and are softened. Serve immediately.
Steamed fish in
fermented bean paste
Steaming whole fish and serving it with fresh ginger, green spring onions, sweetened soy and searing hot oil is the most classic way to enjoy fish, but this recipe is for the foodies who want to try a spicy fermented sauce made from soy beans.
1 plate sized whole fish (donu is best!), cleaned and scaled
1 teaspoon salt, to rub on the fish
2 tablespoons chilli bean paste (Doubanjiang)
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
1 knob of fresh ginger, julienned
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Dried fried shallot (from the Chinese store)
Spring onions, garnish
Coriander leaves, garnish
1. Clean fish, pat dry. Rub salt into the fish.
2. Place some ginger on a steaming dish, place fish on top.
3. Apply chilli bean paste generously on top of the fish like buttering bread. Sprinkle sugar on top.
4. Bring water in the steamer to a boil and steam fish over high heat for 8-10 minutes.
5. While the fish is steaming half way, heat sesame oil and soy sauce in a pot and bring to a boil.
6. Remove fish from the steamer, pour away excess steaming liquid.
7. Drizzle hot oil and soy sauce mixture over. Garnish and serve!
Boiled pork and
cabbage dumplings
400 grams Chinese napa cabbage leaves, roughly chopped
300 grams ground pork (or substitute any meat or seafood)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup minced green spring onions (white and green parts)
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 package frozen dumpling wrappers (from your local Chinese store), defrosted at room temperature for 30 minutes for the slurry: 1 tablespoon cornflour + 1/2 cup water
1. To make the filling, finely chop the cabbage into small pieces. Remove the cabbage to a large bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Let cabbage sit for 10 minutes. This will draw out excess moisture.
2. In the meantime, blend or hand mix together the ginger, chives, pork, pepper, soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil. Mix the ingredients well. Set aside.
3. Use your hands to grab a handful of the cabbage and squeeze and discard the excess moisture out into the sink. Place the dry cabbage back into the large bowl and add the pork mixture. Fold the cabbage into the pork mixture.
4. Mix together the slurry or cornflour and water. Take one dumpling wrapper, spoon 1 tablespoon of the pork mixture onto the middle of the wrapper. Dip one finger into the slurry and “paint” the edges of the dumpling wrapper. Bring up the bottom side of the wrapper, fold up and press to shape into a half-moon shape, encasing all of the filling. Place on baking sheet, cover loosely with plastic wrap and repeat with rest of dumplings. Make sure the dumplings do not touch each other on the sheet.
5. When all dumplings assembled, you can cook immediately or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to several hours. To cook, half-fill a large pot with water and bring to boil. When boiling, and gently slide in 1/3 of the dumplings. When water returns to a boil, turn heat to a simmer and gently cook for 6-8 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and repeat with remaining dumplings.
Serve with hot chili sauce.
