Homemade Chinese Dinner

Making Chinese food at home is easier than you think! and much better than ordering it! 

No MSG!  Fresh veges.  We deep fried all the food but you can try baking! 

Don't be intimidated, it is easier than you may think! You can also start with one item.

Lemon Chicken 
Ingredients 
1 lb of boneless skinless chicken thighs or breast
oil for frying (canola)
crispy lettuce

Batter 
1/2 Cup flour
1/4 C cornflour
2 eggs
1 C cold water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cornstarch

Sauce
2 C broth
3-4 tsp white sugar or honey
juice of two lemons
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp cornstarch




Directions
Beat together batter ingredients till the batter is the consistency of a loose pancake.
Cut chicken into strips and dip chicken strips into batter; add to heated oil in saucepan.
Using medium to high heat brown chicken pieces for 7 to 10 minutes per side till golden brown. Remove and pat excess oil off.
Make the sauce by adding all ingredients and heat over medium heat.  Adjust ingredients to taste. Serve chicken on a bed of lettuce and pour over sauce.



Spring Rolls
Ingredients
1 package of large wonton wraps       cornstarch
oil for frying
1 bundle of vermicelli noodles
8 medium chopped shrimp
4-5 minced cloves of garlic
2 C shredded chinese cabbage  2 C bean sprouts
3 chopped green onions            1 grated carrot
3 Tlb chopped cilantro             1 Tlb grated ginger
3 Tlb soya sauce                   2 tsp sesame seed oil
8 mushrooms chopped
2 Tlb hoisin sauce and 2 Tlb fish sauce (optional)

Directions
Prepare noodles to get them soft by boiling them as per directions.
Mix all ingredients ( noodles, shrimp, garlic, cabbage, sprouts, onions, cilantro, ginger, carrots, mushrooms, sesame oil and sauces) together.

Add cornstarch and water mixture to the edges of the wonton wrapper to seal.


Lay wrapper in a diamond shape. Place 2 Tlb of mixture in the middle of wrapper.

Fold one point half way up  and the fold the sides over.

Roll to make a tight spring roll.





Fry in heated oil.

We served with homemade plum sauce but that is another story!



Another great dipping sauce for spring rolls is a combination of white vinegar, white sugar with added chopped peanuts, chilli peppers and chopped cucumber.  We LOVE this recipe.



Szechuan Ginger Beef

Ingredients
1-2 Lbs sirloin beef
oil for frying
1 green pepper, 1 red pepper and 2 carrots both cut julienne style
4-5 minced garlic  cloves                                   2 Tbl grated ginger
4 whole small chili red peppers (remove after)


1 Tbl honey or white sugar
1/4 C of each soya, hoisin, and oyster sauce
1.5 C water
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp corn starch and 1/3 C water (cornstarch mixture)
sesame seeds, peanuts and chopped green onions for topping

Directions

Saute veges in a bit of canola oil. Add water, sweetener and sauces.   Bring to gentle boil and then cornstarch mixture.

While you are making the sauce, fried beef in a couple of inches of        heated canola oil.

Add the beef to the sauce.

Add sesame oil at the end.  Garnish with sesame seeds, peanuts and green onions.

We love Szechuan style Chinese cooking!  It is flavourful, hot and spicy with lots of ginger and garlic .....two of our favs!!!

Here are the three dishes together for an amazing homemade Chinese dinner!  

We served with brown rice but jasmine would be nice.