Stir Fried Tung Choi with Shrimp Paste 蝦醬炒通菜

Ahh!  This dish is so fragrant that you can scent it from outside of a restaurant!  That is because this classic vegetable stir fry uses the redoubtable Chinese fermented shrimp paste 蝦醬 as the flavoring component.  

In this Stir Fried Tong Choi with Shrimp Paste 蝦醬炒通菜 the briny, pungent, funky shrimp paste clings lovingly to the tender leaves and crunchy stems of the Chinese Tong Choi, thoroughly flavouring the leaves as well as providing the base for the scrumptious sauce.

Stir Fry Long Beans w/ Olive Vegetable Sauce 橄欖菜炒長豆

The wonderful thing about Chinese food is how diverse and deep the cuisine is.  The more you delve into into it the more there is.  It could be a conversion with a friend, a random article in a food magazine, a new dish discovered at a restaurant, or simply a stroll through your neighborhood Chinese food market or wet market.  

This simple and simply yummilicious  Stir Fry Long Beans with Olive Vegetable Sauce 橄欖菜炒長豆 was a result of discovering a wonderful traditional Chinese sauce made from Chinese olives through one of our readers.  Thanks Jackie!  

Dragon Well Green Tea Shrimp Stir Fry 龍井炒蝦仁

Humm...besides making our lovely savory meat Zongzi and Grandma's red bean paste ZongZi for Dragon Boast Festival this year, I thought I would also make the traditional Dragon Well Green Tea Shrimp Stir Fry 龍井炒蝦仁 to celebrate both the rivers and the dragon boats that the festival centers around.

First of all, full confession, we didn't use Dragon Well tea 龍井茶 this time.  We meant to use this special tea but, rushing around at the last minute, found that our usual Chinese tea shop was closed for the day.  But we had all our shrimp already!  That's what happens when you decide things last minute...  But, in the end, things turned out okay, very okay as a matter of fact.  We had some tea at home and decided to just use what we had.  

Our Dragon Well (sometimes) Green Tea Shrimp Stir Fry 龍井炒蝦仁 turned out just fine, juicy velvety sea sweet shrimp dotted with tea leaves, smothered with an aromatic, smooth, tea scented sauce.  We actually liked this version better than when we made it with Dragon Well tea.

Chili Leaves Stir Fry with Garlic 蒜蓉炒辣椒葉

One recent day while strolling through our local wet market we spotted a box of fresh tender looking green vegetables spotted throughout with the most beautiful tiny white flowers.  What the heck were these?  Never seen anything like these before.  

We found out that these lovely tender greens were the leaves of chili pepper plant.  What, we exclaimed, you can eat chili pepper leaves?!  The grumpy old vegetable vendor declared with a harumph and a sideways look that it was so.  Well, what to do but to buy a big old bunch of the fresh tender greens and take it home to do a simple and classic Chinese stir fry with garlic. 

It turns out that not only can you eat these tender leaves but Chili Leaves Stir Fry with Garlic 蒜蓉炒辣椒葉 is a simply yummilicious vegetable dish!

Stir Fry Beef Udon Noodles 牛肉炒烏冬面

Sometimes there's nothing you want so much as a good heap'in plate of steaming hot stir fried noodles.  Yuummmm...  Noodles are a great all in one dish!  

You've got your long twirling noodles that you can slurp or suck up, your various bits of lovely vegetables (healthy!), and your lovely splash of marinated meat (scrummy!).  Everything you need for a super tasty all in one dinner or lunch.  

We love to use udon noodles to make our stir fry noodles cuz you get the added perk of the udon oozing just enough starch to make a deliciously sticky, oh so satisfying! sauce that juicily coats all your stir fry.  So good!  Try this Stir Fry Beef Udon Noodles, it's an easy, throw together leftovers kind of dish that makes a lovely, tasty, saucy plate of delicious noodles.

Stir Fry Chinese Pea Shoots 炒豆苗

This classic Chinese vegetable dish is one of those things that is really, really simple to make and yet unforgettable in all its comforting yumminess.  I first had Stir Fry Chinese Pea Shoots long ago in a little hotel restaurant in Beijing on my first ever trip to China.  

This was rather long ago, when China was not the aggressive China of today, a much more relaxed and (for me at least) a much more interesting China.  I remember clearly that this humble little stir fry vegetable dish which my cousin ordered, though nothing special to look at, was a revelation to me.  

What was this vegetable, so tender, distinctive and tasty, I wondered while stuffing my face full of greens.  The really cool thing about this classic vegetable dish is that ever since that first tasting, every time I have happened to have this Stir Fry Chinese Pea Shoots, or 炒豆苗, it is always cooked the exactly the same perfect way!

Chinese Shrimp & Eggs Stir Fry 蝦仁炒蛋

Another favorite comfort food that we grew up with is the easy to prepare and delicious to eat Shrimp and Eggs Stir Fry, or 蝦仁炒蛋.  Tender soft flakes of egg clinging gently to plump pink sea fresh shrimp.  Two of my all time favorite things in one dish!  

Too bad that my eczema acts up if I eat this too often, otherwise I would seriously make this dish at least once a week.  But no one likes a grumpy gal with itchies all over, so we only have this every once in a while.  But when we do, it sure is a treat!  While this homey Chinese dish is quite straight forward to prepare, one does need to have a few things in their bag of tricks to pull it off.

Stir Fry Lotus Root and Chives 韭菜花炒蓮藕

Ah! The lovely lotus!  That delicate flower that rises gracefully from the dark still waters of Chinese lakes.  What a wonderful flower!  Not only supremely beautiful (inspiring Chinese painters to masterpieces for thousands of years) but also a giver of life and sustenance.  Every part of this flower can be used for food, from the roots to the flowers to the seed and the leaves!  How cool is that?!  

I am always constantly amazed by the lotus flower, seemingly so delicate and fragile, yet so strong and resilient underneath.  We use the delightfully crunchy sweet lotus root to make this easy stir fry vegetable dish, Stir Fry Lotus Root and Chives, or 韭菜花炒蓮藕.

Fried Dace with Salted Black Bean Stir Fried with Indian Lettuce 豆豉鯪魚炒油麥菜

A classic Cantonese Chinese dish is the Fried Dace with Salted Black Bean Stir Fried with Indian Lettuce, or 豆豉鯪魚炒油麥菜.  Even our jolly wet market vegetable guy had to admit, chuckling, that there's no way around it: if you're going to cook Indian Lettuce, or 油麥菜, there's nothing better to go with it than the fabulous Fried Dace with Salted Black Bean, or 豆豉鯪魚.  

It's soooo easy to make this delicious dish cause you just open up a can of Fried Dace and stir fry it with the lettuce and Voila!  Classic, yummy, delicious Cantonese Chinese fish and vegetable dish!

Stir Fried Nian Gao Rice Cakes 炒年糕

This is one of my 媽媽's favorite comfort dish, Stir Fried Nian Gao Rice Cakes, or 炒年糕.  She, au contraire, to the rest of our family seemed to always secretly long for this warm and hearty dish of rice cakes, pork and vegetables and now, finally (duh!), I have realized why.

My 媽媽 is originally from around Dinghai 定海 in Zhejiang 浙江 province of China.  And Dinghai is right next to Ningbo 宁波 where this delicious and unique dish originates!  She recounts early childhood memories of her grandparents house where they actually made their own rice cakes in enormous amounts (enough for a whole year's eating!), storing the flat hand molded rice cakes in enormous water filled porcelain urns, each day taking out only enough cakes for that day's cooking.  My 媽媽 says that nothing comes close to the taste of those home made Nian Gao rice cakes from when she was a little girl!

Stir Fried Nian Gao Rice Cakes is also a dish that is specially made for the Chinese New Year.  The name Nian Gao, or 年糕, is symbolically lucky and prosperous as the first character 年 means 'year' and the second character 糕 actually means 'cake' but is a homonym (has the same sound as) to the character 高 which means 'high'.  So Nian Gao, for the Chinese New Year, means 'soaring high in the year ahead'.  Whew, everything is symbolic for the Chinese!  I don't know about you but I get confused sometimes!