Shanghai Braised Vegetarian Chicken 上海紅燒素雞

Did you know that the Chinese have the most delicious vegetarian fare?  There are even vegetarian restaurants which serve a throve of ‘meat’ entitled dishes entirely made from tofu!  But note that, despite the names of the dishes, the ‘meats’ don’t actually taste like meat, they just taste veggie-licious!

We recently discovered a source of Shanghai style vegetarian chicken and so were able to make this truly yummilicious veggie dish.  This Shanghai Braised Vegetarian Chicken 上海紅燒素雞 is deliciously creamy and tender and soaked thru with the five spice infused savory sauce.

Shanghai Spring Onion Scallion Noodles 葱油拌面

This is my favorite Chinese cold noodle dish!  At first glance this noodle dish seems unbelievably simple, just fried spring onions topping noodles mixed with soy flavored sauce.  But when made right it's also unbelievably yummilicious!  

So much so that I always, always order this noodle when we go to Shanghai restaurants.  The sucky thing is that these days this noodle dish is badly made in the many restaurants and comes out tasting meh.  Which it shouldn't, cuz made right this Shanghai Spring Onion Scallion Noodles 葱油拌面 is absolute noodle perfection, the flavor of the fried onions intense, caramelized and delightfully chewy crispy and the al dente noodles just coated with heavenly flavor combo of sweetened soy and spring onion infused oil. 

So what is a girl to do if she can't get her noodle fix at the restaurants?  That's right, we make it at home now, just the way we like it!  It's actually a pretty easy to  make dish once you get the hang of it.

Grandma's Shanghai Smoked Fish 上海熏魚

This wonderful dish was one of my 奶奶 grandma's homemade specialities, the Shanghai Smoked Fish 上海熏魚, a very famous Chinese traditional dish that is actually not smoked but prepared in such a way that the tender meat inside has a spiced and slightly smoky flavor while the outside is a delicious flavor infused crust.

My grandma used to prepare this dish whenever we got a chance to get the right kind of really big fresh fish.  I remember watching with big, big eyes as she expertly man handled an enormous fish, deftly cutting here and there with a big sharp cleaver.  Grandma fighting a fish!  And the results of her victory over the fish...my oh my, just yummilicious!  Her smoked fish was quite famous in our family.

Of course I didn't realize just quite how yummilicious gram's smoked fish was until I grew up and discovered to my dismay that the Shanghai Smoked Fish served in Hong Kong restaurants were not even close to the deliciousness of Grandma's.  Not even an itty bitty close as a matter of fact.  

Out of this frustration we decided to try to make it ourselves and have recreated our own version of Grandma's Shanghai Smoked Fish, or 上海熏魚, a version that I am proud to say is pretty darn close to Grandma's!

Shanghai Pork Chop Noodles 上海豬排麵

Folks nowadays are so into instant noodles...I see families at the supermarket fill up their shopping carts with packets after packets of instant noodles!  And don't get me wrong, we love instant noodles as much as the next guy.  (My favorite flavor is the seafood curry!)  

But let's go back in time a bit, and consider, what came before instant noodles?  Well, I imagine it would be some like this...a quick and yummilicious bowl of soft slurpable noodles that fills you up with tasty crisp protein as well as hot and nourishing soup.  

This old classic noodle dish, the traditional Shanghai Pork Chop Noodles 上海豬排麵, is not only easy to make but yummy and satisfying to the tum as well!

Braised Yellow Croaker Fish and Pickled Vegetable Soup 雪菜大湯黃魚

This classic authentic Shanghai dish is simple to make but simply fabulous to eat.  We recently made it for the first time and then had to make it again and again and again.  It is so yummilicious!  

The Braised Yellow Croaker Fish and Pickled Vegetable Soup 雪菜大湯黃魚 is a meltingly tender and tasty braised fish bathed in a beautiful white fish soup with preserved vegetable, bamboo and jin hwa ham until all flavors are melded together.  Not only do you have delicious braised fish to eat,  you also get a truly delectable soup to sip on, a time saving two in one dish!

Red Braised Wheat Gluten Kao Fu 紅燒烤麩

Chinese cuisine is well known for its vegetarian fare, indeed whole Chinese restaurants can be found devoted to vegetarian foods only!  And if you visit a Chinese monastery you will often find the unexpected delight of enjoying a fine vegetarian meal during your visit.  (Chinese people always take very good care of their tummies, wherever they are.)  Do be forewarned, however, that just because it's vegetarian fare, don't expect the Chinese to give up their daily meat intake!  

Whaaaaaat the hey, you say?! 

What I mean is that Chinese vegetarian dishes are mainly based around 'mock' meats: mock duck, mock chicken, mock pork, you name it, they've got it.  And these fake meats are mostly cleverly made from tofu and wheat gluten.  

Determined to make my own vegetarian dish, I first made my homemade wheat gluten kao fu (see our kao fu recipe here) and then cooked up the classic Shanghainese Red Braised Wheat Gluten Kao Fu 紅燒烤麩, a simple yet yummilicious vegetarian dish of soy sauce braised kao fu wheat gluten, mushrooms, bamboo and wood ears.  Tis so satisfying to your tastebuds and filling to your tummy!

Lion's Head Meatball 紅燒獅子頭

Roarrrrr!!  Meatball lovers alert!  Interested in  a light wondrously fluffy tender deliciously tasty pork meatball just dripping with luscious sauce? Well, maybe you'd be surprised to know that this famous Shanghai style Chinese meatball, the Lion's Head Meatball, or 紅燒獅子頭, can probably knock the socks off of its meatball competitors!  The key to this extraordinary Chinese meatball's goodness, I think, is in it's wonderful fluffiness.  Tender tasty almost falling apart lusciousness as you pick a bit of meatball up with your chopsticks.  Yum, yum!

Clay Pot Wonton Chicken Soup 砂鍋雲吞雞

This really easy classic all-in-one Shanghai dish is a showstopper at the dinner table, bound to elicit oohs and ahhs of delight both for the awesome presentation and for the yummilicious flavor.  Tender melting chicken, flavorful wontons, delicious chickeny soup and broth cooked vegetables.  The real secret to this dish is how easy it is to make!  

You'll be pleasantly surprised just as I was the first time we made this, it just requires a few basics and then you kinda throw it all together and then, TA-DA!,  the beautiful, classy Clay Pot Wonton Chicken Soup 砂鍋雲吞雞 is sitting pretty at your dinner table.

Hairy Crab Vending Machines?!

Published: 2013-12-03

Continuing in the spirit of our last post on the delectable Steamed Hairy Crab, we wanted to share some funny news that has been circulating.  There are now Hairy Crab vending machines!  Truely, I kid you not.  These vending machines are showing up in China, in the subways I believe, and they sell live hairy crabs!  Check it out in this video (in japanese):