Stir fried beef with snow peas

Today's recipe was Kai's stir fried beef with snow peas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_gz00JGN84

The ingredients are as follows
1 lb beef, sliced thin
1 tsp corn starch
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp chicken stock
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vinegar
1 clove garlic
8 oz fresh snow peas
sesame oil

Kai did it again. We were very pleased with the flavor of the sauce and the crispness of the snow peas. Instead of chicken stock, we used a pinch of chicken bouillon cube in 2 tablespoons hot water. Snow peas were hard to find this time of year, but we tracked some down. Overall this recipe is most similar to beef with broccoli, but the end flavor is distinctly different.

First the ingredients were prepared and the beef was marinated for 15 minutes in soy sauce and corn starch


The beef was cooked and set aside, and then the snow peas were stir fried


The rest of the ingredients were added


The meal was served with jasmine rice


Ian approves


We really enjoyed this recipe and now I plan to grow snow peas in the garden this Spring so we can have fresh ones on hand. This recipe deserves 4.75 snow peas out of 5. It will serve 2-3 hungry Americans when accompanied with rice.

Chinese Moo Goo Gai Pan

Today we made Kai's Chinese Moo Goo Gai Pan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qORxPeuqNPw

As we learned from Kai, Moo Goo is mushrooms, Gai is chicken, and Pan is sliced. We recently became aware that 2 'Cooking With Wendy' blog subscribers lived nearby, so we invited them over to share in the experience of moo goo gai pan. We doubled the recipe and made jasmine rice to accompany the meal.

The ingredients are as follows
1/2 pound boneless chicken sliced
1 cup mushrooms
1 cup brocolli
1 clove garlic
2 tsp corn starch
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce

Instead of chicken stock, we broke a small piece of chicken bouillon cube into warm water. It was about 1/5th of a bouillon cube.

First the chicken thigh meat was sliced thinly. I'm sure chicken breast would also be good.


All of the ingredients were prepped and ready to be assembled


First the vegetables were stir fried


Then the chicken was cooked and the other ingredients were added


Served with jasmine rice and chop sticks


The table is set


Approval!


The meal was delicious and the flavors of the mushroom and brocolli blended well with the sauce. Our special guests also approved this recipe. If you serve with rice, Kai's recipe will serve atleast 2 hungry Americans (4-5 if you double the recipe). We plan to make this recipe again. The recipe deserves 8.5 out of 9 chinese cabbages.

Feedback from subscribers

Each day I receive fan mail from blog readers but recently one of my subscribers made Kai's beef and brocolli recipe and sent me this picture.

Chicken Fried Rice

Today we made chicken fried rice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL5MOLqVtZg

In addition to making Kai's recipe, we also made rice for the first time. We used jasmine rice which is what Kai uses in some of his other recipes. The rice was not cooked to perfection so it negatively affected the final product. It was starchy and gummy, probably a result of not washing the grains before cooking, and stirring the rice while it was cooking. We had enough chicken and rice to make 2 batches, so don't be alarmed at the double ingredients.

The recipe called for:
3 cups cooked rice
1/2 pound cut chicken
1 cup mixed veggies
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
soy sauce
dark soy sauce


Boneless skinless chicken thighs was the meat of choice


All of the ingredients prepared


First the chicken was cooked and set aside


The egg was scrambled


Dark soy sauce was drizzled in for color


Almost done!


Ian shows his approval

We used "thick soy sauce" instead of "dark soy sauce". I believe they are the same thing. Also, Kai uses frozen mixed veggies in other fried rice recipes, so we used them too. The chicken turned out very good and tender but overall the outcome wasn't perfect. The rice was too starchy and perhaps it needed more soy sauce for saltiness. Next time when we cook the rice properly, the recipe will have a higher rating, but for this attempt, we give 3 out of 5 eggs.

Fried Thai Spring Rolls

Today we made Kai's Thai Spring rolls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6je_H67kUOo

This was the 4th time to make this recipe, and certainly not the last. Of our Kai recipe collection, fried spring rolls definitely rates in the top two.

1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup shredded cabbage
1/2 pound ground pork
2 buns bean thread noodles
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
Rice paper


All of the ingredients prepared


Sugar is sprinkled into the spring roll filling


Spring rolls fresh from the fryer


Paper plate presentation with plum sauce and sweet and sour dipping sauce


The assistant to the chef approves

I must note that we subbed thin rice noodles for "bean thread" noodles- perhaps they are the same thing. This recipe made enough to feed 3-4 hungry Americans. If you have a deep fryer at home, use the french fry setting to fry your spring rolls. Since there is nothing I plan to change, and overall we are very happy with the quality and taste of the spring rolls, I give a rating of 4.75 garlic cloves out of 5. Nothing is ever A+

Chinese Beef and Brocolli

Today we made Kai's chinese beef and brocolli http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft5ePAvoPBc

1/2 pound beef sliced perpendicular to the grain
1 1/2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 pound brocolli chopped


The ingredients were pre-measured


and the beef was


thinly sliced perpendicular to the grain.


The brocolli was chopped into hunks and the garlic was finely minced.


The beef was cooked first and only took 4ish minutes.


Then the brocolli was cooked for about 1 minute.


The final product was dished out, then eaten very fast



The recipe made enough for 1.25 hungry Americans. It tasted exactly like the stuff from a good chinese restaurant. Next time we make this, more of the brocolli stems will be removed since they were still very crunchy and the fat will be trimmed off the steak. We will be making this again.

This recipe was rated 9.5/10 soy sauce bottles