EmmCee and I decided to celebrate Chinese New Year with the monsters by cooking a few Chinese styled dishes.

First up was a basic egg fried rice, I also did a pork and vegetable stir fry in a peanut sauce and finally a dish inspired by General Tso’s Chicken by Sam The Cooking Guy.

My success was mixed, the rice was good, the stir fry was ok but I messed up the sauce for the chicken which ended up being overly salty and far to thick. But along with a shop bought crispy duck and some prawn crackers it was a nice little meal and a few areas identified for improvement.

Egg Fried Rice

Egg fried rice very easy and satisfying to make. I used basmati rice 1/3 cup per person cooked 1:2 with water by the absorption method. Once cooked I transferred this to a bowl and chilled in the fridge for an hour or two.

When I was ready to cook I just poured it into a non stick frying pan broke up the clumps a bit, put on the lid and dry fried on a low heat. Once it’s hot it breaks up nicely I add a handful of frozen peas for colour. Hardly authentic I imagine but I can live with my shame.

When I’m ready to serve season stir then add some beaten egg, I used 2 medium eggs for 4 portions and stirred it through the rice. It nicely coat and distributes around the rice and gives a pleasant yellow colour. No msg or soy added just salt and pepper. I’m aiming for a pleasant neutral base for my mains.

Stir Fried Pork and Veg

This was a very simple stir fry method I microwaved some broccoli to par cook it. Finely sliced onions, carrots, leaks and cabbage. I diced a single pork leg steak and minced a clove of garlic.

I added the garlic to the wok . Fried it in a little oil for a few seconds before adding the pork. Once the pork had some colour in went all the veg. I fried on a high heat for few minutes keeping the ingredients moving at all times.

To finish I liberally seasoned added some five spice powder. I used some crunchy peanut butter thinned with a little boiling water and soy as a sauce. I added this to the wok and allowed until it to started to bubble. Once bubbling I used this to coat the pork and veg. In fairness it wasn’t my best stir fry. I was probably missing a little vinegar to add sharpness and will be looking to refine this one. But the pork and veg were well cooked firm but not raw and went well with the rice.

General Tso’s Chicken

Well this was lesson in the limits of my improvisation skills. The recipe on YouTube looks good but I lacked. A few ingredients and winged it on the quantities for the chicken coating and paid the price.

First off the chicken needs a soy and corn flour coating and I bungled the quantities. Which gave me a unique insight into the thixotropic properties of cornflour. Ultimately I recoated my chicken in plain cornflour before frying and it gave pleasing results.

The sauce was a disaster however. I lacked several ingredients improvised badly and ended up relying on soy sauce too much. I also over thickened the sauce. So when it came time to baste the chicken I ended up with a very salty, very tangy, barely edible coating over otherwise pleasant chicken.

So I have taken a few lessons away about the limits of my skill particularly when cooking outside my comfort zone. I think there are probably a few sets of golden rules and proportions for Chinese food that I need to master. But that what life, cooking and this blog are all about.

Aftermath

So after all out efforts to lovingly prepare and array of Chinese style foods I was a little underwhelmed by the Monsters response. Only one ate the prawn crackers. Neither were willing to try crispy duck or plum sauce. But happily munched pancakes wrapped around cucumber. And whilst I didn’t expect them to eat the chicken neither ate the stir fry and only wanted plain not fried rice. Ho hum.