Category: Non-Spicy

Chinese Golden Chicken Stew (Huangmenji, 黄焖鸡)

Chengdu Challenge #7: Caramel, Wine and Ginger Make Stew Sexy Recently we had a Chinese friend stay with us for a week who doesn’t eat spicy food. Not even a little. And this was a real challenge for me, since almost everything I make has at least a hint of spice. But we adapted that week and still ate well. I just had to call on all the dishes I make that aren’t spicy, starting with this one for Shoaxing wine and ginger chicken stew, more poetically called golden chicken stew, which...

Technique for Stir-Frying Greens: Or How to Feed a Chinese Girl in America

Leftovers, Stir-Fried Greens and Rice “What should I eat?” is my daughter’s standard greeting. Not “Hi,” “Good morning” or “What’s up.” When she comes home from school, home from a friend’s or just out of her bedroom, she starts the conversation with “What should I eat?” The question has evolved with her grammar over the past three years as she learned English, from “Wǒ kěyǐ chī shénme?” to “Me eat what?” to “You have something to eat I like it?” and finally to perfect English. But the obsession with her next...

Pork, Green Pepper and Potato Stir-Fry (Qingjiao Tudou Rousi, 青椒土豆肉丝)

Chengdu Challenge #5: All-American Ingredients Make an All-Chinese Potato Stir-fry Yes, the potato is a Chinese vegetable! In fact, it is the star of this stir-fry, the main attraction, with the pork in a supporting role. In Sichuan you most often see potatoes cut in matchsticks and quickly stir-fried with a hit of vinegar. They’re just barely cooked, really, still crunchy and crisp, and as weird as that sounds to a Westerner, they are delicious. This recipe for a similarly prepared potato and pork stir-fry just fills it out with pork...