If there is one thing I have learned from Martin Yan, it's that Chinese cooking is all in the sauce. If you go to one of his restaurants, You order the sauce, Mongolian, Sweet & Sour, Kung Pao, Cashew, etc. Then, once you've decided which flavour you want, then you decide if you want chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, fish, tofu, or whatever.
In fact, I am eating a fantastic Mongolian tilapia stir-fry, with vegetable fried rice, as I am writing this.
Here are two of my special sauce recipes, which I developed after sampling Martin Yan's at his restaurant.
Mongolian Stir Fry
Ingredients:
1 pound Flank steak or lean pork, sliced thin; fish, chicken, or turkey cut up; tofu, cubed; or shrimp, shelled, cleaned, and deveined
peanut oil for frying
1 small onion or shallot, sliced thin
4 oz snow peas
4 oz Green onion, green part only
4 oz button mushrooms
2 cloves finely minced garlic
Coating:
1 Egg white
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cornstarch
Sauce:
1 tsp Cornstarch
1 tsp Turbinado Sugar
1 tsp Chinese chili sauce
2 Tbs dry Sherry, white wine, or rice wine
2 Tbs Hoisin sauce
2 Tbs soy sauce
1/4 cup beef, chicken, shrimp, or vegetable stock
Combine sauce ingredients and set aside. Combine egg white, salt and cornstarch, add meat, shrimp or tofu, and mix well to coat. Heat 2 Tbs oil in wok over high heat, then stir fry meat, shrimp or tofu until just cooked through and remove from wok. Add additional Tbs peanut oil to wok and stir fry onion or shallot, and snow peas, and for 1 minute. Add green onion, mushrooms and garlic and continue stir-frying until mushrooms are tender. Add sauce to vegetables and heat until sauce has thickened. Add meat, shrimp or tofu and stir until heated through.
Kung Pao Beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, fish or tofu
1 1/2 pounds beef , pork, or chicken strips, shrimp, or fish pieces
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice wine or sherry
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tbs peanut oil
4 dried red chiles, cracked
1 Tbs garlic, minced
1/2 Tbs grated ginger
1 tsp pepper
2 scallions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cut in strips
2 Tbs soy sauce
3 Tbs rice wine or sherry
2 Tbs Chinese black (or balsamic) vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 cup chicken broth
1 Tbs cornstarch, dissolved in 4 Tbs water
1/3 cup unsalted, dry roasted peanuts
Combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine/sherry, egg and salt in a glass bowl. Add the meat, seafood, or tofu, and stir to coat. Marinate for 1 hour, covered, in the refrigerator.
Place peanut oil in a wok, and swirl to coat sides, then place over high heat. Add the chilies and cook until they begin to darken. Add the garlic and ginger and continue to cook to infuse the oil. Add the scallions and bell pepper. Remove the meat, seafood or tofu from the marinade, pat dry with paper towel, then add it to the wok. Stir-fry for 3 minutes until cooked through. Blend in soy sauce, rice wine, basalmic vinegar, sugar and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch slurry to the sauce and stir to thicken. Add the peanuts and stir to blend.