First challenge is completed and was a partial success. I made the formal Chinese Dinner with the following menu and served 5 adults until they were full:
Menu:
Cold dishes:
1. Sushi – filled with shredded scallops and wrapped in spinach leaves isnstead of Nori
2. Ranguns – filled with crab and sweetended cream cheese
3. Glazed skewered chicken strips
4. Mellon and berries, skewered and candied
Hot Main Course
1. Mongolian Beef.
2. Chicken Velvet with Mushrooms
3. Stir-Fried Veggies with Chicken Sauce
Soup:
Egg Drop Soup
Staple:
Dumplings filled with sweet beaf and veggies
Snack:
Chicken Spring Rolls
Desert:
Tanghulu – Haw fruit is not available and so will be using kiwi and strawberries
Beverage – Herbal Teas
Of these, the accomplished items were, in order, Crab Ranguns, Glazed Chicken strips (skewered), Glazed Veggie Strips (skewered again), mongolian beef, stir-fried veggies with chicken sauce, Egg-drop soup, and spring rolls.
But I had a coupld of challenges thrown my way that I wasn't anticipating. First, I didn't get to do my shopping until the night before, and had little time Saturday morining for prep-work, and so had to start everything 20 minutes before it was time to start serving the food. 2nd, one of the visitors wanted to help, but I had to teach him how to bias-slice the veggies, and he was a vegitarian and so I had to alter the menu to include the same foods, only veggie style for him. These were in addition to the already planned menu.
The foods that were cooked came out very nice, with great flavor and texture. What I learned from this experience is that to do this meal justice, you need at least 4 hours prep time, with 2 additional cooks to assist, and the cooks need to know what they are doing. In other words, I bit of more than I could chew. Things were so hectic that I only got off pitures of the glazed veggie skewers and crab rangoons. The glazed chicken skewers were done at the same time, but things were moving very fast in my kitchen.
For the glazed chicken strips, I boned, then sliced four chicken breasts, and sliced the meat into very thin strips (cut with the grain). I had a marinade made from 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp. granulated garlic, 1/2 tsp. granulated onion, 2 tbs, rice vinegar, lite soy sauce, 1 tsp. sesame oil, and a dash of ginger. Enough water was added to form a syrupy liquid.
The glaze was seperated into two bowls, with the chicken strips placed into one and thinly sliced and steamed carrot and onion strips placed into the other. These were then put onto bamboo skeweres and two seperate baking sheets. I cooked them at 350' for twenty minutes in the oven.
For the rangoons, I combined 2 packages cream cheese with 3 tbs. Splenda. This was divided itno equal portions in seperate bowls. 8 oz. surimi (fake crab) was mixed into the first bowl, with a combination of finely chopped onion, celery leaves, garlic powder, and finely diced carrot mixed into the other. I brushed wonton skins with egg-wash made from 1 large egg, mixed with 1/8 cup water. I placed about a tsp. of the filling onto the wonton skin center and folded the corners inward to meet. I then placed the rangoons (veggie versions first) into hot peanut oil (360') and fried until golden brown.
The rangoons and glazed skewers were served at the same time.
The mongolian beef consisted of stir-fried water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, bok choy, sliced onion, bias-sliced carrot, bean sprouts, lite soy sauce, and hoison sauce, fresh, sliced mushrooms, with garlic and sesame oil to season.
While the veggies were cooking in seperate woks, I sliced the beef into thin strips. I marinated them in a combination of lite soy sauce, ginger, black pepper, rice vinegar, and hoison sauce, all mixed with just enough water to form a bath. I removed the veggies into a a large and a somewhat smaller bowl. I fried cubed tofu with vegetabe soup base and garlic, and added it to the smaller bowl of cooked veggies. I then stir-fried the beef until it was just done, and thicken the pan drippings with a cornstarch slurry to make a lite sauce. The beef was mixed into the large veggie bowl and appropriate dishes were served to the vegetarian, and the rest of us.
While all else was cooking, I made a veggie soup base, and a chicken broth usint the skins and bones from the chickens I had boned. I seasoned the chiken broth lightly with salt and garlic. I seasoned the veggie broth with garlic and soy sauce. I beat two eggs, removed the boiling broths from the heat, and drizzled the beaten eggs equally between the two pans, forming long strings of egg threads. I garnished both soups, in the bowls, with freshly cut chives. Egg-drop soup, is authentically a very mild chicken broth, flavored only with salt, onion, and garlic, with chives dressing up the bowls.
The rice for the sushi was cooked to sticky perfection, but had to be saved for another night. There just wasn't sufficient time.
The spring rolls were an experiment of my daughter's. I had planned chicken egg rolls, something I do very well. But she took the remaining crab rangoon filling, mixed it with water-chestnuts, bamboo shoots, onion, and bean sprouts, rolled it into perfect spring rolls, and prceeded to fry prettier product than I ever have. It was light and crispy on the outside, and the filling was extraodinary. But I can't take credit. It was her brain child.
I did succeed in teaching a young, vegitarian man how to improve his knife skills, and to make the various recipes, and opened the eyes of a picky young adult woman who had accompanied him (both freinds of my daughter's). She gushed about the food quality. I have only one picture as I said, and here it is. You now have the tale of my partial success. I will be making the velvet chicken tomorrow night.
Seeeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North