A quick and easy Chinese dinner

My boyfriend and I cook a lot of Chinese dishes since he lived there until he was 10. This meal is very easy to make and takes very little time at all. A normal Chinese meal may have 5 or 6 different dishes, but since its just the two of us we usually make 2 or 3. Tonight we made steamed Tilapia, stir-fried bok choy, and egg & tomato.


Steamed Tilapia

You will need:
-One fresh Tilapia, about 1 lb (We get ours from a Chinese seafood store where they kill and clean the fish for you. Its best to get a fresh fish and to leave everything but the insides intact. Don't filet the fish.)
-Salt
-Chopped ginger (about 1 tbsp)
-Chopped scallions (2-3)
-Chinese Cooking Wine (about 2 tbsp. This can be found in a Chinese supermarket.)

First, cut a 2-3 slits in the meat on either side of the fish. Then rub salt onto both sides. Put some of the ginger and scallions inside of the fish and leave some on top. Then, pour the cooking wine over it.

You will need some sort of steaming apparatus. We use a large stock pot with a metal vegetable steamer in the bottom and some water. We put the fish in a glass pyrex bowl (with all of the ginger, scallions, and cooking wine) and then put the bowl on top of the vegetable steamer. It works fine.

Let the water in the pot boil and then put the fish into the steamer. Steam for 8 minutes. Then, turn the heat off and let it sit for 2 minutes.

To eat the fish, use chopsticks or a spoon to pick the meat off the bone. Be careful when eating it since all the bones are still intact.

Stir-fried Bok Choy

Bok Choy is a common Chinese vegetable and should be very easy to find in a Chinese market. Its one of my favorite vegetables. The specific kind that I like is called Shanghai Bok Choy.

You will need:
-Bok Choy (about 3 bunches)
-Vegetable oil (enough to cover the bottom of your wok)
-Salt
-MSG (just a pinch. MSG can be found in any asian grocery store. It brings out the flavor in any dish)

To prepare the bok choy, remove each stem from the bunch. They will break off easily from the bottom. Wash well. Cut off the leaf portions from the stem portions and keep them seperate. Chop each stem into pieces of similar size. With stir-frying, its important that things are the same size so that they will cook evenly. Also chop the leaf potions.

Add some oil to the bottom of your wok and let it heat. Add the stem portions to the wok and fry them up until they are slightly tender (about 2 mins). Add some salt. You can decide how tender you like it, I like mine with a little bit of a crunch. Then, add the leaves. The leaves will quickly cook down. Add a pinch of MSG. Mix and serve.

Egg & Tomato

This is one of the simplest Chinese dishes.
You will need:
-2 large eggs
-Chinese cooking wine (about 1 tsp)
-Salt
-Chopped tomatoes (2 large or 3 medium)
-Vegetable Oil
-Sugar (1 tsp)
-MSG

Chop the tomatoes and put to the side. Beat 2 eggs in a bowl and add cooking wine and some salt. Add some oil to your wok and let it heat up. Add the eggs to the bowl and quickly cook them. Remove the eggs from the wok and put to the side.
Next, add some more oil to your wok. Add the tomatoes, sugar, and salt to the wok and let them cook until they become tender. Add the eggs back to the wok and mix together, breaking the eggs up into smaller pieces. Finally, add a pinch of MSG.

Serve the dishes with some cooked white rice. Enjoy!

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Summer squash and zucchini with ziti

When I was growing up, I was a much pickier eater than I am now (sometimes I wish I had kept a little of that pickiness, it would make weight maintenance a lot simpler). One dish I vividly remember turning my nose up at was one my parents made with excess summer garden bounty - tomatoes, zucchini and summer squash. Now that my taste has matured, I enjoy this quite a bit, and it always makes me feel that summer has gotten into full swing.

We found a deal on overripe tomatoes at the produce market the other day (a little excess summer bounty without the garden) so this seemed like the perfect thing to have for dinner. We usually make this recipe by eye, so here are some general guidelines:

4-5 small zucchini and any type summer squash (or two large)
4 c. (4-6) tomatoes
1/4 - 1/2 c. tomato sauce (optional)
pinch salt
freshly ground pepper
bay leaf

Slice the zucchini and summer squash into 1/8 - 1/4" thick medallions. Chop the tomatoes roughly and combine in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add a pinch of salt and the bay leaf and saute until squash starts to soften, about 5-10 minutes. At this point, add the pepper and tomato sauce to your preference and cook down another 5-10 minutes or so.

One thing I really like about this dish is that it is particularly versatile - it works equally well as a side dish or main meal, over pasta or as straight up veggies... you could probably even throw some chicken in there if you wanted to. The important thing to note is that the amount of sauce you will want to add will probably depend on how you're serving it, as well as your own tastes. I like to have a little extra sauce if I'm going to have it over pasta, but as a standalone dish I might omit it entirely. A final ratio of about 1/2 tomato to 1/2 squash or thereabouts is perfect for me.

Fish out the bay leaf, then serve over pasta with a generous grate of Parmesan cheese over the top.

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Beth's Super Simple Tomato Sauce

Okay, so I don't do that whole "cooking all day" thing because, well, 1) I'm in grad school 2) I'd probably burn something and 3) I have trouble planning ahead 45 minutes to bake some chicken or carrots, let alone devote hours to a tomato sauce. Here's my recipe for 10-minute tomato sauce in honor of Jackie's plea to make your own sauce. I make mine chunky-style.

Ingredients:
olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 red pepper, chopped
red pepper flakes (to taste)--my fiance likes everything spicy
1 tsp. dried oregano--I like to rub it first to open up the flavor
1/4-ish onion of choice (to taste), chopped--I tend to use purple onions for everything
1 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes--I try to get salt-free or organic, but that's me
6 fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped
basil--fresh or dried, to taste--Basil doesn't last as long in my fridge as the thyme and rosemary so I often resort to dry. I like to chiffonade fresh basil.
4-5 springs of thyme, either still on the stock if you're lazy like me or pulled off the stem
1ish tablespoon of tomato paste--about half a 6oz can, but this is just to get it to your desired thickness
salt and pepper

In a medium-small pot saute garlic, onion, red pepper, red pepper flake, and oregano (and dried basil) until soft.
Add diced tomatoes and fresh herbs, not including basil. Heat until bubbly.
Mix in fresh basil and tomato paste to get desired consistency. Allow to bubble, uncovered, until it reaches desired consistency because the diced tomatoes can be kind of wet.
Once ready, add salt and pepper to taste and serve over pasta.
If you left your thyme on the stem, starting fishing it out now.
Serves about 2.

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