By Nancy Rowland
Columnist
When Lily Wang, who was born and raised in Tianjin, China, married my brother-in-law, Jim, Sept. 1, 2019, in a lovely wedding ceremony in San Antonio, Lily became family. Since Tuesday, Feb. 1, is the Chinese New Year/the Lunar New Year, I thought I would feature some dishes that Lily highly recommends. This year’s Chinese zodiac sign is the tiger which represents courage and power and for doing everything on a grand scale.
Jay and Nancy, Jim and Lily – Nov 2021
With a few of her own variations, Lily suggests these recipes below to make during this holiday season:
BBQ cantonese pork tenderloin (Char Siu)
Lily suggested serving this BBQ pork with rice, fried lettuce and/or broccoli.
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1/4 cup dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon brown sugar
3 pounds pork tenderloin
Salt
Combine all the marinade ingredients in a large zip lock bag. Place bag in a bowl.
Put pork in the bag and seal. Let stand at room temperature for 4 hours — if you wish to marinade longer or if it is a hot day marinate in the fridge. Turn the bag often. Reserve the marinade for basting. Cook meat about 4 inches from the heat source. If you wish, you can broil in your oven if you do not want to BBQ. Turn often to brown the meat evenly and cook until crisp, basting often, about 40 minutes. Depending on the thickness of the tenderloin, check the internal temperature with your meat thermometer to be sure you do not overcook it.
Slice pork thinly and serve immediately.
Recipe from: www.food.com/recipe/bbq-cantonese-pork-tenderloin-9505.
Stir fried lettuce
Romaine lettuce
Garlic, minced (1 clove for every 2 heads of romaine lettuce)
Fish sauce (nuoc nam)
Use one clove of garlic for every two heads of romaine lettuce; this might be too much garlic for some.
Wash, dry and chop the lettuce into 2-inch pieces.
In a large pan over medium-high heat, add a little oil and the minced garlic. Sauté for 2 minutes until garlic is just starting to turn golden.
Add all the lettuce to the pan. Turn the heat to high. Let the lettuce sit for 1 minute in the pan — to get some color on the bottom. Then stir fry for 30 seconds until the leaves start to wilt but are still crunchy.
Add the fish sauce to the pan and stir fry for 1 minute. Slide onto a plate and eat hot. This dish comes together very quickly. Do not overcook the lettuce, or it will get soggy. You want it ‘just cooked,” slightly wilted and still crunchy.
Recipe from: https://onolicioushawaii.com/stir-fried-lettuce.
Chinese banana fritters
This lighter-Asian style banana fritter is less calorie-dense than most similar recipes, but still satisfies your sweet tooth. Serves 4 to 6 servings.
4 to 5 big ripe bananas, cut into 1-inch chunks
Oil for deep frying
Powdered sugar (honey or maple syrup to serve with)
Batter:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons milk (or plant-based milk for a vegan dish)
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
Combine all the ingredients for the batter in a big bowl. Stir to mix well. It should form a runny batter similar in consistency to pancake batter.
Heat 1 inch of oil in a small deep pot over medium-high heat until hot. Test the oil by inserting a wooden chopstick. If the oil sizzles and you can see small bubbles rising rapidly on the chopstick, the oil is ready.
Line a large plate or baking sheet with a cooling rack. Add the chopped bananas into the batter, a few pieces at a time and coat well. Gently transfer the bananas into the oil. Fry until all sides turn golden brown. Transfer onto the cooling rack to drain the extra oil. Fry all the bananas this way in batches.
Wait until the bananas cool down slightly; they will continue to crisp. Dip the cooked bananas in the powdered sugar, honey or maple syrup.
Recipe from: www.omnivorescookbook.com/chinese-banana-fritters.
“To see what is right and not do it is a lack of courage.”
– Confucius
Share your favorite recipes along with photos to: nancy.recipes@outlook.com. I look forward to hearing from you.