Cooking Class for June- Vegetarian Chicken and Sauteed Shrimp

This month, the class was not about a holiday and the kind of food that might be prepared for it. Instead, both these dishes are a response to a request from the women who take the class.

When dining formally in China, there is usually a cold course first which is then followed by the warm dishes, and closed with a plate of fresh fruit. While we already have covered one cold dish (the kaofu), we are not nearly ready to host a meal without a few other choices. The vegetarian chicken is one such dish. I'm not sure why it is called this; there were no suitable answers to the question. It is essentially a wedge of pressed tofu with spices. Notwithstanding the unpoetic description, it is really quite delicious.

The second dish is a warm dish that is quickly prepared. The recipe calls for, and the restaurant serves the shrimp with the shells and heads completely attached to the meat, but you could make some modifications there, or be prepared for your hands to get messy.

Here are the recipes in order that they should appear on your table, if you want to do it traditional style.



Five Spice Vegetarian Chicken

Hard tofu (this recipe calls for a type of tofu that is shaped like a bologna style/size sausage, but I think that you could do it with pressed tofu of any shape)
500 grams of oil
handful fo spring onions, diced
some ginger, sliced thin
1/4 tsp of five spice powder
3 tbps sugar
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
water
cilantro (for decoration)

1.slice the tofu into 1 cm think pieces
2. heat the oil in a wok to 150 degrees C, fry the tofu until golden brown. Remove from the wok, and set aside
3.In heated wok with oil, place ginger, onion and cook until fragrant. Add a little water and the soya sauces, ginger, and five spices. Heat to boil until the sauce resembles a gravy (thicken it). Pour over tofu- vegetarian chicken and garnish with cilantro.

[sorry that reference to the amount of water is vague- I think it was about 1/2 cup]



Sauteed Shrimp in Hot Pepper Sauce

250 grams of fresh prawns
1 tsp of chicken granules (bouillon)
1/2 tsp of white pepper
1/2 tsp of sugar
10 grams of dried chilli
1/2 tbps dark soya sauce
1/2 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine
1/2 tbsp of black bean paste
spring onion
sliced ginger
5 grams of cornstarch dissolved into 2tbps of water.

1. Slice the back of the prawn about 80% deep and deep fry until cooked. Remove and set aside.
2. Heat up 2 tbsp oil, add black bean paste, sliced ginger, spring onion, dried chilli. Sautee until fragrant , then add enough water, sugar, chicken granules, chinese cooking wine and soya sauce to make the gravy. Add the prawns and thicken the gravy with with the cornstarch slurry. Stir until desired consistency and add whie pepper.

** I will not have a post for the July cooking class since I will not be in Shanghai. Otherwise, I would have provided you with a cold cucumber dish, and a whole fish with gravy.