Ching's Chinese Food in Minutes

Tonight's dinner included two dishes from Ching-He Huang's book Ching's Chinese Food in Minutes. I made pork with chinese leaf, and three-cup chicken. We also had some stir fried choi sum with garlic, and steamed rice.

The pork was nice, with good flavours, but I think I goofed a bit by turning the heat down towards the end and it suddenly went sludgy rather than remaining dry. I will try again to make this, as I think I could do better if I don't wimp out.

Oh, but let me tell you about the three cup chicken. This was glorious. I left out the (optional) shredded chilli from the main portion so that the kids would eat it, and made it available at the table for those who wanted it. It's such a simple recipe, but so, so good. There's a video from the original TV series that's exactly as per the book (a cup is 50ml in this context). I will be making this again - quite possibly in double quantities next time.

I'm ashamed to say I hadn't made anything from this book before - I think I'm going to try some more from here in the near future.

Pork with Chinese Leaf


300g/11oz pork fillet, cut into strips
1 tbsp yellow bean sauce
2 tbsp potato flour or cornflour (I used cornflour)
3 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tbsp shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (I used a very mild one)
150g/5oz chinese leaf, cut into chunks
1-2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Marinate pork in yellow bean sauce for at least 20 minutes. Just before cooking, coat the meat in the potato or corn starch.

Heat a wok, then add the oil and heat. Stir fry the meat for 1 minute. Add shaoxing wine and cook for another 2 minutes. Add garlic, chilli and chinese leaf. Stir well (and don't turn the heat down!).

Season with soy and sesame oil, and serve immediately.