CHINESE RECIPES. Read first post for recipes before posting!

rubadub

rodge123 wrote: »

Very old thred I know but what sort of oil do you use?

they have not logged on since 2016.

I see goldfish brand paste use vegetable oil which was a mix of rapeseed and palm oil. Yeungs is palm oil, and UK mayflower is rapeseed & palm

The Khoan Vong youtube channel just lists vegetable oil.

I have read many recipes for chinese curry sauce and never noticed anything out of the ordinary said about the oil, I would not bother getting palm. I think all the rest of the spices would overpower it anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el9JWSB8G2M

I also notice he has started putting up new videos in the last few weeks & months, he was inactive for about a year.

https://www.youtube.com/user/vongs510/videos

mrsoundie

Came across this gang recently.

rodge123

rubadub wrote: »

they have not logged on since 2016.

I see goldfish brand paste use vegetable oil which was a mix of rapeseed and palm oil. Yeungs is palm oil, and UK mayflower is rapeseed & palm

The Khoan Vong youtube channel just lists vegetable oil.

I have read many recipes for chinese curry sauce and never noticed anything out of the ordinary said about the oil, I would not bother getting palm. I think all the rest of the spices would overpower it anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el9JWSB8G2M

I also notice he has started putting up new videos in the last few weeks & months, he was inactive for about a year.

https://www.youtube.com/user/vongs510/videos

Any idea where I'd get 600G of curry powder?
Doing a search of Tesco.ie for example only returns 80G tubs of it!

I live close to Maynooth, Kildare.

TheKBizzle

Try a local asian shop or try asiamarket.ie

I always use them to get loads of spices and ramen

rubadub

rodge123 wrote: »

Any idea where I'd get 600G of curry powder?

Asian shops as mentioned above. Some might have big packs out the back as normal customers might not want so much, so you should ask if you see none.

I would not fancy making the batch sizes those guys do in case it is not nice.

Eastern star curry powder is recommended in both of those youtube channels.

On the second link he says if you cannot get eastern star that others use rajah but it is not as good. I have spotted that brand in one takeaway I go to, the sauce is just run of the mill. I have not seen what is used in my 2 favourite takeaways.

The eastern star is sold in 10kg tins but some people are putting it in smaller packs and reselling. I wonder if any asian shops over here do this? I remember in Georges street in dublin once shop did split packs of some spices and rebag it in smaller amounts.

The guy who wrote "the takeaway secret" also talks of it.
http://kennymcgovern.com/chinese-curry-sauce

Chinese Curry Sauce Paste
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
1 hr 10 mins
Total Time
1 hr 20 mins

Course: Main Course, Snack
Cuisine: Chinese, Takeaway
Servings: 12 portions
Ingredients
250 ml groundnut oil
1 small onion finely sliced
1/2 carrot finely sliced
1 whole star anise
1 clove garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons tinned fruit cocktail drained
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice
1 teaspoon mild chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons creamed coconut block (around 30g)
80 grams Eastern Star Curry Powder see notes
180 grams plain flour
Instructions
In a large pot, add the groundnut oil, onion, carrot and star anise. Turn the heat on high. When the oil becomes hot and the ingredients begin to sizzle, turn the heat down to low and fry for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the sliced garlic and fry for a further 10 minutes.

Add the tinned fruit cocktail, sea salt, sugar, Chinese 5-spice, chilli powder and turmeric. Mix well and continue to fry the ingredients for a further 10 minutes.

Remove the whole star anise. Use a hand blender to mix the cooked ingredients with the oil until smooth (you may need to allow the ingredients to cool slightly before blending).

When the mix is blended, add the creamed coconut and allow to melt into the oil for 1 minute. Add the curry powder. Mix well and simmer for 1-2 minutes until the spices are cooked a little. Add the plain flour a few tablespoons at a time, mixing thoroughly each time until the flour is well incorporated. As more flour is added, the mix will become very stiff as the paste forms. When all of the flour is added, continue to cook on the lowest available heat for 30-40 minutes or until the oil begins to separate from the paste a little, stirring occasionally.

Set the curry paste aside to cool completely. The paste is now ready to use, however the flavour will improve significantly after 1-2 days in the fridge.

Cover the paste and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze in portions for up to 3 months.

Recipe Notes
To prepare 1 portion curry sauce with this paste:



In a pan over a low heat, combine 1 heaped tablespoon curry paste, 300ml water, 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon of sugar & 1/4 teaspoon of msg. Stir often and simmer until the sauce thickens. Add more or less paste / water as desired until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. Add cooked chicken / fried onions / peas etc as desired.



This curry paste can be made with any mild madras curry powder, however the authentic Chinese takeaway flavour is best obtained when using Eastern Star Curry Powder. This is a widely used spice in the takeaway industry and is often sold in bulk quantities - smaller amounts can be obtained online and I'd highly recommend getting your hands on some if you intend on making this paste

If all you want is some curry sauce I would highly recommend Goldfish hot & spicy sauce. My second choice from them would be madras.
https://www.asiamarket.ie/goldfish-curry-sauce-hot-405g.html
RJohnG gave some advice on improving it. I sometimes add more chilli powder. The tub goes a long way as it is a thick paste.

my tesco even have it, but it is more expensive there, but compared to other far inferior supermarket chinese curry sauces it is still pretty cheap https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=259731818

The guy in the 2nd video splits the eastern star stuff himself and sells it. https://www.ziangsworkshop.com/product-page/500g-eastern-star-curry-powder

if he has listed the ingredients as per the tin it should be in order of greatest first.

Ingredients:

Turmeric, Mustard Seed, Fenugreek Seed, Coriander Seed, Wheat flour, Salt, Chilli, Fennel Seed, Cumin Seed, Onion Powder and Spices

Ritchie2018

Guys, you buy the powder in a Chinese wholesalers. Forget Eastern Star, a high quality madras is what you need. These recipes posted are truly rubbish. Ziangs too.

They make a paste then the sauce but nothing like Vongs or Ziangs. Not in Glasgow where my Wife is a chef in a Chinese, Cantonese restaurant. And she's worked in many. Currently she cooks in what was recently rated the best Chinese in Scotland by a popular newspaper and media group. Sometimes they cook for 800 customers a day so they know their stuff.

They make 20kg paste then let it age then make 18 - 20 litres of sauce at a time. Different stages for the sauce. No fruits, not even flour in the paste.

The curry powder only takes up about half the ingredient of the paste.

These recipes on here are what some English takeaways use and if you've ever had a Glasgow Chinese curry you know how good it is. They don't know how to make curry sauce south of the border.

Bigsliothar

Ritchie2018 wrote: »

Guys, you buy the powder in a Chinese wholesalers. Forget Eastern Star, a high quality madras is what you need. These recipes posted are truly rubbish. Ziangs too.

They make a paste then the sauce but nothing like Vongs or Ziangs. Not in Glasgow where my Wife is a chef in a Chinese, Cantonese restaurant. And she's worked in many. Currently she cooks in what was recently rated the best Chinese in Scotland by a popular newspaper and media group. Sometimes they cook for 800 customers a day so they know their stuff.

They make 20kg paste then let it age then make 18 - 20 litres of sauce at a time. Different stages for the sauce. No fruits, not even flour in the paste.

The curry powder only takes up about half the ingredient of the paste.

These recipes on here are what some English takeaways use and if you've ever had a Glasgow Chinese curry you know how good it is. They don't know how to make curry sauce south of the border.

Any chance your other half would put up a couple of basic sauces ??

Ritchie2018

Bigsliothar wrote: »

Any chance your other half would put up a couple of basic sauces ??

I'm not sure, could ask I suppose. She wont put up the curry sauce. To be honest even if she did you still wouldn't get it right. Just to let you know that after the paste is made and aged they make the sauce in a big 25 litre pot. This is done in stages with a list of ingredients added. The pot has engraved marks on it so they know to fill to the right level, stage by stage. They don't measure or weigh anything. They go through loads of sauce. I know a bit as She cooks for me in the house. I've tried to make the curry sauce on three occasions and failed. I either undercooked ingredients or overcooked them. Ruined it. You have to judge by appearance, colour and smell. Sounds daft but it's a fact.
Sauce never overheated, always pre-heated in a bain marie. A no no to put cold sauce into a hot wok it ruins it. Always hot curry sauce into a hot wok. Depending on the meat used it's either stir fried or poured over.

I love to read these forums and look at recipes on youtube. The only one Ziangs come close to is the fried rice, but the oil and TYPE of soy sauce is the key to making Chinese fried rice. Not every soy is the same. Most are unsuitable for fried rice. Anyhow, enough of me. Nice forum.

We are moving to your lovely Country soon I hope. I joined this forum last year but it's took a while to sell up. We're nearly there. Hopefully She'll be setting up a small business when we arrive. Cheers.

Muahahaha

Was watching Jamie Olivers Friday Night Feast a couple of weeks back and Saorise Ronan was the guest on it. He cooked her a Chinese American dish called General Tsao's Chicken as she grew up in New York and loved it but it isnt found on typical Irish or UK chinese menus. Oliver got the recipe off the chef in New York who originally created it.

Full recipe is here. I made it earlier this evening and it is delicious, nice heat off the chillis and a deep nuttiness to the sauce. Will be making it again.
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-thighs-recipes/saoirse-ronans-general-tsos-chicken/

rubadub

Muahahaha wrote: »

General Tsao's Chicken as she grew up in New York and loved it but it isnt found on typical Irish or UK chinese menus.

I was in a takeaway last night and saw "General Chicken Taipei Style" on the chef specials and wondered if it was it.

You can use googles site: command to search say www.just-eat.ie and you might spot a takeaway that does it nearby. It gets 50 hits

https://www.google.ie/search?safe=strict&source=hp&ei=i2xWXoyED9O81fAP68uewAY&q=General+Tso+site%3Ajust-eat.ie&oq=General+Tso+site%3Ajust-eat.ie&gs_l=psy-ab.3...6114.12011..12183...0.0..0.79.655.18......0....2j1..gws-wiz.......0j0i10j0i22i30j33i160.PQ_1IWGIuzM&ved=0ahUKEwjM9f7No-_nAhVTXhUIHeulB2gQ4dUDCAY&uact=5

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Tso%27s_chicken

The dish or its variants are known by a number of greatly variant names, including:

Governor Tso's chicken, General Tao’s chicken, General Gao's / Gau's chicken General Mao's chicken, General Tsao's chicken, General Tong's chicken, General Tang's chicken, General T's Chicken, General Cho's chicken, General Chai's chicken, General Joe's Chicken, T.S.O. Chicken, General Ching's chicken, General Jong's Chicken, House Chicken, or simply General's Chicken

Muahahaha

Yeah none of the Chinese takeaways near me do it and I dont think Ive ever seen it on a menu here before. Great dish though, well worth making at home.

Continued on my Chinese odyssey tonight and made a kung pao chicken recipe that was in the Guardian last week. Another winner of a dish. Actually made two of them with one intended for dinner tomorrow night but after Id finished the first one the flavours were still in my mouth 10 minutes later and had me craving more so I heated up the second one and scoffed all of that too!

The sauce in has a really deep savoury taste to it and reduces down to a sticky glaze in the pan. I stirred cashew nuts through it at the end which give it a nice crunch and they tasted delicious coated in the sauce. Was using sichuan peppercorns for the first time so held off on using too many but I'll be upping it in future for a bit of extra spice.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/feb/19/how-to-make-the-perfect-kung-pao-gong-bao-chicken-recipe

mrsoundie

Star Court in Shannon has it down as General Chicken, never thought of having it before, will give it a go real soon.

bertsmom

Jade cottage in Ennis do it too. Its gorgeous!

gerrybbadd

I think Kung Pao is a similar dish (and according to Google :rolleyes: its the original, where as General Tso's is an American version). Kung Pao is hot and spicy with peanuts, whereas General Tso's is sweet and spicy without peanuts

rubadub

gerrybbadd wrote: »

. Kung Pao is hot and spicy with peanuts, whereas General Tso's is sweet and spicy without peanuts

In Ireland most Kung Pao/Po stuff is with cashews rather than peanuts. I find this odd as cashews are more expensive so would expect cheaper takeaways to use them.

In my local you get more cashews in the kung po than the chicken with cashewnuts.

Gloomtastic!

Muahahaha wrote: »

Was watching Jamie Olivers Friday Night Feast a couple of weeks back and Saorise Ronan was the guest on it. He cooked her a Chinese American dish called General Tsao's Chicken as she grew up in New York and loved it but it isnt found on typical Irish or UK chinese menus. Oliver got the recipe off the chef in New York who originally created it.

Full recipe is here. I made it earlier this evening and it is delicious, nice heat off the chillis and a deep nuttiness to the sauce. Will be making it again.
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-thighs-recipes/saoirse-ronans-general-tsos-chicken/

How much is a handful of dried red chillis? Would that not blow your head off? :eek:

gerrybbadd

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

How much is a handful of dried red chillis? Would that not blow your head off? :eek:

Class!

Oh, and "High welfare" bacon required also

Muahahaha

gerrybbadd wrote: »

I think Kung Pao is a similar dish (and according to Google :rolleyes: its the original, where as General Tso's is an American version). Kung Pao is hot and spicy with peanuts, whereas General Tso's is sweet and spicy without peanuts

Yeah thats actually a good way of describing it. They are quite similar dishes. From memory the only differences from Kung Pao to General Tsos is the use of sichuan peppercorns, peanuts and Chianking vinegar. General Tsos also calls for chilli oil and sesame oil whereas Kung Pao does not.

I loved them both. The sauce going into a hot pan bubbles really quickly and when you toss everything and get it coated in that sticky mess it just tastes divine.

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

How much is a handful of dried red chillis? Would that not blow your head off? :eek:

I used 8 of the small died Thai red chillis for two portions. I topped then, sliced in half length ways and discarded the seeds. Im glad I did discard the seeds because those Thai red chillis have a real bang of heat off them even without the seeds. The sichuan peppercorns werent as hot as I expected and they got lost in the dish as I didnt use much of them (1/2 teaspoon). They've a lovely fruity smell to them in the packet but I didnt get it at all in the actual dish as I held back on them. Wont be making that mistake again and next time I'll grind them up in the pestle and mortar to spread the fruity flavour more evenly through the dish.

Im thinking of making an attempt at XO sauce next week as I just copped that I have all the ingredients to hand except for the dried shrimps and scallops which should be easy to get in an Asian shop. Was reading a few blogs and the finished sauce ends up with a jam-like consistency that can be kept in the fridge for several months. Its a fair bit a lot of work to make it but once you have then just a small dollop of it mixed through rice or noodles really elevates them with deep savoury flavours. Has anyone here ever tasted it or made it?

riponhassan

Samosa is a traditional Indian recipe which can be prepared quite easily. If you are preparing a vegetarian samosa then boiled potato with salt, chilli powder, green peas, ginger , garlic and fennel powder is sufficient for the dough. Similarly for chicken or any non vegetarian samosa, keep the same spices.
Knead a dough with oil and water . Rioll , cut and make a pocket and fill the fillings.
Deep fry them till crisp golden.

rubadub

Pallas foods are doing click & collect to the public now. They have the lucky boat noodles that most takeaways are meant to use, mine does.

https://collect.pallasfoods.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=lucky+boat

Its a huge box though and meant to be no liner or anything in it, they are in separate blocks so if I got one I would rebag them.

They also have giant tins of bamboo shoots and chestnuts.

sonas93

rubadub wrote: »

Pallas foods are doing click & collect to the public now. They have the lucky boat noodles that most takeaways are meant to use, mine does.

https://collect.pallasfoods.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=lucky+boat

Its a huge box though and meant to be no liner or anything in it, they are in separate blocks so if I got one I would rebag them.

They also have giant tins of bamboo shoots and chestnuts.

I’ve tried these noodles, bought off ziang and they are definitely what is used. They seem to hold their shape well and are very stretchy.

bigron2109

Does anyone know if you can walk into the Pallas food place in Dublin and buy a box of lucky boat noodles? Been searching for them for ages and can’t get them. I’ll be in Dublin in a weeks time so would be great if possible.