Hunan Chicken, Dumplings, and Noodles

I almost called this “Asian Night No. 1″ but that would lead one to believe that their will be an “Asian Night No. 2″ post.  There will be an Asian Night No. 2 dinner, tonight in fact, featuring Beef Snow Peas and Stif Fried Broccoli.  But will it ever culminate in an actual blog?  Probably not.  Even though I recieve literally thousands of emails requesting more of my cooking. (“Literally” in this instance can be read as “never”.)

Clockwise from left: Hunan Chicken, Tossed Noodles, and Pork Dumplings.

Recipes adapted from Chinese Cookery by Rose Cheng and Michele Morris.  Published in ’81.  God that was a great year.

So first: the Hunan.

I bought a Rotisserie Chicken, skinned it, pulled it off the bone, and coarsely chopped the meat.  In a bowl for the Sesame Sauce:
2 T sesame paste/tahini/creamy peanut butter.  I happened to have Tahini.
1 T rice vinegar
1 T sesame oil–Important to actually splurge on the sesame oil and not substitute another type of oil. Sesame oil has a really nice nutty flavor that is important.
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 T soy sauce
Ten grinds from a pepper mill
1.5 tsp diced ginger root
3 T diced green onion
1 T chopped garlic
1.5 tsp chili powder
Then you will look at this amount of sauce and the amount of chicken you have, and you will probably have to double the sauce.  I did.  Then mix your chicken in.  And some water chesnuts.  We got fresh ones in our Bountiful Basket.  They are mysterious little creatures when they aren’t waterlogged in a can.  That’s your Hunan Chicken.  Serve it cold with sliced cucumbers or warm with Tossed Noodles. 

And someday, when I open a food truck, I would totally serve it on a sandwich with cucumbers and some sort of slaw.

Tossed Noodles:
For the sauce, it calls for 1/4 red bean paste, which the store didn’t have.  But they did have cans of red beans.  And I have a food processer, so BOOM, 1/2 can of red beans pureed=1/4 red bean paste.  Add to it 1 T sesame oil, 2 T sugar, 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1tsp sherry.
Stir fry whatever veggies you are using while you boil some noodles (I used linguine here).  When the noodles are done, add them to the stir fry pan and toss the sauce over everything.

Dumplings:
Dumplings… dude, just order them when you go out, or save them for a very special girls night because they are lots of work.  Especially when your children will throw them on the floor and your husband will inform you that he doesn’t eat dumplings and give you a look that says “What? You didn’t know?”
But I’ll include it here because they did turn out really good.  The recipe says it will make 50, but that’s only if you are a very experienced Chinese chef.  If you are a low-budget, white lady, you’ll probably get 20. 
The dough: 2.5 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 cup water.  Mix together, knead. 
FIlling: 1 pound ground pork (Or two pork chops in a food processor). 3/4 lbs (Half a head) of chinese cabbage, blanched and diced.  1 tsp sherry.  1 tsp minced ginger root.  1/2 c minced green onions.  3 T soy sauce. 1 T veg oil.  3 T sesame oil.  Mix it all together.  You’ll only use half.  I’m going to use the reserved half for eggrolls.
So, take your dough, and roll it out play-dough style.  Like a big 1 inch snake.  Then “take a cleaver and wack into equal pieces”.  That’s what my book says.  I don’t have a cleaver, but now I feel a deep need for one.  For now, a big knife will work.  So you take a little piece and roll it out into a 2 in circle, put some of the meat filling in the middle and close it around the top. 
Repeat 25 times.
Boil a big pot of water.  Throw in your dumplings.  When the water starts boiling again, add 2/3 c cold water.  And again, when the water starts boiling, add 1/3 c cold water.  When the water boils for the third time, your dumplings are done.  I served mine (to myself) with a mix of the Franks Sweet Chili Sauce and Soy sauce.  Divine.

I’m so bored by my own recipe post that I’m not even going to proof read.  I’m such a slacker.
Also, You should drink the entire time you do this.  It took me five hours.  I kept thinking, “No wonder Chinese Take-out is such a burgeoning business.”

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