Quick & Easy Chinese (5 page)
Read Quick & Easy Chinese Online
Authors: Nancie McDermott
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup honey, plus 4 to 5 tablespoons for glazing
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or another kind of vinegar)
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, molasses, or maple syrup
1 tablespoon dark brown or light brown sugar
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
About 3 pounds pork spareribs, cut into individual ribs
MAKES ABOUT
24
RIBS, ENOUGH FOR
4
PEOPLE
In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce, ½ cup honey, vinegar, dark soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, salt, and pepper. Stir well, until the sugar dissolves and the soy sauce and honey combine to make a smooth marinade.
Add the spareribs to the bowl and turn to coat them evenly with the marinade. Set aside for 30 minutes, or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day. Turn them once or twice to season them evenly.
To cook, heat the oven to 350°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan completely with aluminum foil, to keep cleanup easy. Arrange the seasoned ribs on the foil-lined pan individually, spaced a few inches apart to help them brown evenly. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 20 minutes.
Remove the pan, turn the ribs over, and then continue roasting for 15 to 20 minutes more, until the ribs are evenly browned and cooked through. Increase the heat to 400°F and cook another 5 minutes.
Remove the ribs from the oven and push them together into a low pile in the center of the pan. Drizzle the reserved honey over the ribs, and then turn and tumble the ribs a few times, to coat them evenly with the honey. Transfer to a serving platter and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
This simple recipe gives you a delicious-looking pile of wings to serve warm or at room temperature. Perfect for a picnic or potluck, they can be made ahead and reheated gently, or chilled and brought to room temperature on the way to an event. I remove the wing tip and either discard it or save it in the freezer for stock, but it’s fine to leave wings whole. You can use trimmed chicken wings or “drummettes,” the first portion or drumstick, or “Buffalo wings,” the first two joints divided with the third joint removed. Whatever form you use, choose a saucepan that keeps the wings covered with sauce as they cook, rather than spread out in a single layer.
1½ cups soy sauce
¾ cup water
¼ cup dark or light brown sugar
3 tablespoons molasses or honey
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup very coarsely chopped fresh ginger
8 slices fresh ginger
3 green onions, cut crosswise into 2-inch lengths
1½ pounds chicken wings
SERVES
4
TO
6
In a large saucepan, combine the soy sauce, water, brown sugar, molasses, salt, ginger, and green onions. Stir to dissolve the sugar and salt, and then bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Carefully add the chicken wings to the pot. They should crowd the pot and be almost covered with the sauce. Let the sauce return to a boil, and then adjust the heat to maintain a lively, visible simmer.
Let the chicken wings boil gently for 12 minutes, stirring once or twice to make sure that the wings cook and color evenly. Remove from the heat and leave the wings in the sauce to finish cooking and deepen in color, about 30 minutes.
Transfer the wings to a serving platter. Remove and discard the ginger slices and green onions. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
These fabulous street-food flatbreads show up in night markets and in street-food centers all over Asia. On our annual visits to Taiwan, my family and I eagerly seek out the couple who serve them up from a simple stall by the Taipei subway stop near the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial. Theirs are incomparably delicious, but these are very tasty, lovely to look at, and amazingly simple to make. Plan to roll and cook the pancakes one at a time while you’re learning, and then speed up once you’ve got it down.
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup water
About 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus 3 tablespoons for frying
1 tablespoon salt
1
/
3
cup thinly sliced green onion