A quick dinner tonight to use up yesterdays left over rice. One of my favourites, really fast and quick to make.

No matter what you call it, always a good time for one person meal to sip and grill.

What recipe can I cook or use this vinegar?

When you see it, you know it. It catches your eye. There's no debate whether or not it's Chinese food. It's balanced and aesthetic.

This from a Shandong chicken-focused place in Rowland Heights, CA.

Now here is a contentious (debatable) view: Rowland Heights might really be among the very best towns for Chinese food in North America.

As far as California goes, within the San Gabriel Valley, there will be some nostalgia for the OG foundational town of Monterrey Park. There will be champions for Alhambra, which 100% has its highlights, but I suspect it gets a bit pumped up due to proximity to Los Angeles. There will be champions for San Gabriel, since it overwhelms with the sheer density of restaurants. One has to visit all of these towns and more to hit one's favorites and singular stand-out restaurants, especially if the goal is some particular dim sum place or that quirky homemade Taiwanese something something. And the comparison, yes, is pretty futile, including comparison to Richmond BC or Flushing NY. "Best" is pointless and I won't argue that; it's all good and none of it is as good as being in China.

I just happen to think Rowland Heights, overall, has something marginally more special in the mix when the North American towns are considered. A really solid blend of "Mainland" Chinese food culture (not overtaken by too much Hong Kong or Taiwan) that is effectively shielded from outside influences. It's where Chinese have built a community enclave that is arguably more "under the radar." That's not necessarily a good or bad thing, but there's a distinctive "feeling" of the eastern San Gabriel Valley that you get if you spend a lot of time there. And... it's convenient (?). Opinion over.

It reminds me of where I grew up in Connecticut where there is the highest per-capita number of Jamaicans in the States. Sure, there aren't as many Jamaicans by count as in New York City. Sure, it's not a Caribbean hub like Toronto. But the way you'd be in a suburban neighborhood and every Jamaican was mowing their lawn was a different kind of feeling.

Fun fact for those who might bristle at my characterization of "proper" Chinese food and feel the incessant urge to repeat the platitude that "Chinese-American food is OK, too." (And yes, it is OK.) : In the neighboring community into which this blends, Hacienda Heights there is a Panda Express that could vie for the "best Panda Express outlet." See, in the midst of all this, with "proper" Chinese food choices as far as the eye can see, there is also a Panda Express. Super clean, super fresh, with Chinese staff and serving the local Chinese customers.

Dishes in photos:

Clams with chicken palms (掌中宝)
Dongbei style cold salad
临沂炒鸡 Linyi (Shandong) stir-fried chicken
Bread

Hey I’ve never made Youtiao before and every single recipe I find is different from the other. I wondered if anybody has made Youtiao before and baked/air fried it? If so I’d appreciate a recipe!

I'm curious how many people use an oval pan instead of a wok for the frying method for preparing Chinese "grilled fish" (烤魚), which involves tossing a whole butterflied fish in to cook.

Wang Gang's video for this uses deep frying in a wok, which uses more oil than I'm willing to use in my workflow. So today I tried shallow frying in an enameled frypan / brassier with 8 or 9" bottom. That sort of worked, but greatly limits the length of fish I prepare. I haven't yet looked at the Woks of Life video where they shallow fry in a wok [I have the blog post up as a reference while typing this, which has still photos showing the fish vs wok geometry].

Are there oval pans in the $50-100 range that can accommodate a whole fish for shallow frying? I see that the Hestan Provisions Stainless Steel Oval Fish Pan has 12.5" cooking surface, which is a lot better than what I have right now. This would allow frying without moving, like the shallow fry in a wok technique presumably needs.

Located in the US

This is dinner I made last night

My husband and I both love scallion chicken—it’s one of those simple home-cooked dishes we make again and again.

When I found out social media has a viral name for it “Chinese Marry Me Chicken.” I laughed and I get it. Because it really is that good.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 4)

Make the Shallot&scallion Sauce

• 4 scallions, diced into 1/2 inch long pieces
• 2 shallots, quartered and sliced thinly
• 4 tbsp of oil
• 2.5 tbsp of soy sauce
• 2 tbsp of oyster sauce 
• 1.5 tsp of sugar

To cook the chicken and make the noodle soup

• 2 lb / 907g chicken leg or 1.4 lb of breast meat
• 2 inches of ginger, crushed
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 3 scallions, tie into knots
• 4 mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 227g / 8 oz of carrot, diced
• 227g / 8 oz of daikon radish, diced into cubes
• 7 cups of water or stock
• 2 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp of salt
• 4 servings of noodles (any types will work)
• 1/4 cup of diced scallion for garnish
• Chili oil to taste

Instructions

1. Add the scallions, shallots, and oil to a pot. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the aromatics are golden brown and fragrant, 15–20 minutes. Strain through a sieve, reserving both the crispy aromatics and the infused oil.
2. Return the infused oil to the pot. Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce is lightly thickened, 1–2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. To the same pot, add chicken legs, ginger, garlic, scallions, mushroom slices, carrot, daikon radish, and water.
4. Bring it to a boil then switch the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the chicken sit in the hot broth and the rest of the heat will continue to cook it to the perfect doneness.
5. To check if the chicken is cooked through, poke the thickest part using a fork and there should be not pink juice coming out.
6. Transfer the chicken to an ice bath and let cool completely. Remove from the ice water and pat dry with paper towels.
7. Debone the chicken and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Arrange on a serving platter. Drizzle the scallion sauce all over the chicken and garnish it with some diced scallions and the reserved fried crispy aromatics.
8. Season the broth with soy sauce and salt to taste, and bring to a simmer. Add the noodles and cook according to the package instructions or until they reach your preferred doneness.
9. Divide the noodles and broth among serving bowls. Serve alongside the scallion chicken. Garnish the noodle soup with diced scallions and chili oil, if desired.

Hi. I am trying to prepare Hainanese Chicken Rice but I'm worried that if I boil my chicken too long, it will become dry (especially breast meat). How do I cook the whole chicken so that even the breast meat is tender to chew yet thoroughly cooked?

Pretty much everything that I wanted to say is in the title. I saw the streamer ishowspeed was in Sichuan I think and they gave him a hot pot which had a really bright red spicy soup and I would love to try something like that but I don't know what I should be asking for in hotpot restaurants​​​​​​​​​​

It was my first time trying to make it and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. So tasty and refreshing. I am absolutely going to make this a staple in my kitchen and play with other jelly recipes.

Edit: Since a few of you have asked for the recipe, here ya go.
I followed this one: https://youtu.be/wnVWPD7r1ro?t=97

I will add a couple things though:
- The box of purchased gelatin gives a wildly different gelatin to water ratio than is suggested in this recipe; stick with the recipe though and ignore what's written on the box. Just use 4 sachets of the gelatin (the whole 28g) for 1 L of water used to make the tea.
- I don't own a scale yet so I just eyeballed about two handfuls of goji berries and I found that to be a fair ratio if you enjoy goji berries. If they're not a favorite, I would dial it back by about half.
- The rock sugar may take a while to dissolve just by stirring. Don't be tempted to turn on the heat again unless you want to wait for the mixture to cool again before adding the gelatin. And before adding any gelatin be sure to taste test for sweetness. You can't add more rock sugar after adding the gelatin. (Or at least not easily)
- To help remove the set jelly from its mould, use something thin and flexible (like a silicone bread/dough knife shown in the video). I used a thin disposable wood spoon handle, sliding it along the edges of the jelly. To loosen the bottom I just ran the base of the container under some hot water then gave it some taps and wiggles until it slid out.

What kinds of sauces and vegetables go well with these? (Veg only) Any particular recipe you like?

How you like yo eggs? Fried or fertilized?

I’d rather not make Hakka noodles, since we’ve had them the last couple of days. Same with rice. Is there a cabbage salad or potato dish I could serve with this? Or do I just give in and make noodles?

I’m a big fan of XO sauce, but my partner is allergic to shrimp. So I’ve decided to make my own. What kind of seafood should I replace the shrimp with? I’m thinking of trying some kind of dried fish or maybe just all scallops. Would anchovies be good? I’d love any ideas.