"Cheater" Dim Sum with Vegetable Stir-Fry

Have you ever had dim sum? Do you know what dim sum is? You may have heard of it; perhaps your trendy, slightly yuppie friends have talked about going for dim sum, and you just shook your head like you knew what they were talking about, when in reality you thought, "that sounds like an insult". If this is the case let me enlighten you and perhaps you can tell your "cool" friends a little more about dim sum and move up the social ladder.

"Dim sum is a Cantonese term for a type of Chinese dish that involves small individual portions of food, usually served in a small steamer basket or on a small plate. Going for dim sum is usually known in Cantonese as going to "drink tea"."

Chinese Egg Rolls and Ginger Sauce

This recipe comes care of our friends K and P Lowe, who were generous enough to "invite" me over so they could make these fantastic egg rolls. I use the word "invite" loosely because I pretty much demanded them for dinner. I couldn't help it- a bit of cabbage and garlic was just what I was craving, and the Lowes make some of the best!

These aren't difficult to make, but they do require some assembly, which is pictured step-by-step below. My recommendation is to recruit an assistant to help with the rolling. Call it a date night and egg-roll it with your significant other!

And finally, although not pictured in this post, the Lowes have an excellent ginger sauce they serve with these egg rolls. I highly, highly recommend it. They usually dye it red for aesthetic purposes, but there's no real need for it. Bear in mind that the Lowes make their ginger sauce powerful enough to knock your socks off, so if you're new to the world of gingery foods, you may want to cut back by a tablespoon or so of the ginger in the sauce. Enjoy!


Chinese Egg Rolls
Recipe by K. and P. Lowe
Pictures by Kelly

1 pound sausage
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 cup purple cabbage, chopped
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1 egg
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 package egg roll wraps
oil

1. In a large pan, cook sausage until well done, stirring frequently. Drain excess grease from pan. Add chili powder, oregano, ginger, cabbage, and green onions. Saute 1-2 minutes.
   
2. Push meat mixture to the side and add egg. Cook egg until mostly firm, then break and scramble. Stir into meat mixture.
3. Lay out several egg roll wraps flat on the counter. Add 1 heaping spoonful to each wrap. Fold up like a burrito and seal the sides by moistening the edges with a wet cloth.
   
4. Heat oil to medium heat in large fryer or large pan. Fry each egg roll until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Serve with ginger sauce.

Ginger Sauce
Recipe by K. and P. Lowe

3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup white sugar
1-2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 tablespoon water
Red food coloring (optional)

1. In a small sauce pan, combine ginger, vinegar, and sugar. Heat until sugar is dissolved.
   
2. Add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 1/2 tablespoon water and stir until smooth. Add to ginger mixture and stir until mixture has thickened. Add more cornstarch if a thicker sauce is desired.
   
3. Add food coloring and serve.
   

Mongolian Beef

If you like the restaurant PF Chang and you like their Mongolian Beef, you will like this recipe. I combined a couple of copycat recipes, made some adaptations, and this is was I came up with. I will admit, there are quite a few steps to this recipe, but if you prep your meat and veggies, it really isn't very hard. To me the most difficult part is frying the meat in the oil without getting burned. In fact, I would suggest having a helper with the meat frying, one of you should be responsible for putting the meat into the pan and the other person should be in charge of flipping the meat and removing it to a reserve plate.


One, no two final notes. I added mushrooms to this dish, mostly I just thought it would add an extra flavor and a little more texture to the dish, but if you don't like mushrooms just leave them out. And two, I listed in the ingredients 1 or 2 bunches of green onions. I used one, and wished that I had about half as much more. So, I would suggest using about 1 1/2 bunches of green onions, but that will vary on your taste preference, as well as the size of bunch your local market sells.

Enjoy!

Mongolian Beef
Recipe and pictures by Caroline

2 lbs flank or skirt steak
¼ cup corn starch
2 tsp vegetable or peanut oil
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
½ cup low sodium soy sauce
½ cup water
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup vegetable or peanut oil
¼ to ½ cup mushroom pieces, depending on your preference
1 to 2 bunches green onions, green part only, cut in half

1. Trim all fat and silver skin from meat. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces. Dust steak pieces lightly in cornstarch and set aside while preparing the sauce. Be sure to use a very light dusting of cornstarch, otherwise the texture will not be what you want.
2. In a small sauce pan heat oil over medium high heat. Add ginger and garlic. Add soy sauce and water to the ginger and garlic before it browns. Add brown sugar and whisk until dissolved. Bring sauce to a boil and simmer about 10 minutes or until slightly reduced and thickened. Remove from the heat and reserve.
3. In a large skillet or wok heat 1/2 cup oil over medium high heat. Working in batches, add the steak a few at a time to the hot oil. Cook about 2 minutes without touching the meat then flip each piece and cook 1 minute more. Remove meat and continue with next batch, leave meat just slightly rarer than you want it cooked. Once all meat is browned, pour off oil and wipe out skillet. 4. Put pan back over heat and add the mushrooms, let cook for about 1 minute until slightly softened. Add the meat and the sauce to the pan and simmer for about 1 minute. Add the green onions and continue to heat for about 2 more minutes.
5. Use tongs to remove meat and veggies to a serving dish, leaving excess sauce in the pan. Serve over rice.