HONG SIU GAI RECIPES

Steps:

• Thaw the boneless chicken about halfway, then cut into bite-sized chunks (It’s easier to cut, when the meat is halfway frozen); place in bowl and let chicken thaw completely.
• Combine the marinade ingredients of the honey, lime juice, ginger root, soy sauce, sherry and garlic, then pour over the chicken and mix thoroughly. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
• For the chicken batter, mix all ingredients (flour, cornstarch, baking powder, eggs, water and oil) together. Let stand for 10-15 minutes Then dip your chicken pieces in the batter.
• Fry the battered chicken pieces in pre-heated peanut oil (about 1/2 inch of peanut oil), in a wok set on med-high temp, at about 375 degrees. Do not fry too many pieces all at once, or the chicken will stick together. About six-to-eight pieces at a time, works best.
• Place fried chicken bites in a non-corrosive plastic container with a few layers of paper towels underneath them to absorb the oil. Do NOT cover the fried chicken pieces! If you do, this will make your chicken turn soft, and take away the crispiness.
• Mix all sauce ingredients from above, except the sesame oil, in a bowl. Beat it with a fork until all of the cornstarch has dissolved thoroughly into the mix. Then set aside on the kitchen counter for now.
• Now rinse and dry your wok, and place all vegetables in the wok, one at a time, in the following specific order:.
• First, add the 1 T of sesame oil to the wok and set heat on medium. Now add the pea pods and stir-fry for about three minutes while gently stirring in about half of the sauce. Then add the drained water chestnuts, carrots and sliced bok choy stems and cook two-to-three more minutes. Then add the straw mushrooms while adding in the remaining sauce mixture, and cook another three minutes. (total cook time, 9-10 minutes).
• Reduce your wok heat to low and add fried chicken pieces to top of wok ingredients. Continue to cook in wok another 5 mins, and then you are done. Do NOT cover the wok, in order to keep the chicken and vegetables from becoming too soft or over-cooked.
• You are now done! (Pat yourself on the back.) Serve the dish with steamed rice if desired. Hong Shu Gai Kew is best served with hot tea or a glass of white wine, (In my humble opinion, at least.) Provide a bottle of soy sauce on the table, for those who like the dish or their rice with a kick of extra soy flavor.

Steps:

• Clean and cut the pork belly into cubes around 2 inches long.
• Boil a large pot of water, add cooking wine, 2 slices of ginger and 2 green onions, cook the pork belly for around 4 minutes. Transfer out and wash with warm water. Set aside and drain.
• Add green onion and ginger slices in a clay pot and pre-heat it on a stove.
• Then on another stove, heat up wok on medium fire; brush some oil on the bottom. Sautee the pork belly until the surface becomes slightly brown. Transfer the pork cubes to our pre-heat clay pot.
• Put the brown sugar in wok to stir fry until all the sugar melts and you can see large bubbles. Keep stirring during the process. Pour hot water to cover the pork cubes. Mix well!
• Transfer the sugar mixture to the clay pot with pork belly or return the pork belly into your wok. Add light soy sauce too.
• Bring all the content to a boiling and then lower the fire to simmer for around 45 minutes with the lid covered.
• Lift the lid and turn up the fire to thicken the sauce (around 15 minutes). Stop when you see the sauce is boiling strongly with large bubbles and almost thickened. Cool down a little bit and the sauce will fatherly thicken itself.
• Garnish some chopped green onion before serving.