Chinese sauces, a cool Chinese recipe site, and an improvised mash-up recipe

[Lisa0825]

Hi all! I haven't posted here in a long time!

I have never felt too confident cooking Chinese food. I just don't think the recipes come out nearly as good as I can get at a restaurant. But I ate at a relatively new place in Houston on Friday - Ginger & Fork - and it was so good that I haven't stopped thinking about it! Only sad part is it's too expensive to eat there regularly! One thing they had that was AMAZING was a house-made chili sauce. It was head and shoulders above any store-bought condiment I have ever had. So I started googling recipes to see if I could make it at home.

I am not entirely sure which sauce they use, since terminology varies. It could be chili oil without straining out the solids, or it could be something like chiu chow chili sauce which they say is more savory than chili oil. Have any of you ever made homemade chili sauce or chili oil? It seems pretty easy. I ordered some ingredients from an online Chinese grocery retailer to give it a try, but it will be several days before I get the package.

Next subject... while I was looking for recipes for chili sauce, I found a site with a lot of really good - seemingly authentic - Chinese recipes. http://thewoksoflife.com/ I plan to try their chili oil and chiu chow sauce recipes.

Lastly, because I have been obsessing over Chinese sauces, I had to try to make something Chinese tonight or my head might explode! LOL! I was undecided about a recipe... I liked the idea of the shredded veggies and sliced chicken of chicken lo mein, but I actually really liked the "sound" of the sauce I found at the Pioneer Woman website for a sesame oil based sauce. So I mashed 'em up together and made Chicken Lo Sesame Mein! LOL! It was actually really good!

Here are the two recipes I combined: chicken and veggies from this one http://thewoksoflife.com/2016/08/chicken-lo-mein/
And the sauce from this one: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/simple-sesame-noodles/

The one (big) change I made in addition to mashing them up is to add about a heaping tablespoon of a new sauce I found in the grocery store tonight - Sichuan Ma La Sauce. It looked similar to the chili sauce from the restaurant (only less red pepper flakes), so I thought I would try it. Not the same, but it was a nice addition to the recipe.

[irisblue]

1. I use that web site alot.

Enjoy your adventures in cooking. How are you making rice?

[Lisa0825]

2. Sometimes just in a saucepan, but I do have a rice cooker.

I thought that site had some interesting tips on fried rice.... I have always heard about using day old rice, but they said if you use fresh rice to use about 20% less water! I'll have to give that a try!

[irisblue]

3. I do not own or get any benefits from these recommendations. I like how they work for me.

I have been using squeeze ginger when I don't have fresh or time to mince : spice world squeeze ginger, don't squeeze too hard, you'll get alot out fast. Fast garlic Lighthouse herbs freeze dried garlic, I place onions & this garlic for low slow first 2 min before I add the sauces.A Thai sauce I am using now, Black Soy Sauce Healthy Boy Brand, molasses, soy, wheat are the ingredients, a sweetish soy sauce. Brand new to me from woksoflife.com..
Chili oil with black bean Laoganma Brand, I like spice, so a few red flakes always move in. And of course, Hosin sauce....love that on jasmine rice. I had looked @ the MaLa Sauce, so thanks for that input. Chinese 5 spice powder!

[Lisa0825]

4. Have you ever trie 13 spice powder?

I have not, but I ordered it to try it.

I also use the freeze dried garlic. I have not tried the ginger, but I will. Thanks!

Funny thing about the Ma La sauce. When I first got it home, I opened it, and brushed my finger on the oil on the inside of the lid just to get a quick taste of it. Later on, I tried to pet one of my cats, and he looked at my hand with abject horror! LOL! I could not smell any lingering scent of it, but he sure could! Then I tried to pet a different cat, and it was like he was Pepe Le Pew and my hand was Penelope! He would not leave it alone!

[pansypoo53219]

5. i needed a quick sauce for some leftover chicken. did look at a recipe for Szechwan chicken.

hmm. look in fridge. soy sauce, ketchup. 4 fruits jam, cayenne pepper, leftover coffee. too much cayenne. needed some garlic, but it was not bad. all it needed was some carrots, onion, & celery and rice. more soy too. oh, a packet of apricot sauce too. more of that next time.

[Lisa0825]

8. I wish I was comfortable enough with Chinese cooking to be able to

use whatever I had on hand! At this point, I am just extremely proud of myself for my successful mashup tonight!

[Saviolo]

6. Something to take a look at next time I'm in Houston!

My husband is from Houston, and the inlaws all live down there. So, we get down there probably once a year, usually. The mother-in-law loves taking her gay sons shopping and eating! So, if it's still around when we're there next, we'll check that spot out. I don't know how she feels about Chinese food, but I've had nice Vietnamese down there, for sure.

[Lisa0825]

7. They are very gay-friendly too! The guys who recommended it to me are gay

and that is one reason it was being passed around as a recommendation in our group. My BFF who is gay was my date that night, and the owner and her husband were chatting with him about mutual acquaintances. I just laughed because I was remembering the old episode of Will and Grace about the Gay Mafia, but I think the positive version of that is the Gay Yelp. LOL