# The February 2018 Challenge is 'Chinese'.



## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

The 2018 Chinese New Year begins on Friday, February 16, so I thought this would be an appropriate theme. It will be the year of the Dog - but please, no recipes for dog!

Lately I've been experimenting with Chinese dumplings so it would be good to see some Dim Sum entries. But really, there is lots of scope for all kinds of dishes. And don't forget - this judge likes spicy food! I look forward to your entries.


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

Here are my crab dumplings in chicken broth (first attempt at making Chinese dumplings).


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

Good challenge!


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Wow. Such a vast and varied cuisine, where do I start? Maybe some red cooked pork belly with a coffee sauce?

mjb.


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

teamfat said:


> Wow. Such a vast and varied cuisine, where do I start? Maybe some red cooked pork belly with a coffee sauce?
> 
> mjb.


It is rather vast, I know! I could narrow it down - but really I just want as many members to take part as possible. Red cooked pork? Oh yes...


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

Now this will be a fun challenge.


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## automne (Apr 9, 2011)

I recently bought two Chinese cookbooks because I wanted to try my hand at the cuisine (especially Sichuan). Now's a good time as any.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Which ones? I'm always on the lookout for another good Chinese cookbook.


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## automne (Apr 9, 2011)

Jade Trees and Phoenix Claws
Land of Plenty


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Those are both good and in my library already. Thanks for sharing.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I'm thinking hotpot some time this weekend. Let this video hold you until then.


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## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

ALOHA Y'ALL!!!
Long time now see...
MG, love this Challenge, good call.
I have been getting myself ready for the Lunar New Year and have a few recipes ready to go.
Some I've made several times, some it's been awhile and others, well not so much, but Chinese food here in Cowboy-ville is sparse.

A very popular festival food in Honolulu anyways,
is Crispy Gau Gee, basically a deep fried dumpling, yeah ...




















A bit crisp there around the edges, but we did a taste test by steaming a few dumplings







... very tasty indeed!


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I can do this.....
Gonna be interesting


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

For years I've been using this old, flat bottomed non-stick wok. It has seen better days. Perhaps this challenge will be the perfect time for me to go out and buy a real carbon steel wok. Southeast Market is only a couple blocks away ...

mjb.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

teamfat said:


> For years I've been using this old, flat bottomed non-stick wok. It has seen better days. Perhaps this challenge will be the perfect time for me to go out and buy a real carbon steel wok. Southeast Market is only a couple blocks away ...
> 
> mjb.


There's really no substitute for a carbon steel wok. I seasoned mine on a day I had the house to myself - LOL.


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## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

I have a cheap Walmart carbon steel flat bottom wok that is basically non-stick from use! Going on 15 years old...


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

Fire up those woks! There is always the obvious...


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

The Asian Grocer is in full Hot Pot mode. Thin sliced pork, lamb, beef, beef tongue, Waygu, boneless duck or chicken feet, pork belly around the corner....










Turn around and there is a stack of various hot pot soup bases. The one on the right in Black actually looked interesting. Also not the pots and burners. 









I'm adapting between Fuchsia Dunlop in Land of Plenty and this Youtube version. I liked the pepper and sichuan pepper from the video. 




Here I'm sauteing the dry spices:black pepper corns, sichuan pepper corns, star anise and some red peper flakes. I'm light on the chile as my family is not into brutal heat.










I similarly adapt the bean sauce with just 2 tablespoon of hot Pixian Doubanjiang and 6 of regular bean sauce. Using straight chile bean sauce is too hot for us. Ginger has been added at this point as well.









The Shao Xing Wine, chicken stock, soy sauce and let simmer









The whole spread. Beef, Lamb, Pork, Potato, Lotus Root, Tofu, Bean Curd Skin, Mushrooms, Shrimp, Cauliflower, Zuchinni, Choy Sum, Boiled Eggs, Beef Tendon Balls, and Chicken Gizzards









I'm using a divided pot because one of my kids has a seafood allergy and we'll just cook the shrimp on one side.

Sauce is some sesame sauce, shacha sauce, soy, sriracha, scallion and cilantro.









Some cauliflower and egg posing in the sauce bath.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

A favorite item of mine at Chinese restaurants is hot and sour soup. Usually it is neither hot nor sour, but somewhat tasty. Making it at home you can control the hot, you can control the sour.

*The Players*









Along the top row we have some dried wood ear mushrooms, and a single bit of dried lobster mushroom. Forgot I had that one, was thinking I still had some shittakes left, but no. Ginger root, good soy sauce and black vinegar are needed, as is a raw egg to be swirled in at the end. Bottom row has dried chilies, dried lily flowers, pork and tofu. I assume you can tell which is the pork and which is the tofu. Not in the picture are things like cornstarch, chili oil and home made chicken broth.

*The Procedure*









First off, get the dried bits rehydrating in hot water.









The pork, which was stashed in the freezer for a bit, gets finely sliced, and marinates with some soy and minced ginger.









Meanwhile the chicken broth, soy sauce and vinegar get put into a pot, the dried chilies crumbled on top. Tofu is cubed.









The dried veggies are drained, the soaking water from the mushrooms goes in the pot. As do the veggies after some dicing, and the pork along with the marinade.








Brought to a simmer for about 20 minutes. Tofu tossed in, simmer another 5 minutes. A couple of tablespoons of cornstarch gets mixed in about a half cup cold water, it gets stirred in. The egg is cracked open into a bowl, well scrambled with a fork and then gets drizzled in with a slow stir.

*The Product*









Topped with scallions, time to eat! It was hot. It was sour.

mjb.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

A very very simple one:
Black bean beef with steamed rice and a fried egg.
It's a highly savury dish, so a little goes a long way

The main ingredients:









Pre heated the wokky thing (I got several, so trying to give each one a turn in this challenge. This one needed a bit of a spiderweb clean first)









Once hot, added oil, then onion, garlic and chili and once they were cooked I added the ground beef.
Once browned, I added black bean paste and rice wine (the dark blob is bean paste)








Final touch: Fresh coriander (or cilantro for the Americans)








I served with steamed rice and a fried egg.
The contrast of the very dark dish and white rice is always a bit difficult for my camera


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

butzy said:


> A very very simple one:
> Black bean beef with steamed rice and a fried egg.
> It's a highly savury dish, so a little goes a long way


Looks delicious. I like the addition of the egg. Black fermented beans (from which the sauce is made) are a very special thing - umami in bucket loads! Have you ever used just the beans? I mean, rather than black bean sauce.


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

phatch said:


> The Asian Grocer is in full Hot Pot mode. Thin sliced pork, lamb, beef, beef tongue, Waygu, boneless duck or chicken feet, pork belly around the corner....
> <SNIP>
> The whole spread. Beef, Lamb, Pork, Potato, Lotus Root, Tofu, Bean Curd Skin, Mushrooms, Shrimp, Cauliflower, Zuchinni, Choy Sum, Boiled Eggs, Beef Tendon Balls, and Chicken Gizzards
> View attachment 64481


You are so lucky to have a local Asian grocer selling such produce. I've searched high and low for lotus root to no avail. Its such a very pretty edition to a dish. And the total spread of ingredients is wonderful.

Are the pics to follow of the completed dish or am I misreading something...


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

teamfat said:


> A favorite item of mine at Chinese restaurants is hot and sour soup.


Me too!


teamfat said:


> Along the top row we have some dried wood ear mushrooms, and a single bit of dried lobster mushroom. Forgot I had that one, was thinking I still had some shittakes left, but no. Ginger root, good soy sauce and black vinegar are needed, as is a raw egg to be swirled in at the end. Bottom row has dried chilies, dried lily flowers, pork and tofu.


A lovely combination of ingredients. Lobster mushroom I've not come across before.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

They are called Lobster mushrooms because the color of their caps is like that of a cooked lobster shell.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

morning glory said:


> You are so lucky to have a local Asian grocer selling such produce. I've searched high and low for lotus root to no avail. Its such a very pretty edition to a dish. And the total spread of ingredients is wonderful.
> 
> Are the pics to follow of the completed dish or am I misreading something...


Well it's a meal where you cook the pieces individually in the stock and eat them one at a time. So the finished dish is essentially the egg and the cauliflower picture but everything else gets cooked and eaten the same way. I was busy eating and didn't take a picture of all the different varieties of bites.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

Split chicken breast is .99/lb this week so I picked up a four pack. After trimming out the bone and removing the skin I ended up with breast, tenders and bites. I was going to make Cordon Blue, but remembered the challenge so . . .

Pretty pedestrian chow dish - my six yr old granddaughter was over so I explained what I was doing and she ended up helping me prep. I cut the chicken into bite size pieces and dusted with corn starch to tenderize and crisp in the wok later. I processed red onion, scallion, bell pepper, snow peas and some steamed broccoli, garlic and ginger. I put my wet seasoning in a cup - lite soy, black soy, rice vinegar, xiaoshing wine, oyster sauce, black bean/garlic sauce and some fermented red tofu. I heated my wok, added a good amount of oil and fried my chicken, removed when golden and drained. With a reduced amount of oil I added my other ingredients in order of operations then mixed corn starch and chicken stock and added to my wet sauce and added that to the wok to finish.










After sauce and ready to serve topped with scallion greens and chopped peanuts.









Quite tasty, filling and no rice, noodles, or extra carbs. No extra sugars, or salt either. All flavor is derived from the ingredients that have enough of that stuff.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

morning glory said:


> Looks delicious. I like the addition of the egg. Black fermented beans (from which the sauce is made) are a very special thing - umami in bucket loads! Have you ever used just the beans? I mean, rather than black bean sauce.


Yes I have. 
I used them in an Indonesian dish called Daging Taoco (Daging being beef and taoco or taotjo being the Indonesian/Malay name for black beans).


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Clay Pot/Sand Pots are a traditional cooking tool of China. But these dishes are rarely seen on the menus of restaurants here in Salt Lake City. I don't have a traditional clay pot. I've seen them for sale locally, but they always seem of poor quality and I just don't see them surviving my usage. I use a glazed earthenware pot instead. It's held up fairly well but does have some chips. Barbara Tropp in _The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking_ has some good instructions and five or six dishes. Jeff Smith is probably the second best cookbook discussion of this tool in _The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines_. The Woks of Life has some Clay Pot Rice recipes that give useful ratios and seasoning volumes.

Some Clay Pot Rice using up the some of the final bits from the hot pot and stir fried choy sum, also the final bits from the hot pot. Mushrooms, zuchinni, commercial Char Shu (Yangtze brand, it's not bad. Not great either, but handy mostly). Seasoned with stock, rice wine, light soy, dark soy, oyster sauce and ginger. Cover, cook on the stove top over low heat until boiling. Time it to cook the rice through, adding water as needed depending how well your pot seals.









I'm eating lightly tonight so just a little of the rice. 









And a little Choy Sum. I separated off the large leaves and blanched the leaves and stems. This is something I learned from Barbara Tropp and how she treats stir fried spinach. She comments that stirfried greens tend to go dark and weep dark bitter liquid. By blanching them first, they keep their color and weep no liquid. Stir fried with minced garlic and ginger, drizzled with some oyster sauce out of the pan. 








For Day Two of the clay pot rice eating, I needed some more vegetables. I opted for some Gai Lan or Chinese Brocolli. I sliced some large garlic cloves in half with some "coins" of ginger to season the oil. Then added the gai lan, turning to coat with the flavored oil. Add some chicken stock and rice wine and cover to steam. Time depends on the thickness of the stems. This approached 4 minutes as the stems were on the thick side. I test by piercing the stem with a paring knife and judging resistance. 









Because these were thick, I turned them half way through the steaming.









Plate and drizzle with Oyster Sauce. For a more formal approach, you can remove the garlic and ginger chunks.


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## Friend_of_Epicurius (Jan 22, 2018)

While not chinese per say. Its kinda aisian inspired.
Decided to make asian style eggs benedict. Using rice with asian spicy carrots and some seseme seeds in the mix. Then browned on the griddle. Topped with pickled ginger sereno ham and a spicy chile hollandais. In all it came out well i think instead of treating the rice and try to brown like toast i am going to fry it so ut stays together better and not wanting to fall apart


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Forgot the seaweed soup.

The seaweed comes in a round 8 inch cake. I'm using about a third of that. You often see this with tofu and eggdrop. I'm just using eggdrop tonight. Pretty straightforward stock, seaweed, and eggs. Salt, white pepper and some sesame oil were my seasoning choices.









In the bowl.


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## Jing (Feb 11, 2018)

morning glory said:


> Here are my crab dumplings in chicken broth (first attempt at making Chinese dumplings).
> 
> View attachment 64456


I am a Chinese, maybe I can help you, your dumplings look good, but you can put some chopped green onions in the soup, if you like the taste of the South. Or, you can make hot sauce with a small amount of sugar and vinegar, if you like the taste of Sichuan.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

The best scallion pancakes I've eaten came from the freezer case of the Asian grocer. They had to be cooked from frozen because they were incredibly stick and gooey if thawed. But they had excellent texture, flakiness and flavor. These too are scarce on restaurant menus in SLC.

When I've made them following recipes they've been gummy and thick. Some things I've learned over the years is that this is a form of laminated dough. But for my skill at least, or maybe there's a problem with the recipe which I lean more towards, those that attempt extra layers through another round of rolling tend to be gummy. An example of this sort of recipe.
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/04/extra-flaky-scallion-pancakes-recipe.html
The picture doesn't look all that flakey either but the angle hides this a bit.

Most recipes use a boiling water dough in the style of choux paste. This gives you a pre-cooked flour so they're more forgiving about undercooking. This tends to yield a well hydrated soft dough that you can move on with pretty quickly.

My sources for today's efforts come from Strictly Dumpling, again. I've rather enjoyed his channel the last couple of months.






I was intrigued by his blend of water temperatures. And his bacon version really appeals to me too. His double kneading was also something I don't recall encountering before. OK, his explanation of the effects of his massage are ill informed. Jeff Smith also uses a mixture of boiling and cold water in his recipe so that's another source.






This version has some things that appealed to me. Again, the water isn't boiling, she's kneading by machine, has two kneadings. The scallion oil was an excellent idea. She also uses a fan or accordion folding technique I want to try.

Both of these use more water than you'll often see. I couldn't get that to work. It was much more batter than dough though I get that it needs to be loose and potentially sticky. I incorporated extra flour. The resting time is more than just gluten relaxation, you also finish hydrating. And the second kneading is necessary to get the gluten development and the dough can actually be handled after the rest.

Making Scallion Oil









Rolling the first time. Shape isn't particularly important for this step as long as it's fairly evenly shaped. I've spread a blend of scallion and sesame oil. The kosher salt is readily visible. It needed to be more. This isn't particularly thin either.








Roll it jelly roll style. Smoosh it together a bit.








I liked what she did in the China Eats video where she rolled the coil from both ends and then stacked them to give you more layers.















Set that off to rest. In the next pancake, I'm trying out the accordion or fan fold. I really need to chop the scallions much thinner.















For the pancakes three and four, I've minced over the scallions for a finer flatter effect.








This is pancake #2. Note the whole circles. Note also that the center tends to loose scallions as their large size catches in the rolling and moves more towards the outer edges. These are about 7-8 inches across, just for size reference. Whole scallions tend to pierce their layers, at least at the size I cut. This is something I've noticed in all my prior attempts at this dish as well.








Pancake #1, traditional mehtods. I've got some layers and some flakiness, not a lot.









See next post


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Rolling out an accordion folded pancake, this is number 2. 









Pancake 2 cooked, more layers and flakes. I seem to have improved results with the accordion fold.








Pancake 3 with the roll method and finer cut scallions. Flakiness improves, but the finer scallion seems to make the big difference I think. 








Pancake 4, accordion fold, fine scallions. This also benefitted from being the most rested piece of dough so not all things are equal. 









So I've learned some things. Finer scallions is a big one. Lower cooking temperatures, only medium I'm not convinced the accordion fold is the best, but it's surprisingly easy. I'm not convinced on the stacking of the rolls. Doesn't seem to improve layering really. What it does do is even out the pancake more so the rolls don't separate in cooking so much. I remember the pancake unrolling sometimes in the more traditional method.

Taste. These are the best I've made from scratch. Still not as good as the freezer case pancakes. I'm a little short on the salt. They need a surprising amount.

But I don't get the kinds of results more experience cooks can get. Clearly there's a level of feel and technique I'm missing. More practice and searching to go.


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## planethoff (Apr 25, 2011)

*Chicken Lo Mein* 
Chicken, carrot, red pepper, garlic, ginger, bok choy, scallions








Double black soy, premium soy, black bean sauce, peanut oil, rice vinegar, hosin, crispy chile oil, sesame oil, flour noodles








Marinate chicken in soy, cornstarch, crispy chili. Brown in peanut oil. Stir fry veg. Soak noodles. Toss all with bean sauce, soy, hosin, sesame oil, and noodles in hot wok. Top with scallion.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I grilled some pork chops on the charcoal grill and decided to marinade them Chinese style.
The marinade consisted of: Shiaoxing rice wine, freshly ground shechuan pepper corns, cloves, star anise, dried chili's, garlic powder and a little honey.
Not something I would normally think of. I tend to stay with the SE Asian marinades and maybe piri-piri.
It was a nice change and I quite liked it!.

I didn't take many pictures (there was a whole crowd of us and I was busy talking and drinking )


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## Jin (Jan 6, 2018)

Real Chinese Food porn

From the movie : Eat Drink Man Woman


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

I've been cooking everything but chinese haha. I have something great planned for tomorrow...


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

I'm a bit overwhelmed (can one be a _bit _overwhelmed?) by all these entries! We are only halfway through and I can see that its going to be a tough challenge to judge. I'm impressed by the use of authentic ingredients, some of which I can't obtain in the UK - and the range of dishes and techniques. This is going to be both difficult and delightful to judge!


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

Its all kicking off in London and other parts of the UK! Its Chinese Year of the Dog - starting today. And we are doing it proud on ChefTalk.


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

Cantonese style scallion ginger crawfish. This is a popular dish in Boston using lobster, but flash frying lobster is a pain so here I used crawfish. Hey, Mardi Gras and New year are the same week, why not?

Scallions, ginger, garlic, dark soy, shaoxing rice wine vinegar, chile oil, corn starch slurry to give the sauce some body


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

So, I am all ready to go and make Char Siu, only to find out that I didn't have any hoisin sauce. I was sure I had it....
Note to self: Don't think, Check!
But....
I did find a bottle of Char Siu sauce, so we are back on track.
It's all in the marinade now


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Some time ago I made some char siu using a packaged mix. I normally don't eat stuff that glows in the dark.


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

millionsknives said:


> Cantonese style scallion ginger crawfish. This is a popular dish in Boston using lobster, but flash frying lobster is a pain so here I used crawfish. Hey, Mardi Gras and New year are the same week, why not?
> 
> Scallions, ginger, garlic, dark soy, shaoxing rice wine vinegar, chile oil, corn starch slurry to give the sauce some body


This looks fabulous! Such a gorgeous colour on those crayfish (crawfish).


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

phatch said:


> Clay Pot/Sand Pots are a traditional cooking tool of China.


This is such an adventure. I'd not come across Clay Pot cooking before and I'm delighted to see your experiments. Lovely results!


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Here's the Char Siu, luckily not nearly the colour of teamfat's ones:

I used belly pork as I had some offcuts from my bacon attempts.
As said, I didn't have hoisin sauce, but I found some char siu sauce, added extra garlic and rice vinegar and marinated it.
I had another piece of belly pork and that got marinated in an Indonesian marinade.

I used my little 14.5" WSM without waterpan









We are good to go...









About an hour in








And done.
It only took about 2 hours as the pieces were quite thin.
They are quite dark, but they did not burn.









And all the meat is resting
(and I keep stealing pieces of it. Very tasty, although even with the added rice wine, still a bit sweet for me. But sprinkling with some fresh lime sorts that out....)


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

So now I have Char siu. I was going to eat it with rice and a cucumber salad, but I changed my mind.
I had some though in the fridge from my "Artisan bread in 5 minues" experiment and decided to use that.
Some of the pictures didn't come out very well, as they were taken by cellphone with a flash. Normally not a problem, but one of my lightbulbs decided to stop working, so it was a bit too dark for my phone. So be it....

I took 2 pieces of dough out of the fridge and let them rest.
Meanwhile, I set up the bamboo steamer








Unfortunately, you can't really see the wok, but it's another one than I used for my first post.

I chopped the meat and sprinkled with lime juice









Put the meat on some rolled out dough and formed back in a ball









And in the steamer:








Meanwhile it was time for the smashed cucumber salad:
I halved the cucumber, smashed them and cut in pieces before putting in a colander with some salt









The other ingredients for the salad at the ready...
Sesame oil, rice vinegar and garlic














The buns are almost ready and the cucumber salad as well
















And then I was told that I reached the limit of the pictures......


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Plated








I wanted to post a picture of the opened up bun, but it is a pretty terrible one, so I left it out.

And then it was time for the non-Chinese part:
Zambian beer in a Thai beer cooler 










[edit 20 feb]
I forgot to mention the name: the buns are bah pao or bak pao and credit where credit is due: the cucumber recipe came from the serious eats website


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

butzy said:


> Here's the Char Siu, luckily not nearly the colour of teamfat's ones:


Wow! I'm literally salivating after scrolling through your photos. Re the colour - I have a friend in Thailand who makes Char Siu using a spice mix. I asked him how he got the red colour. It turned out there was red colouring added to the spice mix.

I am wondering if achiote paste could be used to get a similar result. I've recently been experimenting with achiote (which to me in the UK is an exotic, hard to find ingredient). On the other hand I suppose one could simply add some red food colouring (the sort sold to colour icing etc.)


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

I make char siu from scratch; no powder packet, no jar sauce. The red comes from red fermented tofu.


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

millionsknives said:


> The red comes from red fermented tofu.


Ah! Not sure where I can obtain that. We are not as well off in the UK for Chinese ingredients I think.

I do have a jar of Rose bean curd - here is a quote from website where I bought it which mentions char siu:



> Preserved rose bean curd is used widely in Chinese marinades and sauces - it gives you the deep scarlet red in Chinese BBQ pork char siu, and colours and flavours braises with a gentle saltiness. Rose bean curd or 'rose essence fermented tofu' is very similar to red beancurd - it is made and used in the same way, and has the same deep red colour - but also includes a touch of rose essence for extra flavour.


So - your red bean curd isn't in a jar?


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## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

butzy said:


> Plated
> View attachment 64598
> 
> I wanted to post a picture of the opened up bun, but it is a pretty terrible one, so I left it out.
> ...


@butzy you had me a char siu bao and beer, well I do love the cucumbers too! You ROCKED IT GIRL!!!


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I am all for making things from scratch, but in this case it didn't work as I didn't have the ingredients. Most of the recipes I saw use Hoisin sauce and whereas I was convince I had it, I didn't 
@millionsknives : Can you give me your from scratch recipe?

As for the red colour: I don't miss it at all, You can't see it on the pictures, bit there is a reddish hue to it (and pinkish inside).
@morning glory : maybe you can get red food colouring from the Indian shops. They use it for tandoori chicken and chicken tikka.
Alternatively you could use paprika powder/maybe red pepper juice or beetroot juice, although I think they will all change the flavour


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## Hank (Sep 8, 2015)

We had a couple over this weekend and made dim sum. Trish and I drove the effort, Mrs Hank was invaluable with prep, constant clean up behind us, and photos. Tom, aka Mr Trish, couldn't come until about half way through and served as recipe reader and conversationalist. We made everything from scratch (well not in the Sagan sense https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/32952-if-you-wish-to-make-an-apple-pie-from-scratch) except the wonton wrappers for the shu mai. Trish is a phenominal cook who cooks a lot of asian dishes regularly. We have made dumpling together a couple times before.

First some char siu. For 24 hours I marinated 2" pieces of pork shoulder in five spice, white pepper, shaoxing wine, sesame oil, hosin sauce, molasses, garlic, salt, and sugar.










We are making bbq pork buns (char sir bao) but cut some pork for snacking.










I made a sauce of shallots, light and dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, chicken stock, and sugar. Off the heat I added chopped pork.










Then we made steamed and baked buns. Unfortunately we don't have photos of the steamed buns.

















Next up is Garlic Chive Buns with shrimp, Chinese chives, ginger, white pepper, light soy, rice wine, sesame oil and salt.

















Shu Mai. Pork, shrimp, Chinese chives, white pepper, Shaoxing wine, light soy, sesame oil. We need to work on our dumpling stuffing.


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## Hank (Sep 8, 2015)

Lettuce Wraps. Filling in the background of the picture. Chicken thighs, carrots, zucchini, mung bean starch noodles, and other stuff. I'm not sure. Trish made then and I don't have the recipe.


















And finally, Steamed Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf (Lo May Gai) Sticky rice, sweet chinese sausage, chicken thighs, shitake mushrooms, garlic chive, ginger, garlic, light and dark soy sauce, oyster sauce. We didn't par cook the rice. It's better to steam raw rice for about 90 minutes.























Credit for the recipes goes to woksoflife.com and Dim Sum by Ellen Leong Blonder.

We ate our selves senseless all afternoon and evening.

Thanks Trish!


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Great entry.


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

I'm getting overwhelmed by everyones' entries, For some reason (could just be subjective) the photos are looking better than ever - its something about the detail: the ball of string pictured in the Lettuce wraps posted by @hank and the edge of the book in the Dim Sum post. The Char Sui which makes me salivate... I could go on. Its the details in the photos which make the dishes seem tangible.

This Challenge is truly going to be a tough call to judge!


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Okay, another favorite of mine from a place that longer exists up the street from me is deep fried tofu in black bean garlic sauce. And it also used 
to be available at the place down in Midvale, before it changed owners. Oh well.

*The Players*

What we have here is tofu, obviously, salted black beans, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sherry, dried chilies, ginger, garlic and scallions. Not appearing are chicken broth, cornstarch, peanut oil and such.









*The Procedure*

First off, the firm tofu is pressed to drain some water out. A plate, a folded paper towel, the tofu, another paper towel, another plate and weighted down with a hard cover edition of The Joy of Cooking.









The somewhat drier tofu is then cubed and tossed in cornstarch.









Meanwhile, the black beans are rinsed, drained and go into the mortar with the minced garlic, ginger and some of the chilies, ground into a coarse paste.









So no pictures of a few steps here. The dusted tofu was deep fried for about 6 - 7 minutes, pulled out and drained on paper towels. Most of the oil got poured out, maybe a tablespoon or so left to fry the bean paste for a couple of minutes. The larger white ends of the scallions go in for about another minute. About a cup of the broth, soy, rice wine and sherry mix goes in, brought to a boil, stirring constantly. Then add the tofu and the rest of the scallions, along with a cornstarch slurry.









*The Product*

I've attempted deep fried tofu before, this was my best effort yet. The sauce was pretty thin, could have used more cornstarch. And I would have liked a bit more garlic in it, only used 2 big cloves in the paste, I think a couple more cloves thinly sliced and added in later would have been nice. Love the funky earthiness of the real deal black beans, though.









mjb.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

And on a side note, you can't really tell from this photo that I have a new wok:









Carbon steel, 15 bucks, worked well for the tofu dish. I seasoned it over rocket hot charcoal in my Weber Kettle. The neighbor gave me an odd look when he saw I had an empty wok on the fire. And I'm hoping to get one more dish in before the end of the month, a classic Cantonese fried rice. We shall see.

mjb.


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## Hank (Sep 8, 2015)

Thanks morning glory. The pictures are the fun part for Mrs. Hank, besides the eating of course.


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

hank said:


> Thanks morning glory. The pictures are the fun part for Mrs. Hank, besides the eating of course.


Sorry - the ball of string was in the Steamed Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf (Lo May Gai) - not Dim Sum. If only I could get some lotus leaves...


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

teamfat said:


> The dusted tofu was deep fried for about 6 - 7 minutes,


Now given that I cook a lot of tofu (son is vegan) you would think I had tried deep fried tofu! But no. So - I have all the ingredients and I'm going to cook this in the next few days. I haven't used fermented black beans in ages.


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## Hank (Sep 8, 2015)

morning glory said:


> Sorry - the ball of string was in the Steamed Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf (Lo May Gai) - not Dim Sum. If only I could get some lotus leaves...


They came in a package of 25 or 30 and I have a lot left. I'd be glad to mail you some. Seriously. PM me you address if you want.


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## Hank (Sep 8, 2015)

Eggplant with Tofu in Garlic Sauce

Steamed eggplant until tender.









Seasoned the oil with garlic cloves and discarded.









Chowed sliced garlic and sliced white part of scallions.









Added a sauce of rice vinegar, chinese wine, light soy sauce, brown sugar, fermented broad bean chili paste, sesame oil, brown sugar, and corn starch.









Tossed in the steamed eggplant, topped with tofu and garnished with the green part of the scallions and cilantro.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

@hank : looks like you are running away with this one!
Great entries!!!!


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## yeller (Mar 9, 2013)

Entry In : 
Beef Sno Peas and Broccoli Stir Fry with Hot & Sour Soup and Egg Roll. We had a couple of guests for dinner..as you can see they ate well..
For the beef I screwed up and took stew meat instead of stir fry meat. Added sesame oil with Shaohsing then tossed in oyster Soy and Hoisen. I need more sauce and cornstarch to thicken. The H&S is chicken stock rice wine vinegar and chili garlic..so good. Had to use Bellas since Wood or Shiitake were not avail. Egg Roll was ground pork with shredded cabbage etc..


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

@butzy I have no idea the amounts but I use 
-red fermented bean curd
-dark soy
-light soy
-honey
-five spice

You can put hoisin in too. 4 salty ingredients is a bit much for me. To balance out the salt I use more honey than the other 3 things combined.


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

Hand pulled noodle. chili oil and vinegar, cumin, cilantro, raw garlic


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

hank said:


> They came in a package of 25 or 30 and I have a lot left. I'd be glad to mail you some. Seriously. PM me you address if you want.


That is so nice! I would love that - but is it permitted by customs, I wonder?


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

hank said:


> Eggplant with Tofu in Garlic Sauce


I like this very much. Its simple and elegant and great step by step photos.


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

millionsknives said:


> Hand pulled noodle. chili oil and vinegar, cumin, cilantro, raw garlic


That is very lovely @millionsknives. Home-made noodles! And simple (I like simple).


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

yeller said:


> Entry In :
> Beef Sno Peas and Broccoli Stir Fry with Hot & Sour Soup and Egg Roll. We had a couple of guests for dinner..as you can see they ate well..
> For the beef I screwed up and took stew meat instead of stir fry meat. Added sesame oil with Shaohsing then tossed in oyster Soy and Hoisen. I need more sauce and cornstarch to thicken. The H&S is chicken stock rice wine vinegar and chili garlic..so good. Had to use Bellas since Wood or Shiitake were not avail. Egg Roll was ground pork with shredded cabbage etc..
> View attachment 64644
> ...


Scrumptious! The Egg Roll looks lovely. I think your guests did indeed eat well.


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## Hank (Sep 8, 2015)

butzy said:


> @hank : looks like you are running away with this one!
> Great entries!!!!


Thanks Butzy, but I must demur. I will be in Peru the last two weeks of March so I cannot be an effective host if I were to win. Please do not consider me morning glory.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

hank said:


> Eggplant with Tofu in Garlic Sauce


I was hoping to do a remake of this, like the one I did in the Vegan challenge, and this time making use of the preserved black beans I now have on hand. Probably will not get to it by the end of the month, shucks.

Certainly some good looking and most likely great tasting entries this month!

mjb.


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

hank said:


> Thanks Butzy, but I must demur. I will be in Peru the last two weeks of March so I cannot be an effective host if I were to win. Please do not consider me morning glory.


But I have to! I can't _not_ consider you @hank! Lucky you to be in Peru...


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Ah, we are approaching the end of the month and I have so many things I still want to do.....
One is still to come. Tonight's dinner 
@morning glory : I think you are in almost the same time zone as me (2 hours difference, if I am not mistaken). When is your cut-off time?


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

butzy said:


> Ah, we are approaching the end of the month and I have so many things I still want to do.....
> One is still to come. Tonight's dinner
> @morning glory : I think you are in almost the same time zone as me (2 hours difference, if I am not mistaken). When is your cut-off time?


Well, I always think I should go by Pacific Time as the majority (although not all) members are in the USA. The USA seems to have 4 different time zones but Pacific time is the most 'behind' GMT (8 hrs behind). So I'm regarding the cut off time as 8 am GMT on 1st March (my time) which would be midnight 28th Feb (Pacific Time). Does that seem fair?

I won't log in until 11 am on 1st March (3 am Pacific Time) so that is when I'll announce the winner unless you think differently.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

One more dish, something I rarely see on Chinese menus but is something I like, salted fish and chicken fried rice.

*The Players*

Here we have some leftover rice, chopped onion, some sesame oil and soy sauce. Front row is a deboned chicken thigh and of course some salted fish. And that egg in the middle is really a hard cooked, salted duck egg.









*The Procedure*

First off the chicken is cut into pieces dusted with cornstarch and marinated with the soy sauce, some sesame oil and some vegetable oil.









The salted fish has the fins and tail cut off, skin peeled and is cut into bits. I could have done a better job getting the bones out, a few made their way into the dish.









The chicken goes into about a tablespoon of hot oil, stir fried until starting to brown.









The chicken is pulled out, a splash more oil and then the onions go in. After they are soft and translucent, the fish goes in and is cooked until fragrant. Interesting aroma, in a good way.









Once the fish become fragrant about a quarter cup of rice wine ( sherry ) goes in and gets stirred around until reduced by about half. Then the rice goes in, gets stirred around, then the chicken is returned to the wok, everything cooked together for a couple of minutes.









When the frying is done the minced duck egg gets stirred in.

*The Product*

One place that does serve this dish is The Dim Sum House in downtown Salt Lake.









Mine did not taste the same as the Dim Sum's version, but I have a feeling they have cooked it maybe a few hundred more times than I have. Mine had a higher proportion of fish and chicken, which was nice. The duck egg gave a nice contrast in texture. It was salty, but soft, the fish was just as salty, but drier and harder.

Next time I might look for boneless, skinless salted fish fillets. As you might guess from the sparse list of ingredients, this is a very mildly seasoned dish, the primary flavor being that of the fish. I could easily see this as a nice side to some spicy shrimp or clay pot catfish.

I will certainly make this again!

mjb.

ps: Only the second time I've cooked in the new wok, I'm lovin' it. These challenges usually get me to try new dishes, nice this one got me to try new equipment. Maybe I'll even get a wok burner like the one @yeller has in his post.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Szechuan bacon....
I roughly used the recipe here: https://honest-food.net/sichuan-bacon/, but recalculated everything to metric.
This again is based on Fuchsia Dunlop's recipe in Sichuan cookery.

I made the brine/cure and had the pork belly (skin on) sitting in it for a week.
Then took it out and left to dry (uncovered) in the fridge









Moved it to my smoker (that has seen better days)









Getting ready to cold smoke.
The wood:
It's beech sawdust
And the little device is a proQ cold smoke generator














I smoked at night due to temperatures. 2 nights in a row, about 10 hours smoke every night.
In between, the slab was in the fridge.
I figured 2 nights to be enough and after that I moved it back to the fridge 
And then:
BACON


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## Hank (Sep 8, 2015)

Szechuan Fish Soup

I chowed some cabbage to soften, followed by bean sprouts and green scallions, and placed them in serving bowls.









Then I chowed sliced ginger and garlic, white scallions, and cassia bark.









Out goes the bark, in goes ground green szechuan pepper, fermented black soy beans, chili black bean sauce (doubanjiang).









Then I added chicken stock and simmered for about 15 minutes.









In go the fish, which has been marinating in egg white, corn starch, chinese wine, and salt.









When the fish is just done I poured the soup over the vegetables, topped with green szechuan pepper corns and red peppers, and poured hot oil over the top. Then garnished with green onion and sesame seeds.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

What is this 'chowed technique?


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Chow means stir fry.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Okay, I was thinking it was a bad autocorrection of 'chopped' but that didn't make sense.

mjb.


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## drirene (Dec 30, 2015)

That's not bad teamfat. I thought it meant pre-chewed. Ugh.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

@drirene : I thought so too 

Last one:
This was supposed to be made with Chinese cabbage, but I thought spinach would be a reasonable substitute:

Bacon, garlic and onions









I started with a cold wok to fry the bacon (this is again another wok. This one was bought from an Indian shop and I've had it for ages)









Added garlic and onions








And spinach, szechuan pepper, dried chili's and later some rice wine








And I was going to eat it as is with some rice, so took a bite to check seasoning and remembered how hot those little red chili peppers were
I used way too many....
So I ended up with.....









A probably no longer very Chinese dish that had sweetcorn, tomato and egg added to dilute the heat (I had no more spinach)
Still very tasty....


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the challenge. I was quite overwhelmed by the wealth of dishes and approaches! Here are some highlights:

phatch 's Hot pot with a veritable cornucopia of ingredients! The whole spread included: Beef, Lamb, Pork, Potato, Lotus Root, Tofu, Bean Curd Skin, Mushrooms, Shrimp, Cauliflower, Zuchinni, Choy Sum, Boiled Eggs, Beef Tendon Balls, and Chicken Gizzards!

@phatch also presented Clay Pot Rice which looked delicious…. and seaweed soup. I adore seaweed and have several dried specimens in the store cupboard. And then there were Scallion Pancakes made from scratch which had me wanting to try them out.…and Hot and sour soup - a neat recipe!

butzy 's Black bean beef with steamed rice and a fried egg. If you put a runny egg on almost anything, I'm seduced. Add fermented black beans and I'm sold.

Then a lovely Char Siu which had me salivating. Next some home-made Szechuan bacon! I am always impressed by home curing and really didn't expect to find this in a Chinese food thread. Great stuff!

mike9 's Deliciously simple chicken stir-fry.

planethoff 's Chicken Lo Mein: A delightful noodle dish packed with flavour.

millionsknives 's visually beautiful Cantonese style scallion ginger crawfish.

hank 's lovely series of dishes including char siu and sticky rice in lotus leaf. A beautiful spread!
@hank also presented eggplant with tofu in garlic sauce and Szechuan Fish Soup. I wanted some of that soup very much when I saw the final photo!

teamfat 's deep fried tofu in black bean garlic sauce. I loved this and have made it since. It was very delicious.

@teamfat 's salted fish and chicken fried rice. I've never come across this before. A fascinating combination which I'd like to try.

yeller 's Beef Sno Peas and Broccoli Stir Fry with Hot & Sour Soup and Egg Roll. A very pretty presentation which looked scrumptious!

I shortlisted down to three: @phatch, @butzy and @hank - I would like to say they are all winners! But in the end I've decided to go with @butzy - the home cured bacon swung it. Congratulations @butzy! Over to you...


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

WOW,
I didn't see that one coming 

I really liked all entries to this challenge and there are a lot of them I want to try.
Chinese is not normally the flavour I go for, which is why I like these challenges.
It broadens your horizon 

@morning glory : Thanks for being such an awesome host (as usual).

I am going to put on my thinking cap for March's challenge


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## planethoff (Apr 25, 2011)

Congratulations @butzy ! Well done. Looking forward to your pick for next month.

@morning glory - Thanks for being a great host


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## Hank (Sep 8, 2015)

Well done butzy. I'm looking forward to what you come up with for March. Congratulations!


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

Lots of great looking dishes in this challenge. And congrats to @butzy


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

It was a fun challenge. Good job from all.


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## yeller (Mar 9, 2013)

Impressive dish butzy.. great work to all


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

morning glory said:


> A big thanks to everyone who participated in the challenge. I was quite overwhelmed by the wealth of dishes and approaches! Here are some highlights:
> ...
> teamfat 's deep fried tofu in black bean garlic sauce. I loved this and have made it since. It was very delicious.


Glad you liked it, wish the restaurant that did it so well was still in business. So it goes. This was a fun challenge, I enjoyed it. It got me trying to make a new dish and get some new equipment. Good work, thanks to all who participated.

mjb.


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## morning glory (May 28, 2015)

teamfat said:


> Glad you liked it, wish the restaurant that did it so well was still in business


I should have posted a photo but it was late at night....​


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## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

Congrats @butzy , a well deserving new hostess, for sure!
and to @morning glory again a gracious hostess.
Everyone's dishes were fabulous (like there was any doubt in that), @teamfat , mjb you had me with the tofu, love that!


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