Appetizers

The concept of an "appetizer" is alien to Chinese cuisine (I never thought it made a lot of sense in the West.) The Chinese enjoy snack foods, light street foods bought from vendors, "dim sum" (like South American "tapas," small items of which a varied selection make up a meal) and festival foods (most often sweets.) But these items are usually thought of as appetizers in the West, and I offer them here because this book goes with the usual Western menu selection. Dim Sum items are covered in a separate chapter.

Egg Rolls, etc.
Egg rolls are fun to make and impressive to serve - they'll never know how easy it is! You do have to pay attention to your deep-frying oil temperature, though. Western restaurants favor the heavier, egg-noodle-wrapped "egg roll," and diners in China prefer the paper-thin wrapper of the "spring roll." The latter is also the basis of the Filipino "lumpia".

Egg Roll, Spring Roll, Lumpia and Garden Roll Wrappers

We're talkin' about a noodle here - all restaurants buy theirs from the (hopefully local) noodle factory, as do most home cooks.

If making egg rolls, buy fresh or frozen egg roll wrappers (which, if you want, you can quarter into wonton wrappers for an additional dish). These are square egg noodles approximately 6-7" on a side.

If making spring rolls, buy frozen spring roll wrappers, or you may purchase them dried. To make spring rolls, these paper-thin rice noodles are moistened at the moment of preparation, wrapped just like an egg foll and fried the same way. To make Vietnamese garden rolls, the same rice noodles are moistened and wrapped open-ended, and served without cooking.

Shrimp, Pork or Vegetarian Filling
for Egg Rolls and Spring Rolls

Plate 1:

8 ounces raw Meat, minced (use Shrimp, Pork, Chicken, Chinese Roast Pork, etc.)
(Meat may be omitted for vegetarian filling)

Plate 2:

8 ounces or so finely shredded Cabbage
small can Bamboo Shoots, julienned
6 ounces Bean Sprouts, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons Tree Ear Fungus, soaked, coarsely chopped

Cup:

1 teaspoon Chinese Cooking Wine
1 teaspoon Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt

Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil very hot in your wok. Add Plate 1 and stir until meat is done (1-2 minutes). Add Plate 2 and stir 1 minute. Add Cup, stir to mix thoroughly and cover 2 minutes. Turn the filling out of the wok into a colander and drain and cool at least 15 minutes. It helps if you weight the filling with a small plate and put a can of something on top for more weight.

Assembling Egg Rolls

I'm going to save a lot of words with a few simple pictures - use MUCH LESS filling than you thing you need (maybe ¼ cup to begin with, until you get the idea of how much you can stuff into the size wrapper you're dealing with.)

You treat the wrappers like a postal envelope: fold the bottom and the sides, "glue" with a finger dipped in water just where the glue is found on an envelope, and roll firmly until closed.

Deep-fry egg rolls in oil at 350° until light brown — they will continue to brown a little as you drain them.

Assembling Spring Rolls

The Spring Roll wrapper is a circular dry white rice noodle. Soak each noodle in a pan of cold water until it is pliable, then fold filling inside it just as described for egg rolls above. Use less filling. The resulting roll will be smaller and will have different characteristics when fried.

Garden Rolls

The same noodle is used with crisp fresh ingredients like shredded lettuce and rice vermicelli, cold cooked shrimp and long strips of scallion green, to make Vietnamese Garden Rolls. The resulting roll is not cooked, but served cold with fish sauce (diluted and sweetened for dipping), chili paste with garlic, or peanut sauce.

Scallion Pancakes 

2½ cups Flour
1 packet (2 teaspoons) Yeast
1 cup warm Water
2 teaspoons Oil
2 Scallions, sliced thin

Mix all ingredients except scallions into a medium dough (dough should be just firm enough to be not sticky) and knead until smooth. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled, punch down and knead a bit more, then allow to rise again about 2 hours. Punch down again and divide into thirds. Roll each third out about ¼" thick, brush the surface with a bit of oil and sprinkle evenly with one third of the chopped scallion. Roll the dough up into a cylinder and cut into 8-10 pieces. After the dough relaxes a bit (5-10 minutes), flatten each piece out and roll out into ¼" thickness. Fry the resulting pancakes on a medium-hot griddle in a small amount of oil until both sides are golden brown, sprinkling with a bit of salt during frying. Cut each pancake into wedges and serve plain, or with soy sauce or any other dipping sauce.

Marinated Carrot and Radish
I found this in several of the increasingly-popular Chinese buffets, and fell in love with it. I have come to prefer its milder taste to that of pickled ginger for eating alongside sushi.

1 medium Carrot, peeled and sliced very thin
½ pound Daikon (giant white radish), peeled and sliced very thin
1 teaspoon Salt
4 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
2 tablespoons Sugar
1 fresh Jalapeño pepper, sliced very thin (wash those fingers now!)

Put the carrot and radish in a bowl. Toss with the salt and let sit for 1 hour. Drain thoroughly, pressing out as much liquid as possible. Add jalapeño. Heat the vinegar, sugar and water to a boil, pour over the vegetables, cool and eat.

Salad
Fresh salad greens, usually just iceberg lettuce because it is very delicately flavored, accompany julienned raw carrot, bean sprouts, and the like.

Ginger Salad Dressing

½ fresh Ginger Root
½ cup Corn Oil
½ cup Rice Vinegar
1 teaspoon Soy Sauce
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

Sesame Seed Dressing

3 tablespoons White Sesame Seed (toasted and ground)
1½ tablespoons Dashi (Japanese fish stock)
1 tablespoon Sugar
2 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
½ tablespoon Soy Sauce
½ tablespoon Sesame Oil

Miso Salad Dressing

In a food processor, place the water, peanut butter, and miso, and blend until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and blend again until quite smooth. Use as a dressing for salads, vegetables, grains or pasta, or as a sauce or accompaniment to sandwiches or wraps. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 5-7 days.

Marinated Cabbage

Wash the cabbage leaves, dry thoroughly and cut them into 1" x 2" strips. Place them in a pot of cold water and bring to a boil. Cook for 2-3 minutes, remove, and drain. Place in a bowl. Mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and sugar together, pour over the cabbage, chill and serve.

Barbecue Spareribs (1)

1½ pounds meaty Spareribs, chopped into 1" pieces

Boiling Mixture

2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese Wine or Dry Sherry
1 teaspoon Sugar
½ teaspoon Five Spice Powder
1½ cups boiling Water

Place the rib pieces in a non-aluminum saucepan and add the boiling ingredients (except the water) and marinate 15 minutes. Add the boiling water and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a strong simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, set ribs aside and reserve the remaining liquid. You can do this step in advance and refrigerate, if desired.

Glaze

2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese Wine or Dry Sherry
2 tablespoons Sugar
3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 clove Garlic, minced

Measure out ¼ cup of the reserved boiling liquid and add the soy sauce, sugar and wine. Heat a wok or large heavy skillet over high heat until hot; add the oil, swirl, and heat the oil for 10 seconds. Add the garlic and then stir in the sugar, cooking until it is dissolved. Then add the sauce a little at a time. It will probably pop and splatter, so be very careful (I always have cold water running slowly in the sink for just such an emergency … don't worry about "wasting" water, it just goes back into the natural cycle and gets rained down all over again.) Stir until the glaze bubbles and caramelizes. Quickly add the ribs and toss them vigorously until the sauce coats all the rib pieces, with no sauce left in the pan. Scoop the ribs out and serve. Immediately add water to the pan and boil clean if necessary.
Serves 3 to 4 as an appetizer.

Barbecue Spareribs (2)
I am going to pass this on almost exactly as I received it. It is clearly a working restaurant recipe and I'm sure you'll find it useful, except in the quantity of meat. I believe "8 spareribs" means 8 pieces about 1" in length (how much more can you deep-fry in 1 cup of oil?)

Deep-fry spareribs till cooked. Put a pot over medium fire and add broth, salt, soy sauce, sugar, scallion, ginger, five-spiced bag and spareribs. Cook and bring to boil. Skim off the foam on the surface. Simmer gently, covered, for about an hour till bone fall off. Take spareribs out and place in a dish. Drop mushrooms and bamboo shoot in the wok. When the juice is reduced, pour it over the spareribs and serve.