Creative Cooking with Fruits and Vegetables - Show off Your Culinary Skills

Author: Tang Jianhua
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Pine Nut Chicken Cubes
Main Ingredients: 250g chicken breast, 100g pine nuts
Secondary Ingredients: 1 egg white
Seasonings: Salt, MSG, cornstarch, green and red peppers, peanut oil, minced ginger, cooking wine, chicken broth, starch, and chicken oil (all in appropriate amounts).
Instructions:
1. Trim the chicken breast of sinews and cut it into pine nut-sized cubes. Place them in a bowl, add egg white, salt, MSG, and cornstarch, and mix well. Remove the stems and seeds from the green and red peppers, wash them, and cut them into pine nut-sized cubes.
2. Heat peanut oil in a wok to medium-low heat (about 40°C), then separately stir-fry the pine nuts and chicken cubes until cooked. Remove and drain the oil.
3. Leave a small amount of oil in the wok, heat it over high heat, add the green and red pepper cubes and minced ginger, stir-fry until fragrant. Add cooking wine, chicken broth, salt, and MSG, bring to a boil, and thicken with starch. Pour in the stir-fried pine nuts and chicken cubes, stir well, then drizzle with chicken oil, and serve.
Features:
Beautiful in color, tender and fragrant.
Tips for Operation:
When cutting the ingredients into cubes, try to keep them uniform in size. Add the pine nuts and chicken cubes last to maintain their crispness and tenderness.
Note:
Pine nuts have high health and medicinal value and are known as "heavenly fruit." According to traditional Chinese medicine, pine nuts are warm in nature, sweet in taste, and have the effects of moistening the lungs, promoting bowel movement, replenishing qi, nourishing fluids, and calming the wind. They are especially suitable for middle-aged and elderly people with weak constitutions, dry constipation, and chronic bronchitis. People with excessive coughing, phlegm, or loose stools should avoid excessive consumption, as overeating may lead to fever and toxicity.
Sesame and Eggplant Stir-Fry
Main Ingredients: 2 young eggplants (about 400g).
Secondary Ingredients: 200g sesame seeds.
Seasonings: Sesame paste, minced garlic, salt, and sesame oil (all in appropriate amounts).
Instructions:
1. Roast the sesame seeds in a wok until fragrant, then set aside. Wash the young eggplants, peel them, cut them into large pieces, place them in a bowl, steam over high heat for about 20 minutes, then remove and cool. Tear the eggplants into strips.
2. Mix sesame paste with 75g of water in a bowl, then add minced garlic, salt, and sesame oil. Mix well, then add the steamed eggplant strips and half of the roasted sesame seeds. Stir well.
3. Serve by placing the eggplant strips in a plate and sprinkling the remaining roasted sesame seeds on top.
Features:
Subtle in color, soft, tender, and fragrant.
Tips for Operation:
Sesame is easy to burn, so control the heat when roasting. The eggplants should be steamed until soft.
Note:
Sesame is warm in nature, sweet in taste, and non-toxic. It contains a high amount of unsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E, which are beneficial for delaying aging, improving blood circulation, and promoting metabolism. It also has effects such as moistening the intestines, harmonizing blood, calming the mind, nourishing the liver and kidneys, blackening hair, replenishing lung qi, nourishing the brain, tonifying yin, replenishing deficiency, moisturizing dryness, relieving constipation, suppressing coughs, and calming wheezing.