Noodles With Hoisin Chicken & Shrimp

This is straight-out-of-a-recipe book. Its that good. Most ingredients are easy to find, some even sitting in your own pantry. I picked the bottle of Hoisin Sauce from a Chinese grocery store. But most supermarkets also have it.

The original recipe has lamb in it, but I made it with chicken. (Photo from the cookbook The Asian Kitchen by Lilian Wu)

The ingredients for Noodles With Hoisin Chicken and Shrimp are:

2-3 cups egg noodles
250 gms boneless chicken cut into thick slices
250 gms shrimp (deveined and cleaned)
3 cloves of garlic crushed
2 inch fresh ginger crushed
2 spring onions
100 gms French beans
100 gms fresh bok choy
2 hard boiled eggs
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp cooking wine
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp veg oil
3-4 dried red chilies

Marinade the chicken and shrimp with crushed ginger and garlic, orange juice, 1 tbsp cooking wine, brown sugar, veg oil, 3-4 dried red chili, 1 tbsp soy sauce and keep aside for 30 minutes.

Prepare a sauce with 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp cooking wine, and 2 tbsp hoisin sauce. Mix some corn starch with water separately. Cook the marinated chicken-shrimp in a wok for about 7-8 minutes. Add the sauce you have prepared after the chicken becomes tender. Let it simmer for about five minutes.
Add the corn starch mixture to thicken the sauce. And cook for another 3-4 minutes stirring all the while.

Heat water and add some salt and drops of veg oil in a broad vessel. Blanch the halved French beans and bok choy leaves along with the noodles till they are done. Do not overcook or cover while cooking. Strain the noodles. Add the noodles to the chicken – shrimp sauce and mix well.
Garnish the noodles with green onions and boiled eggs. This recipe was originally made with lamb (boneless), but I tried this with chicken and shrimp and it turned out equally authentic.
There you have it- another one from my Asian-inspired  kitchen!!

*If you are using lamb, the marinating time goes up to at least four hours.

A popular Chinese belief is that noodles served on birthdays should not be broken. If you break the noodles, you shorten the person’s life!

Spicy Bengali Crabs

My favorite destination in Chinatown is this huge store called Oriental Harvest. From fresh fruits, veggies and fish to all the South Asian grocery, this place is an underground haven.

And its seafood and fish section is huge! I usually shop for Bong fish in the Bangladeshi stores, but if you want some fish from all around, this place will make you stinking happy!

But I would recommend you use only cash to pay for your purchase. In the last two times that I have used my debit card, my card has been compromised. Though I managed to get my money back. Apparently some miscreant employees are up to this theft. I have been told by my bank that the store is already under the scanner.

But that does not deter me from shopping here every time I am in Spadina Avenue.

Have a look at the variety of fish you can buy in an oriental store in downtown Toronto.

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Its here that I picked the freshest of crabs a Bengali could lay her hands on.

I wanted to make this crab dish my Mum makes, and I knew I had all the right ingredients as soon as I picked some green chilies too.

This Spicy Bengali Crab is not for the heat-resistant. Its got just the basic spices from an Indian kitchen, but loads of flavors.

Here is the recipe:

2 large crabs (the fish monger will crack and de-shell them for you)
2 large potatoes cut into wedges
2 medium size ripe tomatoes roughly sliced
1 medium size onion finely sliced
2 tablespoons garlic paste
Handful of green chilies slit
Finely chopped coriander leaves
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
2 tablespoon mustard oil
Salt

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Heat the mustard oil in thick bottom pan and add the crabs, claws, et. al.

 

 

 

Toss them for about 5-6 minutes till they get this gorgeous red color on them.

 

 

 

Keep them aside and add the potato wedges in the remaining oil. Glaze the potatoes till they turn golden. Remove from the oil and add the sliced onions.

 

Fry the onions till they get a little brown, add the garlic paste, slit green chilies, and the spices. Fry for a couple of minutes more and add the tomatoes.

 

Within 2-3 minutes of frying all the ingredients, add the potatoes and crabs kept aside. Add salt.

 

 

Make sure the spices coat the potatoes and crabs. Add half cup of water and cover with a lid.

The potato and crabs cook pretty quickly. You should check within 5-7 minutes and if the potatoes are done, turn the heat off.

Sprinkle the Spicy Crabs with freshly chopped coriander leaves. Serve them with hot Basmati rice.

Get dirty and get hot eating all that crab meat!