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A friend of mine who is a vegetarian asked me to prepare some vegetarian dishes sometime in our post. I remembered one time we went to this local vegetarian restaurant and she introduced many good vegetarian dishes. They definitely didn’t taste like the “real deals” but I enjoyed them very much. One dish I like the best was the “Salt and Pepper Oyster Mushroom”. The dish is an imitation of the Salt & Pepper Chicken, but instead of using chicken, the mushroom was used as an substitution and it is so good.

This was my first time of making this scrumptious vegetarian dish and apparently I need more practice and time to master it. I over-fried the basil leaves twice and finally I got it right.  Do not use too high heat or it will burn the basil leaves. However I would need her advises in mastering this dish. For my friend and all my vegetarian friends, this dish is specially dedicated to you all.

Ingredients:

1 packet fresh oyster mushrooms (豪菇)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 fermented bean curd (mashed)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup yam flour (地瓜粉)
A bunch of basil leaves

For the seasoning:

1/4 tsp of all-spice powder
1/4 tsp white pepper powder
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Green Chili Pepper (chopped one into smaller bits and sliced the remaining)
2 tsp minced garlic

Cooking Method:

1. Marinate the fresh oyster mushrooms with soy sauce, fermented bean curd, minced garlic, salt, sugar and sesame oil.
2. Mix the cornstarch and yam flour together. Coat mushrooms with flour evenly.
3. Heat oil to medium to deep fry the mushrooms in batches till golden brown. Drain with paper towel and set to a platter.
4. Heat oil to medium low, test with a basil leave to make sure  it fries nicely and don’t burnt the leave. Then quickly deep fry the basil leaves, the leaves should turned slightly transparent, crispy and in a nice greenie color. (If the basil leaves turned into dark green color means over burnt, need reduce the heat.) Garnish with mushrooms.
5. In a pan add a couple drips of oil and pan fry the garlic and green chili pepper. Mix in with the mushrooms.
6. Mix five spice powder, white pepper powder and salt, sprinkle on top of the mushrooms. Serve.

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One of my favorite snacks is Salt-pepper chicken. It is a Taiwanese style popcorn chicken. We call it Yan Su Ji (鹽酥雞) in Chinese.  Salt-pepper chicken is one of the popular snacks that can be easily found in most Taiwanese restaurant(s) or boba milk tea stations.  Thus it is always my first choice of snack whenever I hangout with friends at some local Taiwanese restaurants here in LA.

I like this Taiwanese style popcorn chicken because of the salty and peppery favor & the crispiness of it,  as well as the tenderness of the chicken meat with enough marinated juices preserved.

Salt-pepper chicken is made of 4 major ingredients, which are salt, pepper, basil leave and of course, the bite-size chicken.  It is a very-easy-to-prepare recipe even if you are newbie in the kitchen, you are still able to master this salt-pepper chicken.

Ingredients:
1 lbs Chicken breast/tight (boneless, cut in bite-size)
1 cup all purpose flour
Deep-frying oil
1 brunch of basil leaves

For the marinate sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine
1/2 tbsp all-spice powder
1/3 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 teaspoon black pepper (grinded)
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp corn starch (dissolve with water before use)
** mix all above up for marinate the chicken for 1 hour.

Serve Size: 2~3 people

Cooking Method:

1. Medium heat deep-fryer with enough deep-frying oil.
2. Prepare the all purpose flour on a plate.
3. Coat the marinated chicken breast evenly with the all purpose flour.
4. Deep fry the coated chicken breast into golden brown color.
5. Right before taking out the fried chicken, put in the basil leave for quick deep-fry.
6. Transfer chicken & basil leave on a plate with paper towels to absorb the oil.

Serves as part of a meal.

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3 cups Chicken, this dish always gives me 3 kinds of feeling, the joyful of smell, sight & taste. Loving the number of 3, when translated into Cantonese it actually means a good sign of life ”生” so I like this dish (ya… superstitious).  This dish is a heritage of Taiwan, it is very popular dish almost every family know how to cook it. Especially, the “3 cups” actually refers to the sauce, and it can be cooked with any kinds of meats, even with seafood.

3 cups Chicken is my first choice entree whenever I dine in a Taiwanese restaurant. 3 cups recipe calls for a cup of sesame oil, rice wine, and soy sauce well blended with basil leaves and ginger into the chicken which gives the dish a full flavor. Also, it is a great dish to serve with rice or as a snack while you have a beer with your buddies.

Ingredients:
2 pcs large Chicken Breast (around 1lbs)
(cut in cubes, you can use drumsticks & thighs)
5 garlic (sliced)
1 6cm ginger (sliced)
4 dried chili pepper
6 Basil leave (fresh, remove stem)
4 tbsp sesame oil

For the auce
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp rice wine
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp water
Salt to taste
**mix all above up

Serve Size: 2~3 people

Cooking method:

1. Heat sesame oil at medium heat.
2. Put the ginger slices into oil and pan fry it until golden brown (you can smell the sesame ginger fragrant).
3. Add in garlic slices, dried chili pepper & chicken, pan fry them until dry.
4. Add the mixed sauce into the pan, stir at medium heat for around 10~15min.
5. As the sauce dries up  mostly which is absorbed by the chicken, turn off the heat & add the basil leave immediately.
6. Put in a plate & ready to serve.

Serves as part of a meal.