Recipes

从东北到东北

Recipes of cheap and simple recipes that I cooked frequently during college (70% of my meals consisted of just these dishes). They were intended to either be made quickly or be very low maintenience (I could let a pot simmer for an hour unattended while I did something else). They are also vegetarian and most ingredients do not spoil easily. They are mostly also just made in one pan or pot. Recipe amounts are very eyebally and up to you, and when exact amounts are given, assume its being made for one person.

苏伯汤 / Subo Soup / суп суп

A hearty soup common in Northeast China mimicking Russian-style soups, namely Shchi. Usually eaten in winter with black bread, over rice, or with thick potato noodles stewed in. The soup should be thick and warm as you’d expect from a stew of cabbage, tomato, and potato, but also has a bright sourness that comes from non-ripe tomatos, which is futher accentuated by the vinegar. If you are using fairly ripe tomatos or canned tomatos, use more vinegar. The pepper and other aromatics add to the heartiness and warmth of the soup.

  1. Cut up potatoes and cabbage. If you want firmer potatoes, cut the potatoes thicker. Otherwise, cut them slightly thinner than a finger so that some of the starch breaks off by the time the soup is finished, which thickens the dish and makes it taste heartier.
  2. Heat oil in a pot at medium heat and add in potatoes. Slowly stirfry until potatoes are lightly brown.
  3. Add in cabbage. Add in one dried chili during this time if you like spicy food. Do not wait until cabbage is fully cooked and translucent, just enough that it softens and lightly browns.
  4. Add in tomatoes. After the tomatoes soften, switch to low heat and simmer a bit so that the flavor of the ingredients can gel. Add in aromatics like chopped spring onion whites, garlic cloves, or ginger at this point if you want.
  5. Add water or stock (beef stock is traditional) until all ingredients are covered and a little more than that (very accurate measurements I know). Add some salt so that the potatoes absorb them from the inside as well as a generous amount of white pepper. If you prefer the flavor of the peppercorn to be stronger or if you are using black pepper, add in near the end instead.
  6. Bring down to a rapid simmer after the water boils. Add soy sauce a couple minutes in to taste. The dish is finished whenever the potatoes are at your desired consistency; I prefer them to so soft that they break immediately on touch. This also thickens the soup with little chunks of potato, but if you want firmer potatoes or want a more typically thickened soup with a smoother texture, you can also add some starch here. Add in dry thick potato or mungbean noodles here if you wish; note that this will thicken the soup further.
  7. Add vinegar to taste; the acidity of the tomatoes and vinegar should shine over the rest of the richer flavors. Optionally add MSG. Optionally garnish with spring onion greens or cilantro.

Notes:

手擀面 / Hand-Made Noodles

The most basic type of Chinese noodles. Easy and simple to make, you don't need to many ingredients, and you'll get the proper ratio after 1-2 failed attempts. They are ideally springy and a little chewy.

  1. Pour flour into a bowl. Mix a pinch of salt in; this flavors it gently and gives the dough a better texture.
  2. Slowly pour in an equal amount of water while mixing the flour with chopticks/whatever. Do this in small batches. Once the water is pretty much fully in, and the dough becomes tougher, start using your hands. The dough should eventually feel on the dryer side; if it seems too stick and wet at the beginning, keep kneading it, and it should eventually become dryer and the flour mixes more evenly with the water. If not, slowly add more flour. The eventual dough should not feel like it wants to stick to your hands at all. Knead until it feels pretty tough.
  3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap/cloth/whatever and let it rest 30 minutes to an hour. This softens it and makes kneading and rolling it out easier.
  4. Knead the dough a little more until it becomes slightly tough again, and then roll it out. I used to use empty wine bottles or a pasta sauce jar for this. It does not need to look pretty, just roll it into a vaguely rectangle shape, with the short side being how long you want each noodle to be. The thickness of the dough should be around 1-2 quarters, but tweak to your liking. If the dough feels sticky again while you're doing this and its tough to roll, sprinkle more flour.
  5. Dust the rectangle in more flour. Begin cutting the dough into noodle shapes. I prefer the thickness to be only slightly thinner than a pinky. Remember to dust the noodles so that they don't clump together while they're sitting.
  6. Boil the noodles; they won't take too long. Run through cold water and serve in other dishes.

Notes:

东北炸酱面 / Northeastern Fried-Sauce Noodles

A noodle dish that my grandmother would often make for me. Like other 炸酱面/fried-sauce noodles, the core of the dish is the sauce, which is made from fermented soybean paste which is then stir-fried with other ingredients and lots of oil. The iconic Beijing style uses fatty pork as the oil to fry the dish, but the Northeastern version uses vegetable oil, mixed with eggs and green peppers. Unlike the Korean jjajangmyeon variant, the Northeastern version is not sweet, but salty and spicy. Note that there are different types of fermented soybean paste, and while there are more common types used in other varieties of fried-sauce noodles, the Northeast uses the special 大酱/"big sauce", which is more salty and less sweet than the usual soybean paste. The resulting dish is a thick sauce with hearty eggs that clings to the refreshingly cold noodles, the oil cut through by the mildly spicy green peppers. Feel free to use whatever paste you prefer, and common 黄豆酱/yellow soy bean paste comes close to big sauce. Typically fried-sauce noodles come with various 码/sides which are usually raw or blanched vegetables of whatever is in season, cut into thin strips so that they are easy to eat along with the noodles. In the summer, this usually means cucumbers, and in the winter, radish or dried and rehydrated seaweed and mushrooms. Put whatever you like on top.

  1. Boil noodles. Unlike pasta, drain and run them through cold water after cooking to stop the cooking process. If you're making a large batch for many people you can just let them sit in the cold water.
  2. Heat oil in a pan at medium heat. Once the oil is fully heated but not as smoking point, pour in the whisked eggs. If the oil was heated well enough, the eggs should cook instantly on contact and puff up. Begin to slowly stir the eggs apart until they are chunks. When the eggs are hardened, but before they brown, scoop in the bean paste.
  3. Stir-fry the eggs so that they are coated in the paste. You should have put in enough oil so that the eggs and paste seem wet and glistening with it; if not, add in some more oil after stir-frying for a while. Lower to medium-low heat and stir-fry until the eggs begin to look dryer, this is so that the eggs have absorbed the flavors of the sauce.
  4. Add in diced peppers and continue stirfrying until they are softened but not fully wilted. Optionally add in minced garlic/spring onion whites along with the peppers at this point.
  5. Pour in warm/hot water; just enough to prevent the sauce from being too dry and thick. It should not cover the eggs. Bring sauce to a light simmer, and wait until thickens to your liking. You can add other seasoning here if you wish, such as vinegar, MSG, sugar, salt (beware, the sauce should be already very salty), or peppercorns.
  6. Drain noodles of water, put them in a bowl and pour the sauce on top of them. Garnish with spring onion greens or cilantro, and lay the sides on top.

Notes:

西红柿鸡蛋面 (热汤) / Tomato-Egg Noodles (Hot Soup)

My favorite dish. Hearty, soothing tomato broth thickened with eggs. My personal preference is to add in an ungodly amount of black pepper in as well. At my peak, I ate this dish every single day for months straight.

  1. Boil noodles. Unlike pasta, drain and run them through cold water after cooking to stop the cooking process. If you're making a large batch for many people you can just let them sit in the cold water.
  2. Heat oil in pan until medium heat. Add tomatos and stirfry until soft and juices come out. If the tomatos are poor quality, add in tomato paste or even ketchup if you don't mind.
  3. Add hot water until tomatos are covered (or more if you like, depends on how strong the tomatoes are), add salt, and bring to boil. Simmer until water takes on the color and taste of the tomatoes.
  4. Whisk eggs. Bring soup back to boil, and stir it in one direction until the tomatoes inside are spinning. Slowly pour in eggs in a thin stream so that light egg drops form.
  5. Add in optional garnish: spring onion, cilantro, MSG, white pepper, sesame oil, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, etc (I reccomend some soy sauce to accentuate the umami of the tomatoes along with some spring onion greens)
  6. Put cold noodles in bowl, pour soup in. At this point I would add in so much black pepper that the whole surface is covered. Enjoy!

Notes:

茄子青椒打卤面/ Green Pepper and Eggplant Noodles

Cold soup noodles with a dark and textured eggplant sauce that is brightened by green peppers.

  1. Let diced eggplant sit in rubbed-in salt for ~20 minutes. Squeeze eggplants of water. Eggplants soak up a lot of oil and this is one way of minimizing this.
  2. Boil noodles. Unlike pasta, drain and run them through cold water after cooking to stop the cooking process. If you're making a large batch for many people you can just let them sit in the cold water.
  3. Heat oil in pan until medium-high heat. Add fermented bean paste in and stir it apart in the hot oil for a couple seconds.
  4. Add eggplants in. After they soften and dry, add soy sauce (dark soy sauce optionally to give it a nice dark brown-purple color). Add optional aromatics like sliced garlic or spring onion whites.
  5. Once eggplants are almost done, add in green peppers.
  6. Add in just enough water to halfway cover ingregients. Let reduce to desires consistency. Add in starch optionally if you want a thicker sauce.
  7. Put cold noodles in bowl, pour soup in. Add garnish like cilantro or spring onion greens.

Notes:

炒粉丝 / Stir-Fried Vermicelli

Savory stir-fried glass noodles with eggs and thin strips of carrot. Not sure where I picked this up from, but it makes for a filling and quick breakfast. I use mung bean noodles which cook quickly, but potato glass noodles are fine too as long as they are the very thin kind. Rice vermicelli is also possible.

  1. Heat oil in pan on medium-high heat. Beat in whisked eggs and scramble them as they cook; they should be fluffy and puff up from the heat. Lower heat to medium.
  2. Add carrot strips and cook with eggs until desired softness. I prefer mine crisp.
  3. Remove eggs and carrots. Pour in hot water into still heated pan, bring to boil and add in noodles. Only add in enough water so that by the time the noodles are thoroughly cooked, the water has all evaporated/been absorbed. Stir constantly to prevent sticking.
  4. Once most water is gone and the pan is largely dry, add in sesame oil to coat and stir-fry the noodles.
  5. Re-add eggs and carrot. Add soy sauce, peppercorns, and other aromatics to taste.

Notes:

酱油炒饭 / Soy Sauce Fried Rice

A simple fried rice that gets its flavor from soy sauce.

  1. Heat oil in pan on medium-high heat. Beat in whisked eggs and scramble them as they cook; they should be fluffy and puff up from the heat. Lower heat to medium.
  2. Add diced peppers and other aromatics.
  3. Add in rice, stir so that there are no clumps. Do not wait until peppers are soften before adding, or they will overcook.
  4. Once the rice is unclumped and looks fairly dry, drizzle in soy sauce (2-3 teaspoons) evenly. Stir so that the soy sauce is evenly coated, then add sesame oil.

Notes:

姥姥式炒饭 / Grandma-Style Fried Rice

This is a style of fried rice that, as far as I know, only my grandma makes. I have never seen this at a restaurant or anywhere else. What makes it distinguishable is the lack of any extra ingredients usually associated with fried rice, like carrots or peas. There is only egg and rice, and the flavor instead comes from a large amount of aromatics; there should be so much spring onion and cilantro that dish looks very green (30% green, 70% white). If you do not like the strong flavor of generous heapings of cilantro, spring onion, and garlic all melding together to infuse the white rice and eggs, do not bother with this. Otherwise, this is a pretty unique type of fried rice.

  1. Heat oil in pan on medium-high heat. Beat in whisked eggs and scramble them as they cook; they should be fluffy and puff up from the heat. Lower heat to medium.
  2. Add minced garlic and onion whites.
  3. Add in rice, stir so that there are no clumps. Do not wait until the aromatics brown.
  4. Once the rice is unclumped and looks fairly dry, throw in cilantro and lower to low heat. Stir and let the cilantro leaves soften and wetten as they coat the rice. This will naturally also moisten the rice. Put on low heat so that the cilantro does not overcook.
  5. Add in spring onion greens. Add sesame oil and stir until fully coated, salt to taste.

Notes:

小米棒子粥 / Foxtail Millet and Corn Porridge

The most common, cheap, and easy breakfast of Northeast China. Essentially what if polenta was a thick soup. Nothing that special, but if you like whole grains and a really cheap and filling breakfast, give this a try. Largely tasteless and accompanied by pickled vegetables. Commonly paired with hard-boiled eggs which are then dipped into soysauce.

  1. Pour foxtail millet and cornmeal into pot. Briefly rinse in cold water no more than once (if you wash it too much the starches will be gone and it will not thicken).
  2. Add cold water and turn on high heat and bring to boil. You will eventually get the ratio down, but add in more water at first just in case. Keep an eye if you use high heat and less water; if it boils over, the starch will bubble up and overflow out the pan.
  3. Bring to simmer after boiling, let it reduce to desired consistency.
  4. Pour in bowl. Add pickled vegetables on top. Optionally add other condiments: soy sauce, fermented bean curd, sesame oil, etc.
  5. Optionally hard-boil some eggs on the side; Bring cold water and eggs in the shells to a boil, afterwhich shut the heat and let the eggs sit in the hot water for 5-8 minutes. Rinse and let sit in cold water until ready.
  6. Eat the flavorless gruel, and dip the eggs into soy sauce on the side.

Notes:

白菜炖豆腐 / Cabbage and Tofu Stew

Napa cabbage is thoroughly cooked to give a roasted flavor to an otherwise simple and straightforward soup. Spice comes through with dried chilis and white pepper.

  1. Heat oil in pot on high heat. Add napa cabbage, which should spark violently from the hot oil and water. Add garlic and dried chili.
  2. Shake pot and make small stirring movements to prevent the napa cabbage from sticking or burning. Lower to medium-high. Keep cooking into cabbage is almost transluscent and begins yellowing, with some light browning.
  3. Add hot water, bring to boil.
  4. Add in tofu and bring to boil again. Cover pot with lid and reduce to a rapid simmer. Allow steam to collect in pot, which should cause the tofu to puff up after ~10 minutes. Take off lid and let tofu shrink again (there should be notable pocket marks and bubbles on the tofu now), and cover pot again, this time on a normal simmer. Add white pepper.
  5. Once napa cabbage is at desired consistency, add soy sauce and salt to taste and add in thick potato noodles and let cook until done.

Notes:

鸡蛋焖子 + 烀茄子土豆 / Steamed Eggs + Steamed Potato and Eggplant Mash

Another Northeastern classic. These two dishes, along with other steamed dishes, are typically put into the same steamer for convenience. They should be salty and flavorful; eat them over rice, with noodles, or wrapped in raw lettuce leaves together with white rice/cornmeal and raw garlic (the traditional way). Savory and filling, yet not heavy because of the steamed cooking method.

  1. Whisk eggs in bowl. Stir in 1 spoon of bean paste and the diced green peppers. Add in some sesame oil and ~50% water compared to the volume of the eggs. Stir until mixed well. Put the bowl into steamer.
  2. Lay potatos in steamer. Steam both bowl of egg mixture and potatos for ~10 minutes.
  3. When steamed eggs are fully cooked (only a little water condensation left on the now-firm eggs), remove and let cool.
  4. Add eggplants with potatoes. Keep steaming until both potatoes and eggplants are done (the eggplants steam quickly and are done with you can poke through them easily).
  5. Remove eggplants and potatoes into bowl. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, 1-2 spoons of bean paste, and optionally spring onion cut into long and thick strips. Mash like mashed potatos until desired consistency (ideally still large chunkys of potato).
  6. Add optional spring onion greens or cilantro to the two steamed dishes.

Notes:

北京打卤面 / Beijing Cold Sauce Noodles

Perhaps not as iconic as Beijing fried-sauce noodles, but a unique and tasty dish nonetheless. Perfect for winter when no fresh vegetables are readily available. The idea is to make a very hearty and rich sauce using dried ingredients whose strong flavors are brought out by the drying; fresh shiitake will not work here. Soak the dried ingredients overnight and use the soaking liquid as the broth. The final sauce should be a very dark color and a rich flavor that is soaked up by the dense and meaty ingredients.

  1. Soak dried shiitake, wood ear, and flowers seperately overnight. Drain and save the soaking liquids for the broth (be warey of dirt gathered at the bottom).
  2. Boil noodles. Unlike pasta, drain and run them through cold water after cooking to stop the cooking process. If you're making a large batch for many people you can just let them sit in the cold water.
  3. Heat oil in pan on medium-high heat. Beat in whisked eggs and scramble them as they cook; they should be fluffy and puff up from the heat. Lower heat to medium.
  4. Add dried shiitake, wood ear, and flowers. Add in optional garlic or spring onion whites.
  5. When the dried ingredients meld, add in some hot water and bring to roiling boil. Add in the soaking liquids; add in batches so that you do not completely kill the heat while doing this.
  6. Bring to boil again. Add in white pepper, soy sauce, and other ingredients to taste. Drizzle in starch mixed with warm water and reduce the sauce until thick.
  7. Put cold noodles in bowl, pour sauce in. Add garnish like cilantro or spring onion greens.

Notes:

西红柿炖煎豆腐 / Tomato and Pan-Fried Tofu Stew

The pan-fried tofu soaks up the juices of the thick tomato broth. Great with potato noodles in them or served over rice. Coating the tofu in eggs and pan-frying the eggs instead of directly frying the tofu makes it much easier and quicker without sacrificing too much flavor.

  1. Whisk eggs and coat the cut tofu with the eggs.
  2. Heat oil in pot on medium-high heat. Pour in tofu and eggs, and let pan-fry without stirring. When the underside is nice and browned, flip and brown other side. Be careful to not stir too much, or the eggs will slough off the tofu. The eggs should harden and cover the tofu with a golden-brown color.
  3. Remove tofu and eggs. Lower to medium heat and add tomatoes. Add (optional) dried chili. When tomatoes soften, add some hot water and bring to a rapid simmer. Add white pepper and soy sauce.
  4. Add tofu back in, and let simmer. Cover pot with lid and reduce to a rapid simmer. Allow steam to collect in pot, which should cause the tofu to puff up a little. Take off lid and let tofu shrink again (don't let it puff up too much or the eggs might sloug off). Add in green peppers.
  5. When the tomato soup is reduced to the desired level, salt to taste and serve.

Notes: