Dining Out : Congee Village NYC - Allen Street

Sharing one of our favorite cantonese restaurant in Chinatown, NYC.

Congee Village 

100 Allen St, New York, NY 10002

(212) 941-1818

Manila Clams with Black bean garlic sauce

-

 Garlicky Chinese Broccoli..great greens and to freshen up the palette .. 

only if you can avoid the whole fried garlic..

Crispy wonton noodle with soy sauce, chives and bean sprout ...excellent with hot sauce

Ginger Scallions stir fry whole lobster .. so good!

Salt and pepper calamari .... very good tender squid ..wish it was less oily. 

Along with these dishes we all shared steamed rice and crab congee.

Will be back with some more next time...

Homemade Salted Duck and Chicken Eggs

Hello Everyone ! You may already know my love for Congee, nice thick smooth rice porridge that is really simple to make and always comforting to the body. 

There are so many ways to enjoy a bowl of hot congee. You can cook it with ingredients to flavor the porridge or have it simple with different types of side dishes like my quick minced meat and green stir fry, or ground turkey with minced watercress or kale. A nice scoop of piping hot congee in your bowl  topped off with the stir fry, a small drizzle of soy and fresh cilantro .... so good ! 

And sometimes a salted egg!

from ediblyasian

My earliest memories of these eggs was shopping with mom at the chinese markets. They would be in a large shiny black ceramic container like a large flower pot with a red cloth cover lid ( like those big wine containers in Kung Fu movies)

The container would be full of duck eggs covered with black mud or clay. 

The salting process is with a mud/clay mixture with loads of salt then add water to create a paste,

Cover each raw egg with a thick layer of the paste and add to the container, lined from bottom to top, sealed and stored in dark cool area until ready, weeks to months.

 I believe this method was the cheapest and best for transporting.

Mom would pick out a few, put into a brown paper bag , and then at home wash out the mud/clay completely before cooking. 

These days you will only find packed, precooked salted eggs at the Asian markets. I have tried a few of them, but they do not meet the quality I like. I found a place in Chinatown that sells fresh duck eggs, and that was when I realized I could make my own. 

This is my first try on making my own salted eggs.

The best part is the yolk. When the brining process is done well it will produce a golden yolk with a smooth grainy texture like a real good baked potato...with a pop of salty unami!

Golden oily semi salty yolk is what I want 

I experimented with duck and chicken eggs

Ingredients:

4 duck eggs

4 chicken eggs

4 cups of water

1 cup of sea salt

4-5 tablesoon of Shao Hsing chinese cooking wine or sherry 

Prep and set :

1. Heat water and salt until all salt dissolved. Put aside and let cool completely.

2. Eggs - wash and dry - add in container carefully

3. Pour in the cooled brine and add the wine.

4. Add water to a small sandwich bag to weigh the eggs (the eggs will tend to float from the salt) then seal. the container.

5. Make a note of the dates/day of brining. 

6. Store in cool dark area for 30 - 40 days.

* you can place the jar  on a tray or plate to avoid the salty mess  when accessing to the eggs

cooking : add egg to cold water and bring to boil for 10 minutes

Should try the eggs to see if they are ready to your taste.

I tried an egg on the 25th day - not ready.

I tried an egg on the 30th day - not ready.

Perfect on the 40th day. 

Duck (top ) and Chicken (bottom) - Both result came out perfect! 

sorry for the poor slicing of the eggies

I am happy having these eggs chopped up and mixed in my bowl of congee, love it when the yolk semi melts in, flavoring the congee.

Storing : Clean all eggs from the brine and store in fridge separate from the fresh eggs.

** Cin mentioned a very famous Cantonese dish cooked with only the salted yolk - Stir Fried Lobster coated with salted yolk.

** Popular Filipino salad - tomato , onion with slices of salted eggs 

**  Mama -Steamed Mince pork and salty egg pie

Do you know any other salty egg dishes ?? 

  

Dungeness Crab and Ginger Egg Fried Rice

For tonight's dinner I made my favorite fried rice and boiled dungeness crab.

30 Minutes cooking time !

 15 mins for the rice and 15 mins for the crab.

Ginger Egg Fried Rice

Ingredients

- 3 cups - cooked rice

- 2 tbs ginger - cut into thin matchsticks

- 2 eggs - lightly beaten

- 1/2 onion - chopped

- peas

- scallion - chopped

- soy sauce

- white pepper

1. Heat pan or wok with oil, add onion and ginger - stir and cooked for 1-2 minutes

2. Add the rice - stir and cooked until all mixed well

3. Push the rice aside and slowly add the eggs - when it's half cooked stir in the rice 

4. Stir fry until eggs are fully cooked and season with soy sauce and white pepper

5. Add scallion, cilantro and some peas

* I made the rice ahead of time and let it cool down completely that way the rice will be loose and fluffy not sticky

Boiled Dungeness Crab 

            

Heat a pot of salted water - bring to boil 

Add crab - cook for 15 minutes

 *cooking time 8 mins for 1 pound 

Drunken Chicken with Shitaki Mushroom and Ginger - Steamed

Drunken chicken,  marinated chicken in rice wine. 

And yes, I love it very marinated, the wine just does something magical to the meat - helps tenderize and gives it this lovely aroma.

Often reminds me of the chicken wine soup Mama Ng likes to cook for us from time to time. Very popular in the cold seasons as it helps promotes the blood circulation. It is very strong in flavor but delicious and best consumed in small amounts. Will post more on Mama Ng chicken wine soup one day.

Here is my version. 

Steamed Chicken with Mushroom and Ginger 

I used boneless chicken thighs, marinated in rice wine mixture over night.

Steamed it with 2 types of mushroom and a lot of ginger. With the tender chicken soaking in the ginger rice wine mushroom broth.... delicious ! You can serve it over noodles, rice or congee. We had it with white rice and Chinese broccoli on the side.

Ingredients 

- Chicken - Boneless thighs - slice into 1 -2" size

- Shitake Mushroom - cut to 1 "

- Wood ear mushroom - cut to 1 "

- Ginger - cut in matchsticks

- Garlic - minced

- Scallion - cut slant

Marinade for the meat 

-ShoaXing - Rice wine

-Light soy sauce

-Sesame oil

-brown sugar

-white pepper

-garlic and scallion - minced

* combine together in a bowl and adjust the seasoning to your liking

Wood ear and Shitake Mushroom

Most of the flavor you get is from the shitaki and not much from the wood ear but you get a fun jelly texture.

Soak into warm water until soften then slice in bite size pieces.

Mix together the marinated chicken with mushrooms garlic and ginger.

Top with scallion ( I like to drizzle a few drops of fish sauce right before steaming)

Steam for 20 - 30 mins depending on the amount of meat. 

while the chicken was cooking I quickly stirred fry Chinese broccoli with garlic and oyster sauce.

Here's dinner... and don't forget the chili garlic hot sauce!

Baked Tilapia Fish with Sake

Now doesn't this look just yummy !

This is a very simple delicious dish made by Annie aka anniebananee.

Ingredients:

Tilapia Filets

Sake

Soy sauce

Chili Sesame oil

garlic

ginger

scallion

cilantro

salt and pepper

1. Line baking sheet with foil - lay out the filets with some garlic,ginger,scallion - seasoned with salt and pepper - a nice hearty drizzle of Sake.

2. Cover fish with foil and bake until done.

3. Heat oil in pan , when hot add in the rest of the ginger,garlic and scallions. Let it slightly brown and infuse the oil then pour over the fish. You can season the fish with soy sauce/chili sesame oil for extra flavor.

Dinner is Ready!

The Sake Baked Tilapia was served with

Baby Bok Choy , Stir fry String Beans, and Annie's perfect Steamed Egg.

Thank you Annie!

Tomato Beef

We love tomato beef! Growing up, this dish would appear on the dinner table at least once a week, a memory of deliciousness and comfort.

 It is perfect with fluffy white rice, the sauce savory and a little sweet. For this dish we insist on the best ingredients since it is so simple. If possible use heirloom tomatoes, Chinese fermented black beans and garlic and organic beef.

4 medium tomatoes sliced in wedges

1 lb flank steak sliced

2 tablespoons chinese cooking wine

2 tablespoons soy sauce

4 slices ginger

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon fermented black beans - Dau Si (soaked in water for 15 mins)

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

slurry of 1 teaspoon cornstarch and some water
cilantro

• marinade flank steak in cooking wine and soy sauce for 20 mins
• wok on high heat, brown steak in a little oil for a few minutes, remove
• add garlic, ginger and black beans sautee for a few mins
• add tomatoes and cook down until soft
• add brown sugar
• return beef and add cornstarch slurry a little a time until thickness of sauce desired
• add salt or soy sauce to taste

Steamed Chicken with Bitter Melon and Jujube

Our family loves Bitter Melon with Chicken stir fried with black bean garlic sauce.

I decided to do something different this time, I've added jujube ( red dates) and steamed instead of stir fry.

Ingredients:

1 lb - chicken drums + wings

1- bitter melon

Handful - jujube -red dates

garlic

ginger

scallion

Marinade: 

soy sauce

black bean sauce ( LKK )

cooking rice wine

cornstarch

sugar

white pepper

water

* mix marinade together, taste to your liking then add to chicken

Put all ingredients together, mix well.

Marinate for an 1-2 hours or overnight.

When ready, steam for 30-40 minutes.

Steaming was a very good idea. All the flavors came together really well.

 Can you see the delicious sauce!

Ginger and Egg Fried Rice

Have any leftover rice in the fridge?

Here is a very simple way to bring it back to life.

This is one of my favorites with the nice fluffy eggs and heat from the ginger.

Let's fry some rice!

Ingredients:

eggs

ginger

scallion

leftover rice ( it's best to use day old rice to avoid mushy texture result)

Seasoning:

soy sauce

white pepper

fish sauce

Oil a well heated wok, add ginger and scallion for a few second to flavor the oil then add the rice and toss well, breaking the clumps of rice at the same time.

Move rice to the side of wok and add the eggs, let it cook while stirring it slowly.

When eggs are half way cook, toss with rice.

Add the seasonings and toss all evenly.

Tasty and simple.

It is light enough to pair with another dish or as is with some garlic chili.

Enjoy!

Mama's Oxtail Tail Soup

How about a nice pot of soup....

and tonight we have one of our childhood favorites ..

" Mama's Oxtail Soup "

Went to my local butcher,

selected a tail in whole and had them slice it to preferred size

Basic soup ingredients

Ingredients:

• oxtail
• tomato
• celery
• corn
• potato -waxy ( starchy ones seems to just fall apart and thicken the soup)
• garlic
• salt + white pepper
• sour cream
• oyster sauce

1. Heat water in stock pot, bring to a boil

2. Par-boil oxtail for 2 minutes then rinse with water

3. Add all ingredients to the boiling water, bring it back to a boil then simmer on med-low heat for 1 1/2 - 2 hours- now isn't that easy!

Look at this bowl of goodness!

Each spoonful of hearty vegetables just melts in your mouth

and the oxtail meat almost falls off the bone.

Had oyster sauce for dipping on the side and a dollop of sour cream-yum!

This soup gets better the next day, add some rice and you 'll have a stew like soup.

My appetite just perked up from posting this !