t0829maya recipes_1 — VEGETARIAN Peking Duck

The Maya Kitchen recently featured the best of Chinese cuisine, with guest chefs from Manila Hotel’s Mabuhay Palace.

Executive Chinese chef Sun Bing and Chinese operations manager-executive Chinese sous chef Josephine Yu Tanganco-Candelaria showed guests how to prepare Vegetarian “Peking Duck,” Shrimp Glazed with Almonds, Water Chestnuts and Anchovy Fried Rice, Soy-Glazed Chicken Stir Fry, West Lake-Style Minced Lapu-Lapu Soup and Pan-Fried Chinese Pancake.

The duo also had tips to share. How do you make something fried, extra crispy? Double fry it. Why do some recipes call for both light soy sauce and dark soy sauce? The dark soy sauce gives the color, while the light variant gives taste. You can use cream dory in place of lapu-lapu. A pinch of baking soda helps tenderize chicken faster.

Toast almonds in the oven toaster or frying pan with no oil. This gives extra crunch and brings out the taste of the almonds. Lastly, if you apply for a job as a Chinese cook and you put the eggs last when you cook fried rice, then you can kiss the job goodbye. The egg comes first, so as to give the rice a hint of yellow color.

The Mabuhay Palace is one of Manila Hotel’s premier restaurants. It is open every day for lunch, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., and dinner, 6-10 p.m. Call 5270011 for reservations.

For more information on other course offerings, visit www.themayakitchen.com; e-mail [email protected]; or visit The Maya Kitchen Culinary Center every Tuesday to Saturday at 8/F, Liberty Bldg., 835 A. Arnaiz Ave. (Pasay Road), Makati City, tel. 8921185, 8925011 local 108, 0947-8352290.

Vegetarian Peking Duck

Ingredients

100 g Hoisin sauce
30 g bean sauce
100 g sugar
12 pcs momo wrapper
10 g taro, shredded
15 g carrot, shredded
10 g black mushroom, shredded
10 g bamboo shoots, shredded
0.5 g dried sea moss
10 g golden mushrooms
180 g water
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste
Chicken powder to taste
30 ml cooking oil
Potato starch, soaked in water
100 g Maya All-Purpose Flour
12 pcs fresh cucumber, batonnet cut
½ pc bean curd skin

Procedure:

1. Mix the ingredients for the sauce and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Meanwhile, steam the momo wrapper.

2. Fry the shredded taro and drain excess oil.

3. Boil the shredded carrots, black mushroom, bamboo shoots, dried sea moss, golden mushroom and then drain excess water.

4. Pour the water into the wok. Add fried shredded taro and all boiled ingredients. Season with sugar, salt and chicken powder. Add potato starch until the desired consistency has been reached.

5. Place the bean curd skin on a clean mat. Spread the flour-and-water mixture on the bean curd skin. Place one nori wrapper in the center, followed by the cooked ingredients. Place another nori wrapper on top and spread another layer of the flour-and-water mixture. Finally, fold the bean curd skin to close the “parcel” and spread a final layer of the flour-and-water mixture outside the bean curd skin.

6. Deep fry.

7. Cut fried bean curd skin into 12 pieces.

8. Place them on momo wrappers. Add sauce and fresh cucumber on each of them and fold.

West Lake-Style Minced Lapu-Lapu Soup

Ingredients

5 g lapu-lapu, minced
3 g straw mushrooms, minced
200 g soup stock
Salt, to taste
Sugar, to taste
Chicken powder, to taste
2 g wansoy, chopped
1 g rice wine
1 g sesame oil
Potato starch, soaked in water

Procedure:

1. Boil minced lapu-lapu and straw mushroom, then drain.

2. Heat a large wok and pour soup stock in the wok. Add cooked fish and straw mushrooms. Season with salt, sugar, chicken powder, rice wine and sesame oil. Once seasoned, add the wansoy.

3. Add potato starch until the desired consistency has been reached.

Soy-Glazed Chicken Stir-Fry

Ingredients

3 tbsp cooking oil
6 pcs chicken thighs, on the bone, skin removed
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 pc (2 cm) fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced
3 pcs spring onions (two stalks finely sliced into rounds and one stalk sliced into long diagonal pieces)
6 tbsp water
1 tbsp honey
5 tbsp light soy sauce
½ pc fresh red chili, finely sliced

Procedure:

1. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large wok over high heat. When hot, cook the chicken thighs. This will approximately take four to five minutes. Once browned on all sides, remove and set aside.

2. Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining oil. Once warmed through, add the garlic, ginger and the two finely sliced spring onions. Fry for two to three minutes until the ingredients are cooked through. Put the chicken back into the wok and toss to incorporate with the rest of the ingredients.

3. Pour in the water, honey and soy sauce. Increase the heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, put a lid on the wok and cook for five minutes.

4. Remove the lid and turn the chicken thighs. They should be evenly caramelized in the reduced liquid. Cook for another three minutes or until the liquid has reduced to a sticky glaze and the thighs have cooked through. Remove the chicken from the wok and allow it to rest for three minutes.

5. Place the chicken thighs on a serving plate and garnish with the remaining spring onions and red chili.