Chinese recipes — Story, Setting & Ideas

Recipes From “THE ONLY PLACE IN PEKING” The Nellie Wong Tea Shop Peking China

Additional copies of this book for your friends may be had from my little store Twelve Hundred Twenty Six Amsterdam Avenue, or from my printer

The American Rehabilitation Committee, Inc., Twenty Eight East Twenty First Street, New York City, New York.

Copyright, Nineteen Hundred Twenty Seven, by Nellie C. Wong

Soy bean sauce and ginger are universally used in China for seasoning. Soy bean sauce in many instances takes the place of salt.

Mushrooms, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots are the distinctive vegetables used in many of the Chinese dishes.

All of these supplies may be obtained in New York City at the Chinese Grocery, Quong Yuen Shing and Company, Thirty-Two Mott Street, Chinatown; The Cathay Tea Garden, One hundred Sixty-Four East Eighty-Sixth Street; Yoeng’s Restaurant, Broadway and Forty-Eighth Street or the College Inn, Broadway near One hundred Twenty-Fourth Street.

Peanut oil, or lard are used in China for frying and cooking. Where the recipes call for “vegetable oil or lard” any shortening or drippings may be used, including Crisco, Best Foods Shortening Mazola and Wesson Oil.

The ingredients noted in each recipe are enough to serve six portions.

SHRIMPS AND MUSHROOMS 6

SWEET AND SOUR FISH 9

BEAN SPROUTS AND PORK 14

CORN AND WHITE MEAT OF CHICKEN 19

SWEET POTATO BALLS 25

1 teaspoon of tea leaves 6 cups of boiling water

Scald out a crockery teapot. While it is warm put into it a teaspoonful of tea leaves. Pour on fresh boiling water. Steep from three to five minutes before serving.

1 quart chicken broth ½ cup finely chopped water chestnuts 2 eggs pepper and salt

Pour half cupful of finely chopped water chestnuts into a quart of boiling chicken broth. Cook for about five minutes. Beat up two eggs, yolks and whites together. Pour egg into chicken broth and stir well and slowly until it forms small flowers. Add pepper and salt to taste.

The proper way to cook rice is to wash the rice clean, add water, measuring one inch above the rice surface.

Let it come to a boil, then turn the gas low, let the rice simmer until it is cooked dry. Do not open the lid during cooking. When the rice is correctly cooked, every grain stands by itself.

Chop up some left-over meat, or ham or bacon, and an onion. Brown all together in a frying pan, with a little oil or fat. Add rice, fry all together again until rice and meat become brown.

This Recipe Awarded First Prize The Women’s Exposition of Industrial Arts, New York City Nineteen Hundred Twenty-Seven

1 lb. fresh shelled shrimps 1 lb. white bread whites of 3 eggs ½ onion ½ teaspoon salt ⅛ teaspoon pepper small piece fresh ginger

Place shelled shrimps, onion and ginger in a chopper and chop very fine; remove from chopper into a large bowl, add the whites of three eggs, salt and pepper, then beat the ingredients until stiff. Now spread the mixture upon thinly sliced bread. Cut into strips about an inch wide and four inches long. Sprinkle browned bread crumbs upon the shrimp strips. Place in boiling deep vegetable oil or lard; as soon as the bread turns golden brown, remove straws from fat and place upon a piece of paper to drain off the oil.

Shrimp straws should always be served hot and fresh.

1 lb. small fresh shrimps, shelled ½ lb. thinly sliced toast ½ lb. water chestnuts 1 small piece of ginger pepper, salt and soy bean sauce

Toast sliced bread, butter and cut into small cubes. Fry shrimps in a red hot frying pan, use very little vegetable oil or lard to grease the pan; as soon as shrimps turn red remove from the pan. Fry water chestnuts, which have been boiled a little, and cut into cubes. Add shrimps and a little finely chopped ginger, season to taste with pepper, salt and soy bean sauce. Now add the cubes of toast to the cooked shrimps and stir well before serving.

SHRIMPS AND MUSHROOMS

1 lb. fresh shelled shrimps 1 lb. fresh mushrooms ¼ lb. bamboo shoots, sliced thin Cornstarch small piece ginger, pepper, salt and soy bean sauce

Fry shrimps in a red hot frying pan, which has been greased with a little vegetable oil or lard, until shrimps turn red. Place in a hot pan, which has been greased with vegetable oil or bacon fat, finely chopped ginger, mushrooms and bamboo shoots; fry until tender. Remove the cooked mushrooms and use drippings with cornstarch to make a medium gravy, season with pepper, salt, and soy bean sauce. Add shrimps, cooked mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

1 lb. shelled fresh shrimps 3 eggs ½ cup flour ½ teaspoon salt ⅛ teaspoon pepper 2 teaspoons soy bean sauce