M and K cook Dinner for Cheshirenoir and Myself on Saturday

[callistra]

	Tofu Ma Pao Tofu Ma Pao - This was the first time I had seen marinated pork mince, and the whole dish was really really yumm!
	Chicken Kung Pao Chicken Kung Pao - M suggested this one felt like it was missing something. Probably a good dose of chili. However the subtleties did kind of come out - at first there was the flavour of the xiao xing wine, but later as the dish cooled the ginger really came through as the dominant flavour.
	Steamed Beef Dish Steamed Beef Dish - Wow, this was great! K and M liked it becuase it's very different texturally. The beef is tossed in I think it was roasted soy flour and seasonings like spring onions and ginger and stuff and then steamed. The texture is unusual and the flavours great!
	Lemon Chicken Lemon Chicken - My husband L O V E S Lemon chicken, and this was fantastic. We might have to stop using pre-packaged lemon sauce and start making it ourselves now. (Thanks K and M! Not helping the slack cook cause here!)
	Salt and Pepper Squid Salt and Pepper Squid - this was a bit of an experiment on M's side of things, and he doesn't think it worked out exactly, but hell, it was tasty and delicious. The squid had been soaking in milk and was the most tender I have ever had it. I love seafood.
	Messy Kitchen! Messy Kitchen! Just a pic of how the mess was won. Not as bad as last time, I must admit I was impressed at how clean they managed to keep it. Mind you, I think last time we managed to get a lot drunker.
	Stir fry Veg Stir Fry Veg - Just to balance all the protein heavy dishes. Yum.
	M and K Cooking M and K Cooking - showing off their 1337 chinese cooking skills. Well, I'm in awe. They did such an awesome job. They used four or five woks plus frypans and stuff too, and with the quick work of the dishwasher for the rest of the dishes, the kitchen was cleaned real fast!
	Dinner! Dinner! It was an awesome spread. Just awesome.
	Happy Cooks Happy Cooks! The plan was to do up a pile of spicy dishes to help Sproglet come along. (I'm 2 weeks over due and will be induced on Tuesday if nothing happens before.) No sign of Sproglet yet, but hey, the food and company were totally amazing, and hopefully I'll be able to learn all their secret techniques... *grin*

Comments

[lucretiae.livejournal.com]

The beef was tossed in glutinous rice flour that had been dry roasted until it was toasty brown and had cinnamon added. The beef was marinated before this in unsalted rice wine and light soy sauce.
I think the problem with the Kung Pao chicken was that the sauce wasn't thick enough so instead of coating everything it just lay at the bottom of the dish.
The squid should have been battered before it was deep fried but it was very yummy anyway :-)
Your kitchen mess was nothing, we were being good and cleaning as we went to a certain degree. When we cook at home for just the two of us we end up with a kitchen that takes two days to clean! Actually today it is sparkling except for the floor. I have cleaned all the flat surfaces, including the cooker (which I think is about the fourth time I've cleaned it since I've had the house. M has cleaned my cooker more times in the last 12 months than I have in 4½ years!), rearranged the appliances to give wok space next to the cooker, then we emptied out the pantry, threw out the crap and rearranged everything based on our changing culinary habits. We found space in the pantry! Now we can buy more obscure ingredients. *grin*
Anyway, we had lots of fun last night and we're glad that you enjoyed our little show. Two of the dishes we cooked for you we had never had ourselves (kung pao chicken and the squid), and we usually aim to do one untried dish each time we cook chinese on account of the new cook book :-) I don't know what the secret is to be honest, ask the cook coz I'm just the lacky, hehe. I just chop, marinade and stir as directed. I have a hard time doing multiple dishes and getting them all ready together, he just has the knack or I guess it's just experience. I do manage to keep him in line by sticking my tongue in his ear on a regular basis though, as you can see from the photo. Damn cameras go off a the most inopportune moments sometimes!

[callistra.livejournal.com]

You know, I could really go some more of that beef.
:-)

And yes, battering the squid would have been quite a different texture altogether. That would be a cool juxtaposition actually - the beef dish, the battered squid, and the lemon chicken.

Mmmmmmmmm....

[trixieskips.livejournal.com]

Oh, my! Can I hire out M and K to cook me dinner some night? I'm especially intrigued by the squid--so hard to find unusual variations of that.