GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!!~ Happy Year of the Goat
We went to our favorite local Chinese restaurant, only to find its doors locked and the restaurant idling away in sublime emptiness. The very nice gift card Dr. A had given me for Christmas sadly was now of use only to light the firecracker for Chinese New Year.
There are many good and some great Chinese restaurants in San Francisco and further north in Seattle and in Vancouver. One small restaurant in Vancouver had perfected Lemon Chicken to the extent that we often drove there from Seattle just to eat it. I have never been able to duplicate it, and possibly it now remains divine only in memory.
When growing up we made the mistake of believing that chop suey was an exotic Chinese dinner. Chinese cooking is not simple; but when the Chinese first came to this country they cooked peasant food–“chop-chop, eat it up.” Toss it around then became sweet and sour to give more flavor. Chinese restaurant cooking is quick, high heat cooking but not necessarily simple. Tiger shrimp braised in a clay pot, asparagus and taro, steamed Dover sole draped over cabbage, shreds of scallion and wisps of fried turnip or soft crumblings of pork, are the ingredients of fine Chinese cooking. Just to read the menu at a good Chinese restaurant makes one’s mouth water in anticipation.
My Tai Chi class used to meet each morning at Lake Elizabeth and I was the only Caucasian among people from both Taiwan and mainland China. Once a month we had a potluck luncheon under the trees where each of us brought a special dish. There I tasted chicken feet, many kinds of stuffed buns and jook, for which I inexplicably have the recipe someone kindly offered me. Tea was brought in huge containers with all the tea leaves floating in it. I usually took my famous chocolate cake back home with one piece missing—mine.
When we found our restaurant out of business, I came home and cooked an Anerican-Chinese style dinner. We drank cups of tea without leaves and wished each other Happy Chinese New Year.
PINEAPPLE PORK SWEET AND SOUR
1 pound raw lean pork cut into 3/4″ squares
1 egg, beaten
Coat pork by dipping in beaten egg.
In a pan or ziplock bag, place 1 cup flour. 1/2 tsp salt and the egg-coated pork. Toss it around.
In deep pan heat a couple cups of oil, not olive, to 350 degrees
Drop in pork a little at a time and fry 6-8 minutes or until browned and done.
Remove and keep warm.
Also have prepared 1 cup pineapple chunks, drained (reserve juice)
1 medium green pepper, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
In a wok or deep skillet place
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/c sugar
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup catsup
1/2 cup cider vinegar
Blend all the ingredients well and bring to a boil.
Make a paste of 2 Tbs corn starch and 2 Tbs water, add gradually until sauce thickens
Add Pork, green pepper and pineapple.
Turn and mix rapidly for abut 5 minutes or until very hot. Serve with steamed rice.
A nice dish of steamed stir-fried vegetables would make a good meal. Don’t serve chocolate cake for dessert!
Pachofa-Unfinished 
I wonder if goat is on the menue this Chinese New Year? Sweet and sour is always a great combination. I like the catsup most!
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I’m sure I would get m,y hand slapped by a Chinese cook for using catsup, but I felt it needed it. With enough sweet and sour who would guess it was goat?
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If my mom still was alive I’d cook this for her this very night. Well, tomorrow night. I’d have to get some pork, first. This was one of her favorite dishes, and over time she even led me to be fond of it.
Just for grins, I’ve begun serving such dishes over barley rather than rice. It’s not traditional, of course, but it truly is good. I like the slighty nutty flavor of barley, and its texture.
Your mention of stuffed buns reminded me of my absolute favorite: char sui bow, or steamed pork buns. I used to make runs over to SF’s Chinatown just to get them at the Dim Sum places. I just went looking, and found a recipe online, but it might be worth a trip into Houston, instead. If I made a whole batch, I might eat a whole batch. Yes, they can be frozen, but still…
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I like your idea of barley. More nutritious too. i usually have a bag in the pantry for soup.
Did you ever go to Johnny Kan’s when you lived up here? It was a really nice place when I first went years ago. Got me cooking Cantonese. Danny Kaye cooked there with Johny Kan a few times as celebrity chef.
I ate a few steamed pork buns while in Seattle at a little place near Pike St. Market. I don’t think I would take on the job of making them myself though.
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No, I never made it to Kan’s. I worked for a Chinese professor, and often went with he and his familyl. We’d head into the heart of Chinatown, go into a restaurant, then go up another floor, behind a door marked “No Admittance”, and then he’d order from the Chinese menu for us. And sometimes we just picked up the pork buns on the street.
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Boy, have you brought back my childhood, Katy !! – this must be the exact dish that my mama used to make. It was even called ‘sweet & sour pork’. Her real cleverness did not like in anything Asian, but in French cooking – and standard things like roast beef, etc. But I remember this one clearly ! – and I LOVED it.
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I like it too. And I made this one so easy it can be whipped up in just a few minutes.
I love French cooking too especially desserts. But then dessert is my favorite part of a meal anyway. Glad you like it.
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Love this. Thx for the recipe!
Sent from my iPhone
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You are very welcome! Your little ones would probably enjoy this. Not sure about the green pepper though.
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