LYL – Stir-Fried Scallops with Baby Bok Choy

It’s scallop time folks! This week’s recipe has been very exciting for me, because I’ve never made scallops before. I’m so grateful that I get to try out a new ingredient with my favorite new cooking techinque, stir-frying.

What did you think about the recipe? Did you use fresh scallops or frozen? Leave your thoughts below, as well as a link to your blog post if you wrote one.

- Matt

PS. Don’t forget that you can join in the discussions on our Facebook page – we regularly chat about stir-frying, give advice, and share our stir-fry photos!

Q&C – Stir-fried Chili Scallops

I hope I’m not the only one intrigued by the idea of stir-frying scallops. Believe it or not I’ve never cooked scallops before, so I’ve referred to this handy guide from The Kitchn: How to Buy Scallops.

Before you get started, any questions or comments on the recipe?

LYL – Minced Pork in Lettuce Cups

You know the drill! Leave a comment and/or link to your blog post letting us know how you fared with this week’s recipe!

Q&C – Minced Pork in Lettuce Cups

We’re rolling along right through February and we’ve got another delicious recipe that helps celebrate The Year of the Snake! Minced Pork in Lettuce Cups (p. 82) is not only healthy and fun, but it also symbolizes bounty, family unity, growing fortune, prosperity, wealthy, and intelligence.

This recipe would make a great lunch or part of a multi-course meal. Get your kids involved in the assembly of the cups as well – its never too early to start people on their wok adventures!

Have any questions or comments about the recipe before you get started? Leave them below and we’ll try to get them answered ASAP.

- Matt

LYL – Chicken Lo Mein with Ginger Mushrooms

This is our first noodle dish, and a great dish to get us prepared for the Chinese New Year, symbolizing longevity, growing fortunes, and intelligence. Were you able to find Chinese lo mein noodles? Did you substitute spaghetti? Were you as brave as Cathy of My Culinary Mission and made your own noodles? Either way, leave a comment below with your thoughts on this dish and/or a link to your blog post.

- Matt

Giveaway – Ceramic Paring Knife

February 10th is the start of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Snake, and what better way to celebrate than with another giveaway! I’m particularly excited about this one – a ceramic paring knife from the great folks at Helen’s Asian Kitchen! Helen Chen’s products are fantastic, and this ceramic paring knife will help you fly through all of your stir-frying prep work. Ceramic blades are super sharp and never lose their edge, making peeling, cutting, and dicing a breeze.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below answering the following question:

What is the biggest challenge that prevents, or in the past has prevented, you from stir-frying: Finding Asian ingredients? High heat cooking? Using a wok? Other?

The contest will be open until 11:59 pm EST on Friday, February 15th. A winner will be chosen at random from the comments.

- Matt

Q&C – Chicken Lo Mein with Ginger Mushrooms

In honor of the Chinese New Year and the upcoming Year of the Snake we’ll be making Chicken Lo Mein with Ginger Mushrooms from page 249 of SFTTSE. This recipe not only promises to be delicious, but it also symbolizes longevity, growing fortunes and intelligence for the New Year. We haven’t done a noodle dish yet so this should be another first after our previous adventure with velveting. If you are unable to find the Chinese lo mein noodles I would suggest finding a spaghetti-style egg noodle, cooking it according to the package instructions until al dente, and thoroughly shaking it dry before proceeding with the recipe.

Any questions or comments before you start?

New Years decorations in Chinatown. Photo: Grace Young.