Chinese Stuffed Peppers Recipes

CHINESE STUFFED PEPPERS (DIM SUM STYLE - 2 WAYS!)

Steps:

• Gently rinse the fermented black beans under cold water for a few seconds to reconstitute it and to remove some of the salt. Once the beans are a little soft, use the side of a knife or a fork to smash them flat and set them aside
• Finely chop the garlic and set it aside
• Mix the corn starch and cold water for the corn starch slurry (thickener) in a small bowl and set it aside
• In a small pot, add 2 tablespoons of oil and set the stove to medium heat.
• Once the oil is hot and shimmering, addin the garlic and black beans and cook them for about 1 minute until the garlic is soft.
• Add the rest of the ingredients for the 'Garlic Black Bean Sauce' into the pot (soy sauce, oyster sauce, cooking wine, water/stock, sugar) and mix it together. Let it cook until the sauce starts simmering
• Once the sauce starts bubbling, re-mix the corn starch slurry in the bowl (the starch might have settled to the bottom) and slowly pour it into the sauce while stirring. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens.
• Once the sauce thickens, the sauce is done! Set it aside with the lid on. Don't worry if a skin forms on top of the sauce once it cools - it happens.
• Defrost the shrimp by running it under cold water for 10-15 minutes and peel the shrimp.
• Once the shrimp has been peeled, use a knife to finely chop it. As I chop the shrimp, it will start to spread out on the chopping board so I like to fold the shrimp back into a pile and continue to chop it. I do this about 10-12 times until the shrimp because a chunky paste. Alternatively, you can also use a food processor which will give you a smoother shrimp paste.
• Once the shrimp has been chopped, put it in a bowl and mix the rest of the ingredients from the 'Shrimp Filling' list together and set aside.
• Take 1/2 teaspoon of filling and either microwaving it for 25-30 seconds or using a pan to cook it then taste it for flavour to make sure it is salty and flavourful. Adjust to taste.
• Once everything tastes good to you, set it aside for later
• (OPTION 2) MAKING PORK FILLING
• Place the pork in a large bowl
• Grate the garlic and place it in the bowl with the pork
• Add the remaining ingredients from the 'Pork Filling' ingredient list and mix it together.
• Mix the pork filling in one direction for 7-10 minutes. The salt combined with the overmixing will give you a springy pork texture instead of a crumbly pork texture.
• Take 1/2 teaspoon of filling and either microwaving it for 25-30 seconds or using a pan to cook it then taste it for flavour to make sure it is salty and flavourful. Adjust to taste.
• Once everything tastes good to you, set it aside for later
• Turn the pepper upside down so that the bottom is facing up. You should see 4 bumps. Imagine a line in the shape of a '+' between the bumps. Cut the pepper into quarters using the space between the bumps as a guideline. (see photo in blog for an example)
• Once you have the 4 wedges from the pepper, remove the core, seeds, and veins. Cut the top and bottom tips off the pepper so that it can lay flat against the frying pan.
• Repeat this for the rest of the peppers.
• Once all the peppers have been prepared, place a bit of corn starch in a small bowl and rub it on the inside of the peppers
• Use the filling you made and stuff each pepper wedge. Try not to over stuff it, the deeper the pockets and the thicker the filling, the harder it will be to cook the filling all the way through. I like to stuff it no more than 1 inch thick and have the filling slightly above the pepper by 1-2mm
• Once you are ready to cook them, set a frying pan to medium low heat with a bit of oil. The filling and peppers burn easily on higher heat so we want to cook it on a slightly lower temperature for a longer time so the fillings will cook all the way through.
• Place the pepper in the frying pan, filling side down and cook it for approximately 3 minutes or until the filling has browned. Once the filling is brown, flip it onto the pepper side.
• Once all the peppers have been flipped, add about 3 tablespoons of water into the frying pan and cover it with a lid. We want to steam it a little to make sure the middle is cooked all the way through. If you are using thinner peppers with less fillling, you can skip the steaming step. Steam it until the water evaporates, which is approximately 3-4 minutes
• Remove the lid and continue to let the pepper cook, on the pepper side so that starts to brown. Approximately another 3 minutes
• Once all the peppers are ready, warm up the sauce over the stove again and then spoon some of the sauce on top and enjoy!

CHINESE STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• Use a cleaver or knife to finely mince the shrimp into a very fine paste. This process entails chopping and folding the shrimp paste over and onto itself, and continuing to chop. Transfer the shrimp paste to a bowl.
• Chop the scallions. Set aside half of the green portion for the sauce. Add the rest of the chopped scallion to the shrimp, along with 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine, and white pepper to taste. Use a fork to beat/whip the shrimp until it is smooth and all the ingredients are well-combined.
• Pop the stems off the bell peppers and follow the lines of each pepper to cut into 3-5 segments. Remove the seeds. If using long hot green peppers, just cut them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.
• Stuff each pepper segment with the shrimp mixture until the filling is even with the edges of the peppers. You can also trim the ends of the peppers to ensure they are flush and at the same level of the filling. This will make the peppers easier to cook.
• Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok or skillet over medium high heat and place the peppers in the oil, stuffing side down. Cook until they are browned, about 2 minutes. Turn the peppers over to sear the bottoms for another 2 minutes, turning the heat down if they start to get too dark. If using the long hot green peppers or another variety of thin-fleshed pepper, simply transfer them to the serving plate.
• If using bell peppers, which have thicker flesh and take longer to cook, add 2 tablespoons of water to the pan, cover, and steam for another 2 minutes, or until the peppers are just tender. Set aside on a serving plate.
• It's time to make the sauce, which only takes a couple minutes. Heat the wok over medium heat and add the oil, garlic and fermented black beans. Stir-fry for a few seconds and add the shaoxing wine. When the wine is bubbly, add the rest of the sauce ingredients (except the cornstarch slurry) and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, add the cornstarch slurry gradually until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. Stir in the reserved scallions and spoon the sauce over the peppers to serve.

CHINESE CHICKEN-STUFFED BELL PEPPERS

Steps:

• Cut a 1/2" thick slice from the side of each pepper, reserving slices; remove seeds.
• Place peppers in boiling water, boil 5 minutes, drain, set aside.
• Coat a large skillet or wok with Pam; add sesame oil, and place over med heat until hot.
• Add garlic and gingerroot; stir fry 30 seconds.
• Add carrots and green onions; stir fry 2 minutes more.
• Remove from heat.
• Add chicken and remaining ingredients, stirring well.
• Spoon 3/4 cup mixture into each reserved pepper.
• Top with reserved pepper slices.
• Arrange peppers, cut side up, in a 10 x 6 x 2" baking dish.
• Cover and bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

CHINESE STYLE STUFFED GREEN BELL PEPPERS

Steps:

• Dice onion and mushrooms and beat egg.
• Place the ground beef in a mixing bowl and marinate for 5 minutes with sherry, salt, pepper, sugar, thin soya sauce, cornflour and oil.
• Mix well.
• Add the onions, mushrooms and beaten egg and mix well.
• Cut the peppers lengthwise in halves, and remove core and seeds and wash.
• Stuff each half firmly with meat mixture.
• Heat a little oil in wok or frying pan, then add the peppers meat side down.
• Sprinkle with a little salt, cover and cook about 5-8 minutes on medium heat.
• Turn over and cook green side for another 5mins (or until no longer pink).
• Remove and set aside on a warm serving dish.
• In a small bowl combine water, cornflour, thin soya sauce, sugar and pour into pan.
• Stir until thickened and bubbly and then pour over peppers.
• Serve over rice.