Chinese cuisine?

For starters...to get rid of most of the sodium, I make my own soy sauce. And recently found a recipe for low sodium oyster sauce. Because buying even reduced sodium ones in the store are really high. You can't beat the 15-30 grams of sodium these come out too. The soy sauce is actually pretty good too. I make it in bulk and freeze in ice cubes, so I can have some in the fridge all the time. Tastes good to just throw into stir-frys, or put on rice etc.

I had to buy sodium free bouillon for both of the recipes. But it was worth it. Because I can use them in other things too, like soup broths, gravy's etc.



(ordered mine on Amazon.com)

Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1/2 Cup Sodium Free Bouillon

3 Tbsp Red Whine Vinegar (or substitute reg. vinegar)

1 1/2 Tbsp Molasses

1 Tbsp Ground Ginger

1 tbsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

3 Cups Water

In a sauce pan, combine all ingredients and boil gently uncovered about 5 minutes or till mixture is reduced (thickens).

Store in refrigerator for 2 weeks (stir before using), or freeze in ice cube tray for easy access (good for 3 months)

Makes 32 servings (1 tbsp per serving)....or 2 Cups.
***Tastes good over rice, or just mixed in with a stir-fry too. YUM ****

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Low Sodium Oyster Sauce

8 oz Oysters (the lowest sodium you can find - my choice was boiled)

1/2 tsp Lemon Juice

3/4 Cup Water

2 1/2 tsp No Sodium Chicken Bouillon

1 Tbsp Homemade soy sauce (recipe from above)

Dash of black pepper

1) Drain oysters, reserving the liquid.

2) In preheated wok or skillet combine oysters, lemon juice & 1/2 the water. Boil for 15 seconds. Transfer to blender and grind coarsely.

3) In wok combine remaining bouillon and remaining water. Turn to medium and bring to a slow boil. Turn to low and stir in oyster mixture and remaining ingredients. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Makes 22 servings (1 Tbsp each). Good for 1 week in fridge or freeze in ice cube trays for easy to grab servings (good for 3 months)



Chicken Lo mien

Makes 10 serving (3/4 cup or 170 grams)

Calories: 217 Carbs: 31 Fiber: 4 Fat: 4 Sugar: 9 Protein: 13 Sodium: 39

** A food processor came in super dooper handy for both of these. ($20 walamart) I didn't want huge chunks of vegetables & meat in my noodles...so I shredded everything using the food processor. lol You can however chop everything up by hand. **
Ingredients
12 oz - Chicken breast

*****:

4 oz - Zucchini

1/4 cup (4 oz) - Carrots

6 oz - Broccoli

8 oz - Mushrooms

1 cup green onions, sliced

*****

sauce:

1 cup low sodium soy sauce

1 cup Chinese cooking wine or white wine

4 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoon sesame oil

2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice

1 teaspoon ginger

4 cloves garlic, minced

*****

Noodles:

8 ounce package of whole wheat noodles (Healthy Harvest was low cal)

- First, gather your veggies and chop or slice them and set aside for later. Cook your chicken and also slice up.

- Next, in a small bowl prepare the ingredients for the sauce. You want this ready and waiting!

And, set a pot of water to boil for your pasta/noodles.

Add chicken and sliced veggies to the pan, and stir fry that for a few minutes. And if the water is boiling, go ahead and add the noodles to that pot and cook per package instruction.

Add your bowl of already mixed sauce. Stir fry the mixture a minute or so and by now you should be ready to drain off the noodles.

After noodles are drained, add them to the veggies & chicken, and mix.

Let sit for a few minutes so the sauce gets a chance to thicken, stir occasionally. (around now my egg rolls were just being put in the oven, so I had time to spare)

Enjoy!



Baked Egg Rolls
(Just revised from a previous poster on MFP)

Makes 15 servings (1 egg roll per serving)

Calories: 84 Carbs: 16 Fiber: 2 Fat: 1 Protein: 4 Sugar: 2 Sodium: 165
Ingredients

1 Package of Coleslaw Mix (16 oz)
1 cup Green Onions, sliced
4 oz Sliced Mushrooms, chopped & diced
1 medium Zucchini, diced (8 oz)
1 14oz Can Bean Sprouts, drained

4 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 teaspoon ginger

Nasoya - Egg Roll Wraps (found near the produce and tofu)
1/4 cup Egg Beater ( or 1 egg)
PAM Spray

For the filling:

Add all the veggies to the pot on a medium heat and mix for a few minutes until the veggies are warmed up. Mix the soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic and ginger in bowl and dump over the veggies and mix well. Set veggies aside to cool for a few minutes.

Once the veggies are cooled, fill your egg roll wrappers with filling (about 1/2 cup for filling or 50 grams) and assemble.


How to roll a egg roll/spring roll video on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Abqjo5A7rI

Spray a cookie sheet with PAM and line the egg rolls on cookie sheet. Spray the top of the egg rolls with PAM.

Bake on 350 for a good 25 minutes. You might want to broil for a few minutes too to get them crispy on top!

When picking up the ingredients just make sure you pay attention to the labels. Noodles or the egg roll wrappers can make a big difference in the calories. I like to use the Nasoya brand egg roll wrappers because most of the other ones I've found can add between 30 and 50 calories per egg roll. So just be careful and read the labels!

My Dad is Chinese, so we grew up on authentic Chinese food. The key word is *authentic* - the cuisine that the Chinese usually eat is very healthy. Lots of stir-fries (not a lot of soy sauce either) - fresh veggies and lean meats (if any). Avoid Chinese take-aways and buffets as they usually cater to so-called "American-Chinese" food...which really isn't Chinese food at all. Yes, it's yummy for a treat, but a lot of it is 'junk food'.