Vegetarian Sichuan Greens Beans with Mushrooms (MBR)

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (such as Shaoxing) or dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 pound green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, minced
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 tablespoon minced or grated fresh ginger
• 3 scallions, sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Mise en place for my 200th blog entry.  I went with the mushroom rather than pork version of the recipe because I thought it would be easier to get in the ballpark of 1/4 pound of mushrooms than 1/4 pound of pork.  Still an awful lot of mushrooms.

Heat most of the oil except for 1 teaspoon over high heat.  Cook beans until crisp-tender and blackened in spots.

Cook mushrooms with remaining oil until softened (huh?).  Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant.

Toss and cook with sauce (basically everything from the soy sauce to the dry mustard I'll eventually have to toss nearly a full container of).  Stir in scallions and the sesame sauce I somehow forgot.

All in all a pretty good version of a dish I'll often order in its takeout manifestations.  Doesn't mean I'll stop doing so.

Lo mein however is something that often gives me displeasure in its locally available forms.  Not so much this.

Stir-Fried Chicken with Creamed Corn (BRW)

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into roughly 1-inch chunks [Given the option, I never go for white meat]
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine, dry sherry, or white wine [Might as well use sherry.  I don't think I've gotten around to getting Shaoxing wine yet.  Odd that it suggests white wine as well.  I don't see that much.]
• 2 tablespoons peanut or neutral oil, like corn or grapeseed
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
• 1 small fresh chile, stemmed, seeded, and mince or hot red pepper flakes to taste
• One 15-ounce can creamed corn
• 1 cup fresh, frozen, or canned corn kernels
• Chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

Mise en place.  Yeah, that is literally a can of creamed corn.  Mark Bittman leads me to think that this is a fairly popular dish in Hong Kong.

Chicken marinates in the soy sauce, sesame oil, and wine while other ingredients are prepped.

Cook chicken undisturbed in oil over high heat undisturbed for about 2 minutes until the bottom browns (sort of).  Stir once or twice and cook for another couple of minutes.

Turn the heat down to medium low, add the aromatics, and stir.

Fifteen seconds later add the corn.  Cook until heated through.

Hey, I can't say that this dish isn't quite tasty, but cracking open a can of creamed corn and using that as the general basis of a "home-cooked" dish doesn't really suit my tastes anymore.  It all kind of feels a little gross, but I'm glad I gave this a shot.
Frozen dinners and those pot pies in those yellow boxes are still totally good, but I can only imagine the ingredient list for creamed corn.