Dejah

A student just gave me several chunks of venison from his hunt on Saturday. I know how to use it in North American recipes, but how about in Chinese/Asian cooking? My mom always cooked it in an herbal soup, with gai jee, dried longan, etc. Any suggestions? How about recipes that would appeal to Chinese students from around Shanghai area? I would like to make something for them. It may be their first time trying venison?

Ahhh Tepee, you're so cruel to your Gah Jeah. I haven't had breakfast yet, and now, I want those ribs. Whenever a recipe calls for chilis, fresh or dried, I always fry them in the oil before adding any other ingredients. This way, the oil is infused with the flavour and the heat. Otherwise, you're right, it's hidden until the unwary takes the big bite. With fresh chilis, I do chop them or smack them with the flat of my knife, again frying them in the oil before anything else is added.

sheets: Did you make the yao tiu? I want some and the store is closed! Here are the pictures of the food from this weekend. Kung pao chicken, shrimp sushi, and commercial potstickers. Then Cantonese chow mein for brunch yesterday: Hubby tells me I need to record my "good settings" for the camera. Who's got time when all I think about is cooking and eating? Most of the pics are taken at night. It's so much easier during the day with natural light. Anyone with suggestions for better lighting? I usually have overhead incandescent lights, then I try with and without flash. Also, how can I centre the pictures or place them side by side?

They are called edamame, Tepee. I've had them, but only in the frozen form. Not sure what they are supposed to taste like, but they look good. Jeera is East Indian rice cooked with cumin seeds and black peppercorns. I haven't mastered the art of cooking basmati rice where each grain is still "individual grains." Mine is still too soft, but I sure love the cumin seeds. Ambrosia Delight is a dessert in a 9x13 pan. The bottom is graham wafer crums, topped with sliced bananas, topped with coconut cream pudding with mandarin orange slices stirred in, along with toasted coconut flakes. This is then covered with whipped cream. It was smooth, cold, chewy, and tangy with the orange slices. I took the rest for the staff this morning. Thought I'd better get it out of the house! (Does mandarin orange segments help qualify this recipe as Chinese?) What's in the bento, Peony? And MiFi, what's in the sweet 'n ' sour chicken? Give details, please.

Well, I'm glad someone is on the ball! I'm knee-deep in marking exams, then this weekend was sorta repeats of Ah Leung's pictorials. I did take some pictures but just haven't had time to process. So, Tepee, keep on feeling "self conscious." Are you going to tell us what that "seamonster" in your soup was? How did you get my spoon?! Let me see, I can describe our meals and post pictures later: Friday, daughter was home so we had kung po chicken, store bought potstickers (disappointing), and shrimp sushi. Saturday, second son was home, and it was lemon chicken with sauce made from half a can of frozen lemonade and sugar. I've been mixing foods alot lately, depending on my mood. So, with lemon chicken, we had jeera rice. For vegetables, it was Canadian chop suey. Sunday was pretty traditional English for China's bday: 10 lb AAA prime rib roast, Yorkshire puddings, oven roast potatoes, veg sides, and Ambrosia Delight for dessert. My saving grace for this thread was chicken and snow fungus soup. Soulin, the grandson, didn't like the fungus as he said it "looked like brains", but he liked the broth. I've packed the other half of the soup to take to my students this morning. Tepee: Not only are your pictures artistic, so are your sweets! I think I could handle, eating them, that is, anything that you'd bake.

But, but, but... the title of this topic is "weird snacks". Some of these are too normal: pork sung, dried seaweed, beef jerky. Normal ones are "off topic"! ← What can be more weird than for Asians 1. to toast 2. to eat a hot dog bun 3. margarine (butter better) slathered on a hot dog bun 4. and topping it with cole slaw! These ingredients / combinations are not traditionally Chinese/Asian; it's more like North American chop suey. I said it SOUNDED normal, more so than eating uncooked non-rehydrated dried oysters, but still weird.

I haven't done a lot of cooking from Fushia's book yet. I'm waiting for Xmas break to really explore. Her red braised pork is not spicy, if that helps. And, spicy or not, OF COURSE it will be a good Xmas prezzie for YOU! Silly question.

We have stalls selling a decadent version. First they ermm...margarine (wish it was butter) a hot-dog bun, face it down and toast it a bit, layer it with floss, then a freshly grilled yuk gon, top with coleslaw and chilli/tomato sauce. ← After all the REALLY weird snacks, it was refreshing to see something that actually sounded good and normal! I think I'd like what you described, Tepee.

Stephen, Peony, Tepee: I also have the same pattern for dishes, except mine are yellow! My s-i- has the red set, and my sister has the turquoisy blue set. I actually have 2 sets, both yellow. The set my mom and I brought from HK in 1958 was fired much better as the glaze is not peeling. The newer set we ordered from Taiwan has smaller dinner plates, and the glaze is fading or flaking. I need to buy some more. Maybe I'll check out the stock in the stores and see if I can replace some of them. Grandson is here for supper tonight, so it's leftovers and oyster sauce ho fun. He'll have the ho fun, "just oyster sauce, please, gramma" with such a smile. How can I refuse?

TRAITOR! But really, dry shitake? Pork floss is good. Must look for fish floss next trip.

Yep--one whole tail, probably about 4-5 ounces of meat. Plus the broth, which is pretty intense -- in a good way. I was thinking of having the tail meat with some congee tomorrow. And saving the broth for the next time I red cook something. ← That broth is the best, isn't it? Mizducky. I like to just ladle a spoonful onto my rice. Yummy. To be honest, I haven't gotten up enough nerve to eat the "pope's nose" yet. Of course, I also say that's reserved for the elders in the family, but then, I'll soon be in that catagory and may not be able to escape what awaits me.

Tepee! You just dragged me into re-reading your blog yet again! I've got exams to prepare, don't you know.

I figured out my problem in posting images: I was trying to post the unprocessed/unsized picture! Anyway, here's what we had for supper: velvetized chicken, ginger, lap cheung, and slivers of acouple of left over mushrooms. I used a mixture of half long grain jasmine and half glutinous rice. It was made in my cast iron pot on top of the stove. Very comforting on a blizzardy evening.

Ho fun with black bean garlic is my favourite way to cook them! I like to add bitter melon and sliced beef. The kids prefer lots of oyster sauce, gai lan, and beef. Gota have ma la oil for dipping.

Considering that the Dinner! thread was started in 2002, I think we are doing very well! I am trying to upload the image of tonight's supper, but it wasn't working for me. I got a message to contact the eGullet team, so must wait to see what I did wrong. It's still snowing, and we must have had about a foot of snow! I was teaching also, so we had bo jai fan. As for the rice sticks, I have not seen this shape, but I do have the flat ones that are about 2" long with rounded ends. They are like the ones my mom used to make for New Years. She used to make them different shapes: some long, some like the old ingots, some round, etc. These were made with rice flour, steamed and kept in pails of water in a cool place. The water must be changed frequently. I loved it when Mom would slice some up, brown them in the pan, then mixed with lap yook and vegetables. She called them gnau lan yuen. I am going to cook the package I have tomorrow. They are soaking in water now to soften up. The directions said to soak for 12 hours!

Many thanks, Domestic Goddess. I know what I'll be cooking soon! I have 2 kinds of noodles: one package is Korean noodles and doesn't give the starch used. The other package says sweet potato starch. Would the Korean package be also made with sweet potato starch?

Fuyu persimmons are $.98 cents EACH here on the Canadian prairies. I will eat them fresh out of hand, thank you very much!

Tepee, In the stir-fried cos lettuce with gai chee, were they fresh berries or rehydrated ones? I don't have any fresh ones at the moment. I've never used gai chee in this manner. It's always been in simple soup by itself, or with a million other herbs.

Peony, Do you by any chance have pictures of the nam hun and pak hun? I didn't know there were 2 kinds.

You know I'll be expecting pictures, Tepee! Speaking of expecting, did you ever eat chee mah wu while pregnant? Mom used to make it with the black sesame seeds. I was always teased that my babes will be born with skin like black sesame seeds!

cocktail buns, coconut tarts, lo paw bang, deep fried sesame seed glutinous rice balls, cream-filled "jelly rolls", steamed egg sponge cakes, steamed mah la gau (cake). Then there are sweet soups made with lotus nuts, tiny red beans (can't remember the name at the moment), peanuts, or sesame seed soup - either black or white, sweet bak hap soup, and so on....

I would like to see your recipe, Domestic Goddess. My Korean students have made it for me twice, and I attempted the dish myself once. I really enjoy the chewiness of the noodles.

I think what mizducky used already has texture. The tofu cubes look firm, but I'll bet the inside is silky smooth. The rice balls look inviting. What a fun way to eat: a complete mouthful (as in a complete meal in a dish). I think I may try that to entice my grandson to eat chicken again. He refuses to eat chicken of any kind! I've got one pork shoulder picnic braising in the oven at the moment, a la Fushia Dunlop's Land of Plenty. The only thing I added was some white pepper. It proved a hit with the students last week, so I'm making lots this time so everyone will have more than one forkful! I have a shoulder blade roast with a thick layer of fat to braise tomorrow. The potluck is for Wed. Here's what we had for supper tonight: Guy choi soup with ginger and pork tenderloin slices. and char siu pai gwut made with hoisin sauce, wine, 5 spice powder, and a sprinkle of sugar. The ribs were done in the oven. It's been snowing and blowing all day. Couldn't face going out to the BBQ!

The bowl of water method suggested by Ah Leung works for me. I usually have a pot of soup on the stove as well, so I dip the scoop into the soup instead of water. Tastier.

You must be thrilled Da Ga Jeah! Just 2 days this thread is already on the 2nd page. Let's play catch up and try to match the "Dinner!" thread, huh? It has *only* 599 pages. Com'on, show us more what you got! Where are the rest of 1.3 billion Chinese when you need them? ← Where's my gai mo soh! Dah say na lah! Ah Leung. C. Sapidus actually posted several meals, Ah Leung. I'm glad to hear the recipes are in Fushia's book. I have it and will try the chicken soon. It looks like the Korean buldak (fire chicken). I saw that in the Elsewhere forum, and my Korean student brought me the spices for it. Man! We have winter now; snow is falling and staying. So, these firery dishes will serve me well. Peony: The rice balls in your post with boiled chicken and beansprouts - are they solid balls of rice flour? I wonder if they are what we call rice cakes/balls - gau lan yuen. I have a package of rice sticks, and they need to be soaked to soften before stir-frying.