Dejah

The leaves are quite large. Someone mentioned wrapping meat with a leave then grilling.

Suzy, The Ayam Limau Purut recipe is from a book called The Food of Malaysia published by Periplus Editions. It is a collection of recipes by the cooks of Bon Ton Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, and Jonkers Restaurant in Malacca. It's called Nonya curry. It called for 1/2 chicken, but I used 5 thighs and a breast. For 1/2 chicken, you need 1 slice asam gelugur or lime juice to taste 1/2 cup water 1 cup thick coconut milk 4 fragrant lime leaves (The star of the show as far as I am concerned) salt to taste. Spice paste: 2 medium red or brown onions 8 red chilis 3 cloves garlic 1 stalk lemongrass 1 1/4 inch piece of galangal 1 tsp tumeric powder The spice paste was chopped and blended in my mini chopper. Then it was fried in hot oil until fragrant. The chicken was added, along with chicken stock (which I used in place of the water) and the asam gelugur. Simmer until half cooked, then add the lime leaves and coconut milk. Continue to simmer uncovered so some of the liquid is reduced. Season with salt. I didn't have asam gelugur, so I added lime juice just before severing. I read later that tamarind could be a substitue. There were still bits of lemongrass, galangal, etc when I served the food. I liked this because there were little bursts of flavour whenever you chewed on a bit of herb. I even licked the sauce off the lime leaves, and wow!

Thanks, Trillium. I did as you suggested for freezing the herbs. Caught your post just as I was ready to head down for the freezer. I posted pictures of the clams using shiso in the Chinese forum, as well as the Malaysain curry. I'll post the curry one here too. I used lime leaves, etc and I loved it. Ayam Limau Purut The spice paste called for chilis, chopped red onions, garlic, galangal, lemongrass and tumeric. This was stir-fried, then chicken pieces were added with some water. The chicken was simmered until half done, then coconut milk and fresh lime leaves and lime juice were added. The whole thing was simmered until the chicken was tender. OMG, I was licking the pot as I was washing up! That stuff was great on rice. The green mound beside the dish of tumeric is chopped lemongrass.

My sister brought a huge supply of Asian herbs from Vancouver: shiso, curry, lime, panadan leaves, galangal, Vietnamese mint, Thai basil. I just started summer vacation, so it's experiment time! I am really excited about all these herbs. The first dish I made was dow see chili clams with shiso. I liked the touch of flavour from the shiso. Next time, I will add more as the clams cook, as well, I would add more fresh just before serving. Maybe it's just me. I like excess when it comes to herbs. Manila clams, shredded shiso, chopped ginger, garlic, chili peppers, dow see with light soy and cooking wine and pig skin choi. I also made my first Malaysian curry. The fragrance and flavour of the lemongrass and lime leaves was incredible. I loved this! Ayam Limau Purut ( Chicken with lime leaves) The spice paste called for chilis, chopped red onions, garlic, galangal, lemongrass and tumeric. This was stir-fried, then chicken pieces were added with some water. The chicken was simmered until half done, then coconut milk and fresh lime juice and leaves were added. The whole thing was simmered until the chicken was tender. OMG, I was licking the pot even when I was washing up! That stuff was great on rice. The bathroom scales will be put away for the next while! I am so happy!

I was given a bag of this vegtable last night. There are 2 ways of cooking this: as a soup which is good for someone trying to quit smoking, or to stir-fry with blackbean garlic/ginger sauce. I did the latter as I was also doing clams with dow see, garlic, chili, ginger, and shiso. I'm not fond of this veg. as it is kinda slimy and has a hint of "dirt" taste. Would appreciate more information on this choi. Would hate to miss out on something good just because I didn't like what I did last night.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have ziplock bagged some of the pandan. curry, and lime leaves for the freezer. The shiso, I am planning blackbean garlic chili clams for supper tonight, and maybe take Suzy's idea of wrapping meat on skewers for the grill. I stripped several stalks and hope to root them for a house plant. Chiffonade shiso in a salad sounds like a great idea. Probably would work in place of mint or basil for my summer rolls too. But then...I also have the basil and mint! Found a recipe for steamed pandan wrapped chicken. The marinade for the meat sounds delicious. We were all around the table last night trying to figure out what the pandan fragrance reminded us of: corn chips! This was the first time for we prairie folks to see this leave. Tepee: Can I have a basic cake recipe with pandan? It's my mom's 98th next week and she wants me to bake the cake as usual. I would love to make something"unusual". Just a simple one please. The lime leaves: Last weekend, I was on a garden tour and a friend gave me several Thai lime leaves from his tree. I was thrilled, and so very carefully froze them until I can get to making Tepee's beef randang joong. Then bingo! I got 2 big bagfuls! My s-i-l is quite anticipating my culinary experiments. With the basil and mint, I think I might have to try my hand on pho. I am SO glad I start my 6 weeks vacation tomorrow! The bathroom scale will suffer, but all for a good cause.

Hit the jackpot today when my sister arrived from Burnaby, B.C. I got packages of fresh pandan leaves, curry leaves, lime leaves, shiso, galangal, and one I didn't know - - kinh goi. I won't be able to use all of this up in the next while. Can I freeze pandan and curry leaves. I know I can freeze lime leaves. What is the kinh goi? How should I use it? It almost smells a bit like mint. I am so excited! Other goodies include a block of balacan, 2 palm sugar, Nonya Kaya coconut jam, packages of bar kut teh, Assam laksa, 6 lbs dried oysters, dried sea snail meat, 6 packages of Chinese sausages fresh from the factory in B.C.! Then there's wife cakes, nam yue peanuts, fresh figs... Tell me what I should do! What should I cook? Tepee! I am dizzy!

Ah Leung: That soup would be a meal in itself! I love dong gua tong. Sometimes I make it with just pork bones, sliced pork and a few slivers of ham choi for a very light and quick version. Other times, I leave the rind on the melon chunks and add rehydrated oysters. This is slowly simmered on the stove until the rind is tender. The rind is not really eaten, but Po-Po says it is for cooling (leunng hay). The version that wesza described is usually served at banquets. The whole melon is steamed with the broth and ingredients inside. I have had it with abalone. It's quite incredible to see some of the carving done on the rind. It would be easy to carve the word "happiness", but dragons, pheonex, etc...whew!

May I suggest browning the meat before braising. That would make it "hern dee la" ( more fragrant/flavourful)

Tea eggs ( fresh eggs that were slow cooked in tea and speices) or Low shui dan? Simmered in soy sauce and spices. The licorice flavouring is from star anise

I would suggest, if you can, to do the vinegar treatment early in the evening, allow a couple of hours for air drying, then put it into the fridge uncovered. If you bring it back to room temp before deep frying, then the chicken will cook properly. Otherwise, if you try to deep fry it straight from the fridge, the skin will be burnt before the flesh is cooked throughly.

I don't think grape leaf stems are furry. I also think it is very young pumpkin or some other squash leave. The leaves on a moo gwa plant are about that size even when full grown, where as a pumpkin or zuchinni leave is much larger.

We had a big feed of potstickers at our usual Winnipeg dim sum restaurant on Friday. The filling looked very much like Ah Leung's but wrapped differently: more "bulbus". It was our Chicago visitor's favourite so we ordered a dozen. As for using the rolling pin, I use my very old heavy duty tortilla press. Perfect circles every time!

Try using deep fried tofu sold in squares. They are great for soaking up the juices!

I was just joking about Ben and his love for hunting upland birds. But yes, I suppose sometimes birds are cleaned of their feathers by skinning them. Is that correct, Ben? I know my brother uses that technique whenever we get wild ducks. This is used especially when we cook wild geese or ducks with herbs. With chicken and BBQ duck, the skin and the bones are my favourite parts. FLAVOUR! Turkey skin I can leave because I ate so much of it when I first came to Canada.

Health inspectors can be a real pain in the @@#*. One newby tried to make me put the bags of raw rice in the cooler to keep the bacteria at bay. In air drying, using a walk-in cooler may be possible? In the cooler I had, the fan going inside kept the air moving. Just have rotating lots in the cooler. BBQ ones from yesterday and replace with a new batch glazed today.

Ken, We want pictures! Or better still, a video of your progress.

Are you serious??? I bought this can for US$5.00. And I thought it was high... ← Ah Leung: Since I became interested in under utilized species it's apparent how wide spread it's become adapted: King Topshell and Abalone Type Shellfish are not ABALONE. Irwin ← Thanks for confirming my thoughts, Irwin. Can't read Chinese but when I saw the shape of the whole "abalone", I didn't think it was abalone...There is a smaller type which I think my mom calls ocean clams that we have used as "ga ba yu" - fake abalone. I have never tasted fresh abalone, but canned, I'd rather eat the mushrooms and the lettuce soaked in oyster sauce.

Pretty luxurious looking dish, Ah leung. How much is a can of abalone now? The last time I checked in Winnipeg, I think they were around $50.00/can. They keep them on a shelve behind the cashier. Another new phenomenon in the big Asian store in Wpg is seeing the quality seafood freezer covered with plexiglass and locked! "Visions of a little old Po-Po in a big coat smuggling 2 boxes of 8-10 shrimp out of the store"...

If you're suggesting oyster sauce may not have existed 50 years ago, I've got news for you. ← I remember having oyster sauce as a child in HK before emigrating in 1958. I don't COOK raw veg. in the microwave. I use the microwave for blanching - veg in a big bowl of water. I do it mainly to free a burner on the stove for others bits of cooking.

You don't need a perpetual stock pot for effective blanching. I just use water, a bit of salt and sesame oil at home. In my restaurant days, vegetables are stir-fried for a few minutes, then a scoop of stock is added. As the stock comes to a boil, this finishes cooking the firmer vegetables. Because of the intense heat, a lid is not used, nor is it like boiling vegetables as we would with potatoes. At home, I blanch veg. in the microwave, except for gai lan. This veg. is touchy. On top of the stove, I can watch it more carefully; otherwise, it turns brownish or has a bitter taste. A quick shock process under cold running water, drain, add garlic cooked in and with the hot oil, topped with heated oyster sauce lightly diluted with stock, and it's ready to go. Oyster sauce may be used as a quick fix because many restaurants think the customer wants a flavour up front. They don't give the customer enough credit to be able to discern more subtle flavours. Or, they don't take the time to make good stock. At home, if one really enjoys the flavour of oyster sauce, it may be used as a marinate for many ingredients. My daughter, for example, loves oyster sauce on many things, whereas I prefer without. As Ben says, everyone has different ideas. We can all learn from someone's recipes, use them as is, or change according to our own tastes. But, I prefer to use a recipe that has been tested.

She lives near the North Pole. At least much closer than I am. Take a look at her profile brief (on the left under the screen name). ← Ah Leung is a cheeky silow! I am on the Canadian prairie, close to the border with North Dakota. When we lived out in the country, I had a huge garden with raised beds ( in my hippie days ). Then, I grew mostly bak choi, gai choi, snow peas, kolhrabi, gau gai, bak hap, spinach, a big variety of herbs, and lots of flowers ( to wear in my hair... ) Now, we are in the city, and I have limited space This is all dedicated to flowers except for a small corner with Chinese chives, gau gai (this year) and bak hap. Our stores, Safeway and Superstore carry most other varieties. A new little Chinese/Latin grocery store opened recently. They have lemongrass, fresh curry leaves, Vietnamese herbs, tiny fiery fresh peppers, ong choi (too expensive), so I am happy! Chinese/Latin, you ask. We have a large pork processing plant in the industrial park. They have been "importing" workers from Mexico, El Salvador,and China to fill the shifts. 61 single Chinese men just arrived last week, and they are expecting another hundred or so in the new year. They are permit workers now. After one year, they can apply for landed immigrant status under our provincial nominee program.

Happy to welcome you in your "coming out", Raj. You've had good eating experiences if you have had oyster sauce in only a select few dishes. I've never used it as a flavour enhancer for most of my restaurant cooking. Instead, I used good chicken stock, and a little MSG ( ) In my cooking, I use this sauce only with steamed vegetables, tofu, and rice noodles because these ingredients are basically bland by themselves. If you want to spotlight oyster sauce as the main ingredient, cook iceberg lettuce with it. THAT is one of my favourites. Chinese mushrooms, abalone - no one can say they are bland, but oyster sauce complements these ingredients - not flavour them. When using meat in a stir-fry such as beef and gai lan, I would use a little oyster sauce with the gai lan but not with the beef. I also use a good grade of this sauce as a dip for crispy pork or simmered chicken. In most families, and as Ben said, good oyster sauce is a luxury item, so it is used sparingly. I am SO picky!

I don't like this topic! Visions of little fluffy balls ( not hair balls) floating around yeowing in my dreams last night. Or, was that the neighbor's cat in heat? Let's just shut the "restaurant" - thread, down. Please?

I THINK gau gai is called wolfberry( gau gai); at least, the one variety that yields the red berries is called wolfberry ( gau gai zee) . The one your f-i-l grows is just gau gai. I have never heard of it being sold in stores. I get bagfuls from the elders in our Chinese community. This year, I rooted the stripped stalsk and stuck then in a sunny spot in my flower bed. I will have my own supply next spring, altho' I don't knwo why I bother! Our growing season is not long enough for winter melon or dow jai, both are my favourites. The ladies DO vie with eachother for the biggest mo gwa, fu gwa, snow peas, gai choi, choi sum, and a shorter version of dow jai. They always share their bounty with us. The mo gwa they grow are the size of a newborn baby! We were out at our country home today. The wolfberry bush that has been growing for 20 years is still hale and hearty inspite of rampant grass.