Dejah

Wow. I just started reading this blog on tuesday. Sadly it seems the author commited suicide a few days ago... ← What made you say the above statement?

Well I've been here over three years now, so if you're looking for anything, let me know, maybe I can help regards Ursula ← Just in case it hasn't been said, "Welcome to eGullet and the Chinese forum, Ursula."

Coinciding? 5th day of fifth month (lunar calendar) = Tuen Ng Geet [Cantonese]. It *is* the Dragon Boat Festival (Hong Kong's translation). ← You are correct. What was I thinking?!

Ben Sook You too can make these. Can't use the excue that you're the only one who'd eat these in the family. You can always freeze some for your hunting forays. Today is ng gyut dat ( 5th day of the fifth month celebration), coinciding with Dragon Boat festival. We all ate joong for lunch after Po-Po "by jaw sun". Now, I am steaming the second of two Mah Lai Goh for a BBQ with our university ESL students. That'll do instead of joong because I haven't made mine yet!

Looks good enough to eat, Ah leung. I think your m-i-l's idea to boil the leaves is based on tradition, and perhaps a little bit of good advice. I know Po-Po always reminds me to boil my leaves, and I always do - with some vinegar in the water. This does make them supple and easy to work with. Another reason is to prevent mold. These days, the leaves that I buy come in plastic bags and look a lot cleaner than even 3 years ago. Perhaps in the past, especially without refridgeration and freezers, whatever was on the leaves , if not boiled, may have caused mold on the joong. It would be disheartening to find a big batch spoiled if not eaten right away. I know it's a time consuming step and can be messy, but I for one, am not going to tempt fate, even with a freezer! For your next batch, Ah leung, use a lighter gauge string and try to spread the string out more evenly over the package. Yours actually look like the ones I "used to make". Check out my webpages for reference. I would also suggest using just mung beans and peanuts, or chestnuts and peanuts, or just one of the three. I find they are too "similar but different". All of these and so many other ingredients may affect the shape of your joong. Who once said "Wah! So much liu!" when they saw my joong?!

I wonder if these brands are available in Western Canada? I have also heard that a 1/4 cup of vinegar in the steaming water will keep the baos white. I think I tried it acouple times, but I can't remember if it made any difference. I DO know that boiling vinegar will deordorize a room!

For the shape and size of the joong that I make, I use 3 leaves. They are not the "pyramid" shapes, but the " new kok - twist-corner" (as Po-Po calls them). One leaf makes the " yune kok - goat-horn" joong. Po-Po always makes 2 of these. She saves acouple of the largest leaves for these. Don't know if the number has any significance or not. Maybe just because a goat has 2 horns?

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=59538&hl= The URL above is a whole thread in the COOKING forum on making char siu baos. It's under "cook-offs" I use only baking powder in my bao mix. Cake flour seems to produce whiter and lighter dough.

This is a version that I will make! I can get all the ingredients listed. These will be a surprise for Po-PO. Can I use canned cooked black eye peas or will they break up when boiled with the rice?

With dried conpoy, make sure you soak them well and shred before using. My s-i-l uses them instead of dried shrimp. She made her batch yesterday - some with half long half sticky rice, some with just sticky rice. She doesn't use as much liu as I do. I will be making my joong sometime after June 10. My "special joong" table is on display at a Chinese Restaurant Concept display at our art gallery. As with last year, I will use BBQ duck, salty egg yolks, lap cheung, dong goo, Spanish onion, peanuts, chestnuts, dried shrimp meat, salted pork butte...oh...and...some rice. Ah Leung: 30 joong? And you're going to share?!

Can you imagine if all the shrimp used in a Chinese restaurant had to be de-veined! AAAAGGGRRRR! I always tell people that if you devein, you lose flavor. ← Well, my staff used to devein all the shrimp we used in the restaurant. They would use sharp paring knives, cut along the back down far enough for "butterflying", and pull out the black if it is visible. This chore was completed during down time after lunch.

The only time I devein is when I peel shrimp for hubby. He doesn't handle shells very well. But, I think if you cut the shell at the top, it may add to the cripiness. I seem to remember my head cook saying that the drier the shrimp shells are, after rinsing, the crispier the shells will be when you deep fry them. Same principle as air-drying the duck when making Peking duck, I suppose. I wonder if this process will work: Deep fry the garlic and chili peppers in the hot oil first. Take them out when crispy; toss together with coarse salt. Heat up the oil again and deep fry the shrimp so they will pick up the garlic flavour and chili heat. Drain then toss together with the garlic, chili, salt mixture to coat. Serve immendiately. Of course, there will be a small plate of special salt on the side for dipping.

A common mistake is to have the meat in a wok in constant motion. The meat will tend to be "boiled" in its juice rather than stir-fried. I didn't know you are supposed to put the meat onto a cold pan?! You mean all these years I've been ruining my meat by putting them onto a hot pan? As sheetz said, velveting is an important step. Also, by coating a hot wok (whether SS or carbon steel)with oil will keep the meat from tearing.

Exactly.

In my youth living in HK, these beetles were roasted and sold in little bags like roasted peanuts. I vaguely remember eating them. You are supposed to nip off the "rear end" of the beetle, then pop them into your mouth. Can't remember what they tasted like other than crunchy.

Having seen Ah Leung's pictorial on ong choi, I ordered it here in New York yesterday. It was stir-fried with fu yu and lots of garlic. The thin stalks and leaves were fine, but the hollow stems were tough. There wasn't enough fu yu either, but then, I like lots of it when I cook green beans. The Chinese food we've been eating here hasn't been spectacular. Cheap, homey, and way better than the over-priced food at our hotel. One place was called Ollie's. I wanted to buy a T-shirt there " Noodles is my life". But I forgot. It was very busy, and both times, we had a table overlooking the kitchen. I wanted to go in and roll up my sleeves!

From my experience with family members (nieces, nephews), they limited the tea service to the elders: grandparents, parents, uncles, aunties, special cousins. Young single relatives were not expected to participate, especially in large families. I remember that the man, whether receiving or serving, was always on the right. In this arrangement, the man always serves to woman - son to mother or m-i-l. I don't know if it was to save time, or a departure from custom, but each received only one cup of tea. There was a great accumulation of Li See and beautiful jewelly on the tray.

Congratultions, Kent! What a wonderful gift from you to your family! Not only did you provide them with special new foods, but you also shared the cooking experience with your Mom and aunt. WELL DONE! I'm sure your Grandmother was very proud of her grandson.

I can only get frozen banana leaves here, and I don't imagine they will hold up the same. The Asian store I frequent has been getting packaged bamboo leaves the last couple of years. I like to buy them early, more than I need each year if I can find long wide ones. So far, I have been lucky. The few small leaves I find, Po-Po makes into "yurn gok" shapes (goat horn)for the little ones. aznsailorboi: I'm glad you found the seasoning proportion worked out well...but salt and sugar? I think mine were salt and MSG. But, if they tasted good, that's fine!

Please do! Those sound really good! ← For me, Please do too! I have never had time to make joong in May. It's always been June.

Funny... this is EXACTLY what I crave. These are the zongzi I grew up eating and I love 'em to death -- don't like all that egg and peanut mucking up my rice and meat! ← Just pass the egg and peanuts onto my plate, please.

nessa, Do you boil the joong that you wrap in banana leaves? aznsailorboi: I always put dried shrimp in joong, and I've never been accused to being frugal. I usually buy the larger ones, so they retain their shape even after 3 hours of boiling. A consolation, Ben Sook: You plan on coming west in 2007 for hunting, so I will have another batch waiting for you then.

I have Ms Dunlop's book, and been enjoying the read. Just haven't had time to cook from it yet!

You have plenty of time to salt your eggs for joong. At my local Safeway store, I can buy double yolk chicken eggs. This way, I can "kill 2 birds......" Make sure the brine is strong enough. Test this by floating an egg in it. If it floats, it's strong enough. Let the brine cool completely, then add the eggs. Place a plate on top to keep the eggs submerged. The yolks should be ready to use in 3-4 weeks. Test one at 3 weeks. I've had good luck with store bought salted eggs, so I won't bother brining my own. So little time, so much to do! I am down to my last 6 joong in the freezer. Po-PO is already talking about "how much slower" she will be this year at age 98.

Not too much leftovers in the fridge usually... My wife refuses to buy food from the cafeteria at work (I am more easy-going on that). She usually consumes all the leftovers while it forces me to make fresh entrees almost every night. ← Want to see your fridge anyway...before tidying or cleaning up!