Dejah

Why?

So right, muichoi. Gotta change your "theory" again, jhirshon.

Several times now I have seen rehydrated sea cucumbers in the fridge section of the Asian store I go to. One of these days, I'll have to buy some. I've only had sea cucumber in soup whenever my s-i-l makes it, or at banquets. The clay pot looks good! Me thinks this young pup called Ah Leung is teaching this ole' "puppy" new tricks. As in the weekly blog posts, I want to see the inside of Ah Leung's fridge! I want to see how many plates of leftovers are in his fridge after a pictorial...or in his freezer! Come on, Ah Leung. 'Fess up!

I ignored jhirshon's use of "siu mai" in his recipe title. Figured it was just his "theoretical mind" playing tricks on him. You are right, sheetz. Siu mai is the open faced pork/shrimp scallop, whatever dumplings. I think jhirshon is using a "mandarin" pronunciation rather than the Cantonese. Instead of putting the tapioca starch or cornstarch with the marinate, I would suggest working all other ingredients into the ribs THEN working the starch in. The reason being that the starch tends to "seal" the meat, so the absorption of liquid and flavouring ingredients would not penetrate the meat as well. The cornstarch is to give the pai gwat the "silkened" texture. Come on Ben Sook, we know you want to say "see jup pai gwut" with this after it.

RE: Some people have told me to soak black beans, other people do not soak them. RE: Do you use the liquid from soaking dried scallops or other ingredients when cooking? ← I use the soaking liquid from most dried ingredients other than the black moss, wood ear and lily buds. With the liquids that I do use, I make sure I wash the ingredients first to remove any dirt, etc. before soaking. Then it's good to use. With the stronger flavoured ingredients, if you throw out the soaking liquid, you lose the flavour, especially with items like oysters, dong goo. I usually stir-fry fishy items like oysters with ginger and a little pepper to remove any fishiness, but retains the flabvour before adding to a dish.

That small amount of baking soda would give you the texture the restaurants achieve. I don't think the red bell peppers are meant for flavour; rather, it is for colourful presentation. The small amount of chili pepper flakes could be increased according to your taste. It's just to add a hint of a kick, but I don't really want my pai gwat dim sum to be spicy. I just want them to be tender, juicy, garlicy and blak beany.

Good call, Tepee. And I, for one, like to eat the flowers with my tea.

Don't mind Ben Sook, herp17. He's been giving out too much advice lately. How big is the bag of flower? That kinda determines the amount of water to use. It is better to make it too strong at first. You can always add more hot water to dilute. For the sugar, it is better to add NOT enough at first. You can always add more if you like it on the sweet side. Too much tea? keep it in the fridge. With the hot weather we are going to have, guk fa cha is better than ordinary ice tea.

OR: You can buy the packets of guk Fa Cha crystals. You just have to pour the contents into a mug, add hot water, VOILA! Check your Asian market tea section. There are combinations as well. I like the ones with ginger mixed with other teas.

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Only in Brooklyn, you say... Never on the prairies, I say. Mustard? Hmmm, chili sauce maybe...

kangarool: Your dish is more like chicken and bean sprouts which I used to cook as a treat for one of the maitresses who worked for me. On my menu, chow mein and chop suey both had shredded cabbage to be "authentic Canadian Chinese" We made our own noodles to put on top of chow mein. They were not hard, but crispy and fluffy...so good and hard to keep your hands out of the barrel! There must be quite a few differences between American and Canadian. bastardization of Chinese food. We didn't use straw mushrooms, waterchestnuts and bamboo shoots because of cost. Carrots would add a lovely colour but I don't think the actual taste of carrots would complement the other vegs. Ben Sook, your "OMG! " - Was that your head or your stomach?

I've never seen sweet 'n'sour spareribs like these before in Canadian restaurants. Is this how your family made them in the restaurant down east, Ben Sook? Our Canton Spareribs had a clear sweet and sour sauce with thin strips of sweet peppers...no tomato or tomato sauce. We breaded our ribs with cracker meal, deep fried them cooked in our "secret rib juice" Just got in from opening night at our art gallery. I've been helping a visual artist from Montreal re-creating a typical Chinese restaurant on the prairies from the 60's. They served deep fried mini egg rolls so there was "that wonderful smell". We lent her many articles that were saved from my restaurant days. Some of the guests were our old customers, and they recognized many things: the black laquered screen, wrought iron gates, the electric consomme soup kettle, the Soo's plastic take out containers, etc etc. In the storage area and "living quarters", we displayed many large glass relish jars filled with Chinese herbs, bamboo leaves, lotus leaves, real Chinese food! In the back "bedroom" was my old leather suitcase that I brought with me when I came to canada in 1958.

On the prairies, we used canned sliced mushrooms, not straw mushrooms, shredded cabbage, thinly sliced celery and onions, fresh bean sprouts, and no bamboo shoots. Sauce: no rice wine or soy. Yes to chicken stock,salt, sugar and MSG. But remember, you don't need a heap of MSG, just a little is all you'd need.

In restaurant days, we used large containers of curry powder packaged for the wholesaler: SERCA out of Toronto, Ontario. It's like McCormics if anyone is familiar with that brand. I still use it as I have six 482g. containers of it left! It has a nice aroma and our customers liked it, mostly stir-fried chicken and onion. It's not really hot, so when a customer wants spicy, we will add crushed pepper flakes or a chopped up habanero pepper. At home, in quick stir-fry dishes, I use mostly Vindoloo paste made by Patak as we like the heat and flavour. This produces a darker brown colour product. When I do a stew type of curry, I use the Serca powder to stir fry the meat (chicken or beef). Big pieces of celery, onion, carrots and potatoes are thrown in and simmered until tender. I love the celery in chunks, but mash up the potato and carrots into the sauce on my plate. When I make curry dal soup, I also use the powder to give a lighter colour and flavour. In the Chinese supermarket, they carry so many different kinds of curry. Two cans I had were labelled Chinese Curry Powder: a hot and a mild one. Don't have the cans anymore, but it seemed to me one was darker than the other. I keep buying different kinds, and they are still sitting in my cupboard. Out of sight, out of mind!

Chinese, communal style. Not necessarily all at once but like five and then stagger in some of the hot dishes and the bread pudding at the very end. Plans are still rough; I'm currently sightseeing in Yunan. I'll get back in Shanghai in a few days, start helping my aunt (who is the chef in my Grandma's household) cook Chinese dishes to get back in the swing of cooking and start finalizing recipes and prep plans. ← Very much looking froward to this. I hope you will take lots of pictures, or have someone chronicle the whole process with pictures and your comments added. I have never seen a kitchen in China, so I am realy interested to see how it all works.

I bought a large round chopping block made up of little pieces of bamboo bound by a metal ring. Made the mistake of setting it up on its edge, and the pieces were starting to edge out! I've got it lying flat now but haven't really used it. I just thought it was unique. Anyone else have this and is using it? What to cook in his new wok? From what you said above "that colander. It looks big enough to lift an entire fish., the first dish should be Squirrel Fish!

Really? That number should work! Your statement is double-negative. [English teacher Dejah Dai Ga Jeah hat on] No, no... No, no! ← Good try, Ah Leung, but THAT statement is grammatically correct even tho' it has "not" in it twice.

That would be extremely yeet hey, super Yang. Instant soar float. Guaranteed! ← Instant soar float. BAD Ah Leung!

Couldn't have said it any better, Trillium. Thanks for this! Forgotten about your Chinese cooking segment. It was great to visit it again.

I always use a wok shovel (wok chahn) for stir-frying, and tongs when I need to separate noodles, etc. That colander looks huge, tho', Ah Leung!

Those of you who use the wok rims, I assume have gas stoves. I have only had electric stoves in my homes, so the flat bottom woks are what I have used in direct contact with the element. As for seasoning, I have baked and nearly burnt the "ear" of one wok as I didn't think to wrap and wet! It survived tho'. The other wok, I just used it for deep frying for the first while, and it seemed to do the seasoning job. Nothing sticks!

I have two 14" inch carbon steel woks. They both have one ear and a wooden handle. Not sure what kind of wooden handle the rest of you have, but mine screw onto a steel bracket that is welded onto the wok. There is a "loop" that I use to hang onto a hook over my stove. The handles never wiggle. Both of my woks hang over my stove with the rest of the pots I use the most often. My larger woks are stored in the garage. I find the 14" is sufficient for all my cooking, even for a crowd. I must confess I DO use soap for washing my woks. I soap with a soft plastic scrubbie, rinse, wipe dry, then wipe down with oil on a paper towel. Maybe they are not as "seasoned" as what you all try to achieve, but there's been no complaints about my food. My family and friends know enough to "never look a gift horse in the mouth!"

And for 15 guests!

I had to laugh when I saw Chris's mention of a post by "project". Those of us on this forum may remember his "dumpling post"! The BTU was similar. MY brain is once again twisted up like a Chinese fortune cookie AND pretzel together!

Too bad you didn't take note of my advice to take canned ones from stateside with you. I've got a 16 oz can of crab claw meat in my fridge right now. It's Chicken of the Sea brand, a product of the Philippines - wild caught. maybe you can find something similar in big dept. stores.