Dejah

Kathy, Your chicken/Chinese sausage/rice bowls look delicious. Next time, try layering the marinated chicken and sliced sausages on top of uncooked rice for a one pot meal: gai/lapcheung fan. The juices and flavours will cook into the rice. I do this often in a pot on the stove. It should also work with your super national rice cooker. I'll be making your chocolate chip cookies this weekend when my grandson comes to visit. he loves chocolate chips.

Is it possible that the smokey flavor could have been from the "wok hay" (sp?)? ← Yes to the wok hay, and yes to the sesame oil for smoky flavour. I use egg noodles, either the steamed fresh noodles, or the dried ones blanched in hot water. Make sure the noodles are al dente to maintain the chewy texture.

I made bak kut teh in hubby's cousin's home in Orange County, LA, a couple of months back. It's true...the pork (spareribs) were odourless compared to the pork we get here in our markets, even when fresh. ← Perhaps the "so" is the result of the feed used in raising pigs. Our barns and feed are so controlled...supposedly no garbage. Then, there's all the antibiotics fed to the animals. I am sure there is inherent odour in meat, but maybe intensified if packaged for a period of time. (Dejah makes a mental note to sniff the pork when she goes shopping today. )

What's the point of eating pork if you don't like the "inherent meat odour'? Maybe it's just that I've never noticed "so" in the pork we get here. Have never needed to marinate the meat in wine to rid the smell. Cognac would be extravagant for such basic comfort food. Do I need to dress differently to enjoy this?

Welcome to the forum, Ms Dunlop! Hope you will continue to chime in with your expertise.

Habanero and Scotch Bonnets the same pepper, just grown in different countries? I don't wear gloves - just make sure I don't handle the cut part of the peppers. Something strange about the numbering of posts: I was reading back in the congee with salt pork thread, and wesza has been sitting at 1002 since Oct. 17, 2005! I'm stuck at 1344...

I try to have some kind of paper goods (toilet paper, paper napkins, tissue), food items including something with protein (canned tuna, ready serve beans and rice, foil pouches of chicken), soap or toothpaste (or both), a can opener, utensils, bottles of water (these are really needed) and anything else that might be useful, such as matches, rain ponchos, twist ties, flashlights, batteries, etc. I also add in comfort items like paperback books, decks of cards, lip balm, and lotion. These bags are perfect for when I come across someone living on the street - I just grab a bag from the trunk and know that they have more of what they're likely to need that day. ← Thank you for this great idea. I've always put items into the collection boxes in grocery stores but I really like this idea. Think I'll pass it along to my collegues. Enjoying your blog.

Use tongs to turn the stuffed pepper pieces over. This way, you are holding everything together as you turn. To keep the insides of the pepper dry, wash the peppers, dry with paper towel, then cut them.

I don't think there's anything as lethel as Dave's Insanity Sauce made from habanero peppers. I have used 1/2 of one of these peppers along with the little red chilis for spiking "10"s, but I wonder why would anyone want that? Not only is it painful, you can't even taste the food. It's even more painful when this food is served on a sizzling hot plate! I do like to add very thinly sliced half a habanero pepper when I steam beef and mui choi. Add my congrats to Ah Leung's on the 1000th, Irwin.

You'll be enjoying it for a long time, Irwin. Once minted...it's permanent! And I am sure, with or without the aura, you'll be a standout anywhere.

Irwin, Not that I would ever imply you were sexy or not, but the comment "sexy garlic breath" was deduced from your post in Garlicy Shanghai food thread... No, I can't say the students with morning garlic breath are all top notch students...and it's not all from their breath. It's an aura around them! I had some chopped fresh chilis with my cheung fun for lunch. I can still feel the heat in my stomach.

I just LOVE Shanghai noodles! So how is this dish made? ← Jo, The Shanghai noodles are fat white noodles that I buy in the fridge section of our grocery store. The version that I served at Soo's was Shanghai noodles stir-fried with sweet chili sauce, oyster sauce, bean sprouts and BBQ pork or some other meat. The one that I make at home more frequently is stir-fried with garlic, fermented black beans, and chopped fresh chilis or Thai bird's eye chilis when I can get them. I threw this version together for a visiting band of vegetarian musicians. They liked very spicy food, so I added a lot of chopped chilis and topped the whole thing with deep-fried shredded wonton skins and fresh mint. It was a hit and became a family favourite. Here's a picture of it from my foodblog: http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/foodlog4.html

I googled, thanks.

Does anyone have a picture of the above"true Sichuan chili"? I have always used the dried ones as shown in Ah Leung's photo...not as many, of course. It's not expensive when you buy in huge bagfuls, but if used in those quantities/dish, it is wasteful. A small handful would make just as pretty a presentation. Perhaps it's done as a challenge to Gwai Lows. I have a Glad sandwich bagful of these fresh chilis. Think I'll chop some up and make black bean GARLIC Shanghai noodles for supper in honour of "sexy garlic breath"Irwin.

. ← ← Dejah "WHAT BREATH" ? oh guess you mean the ones that's "SEXY". (It's never effected my pores, even after James Beards Garlic Chicken with 40 whole cloves) ← Turst me, Irwin, garlic does come thru' the pores, even after ingesting "no odour" garlic pills. And, at least to MY mind set, it "AIN'T SEXY!"- until 12 hours have passed. But, I do enjoy eating moderate amounts of cooked garlic.

← Hmm...sniff..sniff...don't think I reek of garlic, but I use up a bag of garlic a week. Typically, I'll use one whole bulb (if big) or 2 small bulbs to stir-fry vegetables. LOL, I can just imagine Dai Gah Jeh's look of horror. ← Well, you won't have to worry about vampires!

When learned the magic of eating garlic together with long leafed and curly parsley to avoid the after effects. "IT REALLY WORKS". Irwin ← Irwin, Eating garlic with parsley masks garlic breath, but there ain't NUTHIN' that can stop "garlic breath" from your pores! Bananas will also help with "garlic breath" from the mouth.

I always figure if I can get one good recipe or reference from a book, then it's worth buying. Good excuse, huh? I love pictures, especially when I am making something for the first time.

Do you mean cloves or do you actually use a bulb or two when making a meal? I always throw acouple cloves of garlic into the hot oil before any other ingredients, and one bulb will last about a week.

Aiyeeah! Ah Leung! How can you make such comments about the raw garlic with the eel when you, yourself, blendered up 10 cloves of garlic for your nam yu roast chicken! I know you said to temper the raw taste with salt and sugar, but still...10 cloves! Sheesh... I'll cook with garlic, and use it on garlic bread, but I wouldn't be allowed in the house if I ate raw garlic as with the chicken or eel! I can sympathize with hubby who doesn't handle second-hand garlic well. I face that with my morning ESL class - from my Korean and Beijing students. I swear they eat raw cloves for breakfast!

Leftovers work well, with congee or non-Asian soups. "replacing the water during cooking"?! No, no. You want to keep the starch so the congee would have body and not watery. You would lose that "rice" flavour also when you replace the water. Aiyeeah!

Pressure cookers are great, but it's like a having a big pot of stew or hearty soup sitting on the back of the stove for hours - the process, the aromas and the flavours are every bit as enjoyable to me as the actual eating of that bowl of congee.

If the above is directed at my comments, then I would say," Read my Lips..errr words, Uncle Ben!" The potato would remain neutral if boiled because water is a neutral element. BUT, deep fry it to a crisp, it would not lose its neutrality, but would be moderated by the deep frying and oil factors.

I think both Pan and Ben are corrected in their, um, "assumptions". The humour in unripe fruit would be different only because it would intensify as the fruit ripens. It would remain yin or yang no matter the age and cooking time (a thousand points for Pan.) However, with watercress as an example, if it is too mature, it will take longer cooking time to make it edible. With maturity, watercress can become bitter or retain less flavour, but still yin. Upon increasing the cooking time to make it edible, the cook would add other ingredients: pork bones, dried oysters, gingko nuts, etc. to make it more palatable. In doing so, the yin effect would be MODERATED, unless the cook chooses all yin addtional ingredients! (Equal points for Ben. )

Is that the same oil with flavor built-up from being used over and over again for deep-frying stuff? ← Exactly! But, we changed our deepfryers more frequently than McDonald's so we need the soya sauce for colour!