Dejah

There is another dimension to her versatility. Have you listened to her music yet??? ← Both of you have "silver tongues". With Chinese New Year coming up, you must be hoping for "dai lai see bao"... I also learned and am still learning from my Mom. Now, I am learning techniques and recipes from people who post pictorials and pictures of the food they enjoy. After I joined this forum, I discovered that I was quite limited in my food experiences - what I was familiar with from my immediate surroundings. With the sharing on eGullet, I am finding a whole new world of ingredients and cooking; and Chinese is but one forum! We start to learn only when we admit that ours is not the only way.

As I mentioned in a previous post, these sesame balls are supposed to collapse. After New Years, I cook these with guy choi. Yum! The ones I've had at dim sum have a thicker and firmer pastry. If you check my pictorial, the dough is not brown. I used bing tang, not ordinary brown sugar.

There was a lot of discussion on this ingredient a while ago. Ah Leung could pull up the thread and post link. I use these "preserved vegetables" for steaming with pork or beef, and also, the ham choi, I throw into lotus root/octopus soup. I especially like the stalk and leaf parts in the soup.

Some lotus roots are crunchy and some are starchy. Does anyone know how to tell whether a given root is one or the other without actually buying a few and cooking them? I prefer crunchy myself. ← The ones with round segments are starchy and the elongated ones are crunchy. I love this soup with pork and octopus!

The food isi ndeed beautiful and delicious looking, but I can't drink beer or alcohol of any kind, so I guess I'd better lay off those chilis! Must be the Toysan stock.

Wow, Dejah! How long have you had that page posted? That's terrific! That's such a hidden gem. You need to hire me and jo-mel to do marketing work for you... ← It's been up since last Chinese New Year. I think we talked about that in a past thread. The nice looking ones were made by my Mom. She wasn't able to "repair" the ones I made! These seasme balls are not like the firmer ones you'd get at dim sum. These are suppose to collapse. These are called chang tay, specifically for Chinese New Year. I have other stuff to put up, but just never seem to get a hold of a computer for a period of time to collate everything! School has started, so time is limited. I have a challenging group this term: a multilevel class of 11 at the university, and 20 multi-level immigrants in the evening! jo-mel: a word of caution: once you get into our site, it may pull you in deeper and deeper...soon...you may be lost in cyberspace!

If your son likes Chinese food, try making congee with chicken and rich chicken stock. When the meat is cooked, I minced it and put it back into the soup. Buy some large diameter straws ( smoothies, bubble tea size); they worked well with congee when one of my students had his jaw wired.

Anna: Try pork butt steaks if you like pork with some fat. These stay moist and tender...or you can coat the meat with bread crumbs before frying. This process helps to keep the moisture in the meat. The bones would be my favourite part.

I guess I must make the deluxe version as I add lotus nuts, peanuts, and small glutinous rice yuen to the red beans, chun pei, ginger and rock sugar. I love this stuff, hot or cold!

Did you cook with it or did you eat it with rice?! It is readily available at Asian markets. I haven't found one that has "blistering chili oil" tho'. That sounds good!

First, let me welcome rlr to the Chinese forum. And ALL the new members who who joined in the last while. Second, I want to echo rhr's comments about being able to partake, vicariously, the wonderful cuisine of HK as Lee has depicted in his delicious pictures. I came to the Canadian prairies 40 years ago and have not gone back for a visit. So, until I do, please, all you frequent HK flyers, continue to entice with your descriptions and pictures! Thanks, Lee, and all for the "trips to HK".

Your golden sands recipe looks great, Eatingwitheddie. Good to see you posting in the forum!

I saw lots of fresh, lively crustaceans in Chinatown when I was in Chicago in August. It's unusual that you can't find any fresh seafood in such a centre when we can get fresh dungenese crabs, lobsters, clams, mussels, oysters here on the Canadian prairies.

Glad to hear they freeze well. I was planning to try that for my party. Do you freeze them after assembling them OR after steaming the assembled packet? Do you need to thaw them before steaming or just steam them longer? Thanks! ← You can freeze them after assembling, then just steam for the same amount of time as freshly assembled ones - 20 minutes before serving. No need to thaw them before steaming.

Less-is-more: When I make nor mai fan in lotus leaves, I cook the rice separate from the rest of the ingredients. While the rice is cooking, I would stir-fry the diced lap cheong, mushrooms, lap yook, shrimp, onion and sometimes peanuts with oil and seasoning. Then when the rice is cooked, I mix it all up together in a big bowl, make the packets with the presoaked lotus leaves, then steam for 20 minutes. Leftover packets can be frozen for later enjoyment. There are 2 "sizes" of sweet rice; one is short and plump - dai nor(like moi! ), and the other skinny with pointed ends - sai nor mai. I have used the kind from Thailand and it's fine. If it says "sweet rice" then it's glutinous. The only time I mix regular long grain and glutinous short grain is for zoongzi.

Whats Ham ha(Cantonese)? Can you explain further? I might know it under a different name (speaks Hokkien=ok and Mandarin=a little better) ← Ham Ha is fermented shrimp paste often used as a flavouring or steamed on top of meat - ham ha jin jee yook... Here's an interesting site: http://www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth/438/...e_new_year.html The only food they list as unlucky for Chinese new year is fresh tofu because of the white colour - indicating bad luck.

I cook nor mai the same way I cook regular long grain rice, either on top of the stove or in an electric rice cooker. The texture depends on the amount of water you use in the cooking - the more water, the "gluier" the rice. For the texture that I prefer - sticky but still maintaining the individual grains, I soak the rice for about an hour, then cook with about 1/4 inch of water above the surface of the rice. Once the pot boils, I turn the heat to the lowest setting and let it finish cooking in about 15 minutes or so.

Annachan: You and I must have the same oxtail recipe - a German version with savoy cabbage. Haven't made it for years, but I did buy some oxtails before Xmas. Will have to try out Ah Leung's recipe now.

jhirshon: We need you to post pictorials of all these delectable recipes you are sharing with us! As I once said to another eGulleteer (and haven't been allowed to forget): Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah We all have enquiring minds and love drooling over our keyboards.

They are the same item, Nian goh and tikoy. We usually buy it, but I found a recipe for my s-i-l last year and she made them. Not really a favourite in my own family. Hubby and I will have a slice, and the kids will if Po-Po insists. I usually take the cakes into class for my students from China.

Po-Po insists on fu jook tong with dried oysters, fun see with dried baby shrimp, siu jook, dong goo, steamed chicken, Buddah's Delight (with fat choi, dow lam, dow see, roasted soya beans, fun see, fried tofu, siew choi - so good wrapped in lettuce leaves ), sesame glutinous rice flour balls, steamed rice flour cake, etc, etc. My s-i-l does all this for my Mom. I don't get to partake as I can't visit until the second day of the new year, so I will have to cook my own... The most important dishes at my Mom's table are the chicken with head and feet intact, siu yook, and good temperment!

Try soaking the bok choy in a sink full of cold water for at least 30 minutes, then rinse each plant under cold running water, or use the sprayer on your sink to remove any grit that is still lodged in the creases. These plants are tender and don't require much cooking time. You can do a quick blanching, plate, then ladel lightly thicken rich stock over them. Or, heat up some oil in the pan, add chopped garlic and slivers of ginger, and toss in the bok choy for a gentle stir to coat before serving.

If you add the oil to the HOT wok, then let the oil get smoky before adding the garlic, you CAN get crispy garlic. I would suggest taking the crispy garlic out and let it drain on paper towel. Add the minced chili, ginger, then the shrimp. Finish cooking in the garlicky oil and plate. Then, top the dish with the crispy garlic so they will remain crispy. The garlic flavour is already in the oil, so you achieve the flavour and texture this way.

Ah Leung, I made your recipe for salt baked chicken as part of the Choy family Xmas dinner, along with the traditional turkey on Dec 26. It turned out beautifully. Wish I had taken a picture, but my camera was at my brother's house, and I was cutting up the chicken at MY house. I used an 8 lb chicken and 3 small packets of the spice mix. The chicken was seasoned, then rested for a day in my fridge-like garage where the skin dried up somewhat. I roasted the chicken according to your times, and it was perfect even tho' the chicken was twice as big as the one you used. My Mom was pleased with the flavour and the tenderness. There was one leg and thigh remaining after supper, so it was left for her supper the next day. I also made the ginger dipping sauce. My s-i-l gave it 2 thumbs up. Thanks, Si-low for the make again recipe. Next, on to Ben Sook's method!

Welcome to the forum, JH I'm sure you'll get answers to your request. Lots of knowledgeable people here in eGullet. Look forward to trying out your ideas!