Dejah

Ben will attest to this: one of the best dim sum items At Kum Koon Restaurant in Winnipeg is their Phoenix Shrimp sui mai. We thought we were full when the cart with these delectable shrimp came along. The batter(cornstarch based?) is lace-like, melt in your mouth, with the shrimp tail curving up for a handle. Inside is a juicy pork/chives? filling, covered I think, with taro paste. Any recipes? Ideas?

If you brown the potstickers first, then add water, the skin (wrapper) will get soggy/soft at the end. Let the water do the boiling/steaming first, then when the water all evaporates away (and the oil remains) you will have some nice, crispy brown skins. Most efficient. ← But -- but ---- but----- Mine ARE crispy when they are done! They are browned, watered, steamed, uncovered, and when the water has completely boiled off the pan becomes dry-- except for the remaining oil. ← Yup, you're right, Jo-Ann. Your way works just as well. Once the water boils off, the war-teep will crisp up in the oil that remains. Remember, hrzt, oil doesn't boil away like water. I have done them this way as well.

Huh? I thought I posted my response to jo-mel's query. My thoughts exactly, hrzt. Whether it's Toisanese or Shanghainese, I couldn't say...but that was how my Toisanese cook made war-teep - broth added, cover, boiled away, then browned.

I use that same method making buns...good old fashion yeast buns...not baos.

For sure, I think you'd need fresh ground pepper, salt, and maybe grated ginger?

So it's the same process as making Peking duck or Chinese BBQ duck...except for the nam yu in place of meen see.

The boiled dumplings are in fact called jiaozi. I'm not sure about the steamed ones, I actually doubt it, since I've haven't even heard of a phrase used to described steamed dumplings in general. ← I agree with AzianBrewer about jiaozi being boiled. Learned to make these when we had a visiting professor and his wife leading +20 of my Mandarin classmates for Chinese New Year in 2003. Wor-Teep is when you put the dumplings into a fry-pan or sautee pan, add some broth and cover to steam until the small amount of broth is gone. The dumplings will then brown and form a crispy skin. So, War-teeps are steamed(boiled) then pan fried.

I don't know. It may not be easy. I have never tried it. It would be a challenge. Need to research on the recipe... ← The texture of the skin makes me wonder if it is was finished by ladling hot oil over the chicken until it reaches that blistered look and the right colour? It looks so moist and succulent!

We need to all converge on Ah Leung's house to taste these delicious pictorials first hand!

Well, order them both and take photos. ← Good idea, Jason. And, could you include the recipes?

No, it was lemongrass. As Chris said, you don't use the hard stuff near the bulb; you use the softer grassy part. And yes, fresh lemongrass is very edible after being boiled in soup, and not necessarily for 4 hours. I know, because lemongrass grew as a weed in the side yard of the house I used to live in in Malaysia. To be fair, it was not so tall as to get a fibrous base, but I've also eaten good lemongrass in soup, etc., in American Thai restaurants repeatedly. ← Well, looks like I will have to make the Thai soup this weekend with the lemongrass I have on hand. Then, there's that chicken thawing in the fridge...Tie the lemongrass into a knot and stuff it? Good thing I've got a 4 day weekend and hungry mouths to feed!

That was never my impression, but then I don't recall ever trying to eat the grass raw. Is your statement true even if the grass is freshly-picked or otherwise really fresh? ← Let me restate my sentence: From my experience, lemongrass does not seem to soften at all even after 3 to 4 hours of boiling. Maybe if it is cooked longer (e.g. 5 to 10 hours?) it will soften? I don't know. It seems to me that lemongrass has a texture similar to that of a sugar cane fiber. ← Hmmm...Since I had a hand in starting this discussion on how edible lemongrass is, I went into my fridge, cut off the bulbous end of the stalk and tried to chew it. It is like sugar cane, fibrous, and may soften with extended cooking time. So, maybe the Thai soup that I ate actually had onion so infused with the flavour of lemongrass that I thought it WAS lemongrass?

That's funny! Walk on the wild side once in a while. It's good for you!

Any seafood would work well with lemongrass. I have cooked mussels and salmon with lemongrass , and of course, the crab. Not sure if steaming would bring out as much flavour as simmering or BBQ, as I do with salmon fillets. We went to a gala dinner a couple weeks ago. The soup was Thai lemongrass and rice served in a whole coconut. I think they must have cooked the bulbous parts of the lemongrass for some time as it was very tender, like onion, but it was unmistakeably lemongrass. It was wonderful, and I want to make it at home. Anyone with a tried and true recipe? The use of this herb is probably a cross-over to Chinese food as people become more adventurous. I was introduced to it by 2 of my cooks who were Chinese from Vietnam. They made clams stir-fried with lemongrass, chili, and fermented black beans. I usually crush and cut the stalks on a slant into 2 inch pieces. As most of the pieces stay hard, it is easier to remove in larger pieces. The lemongrass was diced in the Thai soup we had. I see you chopped the bottom part of the stalk for you chicken dish, hrzt. Were the bits of lemongrass tender after cooking? Chicken is good with lemongrass, but I don't know about the "stronger flavoured" meats like beef, pork, and lamb.

What is REALLY scary is that I forgot to mention the leek bundles also had Chinese mushrooms in thm. And English trifle is our new "tradition" with the Choy family!

You didn't see the guests!

I took my time preparing Saturday...so the cooking didn't take much. My daughter was recuperating and cleaning up after her celebratory/Hallowe'en party from Friday night! She passed her MCAT exam, finishing in the top 10%...so how can we say no to a party...but for 80 friends?! I like her friends tho' as the ones who were still here in the morning helped clean up. We stocked up the fridge with BBQ chickens and they were picked clean. Waffles, bacon and eggs in the morning fortified them before the clean up. I enjoyed cooking for these kids. And the rest of the afternoon and evening, it was a leisurely time of organizing, washing, cutting and blanching. I consider it good therapy cooking for parties.

jo-mel: Check out hrzt's post on "quick and dirty" way to post pictures. It's easier to understand than the step by step of eGullet. I blanched the leeks before taking them apart for wrapping. The sliced carrots were also blanched. The scallops were too big so I sliced them crosswise into two. These bundles were steamed and held up well. I tied them with blanched scallions. A drizzle with a mixture of light soya, sesame oil, and fresh ground pepper on them just as they came out of the steamer was all they needed. You can substitute shrimp or chicken in place of scallops. Just be sure to silken whatever meat or seafood. The texture is nicer even IF you oversteam. The summer rolls. I used rice vermicelli, bean sprouts, scallions, carrot juliennes. I always stir-fry my filling, just a little, with some light soya or fish sauce, cool, then wrap. I like the blended flavours and softer texture of the vermicelli. The wraps I used before were the smaller ones. This time, I used the big rounds. They were more fragile, but easier to use. I put basil leaves in the last "roll over", and as you can see, they really showed through!

I can't get fresh lemongrass in Brandon, but whenever my son comes in from Winnipeg. I tell him to bring me afew bunches. Then, it's cook, cook, cook with them! When I don't have any on hand, the Campbells broth and some dried lemongrass will do. It's just that chewing on fresh stalks gives such a burst of flavour and aroma. Supper was great. Threw down some newspapers on the table and clean up was so easy! Tonight, it'll probably be BBQ salmon fillet with lemongrass...so healthy!

These posts about crab had me hungering for same! So, this is what we had for supper tonight. We had 3 small crabs, cut into segments. I stir-fried these with lemongrass, ginger, Thai chilis, cilantro, and a few fermented black beans. For stock, I used one of my favourite standbys: Campbells Thai Broth. It is lemongassy, peppery and has a light coconut fragrance. We had a simple stir-fry of baby bak choi with ginger and garlic along with the crab.

Not really a birthday party, but a Hallowe'en party at our house on October 30th. I'm posting acouple pictures in this thread. The rest will be compiled for a webpage. The first picture is a display of all the food I was cooking - in the prep. stage. This second photo shows the cold plate: braised beef shank, summer rolls, jelly fish, BBQ duck. These are the BQ backribs, Chinese mushrooms in oyster sauce, and scallops, carrots, bamboo shoots wrapped with leeks. This final photo is the black bean garlic shrimp and peppers sizzling hot plate, along side of the simmered salty chicken, bison stir-fry with lotus roots, snow peas, etc. We had wintermelon soup to start, and finished with English trifle.

why not just kill the crabs (not have to eat them)? ← AHEM, Ah Leung, Really! Do we, Chinese, ever throw anything away that can be eaten!???

I wonder how bad it would be to use boneless chicken to make it... ← "Hacking up" a cooked chicken is much easier than cutting up raw bone-in meats such as spareribs. My method is to use the tip of my cleaver to cut through from the neck to the butt along one side of the breast bone. At the butt end, you will have closer contact with the cutting board, and a hard a "push" on the top of the cleaver with the hand that is not holding the cleaver helps cut thru' the chicken into two still connected halves.The rib bones ( that are at the bottom in contact with the cutting board) are pretty flimsy. Place your cleaver full length along these rib bones on one side of the back bone, a push on top of the cleaver with one hand to add pressure will help you to cut thru' the rib cage. Now you have 2 halves. Using the tip of you cleaver, chicken half cut-side down on the board, cut along where the drummet joins the body of the chicken. After the inital cut, pull the wing away, cut the tendon and put the wings aside. Leave these parts whole. Do the same proceedure with the thigh and drumsticks, then pull the thigh away from the drumstick and sever the connective tendons. The thigh bones are strong, so you will have to be firm. If you are worried about hacking off your fingers, cut into the meat, then keeping your cleaver buried in the meat, hold the tip of the thigh with the other hand, raise both hands high enough to bang down on the cutting board with enough force to cut through the bone. If the first try doesn't cut through, as Laksa said, the cleaver is now embedded in the bone, and your second swing will be that much safer! These are usually cut into 3 pieces. I am starting to sound like PROJECT!!! The same can be done with the drumsticks. You can leave these whole or cut into 2 pieces. With the rest of the chicken, it is fairly easy to cut up. If a rib bone resists, give the cleaver a downward jerk and it should cut thru'. To minimize splatter, cut the chicken with the skinside UP. This will also keep the chicken from sliding around on your cutting board. If you arrange the pieces on a plate as you cut, you can keep the shape of a whole chicken for better presentation. I cut up one half, arrange on the plate, then cut up the second half. Otherwise, it ends up an alien chicken! You can certainly use boneless chicken for this, prasantrin. Just ignore all the above! For a variation, try a lightly thickened sauce made with rich chicken stock. This is good with just breast meat.

Nope. You don't want to know... Food coloring. ← As Chris said "originally", perhaps at one time nam yu WAS used ? There is a version called nam yu jee yuk bao.

All of the above, especially for the Chinese New Year table. Toasted soya beans (bak dow) add a nutty flavour and texture.