Dejah

For sizzling rice, we served it as a soup. The sizzling rice is brought out hot on a hot plate. Along side is a bowl of very flavourful broth with choice of meat and vegetables. At the customer's table, we'd put the rice into a large bowl, then pour the soup onto the rice. Snap, crackle , pop! It's like fan jiew! Our BBQ sauce for the hot plates was tomato based, with several other ingredients in it. Must dig it out from my pile of stuff! It was best with chicken or shrimp, tomato wedges, green pepper, onion and pineapple chunks.

Ma La is good...especially with noodles, wontons, tofu. I have made my own ma la yeo with sesame oil and habaneros, or with good vegetable oil, Thai chilis, garlic and ginger. Best to make this in the summer with your windows wide open and all ventilation systems on full blast. The fumes are worst than a sizzling chili/curry hot plate I find habaneros give a distinct flavour to the oil...quite different from the chili, or Thai chilis. Used to stuff the habs with cheese, batter 'em and deep fried. Hubby can handle these, but I ODed on them and can't pop them like I used to. I don't bother making my own ma la yeo these days. Found a good commercially made one called Siagon Chili Oil. It's actually a Canadian product...Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The hot is from cayenne peppers. It's hot but not as deadly as the habaneros. I can't imagine anyone eating all those 30-40 chilis. Surely one can get the same effect with 10? Must be for shock value, and they certainly add to the colour of the dish. Double your pleasure...really get your money's worth!

Usually when we say "braised", it does mean cooking IN the sauce for a period of time. It may depend on the size/thickness of the fish. I do braise when thick fish steaks are used. MY dog Atticus doesn't like fish... Sorry, hrzt...just had to poke fun at you... All your pictorials have been delicious! Keep 'em coming...

So I was pretty much on when I used the term "fermented" rather than rotting! I find that we don't eat quite as much with the firm variety. The juice from the steaming with pork and ginger is particularly good with "fan jieu". My Mom loves to tell my kids how I used to sit on the stoop of our house in Toisan, a bowl of fan jieu in hand, one spoonful for my nephew, two for me.

I use a large whisk to "blend" the congee when it is ready to serve if I want it creamier. You can also make it creamier by "thickening" with rice flour. One of my sons likes pork silk in his congee...He also likes to eat the pork out-of-hand.

This was one of our biggest sellers in Soo's. It always set off a domino effect when one customer orders it. The aroma and effect was such that everyone will want one. The BBQ sauce and black bean garlic sauce sizzling plates were always "served" at the customer's table. The curry ones, we'd start them in the kitchen so the aroma doesn't choke up those not so tolerant of spices. I think I took pictures the last time I served this to company...

Back onto the topic of FOOD, p-lease....You are heading into where we should not venture... hrzt: I like Thank you.

sigh................................. Young ladies should use more delicate vocabulary...especially when addressing their elders....

Dejah: you don't want to know! Just that one of the two words means "fragrant". That's enough. ← mui=FERMENTED?

Irwin [salty Old Man or Ham Sap Low] the salutation i received when buying this Fish from the Shop Employees. ← Mui hern just describes the softer texture...altho' I don't think the characters translate as such...I just buy what Mom's tells me to... A little goes a long ways does not apply to my family! One fish will do 2 meals...and they fight for the bones! Wesza: Is it because you buy "so many salty fish" that you were given that title?

Now I know what I have to make for supper next week when I am back in my own kitchen:Cantonese egg foo young with the brown gloopy gravy. We just made the omlettes in the big wok. The trick eas to form each one on the SIDES of the wok, moving it around so that it would cool properly, without any "hot spots". Bean sprouts, char siu, tiny shrimps, green onions and eggs. These were not the firm patties like the "ordinary" egg foo young. These were fluffy patties". My gravy was made with some oil (lard) from the deep fryer. I made a rue with this and flour, then added hot chicken stock...Best gravy ever! When my kids were small, they loved the "egg foo young" my Mom made: diced lap cheung, peas, onions, and eggs scrambled together into clumps.

I love "har kow" with snowpeas. That adds another colour and texture to the dish. Fish slices are also very good. Cook the fish separately and lay on top. Add a touch of cilantro and voila! hrzt: Why do you add the vinegar? I have never heard of that...

So, Tepee, are you going to do the first pictorial of a banquet dish? I know, I know, you made the cake...but that's something you do all the time. I want eGulleteers to try their hands on a banquet dish that they have never made at home. What say you? We could add other dishes as well that were not part of Ben's banquet. These could all be part of the banquet menu for the cyber restaurant: www.WOK. A little explanation on the name: Being as we are all from different parts of the world, and the wok is, traditionally synonomous with Asian cooking, I thought it would be a good name for a cyber restaurant with an international staff.

hzrt: Any idea what the English name for "Sam gnah wong/ three teeth yellow?" is? That's the kind of wind dried salty fish I always buy. It's also "mui hern" texture - soft, melt in your mouth texture. It's quite expensie as well, runs around $12.00 a fish about 12 to 14 inches long.

So what ISthe difference between mooncakes and chess cakes? They are both filled with lotus paste. The pastry looks the same...Are the words/decorations on the cakes different? I didn't know that about eating eggs. I DO know that the person celebrating a birthday is not supposed to eat bananas on that day. Does anyone else know the custom of say "Gnow aw see/cow pooping ? for saying someone has a bday? I remember my Mom saying that as she was preparin g the bday feast. For my dad's bday, or other MALE members of the family, there is always "sam sang" (crispy pork, fish, chicken) for "by sun" in the morning. The women get zilch...

he must be still napping after gorging on all that cyber banquet food!

Jo-mel, I assumed it was Happy Birthday song in Chinese...and do know the words, but when I saw your post, all I saw were ??????? all in bold red font! I wonder why I can't see the Chinese characters?

Do I need to drop this post into a Chinese translator? (name hrzt?)

I have copied and printed out this list for my next Chinese food party. Thanks Jack! Hope everyone enjoyed them at our first cyber banquet at the restaurant www.WOK! At least we didn't need DDs... Now, if we can get eGulleteers to do pictorials on these banquet dishes... I will be trying my hand at one or two...after my stint of Po-Po sitting...

Is the pink chicken because "red" is the lucky colour, and the white noodles themselves would be an "unlucky" colour? I see you have 2 eggs in the pic with the noodle box. Is there egg worked into the soup? Or just an indication that these are egg noodles?

Cost factor in restaurants...altho' we didn't have shrimp toast on our menu. At home, we can spoil ourselves silly!

Look for Bird's Custard powder in the dessert aisle or baking products aisle, in any supermarket, mudbug.

Well, wesza was made honourary Toisanese, so I can't see why we can't grant you Honourary Chinese status! Besides, you TEACH Chinese cooking classes!

JO! Are you SURE you're not Chinese? Have you checked the mirror lately?