Dejah

Well done! sheetz! I knew I had seen it somewhere.

Gum choi = golden needles=great in hot 'n' sour soup; chicken, mushroom, wun yee, gum choi, chestnut "stew". For the new mother, gum choi simmered with chicken, peanuts, wun yee, whiskey and ginger. Mom always tied the needles into a knot. Not sure why...aesthetic appeal?

Thank you. Have I missed the spices you use to season the ribs? If you don't wish to comment, I respect that too. ;) ← I just use the basics: salt, pepper, msg, sugar. Gota make some soon, so I will try and get some measurements for you. Like most of us here, I cook by " a little of this, a bit more of that"...

Or I can give them to my grandson to make log cabins in his craft class. May have a wedding next summer. Cousin's son is getting married. Or I could make a 2 tier for Mom's 96th in 2 weeks...or... Now that we're on the topic, I just might have to boil up some tapioca for boba tea!

Probably because desserts are not a big thing with Chinese people. What is dessert in western world is more like snacks in Assian countries.

...................................of everything! Couldn't resist, Ben Sook!

Do you mean: "what do you use to season the ribs and how much soy sauce before adding water?" I usually add enough to balance out the saltiness and to enrich the colour. "Is this with garlic chili paste or fresh minced garlic and red chili peppers? I mean fresh minced garlic and chopped chili peppers.

I LOVE boba tea! The tapioca is not for taste...it's for texture. That's the same as in tapioca pudding. The flavour is in the "milk/cream", cinnamon, cardamon, rose water, raisins, etc., not the tapioca. You are right in that it is the novelty. I still have 235 of the 250 giant straws my Taiwaness student sent me 1.5 years ago! Plus, about 2 lbs of the black tapioca balls my sister brought from Vancouver.

Tepee! That's downright torture to show those xiao long bao! Yimay, will you share your dough recipe? I want to try and make them this summer. Have only ever tasted one, and that was 10 years ago - frozen - steamed. I haven't been able to find any in Winnipeg and REALLY want to make some. I have a jug of rich chicken stock in the fridge. If I boil that with agar or gelatin, will that work?

Funny, now that you mentioned this fact, I remember Mom always peeling the skin off purchased baos. One should make a collection of all these little informative notes.

Well, that sounds like the same brand that I know ...and neither of us can find the name! ← Yang Jiang Preserved Beans with Ginger? (There are other brands but this is the one I usually find in Montreal's Chinese stores.) ← BINGO! Thanks carswell. I know what you mean about others with sensitive taste buds. My kids are older now so they can handle more. Do you ever make soup with fu gwa? with dried oysters, ginger and pork bones?

Yes, Sue-On, it's to take away some of the bitterness. Thanks, Mudbug, for starting this thread. All the above ways of using dau si sound so good. ← And yet here I am , wanting to retain all the bitterness.

The whole process of boiling the joong wrapped in bamboo leaves DOES infuse the rice with flavour - of the the leaves and the various ingredients. The meats in my joong are raw, except for the BBQ duck. The boiling process cooks the meat as well as allowing the flavours to seep into each grain of rice. The hours required binds the rice together...not mushy, but.., I wish I could send you some to try for the difference between nor mai gai and joong. One can't really compare nor mai gai to joong. They are same but different things. Does this make sense?

The only brand of dried salted blackbeans I've ever seen is the one in a yellow cardboard cylindrical can. I'm not sure what brand it is but it's commonly available. It's so easy to make your own blackbean sauce that I don't think it's worthwhile to buy the canned ones. ← Well, that sounds like the same brand that I know ...and neither of us can find the name!

NhumiSD, You don't boil them. What happens is you completely dilute the flavor of the end product. You want to steam them. In my experience you usually want them in rectangular form, not triangular with is usually reserved for deserts (this way you can tell from the outside whether the contents are sweet or savoury). Here is the recipe I use and I absolutely love the flavor and texture of the filling: Lotus Leaf Wraps (Lo Mai Gai) (This popular dim sum dish is made by steaming lotus leaves filled with sticky rice, Chinese sausages, and other vegetables). Form llotus leaf around the rice to form a rectangular package (like wrapping a gift) and tie with the twine. Reheat the wok with water for steaming and steam the wraps, a few at a time, for 15 minutes. (Add more boiling water to the wok as required). To serve, cut open the wraps. ← Ok...problems here. Mudbug: Remember NhumiSD said banana leaves These you can boil. You, meanwhile, are talking about lotus leaves. With lotus leaves, you cannot boil as the leaves will fall apart, and you don't need to tie if you are making rectangle packets. BEN: I'm glad that you finally got to taste my joong! Took a long time, but they made it into your tummy! I gather you liked them.

Poor Mudbug. That suckling pig is haunting your dreams and it's all hzrt's fault! Tepee: Do you soak the fu gwa in salt water to take away some of the bitterness? Or is there another reason? I was trying to check the cardboard box of black beans that I buy. Must have thrown it away. It's yellow and black, I think, and has salt encrusted beans with ginger. I just keep 'em in the baggie they come in inside a plastic contain. Doesn't seem to smell in the pantry cupboard. Before cooking, I rinse them off, and left to soak while I prepare the rest of the ingredients. Then I just mash them with the handle end of my cleaver IN the soaking water. In my restaurant days, the whole bag is dumped into a blender, add double the amount of water, then blend it up for a very short time. This way, there will be solids, not just paste. This is kept in the fridge and scooped out as needed. I like making my own better than the LKK bottled one. Last week, I steamed basa fillets with black beans, garlic, fresh ginger, scallions. The fillets were rubbed with a little cooking wine, salt, pepper, cornstarch and oil. The rest of the ingredients were spread on top. I love black bean garlic spareribs with or without fu gwa. If I am doing just ribs, I brown seasoned ribs in a cast iron Dutch oven, add black beans, soya sauce, and water to cover. I boil these for about 10 minutes, thicken with a slurry of flour and cornstarch, taste, then cover and put the whole thing into a 350 oven for 45 minutes. We used to make these in full size buffet trays, for the buffet and for individual orders. Can you imagine how tender these would be? The flavour goes right through to the bone. My Mom loves these and requests it often when she comes over for supper. There is always lots of sauce and my kids love this over rice. I have to cook lots of rice on nights like this! Other times, I would make a small dish of fresh ribs, seasoned, topped with mashed black beans and ginger and steam. Black bean garlic shrimp (chicken, beef, etc) and mixed bell peppers and onion over a hot plate. Incredible aroma... Black bean gnow yook fu gwa ho fun - my favourite thing to do with ho fun. Kids leave the fu gwa for hubby and me. Try black bean garlic chili Shanghai noodles, topped with deep fried wonton bits and mint...

WHO said the dim sum was ho hum? Kum Koon has great dim sum...and that comment is from people from Vancouver and Toronto ( one or the other is supposedly the culinary centres of Canada?) Smoked goldeye is great with just a squeeze of lemon, but you should really try the pickerel...fresh out of the lake and fried in butter. Or...take it home and steam it whole Chinese style. Perogies pan fried with onions and bacon...

I'll look forward to visiting your store, Pam. Meanwhile, your cookbook - available for purchase?

prasantrin: More information on the Golden Cup, please. Is it made with wonton skin or filo pastry? Vegetable combination in the cup: does it include mushrooms? Are the veg stir-fried?

The term silken tofu still puzzles me. I googled "what is silken tofu" and it gives me terms like silken soft, silken med, silken firm. Is it silken because of the smooth texture? without any skin? The medium firm tofu has a rough "skin" on the outside pieces and the top. The soft does not have any skin. I buy tofu in the little pastic tubs. Some are labelled soft, medium firm, firm, extra firm; some have the firmness of a block of cheese...I have seen tofu in tubes... We can also buy them in Chinese grocery stores...squares immersed in cold water. These are medium firm without skin. Are these all silken tofu? HELP!

Hey Rona! This was just a short trip home? I still haven't made it to Siam... must make it next trip in. Can I just say "Rona said to cook me her favourites"? Pam: What kind of demos will you be doing at the kitchenwares store on berry? What's happening with your own store? MayHaw: We took fellow eGulleteer Ben Hong to Kum Koon and he agrees with you that the dim sum was excellent. We luckily made a reservation for 11:30 as the place was full except for our table. I know the shrimp dumpling that you liked. It was encased in a very light and feathery batter with the tail up? I think there was chopped pork inside? The "batter" melted in your mouth! Wishing we had more now. It was scary to see all those "ticks" on our bill...but it was very reasonable for 9 people: $157.00-Canadian too!

Well, first, you get a wooden shack... ← wooden shack? that for the piggy? ← Nope, fuel for the pit

In shortening cooking time while wrapped, I feel you lose an essential aspect of jooong in the first place which is the infusion of the essence of the leaves which to me is equally important as the filling. It's like a stir fry without the wok hay... it's just not as good as what it can be. Like wok hay, the aura of the leaves deeply permeating the essence of the rice sets the highest epitome of the dishes apart from the rest. ← Ah...who would have thought that a "mudbug" could wax so poetically about the essence of joong! Well put! M (you deserve a big M for that)udbug!

South Beach diet dessert: 1/2 cup ricotta, 1 tsp coco powder, 1 packet of artificial sweetner, 1/8 tsp fresh ground expresso coffee( I like more), chopped almonds. I add a little skim milk to smooth it out as it swirls in my mini blender. Hubby likes it frozen; I prefer it well chilled. You can also make it with almond flavouring in place of coco and expresso.