Dejah

Barbara, That looks delicious! I love the colours, much like the vegetable combination we had for supper. Were your noodles crispy? How did you cook them?

What can top that? Next year you need to Cook with Sue-On and Jam with the Hillman Band at the same time! ... Do a little bit Country (cooking)... Do a little bit Rock'n Roll... ← Oh, you're cute...very cute... Hubby, our son and I just finished a 3 hour practise for our gig on Friday 17...for the German Summerfest, of all things! We will be working alternate sets with an oompapa band. I'll be back on drums for the first time in about 2 year other than for a few jam sessions. Won't be much country; we'll be rockin' in the 50s, 60s, 70s. I've already booked my massage session for Sat.morning. Won't be any joong there, but I'll be enjoying brawurst, schnapps, German beer, etc!

Ben, Gan sui is only used when you make the "sweet joong"...the ones with dow sah inside, and you have to dip in sugar before eating. I don't make these as I don't really care for them. Po-Po always make about 6 for "bai sun" on the festival date: the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar.

Don't have any pictures ready yet, but I wanted to post this write up I did for Lily, for the joong cook-off as soon as I can to get the rest of you moving! The big day is over, and Lily, (aka Amandasmom on EG) rose to the occasion with more energy than the Energizer Bunny. Lily and family, and my other "family", Leslie and Sija, arrived at noon to share a yummy lunch of jook, century egg, cruellers, chili radish (Lily likes them!), cilantro, and various chili oils and sauces. I used a "year-old laying hen", the best for stock, to make the base. Meat was a bit tough but the flavour was good. Lots of ginger and extra pieces of fresh chicken carcass, 2.5 cups Jasmine rice, 2 hours of simmering, and a bit of thickening with rice flour slurry produced a good lunch to start a busy day of making joong. My 8 international students arrived at 1 pm via cab. Acouple had slept in, no breakfast, so they cleaned up the jook pot. I don't think Lily or Leslie realized how much work they had ahead of them when they wanted to make 5 dozen joong EACH! Leslie had an inkling when she called the night before and asked " How many packages of leaves am I supposed to prepare? I must have HUNDREDS!" They both did! We set about stir-frying the mushrooms, Spanish onions, peanuts, rehydrated shrimp. The sausages and salty fat pork were cut into fingerlings. Lily had the "extravagant" version: crispy BBQ pork, duck yolks, and chestnuts. YUM! By the time the cones of string, leaves, and containers of ingredients were set out, we all took up positions at the 8'x4' table. It was quite a mob scene! One of the students, Josh from Inner Mongolia, and Ryan from Shanghai have had some experience in making joong, the pyramid shapes. Once I showed them my style, I just let them go on their own. My Japanese student showed me her style, and the other students picked up pretty darn quick. Hunger drives learning. Besides, I told them they were being graded! Leslie's daughter, Sija, was at one of my previous joong making sessions, so she was able to guide her Mom a bit. They were proceeding at a good clip. We had a short break enjoying the lemon loaves Leslie baked, along with the homemade wine Lily brought. This was Lily's first time and she was pretty nervous. At first, she was squeezing her joong so tightly you'd think she was making sausages! But, once we got her to relax, she got the hang of it pretty darn quick! I was able to made a few with her, and the students waded in as well once they used up all their makings. I think they both got the 5 dozen AND more that they planned. Must have felt like 12 dozen by the time they finished. With all the joong we made as a group, we probably used about 20 kgs of sweet rice! About 1758 grains were swept up off the floor. Leslie had to take her socks off 'cos the rice made them look like porcupines! I used a turkey deep fryer gas unit outside to boil one batch and a big canner on my electric stove inside. The fryer works great. I highly recommend it! The ones boiling in the house were ready by 5:30, so we each sampled a small one as we fed the students. We sent them home with a dozen each. While they were waiting for the joong, I had them mix up 3 pounds of ground pork into sui mai. They polished those off in a hurry! Not sure if I got any pictures of those... It was rather hilarious when the "cab" came to pick them up. There is an air-show happening in Brandon and the cab companies are running shuttles for the spectators. Because all the vans and cabs were tied up, they sent this huge 30 seater tour bus to pick up 8 students! I am sure my neighbors were wondering what was happening at my house to warrant a tour bus picking up people...all foreign looking people at that! By 7:30, we were sitting down to a feast of joong, BBQ ribs Chinese style, chicken, and gow gai egg drop soup. Lily was pretty wiped, but I think she was happy. She will fill her freezer with joong from her hard day's work. But! She's already talking about "the next session"! Good for you! Lily! Welcome to my family. Hubby and I were too beat last night to process the pictures...I even had to go for a massage by my son Jay to recuperate! Today, we went to the air-show to catch the Snowbirds perform their precision aerobatics. Hubby is the webmaster for the air museum here, one of the sponsors of the show. Hope to have some joong pictures up soon. With the success of the joong session and the Snowbirds show today, I am proud to be a China Born Canadian!

Ben Always room for more! Leslie and Sija, along with "Amandasmom", 6 students from China, one from Korea. and one from Japan will descend at noon. As I rinsed out my pot from blanching the leaves last night, I noticed quite a bit of fine dirt at the bottom. I am glad I soaked, rinsed, blanched, washed! One is bringing new bagged leaves that she soaked and rinsed multiple times daily. It will be interesting to compare and see if there is any difference.

I might be reading the above incorrectly. Do you mean crab ragoon is authentic Chinese? Is cheese a traditional Chinese ingredient? The first time I had cheese was from a British lady living next door when I was a youngster in HK. The only cheese I knew until then was Chinese Cheese: fuyu... and somehow, I can't imagine that in wonton skins.

It's past midnight. The huge pile of bamboo leaves have been blanched, washed, rinsed and put back into the tub to keep moist. The "liu" of mushrooms, dried shrimp, peanuts, onion, lapcheung and salty pork are all set to go. We will sautee everything except the meats when the students get here tomorrow as I want them to see every step. I also have salted duck egg yolks ready. The two adults coming are bring their own supplies. I sent them a work list on Monday. The turkey deep fryer is set up on the back stoop. It's raining again, but supposed to be sunny tomorrow. We will boil away in the back yard as we continue making joong. We will have chicken jook, Chinese cruellers, century egg, chili radish, cilantro for lunch. Supper will be joong! If we can manage, the students will also make sui mai. I have spareribs marinating. For dessert, we will have red bean, lotus nut, peanut tong. Hope to have lots of pictures!

See? So many variations and experiences! The first time I had Shanghai noodles stir-fried with sweet chili sauce was in Calgary's Chinatown... I love thin noodles in broth with pickled radishes and chili sesame oil. Add acouple shanghai bok choy and I am happy! Anyway, back to CANTONESE CHOW MEIN I saw 2 kinds of thin egg noodles in the cooler at Superstore. One is round and the other is flattish. They are both labeled "steamed". So, these are cooked by steam? I usually dunk them into boiling water, drain and stir-fry. The packaged dry noodles are cheaper, but I find you have to "watch the pot" 'cos it does boil quickly and you can easily overcook the noodles. I use my crepe pan when I want crispy noodles.

Again, so many versions in Shanghai noodles. Is this just the name of the type of noodle, or is it the name of the dish made with the fat noodles? I make mine with char sui, bean sprouts, sweet chili sauce, and oyster sauce. It was a popular dish at Soo's.

But, hzrt...the noodles are DRY! Your method gives a dark colour, but with all that liquid, wouldn't it be sup chow? And, rice noddles?

We're going to end up with many variations, which is great! Besides using whatever veg. are in the fridge, we also adapt recipes to our taste. For example, I wouldn't put Chinese mushrooms in mine 'cos my son doesn't like them. (Can you imagine that! ) Hope to see lots of participation. Please, if you could, take pix!

The joong stands alone. ← 3 dishes was fully imprinted during my upbringing! I was also thinking of my Chinese students. They have been away from home for several months, so...what would they appreciate. Will see what my schedule is like. I LOVE JOONG!

I've had chow mein noodles in restaurants that appear to be darkened with soya sauce, but are dry (gon chow) inspite of shreds of vegetables and meat mixed in. I could never get that "dryness". Would the cook have deep fried the noodles instead of chowing in the wok? They don't appear to be greasy from deep frying. I always make sure my noodles are cooled and dried from boiling before frying. And, if overcooked in water, no amount of frying will make them firm or crisp again. I found it best to boil the noodles the day before, drained well and kept in the fridge. My grandson likes just the noodles, so I fry them seasoned with sesame oil. He's so easy to please.

So, what kind of soup would go well with joong?

So, what's your secret recipe? hzrt? Is it "authentic"? If you can't show and tell, at least, tell!

Add a slice of raw Spanish onion on top of that BLT...can't be beat!

I was actually wondering what that meant myself. I think a true Cantonese style chow mein would use the fresh Cantonese-style thin egg noodles (which I don't have access to--only the dried ones). Also, is pan frying them to a crisp on two sides (leung mein wong) considered Cantonese? I think I've heard that referred to as Shanghai-style, but I wasn't sure. ← I am waiting for some "definitions" before I "chow"... Should the noodles be soft with other ingredients piled on top? Should there be a sauce? Should the noodles be crispy as sheetz asked? Should there be a mix of Chinese vegetables, meats and seafood? Should there be baby corn ( ) and waterchestnuts? Should there...should there not?

Oh Lord! I can't believe I spelled Chow as Cjow...been correcting too many ESL papers! Ok. Who knows how to edit topic lines? The Mighty Embarrassed Dej with fat fingers!

Here ya go, gus_tatory. Take it away! For those of you still contemplating sui mai/dan tart or the joong cook-off, it's ]NEVER TOO LATE TO PARTICIPATE. Threads can be revived anytime. It will be interesting to see exactly what Cantonese chow mein is. hzrt! I want to see some participation from you! You have so many good ideas and suggestions. Show us what you do!

The bamboo leaves I buy are dried. In the past, they have always been dirty as they were not in plastic bags. Now, they come in bags so may be cleaner. However, I will continue to boil them as I am sure of the results...supple, clean, easy to work with. I saw some information about boiling with vinegar somewhere... It mentioned that the process ensures the the joong will keep well and mold free because the vinegar makes them squeaky clean! I'll buy that! I don't remember ever being cut by the leaves. It could be worse than a paper cut! I run them between my thumb and the rest of the fingers...keeping the edge away from my palm. I am probably not as thorugh ny the time I am half thru' the batch!

Ben: Thanks for the info'. I was talking to s-i-l this evening. She said you can eat the leaves from the wolfberry bush, but they tend to be tough and a bit bitter...so best to leave that just for the berries. The wolfberries are very sweet when eaten raw and fresh. When China was small, she used to sit in the garden eating them right off the bush. My mom picks them WITH the stem intact. These are laid out and air-dried away from the sun. They keep their brilliant red colour when prepared this way. I planted bak hap bulblets this week. Hope they will grow so I can have fresh lily bulbs for soup!

The easy way to distinguish is that joong are tied with string and no mai gai aren't. ← And nor mai gai is wrapped in lotus leaves where as joong is USUALLY wrapped in bamboo leaves (Chinese) or banana leaves in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore? Did I see somewhere that pandan leaves are also used in SE Asia? I don't SOAK my rice. I just rinse them 3 times then drain to use immediately. I prepare 8 cups at one time as that's what my "traditional bowl" holds. One batch is being used while another is draining. I also have a special table used only for this activity. It's an old card table of my mom's. When she moved in with my brother, she gave me the table for making joong as it is the perfect height to work on when we are sitting down for the all day session. I wish I could get hemp for the wrapping. It looks so "authentic". I use a light gauge butcher's twine. The joong made with half sweet and half Jasmine, I tie 2 together. The sweet rice ones are left single. Traditions, don't cha know!

Great picture tutorial, Teepee! I will try and get some pictures of our session this Sat. My leaves are soaking now. The pork butt steaks are covered and curing in coarse salt. I will prepare the peanuts, dried shrimp, mushrooms, lapcheung, and boil the leaves Friday night. Is there any point cleaning house before hand? Ben: Leslie and Sija are coming for the day. Leslie said she wants to make at least 6 doz for her freezer!

I am waiting for my daughter to get tired of beef and tomato! Every Thurs. it's "Make beef and tomato!". Tomatoes on the vine is cheap at the moment and they are just right for this dish. I have used flank steak or sirloin for the beef. Nice flavour with either. I love lots of long pieces of green onions in mine also.;

So what IS silkened dou fu? I have seen dessert dou fu with almond syrup, sugar syrup, mango, peach. I have used soft and medium dou fu, deep fried dou fu...but what not silkened. Is this the stuff you see in tubes? We are taking our international students for dim sum in Winnipeg at the end of June. I am looking forward to the dou fu fa!