Dejah

Looks like one happy couple there with the siu mai! I will be very interested in seeing the eggplant in black bean garlic sauce. My eggplants are slated for another cook-off...so I'll just stick with the meat fillings. If you have lots of meat filling left over, you can always do a steamed main dish for supper. Just put the meat into a shallow dish and add sliced Chinese sausages and slivered ginger on top and steam for about 20 minutes.

Hey! First to enter! Hurray! They look great! I don't fold my sui mai. Hope to make mine soon, so I will post pictures of what I do to shape them. Basically it is just laying a wrapper on top of a circle formed by joining the finger tips of my thumb and index finger. Put a dollop of filling in the centre and push down gently. Add more filling until desired size, squeeze gently to form the cylinder. Flatten the bottom gently so it will sit on the steamer plate.

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I have always sliced, salted and drained for moussaka in the past, but I like Rachel's idea of baking. So, for this round, I am going to follow her idea. Ground lamb is not to be found in any of our sources at the moment, not even frozen chubs. I bought some shoulder chops, but I am thinking of using ground bison which is very lean and suitable for our low fat diet at the moment. Talk about putting my own spin on a classic...

When I was in Hawaii for the first time and saw some manapua, I thought that was scarily big! Where do you find the paper-thin, grapefruit size siu mai wrappers? ← Home made? Come on, hzrt, you can do it!

Your comment about dim sum every moring before the market brought back a dim memory of when I was young. I was the only one of 4 kids with whom my dad spent time after I was born. He was in China for about 1.5 years before returning to Canada. My "memory" is what my Mom told me. He'd take me to his fav. tea house, meet with his friends and gossip over tea and dumplings, and jook for me. Then we'd go to the market and shop for the day's meals. Never got to spend this kind of quality time with my Dad again.

Thanks so much for sharing your garnish cabinet! I have not advanced beyond "retro"... but they still impress people who ask me to do cakes. I will be referring back to your pictures often, for inspiration. They will never turn out like yours, but it will be fun trying to duplicate!

I will be using muffin tins, regular size ones. There is enough "fat" in the pastry that unmolding shouldn't be a problem. Having said that....

What has been said about the condensation with metal steamers is probably true, but I've never noticed excess moisture on the dim sum I've made...baos, sui mai, har gow, etc. Maybe this time I will use the big bamboo lid I have and see if there is noticable difference. That's what's great about a cook-off...trying and learning something different!

Dim sum: touch(like a finger tip) of heart... Grapefruit size: PUNCH! In the movies, if you punch someone in the heart, it stops! Might take some waiting to cook... I don't use a bamboo steamer when I do large amounts. I use the perforated inserts in my steamer. It works fine. If you use a plate inside the steamer, then you will get an accumulation of liquid which may make your sui mai skin soggy.

I think you can make sui mai with just pork, or a mixture of pork and shrimp, crab, glutineous rice, and you can also add chopped bamboo shoots, ginger, Chinese mushrooms. To get the springiness to the filling, the addition of liquid(I use water), sugar, baking soda, lemon juice and cornstarch all seem to be at work. My KitchenAid does the "abuse" for me. When you see "threads" in the meat mixture, you will get the springy texture.

I have recipes that use a short pastry. I am sure frozen would work, but you may not achieve that layered flaky tart shell...me thinks...

Such party poopers! They focused on fat content and sodium, but what about the sugar content in waterchestnut cake and bean soup! That's why we need to make these items at home. We can be more health conscious and adjust the ingredients, then just go out once in a while an OD at restaurants! Moderation is the key word. Repeat after me!

Hi Wendy, I love all the pictures of your work. I wonder if all the "piping" you do with cakes, etc has caused any discomfort in your hands, wrists? Do you make up a supply of frequently used decorations to pull out whenever needed, or do you make these fresh each time? My 6 year old grandson wants your halloween cakes for his next party. He loved the rats!

I have always used frozen wrappers as I have to go into the "big city" to find a Chinese store. The ones I use look like wonton wrappers but half the thickness. These are very pliable and thin enough for sui mai.

Snowangel, I have been checking out my Pei Mei's Volume II. She calls them the inside and outside layer. Wei Chuan calls them water-shortening dough and flaky dough. BTW, how many volumes are there for Pei Mei?

This thread is wonderful! I've been spending a lot of time looking through the recipes. Thanks for the link, Jason. My Saudi student had to return home for this term but will be back in Sept. I have these months to practice some of these recipes. He wants to bring back a camel for me, but I hope it is not possible! The Morrocan cigars are wonderful. I have made them with lamb and beef. The recipe ran in one of our national papers and I have been making and stockpiling them in the freezer for quick appetitzers. I coat the tops with sesame seeds for that extra touch. Little birds are sold as street vendor food in China. I remember eating them in HK years ago. They were very crispy and I think they were delicious, but I don't think I can handle them now.

This thread is for Dan Tart, or Chinese egg custard tart. Are you using puff pastry, 2 dough pastry, pie pastry? How do you keep the custard from boiling over? Do you keep a pan of water in the oven during the baking step? Show all! Tell everything! No secrets allow among eGulleteers.

There are 2 items in this inaugural Chinese cook-off: This thread is for sui mai. You can use ready made wrappers, or if you are ambitious, make your own. The filling too will also be your choice. Do post pictures of your effort...and the recipes or instructions as I know some of you are "a bit of this, a dab of that"...

So glad I found this thread. We have been eating a lot of roast cauliflower, stir-fried cauliflower, etc. etc on our diet. I want french fries; and maybe now I can!

Yetty with the LEGS, Was the pastry savory then? The lo paw bang I've eaten have been sweet and made of wintermelon paste. The pastry looks exactly the same as your "pornographic pictures" Gai jie bang, the recipe I am hunting down char sui bao for, is savory. It would have 5 spice, nam yui and bits of diced pork. It is quite chewy, and I love it so much! The shape and pastry however is different from your pictures.

Exactly my question! How did you make the ears? Royal icing? The carrots at the back? The large Easter egg is awesome! Styrofoam?

Tommy, Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables ). This will be particularly useful for us to see how the same ingredients are prepared in different regions of China. If it hasn't been said already, WELCOME to "eGullet's China".

I hope you and Tommy will both take lots of PICTURES and NOTES!!! (of food and otherwise) while you are vacationing in Toisan. That will be a real treat for people like me who have never been back. One of these days I WILL go.

Have you ever tried to freeze bananas? I do that whenever they are on for half price. Just peel, stick in a popsicle stick and lay them out in a Ziplock. Freeze then you can dip them into chocolate sauce and crushed nuts for a frozen treat. It's like eating a banana fudgsicle. A question about the cherry trees that are in bloom: These are all ornamental cherry trees? Or are some of them of the eating variety?