Dejah

I think I used a double thickness of cheesecloth stretched over the top of my steamer to make cheung fun. Like Ben said, your water's gotta be "rockin' hard." Once set, roll it up off the cloth with your chopsticks. I agree with hzrt that if you steam cheung fun on a solid plate, they will be thick and heavier. That's what we did with the flour gluten fun made with aunty's recipe. They were ok . . .but . . . not cheung fun Pre-packaged rice flour for cheung fun is available in Asian grocery stores in Winnipeg. I can't imagine why any Winnipegger would want to make these. There are many dim sum restaurants and they are not expensive. Just think of all the other "sides" you can pick up off the carts along with cheung fun!

Pan, have you tried South Indian filter coffee? It's got that smooth, creamy, almost chocolaty taste that the candies have. rjwong, browniebaker, and hzrt8w, I've never had preserved plums. Are they more sweet or savory? ← Wah mui are the salty ones, dry wrinkled grey coloured plums with a touch of sweet. These are sold loose in a bag or small plastic containers. One kind is REALLY salty. I remember my mom pouring hot water over these to make a briny drink whenever we had sore throats. Chun pei mui are the double paper wrapper moist (should be!) sweet preserved plums flavoured with licorice.

How about the transluscent rock candies with the salty plum inside? Talk about a surprise for unsuspecting "suckers". My sister just sent us some ginger candies. These are cylindrical shapes about an inch long x 1/2 inch in diameter. They are individually wrapped and crumble in your mouth when you bit into them. There's a wonderful burst of ginger flavour when you bite!

Speaking from experience, they are a pain! I had a hard time keeping up with supply. It seemed like I was steaming and steaming, and by the time everyone else had had enough, I didn't feel like making anymore for myself! I use a packaged flour for making cheung fun. Before that, an olderly aunty showed me the hard way... squeezing the gluten out of a lump of very wet dough! Now that was what we'd call FROM SCRATCH. I haven't repeated the recipe since. I just buy the pre-packaged cheung fun from my Asian store whenever I get to Winnipeg. These are quite good re-heated in the microwave. They are firmer than ones served at dim sum, but great for when you get home and wanted more!

My family enforces this, especially when Po-Po is over for supper. I also enforce the "no elbows" and "no knees" on the table rule. Another rule I learned as a child was: Don't lift the index finger or any finger of the hand holding the chopsticks. My "pointer" got wacked by Gung Gung's chopsticks!

Chun pei, wah mui, lung mun...( preserved orange peel, plum, lemon, etc. We eat them as candy, I suppose. They are good when fresh. Hubby likes them. I hate them for all the wrappers I find under his desk! Jo-Mel: The ginger candies are in the candy aisle. The red lucky candies are, I thought, strawberry flavoured? I have a package waiting to go into the" tune hap". I just got a bag that looks the same, but they are "chewy". Just had one....fruity flavoured...gummy texture. I really miss coconut candies...the dark coloured ones, not the white or beige kind. They were so full of flavour!

Hey Plunk! Long time no see! Spring break is coming soon, so we may get a chance to chat again. Do you have Grace Young's Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen? I used her recipe as reference. For ingredients I used lap cheung instead of lap yuk ( only because I didn't have any on hand). For my pan (10" x 3"), I used 4 cups of flour and nearly 3 cups water( soaking liquid). I have to make a third cake this weekend after I get a hold of lap yuk. I made the second cake this afternoon. When I came home from teaching my evening class, I cut the cakes all into pieces, fried them up and packed them all into the fridge ( my cold garage) to take to school tomorrow. 26 international students will have their goh tomoorow at lunch time. Teepee, the cakes do have "ho daw liu", eh? I think it's the restaurant mentality...big and loads of. . . I figured if I have to spend so much time preparing, I might have well load it up! I shop like that too!

Yuki, I have julienned the daikon in the past. . . but laziness set in. I can't remember if it made much difference in the texture. However I always cut the daikon by hand when I make savory tong yuen. I like big pieces then!

Those bricks may look solid, but after pan frying, they were very light. The texture was perfect for cutting into 1/2 " slices for frying. Grace Young suggests oyster sauce for dipping. I prefer the chili soya.

Just got some pictures processed and up on my website. Rather than taking time to figure out how to upload into the post ( I am an illiterate techie ) I am posting the URL. http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/lobakgoh.html Enjoy!

Lobak goh is a lot of work...soaking, chopping, shredding, boiling, stir-frying, mixing, then steaming for an hour! When hubby came in late last night, he though the dog had made a mess in the basement. That's how strong the smell was. But he sure enjoyed the slices I fried up for lunch. Dye choi goh (agar agar) is the really firm jelly that is made from seaweed called agar agar. I posted a picture of it somewhere here.

GASTRO, I love how you are posting familiar Toisanese words like "kok" and "jai bee". I haven't heard those terms for ages! Yuki, that neen goh looks great! I leave that chore to my s-i-l, b ut I gave her the recipe;-) I love matay goh...sticky, chewy, sweet.mmmmmmmm I took lobak goh for my collegues lunch today. Now, I have to make another one so there would be enough for 2 pieces each for 26 students. How about agar agar? (dye choi goh, oi toy gow) BTW, the lobak goh I made last night had just the right firmness. It held its shpae when I cut it into slices. Once fried, you can still pick them up with your fingers, but soft when you bite into it. Hope to get pics up today.

So, YOU'RE the one who left behind all those crumbled rolls!

Sorry, Ben! I must have given you plastic ones! No wonder there was food all over the place

I love the chewy ginger candies with the edible inner wrap. These have a picture of ginger on the wrapper. Great for staying awake when you are driving . . . sweet and hot!

You all are killing me! I've got no Chinese friends here who'll be celebrating. (Must make new friends...quickly!) Please post no photos, no details! I'll be coming back often to make sure ← Yetti. You have your fruit porn, this forum has GH, and it ain't Good Housekeeping! Goh Porn!

I am familiar with the traditional rule of not sticking your chopsticks into your rice. I never do that, not because of tradition, but because I keep having visions of hitting the top ends of the chopsticks and flicking mounds of rice and morsels over others at the table! My Scottish hubby always use chopsticks when we have Chinese food. Everyone else may opt for forks, but he says Chinese food doesnt taste right with cutlery.

I've been taking pictures as I was making the lobak goh. Hope I will be able to get them uploaded. The 10" x 3.5 inch pan is steaming as I post! Can you smell it yet? Lobak is pretty powerful when it is cooking.

gastro888: [SIZE=14]Please take note! I corrected my daikon information from GLUTINOUS rice flour to rice flour.

I just jotted this bit of info' down from "somewhere". My Mom just knows how much water to add, but I am always unsure on the amount of water to flour. Lobak goh: 2 lbs daikon 3 cups rice flour Use 2 1/2 cups of water to the 3 cups flour. I use the water from boiling the daikon. I am making my goh today. I'll see if the above proportions work. Maybe I can take pics as well before I feed the masses. BEN: You are much better at Toisanese pronunciation than I am, I never got a drumstick on New Years morning. I always got CANDY to start the new year with sweetness. All those lye see came in handy when we were young. Now, it's expensive for us! Edited to change GLUTINOUS RICE FLOUR to RICE FLOUR! When I was still in the restaurant biz, my Mom told me I had to have a whole chicken for an offering in the morning every New Years Day. She dictated the prayer for me. I had to write it out phonetically. "They" must have understood "upstairs" as I had a bustling biz! 2 of my former students from China are getting married this evening. They wanted it official before the Year of the Rooster begins as it is supposed to be bad lunck for them to get married in year of the rooster. This will be just the minister, 2 signature people and one friend, I wanted to do something special for them...so I am making a sweet soup with lotus nuts, lily bulb and red dates. Another tradition .

The pear-shaped Asian pomelos are in stores now, just in time for Chinese New Year. Each one must be examined carefully before purchasing so there are no blemishes. The skin is a pain to peel. Hubby has that chore. The fruit is drier than other citrus and the "nodules" are big! I just enjoy it fresh. But, I save the peel and soak it in soya sauce to be ysed later for a steamed pomelo and fatty pork dish . . . Toisanese peasant fare.

If you are going to make this dish at home, you'd better be sure ALL the windows and doors are opened! You'd have to stir fry the chilis in hot oil to release the flavour and heat before cooking the chicken. Restaruants have huge exhausthoods to take away the choking fumes. I can't imagine what it would be like to cook that many chilis in a house! Beer, any dairy product, or slices of fresh lemon can help cool the tongue.

I just bought my packets of sweets for my "Toon Hap": lotus nuts, wintermelon, coconut, ginger, lotus root, potato, carrot, Lucky candy (strawberry flavoured). I will set one up at home and take another to school for my students. I haven't seen those square fruit flavoured candies for some time. I miss those My 6 year old grandson loves Rabbit candies. He thinks it's pretty cool that you can eat the inside wrapper! This weekend, I will help my Mom and s-i-l make deep fried "zhan tay doy". These are made with glutinous rice flour and bars of Chinese brown sugar. She puts sweetened chopped peanuts inside, sesame seeds on the outside. They are a challenge for me as you have to form the dough into a balloon, then blow some air into it . The oil has to be at the perfect temp. While frying, you must push and roll the dough so that it will expand like a ballon to create a round ball with a thin crisp skin. I love these cooked with guy choi after all the New Years ceremonies. Mom used to make so many different kinds of dumplings, but she has scaled down as she got older. One that I really miss is containers of "gie lawn yuen" (hard lumps of steamed dough in various shapes)immersed in water. These are so good sliced then fried up with lap yuk, bean sprouts, etc. I will be making lo bak go and maybe taro go for the family and my students. My s-i-l always makes the neen go and matay (watechestnut) go. Do any of your families go thru' traditional rituals on New Years Day...table full of food, wine, incense, chicken with head and feet intact, etc? This is to pay respect to the gods and ancestors. I will make my visit on the 2nd day of the new year, armed with dumplings, fruit and candies, as well as lucky money for the great neices and nephews.

With dried orange peel, you just have to soak it until soft, THEN scrape off the pith. That removes the bitterness.