Dejah

What were you trying to do, hzrt!? Incorporating all the variations into a new curry? What colour did it turn out to be? And, did the two of you eat it all? Looked like a lot of work but I bet it smelled and tasted great!

Whenever I make sui mai, I use a cookie cutter to make my wonton skins round. The trimmings, I put into a baggie and freeze. When I need some crispy stuff to dress any of my dishes, I deep fry the trimmings and voila! The first time I saw deep fried wonton "strings" was at Planet Hollywood. They topped one of our pasta dishes with these thin crispy strands which the server told us was made of wonton skin. So I decided to try this with some of the dishes in my restaurant. The customers like them! These would be great sprinkled with cajun seasoning or anything that you'd use on popcorn.

Pan, Not sure if we are talking about the same item. Shrimp toast to me is fresh shrimp paste smeared on pieces of bread then deepfried. The ones hzrt is talking about are hard dried shrimp flavoured disks made from shrimp and a starch. They are also called prawn crackers. My box is from Shanghai, but has these translations also: KROEPEOK:............ BEIGNETS DE CREVETTES.......... I seem to remember a box I had from Indonesia. The crackers were about 4 inches by 2 inches. They were quite a size when deepfried.

Hehehe, that's what I do too. ← That's how I get kids to try them! Which ones do you prefer? The colourful ones, the white ones or the ones that are HUGE! Haven't tried the taro chips. Got my taste buds roused now, hzrt. Did your parents ever deep fry mung bean noodles at Lunar New Year? They puff up so fast too. Mom used to sprinkle sugar one these but they are a pain to eat...and to clean up after! I like to cover a serving dish with these then pour saucy food on top.

Well, Yetti, you'll be glad you're not eating at my house today. We had to cancel our dinner party because of a winter blizzard! It started snowing yesterday and developed into a full scale blizzard by this afternoon.. We've had at least 10" of snow so far. The wind was gusting at 50km/hour. I was glad we were at home. Can't complain compared to diasters elsewhere in the world. Hubby, kids and I ate the finger food I had prepared... finishing off with a chicken in BBQ sauce "sizzling hot plate" ( yes, hzrt, sizzling cast iron plate). Luckily, I hadn't thawed the shrimp or made the wontons yet. Will check out the pictures tomorrow and see if there is anything worth uploading. Winter came in like a lion, perhaps it'll go out like a lamb.

Your travelblog is a wonderful read for a snow bound prairie foodie. Thank you for refreshing my memory on the sugar cane juice! That used to be my childhood treat after I drink my weekly cup of bitter tonic tea at the market in HK.

Strange, the only characters I can see are ???? ?????! Thank goodness you had the translation Happy New Year to all foodies! We are having friends in tonight for supper and a jam session. Menu: Spiced beeg cigars, BBQ duck summer rolls, Spring rolls, deep fried wontons, shrimp in blk bean garlic sauce hot plate, chicken in BBQ sauce hot plate, gai lan in oyster sauce, beef lo mein, one couple is bringing "killer curry chicken", dessert is deep fried banana/white chocolate/candied ginger wontons with vanilla ice cream, bottles of wine to wash this all down! Please arrive around 6 pm central time, supper at 7... Foodies! START YOUR ENGINES!

Just checked with my s-i-l who makes the recipe Yuki is talking about. She uses the same method as hzrt, except she stirfries the lap cheung, dried shrimp, and mushrooms and adds them to the rice before steaming. Then she stir fries the mixture quickly (for wok hay...just got my Grace Young book for Xmas ) and adds green onions. She doesn't add soya sauce as all the savory ingredients add enough flavour and colour. I think adding the savories before steaming makes it easier to mix all the ingredients together. My mom finds this dish hard to chew and to digest, so the dutiful d-i-l will sometimes steam a little longer and forgo the stirfrying.

Sticky rice in a wok? I usually soak the rice for an hour or so, drain off the water, then add water to about half an inch above the surface of the rice. This is cooked in a rice cooker. I then proceed to make sticky rice in lotus leaves.

We used to make 24" wokfuls of egg roll filling every evening. It was my son's job to keep turning the vegetables as they cook, and tilting the wok in such a way as to be able to ladle off the liquid as it accumulated. This took at least a half hour. We didn't have to squeeze the mixture. When he feels that it is "dry" enough, he will mix in a cornstarch heavy slurry into the vegetables. This he had to keep tossing and turning quickly and continuously to make sure it mixes and cooks properly. I was glad he worked out at the gym daily! The mixture was all at the same time dry, juicy, gooey, and very heavy. We'd spread this mixture in big deep pans, cool and refridgerated until the next morning. By this time, you can form egg-shapes that will hold its form. My egg roll girl would lay out the wrappers in rows of 6 sheets x6. The "eggs" would be placed in the middle of each sheet . A pass with the pastry brush dipped in egg white on three sides, then each egg roll completed. A wokful would make about 150 egg rolls. At home, I follow pretty much the same proceedure...in a much smaller wok! My filling consists of shredded cabbage, celery, onion, mushrooms and some shredded meat if I want. I don't make these too often. Most of the time, I make the smaller spring rolls...easier.

Yetty: Beautiful picture! And you still deny that you are a professional photographer? There is also another Cantonese name for the rice cupcakes: Boot jai go. Same meaning. Cakes that are molded from a small bowl or dish. The red bean cake is just... red bean cake. (Hung dao go[Cantonese]) ← And I love them both because of the chewy texture of these cakes. Yetti, you should be called "mistress of food porn"....with sadistic tendencies towards people like me on the kuih-deprived prairies! I get to granny-sit for a couple weeks in Feb, so I will have to get my mom to show me how to make these.

Quite acceptable practice when you're in a hurry or having senior moments like I do.

Did I look like I had something to hide when you were here in November? Actually, I was just at a friend's grandson's month old party , and enjoyed this favourite soup.

Pig feet in black vinegar, peanuts, ginger, lily buds... New mother's soup...YUM!

I also follow yuki's proceedure with potstickers...panfry then add water, cover with a lid and steam until all the water has evaporated. This makes the dumplings golden brown and fluffy. With the crab meat, try adding beated egg white to your mixture. This would act as the binding agent hzrt mentioned. I never get fresh shitaki mushrooms here, so reconstitued is all I use. Being a senior, I often forget to prepare the mushrooms early, so I just rinse them once, then soak in hot water for about an hour. This seems to work well except for the piece attached to the stem. Boiling them should have been fine especially if they felt soft when you diced them. I find if you soak them too long, you lose much of the flavour. BTW, save the soaking liquid for the steaming part, or for a soup base with winter melon, etc.

Marlene, Finally got my new computer hooked up and catching up on your wonderful blog! Enjoying it very much and ... You're doing Canadians proud! Dejah

I think the only time "starch", as in noodles, is ordered for a banquet is when it is a special birthday, like the 60th and onward. "Jeung sau mein" = long life noodles This may be one of the main dishes or in the dessert soup.

Spiced beef cigars: Lean ground beef browned and simmered with onions, garlic, tomato sauce, seasoned with cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and paprika. Once cooled, add egg, honey and bread crumbs. Make cigars with a tbsp. of meat mixture, rolled up in phyllo pastry that's been brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with bread crumbs( each sheet pre-cut into 3 pieces). Brush with melted butter, sprinkled with sesame seeds and baked at 400F for 20 minutes. You can make these ahead and freeze without baking. When you want to serve them, bake from frozen state and add an extra 10 minutes to the baking time. For a dip, mix curry paste in yogurt. I also like to eat mine with spicy salsa.

My Mom makes the sweet tang yuen at Lunar New Year. I will eat a couple but really prefer the savory one.

I always order gai lan at Chinese restaurants where Chinese frequent. They are always done al dente, without any meat, just a splash of oyster sauce. This is my favourite veg!

That's exactly the way my Mom and I make it. I like lots of lobak. Sometimes we also add slices of lapcheung. I like to top my bowl with lots of cilantro, sprinkle of sesame oil and black/white pepper. I also like a little bowl of light soya with chili oil to dip my yuan in. Ben! I'm surprised at you. I know you can make this yourself!

The end slice of bread fried in bacon drippings. . . Hostess Snowballs and Twinkies. . . Pimento stuffed green olives...the whole jar, including the pickling the juice. Speaking of pastry dough Pinwheels, hubby's Nana always slathered peanut butter and sugar on the rolled out dough, then rolled it up to cut into pinwheels. Sprinkle sugar on top and bake along with the pies.

To de-scale and peel chicken feet, dunk them into boiling water for about a minutes, then cold water and the scales come off easily. To cook: GOLDEN PHOENIX CLAWS I brush my feet - chicken feet, that is, with maltose first, then deep fry until golden brown. This first step makes the feet light and fluffy. Drain well. Boil some water with fresh ginger, star anise, cilantro roots (if you can get them). Add the feet, bring back to a boil and simmer for about 1.5 hours. Then I make a marinade of oyster sauce, sugar, soya sauce, sake or cooking wine, chili peppers (you decide on the heat), minced garlic, pepper, mashed black beans and sesame oil. Marinate the feet for 24 hours. Just before serving, steam feet WITH the marinate for 15 minutes and serve. I have made a big pile at one time, put into plastic containers and into the freezer. When I get the hungries, just thaw, heat and spit! Hubby and the kids can't be bothered eating feet that have been scratching all over a barnyard. I prefer them over popcorn!

Chicken feet... with black bean garlic and chili peppers? You are on! Pier! We toured workingmen and social clubs in Yorkshire area, County Cleveland, as a band in 1976, 77 and 79. We loved it! Shaftsbury Street, Gerrard Street in Soho had good cheap Chinese food in those days. How about now?

hrzt wrote: "Dejah: I don't think Ja Choi is pickled mustard green. Their textures are very different. I think Ja Choi is some other vegetables. Something that is more like Daikon with big roots. Ja Choi is the root, mostly." Uh huh, Elder Brother Ben Hong has corrected Mui Mui on that already. "Salted turnip (or Daikon) is called Choi Po in Cantonese. Perhaps in Toisanese dialect it is called Ham Choi? My wife doesn't know. Perhaps my MIL would." Ham choi is made with daikon/turnip, thus the Toisanese name Hai Toy (Head veg). My s-i-l who speaks Cantonese calls it Ham choi...meaning salted veg, but maybe the name varies with villages? "Is Mui Choi made from mustard green? I thought it is from Bok Choi." I just checked my new package and it said Salted Mustard. Thinking about the shape of the stalk, I tend to think it IS mustard greens. It always has sand , so I make sure I soak it well and rinse a couple times before I cut it up. "All these talks about preserved Chinese vegetables... perhaps we should do that in the China forum...." Hey! The forum is Elsewhere in Asia.... Is China not in Asia now?