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Dejah

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Posts posted by Dejah

  1. The joong I made were with bamboo leaves. They average around 3.5 to 4" wide and about 18" long. You'd have to soak and then boil these to soften them up before use. The banana leaves I have were cut into big squares, about 12" x 14". The original leave would be much bigger of course. I have never made joong with banana leaves, just for steaming fish.

  2. To clear up  muddy waters, does anyone know the Chinese words for the more common  round red radish that is used in salads?

    I think it may be "xiao luobo" (not to be confused with "xiao laopo").

    ...perhaps hung lo bak jie? :raz: for the little red salad radishes.

    Regardless of what they SHOULD be called, I am, at this moment, making savory cake with those big, long white suckers.

  3. Spaghettti,

    Can you take pictures when you make the jongzi with your mom?

    I have a friend from Indonesia. She would love to see your work with your mom. I made some jongzi for her, with duck, mushrooms, shrimp, peanuts, salted egg yolk and onions.Called me last night to say she only had one left... :hmmm:

    For your dad's, after parboiling, how long would you boil the jongzi? Actually, I like the shape of the ones you showed. They could be done much quicker!

    With the no mai gai ( sticky rice in lotus leaves), I cook the rice completely, cook the filling, then wrap it all together. These only require steaming for 20 minutes to "set" everything.

  4. Pandan leaves, are these available in some form in N.A.?

    Haven't made zongzi with just regular rice for a long time. I used to boil these for 3 hours. Even then, they don't have that silky texture that glutinous rice developes. The rice stuck together fine.

    I just boil everything 2.5 hours. Once, my staff forgot to watch the clock and boiled the zongzi for 4 hours. The rice was still intact but lost some of that "chewiness" . The peanuts weren't mushy tho'.

    Spaghettti, is the meat in whole pieces or ground? Do you cook the filling before putting it in the zongzi?

  5. hzrt8w: Dejah: I think the "almond flavoured silken dofu fa available in stores, especially some have mango or peach flavors" are not dofu fa. They are almond jello, made from gelatin.

    The ones sold in Superstore are definitely dofu...I used to make the almond jelly for the restaurant when dofu fa wasn't available. The customers liked to eat it with fruit cocktail, not fresh fruit but canned fruit!

  6. Dou fu fa is eaten warm, freshly scooped out of a wooden vat at the larger dimsum places. Usually a simple syrup is poured over the top before it is consumed. It is heaven in a bowl. Of course I have added a Canadian twist to the dessert and used maple syrup instead of simple syrup to silken doufu which is readily available now. Bliss. :rolleyes:

    Ooooooooooooooooo I remember those big wooden vats...The vendor used this special paddle and "sliced" slabs of dofu fa into your bowl...drizzle the syrup on top. Some like to stir all that up, I like to spoon up a chunk of dofu..then dip my spoon to let some of the syrup float around the dofu fa, then into my mouth! :rolleyes:

    I kinda like the almond flavoured silken dofu fa available in stores now. Don't care much for the mango or peach flavoured ones.

  7. I look forward to mooncakes. Guess you can call me a "poor wretche" 'cos I usually search out the double yolk ones. :wub:

    Superstore usually carries the tins of 4 large cakes or 8 small ones. A week after the festival date, they usually go on sale...so I buy more and put them in the freezer.

    Only one of my 3 kids enjoy them, except for the egg yolk.

    I remember my mom used to make them herself, in the late 50sn when they were not available. Saw Chef Michael Smith do an episode on Chef At Large, in Vancouver.

    He visited a Chinese cooking school where the students were learning how to make moon cakes. I'd love to get my hands on some of those "shape paddles".

    Mom used a salmon tin. :smile:

  8. Revival of this thread prompted me to make congee for lunch today.

    9 am Started the big pot boiling with a fresh chicken carcass, big slices of ginger and jasmine rice (didn't measure). I let that boil for about 15 minutes, then turned the heat down to medium for about half an hour. Had some errands to run, so turned the stove down to low to let the congee simmer.

    I got back around 11:30 with long donuts and fresh cilantro in hand. Had some fresh pickerel, so I sliced that up, along with some fresh chicken breast. These were silkened with veg oil, cornstarch, a little salt and added to the congee when it came back to a boil. The texture of the congee was definitely creamy.

    To serve, we had little dishes of light soya sauce mixed with chopped cilantro, sesame oil, fresh ground pepper. I like to eat my congee with the added crunch of chili radish in sesame oil. The congee had bite and we could still taste the delicate pickerel slices and chicken.

    When I was last in the city, I bought packages of "instant" natural jelly fish.

    The one I tried today was chili vinegar seasoning. Hubby asked why I enjoy

    eating "Chinese rubber bands!" :laugh:

  9. I went digging in freezer and pulled out a package of wrappers, specifically called Wonton Wrappers. These are of wheat flour and egg.

    I also have a package labelled Shanghai Dumpling Wrappers. These do not have egg, just water, flour and a food preservative.

    Gary, are Shanghai dumplings a familiar term, and are they like Cantonese soup wontons?

    Or, are they jiaozi, boiled, with water added each time the pot comes to a boil? I have only mades these once, when we had a Chinese professor from Nanjing at our house. We made the wrappers and used ground pork and sui choy for the filling. We ate these with dipping sauces.

    I just picked these commercial wrappers up thinking they are for jiaozi... :huh: These are definitely white.

  10. Is one particular shape supposed to taste better than another? 

    I still love the triangular ones (I made both types with this batch) because you can cut off little chunks of the jongzi, place them on a plate, and microwave them until the outside dries out.  This leaves the outside nice and chewy, while keeping the inside soft and moist.  Am I the only one that does this?  :blush:

    My non-Chinese hubby always says that the twisted shape my mom makes taste better :wacko: I make them all with the same ingredients, so it may be psychological or downright flattery!

    I microwave mine untied but still wrapped. Once in a while, I cook it too long and a thin outer layer gets chewy, the inside steaming good!

  11. Aiyaaaa! So confusing :laugh:

    I served big and small wontons, except:

    The ones with just the ends pinched together, I used a thinner, smaller (3"x3")wonton wrap. When we have time, we fold them like a tortellini.

    These were used as soup wonton. My customers ordered these at lunch time, usually served in a big bowl with thin egg noodles, char sui, shrimp and some kind of choy.

    As an appetizer, I used a thicker, larger (4"x4") wrapper, folded like a triangular hat.

    These are deep fried.

    A mixture of ground pork, chopped shrimp and waterchestnuts was used as filling. A dab of filling is not my style :raz: I always put a good teaspoonful /about a mothball size in the "tong wontons", flattened somewhat in the "jah wontons".

    My kids wouldn't go back to a certain restaurant because they served deep fried wontons with a dab of meat. :laugh:

  12. Sue-On, that's very interesting and suggestive. Do you know if the practice (using egg crepes) was widespread in the 50's in North American Chinese restaurants? If so, you've solved the mystery of why they're called "egg rolls!"

    I'd say you'd deserve a Nobel Prize for that discovery.

  13. Now I'm confused.  I always thought Daikon was a radish not a turnip.

    It is a radish, but the recipe in English is called Turnip cake :laugh:

    Is daikon not a Japanese term? I sometimes explain lo bak as a Japanese radish.

    It has the heat and smell of a radish, especially when "repeated".

    come with off shore products.

  14. Have you ever tried frying a roll wrapped with the thicker egg roll wrapper without egg washing it? It just doesn't look or taste right.

    I don't know how many egg rolls I fried in all my years in the restaurant biz, but the only egg wash I ever used was to seal the ends of each roll. Each one still bubbled and was crispy.

    I will have to try the egg wash to check out the difference. Do you let the egg wash dry completely before deep frying? Glad I didn't know about this before...can't imagine painting 350 egg rolls for each day of the weekend! :shock:

  15. I have been using salmon fillet, measuring about 5" wide and 12 inches long.

    These are boneless, great for older folks :biggrin:

    Found this recipe somewhere, and this has been the only way I have cooked salmon:

    1, Make a packet with a double layer of foil ( or banana leave).

    2. Lay down a layer of cilantro, green onions, sliced fresh ginger, sliced limes, sliced fresh chilis and then bruised fresh lemon grass.

    3. Place the salmon on top of this...season with salt and freshly crushed peppercorns.

    4. On top of the fillet, lay down the same ingredients as in step 2 in reverse order (ie. starting with lemon grass, etc)

    5. Drizzle with olive oil.

    6. Seal the packet and place onto BBQ grill over medium heat. As these fillets are quite thick, I usually allow 30 minutes, then check to see if it is done.

    Not really Asian I suppose, but tastes great!

    I like fish heads steamed with lots of black bean garlic sauce, ginger and scallions.

    Hey Ben, do you like salty fish heads in tofu soup?

  16. These savory cakes are good served hot  from the steamer, cold or refried.

    I will be making both for our international students year end picnic next week.

    Now, I'm guessing the picnic invitations are strictly speaking going only to the international students? Just checking... :smile:

    wongste: If you can make it...Wed, July 14, noon, Flora Cowan centre courtyard :laugh:

    I'll even take joong!

    When I make wu tau go, I boil the taro with the skins on. When they are cooked and cooled, then I peel and cube them.

    I have a hard time keeping my chopsticks out of the lobak after it is cooked, so I cook extra. Then I'd make some soup dumplings (tong yuen), add some sliced lapcheung, dried shrimp or dried scallop, cilantro, fresh black pepper, a side dish of sesame oil, chili and light soya :wub:

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