Dejah

What can I say, Ben? She's only HALF Chinese!

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....hzrt! My Mom and I shared the last paidan so last week. The coconut tarts I can get here at our supermarket. I make a curry puff, with chicken and potatoe, and sometimes with ground beef. The only thing I am envious of is the pai dan so . . . My midnight snack tonight will be moistened burnt rice with mashed sweet potato! I cooked rice on the stove tonight so that I can have burnt rice. (fan jeu . . .yummy!)

Thanks hzrtw8, for the recipe. May get a chance to try it out this weekend. My daughter will only eat white meat, but I prefer the thigh.

I just remembered the jello-like go. It's called dye choi go. (literally big veg. cake) The strings of yellowish substance is agar agar. It must be first soaked to soften, rinsed, then boiled until it is all dissolved. Sugar is then added, along with a beaten egg if you wish. Once it is cooled, put it in the fridge. When firm, you can cut it into chunks and indulge. My mom was here tonight and I made a pan of this. It's waiting to cool and set. Will see how it turns out then maybe I can get a picture of it.

You are correct in that the poem would be spoken in putongua, and sounds better in that dialect as well. It was taught to me in Cantonese, but I also know it in putongua. But, my pronunciation is VERY bad,

The jello-like go was mentioned in another thread. I remember the ingredient; agar agar, made from seaweed. But, as before, I can't remember what the name for the finished prodict is. I have some agar in my cupboard. Maybe I can get my mom to show mje how to make it tomorrow! :biggrin Thanks, liuzhou, for the Chinese characters for the poem. I actually used the poem in a song hubby and I co-wrote and recorded in the70s.

The mung bean threads are just soaked, not cooked. I guess if you want to maintain the whiteness, then rice noodles are the route to go. The mung bean threads turn an amber colour once mixed in with the mushrooms, etc. I'll have to try it with the rice noodles. I just never have any in my pantry. As for the wrappers, I haven't had any rip or fall apart on me yet. I let them drip off before laying them onto a wooden board. Sometimes I have to blot it with a paper towel, but most of the time, they are just perfect for wrapping. I think I like the mung beans and the lettuce wrap because it reminds me of a lunar new year vegetarian dish my mom makes. It also has olives that are similar to fermented black beans. PS Tell Jason I haven't forgotten the reduced wonton meat recipe for him.

Rachel, Do you always use rice noodles? Mung bean threads are what I use. Lately, sauteed julienned Chinese mushrooms and wood ears were added to my summer roll filling. Fresh mint adds a refreshing taste. Instead of lettuce, I have been using mixed field greens. These add a bite because of the baby beet leaves, dandelion, escarol, etc. Wrapping my summer roll with a lettuce leave just before devouring adds even more crunch. I find that if I put a wrap in warm water while working on one roll, the second is pliable by the time the first one is done.

I add reconstituted dried oysters with my soup. Or, I would hollow out the seeds, stuff the gourds with ground pork, cut it into one inch slices, then braised with a black bean garlic sauce, or if my daughter insistes, an oyster sauce. Bitter melon is considered a cooling element. Really enjoying the combined efforts in your blog, Laksa and Ms Congee!

Ok, Cantonese speakers: Let's see if I can get some semblance to pronunciation and getting this on here! I remember learning this many mooncakes ago. Chong tseen ming yuet gong, Yee see dai sheung sheung. Gueh tow mong ming yeut Dye tow see goo hueung. If someone can post the Chinese characters for this, it would be great! I can print it out for my Chinese students when the new term starts. We usually have an autumn BBQ with the new students and mooncakes and wotow go are my contributuions. I pay about $25.00 for a tin of 4 lotus paste / double yolk regular size cakes. These come from Vancouver and have been fresh when they are brought in by Superstore. The shelves are bare within a couple days. I find the mini-ones drier. One of my sons will snatch a couple right away and hide them in his room. He and I enjoy them the most.

Love moon cakes, and in my family, I get all the yolks! Guess I'll have to save acouple for Ben Hong, along with the joong.

saskanuck . . .by any chance --Saskatchewan . . . Canuck? If so, I'm your neighbor to the east. Wherever, welcome to Egullet! I've been trying to get a count on my collection. I had to use all my fingers and toes . . . several times over. total of 147 in this house. Not sure what's in the house out in the country. Judi, I'm going to go through the shelves tonight and see what might be of interest to you.

Judi, Is there any particular cuisine you are interested in? Give me some idea of your interest so I can send something appropriate? Dejah

Century eggs are also great as an appetitzer. The egg is sliced into 4 or 6 sections, and eaten with pickled ginger. Some equate the taste to rubber tires. . .

Laksa, a most interesting list! Looks like another great blog coming... Did you post your BBQ pork recipe in another thread? If not, please do! Bananas...do you do frozen bananas?

Abra, Thank you for the incredible blog! I'll have to try that salmon marinate next time. Looks like the ice-cream will be a project with our grandson as he loves cookie dough.

I like to think of "authentic" as what has been in my family, and passed down through generations . . . Does authentic mean producing the exact same results as when the original recipe was first developed? Is that possible considering the changes that have been made to the ingredients?

sequim:"Heck, I remember my mother kept a can of bacon fat out on the stove and cooked from that when we were growing up." When I came to Canada, one of my first tastes of Canadian food was fresh bread fried in bacon fat left on the grill, after Dad cooked bacon for a customer's BLT. Hubby's Nana always had her "tin" of drippings in her ice box. It was handy when there wasn't enough dripping for Yorkshire puddings for Sunday night's roast. It was also great for pan-fried left over potatoes!

I too am sorry to hear of your tremendous loss. An idea just occured as I was hitting the reply button: Judiu's collection would definitely "rise again like the pheonix" if some of us who have duplicate cookbooks could send them to judie. Judiu, are there any particular titles you desperately need? I may not have any that you lost, but this may be a good way to start new passions?

Sitting here, listening to my daughter go over her harp repetorie for a wedding this afternoon, drinking my coffee and eating a thick slice of warm home-made bread slathered with Skippy chuncky peanut butter topped with home-made Seville orange marmalade. "Who could ask for anythin g more...."

bloviatrix: You took the bars....errr...words right out of my mouth!

I like using pork tenderloin for BBQ pork. It's lean and the shape is perfect for hanging in the oven and for slicing to serve as appetitizers. But, for char sui bao, I like a bit of fat to keep the filling juicy and for flavour, so I use pork butte roast. I'd trim some of the fat off around the edges but keep the fat within the lean parts.

My Mom's recipe for bao has been posted in the China and Chinese cuisine thread, in the RESTAURANT, CUISINE AND TRAVEL FORUM. For ma pao tofu, I cut medium firm tofu into cubes, put them into a colander and let them drain. While waiting for the cubes to drain, I brown ground pork (or any ground meat, or no meat at all), diced onions and any fresh hot peppers I may have on hand. Seasoning is held off until the dish is finished cooking. I brown the tofu cubes in about 1/2 cup of oil, drain off the oil, and add the meat and onions back into the wok. Instead of using mashed black beans, etc, I use LEE KUM KEE chili bean sauce (Toban Djan). This works really well. I usually add about 3 tbsp....adjust according to your tolerance. If you like lots of sauce, add some stock or water and thicken slightly with cornstarch slurry. I may season at this time, if I think it needs salt. Just before plating, I add chopped fresh mint, and some whole leaves on top. Mint and heat seems to go well together, in my opinion. My daughter China-Li thinks I am obsessed with mint, basil, cilantro and rosemary . . . I also like to put wilted lettuce, iceberg or romaine under the tofu, whether it's ma pao or tofu in oyster sauce.

ahem.... Did I hear my name ? Am I being paged? Those meals look wonderful! One benefit of Gladware...food won't clash with the dish.

Hi transparent, Here's the recipe for bao. I wrote down the measurements and steps as my Mom made bao, a long time ago. The only change we've made is using cake and pastry flour now instead of all-purpose. We found this made the baos whiter and fluffy, not as "chewy". I can't remember how many this batch made tho' because I usually double the recipe each time... I will be making some more this weekend in a dim sum lesson, so I may remember to keep track then. 4 cups flour, all purpose for chewy, cake and pastry for fluffy 1 cup of sugar ( to the 7oz. line, why? "cos Po-Po said so. ) 1/2 tsp salt 4 "full" teaspoons (not the measuring kind, actual tsps.) of baking powder. Shift dry ingrdients together. Add 2 cups LESS 1TBSP cold milk. I use my dough hook on the KitchenAid and knead the dough until it comes away from the sides of the bowl...10 minutes? Rest the dough for about 10 minutes, add 1 TBSP of vegetable oil. Knead again for 10 minutes, until smooth. Cut into desired pieces, roll out with the edges thinner than the centre. Tortilla presses work great! I thin out the edges when I pleat. Put filling of choice in the middle. Pleat the edges and pinch together at the top. Place the bao on a medium size paper cupcake liner with the pinched top up. These will "fan out" when steamed. Bring a steamer of water to boil. Steam buns for 17 minutes. I use different kinds of filling. One, of course, is the char sui. I also make one with chicken, Chinese mushrooms, lap cheung and onions. The third filling is curry chicken with onions. Let me know how you make out.