Dejah
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Posts posted by Dejah
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Yet another opinion on egg rolls
In the late 50s, my mom made "egg rolls' by making very thin crepes with beaten up eggs in an 8 inch frying pan. These were cooled and stacked in the fridge.
For the filling, she used shredded cabbage, bean sprouts (which she sprouted herself in big metal cans), canned sliced mushrooms, shredded celery and Spanish onion. Meat was not added because of the cost. She used to, as I did in recent years, cook all this mixture in 24" woks. After cooking and draining off most of the liquid, the mixture was thickened with a cornstarch slurry. The filling was left to cool then stored in the fridge. This stuff weighed a ton!
Everyday, we'd roll egg rolls for each day's use. When there was an order, mom would dip the egg rolls in a light batter then deep fry. I can't remember the batter recipe. I think this method was from my older brother from Seattle.
In later years when commercial egg roll wrappers became available, we still made the filling the same way. The egg rolls we wrapped were as Ben described, cylindrical with pinched ends rather than tucked in. The kitchen staff would make about 100, lightly deep fry them, cooled then refidgerated. They were deep-fried again just before serving. Plum sauce was the dipping sauce used.
We used lumpia wrappers for Vietnamese spring rolls. The filling is different...mainly bean sprouts, bean thread and julienne carrots. These were wrapped as Singapore described. We found these must be rolled as they were ordered, otherwise, the wrapper became soggy and all hell broke loose when they were immersed in hot oil.
I use rice wrappers for summer rolls. These are not deep fried. I usually use julienned cucumber, carrot, green onions and crab meat or smoked fish as filling. Sometimes I add bean thread stir-fried quickly with soya sauce for a different flavour and texture.
Fish sauce with chopped fresh chili is my fav. dip for the spring and summer rolls.
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Dejah, if the octopus you bought were tiny things, they are indeed octopus. However, there is always one or two orangey/yellowish coloured cuttlefish that's hanging with the ducks and soy sauce chicken. They are quite large, about a foot long and shaped like a deflated football.
As to pork stomach and bean curd stick soup, if you put gingko nuts in it, I'll be sure to stop by this fall.
Ben, You are right...they ARE cuttlefish. I'd better inform the ladies that their labelling is incorrect ! Do you have a recipe? It doesn't have a strong flavour, but it is so good with a chili/soya dip.
I do put gingko nuts in the soup. Had a vacuum pack of fresh ones so in they went.
My kids say they taste like rubber tires. They eat the pork (not stomach) and the tofu, but not the rest.
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Ben: Dejah, are you sure that the "octopus" you bought off the hook at the bbq racks was not cuttlefish?
You are probably correct, Ben. The sign said Baby Octopus. Do you know the recipe for this.. I think it is called "lo mai"?
Wongste:I think anyone who comes from a culture with a tradition of eating the "parts" should be duty-bound to uphold this tradition. Whether you like it or not!
I will gladly uphold this tradition, although I don't think my kids will;-)
I made tofu stick soup with sliced pig stomach, another of my favorite soups.
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foo yu = Chinese cheese, as hubby calls it.
I have never had the kind with sesame oil in it. The jar that I have is tofu, chili, salt and
wine. When I have a queasy stomach, or just cooking for myself, I have acouple of squares with steamed rice.
For cooking, my family loves green beans stir-fried with foo yu.
I always thought my hubby was crazy...as every time we have roast chicken, he asks for Chinese cheese with it . Now I see he knew something I didn't...chicken and foo yu DO go well together!
I will have to try marinating chicken with foo yu now.
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I would like to have a recipe for injera...if this is the Ethiopian bread for dipping into food.
My ESL class is mostly Ethiopians and I have enjoyed their cooking many times. They have tried to tell me their recipe, but we still have a language problem
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I was boiling joong from 1 pm to 9:30 pm on a wet rainy Sat. Can you imagine the humidity in the house
Is there any reason to boil the joong for 8 and a half hours?
Was it that you were boiling them in batches, each batch for 2 to 3 hours?
I guess I didn't make that very clear...I was boiling batches of 24 for 2.5 hours each time. That time, we made 85 joong.
This weekend, we made 109. I was boiling from 2:30 until midnight, finishing the last batch this morning
I have found, from my mom's and my own experience, that 2.5 hours was just right. The rice was silky, the meat, nuts, mushrooms, shrimp were tender, but retained their texture.
I kept a kettle of water boiling, to add to the pot whenever it boiled down. The joong must be covered by water at all times, otherwise some of the rice will not cook. Everyone in the family had a joong facial
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Ben Hong said: In looking at your joong, I notice that your family's are longer than what my female relatives made.
The leaves I bought this year were all huge...which made wrapping easy, and prompted me to make big joong. Hubby says my packets, my dumplings, etc. get bigger as I get tired.
The length of our joong may have been dictated by the length of the pork and lapcheung.
I am boiling my last 30 sweet rice only joong. Should have +60 in my freezer when I am finished "giving"
There will be some designated for you, Ben, if you come hunting in this area.
Jason, Glad you liked the webpage. I hope to do some captions for the photos. The family has been after me to collate my recipes...so this may be a good start.
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A joongzi webpage...a work in progress:
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I am boiling my third batch of 25 joongzi at the moment. My Mom, daughter and I made 109 joongzi this afternoon. Had some for supper with mustard green soup and lots of tea.
These are three of the first cooked batch with:
BBQ duck, lapcheung, salted pork, peanuts, Spanish onion, dried shrimp, sweet and jasmin rice.
The last 50 packets have all of the above, except BBQ duck. We put in Chinese mushrooms as we ran out of duck
Thanks Jason, for your help in posting the picture, but I don't think the joongzi sample would survive the mail
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Haggis can be delicious, moist, full of herbs...or dreadfully dry and bland. We have a local butcher who makes excellent ones for the annual Robbie Burns day celebration.
Was in Winnipeg yesterday and picked up 2 simmered whole pig stomach. It was very tender. I also bought a whole octopus. I am still looking for a recipe for that. The octopus is cooked, had a bright orange yellow colour on the outside, pure white inside and also very tender.
We went to a noodle and congee "cafe" and I had the house special congee: pig liver, stomach, and....
It was pretty bland. I will make my own tomorrow and add thepig stomach.
On English fare, I love steak and kidney pie...beef kidneys. These take time to trim all the connective tissue, then soaked in brine. Hubby is English and he's happy that I like to eat "parts". He has eaten chicken feet but not convinced that they are worth the effort
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Shiewie: You are probably correct in saying rice wine and brandy...I couldn't remember what Mom said she used, I just knew it made me sleepy!
And the addition of wood ears, ginger and even lily buds is correct. It's been 18 years since I have had this soup! Don't you just love the crunch of the wood ears?
The peanuts are supposed to help the "milk factory" ;-)
I must get the directions from my Mom. Nobody makes the pig feet soup like she does!
Not sure where I can get chicken gut these days, unless I go hunting in the farmer's yard
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aprilmei mentioned goose intestines...
After the birth of each of our three kids, my mom made the traditional "new mother" soups: pig feet with black vinegar, chunks of ginger, lily buds and hard boiled eggs,
and chicken and chicken intestines cooked with whiskey and peanuts.
There is alot of geletine in the pig feet. Mom usually made several crocks full.
The soup would gel as it sits in the fridge. I'd scoop some out and bring it to boil.
The soup is sweet but also has a sharp "cutting edge" from the vinegar.
It is tradition to make crocks of this soup in preparation for the baby's 1 month birthday ceremony. The family's female relatives, friends and neighbors are all invited and each would share a bowl of this pig feet soup.
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Mom was forever trying to get us to clean our rice bowls:
for my brothers: If you don't eat all your rice, you'll get an ugly wife!
for my sister and me: If you don't eat all your rice, you will BE an ugly wife
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I love beef tendon!
When my sister visits from Vancouver, she always bring us lots.
I dole it out...keeping some in double ziplock bags in the freezer.
I like to eat them cold, with chili oil...mmmmmmmm
Pig stomach is another favorite, cooked in soup with tofu sticks.
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wongste: When it comes to food, an advantage the dead have over the living is... they don't gain any weight! Ok, that's sick.
That's funny
browniebaker: My father and mother have a forty-year battle going, about whether the food that's offered to the ancestors should be foods that the ancestors liked to eat or foods that we the living like to eat.
I was taught that the "sam sang" is a must...as with all ceremonies such as Lunar New Year, bdays, anytime offerings are made to the dieties, ancestors.
The meal following usually has Chinese mushrooms in oyster sauce, bean thread, white simmered chicken...etc. I suppose raisins would be regarded as the fruit component.
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In the thread on chopstick etiquette, there is discussion on visits to the cemetery to pay respect to our ancestors.
When we lived in HK, it was a whole day affair as we had to take the ferry to Kowloon where my grandparents are buried. We had to carry so many things: paper money, gold paper ingots, incense, red candles, sam sang ( crispy pork, whole chicken and a fish). fruit, a variety of baking, etc. For us kids, it was like a picnic...after the serious business was completed.
Now in Canada, we usually visit my father's grave end of May. As in HK, we take all the
"necessaries". We take a metal can to burn the paper money. Strange thing tho'...the money is printed with Hell Bank as the issuer. My non-Chinese hubby thought he should keep a "million dollar" bill as a collectible...but my Mom stopped that...
The money is burned so my father will have lots of money to spend in heaven. The food and wine is also offered for his enjoyment. Crispy pork tastes the best on this day...perhaps because we always go around lunch time and we are starving, and the weather is always lousy!
We go home after and have a feast
On the Sunday after father's Day, our whole Chinese community gather and do the same thing, but we visit ALL the Chinese graves, especially the very old ones whose families are all gone or moved away...the forgotten ones. We just place incense and clean up. After, we all gather at a local Chinese restaurant for a traditional banquet...at lunch time. This restaurant has provided the food for the last 10 years.
We all donate money towards the expenses, and local restaurant suppliers donate meat, veg, fruit and drinks.
Funny how all traditions are food focused!
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Chicken feet, aka golden palms or pheonix palms served for dim sum.
I teach ESL at the university. This term, 99% of our students were from China. We were in Winnipeg for a field trip and dim sum was for lunch. Only one of the 6 caucasian teachers would eat the chicken feet. I sided with the students, but then I am Chinese
I like my palms with black bean garlic and lots of chili. They should be so tender that you can just suck the skin and tendons off the bones.
One of my Mom's specialties was stuffed large intestine of pig. She'd clean and soak them in salted water for an hour. Then she'd stuff them with rice and black beans. The ends are tied and the whole "coil" is steamed.
Mom would slice the coil into disks. We would dip them into soya, fresh ginger and chili oil. Food from memory always "taste" so good!
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You must either be descended from Chinese nobility... or a girl.
or have a smaller mouth
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My weekend of making joong got delayed by company, so this Saturday is J-Day.
I just finished boiling and washing about 350 bamboo leaves. The pork butte has been salted, rinsed and cut into 4 " finger width pieces,as with the lapcheung. My son brought back a BBQ duck yesterday. The peanuts and dried baby shrimp are soaking. I will make some without pork for my Muslim friend, then the rest will be loaded.
I will have my digital camera handy and plan to take pictures on the wrapping process. This will be especially useful as I want to learn how my Mom makes her special shape.
My young students from China all want to come up for lessons, but there are too many. This way, they can learn from the pictures. If they were honest, they'd just tell me they'd like to be here when joong are cooked and ready to eat!
Not sure how I can post pictures on the forum. If anyone can help me with the proceedure, perhaps I can upload acouple, or I may just post them in a series on our swebsite.
Wait for it...
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I can certainly understand these rules of etiquette but why NOT stab at a particularly slippery dumpling- for example. Seems like it would make the dining experience easier if a bit more heathenish.
I think you hit the nail on the head. I'm guessing stabbing is verboten for the same reason the Chinese don't use knives at the table. It's barbaric!
I am from Canton/ southern China and all the chopsticks I have ever used are blunt ended, so "stabbing" would have looked like a food fight
When setting the table, chopsticks are placed perpendicular to the edge of the table,
on the right hand side, big end down. This way, the chopsticks are ready for use when the guest is ready to eat.
When not in use, place your chopsticks back as they were first placed, with or without a "rest". I have also seen chopsticks placed with the ends resting on a "bone plate" if one is being used.
I was taught to serve others with the big end of the chopstick because it has not touched your mouth. I often serve my Mom that way when she is visiting.
When eating from a communal dish, never reach for food on the side away from you.
When the dish is not close to you, place your bowl close to the food before picking it up and placing it into your bowl. This way, you don't dribble onto the table.
When eating noodle soup, I pick up a small amount of noodles with my chopsticks, and hold the spoon under this as I transfer (daintily
) the noodles to my mouth.So many rules...When do I get to eat!?
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My Mom makes a dish with blanched centres of Shanghai bok choy, topped with pre-soaked shredded dried scallop in a light sauce.
I usually just use dried scallops in jook, or as mentioned in another thread, in joong.
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I will be making my second batch (freezer batch) of joong this weekend. By the time I finish, I should have about 100 joong, a steamed up kitchen, tired hands but happy family and friends!
The following is my family's traditional joong mixture:
-glutineous and jasmin rice, half and half mixture
-dried scallop, Chinese mushrooms, and peanuts, softened in warm water, seasoned then stir-fried with sliced Spanish onion
- lapcheung, each cut into 4 long pieces
- pork butt that I have had in coarse salt for the last 3 days, will rinse then cut into finger size pieces.
I use a traditional Chinese tea cup to measure just the right amount of rice for each packet. I start with one leaf folded into a "cone", add half cup of rice, add a second leave, then lay out my filling on top. This is then covered with the second half cup of rice. A third leave is added, folded to hold everything in, tied with string, then into a container waiting to be boiled for 2.5 hours.
I freeze these in Ziplock bags after they cool off. If I have time, I thaw and boil them for about 10 minutes before eating. Other times, I zap 'em in the microwave.
They survive well in the freezer. good even after a year ( found strays at the bottom of the freezer)
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Gary,
What exactly is Beijing white zongzi"?
Tsk, tsk, you didn't check out the link to the cute Flash tutorial on Zongzi from Hong Kong in my original post. You would have learned, like me, that Beijing White Zongzi are just glutinous rice, no stuffing, steamed and served with sugar.
I just started my morning in the LINK...getting a lesson on zongzi
I am always afraid to go to links...they take me deeper and deeper...
Thanks for kick starting me this morning!
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Zongzi are boiled; noh mai gai are steamed. They are apples and oranges.
OK, I give up. That won't stop the sticky-rice chicken at my favorite dim sum parlors from reminding me of Jiaxing zongzi with their simple, moist savory filling.
BTW, Beijing "white zongzi" are steamed, yet they're referred to as zongzi.....
Apples and oranges are both fruit.
Giving up so soon, Gary?
Anyway, Beijing white zongzi are steamed?
Hmm, I'll have to try one next time I'm there.
I'll agree with the comments pointed out by Ben.
I do think that if someone used just sticky rice with its filling and boiled it in leaves for eight hours, I wouldn't like it texturally.
That's why I also like it with zongzi with both kinds of rice, as someone else mentioned.
Gary,
What exactly is Beijing white zongzi"?
I DO make a boiled zongzi with just sweet rice...as well as the mixed rice kind.
Neither is boiled for 8 hours!
I boil mine, about 24 at a time in a large pot for 2.5 hours.Acouple years ago, my Vietnamese staff forgot and boiled one batch for 4 hours. It was VERY silky. I prefer mine to be smooth but still a little bit of a chewy texture.
I find that I can indulge in one and a half packets of the mixed rice variety, but with just sweet rice, one is plenty
FU RU - Fermented Tofu/doufu
in China: Cooking & Baking
Posted
These are two recipes that I use. Sometimes I have a heavy hand with fillings. Learned the hold back lesson when one of my attempts crumbled as I tried to serve it.
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.