Dejah

But I bet you don't put the sugar in FIRST! That would be like adding salt before tasting! Must be a Wuxi thing then

I'm from Toisan/Guongdong, and have also been taught to balance the salt with a bit of sugar.

Ditto

Aiyaaaa! So confusing 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 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.

Sue-on-- Excellent page. My god those look good. Thanks! I took one for each of my students this morning. They asked, "How come you didn't make sweet ones!" Ungrateful wretches!

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.

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

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!

I have been using salmon fillet, measuring about 5" wide and 12 inches long. These are boneless, great for older folks 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?

Why do some restaurants call deep fried wontons "bon bons"? How about almond gai ding?

Now, I'm guessing the picnic invitations are strictly speaking going only to the international students? Just checking... wongste: If you can make it...Wed, July 14, noon, Flora Cowan centre courtyard 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

A joongzi webpage...a work in progress: http://www.angelfire.com/trek/erbmuseum/soos/

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

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 the pig 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

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

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.

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