Dejah

Ben, Lo wah kiw! I live in Brandon, close to where you were stationed in the 70's...Shilo. Wait until I make my 150 joong, then do a drive-by...

I am one of the lucky ones, to have my 95 year old mother to teach me all the old ways. My mom, my 18 year old daughter and I made 85 packets of joong this Saturday...for Mom's freezer and observance of June 22. Per her request, we made a dozen sweet rice with lye water joong. She didn't want red bean paste this time, just a piece of red stick (joong sum) for the red colour in the middle. These will be eaten dipped in white sugar. We made 50 packets with a mixture of jasmin and sweet rice. These were savory ones, filled with BBQ duck, lapcheung, salted fat pork, stir-fried onions, peanuts and dried baby shrimp. To finish, we made 25 packets with just sweet rice, with the same fillings as the above. I was boiling joong from 1 pm to 9:30 pm on a wet rainy Sat. Can you imagine the humidity in the house?! I am going to buy one of those "turkey deep fryers" before I make my own supply of about 150. This way, I can boil outside! The hardest part in this activity is soaking, washing and boiling the bamboo leaves in water and vinegar. Then the cutting and chopping of the filling takes time. I enjoy this once a year time tho', especially since it fills my freezer for the year The only thing I haven't been able to learn is, how to make the special "twisted" shapes my mom makes. My non-Chinese hubby says they taste better.

Just watched a program on TV this afternoon...on kitchen make-overs. The home owner happened to be Jamaican and operated a restaurant in ...not sure where. She made jerked chicken on the show. She used a wet marinate, of scotch bonnet peppers, brown and cane sugar, olive oil, thyme, lime juice?. The chicken was 2 halves, bone in, flattened and marinated for an hour or so. The BBQ was charcoal...burned low. She first put down several pieces of pimento wood, then the chicken, topped by pieces of oak. The meat was cooked, covered, over a slow fire for 3 to 4 hours!? They didn't show the final results, but she said it would slow cook to tender juicy jerked chicken!

I have YEO's yellow bean sauce. Haven't done much Thai cooking, but I use it for my steamed pork ribs or belly with plums in brine. Have never rinsed the sauce before using. Would that not lose much of the "flavour"? For my pork dish, I just scoop some sauce and mix it in with the meat. I don't usually add salt as the sauce is salty.

"Sizzling hot plate" items were a big attention-getter when we had the restaurant, with our own BBQ sauce, curry, black bean garlic or sechuan sauce. But, I am not sure what the "Black pepper sauce"is. Do you have an secret ancient Chinese recipe to share?

jo-mel, I made your recipe for Pearl Balls for my students' international food fair. The first batch I made, I mixed by hand, stirring in one direction with a wooden spoon. My Mom said they were good, but I thought they were a little mushy rather than soft. Yesterday, I made my second batch, same recipe except a little less Chinese mushrooms as I found the first ones a bit overpowering. This time, I used my KitchenAide, with the paddles. I "beat" on low speed until everything was mixed up. These were better texture, soft but not mushy. I took a chafer of 70 meatballs...nestled on a bed of fresh lettuce (not steamed). They looked great and were gone in no time flat! As we don't have any dim sum in our small city, the Chinese students loved the treat. Thanks for the great recipe. I may try out the "parsley factor" with my beef ball recipe this weekend.

Jo-Ann, I made the Pearl Balls last night and they turned out very well. My daughter said they looked like sea urchins! I ran out of pre-soaked rice, so will finish the rest of the meat today. However, I found the meatballs to be very soft and fine textured...not the same bouncy texture as the beef meat balls I make. Is that the way they are supposed to be? I have never had Pearl Balls before, so am not sure of the texture.

jo-mel, Your recipe for PEARL BALLS: Can these be frozen after I steam them? Can't imagine they'd freeze well before they are steamed...? Ok...duh... I should have read BOTH pages I printed out instead of focusing on... " I gotta get to the store before closing for waterchestnuts!" I will steam then freeze;-)

jo-mel, I was wondering if you did any updates on the parsley factor on meatballs? I was planning to make some for our students' international food fair. I will not be there to explain the "pinkness" to all the people, and definitely do not want to see all my meatballs in the garbage!

Whenever people from China come to visit me, they bring me boxes of "fat choy", especially when I was in business. It sounds the same as the Cantonese for "prosperity" When I make soup with it, I mix some with ground pork, shaped into meat balls. After the pork bones stock is done, I add cut up suey choy, more fat choy and the meat balls. I love the texture. I am able to buy fresh lotus root in Chinese grocery stores on the prairies. Sometimes, they are in cryovac, other times, in sawdust or straw. I use it in soup, with lots of octopus(not squid) and ginger. Stir-fry is a favorite method also. I prefer the starchy one for soup and the crunchy ones for stir-fry. Seems to me that the "longer cylindrical shaped" roots are crispy and the "squatter round" roots are starchy? Will have to ask Mom Hubby thought the slices looked like the bridge on a fiddle...so our family named it "fiddle bridge soup". Anyone like the sweetened slices at New Years, along with lotus nuts, waterchestnut, carrots etc? I bought some sei kou for Mom at Chinese New Year. She hoarded afew and has them sitting in water. They sprouted and have stalks about 12" long!

Fresh, thinly sliced pickerel fillet, seasoned with fresh ground white pepper, a little peanut oil and corn starch rub...the perfect addition to jook. I like to add lots of cilantro, a dash of sesame oil and pickled vegetables. I also "silken" other meats, such as chicken, beef or pork before adding to the jook. I add the meat when the jook is ready, bring it back to boil and serve. I have never had it with pidan until this year. It's great! I too remember eating porridge as a savory. Haven't had it since my Mom made it while we were still in HK. This was a favorite as a breakfast on cold days. I'll be looking after my 95 year old Mom for the next two weeks. This is always a joyful time as I get to learn more traditional cooking. Tonight, she instructed me in making papaya soup. What a waste of a wonderful fruit, but the soup was simple and delicious. Along with the cooking, she shares many memorie of our old home. Tonight, she was telling me about the wonderful papaya trees in our yard back in Toisan...The melons were much bigger, of course

Aprilmei, Clay pot and sand pot same or different utensils? Is there any particular way to season, maintain, and prepare a sand pot for cooking? I have had 3, 4 sand pots, and they have all cracked after about 6 uses Both the "too sweet and too wet" plastic wrapped lap cheong, produced in Vancouver, I believe, and the wind dried (don't know from where) ones are available in Winnipeg. I like them both. I don't care for the chicken liver and pork ones tho'. The texture is too fine for my taste. Where are you BettyK, that you can't get these? My Mom used to make her own lap yuk, back in the 60's. I'll have to ask her if she still remembers the recipe, not that I'd try to make any. I am having visions of my 100 pound Great Pyrenees dog taking flying leaps at my bamboo pole strung with delectable strips of lap yuk!

"bo zi fan" literally means " little pot rice"...cook the lap cheong or lap yuk, or BOTH, together with your rice. I usually slice the meat and lay them on top. As the rice boils, the meat tends to "sink down" a bit, adding wonderful flavour throughout the rice. Other times, I leave the meat in whole pieces and slice after they are cooked. Anyone else like to chew and chew and chew on the lap yuk rind...after it is cooked, of course! If I cook the rice on top of the stove, the crispy rice on the bottom of the pot is especially yummy.

Aha! So it's the parsley's fault! I have had that experience. Took out the meat balls after 15 minutes of steaming, and the inside looked pink and uncooked. Tried more steaming, no change, but the texture told me they were cooked! jo-mel, Please let us know the results of the "parsley factor" after your testing.

Gary, I know what you mean about chewy Cantonese dim sum meat balls This recipe I use is more like what you called "airy". It actually calls for 4 parts lean beef, to be minced, plus 1 part pork fat, egg white, etc, etc. The beating really makes the difference.

jo-mel, The Lion's Head meatballs, are they made from beef or pork? One recipe I have in my Immigrant cookbook uses pork only. I have never made them. I DO make steamed beef balls like those served at dim sum, and they ARE spongy. I do beat the mixture, in my Kitchen Aid with paddles. When you said "fibres from frizzing"...do you mean "thread-like" texture? I was always taught that when the mixture has "threads" that will make the meat spongy. In the beef balls, I think the cornstarch and waterchestnut flour helps with the spongy texture. I can't remember whether I ever posted the recipe. If you want it, let me know and i will post same.

I am having a dinner party tomorrow for 10 and I am making a couple appetizers, plus a soup and about 5 main dishes... My prep. time is going to be tight, so I am wondering if I can make the sushi tonight, refridgerate and serve tomorrow around 7 pm...or should I just push the time and make it up tomorrow afternoon?

Lucy, Thanks for the tips. I am going to try again today, and come hell or high water, no matter how many batches I have to make up, I am going to get to the bottom of this, or the top if they rise! I, too, use store bought wraps for sui mai For boiled dumplings and potstickers, I make my own.

Maybe your baking powder is no longer active? The container of baking powder was brand new...just bought it and opened when I was ready to make the baos. Is there a way to check its effectiveness other than using vinegar, or with 24 "hockey puck" baos as I did? I am going to try again tomorrow...just mantao. Don't want to waste any filling!

100 each, I hope!! noooooooooo....... We had several other items of interest to devour as well. As it was , averaging 4, 5 each, we had a hard time getting up from our chairs at the end of the session! I was trying to make char sui bao last night. It must have been one of those "off nights'. I used my Mom's recipe for the dough: 4 cups flour, 4 full tspspoons of baking powder, 2 cups milk, 1/2 tsp. salt. 1 cup sugar. I mixed this all up in my Kitchenaid with the dough hooks. I "knead" this for about 5 minutes, rested the dough, then knead again for 15 minutes. This was VERY sticky and soft. Made the baos up, steamed for 20 mintes and they came out 'THUD"! not the usual fluffy baos I make It's been a long time since I made the dough from scratch....have been using a pre-mixed flour...then adding the sugar and milk. Anyone have a fool-proof recipe and proceedure for steamed baos? I now have 24 heavy ones to digest.

>7. When boiling, take them out the minute they rise to the top, since you're working with fresh ingredients. The age old technique of adding a bowl of cold water to the water to cool it down again and letting it come to the boil again before removing the dumplings applies to frozen dumplings only. Lucy, I was happy to see the above directions! Don't have to wait as long to eat the dumplings When we had a dumpling party with a professor from Nanjing, he and his wife insisted that we had to add the cold water, 3 times! I can't remember the rational. If it was an age old technique, it can't be because they had frozen dumplings... We made and ate over 100 (22 people). You can imagine how much moisture I had in my house by the time we finished. My walls were sweating!

herbacidal> I'm also interested in the conclusion of "tee doi", as I can't figure it out. Too bad there isn't a picture. To me, "tee doi" is group name for small sweet pastries, like the ones decribed by Ben and myself...mainly for special occaisions like New Years. I am going to ask one of my students for a Mandarin translation today. I have never been called banana, but certainly "jook sang" and CBC. I think they might have called Ben, Yes Sir! Banana behind his back in the days of his former persona

Many thanks for the links, Shiewie

One of my Chinese students gave me this today along with the following description in her e-mail. >a small bag of Lin Zhi( Chinese soup ingredients).It looks like big mushroom.Ling Zhi is one kind of the Chinese medicine which is very good for helping people sleep well at night Anyone know what this is? It's too cold to run over to show Mom ...

Ed, Would you post your recipe/method for orange beef? I used long thin slices of marinated inside round, dried orange peel and fresh orange zest. The sauce was spicy, vinegary and the meat was crispy on the outside. I think the trick is to use just enough sauce to add the tang...and not completely coat each piece of meat. Your General Tso sounds much like my sesame chicken, crispy on the outside, moist and tender on the inside, lightly tossed with a slightly thickened vinegary ( a touch of sugar...don't slap me! ) spicy sauce laced with Thai reds and sesame oil. Again, the trick is to not coat the meat completely. And, NO VEGETABLES.