Dejah

Kingchristo: I did a google on "what is chow mein" and I got 23 pages of images! And it asked iof I wanted more! Have a look and see if there is something that looks similar to what you are looking for.

Kingchristo: I use packaged dry wheat /egg noodles when I can't get fresh. The dried ones, put in boiling water until, as Mark said, just done. Drain and shock with cold water. Drain really well. I like to let mine sit in the fridge, barely covered for several hours or even a day before using them. The noodles are chilled, firm, and easier to stir fry. For what I call "plain noodles", I heat up the wok until very hot, and it is possible to do this even with my electric coil stove. Add oil and coat the wok well. Sprinkle in salt (and chopped garlic if you wish) Add a layer of noodle, spread it over the surface, and let it brown a bit. Flip the noodles over and do the other side. Then, I'd use chopsticks to loosen the noodles, and continue cooking until all the noodles are heated thru'. This way, I have a mixture of crisp and soft. At this time, you can add a splash of soy sauce, or, for me, a drizzle of sesame seed oil. To me, this is "plain chow mein". I also remember this version when we visited the northeast Yorkshire area. This version is versatile as I can top the noodles with a mix of stir-fried vegetables, with meat, or just stir-fried beansprouts and green onions. I also use my crepe pan to make a noodle "pancake" - crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. Then a mix of meat, vegetables, and sauce is poured over the top. Or you can make lo-mein, where everything is mixed in together. I am like you, I often like to replicate a dish I've eaten in a restaurant. Authentic? Who knows unless we've eaten in every corner of China! As everyone has mentioned, every place has their own version. If you can post a pictures, perhaps one of us can identify it as from "our region" I hope this will help you! Meanwhile, here's what I made for supper one night last week. Probably called Cantonese Chow Mein because that's where I am from.

Strange...what we grow up eating and exposed to is what we call "real Chinese". I wouldn't have thought kingchristo's dish was real if I hadn't had a salt and pepper chicken dish similar to his at an "authentic" Chinese restaurant here. At least, my students from mainland China all love this place and says it's "real Chinese food"... As for deep frying in a wok, it WOULD be hazardous with the set up kingchristo uses. But, you were sure adapt at "wokking" with the tossing! I've been cooking for longer than any of you, I think, and I still can't "toss" like that! I blame it on my short stature. BTW: Thanks for sharing your video, Chris, and welcome to the China forum!

Cold season is here, so it is hot'n'sour soup time - any time, really. This is my Caucasian daughter-in-law's request every time she has a bad cold. We had it with some store-bought sesame pancakes - same as scallion pancakes without the scallions. I just fried them up in a non-stick pan, and they were good - saves me a lot of work and time. And we had ho fun for lunch earlier, with home made char sui and soybean sprouts.

Thanks for the feedback on the chicken. I have used a recipe for masala from about,com, but I get lazy, so I use Patak's Tandoori Curry Paste. As I love cumin, so I usually add a pinch more to the recipe. I used zero fat Greek yogurt - nice and thick and stuck to the chicken while roasting. Thought of spliting the chicken and throwing it on the BBQ to char, but I was afraid it might dry it out. This was juicy and tender. As for the rice, I fried up cumin seeds, and black peppercorns in ghee until fragrant, then added the rice which had been soaked for 30 minutes then drained. It had a slight toasted flavour. 1 cup of rice to - 2 cups water. Boiled uncovered for 3 minutes or so, then covered and finished off at lowest setting until done. Love this stuff! Sometimes, I put in cardamon seed instead of peppercorns. That's good also.

Everyone's dinners look SO perfect! I don't usually do a whole chicken, but this one's been in the freezer for 2 months... Marinated inside and out with tandoori paste and yogurt. Roasted in 350 oven for 2.5 hours. It was just done, juicy, and flavourful...eaten with cumin black peppercorn basmati rice...

It's been a while since I posted. We were on a 3-week road trip to California and home to Canada via Lubbock, Texas. After eating on the road, I was ready to cook again! Here are some meals from the last couple of weeks: Maple-Orange Glazed Pork Chops: Lemongrass - Chili Pepper Beef Stir-fry: Thai Basil Chicken Stir-fry: Thai Curry Braised Lamb Shanks: Meen See (Brown Soy Bean Paste) Steamed Pork Ribs: And, Ciopinno: GREAT to be home!

A couple of nights ago, I made meatloaf for the second time ever! This was Chipotle Meatloaf and it was moist, spicy, and delicious. Tonight, I sliced the leftovers, covered it with more sauce AND a mix of mozza, parmasan, and provolone cheese before sticking it under the broiler for a few minutes. It stayed moist, got spicier, and stringy... The original recipe called for ground turkey, but I used lean ground beef.

MJX: These popping bobas are made from water, sugar, fruit juice,calciumj lactate, seaweed extract, malic acid, potassium sorbate, and fruit flavourings. Amazon had a kit: At Home Molecular Gastronomy - but it's not available at this time. These are very different from the tapioca ones, which are chewy. These pop in your mouth when you squish the chewy thin covering. Tried eating them by themsleves - fun but got boring. NEEDS YOUGURT!

Finally got my joong made, a couple of weeks late for the Dragon Festival in June due to teaching schedul. Fed 30 international students, family, some friends and neighbors, and still have about 75 left for the freezer. Haven't made joong since my mother, my joong master passed away 2 years ago. It was a bit sad making them by myself, but also a happy session of remembering our happy conversations over the years. Subconsciously, I laid out all my ingredients, supplies on the same red card table the same way as we did for so many years. I even poured myself a cup of hot water that my Mom always requested! Am I my mother's daughter or what? We are finally getting hot summery weather here on the Manitoba prairies, so no cooking last night,. We just heated up acouple of joong and made a quick, simple wintermelon soup (no picture of soup) And a neighbor surprised me with a tub of lychee bobas from the frozen yogurt shop. She didn't bring yogurt as it wouold not have survived the 10 minute drive. But it was fun to sit and enjoy each boba as it popped and sent a little squirt of lychee flavoured juice onto the tongue!

Found the info'! http://www.poppingbobas.com/

I was given 2 doz. salted egg yolks, and I am the only one who likes joong with the yolks. By mid next week, I will have pieces of pork butt sitting in salt and the bamboo leaves soaking, ready to be boiled in vinegar.. Other ingredients will be dried shrimp meat, lap cheung, dong goo, onion, and chestnuts. No mung beans or yellow beans for me! I wrap them in the pillow shape but differently from yours Prawn. My Mom made the "twisted" ones. I can, once in a while, by accident. I see you like chili sauce with your joong, Prawn...Me too!

A yogurt chain - Tutti Frutti - has opened to a roaring business in our small city. SO easy to load up then gasp at the cost - 56 cents / oz... There are loads of add-ons, but the one I love is called bobas. These are NOT tapioca balls found in boba tea, but little balls filled with juice. They are about the size of large tapioca balls. When you squish them against the roof of your mouth, a delicious little squirt of juice comes out. I was told that these are shipped up from the USA. Any idea what these are and if they can be purchased for home use?

Haven't been posting much - nothing as pretty or intricate as Prawn's, WIll's or Kouig's, but here's tonight's supper: This is a relative of the wolf berry plant, except there are no berries on this one. The leaves are stripped from the stalk and used for soup. I consider this my spring tonic as they are very early. After stipping the leaves, the stalks can be stuck back into the ground for next year's crop. I made a stock with pork riblets, added the leaves, and a salted egg just before serving. This was my childhood favourite and still is. Saw some nice Chinese eggplant, so made Stir-fry eggplant with toban sauce. We also had steamed spareribs with black beans...the sauce is so delicious on rice!

I won't be able to make mine until July 1st - a long weekend for me - as my teaching keeps me too busy! I haven't made any since my mother passed away 2 years ago, and my kids and extended families are requesting the ones that "you and Po-Po used to make". I pretty much need the whole weekend to make the +100 or so to fill many tummies. Maybe my daughter will come home that weekend and we can carry on the tradition of Mother and Daughter Joong session! She learned how with Po-Po. Here's the link to our 3-generation joong session: http://www.hillmanweb.com/soos/joongzi.html

LTWong: I see what that means now. So essentially, it would reduce the steam time. I have always just followed my mother's recipe and method... Might have to try this if it would redue the condensation on my picture windows, especially in the winter.

Hi aznsailorboi, Welcome back, but I don't think many of us old-timers frequent this forum as much as we used to... You DO have to use rice flour and NOT glutineous rice flour. That's why you had a sticky "cake". This is the mistake I made when I was making tong yuen one time...used rice flour instead of glutineous rice flour. The balls of dough would not rise and were hard as golf balls instead of soft doughy dumplings. I use Grace Young's recipe but add a lot more ingredients than most recipes call for. I don't understand what Fred12fred meant in reference to Young's recipe: " Grace's recipe calls for cooking the rice flour in with the daikon before steaming. I think that makes a world of difference." That would not work as you wouldn't be able to work in the other ingredients before steaming. Here is my lobak goh. I have made it often for my Chinese students. I slice it up, fry it up, then we just reheat in the microwave before eating it with hot chili oil. This is 1.5 times the original recipe. The pan is the one my mother used for so many years. http://www.hillmanwe...s/lobakgoh.html

Prawn: What exactly as beef cheeks? As in beef cheeks? I have never seen these, but they sound and look delicous.

My stomach tells me I need me some red-braised pork belly! My scales say, "No..No...NO! Not yet..." Prawn: Did you use fresh soft-shell crabs or frozen? That's the only kind I can get here on the prairies. I can never seem to get them dry enough to deep fry to crispy deliciousness. What did you use for coating? I love soft-shell crab...

I want everything that everyone has posted! Acouple of meals from this week... Brunch: French toast/grilled cheese Grilled turkey breast fillet with fat-free mozza Coconut panko shrimp, baby octopus, homemade fries, and peas with fresh mint and a "gift basket" for my neighbor - coconut/panko shrimp

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/fish-maw-soup-recipe/index.html Just checked this site out and it's similar to what I do. I use raw chicken - marinated with cornstarch, salt, and a bit of oil instead of cooked chicken. And, I don't usually need to add cornstarch slurry at the end. I put less Chinese mushrooms in, but I may add diced wintermelon if it's on hand.

Words fail me, and I can guarantee that doesn't happen often. Everything looks so wonderful that I've been hesitant in posting. However, I was really pleased with our supper/dinner tonight. Lamb shanks braised in coconut milk, Thai curry paste (Mae Ploy), lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves. Threw in chunks of potato for the last 45 minutes. I also had some green leaf lettuce left over from a lettuce wrap lunch, so I chopped it up, added some sliced shitaki mushroom, ground pork balls, and tofu in chicken stock for a fairly light soup.

rotuts: Yes. That's the Nana's paste I use!

I use Patak Hot curry, tandoori, vindaloo pastes for Indian dishes, and Mae Ploy for green, Penang, and red Thai/Malay curry dishes. I will make my own pastes if I have the time and the required ingredients on hand, which is seldom these days... Has anyone seen the paste for Butter Chicken under the brand NANA? I've only seen it at the Safeway store. Again, it makes a nice dish without a lot of fuss.

Chris: Really enjoying your foodblog here. I was looking at your tortilla press set up. What do you use to cover the surfaces? I tie a big piece of Saran wrap on each side, but it's never satisfactory. The "covers" you have seem to be fairly stiff?