Dejah

An amazing start to your blog, Shelby! I am envious of your kitchen, especially the pull out shelves and the very long counter above your stove. Does your stove have downdraft ventilation?

Good morning, and Merry Christmas, Chris! Wonderful blog and great read. You are THE MAN to have for fantastic meals! Thanks for the tip on using the Ziplock bag over the tortilla press! I've struggled with tying Saran wrap on both halves whenever I make dim sum. Now my task will be much easier!

Thanks, Prawn! Those look exactly like the ones I had last week! I've saved your notes and will try your method soon! Trust a young'un to teach an old dog new tricks.

I wonder if raw salty egg yolk was used, would it still have that "sandy" texture? Need to experiment... Any suggestions for a batter? It looked "crumbly". I just might have to go and eat another plate to refresh my memory.

Actually, the restaurant makes a Gum Sa Crab, but when that's not available, it's Gum Sa Shrimp. This restaurant is a small place (seats 60 max) with new owners. Having been once a week, then taking our 50 international students (45 Chinese) there for year-end dinner, and my being able to speak Cantonese, we've struck up a friendship. They said if we wanted to take in a crab, they will do the Gum Sa crab for us. My s-i-l was goading me to ask for the recipe, but...So, I'm asking here. I think the idea is to mash up the cooked salty egg yolk, then incorporate it into the batter.

Had a new dish (to me) the other night at a local restaurant now serving "authentic" Chinese food. We've been several times and working slowly through their massive menu. One item that really caught my fancy was Golden Sand Shrimp - Gum Sa Ha. It is supposedly coated with a mixture of mashed cooked salty egg yolk. Any information, ideas, or recipes would be most appreciated! The coating was golden, like a crunchy batter, and the shrimp was barely cooked - to perfection.

Been running about to the stores: -28C outside (-18F) Finishing up a large bowl of home-made chicken noodle soup with green beans, celery, carrots, peas, barley AND egg noodles. Very comfortable now. Have a small prime roast in the oven with purple sweet potatoes in jacket. Been checking out the sweet potatoe thread for some great ideas. Think we'll be eating these with a compound butter of lime (rind and juice), chilli, fresh coriander/cilantro and coarse salt as suggested by Snadra. Thanks, Snadra!

Winkles are lovely stir-fried with ginger and black bean garlic sauce - Chinese style. Once the trap doors are opened, they're done. Need paper towels and lots of rice for the sauce. I also enjoyed picking them out of their shells with a straight pin, eating, and walking along the seashore in places like Whitby, England! I think these were just boiled in seawater or salted water?

Hungarian Mushroom Soup - Moosewood: http://www.food.com/recipe/Hungarian-Mushroom-Soup-from-the-Moosewood-Cookbook-135215 Great stuff!

Katie: Make duck congee next time. I've beenfinding bags of mushrooms on sale for half price at our Superstore, so it's been Hungarian Mushroom soup from Moosewood Cookbook Recipe #135215. This seems to freeze well with adding some fresh dill and the cream when heating up to serve.

The perfect imagery, Jo-mel:-)

Chris: Try slicing the carrots on a diagonal. Leave the slices in the shape of the carrot as you slice, then pat them down, still in the "shape of the carrot" then julienne. I find that much easier then stacking the slice then cutting.

I have two egg urns just like the ones you mentioned. I have "elephant ears" - ornamental taro planted in them. They sit outside during the summer, and I've brought them in to winter over as they take a long time to sprout. The taro is just like the edible ones, but not sure if these are edible. The leaves are big so quite suitable for this size of container. I used to be able to get the eggs covered in light-coloured mud and grain husks. Then it was just very fine black ash-like dirt. They were such a pain to clean off. Now they are just wrapped in double plastic in styrofoam boxes of 6. I don't think the shelf life is as long as they used to be when covered in dirt. The dirt covering might have prevent air and moisture in the air getting into the egg causing it to dry out or ferment. The shell would be porous. Possible? I always keep my cartons in the fridge.

Yorkshire puddings from last weekend's roast, served with fresh green peppercorn cream sauce. No picture of the sauce as it was really no-descript but delicious.

Hopefully, with Chris's patience, this picture will be successfully uploaded. This was the Thai-style green curry with pork and fresh green peppercorns that I made last week. Yea!!! Thanks Chris!

Velveting is not always with egg white. I have never used egg white or "passing through oil". For me, velveting is marinating meat with a little oil and cornstarch after seasoning. The effect is the same and less labour involved.

Hi Chris, Yes. Orange extract. I add it to the chicken as well as the sauce so the flavour really stays on the chicken as well as being in the sauce. Thought I should also mention whether you are using re-hydrated tangerine (orange peel) or fresh, make sure you scrape off the pith before using or it will taste bitter when you bite into a piece of peel.

My version would be considered very non-authentic... But it was a favourite in my restaurant days. I used 1.5 chicken breasts per order, cut into long strips about1/2 inch or 2 cm thick. These were dressed with salt (MSG optional), a touch of orange essense, and an egg. Then I added a tbsp of flour/cornstarch mixture and mixed it into the strips. This will be wet and silky. I coated the strips with fine crumbs made from soda crackers, then deep fried these until golden. While the chicken is cooking, I'd make up the sauce: water, white vinegar, orange essence, shredded re-hydrated and fresh tangerine peel (when avaiable - more for the colour), five-spice powder, crushed chili flakes or acouple chilis cut up. Once it comes to boil in the wok (about 1 1/2 cups), I'd slowly add cornstarch slurry, just thickened enough to coat a ladle. The sauce should still be clear, not opague. Turn off the heat, add the chicken and toss quickly so that all pieces have SOME coating, but not coated completely. Never goopy!

That looks like a lot of egg in relation to the amount of tomato. Is that the way you like it? My family prefers beef as well in this dish, so the eggs are usually cooked separately, chunked, then added just before serving. I love cilantro, but like you, it has to be long pieces of green onion tossed in at the last minute. I'm wondering if you could add the broth-thinned-out egg mixture at the very end - like the restaurant mushroom egg-drop soup? If you poured a thin stream of the egg mixture over the tomatoes. Is that the "thread-like" effect you are looking for? Or, take out the tomato leaving the broth, set the broth in a swirling motion then adding the stream of egg mixture? That's how I do mushroom egg drop soup. I always add liquid to the tomatoes. To extract enough liquid from the tomatoes, they become too mushy, over-cooked. Besides, the family likes everything OVER their rice. I use vinegar, sugar, touch of salt. Sushi seasoning works well when I'm too lazy to find the perfect balance between sugar and vinegar.

Great post and pictures, Erin! I made a Thai green curry with pork and eggplant this week and really enjoyed the eggplant in that dish. Seeing your Asiah's eggplant curry will have me pulling out my Cradle book (which has been on the bookshelf wayyyy too long a period) this weekend. eGullet always inspires me to change up my meals regularly.

Made a Thai style green curry pork with eggplant this evening - a recipe I found at Suite 101.com (googled). It called for 1/4 cup of green peppercorns and eggplant. It was delicious, especially topped with Thai basi and over rice. I made a double batch and will have some for the freezer. Took a picture and will try this weekend to post on here - again. Tomorrow, I'll be doing the stir-fried pork with beans that Bruce recommended. I gave about 20 sprigs to a foodie collegue, have used about 20 sprigs myself, and I still have about half a pound left!

I love the green peppercorns so much that I've been using them in just about everything and anything: roast beef sandwich with horseradish then sprinkled with peppercorns (they stick onto the horseradish ) topped with Thai basil and lettuce (two lunches!); BBQ pork and ho fun (rice noodles) topped with black bean garlic bitter melon with peppercorns; now planning to make the pork and green bean green curry. Rona: I had a spicy stir-fried squid dish in one of the local restaurants on Monday. It was quite good, but like you said, it would have been even better with the peppercorns! I should have taken some down with me...never thought

Good idea about making a big batch of Thai curry and freezing it. I saw the pea-size aubergine at the store and thought about picking them up (but regret not doing so now). I used them in a vegetarian curry for an Indonesian student far away from home acouple of years ago. Might have to get my hands on some to try again. The cream sauce I made last night called for adding 2/3 of the peppercorns as the sauce simmered, then the final 1/3 just before serving. I really enjoyed biting into them. Onto more dishes probably tomorrow.

Found the answer to the ong choi question I posed. I was too busy looking at the images on Flicker before. Have 2 bunches of ong choi in the fridge, so I will try yet again.

Incredible meal, Prawn! I really enjoy Cradle of Flavour rendang. Need to get it going again now that the snow has arrived. The ong choi looks so good. How do you cook yours? Mine always ends up with the leaves too soft. One restaurant called them "empty heart" greens!