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If you want the cake to be firmer, just gim mai fun (regular rice flour from long grain rice). If you want the cake softer, just nor mai fun (sticky rice flour). Or do a mix. One time I did mine with 100% regular rice flour, it turned out to be much firmer than I like. One time I did it with 100% sticky rice flour, and it is so soft that the cake doesn't hold up its form. I think something like 50/50 may work the best. You may need to experiment, trial-and-error. From my experiment, the daikon to flour ratio was 5:1 (5 lb daikon, 1 lb rice flour). If you use more daikon, the cake will be softer. More flour, the cake will taste more chalk-like. But you do need the flour to hold up the daikon. Keep the liquid as much as possible. It contains the flavor from the daikon.

Oh now I am extremely confused. Which one is which?

Reading this thread is like reading a never-ending multi-author food blog. 13 pages already! My goodness!

Okay. My mistake TP and muichoi. The "abacus bead" (算盤子) is made with taro, which apparently, and beunknown to me, is called "yam" over in Malaysia. Taro for this dish. ... my sweet potato is somebody else's yam which is somebody else's taro...

On the *inside* of the squid! That's my first mistake right there. How far apart do you space each cut with your criss-cross pattern? 1/2 inch or even closer? 0.25 inch? When you cut, is your knive straight down at a 90 degree angle? Or at a 45 degree tilted angle? I guess the trick is all in the details that I haven't picked up!

Wow, Bruce... you are making full use of every penny you spent on this book!!!

Beautiful! How did you get the squid to curl up like that? I have been unsuccessful doing it. May be the squid I used is too thick. Do you use big squid or small ones? How fine do you do the criss-cross pattern on the squid bodies? Do you cut it to almost severing the squid or just a very shallow cut? The technique would be the best learned from a step by step tutorial. How about it XiaoLing? Perhaps we can get you to join in publishing pictorials?

Just when I thought "yam" versus "sweet potato" is confusing enough...

Chinese say "yam" = "sweet potato" in US/European world, not taro.

Ah! Thanks for the clarifications. In Hong Kong Cantonese we call that "yeen choy".

Beef can be optional. We can make tomatoes stir-fried with eggs (only) as well.

Do you mean to hold the fish on a "spatula" of some sort while immersed in the oil before laying it in the wok? "Above the oil" wouldn't have any effect. To suspend the fish before releasing it allows the skin to coat with oil, cook and firm up. This prevents the fish from sticking to the wok. Dejah: Yes, I had a similar question and would like to learn more about this method. ← Sorry. I shouldn't have said "above" the oil. The method is: hold the fish with both hands above the oil, then slowly lower it and let the bottom part start sizzling... for about 5 to 10 seconds, before laying the fish down. I think the idea is to let the skin at the bottom of the fish caramelize first to prevent it from sticking to the wok. Also, what I usually do is start with the stove at high to heat up the oil and lower the fish. Once the fish is in the wok, I immediatel turn the heat down to low for the rest to cook. And... from my own experience: never dust a whole fish with powder (corn starch and such) and shallow-fry. The skin will stick to the wok big time. You can coat the whole fish or fish filet with batter and deep-fry. But dusting and shallow-fry causes troubles.

It depends on your cultural background. Unlike American/European culture, dessert in Chinese food culture is a very minor and optional part. Often times you won't find dessert in any meal. On the other hand, we can eat savory or sweet stuff first thing in the morning or as midnight snack. In our culture, we drink brandy and XO WITH the meal, not after the meal.

Nicely done, Bruce! And you have a plate big enough to hold the entire fish and then some... :-b... jo-mel taught me a trick to hold the fish above the hot oil over the wok for a few seconds, let it kind of settled before laying the fish on the wok (well oiled by tilting and twisting). It does help to prevent the skin from sticking to the wok.

Are those "choy sum"?

The tomatoes with scrambled eggs that I have seen and am familiar with are very sausey, not dry.

Yap. Bad omen. Especially for Chinese fishermen who work and live on a boat. Typically we consume the top side of the fish, then use chopsticks or a spoon to separate the spinal cord and all the rib bones from the bottom half of the fish, move the bones aside. Then continue to consume the bottom half without ever flipping the fish. This is an unwritten etiquette in Chinese banquets.

The name "Abacus beads" - is that a direct translation from this dish's Chinese name?

The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles has been re-opened only for a month since November - after a 4-year, 90+ million dollar renovation. I was among the privileged few average citizens who visited the observatory since its re-opening. But before seeing Samuel Oschin Planetarium, The Big Picture or the brand new Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater... what was the first thing that I did? Went into the Cafe At The End Of The Universe to check out their food! (Well... it was really convenient because they are right next to the West Entrance...) Lasagna was the only hot item I saw. And cold cut sandwiches. A little disappointing. I like the Cafe at the Getty Museum much better. Well, it goes to show the difference in food appreciation between artists and scientists.

It is pretty common in Hong Kong too. In many restaurants, you can have the traditional Chinese stir-fries or "something over rice" or fried noodles or rice noodles, even dim-sum... all savory items. And people order coffee, tea (the "western" tea with condensed milk and plenty of sugar), red bean shaved ice, lemon coke, etc. etc. with their meals.

jkonick or others: what are the major cross streets of Seattle's Little Saigon please? I haven't been there and will visit in the future.

Yeah. It's important to fling as hard as you can! Freshly made fish balls are very bouncy when eaten.

Looks good! Did you buy ready-made fish balls or roll your own fish balls?

Thanks Erik! I haven't tried the Hachiya persimmon. I shall do that some time. Actually I have a fuyu persimmon tree in my backyard. Just a couple of months ago I harvested about 100 of them. If Dejah Dai Ga Jeah lives any closer I would have loved to bring her a box of them. My wife likes it soft but I like it crispy. I ate my portion very quickly - within a couple of weeks while they were still crispy like apples.

Oh! Daikon shreds! They do look like rice noodles, sorry. That's interesting. The starch comes in the balls instead of from the shreds. These exams are killing me. Better be a teacher than a student!