hzrt8w

In a way it is. We just use high heat and oil as the agents. The string beans will eventually turn into carbon.

In Chinese cooking, we don't bake vegetables as far as I know. Heck traditionally we don't really bake food. Only a few exceptions, such as The Beggar's Chicken which is wrapped in lotus leaves and clay and then baked. And perhaps the Cantonese BBQ stuff? Traditionally, every Chinese family has a wok and a stove (burning wood typically). But practically none would have an oven. The term "dry" or "dried" came from the original Chinese name 乾 ("gon1" - Cantonese). It is a literal translation. I think it came from that in most Chinese vegetable stir-fries, a little bit of water is added and the vegetable is cooked with the lid on (partly steamed). The string beans in this dish is cooked with plenty of oil and an open top, with no water added. I suppose if one is concerned about deep-frying, just regular pan-frying or par-boiling methods can be used instead.

Long beans are quite tasty too and I like it just as well. Unfortunately they seem to be not as readily available as the string beans/green beans plus the prices are usally twice higher.

From the postings I read, it seems that you live in the San Francisco Bay Area. If so, there are plenty of Asian grocery stores that carry Sichuan vegetable (such as 99 Ranch). You can find them in the section that lays out preserved vegetables. I found my packages in the refrigerated section.

Yes, they distribute the Sichuan preserved vegetable in tiny packages (3.5oz) and make them "ready to eat". Selling at US$0.25 a package. The price is relatively high compared to buying a head of Sichuan vegetable and shred your own. However, I found that most of the time I have plenty of left over after opening a pack for one head of Sichuan vegetable. Besides, they made it "ready to eat" means I don't need to soak them in water before cooking. Time saving! This kind of packaging is perfect for me since I use only a little bit every time. The biggest problem is after I opened it, I couldn't stop snacking on it... he he he...

An example would be: 涮羊肉 (Quick-boiled lamb slices) A Beijing specialty. Lamb meat is cut into very thin slices. It is then dip into a hot pot for a quick boil at the table. For some sample pictures, click on the images through the Google search pages: (Sample 1) (Sample 2)

#55, Sichuan Style Dry-Fried String Beans (四川乾煸四季豆)

Sichuan Style Dry-Fried String Beans (四川乾煸四季豆) A few people asked me to do a demonstration of the Dry-Fried String Beans dish, which is a Sichuan specialty. I finally got around to it. There are different recipes for this dish. Some uses dried shrimp, some uses ground pork, some uses both. Here is my version. I used a little bit of ground pork for this dish. You may add some dried shrimp if you like. The taste of the dish was wonderful! I need to make this more often than just stir-frying string beans with Sa Cha sauce. This dish is very simple to make. You should try it too! Picture of the finished dish: Serving Suggestion: 2 to 3 Preparations: Main ingredients (from top-left, clockwise): - 1 1/4 lb of string beans - Ground pork, use only a little bit, about 1/4 lb or less - Garlic, use 4-5 cloves - 1 chili pepper (e.g. Jalapeno) - 1 small package of Sichuan preserved vegetable ("Zha Choy" in Cantonese). This is the feature characteristic of a Sichuan dish. - (Not shown in picture) 1 shallot The Sichuan preserved vegetables are sold in different packagings. This package I bought is "ready to eat" without any processing. Otherwise, you may need to soak the preserved vegetable in water for 15 minutes or so to reduce the its saltiness. To prepare the string beans: trim off the ends and cut into about 3 inches in length. Wash and drain off the water thoroughly. To marinate the pork: use a small bowl, add 1/2 tsp of light soy sauce, 1/4 tsp of ground white pepper and 1/2 tsp of sesame oil. Mix well. Leave for 30 minutes before cooking. Take the Sichuan preserved vegetables out of the package. First cut into shreds, then finely chops. Trim end of chili pepper and cut into thin slices. Mince 4-5 cloves of garlic. Peel and finely chop 1 shallot. Cooking Instructions: To prepare this dish, the string beans are first deep-fried. I don't have a deep-fryer at home nor do I use a wok. I did that with just a regular frying pan. Add 6 tblsp (or more) of frying oil, set stove at high temperature. Wait until the oil starts fuming. Add the string beans. Fry the string beans until cooked. It takes about 5-6 minutes (or longer) depending on the strength of your stove. The string beans should turn soft and the ends start to turn brown. For this dish, the idea is to "dry fry" the string beans. No need to add water. Remove from pan and drain off excess oil. Drain off the frying oil from the pan. Add 2 tblsp of cooking oil. First add the marinated ground pork. (Also add dried shrimp if you cook with dried shrimp.) Use the spatula to break up the ground pork into very small pieces. When the ground pork is about browned (it takes 2-3 minutes), add minced garlic, chopped shallots and sliced chili peppers. Also add 2 tsp of chili bean sauce and a pinch of salt (to taste). Dash in 2 tsp of ShaoHsing cooking wine. Stir all ingredients well. Return the string beans. Continue to stir, toss and cook for a minute. Finished. Transfer to a serving plate. Serve immediately. Picture of the finished dish. (Note: The quantity of food made in this recipe is about twice the portion shown in this picture.)

Chris: By chance I just read your report on Mayflower in Los Angeles and saw your comment, now 17 months later. LOL! I just want to say: Welcome to my world! To a Chinese, service is secondary. The most important thing is "taste". If the food tastes good, you can tolerate the rest... lousy service, tiny dining room (rubbing elbows), long line or dirty bathroom. And... of course, the price needs to be right too.

I think that is "Shrimp and Chive Dumpling". It looks like they have chopped chive and minced shrimp inside wrapped inside a dough that is made with powder from glutinous rice. First steamed, then slightly fried. Cantonese name is "Siu Jing Bao" (Crystal bread).

For anybody who is interested: if you have a car, there are a couple of good dim sum restaurants in the city of Richmond. Richmond is only 10 minutes away from Oakland along I-80 Eastbound. Exit Central Ave and make an immediate right followed by another immediate right. It's hard to find parking in Oakland China Town sometimes. At Richmond it's easier. Saigon Seafood Harbor Restaurant 3150 Pierce Street Richmond, CA 94804 (510) 559-9388 In fact I just went to Saigon Seafood Harbor this morning for dim sum. The tastes are very good. I would say not as top as Koi Palace but not that far. Prices are okay I think. (2 of us, 7 dishes, $24 including tax). The newest restaurant is: Asian Pearl 3288 Pierce Street, #A-11 Richmond, CA 94804 (510) 526-6800 Their dim sums are very good. Prices are bit higher than Saigon Seafood Harbor.

The timing is very important for soaking the dried tofu sheets. If you use the fresh tofu sheets (called "Seen Jook" in Cantonese) it would be easier (and tastier). It is considered a higher grade of tofu sheet and is slightly more expensive. Soaking for 30 second to 1 minute max. Take the sheets out of water and try them. If they are not soft enough, you can always soak them a bit longer (but not the other way around). Or you can try Tepee's method of wrapping the tofu sheets (one at a time) between 2 wet towels.

Hmmmm? Are you a theoretical recipe'ist?

My own information was anecdotal, lacked footnotes and bibliography... Hearsay... Okay. Hmmm... Doing a quick search on Google turned out the following. Unfortunately I don't have membership to some of the local newspaper online sites to do a more in-depth search in older time frames with more details. But this maybe enough for an illustration... 7/28/2001 The owner of a hostel inside Chung King Mansions found killed inside the building (News report) http://pdf.sznews.com/big5/content/2001-07...ntent_60414.htm 3/25/2002 Foreign man died from attack at Chung King Mansions (News report) http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/2/3/25/n178979.htm August 2002 A prostitute found killed from over 70 slashes inside Chung King Mansions (Mentioned in this newspaper article) http://news.sina.com.hk/cgi-bin/news/show_...4-29&id=1058527 These sites are from reputable news organizations, not a site that anybody can enter the contents. Do you want to go and eat inside that building? I don't know... maybe that adds some excitement...

Can't argue with Dejah Dai Ga Jeah, a restaurant owner veteran. But that's what one of the restaurants I used to work at do. The dim sums (which were cooked) that they could not sell, they put in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, those were among the first batch to be served to patrons. Yes, going to that dim sum restaurant early would risk eating overnight dim sums...

Dim sum, like baking, is best served freshly made (like... right off the steamer or fryer). If you wait until the next day, you would notice the difference in taste. Wrapping dim sum and store in the refrigerator, raw, overnight can be problematic. As said upthread, the moisture from the filling would ruin the wrapper. The best is to prepare the filling the day before, but wrap and steam/fry the dim sum the day of your festivity. And if you must make them one day ahead of time, you may be better off cooking them first, then refrigerate them overnight. Before serving, just steam them again.

Here is one dish that is made with tomato sauce and shrimp: Imperial Shrimp (Shrimp with Chili, Garlic and Tomato Sauce) (乾燒蝦)

Done with it? It's a long-term open project! I do one page whenever I have spare time. Here is where they are posted. 10 pages so far I think: A pictorial guide to Chinese cooking ingredients Malt sugar does have a nice characteristic taste. More fragrant than brown sugar (and definitely better than white sugar). It is very sticky at room temperature. If you heat it up in the microwave for 20 or so seconds, it turns soft and it's much easier to handle. Then dissolve it in some water. They are quite common. Most Asian grocery stores carry them. Many Chinese recipes use malt sugar.

It is not just rumor. I can testify that it is true. In most of the restaurants that I used to work at, the cooks washed the woks with hot water, brush them, and used the burner to dry the woks immediately between cooking different dishes. Of course they do that on the same wok hundreds of times a day and the wok hey builds up much faster. They carry the bamboo brushes in our local markets. I plan to pick up one after I purchase my wok. Really handy.

2- 湯爆 Tang Bao - What the book said here are 2 words. 湯, which is a noun and it means "soup" and 爆 which means "explode". From the description "quick boiling", it is very close to the word I found: 灼 An example would be the Cantonese dish: 白灼蝦 (White Boiled Shrimp) A picture? How about a recipe? I have one of my own pictorial on it! White Boiled Shrimp (白灼蝦) There could also be: 白灼牛肉 (White Boiled Beef Slices). That can probably be rewritten as 湯爆牛肉 I also found: 湯爆雙脆 (White Boiled Two Crispies) - they used squid and what looks like duck gizzard - I can't tell. The page is here (but it is a LONG page). The picture is buried in the middle of the page. http://www.gati.org.tw/chat/history/200510.../1129276582.htm Here is the quick link to the picture itself through Google: (Click for Google page, click on the image to enlarge)

I could not find the word that means "entree" (in Cantonese it is "sung", but this is probably not standard Mandarin-based Chinese). You are right. 饣 is the radical "eat" (it is in simplified Chinese).

Tepee Mui: Such a nice compliment... did you set your eyes on some pretty shoes that you want as presents? The term 煮-Zhu indeed commonly means to "cook" (implied with water). And that goes for many things. In fact, it's so common that in Chinese we just say "to cook rice" as 煮飯. Or this has a generalized meaning of "to cook a meal" and not necessarily refers to cooking "rice". Of course, to Chinese there has to be rice in every meal. To some, even breakfast. In Cantonese, we say 煮送 (with the "eat" radical to the left of 送) to mean "to cook an entree". jo-mel: I really like this arrangement. I name an example and (hopefully) find some pictures, you give us more explanations on the term. It's like jointly giving a seminar on Chinese cooking terminologies.

How about naming one dish a day? Like "learning one alphabet a day". 1- 水煮牛肉 Literal translation: Beef boiled in water Sichuan specialty. Slices of beef braised in salt water. Here is a page that contains a picture: http://scnews.newssc.org/system/2005/12/06/000016950.shtml

The pickpocketing and the attempted mugging were 2 different incidents happened at two different times. I am sorry if the readers get confused. The former case occurred inside Royal Pacific Hotel during one of my visits. The latter case occurred inside Chung King Mansions a long time ago when I used to live in Hong Kong.

The line got re-directed to a different page and only a generic JPG file showed up. I would be interested to confirm if that is the restaurant I used to frequent.