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XiaoLing

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Everything posted by XiaoLing

  1. LOL. I guess you have a point there Ah Leung. I guess what I really mean is Sichuan natives that are recent to America. Fresh immigrant! I wouldn't call myself a real Wuhan native. I was born there but only spent about 5 years of my life there. And plus my Dad's family is from Shang Dong. Yes, I am a fraud...but...but my mom's family is real Wuhanese!! Hmm...but I do have a Hunan Uncle which makes my cousin half Hunanese....and then again, maybe some Sichuan relatives... Ahhh...now I'm all confused!!
  2. Bruce's explanation sounds very poetic and it looks like he's done research. Which is more than I can say for myself. I'm lazy. However, I make a really traditional Sichuan Yu Hsiang eggplant that I learned from real Sichuan natives and the first step is to mark the eggplant to resemble a fish. And then the sauce ends up to be a chili bean meat sauce. Very delicious and great with a big bowl of rice! So, me thinks Uncle Benny is right.
  3. It's called fish fragrant because that particular sauce/aroma is generally used for fish dishes, Dejah-Mui. ← Really? I wouldn't have thought that - with the Sichuan chili bean paste, vinegar, etc? ← Chili bean paste, black vinegar, soy and sugar (optional) is a very common way to cook fish in Wuhan, Sichuan, and Hunan. Sometimes we would leave out the chili bean paste and replace it with dried chilis but the vinegar will always be there (aka red braised.) In every household in those provences you will always find them making Dou Ban Yu (Chili Bean Fish) or Hong Shao Yu (Red Braised Fish.)
  4. A lettuce package or lettuce wrap is usually made with ground meat (chicken or pork) with veggies cooked seperately and then wrapped with lettuce at the table. There are two basic types of bean curd. There is the red variety and then the white. They have slightly different taste and texture. Make sure you're using the right one. The one you described sounds like your typical white preserved bean curd.
  5. In Mandarin red braise is 红烧 or in pin yin "Hong Shao."
  6. I thought she was talking about lo siu.
  7. My mother's poaching liquid has been around for years. It's fabulously delicious! I also know of Restaurants (in Asia) who are famous for their legendary years old poaching liquid. As long as you are careful with the liquid afterwards. Make sure to boil the liquid and strain it before storing the liquid. As for the fat, my family leaves the fat on the liquid because it's a great way of preserving the liquid as well. And also, everytime you re-use the liquid, you have to add more ingredients into the liquid to reflavor the sauce.
  8. You could do a simple pickeled cucumber and cabbage. Also a quick seaweed (not japanese but thick Hai Dai strips) salad. You can look up recipes by typing in "Chinese Cucumber salad." And as for the seaweed salad, once you have rehydrated the seaweed. Blanche it and then rinse cold water and drain. In a bowl, mix: light soy, vinegar (preferably rice wine or changking), sugar, chillies (optional), minced garlic, minced ginger, sesame oil and some scallions. Oh and another thing, you can make Ah Leung's stired fried pressed tofu dish without the fish. Replace it with some black beans and dice up the tofu rather than leaving it in slivers. You can also add some ground chicken, pork, or beef but since you're already serving a lot of meat dishes for dinner you might want to leave it as a veggie apps.
  9. Al, I think if you want to make spare rib hai dai soup you need to use the one that you have been buying. Zi tai (purple seaweed) is very different from the one that you currently are using. Traditional spare rib soup uses big sheets of dried hai dai. You have to soak it in water to reconstitude the seaweed, wash it and then cut it into desired pieces. Make the stock with the spare ribs and some ginger. When the stock is about ready, throw in the pieces of hai dai. Simmer for another 15 mins or so and you have yourself some delicious spare rib hai dai tang!
  10. In Chinese hai dai soups, like the spare-rib soup, we always use rehydrated hai dai. We always soak it before hand and make sure its cleaned off before we add it in the pot. My family also waits until the spare-rib stock is done before adding the hai dai. So, I guess the answers to your questions are: yes, yes, and no.
  11. Chinese mothers give you guilt on everything except for the food that you eat. That's an entirely different ball game. They will complain about your weight but in the same sentence say "I made this soup for you because you like it, eat it all and then go on a diet." Speaking of guilty pleasures, I just recently made and ate one of mine. Pig's feet or to the people who are a big squeamish about the true name it will be known as Pork Hock. It was very spicy and soft, just the way I LOVE it!! With a side of some very uneventful hot and sour savoy cabbage. Pork is the "other" white meat, right??!?!
  12. OMG!!! I LOVE THAT RESTAURANT!!! Isn't their duck to DIE FOR????? I dream of eating their roast duck.....*drooooooool* Just that roast duck along makes going to Beijing worth while. Sigh....my dad and I are still kicking ourselves for not going back for more. EDIT: I just wanted to say thank you for posting such gorgeous screen licking good pics and please keep them coming!! Oh and please wrtie down the names of restaurants too. I am planning on going to China in September and would love recommendations.
  13. I was just about to write the same thing that Gastro wrote. Dumplings and wontons are definitely a wise choice because you can make them in advance. However, if you're looking for a dish to make, you can always make a stewed dish. That way it can also be made in advance in several pots and then just heat them up as you serve the food over white rice.
  14. The red oils and sauce you see in my bowl is actually from one of my favorite chili sauces: Lao Gan Ma. I think it's one of the tastiest and most authentic chili sauces you can find out here. Plus my family in China uses the same brand! I know of the dish you are talking about. You can do something similar at home. In a plate, add Lan Gan Ma (or any of your favorite chili oil sauce), finely mined garlic (optional), light soy, sesame oil, sugar, sichuan peppercorn powder and scallions. Then boil some home made wontons and when cooked, ladel wontons on the plate with the ready made sauce. Sprinkle extra scallions on top and serve immediately. Thank you uncle Ben! I really love a good nui lan stew so I love to put it in wonton soup or just over rice. But my family really doesn't do that at all. They just put a bit of spices on the botom and add purple seaweed and dried baby shrimp. It's good etiher way you make it.
  15. I read this article a week ago and it sure explains alot. This is why there's more fat Chinese people than Americans....oh wait...that's not right.... Ok, let's try again, this is why there's more people dying of heart disease in China than America....oh wait...that's not right again.... This article pisses me off. If Chinese food is so bad why is everyone adopting to Asian cooking methods for a better way of life? If the author actually open his/her eyes and went to China for a look, they would see that Asians eat a very well balanced diet. It's the American Chinese food that is overly greasy and heavily seasoned. My first generation parents wouldn't even touch that stuff even if you gave it to them for free. I have to admit, I indulge in PF Changs every now and then but I don't consider it Chinese food. The article should be rewritten with the title of "Fast Food Restaurants draw critisim." But then again, that is not anything new which is probably why they didn't approach the subject that way. We (America) has become a fast food nation because it is so readily available and sometimes actually cheaper than buying real groceries. And I noticed that a lot of people my generation don't really know how to cook or what to cook or even how to eat. The art of food is being lost among the youth. It's quite sad actually.
  16. Looks great snekse! I think everyone does their wonton's a bit differently at home. For one, my family doesn't usually like to make a stock for the wontons. We usually season the bottom of the bowl with various seasonings and items (seaweed, dried shrimp, etc.) and then ladel the wontons plus the pasta water used to boil the wontons. I also like to make a braised dish and add it on top sometimes to make a meal. Here's a pic of my wonton dish:
  17. Here's some food for thought... Ketchup originated in China. Apparently, the word Ketchup is derived from the Chinese words "ka-tsiap." You can find the article here.
  18. Hmm...yummy.... I think you can use a Veitnamese or Thai spring roll dipping sauce for those babies. You can buy them already made or do a simple search on google. The sweetness of those sauces will be a great contrast to the wonderful salty flavors in the shrimpballs. You can also use a simple mixture of: Light soy sugar lime juice chilies sesame oil garlic
  19. We make this dish (red braised chicken with chestnuts) all the time at home. We usually take the short cut and cook with pre-cooked and peeled chestnuts. Looks great sheetz!
  20. Thanks Kent, that's a huge compliment! I always agree with the importance of flowering squid, especially when it's thick. How else are you suppose to get sauce on those slippery pieces??
  21. Okay, so I am on a seafood kick lately. Haven't really been able to eat too much meat. For some reason, I am steaked-out. Tonight a simple seafood meal of Stuffed Eggplant, Clams with Black Bean sauce and a veggie stir fry of napa cabbage and shitake mushrooms (I didn't take a pic of that one, figured it was a bit too simplistic. ) I made a HUGE (about 6 or more chinese eggplants) plate of stuffed eggplant thinking that I would have some leftovers for lunch but those darn vultures ate it all. Oh well, I guess I will have to buy a sandwich tomorrow.
  22. The recipe for sa cha beef varies from restaurants but since you already completed Ah Leung's wonderful tutorial for green beans you can modify it for beef. Marinate beef with rice wine, mince ginger, light soy, dark soy, pepper, and cornstarch. (careful not to over salt the meat since sa cha sauce you add later on will be salty too.) And sauteed beef, be careful not to over cook, remove from pan and set aside. Follow Ah Leung's recipe but instead fo green beans replace with your half cooked beef. Enjoy with rice!
  23. When I went to China about 3 years ago, I noticed Jicama for the first time in China. My Aunts would buy it every afternoon fresh from the farms and we would just peel it and eat it like an apple. I noticed that the Jicamas in China are sold at a much younger stage than the ones in the US. I have never stir fried it but your beef dish sounds delicious!
  24. Thank you Ah Leung! I don't know anything about being a pictorial master but anytime there will be a reunion of any sorts I'm there!!
  25. I honestly love the smaller thinner squid with tenticles (usually about 6-8 inches long, body wise.) They are more tender and it saves me the step of "flowering" them. I'm lazy.
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