XiaoLing

A while back ago there were questions about how to make cuts on squid/calamari to make it look like the “flower” in restaurants. The flower markings are not only made for decorative reasons but also for maximum yummy sauce covering surface space! So here’s my crack on a pictorial for making flowering calamari. First thing you do is clean and skin the body of the squid. Or if you’re lazy like me, buy just the cleaned squid bodies. Place the squid flat on the cutting board: Cut the squid open horizontally: On the inside of the squid, starting from the bottom left corner, make diagonal cuts (0.25 inches wide) on a 45 degree angle. (Be careful not to cut all the way through the squid): Flip the squid to make it more comfortable for you make diagonal cuts starting from the bottom right corner as shown below: After all the diagonal crosshatch cuts are made, cut the squid into strips from top to bottom and then cut the strips into smaller cuts: After all this is done, you now have beautiful flower squid! Viola! I hope this helps anyone who is having trouble making the flower patterns on squid! Please don’t hesitate to ask if my instructions are hard to understand. After you prep the squid you can make a simple squid dish with the following ingredients Pre-blanched squid pieces (drained well) Ginger slices Hot green pepper slices Minced garlic Scallions Shaoxing wine Oyster sauce Changking vinegar Light soy sauce Sugar Black pepper Cornstarch slurry 1) In hot put ginger, garlic and green pepper until fragrant 2) Carefully place squid into wok (stir until heated) 3) Add shaoxing wine (stir for a min) 4) Add oyster sauce, changking vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar (stir until all flavors blend) 5) Add a pinch of sugar to enhance the natural sweetness of squid 6) Add black pepper to taste 7) Add cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce to coat the squid 8) Sprinkle scallions on top Serve and enjoy!!

I’m not sure if I should post this here but since a Chinese person made them, I might as well. I was in the mood for some curry so… What do you get when you combine fried chicken and curry sauce? + Chicken Katsu Curry!! The curry sauce came out a bit thinner than I usually make it but it’s still very good and satisfying.

Very well done C. sapidus!! Looks great! Great additions to the recipe. My family actually does add chili bean paste and 5 spiced powder (I'm not a big fan of 5 spiced powder so I always forget about that spice in braised dishes) to the recipe sometimes but we never put star anise. I must try that next time! Sounds yummy!

The peppers that she uses looks like red serrano peppers to me. But I could be wrong.

I agree with Dejah, the noodles look like Korean sweet potato noodles. I'm not sure what the names of the dishes would be but it seems like the tendon dish might be five spiced tendon and then when it cools, cut it up and stir fry it with some sweet bell peppers. The noodles looks like it's stir fried with soy sauce (light and dark) and then sprinkled with sesame seeds. Unfortunately, it's hard to tell what ingredients are in the dishes without tasting them. I hear FedEx has next day delivery!

Wonderfully delicious bao Dejah! Do you make your own dough? My mom would sometimes cheat and use store bought biscuit dough instead of making her own from scratch. It's surprisingly good and tasty. Until you realize how many calories you're eating and of course you can't eat just one or two.

I love tang yuan with gui hua too. But only made fresh and with fermented sweet rice wine. It's called tang yuan me jiu, a typical Wuhan breakfast meal. I also have gui hua tea. I find it to be too strong for me. I smell it and expect a dessert or something sweet. I think my brain is just wired to eat sweet things when I smell gui hua. I feel like a dog in Pavlov's experiments.

I also use cooked rice for fast congee. It's much faster and usually takes about 15 mins or so. Much more authentic than "cream of rice." Actually, what is cream of rice? I've never seen it on the shelves before. But then again, I never went looking for it.

Thank you! I did do some steaming and braising but even before I did that, the wok left a metallic taste to my stir fries. Maybe I didn't season it well enough. I'll buy one to try again though.

I currently have a really heavy cast iron wok, which I love but it's quite heavy and cumbersome. I would like to get a lighter wok. However, prior to my cast iron wok, I did have a carbon steel one but even after seasoning, the wok gave a metallic taste to all the food I would cook in it. Is this normal? I did season it quite a lot and treated it with oil.

Osmanthus is called "guì huā, 桂花" in Mandarin. It does look like honey suckle but its a lot smaller. The flower is usually around 1 cm long.

Ok...so it doesn't taste "exactly" like chicken. But if you are a vegetarian, it is a great sub for meat. It is spongy but if cooked just right, its very tasty and soft. It basically soaks up all the flavors of what ever sauce you cook it in.

Hmmm....I'm with Ben on this one. I have never heard of this brand. On second thought, I've never even seen this brand, so I have no idea what it taste like. One of my favorite brands is posted below. It's salty but not too salty (I've noticed that some can be too salty) and with just the right amount of chili flavor. hehehe...I have a "slight" obsession with spicy food. All this talk about fuyu, I had to go to my fridge and grab a cube or two.

To me, almost everything taste like chicken! Mmmmmmmm.....chicken....... Wait a minute...I don't really like U.S. chicken.... .....Mmmmm.....Chinese-farm raised-live-organic chicken.......

Ooooh, so THAT'S what I do with left over BBQ pig. Thank you!

Gastro - You added salt to fuyu???!! That's amazing, your sickness must have stunted your taste buds! j/k Can you take a pic of the fuyu you bought? I am really curious which company will make bland fuyu. I hope you're feeling better!! Keep drinking the ginger tea!

And I agree with Ulterior Epicure, it's usually served cold and quite sweet. We usually eat it with plain congee. And as another poster pointed out, usually for breakfast. Depending on how it's cooked, it's a great sub for meat dishes. I think it taste kinda like chicken. You can buy kaofu in a jar/can with bamboo and black mushrooms already made. I think the best ones are made from Taiwanese factories. I don't think it's a regular in Wuhan cooking but I know my dad (from Shan Dong) really loves it. He must of had exposure to this dish from that region. Isn't it amazing how diverse Chinese cooking is??

WOW! Thank you for posting such beautiful pics!! Laos was always on the bottom of my list of places to visit but I think I will have to bump it up now! It's sounds and looks mouth watering! A true eye opener!

Thanks for the clarification Ben! I couldn't find a picture on the web or a definition for that matter. I knew it wasn't flank or brisket in the traditional sense but it's hard to describe (which you happen to do perfectly.) Dejah, fortunately, I don't have what Gastro has. I have a bad case of the stomach flu or food poisoning. Not sure which one yet. Probably TMI. LOL. Sheena-I have never heard of marinating meats with soda but it does sound really good. I can imagine how Coke can be a really good meat tenderizer.

Oddly, enough, my girl friend swears by this as well (minus the sake.) Whenever she feels a cold or fever coming on, she goes to the best hot and sour soup making restaurant and buys a huge helping.

Thank you sheetz! Niu lan is beef flank or brisket with the tendon and silver skin/sheet of cartilage (not sure what it's called?) attached. It's common in Cantonese restaurants to have a rice plate with niu lan. It's stewed for hours until it is really soft and flavorful. Your pea shoots dish looks delicious! I can sure use a plate right now since I'm sick.

If your body can take it and if you have a temperature, then I would take a warm/cool shower to help decrease your body temperature. This works wonders. I remember having a fever of over 105 and I was so cold, I kept myself bundled up/cranked up the heat and made my temperature even worse. I had to be dragged from my bed and thrown in the shower before I experience permanent damage. Hmmm..or maybe I already have....

Yup, the soup should warm you up. If you have a fever, I would recommend taking a long shower as well. Do not bundle up!! That will only increase your body temperature.

No don't peel the ginger. The skin is good for you too. Just make sure to wash it well and in certain parts where it doesn't look so good you can peel it or cut it off. Make sure to give the ginger pieces a good whack to help release the juices. It's going to be a spicy soup but it will clear up your sinuses!

There is an old remedy for colds/coughs/flus that my family and many other chinese family friends used. That is Ginger Soup! Put plain water in a pot, add huge chunks of ginger (don't skimp on this) and let it boil for 15-20 mins. Add rock sugar or sugar cane or brown sugar (if you don't have any, just use white sugar.) And drink up! It's going to be spicy and sweet but it works wonders for colds, flus, and coughs. Get well soon!