XiaoLing

Thank you Pan! Everyone is welcome to my kitchen at any time! Just PM me when you are in the local area! hzrt8w- Thank you! It's not common at all in Wuhan to mix niu lan with wontons. What we like to do is to put some baby dried shrimps, scallions, and sometimes seaweed (although that item, I think that's more my family than traditional Wuhan.) But I love wonton soup in Cantonese cuisine and how they combine meats with wontons. So I made a bit of both because I had a craving.

WOW, I have been MIA for so long and there are so many new posts! I have been trying to recover from my New Year's food coma. Uhhh....so much fooooooooooooooooood.... I will be posting pics from my New Year's gorge soon. Meanwhile, here is something "lighter" now that I am back in Botson. Niu lan with wontons:

Ditto on Ben's suggestions. Make sure the street vendor is clean and the food is fresh. And always buy bottled water.

My mother's master braising sauce has been around the family for more than 20 years. The key to keeping it for that long is to make sure you don't contaminate it. She only uses her master sauce for beef, eggs and other meats. Never for seafood. And like hzrt8w said, strain out all the ingredients and put the stock in clean, dry container. And as Dejah said, do not remove the layer of fat and you can store it in the regular fridge side of your fridgerator. The taste of an old aged master sauce is a lot more complex and flavorful.

Oh wow! I'm soooo jealous! Food in China are relatively cheap. You can get a really good meal at a restaurant for 10 people around $400RMB which is roughly $60 US dollars. My suggestions if you are really on a budget is to try the street food. Whether or not you are on a budget, street food is the way to go. It's tasty, cheap and fast. I love Chinese "Fast Food"! Here are some sites that might answer some of your questions: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/ http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/...uide-China.html

Thanks for the tip Dejah! Tepee, if I do find frozen or dried galangal, should I use more or less? And as per Ben, what does it taste like?

Thanks Tepee....I guess I will have to stick with BBQ duck since galangal is hard to find in my neighborhood.

Wow Tepee! That looks delicious!! Any chance of persuading you to share your special recipe?

Thank you Gastro. I will definitely look into the Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen. I love Mott Stree in Canal!! I use to go to High School around Chinatown and my friends and I would go to Chinatown for lunch after school. Our favorite was this basement Singaporian restaurant because we loved their Curry fishball noodle soup.

Aznsailorboi, your soup looks great! This is probably a stupid question but what is the usage/purpose of gensing? My family has always stayed clear of using herbal items in soups and cooking because we're afraid of screwing up the yin yang in our bodies. And then there's the usual lecture of what herbs men can have and women can't and vice versa. I'm completely clueless on this topic. Coming from a Wuhan and Shan Dong family we never really used it in our cooking. However, we do put gochi in our jiu.

WOW Peony! That looks delicious too!! Can one of you do a pictorial pretty please? I'm a bit baking impaired. Oh and another question, where in the world do you guys find lard? Or do you make it yourself?

Looking wonderfully delicious Sheetz! I'm a sucker for Wife-cakes. It's my favorite Asian pastry. Quick question, what is the texture inside your wife-cakes? Is it gooey or is there chunks of winter melon for texture?

Majra, I'm coming over for dinner!!! I love your outdoor kitchen!! I can almost imagine what your BTUs are when you cook. The problem I have with most American kitchens is that there isn't enough "fire-power" on the stove to cook things properly. But your outdoor burner really does resolve that issue! Great pics and keep them coming!! Aznsailorboi- I think domestic goddess is right, that looks like a type of grouper or "groper" as I use to call it. Looks delicious! Speaking of grouper, I made one myself recently. However, mine was frozen since I live far from my nearest Chinatown in Boston. (or I'm lazy ) Here is my Chili soy braised Grouper: I also made tomato and eggs. My family makes this dish a bit more soupy than others because we always fight each other to mix our rice with it. Lotus root with beef and hot green peppers: Five-spiced beef with hot green peppers (yes, I'm pretty obsessed with hot green pepeprs ): And lastly, King oyster mushrooms with five-spiced tofu and chicken. Doesn't look as appetizing in the pic but it was tasty:

That's what I asked my aunt!! We couldn't put everything in the pot because the meatball took up too much room and besides, the whole purpose of eating hot pot is to cook what you like and eat it while it's hot! We always use up at least 2 canisters of propane when we eat hot pot. A few of the items we had are: Dou miao napa cabbage sweet potatoe noodles mung bean noodles frozen lao tofu enoki mushrooms fresh shitake mushrooms pig's blood live shrimp crab tofu noodles (not sure what they're really called) fresh salmon clams scallops etc.

WOW...drool.... Any chance of getting a recipe for that Cantonese Hot Pot??

Over the holidays my family and I (well more me ) craved hot pots. So we had a few hot pot dinners. We had a Ying Yang hot pot because majority of the family loves Ma-La Hot Pot but my parents can't eat spicy foods anymore due to their health. My aunt went a bit slap happy with fish balls but it was all good. We opened the windows, turned off the heat and most of us ate standing up. Ahh..that's the life! We had over 20 items for the hot pot.

It's not all restaurants. Some serve soup, others a variety of pickles and some nothing. I don't remember getting free soup in Beijing or anywhere actually when I was last in China two year ago. I think I've been gypped!!

Tronoto's Chinese restaurants are quite good as well. Sometimes, I think it's better than NYC.

Yeah! It sounds really simple to make and it sounds delicious!! I have to go to the store to buy some fresh pork bellys. However, my markets always precut the belly pieces to 8" x 3". That should be okay too right? Never thought 5 spice powder would smell like perfume but it does have a powerful smell to it. It's one of those spices that you can taste just from the smell in the air. If that makes any sense at all. Oh and hears a tip to making braised pork belly from my lovely grandmother: 1) par boil belly first and discard liquid 2) in a plate pour a thin layer of soysauce and put belly skin down on the plate for at least 30 min (this process allows the skin to take on a lovely dark red color) That way you don't have to put too much dark soy to achieve the color for the skin and your veggies will come out not as dark.

The small pea shoots are also sprouts from snow peas but they are harvested in the early early stages of growth.

That recipe sounds delicious!! Does anyone have a pic of the end result?

Gautam, Dou Miao are tender shoots from snow peas. Here are some pics when they are still fresh: And here's a pic of the same pea shoots that I made recently:

The brown sugar can bars are good for braising too. They have a more intense flavor than plain white or brown sugar. I haven't used it in years as well because it's not as conveinent as spooning a few spoonfuls of sugar. Hmm...I think I do have a few bars in my pantry as well. I also have pork belly, I think I might give it a go.

Gastro - Did you pan sear or cook the pork belly whole and then cut it up afterwards?

In some areas the bean greens are called pea shoots or in Mandarin Chinese "dow miao." They are sold in the US but you usually have to find a big Chinese market to get them. When you're picking them, make sure they're tender by snapping one of them in half. If it breaks off easily and without much effort then they're fresh and young otherwise, if they don't break off easily, you will end up with really chewy and stringy dow miao.