peony

these are well-known in Kyoto, however I don't know what they are called...can anyone know the name to these snacks ?

I am from Singapore..... I have seen black sugar sold in a Chinese emporium ... It could be some form of very dark,brown sugar. The name in the packet is ' hei tang ' - black sugar . My mum or those that I know didn't use gula melaka for this pig's trotter with black vinegar stew. The confinement lady for my daughter used brown sugar.

sugar is sugar to me, so at times I use white sugar I'm sorry that can't help you with Chinese language as I can only read n write English I used peeled hardboiled eggs.....actually I use less sugar than the original recipe.. to be honest, there is already too much oil, that's the reason I cut down the oil content...I cooked a day before my family eat this so that I can cool n put in the fridge, take out to remove the layer of fat before warming up to eat not very Chinese of me...

this dish is a confinement food for ladies who have given birth, but of course, can be eaten whenever the whim arise black sugar can be replaced by brown sugar....black sugar as the name suggest, is really black. Here's the recipe from a book " Confinement Food " 1 pig's trotter - abt 1 kg. 1 kg old ginger, skinned and smashed lightly 4 tbsp sesame oil 800 ml black vinegar 1.5 litres water 300 g - 400 g brown sugar ( adjust sweetness to your liking ) hardboiled eggs - optional Method ; Clean and pluck hair of trotters. Cut into big chunks. Blanch trotters, drain. Heat sesame oil and fry ginger till fragrant. Dish out ginger and put into a clay pot. Add vinegar, water and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 - 30 mins or till ginger is soft. Add pig's trotter pieces and continue to simmer till meat is tender, about 2 hours. Add hardboiled eggs half an hour before serving. Chinese believe black vinegar purifies the blood. old ginger drives out wind from the body brown / black sugar checks the dampness in the body. Notes : original recipe use 2 pig's trotters. 1/2 cup of sesame oil and 600 g sugar.

thanks, SheenaGreena the ' bus ' is actually a cut-out nori of the bullet train, the shinkasen.. I bought the packet of cut-outs in Japan while on holidays there in Sept 06.

Is this book written in Chinese or is it also available in English? (welcome to eGullet, by they way, peony!) ← thanks ludja... the book is written in English....

Just joining in the fun, my grandson's bento... top : yogurt drink, M&M chocolates and marshmallow biscuit bottom : enoki mushrooms, steamed chicken fillets and egg tofu with rice seasoned with sauce undernearth.

whether my horfun is fresh or frozen, I used hot water to blanch, so that some of the oil can be remove from the noodles. The noodles are put in a boiling pot of water just long enough to loosen, drain and plunge in cold water. To me, the quality isn't compromise.

my favourite cookbook is written by our former 1st PM's mother, Mrs. Lee's cookbook by Mrs. Lee Chin Koon. It is a cookbook on straits-born Chinese food- sometimes known as Nonya food. This book has been my companion when I want to cook Nonya dishes. The instruction is simple and easy to follow. my former PM is Lee Kuan Yew.

I use olive oil for my stir-fry dishes and in most of my cooking except for deep fry food. Then it is either canola or peanut oil for deep fry dishes, like sweet n sour pork.

thanks teepee.... the mould is made of plastic....and there is a level to push the cake out...no more banging out the dough of mooncake plus the mooncake dough doesn't stick inside the mould unlike the wooden mould.....

Lantern Festival maybe over...but I just join here... These are snowskin mooncakes with lotus paste that I made ... Here are the chocolate snowskin mooncakes with chocolate lotus paste. They taste like brownies......