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Beebs

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Posts posted by Beebs

  1. I much prefer the flat cabbages to the standard round green ones. Leaves are crisper and sweeter, without the slight starchiness that green cabbages sometime have. Though I don't like it as much for longer braises and soups - they tend to get a bit more mushy with long cooking. 

  2. Does napa cabbage count? Leaves from a young napa dipped in ssamjang is a nice snack.

     

    I'd say we buy about 1 head of either green, napa, or Taiwanese cabbage once every 1.5 weeks or so. Less frequently red and savoy cabbages. Most heads weighing over 1 lb. A lot of cabbage, indeed!

  3. I've been making Japanese izakaya style salt cabbage lately and oh wow is this ever fast, easy and delicious. I used this recipe https://sudachirecipes.com/izakaya-salted-cabbage/ as a starting point, but I've needed to adjust the seasonings a bit. It calls for just the plain green cabbage, but I've had a lot of Taiwanese (flat) cabbage on hand recently, so been using that. 

     

     

     

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  4. On 2/6/2024 at 11:16 AM, gfron1 said:

    Today I played with sesame cakes - shāobîng (烧饼)

    Quick flaky pastry filled with Chinese sesmae paste and crushed toasted peanuts.

     

     

    Shaobing with a fried cruller tucked in and hot soy milk is hands down my favourite breakfast in the world. 🥰

     

    What fat did you use for your roux?

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  5. 18 hours ago, MaryIsobel said:

    Want to make this recipe for Yaki Udon with shrimp tonight. https://www.chilitochoc.com/yaki-udon-with-shrimps/

    Neither grocery in town had "dark" soya sauce labelled as such. I struggle when making Japanese or Chinese food that is not too salty for our taste. I searched for this on Egullet and came up with this:  ran out of the dark soya sauce, so I used molasses instead..not much difference in the taste. When reading about dark soya I understand that it is saltier than light or regular soya sauce. The recipe has regular soy sauce and oyster sauce so I am already concerned about the saltiness but molasses just seems wrong. Any suggestions on what to sub for the dark soy sauce? (Liuzhou, I can hear you rolling your eyes!)

     

    It's been ages since I've made yakiudon/yakisoba - time to change that! That recipe has A LOT of toasted sesame oil. And I'd use worcestershire sauce instead of rice vinegar & brown sugar. 

     

    I have 5 types of soy sauce in my pantry right now. Kimlan brand dark & light/regular, Kimlan soy paste, Kikkoman regular, and LKK seasoned sweet soy. I use Kimlan because that's what my Chinese mom said to use - she's usually right. 

     

     

  6. I've tried that IKEA At Home meatball recipe. While it's a tasty enough meatball, I wouldn't say it tastes like the actual IKEA meatball. The texture is a lot different - IKEA meatballs are way more homogenous.

     

    It was a fun little project though!

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  7. Lobster roll.

    Marshmallow fluff.

     

    American Thanksgiving dinner!

    I've tried most of the individual components that make up "traditional" American Thanksgiving (except sweet potato pie, oyster dressing, and cornbread dressing not from a box), just not all of them together at an actual American Thanksgiving Day dinner. From what I've been told, Canadian Thanksgiving doesn't even compare, it's vastly inferior to the American version. This is on my bucket list!

  8. 39 minutes ago, Anna N said:

    I wondered why the link shows a yellow cap on the bottle and my bottle has a red cap. That led me down quite a rabbit hole. According to what I stumbled across the cap colour depends on the country of origin.  US (and other) consumers get a bottle with a yellow cap and Canadian (and other) consumers get a bottle with a red cap. But there seems to be other explanations also so I'm continuing down the rabbit hole. 

     

    Mine's a red cap, too. Oddly, it's a bottle that I got from a German imports store in Vancouver that I've been refilling from a large bottle also with a red cap. My small bottle has a German label, no English.

     

    Maggi's great in fried rice, use instead of soy sauce, especially if it's minimalist fried rice.

     

  9. I've started using MSG a couple years ago. I feel like it cuts down on me adding extra salt and soy sauce for a dish that's missing something. Only using a couple pinches, a little goes a long way. It tastes a bit metallic when I accidentally add too much. It's a game-changer for stir fried greens! And fried rice. 

     

    Showing some love for chicken powder. I've got both Knorr and Lee Kum Kee chicken powders in my pantry.

     

    And Maggi Sauce - "liquid MSG" - I've been using this all my life. Can't eat boiled or fried eggs without it.

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  10. It's been several years since I was in Singapore, but I loved it there and plan on returning in the near future!

     

    Here's one for flatbreads: Roti prata vs. Roti canai vs. Paratha vs. Roti.

     

    My understanding is that roti prata/canai are Singaporean/Malay names for this type of buttery, layered, griddled flatbreads with origins in India/South Asia. Indian paratha is also layered. Indian roti is not layered and less rich than paratha. (I might be wrong, so feel free to correct.)

     

    Then there's murtabak, which has a filling inside....

     

    I ate mostly roti prata/canai while there. So delicious, dipped in curry gravy!

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  11. I second Granville Island:

    Tap & Barrel Bridges is casual gastropub food, and while it's not the most exciting food, the location is great and gorgeous view if the weather cooperates. Good local craft beer selection. 

    Dockside at the GI Hotel is fine dining and also has their own craft beer. Haven't been there in a long while, so I can't speak for the food. Great views.

    Granville Island Brewery and Liberty Distillery are also on GI. (Local craft beer is a big thing here and there are tons of small local breweries everywhere in the city and almost every restaurant carries a selection. If you're into beer, that is!)

     

    Also highly recommend checking out the Asian cuisine scenery here, especially Chinese and Japanese. 

    If you like dimsum - Victoria Chinese Restaurant is in downtown right by Burrard Station. Also Kirin Mandarin is in the same area.

    If you're willing to travel further away from the downtown area and go to East Van, Pelican Seafood Restaurant has very good dimsum and dinner. Pink Pearl Chinese Seafood is close by. I was here for dimsum recently and it was excellent, so delicious. Haven't had their dinner in a long while though.

     

    For Japanese food - Minami (Yaletown) and Miku (downtown) are both highly rated for Japanese fine dining. I haven't been to either. 

    Robson Street, the part that's closer to Denman St/West End, is loaded with casual Japanese (ramen, izakaya) and Korean eats (KBBQ, sweet treats). Very lively, younger crowd. Expect line ups at peak hours.

     

    If you're in Chinatown, Phnom Penh Restaurant has incredible Cambodian & Vietnamese food. The fried chicken wings, butter beef, Cambodian dry noodles are my favourites! Very busy, expect line ups.

    Newtown Bakery - Chinese baked goods. The steamed buns with meat fillings are so good.

     

    Lots of choices in this city! Let us know how where you end up - enjoy your visit here!

     

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  12. Oh boo, I just missed this thread and got back from Nanoose Bay a few days ago! 

     

    Amrikko's in Parksville has excellent Indian food. Aloo gobi and lamb pasanda are delicious. Good for take out too. http://amrikkos.ca/

    Right next door to Amrikko's is Papa's Burgers. We tried it for the first time. Tasty burgers & poutine. They only have a few outdoor picnic tables.  https://papasburgers.ca/

    Rusty Rake Brewing just opened about a month ago. Just off Island Hwy E, at NW Bay Rd. The food is decent, if a bit pricey. Beers are well-priced & excellent, especially the coffee stout. https://rustedrakebrewing.ca/

    Katerina's Taverna - Greek food in Lantzville. Very good, a bit pricey, but generous portions. Roast lamb was delicious. http://www.katerinastaverna.ca/contact-us

     

     

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  13. 1 hour ago, glenn said:

    I admit total ignorance when it comes to sausages. Other than Italian :). 

    With that said, which sausages (appropriate for Chinese cuisine) are recommended that don't need refrigeration and are available online? I assume only hard sausages don't necessitate refrigeration.

    I'd probably stick with the one you got from Amazon (Kam Yen Jan), if you can't get any others. I'm not sure I can even get most of the ones liuzhou mentions, and it's a huge Chinese community here.

     

    Amazon Canada has same brand, vac packed. Looks like you can store it at room temp when it's unopened. I've had good results freezing vac packed lap cheong too, if you don't plan to use the whole pack at once.

     

    From your previous posts, it sounds like you're just getting into Chinese cooking. What you've got should be good for almost all of your basic recipes and a lot of your not-so-basic ones too. 🙂

  14. I quite enjoy the liver lap cheong, but don't eat it very often.

     

    Last night I had Taiwanese sausage with our dinner. Plumper and juicier than lap cheong, but not as salty. Commonly eaten with slices of raw garlic - my spouse loves it this way, but me not so much!

     

    You can use lap cheong as you would bacon. I'm a big fan of it sauteed with brussel sprouts or broccoli. Steam with chicken, add to tofu, fried noodles or rice noodles, minced in scrambled eggs.

    • Like 2
  15. 1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

     

    Can you elaborate on your grandma's version?  I'm a big fan of ketjap manis.

    Unfortunately, I don't have a recipe for it and while my replication is tasty, it's not exactly the same. And also no measurements ha!

     

    Marinate wings 30 mins or so in shaoxing wine, white pepper, bit of soy. Pan-fry till mostly cooked, and set aside. Slice a couple inches of ginger into planks, 6-8 cloves whole garlic, fry till brown. Add dark and light soy, a bit of shaoxing, rock sugar and cook till thickened. Add a bit of Chinese black vinegar and toasted sesame oil, throw in the wings, and cook till the sauce is very sticky and glazes the wings.

     

    I might be missing a step or ingredient - hopefully not! If you don't have rock sugar, regular sugar is fine. But rock sugar will give it that nice, shiny glaze.

     

     

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  16. I've been doing wings for my family more frequently during pandemic, just because it's a fun appetizer. Usually sweet & spicy, or sriracha-vinegar, baked in the oven. My husband's grandma makes a delicious stove top version - pan-fried, sweet soy, and loads of sliced ginger and whole garlic. Haven't made this in awhile, but will put it back in the rotation. 

     

    I'd like to try a dry rub wing next, with maybe a Xinjiang spice mix.

     

    Great Cook-Off topic - getting lots of fun ideas from everyone!

    • Like 6
  17. On 10/25/2021 at 8:58 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

    I have always eschewed recipes that call for garam masala because I try to avoid buying too many spice blends and making garam masala in house sounded too much like work.  But I finally succumbed and prepared a batch of garam masala tonight -- about a quarter of the recipe, which is from Vivek Singh's book Curry.

     

    Ingredients include coriander seeds, cumin seeds, green cardamom pods, black cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, cloves, nutmeg, blade mace, black peppercorns, bay leaves.  Yes, @Anna N, whole pods.

     

    It smells wonderful.  And I now have somewhere between a half a cup and a cup of garam masala.  Vivek Singh says the garam masala lasts two weeks.  The recipe I made it for calls for 1/4 teaspoon.  Doing a bit of back of the napkin math I have a lot of garam masala to use up.

     

    Once I make the recipe that calls for a 1/4 teaspoon of garam masala, are there any not too difficult recipes that call for a shovel full or two?

     

     

    Try Japanese curry roux. I start with this recipe and tweak - it uses 1 tablespoon of garam masala https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-curry-roux/. It calls for Japanese curry powder, but I just use whatever on hand, usually madras curry.

     

    Similar boat as you - I bought a bag of garam masala...forgetting that I already had a big, unopened bag of it. 

     

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